Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 54 Eldest Sister
June 19th, 11 days until the end of the "June Snow" rule's effective period.

As dusk fell, outside a courtyard in a suburb of Yong'an, the capital city, more than twenty fully armed special forces soldiers quietly surrounded the courtyard.

The snow around the yard was piled up in the distance, and there were obvious signs of snow shoveling on the road near the gate. The snow on the walls had also been cleared. It was clear that the owner of the yard had his own professional snow removal equipment and a large number of people available for snow removal.

"Report."

The team leader reported to his superior commander via headset.

"We have arrived outside the shelter where the target is located. Shall we begin the arrest operation?"

"Begin immediately," the commander's voice came through the headset.

"receive."

The team leader made a few hand gestures, and several special forces members squatted down, opened the boxes they were carrying, which contained several military-grade drones.

As the operator activated the drones, a total of five drones took off and flew high above the yard, transmitting the situation inside via high-definition cameras.

“In the outer courtyard, there are snowplows, drilling rigs, snow removal machines and other equipment parked. Three people are playing cards under the eaves on the left, and they are armed. The inner courtyard has a roof design, so it is impossible to see the situation through the camera.”

"Activate the thermal imaging scanner."

"Scan detected activity in three rooms in the inner courtyard, totaling twenty people. There were only two people in the south room, which is suspected to be the location of the target."

The team leader said, "Everyone prepare to move out. One squad will break down the door from the front, the second squad will enter from both sides by scaling the walls, and the third squad will circle around to the rear for cover. The drone will drop stun grenades."

The drone operator said, "Stun grenades have been deployed."

boom--!
Three people were playing cards together under the eaves of the courtyard when they suddenly heard a muffled thud. Then, a blinding light and a buzzing sound made them instantly deaf and blind.

The special operations team immediately entered the outer courtyard, subdued the three men, and then broke down the inner courtyard gate.

By this time, the people inside the inner courtyard had already noticed something. A large number of footsteps sounded, followed by a burst of bullets, which sent the wooden gate of the inner courtyard flying everywhere.

The team member requested instructions through the headset: "The enemy has launched an armed confrontation. We request permission to annihilate them."

"Approved," the commander said. "Except for the target, all armed resistance fighters shall be annihilated on the spot."

"receive."

Five drones roared into the inner courtyard and dropped stun grenades, leaving all the armed personnel in the courtyard completely disoriented.

Special forces soldiers then filed in and killed all the armed personnel in the courtyard.

Meanwhile, in a room on the south side of the inner courtyard, a man in his fifties was holding a woman with a terrified expression in one hand, while rapidly dialing a number on his phone with the other.

The first call he made resulted in the other party's phone being switched off.

He made a second call, and this time the call was answered.

"Hey, ma'am!" The man in his fifties said with a sob in his voice as soon as the call connected, "Didn't you say you could handle things if anything happened? Now someone's here to arrest me, and they're about to break in!"

"Jiping," came the voice of an elderly woman from the phone.

"You can only blame yourself for being too careless, allowing a low-level gangster to find out your identity. I can't help you, but I can still take care of your relatives overseas. You'd better watch yourself."

The man felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this, realizing what his elder sister meant.

He hung up the phone, gave a bitter laugh, and pulled a pistol from under the bed.

"Boom!"

The door was then kicked open, and a stun grenade was thrown in.

But before it could explode, two gunshots rang out from inside the room.

"Bang! Bang!"

When the special forces soldiers rushed in, they only saw two corpses, a man and a woman, lying on the ground.

The team leader examined the man's body and reported, "Report, the capture mission failed. The target, 'Zhao Jiping,' has committed suicide."

The commander was silent for a moment in the headset, then said, "Bring back the target's body and his belongings. Mission complete."

"Yes."

……

[“Hengyun Real Estate Chairman - Zhao Jiping” has been removed from the group by “Big Sister”]

A system announcement appeared in the mobile phone group of all Qingmei Club members.

The announcement was followed by a flood of replies. "Big Sister's here???"

"Why did the eldest sister kick Old Zhao out?"

"What happened to Brother Zhao? Why was he kicked out of the group?"

"Has something happened? We can't seem to get in touch with Lao Zhao..."

The members in the group didn't know what was going on, but they were all quite surprised by the appearance of the group leader, "Big Sister".

As the founder of the Green Plum Club, the eldest sister rarely speaks in the group, but everyone in the group respects her.

Before the apocalyptic era, she seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of money. She had invested in or held shares in the companies of almost everyone in the group through different intermediaries.

However, she doesn't own any companies, which has led group members to speculate about her background and who she really is. Some even dared to use their connections to investigate, only to find nothing and end up getting their connections arrested instead.

From then on, the members of the Green Plum Club all knew that "Big Sister" was someone they absolutely could not afford to offend, and that she might even come from the top echelons of society.

At this moment, the eldest sister sent a message in the group.

Eldest sister: "Jiping got into some trouble, but I'll handle it. You can all relax and get through this rule-breaking process first. After this, I'll organize a get-together for everyone to discuss our future plans for the Green Plum Association."

"Received, big sister!"

"Just listen to your older sister. She's been a great supporter of our business all these years."

"Yes, my company was at a critical moment in its market expansion, but we couldn't get funding. It was my eldest sister who generously invested billions of yuan, which gave me the confidence to secure victory."

As soon as the eldest sister mentioned the gathering, the members immediately started discussing it excitedly. As for what happened to Zhao Jiping and why he was kicked out of the group, it seemed to be quickly forgotten.

Only a few members secretly considered using their connections to investigate.

It's important to know that Zhao Jiping is the chairman of Hengyun Real Estate, the largest real estate company in the country. At its peak, Hengyun had properties in almost every city across the country, and he employed countless people under his command. It's said that he even controlled the underworld in many cities.

Such a once powerful figure, even if he declined after entering the post-apocalyptic era due to money becoming worthless and housing becoming free, couldn't simply disappear like that. There must be something fishy going on.

At the same time, in the post-apocalyptic rules countermeasures research lab, a researcher in his forties was being held in an interrogation room.

Facing the two interrogators, he said angrily, "I've already said it, I don't know what my brother did! I know nothing about him sending people to kidnap me!"

This researcher is Zhao Jiping's younger brother, Zhao Jize.

Because of his outstanding research abilities, he was selected by the government to join the Countermeasures Research Lab.

“You said you didn’t know what your brother did, but we have found out that you violated the lab’s rules by contacting your brother outside of the designated time.”

Everyone in the research lab who wants to contact the outside world must do so within a specified time.

The timing of this rule is uncertain, but it usually occurs after the release of new post-apocalyptic rules and before the discovery of hidden rules.

The purpose of this regulation is to prevent researchers from having the opportunity to leak hidden rules that are not suitable for dissemination.

This rule wasn't strict at first, but it became extremely harsh after the first apocalyptic rule.

After discovering the hidden rule of the first apocalyptic rule, several researchers in the research lab secretly revealed it to their relatives, allowing them to use the rule to obtain sobering mints and seize a chance to survive.

A large number of researchers were subsequently investigated and held accountable.

Zhao Jize had been careful and had not been exposed. However, after his brother was investigated, he, the younger brother, was naturally also investigated in detail, which led to the discovery that he had secretly contacted Zhao Jiping.

Zhao Jize's expression changed slightly at this moment. He did not deny it, knowing that since the interrogators said so, it meant they had obtained evidence.

“Yes, I broke the rules and secretly contacted my brother. But we only talked about the rules, nothing else. He didn’t even tell me about the kidnapping!”

The two interrogators exchanged a glance, and one of them, who was wearing glasses, asked, "Do you know anything special about your brother's social connections? You know, these kidnapping cases involve the whole country. He couldn't have handled it all by himself. There must be other people involved."

The interrogator was none other than Li Meng, the director of the Public Security Bureau who had been transferred from Yunhua City.

Li Meng said, "Now that you've spoken, there might still be hope for him. Otherwise, if we don't arrest him, he might be silenced by others."

In order to extract more information, Li Meng naturally wouldn't tell Zhao Jize the fact that his brother Zhao Jiping had committed suicide.

Upon hearing the words "silence," Zhao Jize's face turned pale. He frowned, seemingly deep in thought, and after a moment spoke uncertainly.

"About ten years ago, I heard my brother mention it briefly. He said he had joined an organization that was full of big shots... and the founder of the organization was an extremely powerful person."

Li Meng's eyes sharpened, and he immediately pressed, "What organization? What's its name? Who are the other members?"

Zhao Jize thought for a long time, then shook his head and said, "I can't remember. He only mentioned it once at a family gathering when he first joined more than ten years ago. Later, it seems that because the organization had an extremely strict confidentiality system, members could not even reveal their identities to their relatives, so my brother never mentioned it again."

(End of this chapter)