Special forces soldier demobilization: Starting from the county government compound, a meteoric rise

The night was pitch black. In the core server room on the fifth basement floor of the Dragon Shield security base in the city, hundreds of server indicator lights flashed wildly like stars.

Green light, red shadow.

The sounds of his fingers striking the mechanical keyboard echoed across Ghost Hand's face, which was contorted with extreme excitement from staying up all night. The rapid, resonant tapping of his fingers was like a torrential downpour in the mountains or the relentless machine gun fire on a battlefield.

"Boss! Got it! I finally caught that eel by the tail!"

Ghost Hand let out a near-mad roar.

He abruptly ripped off his noise-canceling headphones, so hard that they left a noticeable red mark on his ear. But he was oblivious, his eyes glued to the constantly changing coordinates on the screen, a morbid sense of accomplishment burning deep within them.

Liu Ming sat behind him, holding an enamel mug with half the paint chipped off and the words "Serve the People" written on it. The rising steam blurred his vision, but could not conceal the chilling coldness in his eyes that could freeze one's soul.

"Are you sure?"

Liu Ming's voice was soft, yet it carried a chilling quality that made the temperature in the entire server room plummet.

"One hundred percent certain!" Ghost Hand turned around and pushed the specially made silver laptop in front of Liu Ming. On the screen, an extremely complex chart of fund flows was slowly rotating in a three-dimensional form.

"Four hours after that false intelligence about the 'sixth-generation fighter jet engine' was sent out, the data stream showed its first jump. The other side was very professional. They used thirty-six quantum relay stations located in international waters in an attempt to erase all physical traces."

Ghost Hand adjusted his glasses, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

"But they're too green to try and pull this on me, 'Ghost Hand.' I've already implanted a tiny, self-aware 'ghost patch' in the underlying code of that blueprint. As soon as someone opens the file, it will bite down on their MAC address like a parasite."

"I followed this clue all the way to a top-secret safe in a Swiss bank."

"There's a trust fund there called 'Cedar.' And the actual controller of this fund is…"

Ghost Hand took a deep breath, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his palms. He paused for three seconds, as if trying to calm his heart, which was about to leap out of his throat.

"...It's Professor Qian."

……

"Clang!"

The lid of the enamel mug in Liu Ming's hand fell heavily onto the stainless steel tabletop with a sharp, jarring sound. The fragrant tea splashed onto Liu Ming's dark tactical uniform, creating a dark, soothing stain.

"Old Qian?"

Liu Ming slowly raised his head, and in that instant, his eyes became extremely profound, as if some kind of faith was collapsing, or as if some kind of truth was being torn apart in a bloody way.

Mr. Qian, who is that? He's a big shot, he was one of my father Liu Jianguo's mentors back then.

He was also the only elder who, after Liu Ming entered the city, publicly held his hand, exclaimed "The younger generation is truly formidable," and even personally inscribed the four characters "A National Treasure" for him.

In the eyes of the world, he was a model of integrity and uprightness, living an extremely simple life in the old family compound he had been assigned to decades ago. Every day, he rode his old, worn-out bicycle to and from get off work. He was a symbol of the Chinese political arena.

He is a moral role model for countless young cadres.

"Hehe... Hahahaha!"

Liu Ming suddenly burst into laughter. At first, it was just a low, muffled laugh, but then it turned into a wild, unrestrained laugh filled with self-mockery and violence. The laughter echoed in the empty server room, making the server racks hum.

"What a fine old man Qian."

"What a treacherous man who appears to be loyal!"

Liu Ming stood up, walked to the window, and pulled back the heavy blackout curtain. Outside the window, the city's night scene was still bustling, with colorful lights converging into a flowing golden dragon.

But in Liu Ming's eyes, beneath that prosperity lay a bottomless greed and betrayal that was enough to devour the future of a nation.

Luo Binwang was merely bait thrown out by this big fish, and Zhao Ruilong was just a pawn used to test his opponent. The real "shadow"!

"Boss, this is a huge deal."

Tank walked over. He was carrying a solid alloy steel rod, and his face was ashen, like a piece of rusty iron.

"What kind of status does Elder Qian have? He holds the power to approve half of the country's resources. If we touch him, the whole country will probably be shaken up again."

"Are we just going to let the foundation rot away because we're afraid of earthquakes?"

Liu Ming turned his head, and his handsome face looked particularly ferocious in the dim red light, like a demon crawling out of the abyss.

"He sold my father's life for that small overseas fund and for the so-called family legacy."

"They sold off the core technology of the Dragon Kingdom."

"They sold out the peace and tranquility of hundreds of thousands of miners."

Liu Ming spoke slowly and deliberately, each word like a shard of ice squeezed out from between her teeth.

"Since he wants to be that 'shadow'."

"Then I will personally escort him to face true darkness."

……

At this moment, in Building 9 of the high-rise residential compound in the city.

This is a small Western-style building with red brick structure. The ivy has long since withered, and the dry vines look like menacing chains, tightly wrapped around the walls.

In the study, under the dim light of a desk lamp, Mr. Qian was wearing a faded gray cotton robe, holding a magnifying glass in his hand, carefully studying a copy of "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu. His movements were slow, and his expression was serene.

He was like an ordinary, kind-looking old man next door.

But in his desk drawer, the specially made satellite phone, which had been switched off, had just received a top-secret message from overseas—a message containing only three characters.

The target is approaching.

Mr. Qian put down the magnifying glass, raised his head, and looked out at the pitch-black courtyard. The kindness that had been disguised for decades in his eyes receded like the tide at this moment.

Instead, there is a sinister, venomous aura that can make the soul tremble.

"Liu Jianguo... your son is indeed more troublesome than you."

The old man murmured softly, his voice hoarse, like a rusty saw cutting through dry wood.

"What a pity."

"Most of the smartest people in the world die because they are too smart."

He slowly reached out and pressed a very hidden red button under the table.

……

"Buzz—!"

Meanwhile, inside the black Hongqi car driving on the street.

Liu Ming's phone emitted a piercing alarm.

"Boss! Watch out! High-frequency signal fluctuations have appeared in the target area!"

Ghost Hand's voice shrieked in the headset, "The other side has activated regional signal jamming! That's not ordinary civilian equipment, it's... it's military-grade EMP pulse jamming!"

"As expected."

Liu Ming leaned back in his chair, holding the "Dragon Fang" military dagger that emitted a cold, eerie blue light in his hand, his fingertips gently stroking the tiny notch on the blade.

That was left behind when Luo Binwang was killed.

"Erniu, stop the car."

Liu Ming looked at the family compound in front of her, which looked particularly eerie in the night.

"Director, the guard company hasn't arrived yet. Old Lin said we should wait..." Li Erniu gripped the steering wheel with some worry.

"I'm not waiting anymore."

Liu Ming opened the car door and jumped out. He looked up at the red wall shrouded in power and conspiracy, and a wild yet resolute smile appeared on his lips.

"Some scores are best settled face-to-face for a truly satisfying result."

He strode toward the door, his black trench coat fluttering in the night wind like an unfurled banner of death.

He knew that behind that seemingly imposing red wall, countless dark gun barrels were waiting for him to appear.

But he knew even more that behind that wall lay the soul of his father, Liu Jianguo, and the blood of Longguo Technology's breakthrough.

"Old man."

Amidst that earth-shattering killing intent, Liu Ming muttered to himself.

"You think you're safe just because you're hiding in this fortress?"

"You may have forgotten."

"The strongest fortresses are often..."

He stopped in his tracks, his eyes flashing with an unprecedented, dazzling light, like the sun!

"...It was breached from within!"

That night, the city was finally going to be turned upside down.