After ninety-nine online romances, I finally met my ex in person when school started.

The head of the hall sent me a photo.

Ash gray haute couture buttons. A line of tiny English letters is engraved along the edge: Brunello Cucinelli.

Jiang Yao remembered it clearly. The day before yesterday, when Zhu Xun Chuan went to pick up Su Mu Cheng, he was wearing this haute couture outfit worth hundreds of thousands.

"Send me the coordinates." Jiang Yao got into the car.

"West suburbs, abandoned wine cellar area No. 3."

This, along with Xia Wanying's big data investigation and Shen Tianxi's thermal imaging detection, created a perfect closed loop at the same time.

All the clues, all the anger, and the rampaging women throughout the city all pointed to the same destination.

West Mountain.

Municipal Bureau Command Center.

Gu Zhenshan stood in front of the huge electronic screen and smoked three cigarettes in a row. He didn't even notice that the cigarette butts were burning his fingers.

They've gone mad. They've all gone mad.

Armed helicopters from the Tianjin Military Region were flying overhead, while a convoy of fifty Maybach armored vehicles belonging to the Dinghe Group was driving below. Even more outrageous, surveillance footage showed that 100,000 members of the Jiang family gang had blocked all the city's entrances and exits and were marching in a massive procession toward Xishan.

Gu Zhenshan felt that his official hat had flown to the ends of the earth.

"Chief, we can't stop them! The SWAT team doesn't dare approach the Xishan area at all. There are also live ammunition locks from the sky!" The deputy chief ran over, covered in sweat.

"Get everyone out two kilometers away! I hope nothing goes wrong, or we'll both be finished!" Gu Zhenshan gritted his teeth.

At this extremely critical moment.

The large, high-alert red screen in the city bureau's command center suddenly flickered twice. Immediately afterward, the entire command system's control panel locked down. The mouse and keyboard became unresponsive.

"What happened! We've been hacked!" the technician shouted in alarm.

The map on the screen disappeared instantly.

Instead, a bright red badge representing the highest level of state secrets was displayed.

Gu Zhenshan had only seen that symbol in confidential internal training documents. It was a special access code that only the innermost circle of Yanjing could use.

---

Apartment for specially appointed professors at Kyoto University.

The study was filled with the faint scent of Huizhou ink. On the mahogany desk lay a sheet of fine Xuan paper. On the paper were the two characters "Return to Me," written in wild cursive script by Zhu Xun Chuan that night, the strokes bold and powerful, penetrating the paper.

Fu Xinghe stood in front of the table.

She took off the cheongsam she wore during the day and changed into a light gray silk nightgown. The smooth fabric clung to her mature and voluptuous curves, and a section of her fair and shapely calves was revealed beneath the hem.

Her usually clear and aloof eyes, which seemed to have seen through the ways of the world, now revealed a rare hint of panic.

She stretched out her slender, pale fingers and gently stroked the dried ink on the paper. Her fingertips trembled slightly.

It's been fifteen hours.

Zhu Xunchuan's phone remained switched off. She initially thought he was just entangled in the fishpond, tripped up by some young girl. But when the missing person reward for Su Mucheng was posted on the campus forum, and when the faint roar of military helicopters could be heard outside the window, she knew something was wrong.

Fu Xinghe closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His chest heaved violently.

She walked to the back of the study. Pushing aside the display shelf, she revealed a silver safe embedded in the wall. She entered the password and verified it with her palm print.

"Click".

The cabinet door popped open. Inside were no gold bars, no jewelry, only a red, encrypted phone with no brand markings.

Over the years, she has never used any of her family's resources. From childhood, she has despised those spoiled brats who rely on their parents' legacy to act arrogantly. She entered Oxford based on her own true talent and knowledge, and then returned to Peking University as a specially appointed professor.

But today, the rules have been broken.

Fu Xinghe picked up the receiver and pressed the only button.

The phone was answered after only one ring.

"Xinghe?" The deep, authoritative male voice on the other end of the phone carried the composure of someone accustomed to a position of power. "Using the red thread so late at night, what happened?"

"Dad," Fu Xinghe's voice was cold, yet carried an undeniable resolve, "my future husband has been kidnapped. Right under your nose."

There was a three-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"name."

"Zhu Xunchuan."

"I'll have my secretariat transfer someone. I'll get back to you in ten minutes."

"It won't take ten minutes. I'll be there now to take command." Fu Xinghe hung up the phone.

She turned and walked towards the dressing room, tearing off her silk nightgown. Her long, straight legs slipped into a pair of pure black pointed-toe stilettos, and she slipped on a sophisticated khaki double-breasted trench coat. The trench coat's belt was cinched tightly at the waist, outlining a breathtakingly proportioned waist and hips.

She pushed open the apartment door.

Outside in the corridor, four wiry men in black suits, with buzz cuts and bulging waists, were already lined up and waiting.

"Miss, the car is ready," the lead bodyguard reported, bowing his head.

"Go to the Municipal Bureau." Fu Xinghe ordered coldly, his high heels clicking crisply and menacingly on the marble floor of the corridor.

Meanwhile, at the Kyoto City Public Security Bureau Command Center.

It's a mess. Utterly a mess.

Director Gu Zhenshan slumped in his swivel chair, his face deathly pale. The dozen or so landlines in front of him rang incessantly, the shrill rings sounding like death knells.

"Chief! Deputy Commander Shen of the Tianjin Military Region is personally in charge, and military communications vehicles have already entered the Third Ring Road! They demand to take over the city's air superiority!"

"Chief! Dinghe Group's legal team has been bombarding the mayor's hotline! They're saying if the Transportation Bureau doesn't give the green light to those fifty Maybachs, they'll withdraw their multi-billion dollar investment project tomorrow!"

"Chief! A call from the Xicheng branch! Tens of thousands of people from the Jiang family's four major branches have completely blocked the roads outside the Fifth Ring Road! They won't even let tractors carrying manure pass!"

The deputy director shouted his report, sweating profusely.

With trembling hands, Gu Zhenshan opened the drawer, poured out three quick-acting heart pills, stuffed them into his mouth, and swallowed them dry without even drinking water.

He looked up at the large screen. The red badge representing the highest level of state secrets was still conspicuously displayed in the center, locking down all Skynet operation interfaces.

Gu Qinghan, dressed in a black trench coat, stood in front of the screen with her arms crossed. Her long legs, encased in black stockings, were crossed. She bit her red lips tightly, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the phone.

"Uncle, who locked the system? Xun Chuan's life is hanging in the balance. Every second that's wasted..." Gu Qinghan's voice trembled.