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

"She finds you disgusting; she'd throw up if she even looked at you." Zhu Xun Chuan stopped five meters away from the river, stating a fact in a calm tone.

This statement precisely pierced Jiang He's morbid pride.

"What do you know! I love her!" Jiang He roared hysterically. "I ruined the entire Jiang family for her! You all look down on me, thinking I'm just an adopted good-for-nothing! Since she finds me disgusting, then we'll all die here together!"

Jiang He laughed wildly and pressed the detonator in his hand.

"drop."

The crisp sound of buttons clicking echoed in the empty air-raid shelter.

There was no movement.

The C4 explosives on the pillar even extinguished the red light.

Jiang He froze, frantically pressing the red button repeatedly.

"Beep beep beep beep!"

The air-raid shelter was deathly silent, except for the sound of dripping water.

"Playing with electronic signal detonation in front of Gu Qinghan from Kyoto University?"

Zhu Xun Chuan gave a mocking smirk.

On his way here, he had already connected to Gu Qinghan's privileged intranet. That icy tutor, far away in Kyoto, hacked into the regional base station in the abandoned air-raid shelter of Ice City in just three minutes, directly launching a devastating attack and cutting off all short-frequency radio waves in the designated bands.

Jiang He panicked completely. He threw away the scrap metal detonator and pulled out a Black Star pistol from his waist.

He hadn't even had a chance to pull the trigger.

Zhu Xunchuan made a move.

The hem of the trench coat traced a sharp arc in the air. The five-meter distance was covered in an instant.

Jiang He didn't even see Zhu Xun Chuan's movements clearly; he only felt a piercing pain in his wrist.

"Snap!"

Zhu Xun Chuan grabbed Jiang He's right wrist, which was holding the gun, with his bare hands, and folded it back to a ninety-degree angle. The sound of bones breaking could be clearly heard.

The pistol fell to the ground.

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Xunchuan raised his knee and slammed it heavily into Jiang He's left lateral thigh nerve plexus.

Jianghe let out a scream that sounded inhuman and immediately knelt down in the mud.

Zhu Xun Chuan remained expressionless, placing his hands on Jiang He's left and right shoulders.

work hard.

Two sickeningly loud dislocation sounds rang out simultaneously.

Jiang He's arms hung limply at his sides like two noodles, his limbs completely severed within a minute. He collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud.

Zhu Xun Chuan didn't use a gun or a knife. He used the simplest and most brutal physical means to destroy all of this mad dog's ability to resist.

He took a tissue from his trench coat pocket, wiped his fingers, and then threw the tissue at Jiang He's face.

"Is this all the ability you have? You think you're worthy of having improper thoughts about her?" Zhu Xun Chuan looked down at him. "Before dawn tomorrow, the Jiang family will put you in a cement barrel and sink you into the Songhua River."

Jiang He lay in the muddy water, his eyes bloodshot, his body convulsing in pain.

He looked at Zhu Xun Chuan's deathly calm face and suddenly let out a chilling laugh.

"Cough cough... You beat me, but it's useless." Jiang He spat out a mouthful of saliva mixed with blood. "I was just the one who opened the door. The real boss behind that foreign investment has already come in."

Jiang He stared intently at Zhu Xun Chuan, his lips trembling as he uttered his last words.

"The 'Grey Wolf' has crossed the border."

The faint signal deep inside the air-raid shelter suddenly returned.

Zhu Xun Chuan's phone screen lit up, emitting a very distinctive notification sound. It was an encrypted message interception alarm that Gu Qing Han had specifically set up.

Zhu Xunchuan took out his phone and opened the message.

This is a multimedia message without any text.

On the screen was a high-resolution close-up photograph. The photograph showed the chest of a naked man. On that chest was a gruesome scar, several centimeters long, the skin torn and showing an old, dark purple hue.

Zhu Xunchuan recognized the scar.

A few hours earlier, in the ICU ward of the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin, he had seen with his own eyes the old, indelible wound on Jiang Ting's chest. It was a fatal mark left by the Jiang family patriarch in a bloody battle at the border thirty years ago.

Below the photo is a string of newly generated Russian location coordinates.

The sender left only a signature: Siberian Gray Wolf, already in Harbin.

Two o'clock in the morning, the presidential suite on the top floor of the InterContinental Hotel.

The indoor heating dispelled the extreme cold of the northern border. Zhu Xun Chuan stood in front of the large French windows and handed the encrypted phone to Jiang Yao.

The photo on the screen was glaringly clear. It showed the naked man's chest and the dark purple scar that stretched for over ten centimeters.

The moment Jiang Yao saw the photo clearly, her pupils contracted sharply, and her hands involuntarily clenched the hem of her red dress. She took half a step back, her back pressed against the cold marble wall.

"He's Gray Wolf." Jiang Yao's voice was hoarse, filled with a rare panic. "Ten years ago, my father led a group to the border to seize the border. That's the man they encountered. My father was almost ripped open in the chest. At that time, the Jiang family lost more than a hundred elite soldiers before barely surviving."

Lin Chuxia changed back into her pure white shirt and Japanese-style plaid skirt. Barefoot on the thick carpet, clutching a cushion, she stopped her playful antics upon hearing this, her beautiful eyes filled with worry.

Zhu Xun Chuan put his phone away and tossed it onto the sofa.

Instead of responding directly, he took off his fitted trench coat, which had absorbed some of the chill from the underground air-raid shelter, in front of the two women. Then he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his white shirt, rolled up the sleeves, and revealed his strong, well-defined forearms.

"Go take a shower." Zhu Xun Chuan said calmly, heading straight for the suite's open-plan luxury kitchen. "There are fresh ingredients in the refrigerator. I'll make you a pot of old duck soup. It'll calm your nerves."

Jiang Yao and Lin Chuxia both froze on the spot.

The outside world was about to be turned upside down because of the Jiang family's power grab and the passage of the Grey Wolves, but this man put on a gray apron, stood in front of the kitchen counter, and skillfully processed the ingredients with a kitchen knife.

The back of the knife struck the cutting board with a steady, resonant sound, and soon the kitchen was filled with the rich aroma of meat and the medicinal scent of goji berries. This warm, homey atmosphere miraculously dispelled all the gloom and fear within the suite.

Forty minutes later.

On the large mahogany dining table sat a bubbling casserole. The broth was golden and fragrant.

After taking a shower, Jiang Yao changed into a black silk slip dress with a thin cardigan draped over it. Lin Chuxia, on the other hand, washed off her heavy makeup, revealing her bare face and wet hair that hung down her back, exuding a pure, natural, youthful fragrance.

The two sat on either side of Zhu Xunchuan.

Zhu Xun Chuan took a large soup ladle, ladled out two bowls of soup, and pushed them in front of the two men.

"You jerk, your soup smells really good." Lin Chuxia picked up the porcelain bowl and took a small sip. Her eyes lit up instantly.

As the mayor's daughter, she'd eaten her fair share of dishes prepared by her family's top chef, but this soup in front of her was exceptionally delicious. (Ah Yin: Brother Chuan is a master at making duck soup!)