America: The neighbor's wife is so incredibly hospitable!

7:30 p.m.

Chen An changed into a black windbreaker, and underneath he wore a lightweight Kevlar bulletproof vest that Tie Tou had given him.

He had a Glock 17 tucked into his waistband, his hunting knife that had been with him for a long time hidden in his boot, and a homemade incendiary bomb.

"I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back in about an hour."

He said this to Sarah, who was washing fruit in the kitchen.

"Where are you going? Are you coming back for dinner?" Sarah wiped her hands, her eyes filled with worry.

"I'm going to see a friend. I'll eat when I get back. Oh, and I want your stewed beef."

Chen An kissed her forehead, then looked at Jessica, who was standing at the top of the stairs with a tense expression.

"Keep an eye on the house. If anything gets close to that transformer box, have Tie Tou unleash the dogs."

Jessica nodded vigorously, her hand instinctively reaching for the M1911 hidden behind her waist.

That was something Chen An had specially permitted her to carry with her.

………………

On the banks of the Flathead River.

Abandoned dock.

The wind was biting cold, and a thin layer of ice covered the river. The moonlight was pale and dim.

A black Cadillac sedan was parked at the end of the pier.

The engine wasn't turned off; at first glance, the taillights looked like two scarlet ghost eyes in the darkness.

Chen An drove his pickup truck and slowly stopped about fifty meters away.

Instead of getting off the bus, he pressed the dial button on the disposable phone.

The call was answered instantly.

"Mr. Chen. Very punctual."

A voice, processed by a voice changer, came through the receiver, carrying that jarring metallic quality.

"I'm always punctual, especially when it comes to hostages who come to me." Chen An looked at the car.

"Hostage hostages? No, no, no, we came with good intentions."

The voice chuckled. "Vincent, the guy TerraPower sent before, was an idiot."

"He doesn't know how to respect a real landlord."

"We are different. We represent...the will of a higher order."

"We're willing to pay $300 million to buy out all your rights in one go."

"Of course, that includes the cost of silencing your partner, Robert."

Three hundred million.

This price is already very good.

For ordinary people, this amount could even buy a small country.

But its current value is far more than 300 million!

"That sounds tempting," Chen An said casually.

"This isn't just about money, Mr. Chen."

The voice continued, with a hint of threat, "If you refuse, this three hundred million dollars will become our lobbying funds in Washington."

"Or... the cost of hiring certain professionals."

"After all, you received the package, right? Next time, it might contain C4."

As expected. It seems they were the ones who installed the bug.

However, they are unaware that I have already discovered the listening device.

Chen An didn't say anything, but hung up the phone.

He opened the car door and got out.

The cold wind blew the hem of his clothes.

He walked straight toward the Cadillac.

"Stop the car! Stand right there!"

The people in the car seemed surprised that he dared to come directly at them, and a warning came from the loudspeaker.

Chen An did not stop.

He walked to a spot five meters in front of the car.

Through the windshield, he saw the driver in the tactical vest sitting in the driver's seat, and the man in sunglasses in the back seat.

Three hundred million US dollars.

Chen An suddenly spoke, his voice echoing across the empty dock.

"Keep this money for your coffin."

Done.

He suddenly raised his hand.

It wasn't drawing a gun.

It was a snap of the fingers.

"Snapped!"

Almost at the same moment.

Suddenly, a blinding light shone from the dark woods behind the Cadillac.

"Whoosh—Boom!"

A modified incendiary bomb, which had been lying in wait, whistled out and landed precisely on the trunk of the Cadillac.

Of course, this isn't a real RPG, so you can't destroy the car by blowing it up.

But the sudden explosion and flames instantly threw the people in the car into a panic.

"Damn it! An ambush! Retreat!"

The Cadillac suddenly reversed, attempting to make a U-turn.

But Chen An had already pulled out the Glock.

"Bang bang bang!"

Three shots.

It wasn't about hitting people or breaking bulletproof glass.

Instead, it precisely hit an abandoned oil drum next to the dock pier.

The oil drum tipped over, spilling residual oil all over the ground, which conveniently blocked the Cadillac's escape route.

Instantly, flames shot into the sky.

"Go back and tell your boss."

Through the wall of fire, Chen An watched the luxury car flee in a sorry state, crashing through the fence and plunging into the mud, and coldly said:

"This is Montana. This is Titan territory."

"Whether it's a dog or a lion, they all have to lie down when they come."

………………

That night, when Chen An returned home, Sarah's stewed beef was just ready.

He acted as if nothing had happened, washing his hands and eating.

But under the table, he gently patted Jessica's thigh and gave her a look.

Jessica understood, and under the pretext of getting some wine, she followed Chen An into the kitchen.

"That bugging device..." Jessica whispered.

"It's still there."

Chen An took the disposable phone out of his pocket and threw it into the trash can.

"Since they like to hear it, let them hear what I want them to hear."

"Starting tomorrow, we're going to put on a play inside the house."

"Acting?" Jessica's eyes lit up.

"Yes. It's about our 'internal discord,' 'broken cash flow,' and even 'plans to sell the mine and run away.'"

A sly smile curled at the corner of Chen An's lips.

"Since they want to buy it out for three hundred million US dollars, then I'll let them think... they can take advantage of the situation for only tens of millions."

"Then, in this trap, chop off their hands."

The wind was still biting in Montana the next morning.

The miniature listening device attached to the back of the transformer box.

It flashes an almost invisible red light in the cold wind, faithfully recording all the sounds around it.

Eight o'clock in the morning.

The back door of the main house was kicked open with a bang.

Chen An, wearing a bathrobe, walked to the porch with a look of "furious exasperation".

Holding his phone, he was yelling angrily at the person on the other end.

Of course, his position was precisely calculated, and he was less than ten meters away from the bugging device.

"What do you mean it's frozen?! ​​Damn it! That ten million dollars is Robert's money, not mine!"

Chen An's voice echoed in the empty courtyard, sounding particularly agitated, "Has your bank gone mad?"

"Just because of the investigation related to the Red Rock bankruptcy case?"

"I can't even pay my workers' wages right now! If the freeze doesn't end, all my machines will have to stop!"

Just then, Sarah, wearing a coat and with red eyes after putting in eye drops, chased after Chen An and grabbed his arm.

"An...stop shouting..."

Sarah's voice trembled with tears. "The gas station just called and said our gas card is out of credit."

"...Without diesel fuel, neither the generator nor the excavator can operate."

"Those ore...should we stop production?"

"Stop work?! Stopping work now is a dead end!"

Chen An flung Sarah's hand away with a large, but not forceful, movement. "Those Silicon Valley vampires are just waiting to see me make a fool of myself!"

"Terra Energy is still threatening me! If I give in now, even that big bathtub of mine will be auctioned off!"