Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

The fact that Xiongbei Company installed GPS trackers on the vehicles indicates that they were afraid that Wuyue would get the formula first.

Now that he has put the deal back on the table, Xiongbei Company faces a choice: continue to follow Wuyue Society and pick up the leftovers, or take the risk of trusting him again, obtaining the formula, and gaining the upper hand over Wuyue Society in the north.

He bet that the North Bear Company would choose the latter.

As for Crimson Thorn—Shen Hanzhou crossed out the two words "Crimson Thorn" and added a question mark next to them.

There are two reasons why Zhou Ting and Wang Zhaoping did not respond: either they were taken down by the Five Mountains Alliance, or the upper echelons of Chiji were observing the situation.

Regardless of the reason, he brought in Chiji to restrain Xiongbei Company.

In this three-way power struggle, Xiongbei Company wouldn't dare to easily turn its back on them.

Shen Hanzhou stood up and used the sole of his shoe to wipe away the writing on the ground.

He walked to the window and stood still, his eyes fixed on the way he had come.

It is a fact that Kumahoku Company and Gogetsu-kai are competitors.

It's true that Xiongbei Company fears the formula falling into the hands of the Wuyue Society.

He reopened the trading window, and Xiong Beihui decided to settle accounts with the Five Mountains Society—whether to continue chasing him alongside the Five Mountains Society, or to obtain the formula and turn the tables on the Five Mountains Society.

The latter yields significantly greater returns.

He bet that Xiongbei would choose the route with the higher returns.

As for the favor that Chiji owed him, he didn't expect it.

However, as long as the three-way game structure exists, Xiong Bei will not dare to act rashly.

Shen Hanzhou leaned against the window frame, his breathing gradually calming down. His senior sister's face flashed through his mind, but he quickly suppressed it. Now was not the time to think about that.

He needs to hold out until the cement plant is handed over.

The handover of the cement plant was contingent on Xiongbei Company receiving his message.

He turned on his phone and glanced at it—there was no reply.

Xiongbei Company's encrypted channel is silent, as is Chiji's encrypted channel.

He turned off his phone and put the USB drive back into his mouth.

No reply does not mean rejection.

Xiongbei Company needs time to weigh the pros and cons, and Chiji needs time to decide which side to take.

He is safe until he makes a decision.

The question is whether the Five Sacred Mountains Association will give him that time.

Shen Hanzhou mentally reviewed the layout of the second floor of the factory.

The main entrance is a rusted iron-framed roller shutter door, stuck in the half-open position and unable to be closed.

There's a fire escape ladder behind it; the iron ladder is badly rusted and makes a creaking sound when you step on it, but it leads down to the drainage ditch. The drainage ditch leads to an abandoned brick kiln to the west, and behind the brick kiln is the town road.

He left himself two escape routes: if the main entrance couldn't be blocked, he could escape through the fire escape.

Then continue to wait.

His stomach felt painfully empty.

The compressed biscuits were interrupted by the pursuers after he had only taken one bite. The remaining half-pack was left on the cellar lab table and was taken away by the Five Mountains Society along with the batch of reagents that had not been taken.

He suppressed his hunger and kept his eyes on the way he had come.

The engine sound turned from the provincial highway into the abandoned industrial area, forty minutes before the agreed time with the cement plant.

Shen Hanzhou immediately deduced that they were not from Xiongbei Company—they wouldn't arrive forty minutes early.

He moved close to the wall to the east-facing window and looked out from the side.

Four black SUVs were parked outside the factory area.

The car doors opened simultaneously, and the people who got off split into two groups: one group blocked the main entrance, and the other group went around to the back entrance from the side.

Their movements were synchronized; they disembarked and immediately deployed into tactical formation without any unnecessary communication. They were the Five Mountains Society's extermination team.

Shen Hanzhou cursed.

The location has been leaked again.

This time he wasn't riding a bike, his phone wasn't on, and there were no signals that could be tracked.

The only reason the Five Sacred Mountains Alliance could reach this place is because someone sold their location.

The group of people at the main gate had already entered the first floor of the factory.

The beam of his tactical flashlight swept across the rusting equipment, and the light spots shone through the gaps in the iron frames on the first-floor ceiling, flickering at his feet.

He stepped back, preparing to climb down the fire escape at the back of the second floor.

Then he stopped.

Among the group of people who circled around to the back door, two of them looked very familiar.

The flashlight beam swept across one of the people's faces—Zhou Ting.

Another person followed behind him, with a walkie-talkie slung over his shoulder, walking in step with Zhou Ting—Wang Zhaoping.

Shen Hanzhou stared at the two faces for three seconds to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

Chiji and the Five Mountains Alliance have sided with each other.

Kumahoku Company did not accept his deal.

There were no red thorns either.

The message he sent passed through the decision-making levels of the two organizations before being forwarded to the Five Mountains Society intact, along with his current coordinates.

He made the wrong bet.

Shen Hanzhou gripped the surgical scissors tightly, his knuckles turning white.

Zhou Ting and Wang Zhaoping had known each other for three years.

She helped him transport controlled raw materials, helped him bypass the Five Mountains Society's checks, and didn't say a word when she threw him compressed biscuits and car keys in Baishi Town.

Now they've brought people from the Five Mountains Society to surround him.

------

The cleanup team on the first floor of the factory has finished searching the waste pile.

The team leader stood in the center and made a hand gesture, indicating that both groups should go up to the second floor at the same time.

The team leader was Fang Li, the deputy head of the security team of the Lieyang Provincial Branch of the Five Sacred Mountains Society.

He worked for the Five Mountains Society for eight years, specifically responsible for purging internal defectors.

Fang Li stopped at the top of the stairs, swept his flashlight around the second-floor corridor, and muttered under his breath, "That kid can really run. We missed him in Baishi Town, he crawled into the chicken coop through the sewage pipe, and he removed the GPS tracker on the way, making me take an extra four hours."

He walked upstairs, his tone clearly displeased: "Someone who does experiments has a better counter-surveillance awareness than the underworld. We have to keep him under control tonight and not let him find any more loopholes."

Zhou Ting and Wang Zhaoping followed behind him, each holding a gun.

Zhou Ting's expression was calm, as if she were on a routine mission.

Wang Zhaoping lowered his voice and said to Zhou Ting, "I knew this kid wouldn't be honest. He sent the message and then turned off his phone, clearly gambling. If he hadn't gambled this time and had just hidden somewhere else, we wouldn't have had to come all this way."

Zhou Ting didn't reply, and shone her flashlight around the corner of the stairs.

Fang Li glanced back at the two men, his tone indifferent: "You people from Chiji are quick-witted, you know what maximizing profits means. The portion that Wuyue will relinquish is enough for you to establish three more lines in Lieyang Province. It's a worthwhile deal."

Zhou Ting spoke, her voice calm: "The favor Shen Hanzhou owed him was a debt from three years ago. Chi Ji owed him, and this time it's settled. From now on, we'll go our separate ways."

Wang Zhaoping added, "We and Shen Hanzhou were never on the same side. He helped us three years ago, and we remember that. This time, the upper echelons of Chiji made a decision, and we carried it out. It's not a matter of owing or owing; we're just working for different masters."

Fang Li didn't turn around, but snorted through his nose: "Each serves their own master. Well said."

The footsteps of the three echoed alternately on the iron staircase.

Shen Hanzhou crouched behind the iron cabinet next to the fire escape exit on the second floor, and heard their conversation clearly.

His calculations were based on the assumption that Xiong Bei and Wu Yue were competitors, so Xiong Bei would protect him in order to prevent the formula from falling into the hands of Wu Yue.

This assumption holds true under normal circumstances.

However, he overlooked one point—the Five Mountains Alliance could voluntarily relinquish its interests.

As long as the benefits that the Five Mountains Alliance relinquish are large enough to offset the potential gains Xiong Bei would have after obtaining the formula, Xiong Bei would have no reason to shield him from harm.