Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Shen Hanzhou knew Yan Tingyao.

Having worked for the Five Mountains Society for so long, he was fully aware of the high-level changes in the Lieyang Provincial Branch.

After Song Mingzhang's death, while Wang Hongyuan was still in power, Yan Tingyao was merely the head of the headquarters' suppression efforts.

When Wang Hongyuan was in power, the Lieyang Provincial Branch was directly controlled by Wang Hongyuan himself, and Yan Tingyao was only in charge of security and suppression, and had no decision-making power.

The Five Mountains Alliance wields absolute power in Lieyang Province. They never give Xiong Bei Chiji a friendly look when making deals, and they would never relinquish their intelligence network because they don't need it—Wang Hongyuan's own status as a provincial political affairs commissioner is his biggest protective shield.

Now that Yan Tingyao has taken over and Wang Hongyuan has fallen from power, the Lieyang Provincial Branch's influence has shrunk considerably.

Yan Tingyao didn't have the confidence to continue maintaining his facade, so he had no choice but to use Wang Hongyuan's resources to exchange for cooperation with Xiong Bei Chiji.

Shen Hanzhou scoffed, his tone full of mockery and disdain: "After Wang Hongyuan fell, Yan Tingyao is now in charge of the Lieyang Provincial Branch."

When Wang Hongyuan was in power, the Five Mountains Alliance held absolute power in Lieyang Province. They never gave Xiong Bei Chiji a friendly look when making deals, and they would never relinquish their intelligence network.

Now that Yan Tingyao has taken over, he's squandering Wang Hongyuan's resources to try and secure a partnership with Xiong Bei Chiji—it's like going back to the old ways.

Fang Li did not respond.

He is not part of the decision-making team, does not participate in strategy formulation, and has no need to defend Yan Tingyao's decisions.

His only responsibility was to carry out orders, leading the suppression team to capture Shen Hanzhou or kill him on the spot.

He is now trapped under the precast concrete slab, his right leg is ruined, both team members are dead, and the mission has completely failed.

The only thing he could do was to throw out information that Shen Hanzhou might be interested in in order to save his own life.

Shen Hanzhou turned back to Zhou Ting.

Zhou Ting lay on his side on the stone platform, the excruciating pain from his severed arm making his face as white as a sheet of paper.

Cold sweat and blood mingled and streamed down his temples, but he kept a calm expression on his face and hadn't uttered a sound since he fell.

Shen Hanzhou looked at this old acquaintance he had known for three years and asked, "What did Chiji take? Did he follow Xiong Bei around picking up the leftovers?"

Zhou Ting's voice was low, and he had to take a breath after each sentence: "The intelligence sharing and joint action rights that Xiong Bei obtained are simultaneously enjoyed by Chi Ji. The Five Mountains Association has also given Chi Ji three additional logistics lines within Lieyang Province, transferring everything from warehousing to last-mile delivery."

"Jiang Yi personally went to the provincial capital to sign the agreement. After signing, he came back and said one thing to us: 'Shen Hanzhou helped us three years ago, and I've remembered that favor for three years. But from today onwards, we're even. Chiji will have nothing to do with Shen Hanzhou anymore.'"

At this point in her speech, Zhou Ting's composure, which she had maintained for so long, finally shattered.

His voice was visibly trembling because he had finally uttered those words—admitting to the person he was about to kill that he had betrayed them.

"He sent us to kill you." Zhou Ting's voice trailed off, the excruciating pain from his broken left arm making his breathing shallow and rapid, but he continued, "Zhaoping and I didn't want to come. But Jiang Yi made it clear—either we go, or we withdraw from Chiji ourselves."

Zhou Ting closed his eyes, his voice so weak it sounded like it was being squeezed from the depths of his throat: "We've been in Crimson Thorn for eight years, where can we go... we have nowhere to go."

Shen Hanzhou interrupted him, his tone completely flat: "You have nowhere else to go, so you come to kill me?"

Wang Zhaoping let out a long-suppressed sob from another stone platform.

He buried his face in his arms, his shoulders shaking violently.

She made indistinct sounds, as if she were saying "I'm sorry" or "We had no choice," but all the words were stuck in her sobbing voice and couldn't be heard clearly.

He was transformed from a hoodlum into a formally employed logistics dispatcher.

Three years ago at Guangyang Wharf, he carried a box of bills of lading for controlled solvents and ran all over the warehouse. Wang Zhaoping said he had never been taken care of like that in his life.

These are the same two people who have come to kill him.

Shen Hanzhou stopped looking at them.

He mentally reviewed the information given by Fang Li, Zhou Ting, and Wang Zhaoping.

Xiongbei Company's Zheng Daoyuan – provides addresses in Baishi Town and installs GPS trackers on motorcycles.

He had two plans: if he survived to the cement factory, he would make the deal; if he died on the way, Xiong Bei would suffer no loss.

Chi Ji Jiang Yi—he took his favor for three years, said he wouldn't owe him anything when signing the agreement, sent Zhou Ting and Wang Zhaoping to kill him in exchange for three logistics lines and the right to share intelligence across the entire province.

Yan Tingyao of the Five Mountains Alliance personally signed the extermination order, using Chen Guohua's autopsy report and the Lieyang Province intelligence network as bargaining chips to drag Xiong Bei and Chi Ji onto the same war chariot.

He straightened up and etched those three names into his mind.

Yan Tingyao. Zheng Daoyuan. Jiang Yi.

Then he looked down at Fang Li at his feet.

The flashlight beam leaked through the cracks in the broken floorboards, illuminating Fang Li's pale face.

Fang Li gritted his teeth, his forehead covered in cold sweat, but he was still staring into Shen Hanzhou's eyes, waiting for an answer.

Shen Hanzhou's eyes were icy cold.

These three people are no longer of any value.

Fang Li sensed murderous intent in Shen Hanzhou's eyes.

He worked for the Five Mountains Society for eight years and saw too many people's expressions before their execution—some begged for mercy, some broke down, and some refused to believe they would die.

But Shen Hanzhou's eyes were different from theirs.

There was no anger, no hesitation, not even the excitement of about to kill.

There is only one cold, unquestionable verdict.

Fang Li struggled violently.

His broken right leg dragged a bloody trail on the ground, and bone fragments pierced through his trouser leg, scraping against the cement debris, causing him excruciating pain that made his vision blur.

But he ignored the pain and used his elbows to push himself back as fast as he could, his voice hoarse as if it were being torn from his throat.

"Wait—if you kill us, who will deliver the message to you—"

Shen Hanzhou looked down at him.

The tone was very soft, as if talking about a trivial matter.

"I don't need to relay messages."

"Your corpses are the message."

Fang Li's pupils suddenly contracted.

He opened his mouth as if to shout something—perhaps to beg for mercy, perhaps to say Yan Tingyao's name and gamble again, perhaps to ask if there were any survivors outside—but Shen Hanzhou had already raised his right hand.

Fang Li's mouth was open, and before he could even utter a sound, Shen Hanzhou's ability had already been activated.

He felt the hatred burning in his veins all too clearly once again.

Those were accounts that had been piling up for a whole month.

It started when my senior sister died on the autopsy table.

The Five Mountains Society injected her with a drug she had synthesized herself, using her as their first live experimental subject. The next morning, they informed him that "Senior Sister died in an accident due to a mistake in the laboratory."

He went to look at the dissection table. The tabletop had been cleaned, and the smell of disinfectant was so strong it was pungent. However, there were scratches on the edge of the tabletop that did not appear to be from cleaning—these were scratches made by Shen Yanhui with her fingernails when she was tied to the table.

He recognized the shape of one of the scratches.

That was an unfinished character for "escape".