Chapter 248 The Counterattack of Privilege, Old Master Zhong's Kill Order

Xishan Retirement Home.

Inside the study of the Zhong family compound, the underfloor heating was turned up very high. The air was filled with the rich aroma of top-grade sandalwood.

Zhong Xiaoai stood disheveled in front of the rosewood desk, surrounded by the shattered parts of the encrypted communication equipment. A few drops of red wine stained her expensive silk pajamas, and she was in a state of extreme agitation.

"Handong's plates have all been smashed!"

"Li Dakang turned into a mad dog, and within three hours, he seized seventeen of our core enterprises. The 3 billion yuan financial chain was forcibly cut off, and the ledgers and servers were all taken away by the city's special police. The connection at Wangbeilou was also completely cut off, and the people we sent there disappeared without even making a ripple."

Grandpa Zhong, dressed in a dark Tang suit, sat steadily in a mahogany armchair. He held two smooth, century-old walnuts in his hands, which made a deep, resonant clanging sound.

"A mere political commissar of a provincial military district thinks he doesn't know the rules just because he's made some military achievements on the border."

"Do you really think you can turn the world upside down with brute force?"

Grandpa Zhong stopped fiddling with the walnuts he was playing with and placed two on the table. He picked up the red landline used for internal communications and skillfully dialed a number.

When the call connected, an extremely respectful greeting came from the other end.

"Old Li, that Shen Zhong from Handong is acting too strangely."

"Using military force to forcibly interfere in local economic development, and even disregarding judicial procedures to shut down legitimate businesses. Your disciplinary inspection department must immediately send a special investigation team down there, suspend him from his duties, and thoroughly investigate his problems."

The deputy director of the Central Military Commission's Discipline Inspection Commission, who was on the other end of the phone, repeatedly agreed and promised that the process would be completed within three hours, and that the official document announcing the suspension would be sent to the Handong Military Region.

After hanging up the phone, Grandpa Zhong picked up the Ru kiln teacup on the table and skimmed off the floating tea.

Zhong Xiaoai tidied her messy hair and sat down on the sofa next to her. She picked up the glass of red wine she hadn't finished earlier and gently swirled it, leaving streaks of red wine on the glass.

With the suspension order issued, Shen Zhong's special forces team becomes useless. Without this weapon, Li Dakang and Gao Yuliang are no threat at all. The situation in Handong will ultimately return to the political game familiar to the Zhong family.

The underground data center of the Handong Provincial Military Region.

On the huge electronic screen, red and blue codes cascaded down like a waterfall. Shen Zhong stood in front of the command console, his hands resting on the table, scrutinizing the province's surveillance network.

A high-risk warning box pops up in the upper right corner of the screen.

"The Central Military Commission's Discipline Inspection Department issued a disciplinary review order, targeting: Shen Zhong."

Immediately following, a line of green highest-privilege overwrite code appeared below the warning box.

"Central-level special privileges intervened; the instruction has been intercepted and destroyed."

Shen Zhong picked up the black coffee on the table, took a sip, and casually pushed the cup aside.

The Zhong family still thinks this is a game of power politics, a game of dividing the spoils. Since Old Xu has given them the highest authority, this kind of conventional political suppression can't even get into the territory of Handong.

"They're trying to kill me within the rules."

Shen Zhong typed a few lines on the keyboard, bringing up several sets of classified offshore financial data. This data was pieced together by him from fragmented information from his past life, combined with information from the military intelligence network.

"Since we've already started, let's cut off all their escape routes."

Zhou Weiguo stood aside, watching the three anonymous Swiss accounts that popped up on the screen.

"Sir, the funds in these three accounts are moving around extremely frequently, and a large cross-border transfer is currently being prepared."

Shen Zhong pointed to the total amount of funds on the screen.

Eight billion.

"The Chung family plans to launder the money completely and transfer it overseas during the window of opportunity before the investigation is completed."

"Immediately cut off their transmission links and lock all this money within the State Administration of Foreign Exchange's safety net. Not a single penny is allowed to flow out."

Zhou Weiguo's fingers flew across the encrypted keyboard, sending a series of attack commands down the military's backbone network to overseas servers.

He watched his commander's commanding figure disappear into the distance, his admiration boundless. The Zhong family's supposedly foolproof escape route had been seen through by their commander long ago. This almost prophetic intelligence control, combined with the military's superior electronic warfare capabilities, resulted in a one-sided massacre.

Zurich, Switzerland.

Inside a secluded office building, several senior financial traders were sweating profusely as they stared intently at the multi-screen workstations in front of them.

"Transfer request rejected!"

"Backup channel unavailable!"

The lead trader frantically typed on the keyboard, trying to bypass the suddenly appearing network firewall. A huge red warning box popped up on the screen.

"Access frozen".

The four large characters flashed with a dazzling red light.

The trader collapsed onto the ergonomic chair, his shirt soaked with cold sweat. This interception force was not conventional financial regulation, but rather a national-level military electronic warfare tactic. The entire fund pool was effectively shut down by external forces, preventing even a single byte of data from being transmitted.

Zhong Family Compound.

Before Zhong Xiaoai could even bring the glass of red wine to her lips, the spare satellite phone on the coffee table vibrated.

She answered the phone, and the trader gave a stammering report through the receiver.

"Young Miss, that eight billion... is completely locked up."

"The other side has used the highest level of military network interception, and all of our overseas accounts are now paralyzed."

Zhong Xiaoai loosened her grip.

The wine glass fell to the ground, shards of glass scattering everywhere, and red wine spilled onto the expensive Persian carpet, staining it a glaring dark red.

She had always thought Shen Zhong was just a brute who relied on violence, but at this moment, she truly realized the reality. The enemy not only possessed overwhelming military force, but also dealt a crushing blow to the Zhong family in electronic and information warfare. The suspension order had been completely ineffective; Shen Zhong had instead used this time difference to raid the Zhong family's entire foundation.

Seeing his granddaughter's distraught appearance, Grandpa Zhong stood up and walked to his desk.

"What happened?"

Zhong Xiaoai's voice was dry and hoarse, and she couldn't even utter a complete sentence.

"Our eight billion euros in Switzerland have been frozen."

"The suspension order from the Central Military Commission's Discipline Inspection Commission was never issued to Handong."

Old Master Zhong slammed his hand on the rosewood table, causing the brushes on the brush holder to roll off. He had been operating in the capital for decades, with students and former subordinates throughout various systems, and had never suffered such a loss before.

"Bring me my coat."

"I'm going to see my old comrades-in-arms and see if there's any justice left in this world!"

The nanny nervously brought over a heavy military green woolen coat and draped it over Mr. Zhong.

Grandpa Zhong, leaning on his cane, strode toward the gate of the courtyard house.

I just pushed open the heavy, vermilion-lacquered door.

On the steps outside the door, two men with crew cuts and dressed in black civilian clothes were standing. They were upright and their positions were highly tactically sophisticated, effectively blocking all exits from the door.

The man in black on the left stepped forward, took out a certificate with the national emblem printed on it from his pocket, and flattened it in front of Grandpa Zhong.

"Mr. Chung, it's windy outside."

"You've been ordered not to go anywhere today."