Chapter 30: The Decision in the Eye of the Storm
Assistant Zhou's words, "The tracing address... has been initially locked on the Su Group headquarters network," were like a bomb that exploded in the silent night.
Su Yan felt a chill running from his feet to his head, and his blood seemed to freeze instantly. He subconsciously looked at Huo Shen, his heart pounding wildly in his chest, almost breaking through his ribs and jumping out.
Su? Brother? How could he…how dare he?!
Was this a continuation of the conversation on the USB drive? Weren't Su Chen and Assistant Zhou in contact? Why would he use his own network to attack the Huo family? Was it a frame-up? A provocation? Or had something happened between them that he wasn't aware of?
Countless questions entangled Su Yan's mind like poisonous snakes, making him unconsciously have difficulty breathing.
Huo Shen held the phone, his face expressionless, as if he had only heard expected news. However, his eyes froze at a visible speed, and the low pressure emanating from his body caused the temperature in the entire living room to drop by several degrees.
"Are you sure?" Huo Shen's voice was cold as ice.
"The technical department cross-verified the information three times, and the springboard server ultimately points to Su's internal IP address. The signature code matches over 90% of the time." Assistant Zhou's voice came through the microphone, calm and unwavering, as if stating an objective fact that had nothing to do with him. "The other party had a clear target, aiming directly at the core encrypted area of the Prometheus project, but was intercepted by our firewall."
"Heh." Huo Shen uttered a short, cold laugh. There was no warmth in that laugh, only a bone-chilling chill. "It seems that I've been too gentle recently, causing some people to forget how to abide by the rules."
His gaze slowly turned to Su Yan, who was standing stiffly in place. His eyes were like two ice-hardened scrapers, scraping Su Yan's body to pieces.
"Did you hear that?" Huo Shen asked, his tone terrifyingly calm.
Su Yan's lips moved, but no sound came out. He could only nod stiffly. The immense fear and the feeling of being sucked into the depths of the vortex almost swallowed him up.
"What do you think," Huo Shen took a step closer to him, each step seemed to step on the tip of Su Yan's heart, "your good brother wants to get something from me? Or does he simply think that I, Huo Shen's, can do whatever he wants?"
This question was like a red-hot iron clamp, burning Su Yan's soul and making it tremble. He couldn't defend Su Chen, as that would only bring trouble upon himself; nor could he agree with him, as that would be equivalent to mentally strangling the last possible vestige of friendship between him and his brother.
Under extreme pressure, Su Yan surprisingly calmed down. He raised his pale face, his eyes watering, but not for himself. Instead, he murmured in a tone of despair and disbelief, "Why...why would he do this? It's too dangerous...if, if we were discovered..."
He cleverly shifted the focus from "motive" to "consequences", and his tone was full of "concern" and "confusion" about Su Chen's reckless behavior, perfectly fitting the image of a well-protected younger brother who did not understand the cruelty of the business world.
Huo Shen stared at him, as if trying to judge whether his "innocence" was real or fake.
"Dangerous?" Huo Shen's lips curled up cruelly. "Perhaps he thinks it's worth taking the risk? After all, too many people are eyeing the fat piece of meat called 'Prometheus'."
He reached out and pinched Su Yan's chin with such force that Su Yan groaned in pain.
"Remember your current identity, Su Yan." His voice was like a devil's whisper, hammering into Su Yan's ears word by word, "You are mine. Any action of Su Chen has nothing to do with you. If you dare to show the slightest softness in your heart, or... tip off..."
He didn't say the rest of the words, but the undisguised cold murderous intent in his eyes said it all.
Su Yan was forced to look up, tears finally unable to bear the weight and falling from the corners of his eyes. He looked at Huo Shen, his eyes filled with fear, humiliation, and a complex dependence on the man before him that he himself had not even noticed. At this moment of being surrounded by enemies, he could only cling to the barbed driftwood thrown by this most dangerous man.
"I won't..." He choked, his voice breaking, "Sir, I... I just want to live..."
This is his truest and most tragic wish.
Huo Shen seemed satisfied with his answer. He loosened his hand and roughly wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his fingertips.
"That's better."
He turned around and gave a cold order to Assistant Zhou on the other end of the phone, who hadn't hung up yet:
"Since President Su wants Prometheus's information so badly, let's prepare something special for him. We'll use their channels to send the gift we prepared back to him."
"Yes, Mr. Huo."
The phone call ended. Huo Shen turned his gaze back to the dark night sky outside the window, his back tall and lonely.
Su Yan slumped on the carpet, exhausted. He knew that the "gift" Huo Shen mentioned was anything but a good thing. A fierce counterattack against the Su family, or rather, against Su Chen, had quietly begun.
And he was tied tightly to Huo Shen's chariot, watching his brother walk towards a carefully laid trap, but he couldn't even issue a warning.
An unprecedented clarity of understanding washed over him: he was no longer a bystander, but a chess piece, a bargaining chip, the card tightly grasped by Huo Shen in this brutal war between two men. He had to find a way out of this situation quickly, otherwise, no matter who won or lost in the end, he would likely be crushed by this enormous force.
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