Chapter 41: The Sacrifice of Dissension
Near the Trat border line at the northern end of Mae Hong Son Province, the dense forest is like a poisoned net, making the vague boundary between Thailand and Wa State's actual control area even more complicated.
This is a blank area marked "unclear jurisdiction" on the map. In the land where the poppy flowers have faded, bullet casings and secrets are buried all year round.
At this moment, the flames of the explosion suddenly shot up from the depths of the dense forest, burning the night sky red - the armed trucks of the Wa State Army were rolling over the ruins of the Songpa Arsenal, and the roar of heavy machine guns mixed with the screams of dying people crashed into the mountain wall. Even the crooked boundary marker of Dale Town in the distance was branded with a scorched golden edge by this scene.
"It's Mo Xiaohan!" Songpa's adjutant crawled over covered in blood. "He deliberately leaked the coordinates to Wa State... and even attached a list, saying it was a 'debt from three years ago'..."
The Buddhist beads on Songpa's wrist were already soaked with blood. The dark red beads stuck to his sweaty skin and trembled slightly with the violent ups and downs of his chest.
He knelt in the mud, tightly gripping a high-powered telescope - his most elite private soldiers were being surrounded and suppressed by the Wa State armed forces. The leading Wa soldier stepped on his confidant's face and chopped off his gun-holding fingers with a machete. Mo Xiaohan's confidant stood at the edge of the cordon, cigarette between his fingertips, watching the massacre coldly.
Three years ago, Songpa led his men to massacre three smuggling strongholds of Wa State along the Mekong River, seized three waterways capable of carrying heavy weapons, and hung the bodies of the other side's small leaders on the boundary marker for public display.
Now, Mo Xiaohan casually gave this arsenal hidden in the dense forest of Mae Hong Son Province to the Wa State Army as a "gift", without even bothering with the courtesy of "returning the gift".
"Mo Xiaohan...you are so cruel!" Songpa roared while coughing up blood.
This was revenge for the fabricated video that tried to alienate him and Ruan Xingchen, and for those sinister daggers hidden in the dark.
There was another loud bang behind him, the explosion was deafening, and Songpa's Buddhist beads were scattered in the flames.
"Mo Xiaohan——!!!"
His roar was drowned out by a louder explosion, and he was thrown into the mud by the air wave. The falling Buddhist beads flashed in the firelight, and were then completely buried by the collapsed debris.
On the distant hillside, A-Tai put down his binoculars and made a phone call: "Boss, Songpa is ruined."
On the other end of the phone, Mo Xiaohan only replied with one word: "Yeah."
A thousand kilometers away, Bangkok, separated from the border conflict by thousands of mountains and rivers, sweltered. A humid evening breeze, swirling with the moisture of the Chao Phraya River, mingled with the scent of lemongrass from street vendors. It was crisp and earthy, yet concealed an undercurrent of chill.
In the VIP ward of the top private hospital along the Chao Phraya River, Lin Wei was half leaning on the hospital bed, her right wrist in a plaster cast hanging in front of her chest, and the makeup on her face was smudged into hideous marks by tears.
"Dad! He broke my arm in front of everyone!" She grabbed the glass on the bedside table and smashed it against the wall. "Those reporters' cameras! They captured everything! How am I supposed to face people in the future?"
Lin Kun stood by the window, the cigar burning to the end between his fingers. His fingertips went numb from the heat before he snapped back to reality. Of course he was furious—the apple of his eye, the one he had never even touched since childhood, and now Mo Xiaohan had broken her wrist in front of all the celebrities in Bangkok.
But compared to anger, there was more fear. The look Mo Xiaohan gave him when he turned around was like looking at a dead person.
"It's not the right time yet." Lin Kun extinguished his cigar, his voice as cold as ice: "Mo Xiaohan is furious, whoever touches him will die."
"I don't care! That bitch named Ruan is just a woman with mental problems?" Lin Wei screamed hysterically, "Mo Xiaohan is so powerful in Southeast Asia that he can get any woman he wants! I must kill her and see if he can—"
"Shut up! Do you know that Mo Xiaohan has set his sights on us?" Lin Kun interrupted sharply, veins bulging on his forehead. "Don't you know the methods of the Southeast Asian emperors? Have you forgotten what happened to Wu Naiwen and Khun Sa?!"
"Then start with that woman!" Lin Wei's eyes flashed with madness, and her voice became sharp and shrill: "That Swiss professor! If you kill her, Ruan Xingchen will never be healed!"
Lin Kun turned around abruptly and slapped her hard in the face: "Idiot! Do you think the Lin family isn't dying fast enough?!"
Lin Wei covered her face, her eyes wide in disbelief: "You actually hit me?!"
"Beating you is too light a punishment!" Lin Kun gritted his teeth. "How many eyes in Southeast Asia are staring at that doctor, hoping to use her as a bargaining chip to contain Mo Xiaohan! So Mo Xiaohan has already announced that if anyone dares to touch her, he will wipe out their entire family!"
"Why does he do that?!" Lin Wei covered her face and cried, "Mo Xiaohan is crazy, is he really going to tear us apart just for a woman?"
"Weiwei, this matter ends here." He took a deep breath, his voice as heavy as lead: "Songpa used a divisive tactic to instigate Ruan Xingchen, and then those lunatics in Wa State blew him up because Mo Xiaohan wanted him dead!"
Lin Wei sat up abruptly, the plaster scraping against the sheets making a harsh sound. "What do you mean? Are you scared?!"
Lin Kun didn't answer, but slowly closed his eyes.
Afraid? More than afraid!
An hour ago, two pieces of "news" were delivered to him at the same time -
A tip-off from the Trat border revealed that Songpa's divisive scheme had been exposed, and his entire arsenal, along with his men, had been sacrificed. His most capable lieutenant had been nailed to a boundary marker, his death identical to that of the Wa chieftain three years earlier. Songpa himself was likely no longer a corpse.
The other was a "gift" from Mo Xiaohan, an exquisite black velvet box with five neatly stacked severed fingers inside. It belonged to the doctor who was bribed by Songpa.
Moonlight filtered in through the gaps in the curtains, illuminating the newly grown white hair at Lin Kun's temples. He looked at his daughter's distorted face and suddenly felt that the night in Bangkok was colder than the battlefield on the Trat border.
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