Chapter 30 The Shadow of Power
——The entire Southeast Asian underworld has heard that the tyrant has a soft spot.
The news was like the morning mist on the Chao Phraya River, carrying the fishy smell of humus, quietly seeping into every dark corner.
Mo Xiaohan turned down all invitations to cocktail parties. Those arms dealers who were once proud to clink glasses with him could no longer even see him.
He hadn't been at any of the negotiating tables for three weeks;
He sent his confidants to the multi-billion dollar arms deal on the Chao Phraya River;
At the highest-level casino profit-sharing meeting in Bangkok, he only said one sentence: "Follow the old rules."
Abnormal, very abnormal.
In Bangkok's most secretive private club, several men in well-tailored suits sat around in the smoke of cigars, with ice cubes clinking in their wine glasses.
"Have you heard? Mo Xiaohan destroyed 'Dark Night' for a woman."
"More than that, the Qin family disappeared from Bangkok overnight."
"Who is that woman?"
The man in the silver-gray suit flicked the ash from his cigarette and narrowed his eyes. "No matter what her background is, she is his weakness now."
Golden Triangle, an armed base.
Arms dealer Kun Sa stared at the photo on the tablet computer - in the blurry surveillance footage, Mo Xiaohan walked out of the auction house holding a slender girl, his eyes more panicked than ever before.
"Interesting." He touched the scar on his chin. "Go check this woman's background, and quickly."
Yangon, underground casino.
Casino owner Wu Neiwen received a call from an informant and smiled grimly: "Prepare a 'generous gift'. I want to visit Mr. Mo in person."
Bangkok, high-level government offices.
The Secretary General of the National Security Council pushed a coded file into the shredder and whispered to his confidant, "Notify our people not to touch any business related to the Mohist School in the near future."
The dark forces throughout Southeast Asia have opened their eyes in the dark.
Mo Xiaohan's private estate was under full martial law, with snipers lurking among the palm trees, infrared alarm networks covering every inch of the walls, and even servants delivering food had to go through three security checks.
And in the center of all this storm—
Ruan Xingchen knew nothing about these undercurrents.
She was sitting on the swing in the garden, stepping on the grass barefoot, looking at Mo Xiaohan, no, her "Brother Xiaohan", who was squatting by the fountain folding candy paper boats, with grass clippings on the cuffs of his shirt and the sunlight falling on the tips of his hair, making him look almost like a gentle ordinary person.
"Is this the right way to fold it?" He deliberately folded the stern crookedly to make her laugh.
Ruan Xingchen ran over and touched his fingertips to correct him: "You have to turn it over here!"
He studied very seriously, and his stern features softened, as if he was just an ordinary teenager.
All the bodyguards retreated fifty meters away, and no one dared to watch this scene.
A Tai hurried over and whispered a few words in Mo Xiaohan's ear.
The man's expression changed instantly.
The violent temper of a superior flashed across his face, but he quickly suppressed it. He turned to Ruan Xingchen and smiled, his tone brisk: "Xingxing, I have something to do. I'll be back soon."
She nodded obediently, swinging on the swing and watching him leave. She didn't notice that when Mo Xiaohan turned around, the tablet computer handed to her by A Tai was showing the trajectories of people from three different forces moving around the manor.
In the study, A-Tai placed a list on the table: "Boss, these are the forces that have been trying to get information about Miss Ruan recently."
Mo Xiaohan glanced at them and tapped the names "Khun Sa" and "Wu Nai Win" with his fingertips: "Get rid of them."
"But Khun Sa has the military's support, and Ne Win's casinos involve too many politicians..."
"Then let them die like an accident." Mo Xiaohan raised his eyes, the scar on his left eye looking particularly hideous under the light. "A helicopter crash, or a drug overdose."
When A-Tai accepted the order and left, the wind lifted a corner of the study's blinds, letting in some sounds from the garden.
It was Ruan Xingchen who was smiling, probably because the candy wrapper boat was finally put into the fountain, and the water was swaying with that faint touch of color.
Mo Xiaohan walked to the window, looked at the carefree figure on the swing, and rubbed the patterns on the pistol with his fingertips.
A weak spot?
He lowered his head and smiled, but there was a trace of ice in his eyes.
The whole of Southeast Asia thought they had found his weakness, but they didn't know that in order to protect this weakness, he would personally drag the entire dark world into a deeper hell.
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