June 19th. 11 days remained until the end of the [June Snow] rule.
At dusk, just outside a courtyard in a suburban district of Capital Yong’an, over twenty fully ard soldiers quietly surrounded the compound.
The snow around the compound had been piled up in the distance. The road near the main gate showed clear signs of having been shoveled, and the snow on the surrounding walls had also been cleared. It was evident the owner possessed professional snow removal equipnt and had plenty of manpower to operate it.
"Reporting."
The team leader reported to his Commander via headset.
"We’ve arrived outside the target’s safe house. Requesting permission to comnce the operation."
"Comnce imdiately," the Commander’s voice ca through the earpiece.
"Roger that."
The team leader gave a few hand signals. Several mbers of the squad knelt, opening cases that contained military-grade drones.
An operator activated them, and a total of five drones took off. They ascended high above the compound, transmitting high-definition video of the interior.
"The outer courtyard contains a snowplow, a boring machine, a snowblower, and other equipnt. Three ard individuals are sitting under the eaves on the left, playing cards. The inner courtyard is roofed, blocking cara visibility."
"Switch to thermal imaging."
"Thermal scan shows activity in three rooms of the inner courtyard. Total count is twenty individuals. The south-side room contains only two people. Suspected location of the target."
The team leader commanded, "All units, prepare to move. Squad One, front breach. Squad Two, scale the walls on both flanks. Squad Three, circle to the rear and secure the periter. Drones, deploy flashbangs."
The drone operator confird, "Flashbangs deployed."
BANG—!
The three n playing cards under the eaves heard a muffled pop, followed by a blinding flash of light and a high-pitched whine that left them deaf and blind.
The tactical team imdiately stord the outer courtyard, subdued the three n, and then breached the gate to the inner courtyard.
By then, the people in the inner courtyard were alerted. A flurry of footsteps was followed by the sound of automatic gunfire. BANG BANG BANG BANG! The wooden gate to the inner courtyard splintered under the barrage.
A team mber reported via headset, "Enemy engaging with hostile fire. Requesting permission to eliminate."
"Permission granted," said the Commander. "Aside from the target, eliminate all ard combatants on sight."
"Roger."
The five drones whizzed into the inner courtyard and dropped more flashbangs, leaving the ard n inside completely disoriented.
The squad mbers then filed in, neutralizing all ard individuals in the courtyard.
anwhile, in the room on the south side of the inner courtyard, a man in his fifties clutched a terrified woman, using her as a human shield while frantically dialing a number on his phone.
His first call went straight to a ssage: the phone was off.
He tried a second number. This ti, it connected.
"Hello, Big Sis!" The man’s voice was tinged with a desperate sob. "You said you could handle it if anything happened! They’re here for ! They’re about to break in!"
"Oh, Jiping," a raspy, elderly woman’s voice replied from the phone.
"You have only yourself to bla for being so careless. Letting so third-rate gangster trace your identity... Big Sis can’t help you now. But your relatives overseas... Big Sis can still look after them. You’re on your own now."
A chill ran through the man’s heart. He understood exactly what Big Sis ant.
The line went dead. He swore under his breath and pulled a pistol from under the bed.
THUD!
The door was kicked open, and a flashbang was tossed inside.
But before it could detonate, two gunshots echoed within the room.
BANG! BANG!
When the soldiers stord in, they found two bodies—a man and a woman—lying on the floor.
The team leader stepped forward to examine the male corpse. "Reporting," he said into his comms, "mission failed. The target, Zhao Jiping, has committed suicide."
After a mont of silence, the Commander replied, "Recover the target’s body and personal effects. Mission complete."
"Yes, sir."
...
["Chairman of Hengyun Real Estate - Zhao Jiping" has been removed from the group by "Big Sis"]
A system notification appeared in the group chat for all mbers of the Qingi Association.
A flood of replies appeared almost imdiately after the notification.
"Big Sis is here???"
"Why did Big Sis kick Zhao?"
"What happened to Zhao? Why’d he get kicked out?"
"Did sothing happen? I can’t seem to get a hold of Zhao..."
The group mbers had no idea what was happening, but they were all surprised to see the group’s owner, "Big Sis," make an appearance.
As the founder of the Qingi Association, Big Sis rarely spoke in the chat, but she had the respect of every single mber.
Before the age of the Apocalypse Rules, she seed to have a bottomless supply of money. She had invested in or held shares in nearly every mber’s company through various interdiaries.
Yet, not a single company was registered in her na, leading mbers to speculate privately about who she was and where she ca from. A few bold individuals had even tried to use their connections to investigate her, but they found nothing—and the connections they’d used ended up in prison.
After that, every mber of the Qingi Association knew that "Big Sis" was soone they couldn’t afford to cross—soone who might even belong to the highest echelons of society.
Just then, Big Sis sent a ssage to the group.
Big Sis: "Jiping ran into so trouble. I’ll take care of the aftermath. All of you just focus on getting through this current rule. Once it’s over, I’ll organize a get-together for everyone to discuss the future of our Qingi Association."
"Roger that, Big Sis!"
"We’ll do as Big Sis says. She’s looked after our businesses for years."
"That’s right. My company was at a critical point, trying to capture market share, but I couldn’t secure any funding. It was Big Sis who generously opened her purse and, with a wave of her hand, injected several billion. That’s what gave the backing I needed to clinch the win."
The mont Big Sis ntioned a get-together, the mbers began discussing it with excitent. As for what had happened to Zhao Jiping or why he was kicked from the group, it seed to be forgotten almost instantly.
Only a handful of mbers secretly considered using their connections to look into it.
After all, Zhao Jiping was the chairman of Hengyun Real Estate, the largest real estate company in the country. At its peak, Hengyun had properties in every city, and he had countless people on his payroll. Rumor had it that he even controlled many of the city’s violent gangs.
Even if such a once-powerful figure had fallen on hard tis since the dawn of the Apocalypse Rules—with money becoming worthless paper and housing becoming free—he couldn’t just vanish without a trace. There had to be sothing fishy going on.
「anwhile.」
In an interrogation room at the Apocalypse Rules Strategy Research Room, a researcher in his forties was being questioned.
He faced two interrogators, his expression indignant. "I already told you, I don’t know what my brother did! I know nothing about him ordering a kidnapping!"
This researcher was Zhao Jiping’s younger brother, Zhao Jize.
Due to his outstanding research abilities, he had been selected by the governnt to join the Strategy Research Room.
"You say you don’t know what your brother did, but we’ve already discovered that you violated the Strategy Research Room’s protocols by contacting your brother outside the designated communication windows."
All personnel in the Strategy Research Room were required to contact the outside world only during specific, regulated ti periods.
These ti periods were not fixed; they were typically set after a new Apocalypse Rule was announced and before its hidden rules were discovered.
The purpose of this regulation was to prevent researchers from leaking sensitive information about hidden rules that were deed unsuitable for public knowledge.
The rule hadn’t been strictly enforced at first, but it beca ironclad after the very first Apocalypse Rule.
This was because after the hidden rules of the first Apocalypse Rule were discovered, several researchers had secretly leaked the information to their relatives, allowing them to exploit the rule to acquire Sober Mint Candy and gain a survival advantage.
In the aftermath, a large number of researchers were identified and held accountable.
Zhao Jize had been more careful, so he had never been exposed. But once his brother ca under investigation, he, the younger sibling, was naturally subjected to a thorough background check. That was how his secret communications with Zhao Jiping were discovered.
Zhao Jize’s expression faltered slightly. He didn’t deny it; he knew that for the interrogators to say this, they must have evidence.
"That’s right, I violated the rules and contacted my brother in secret. But we only talked about the rules, nothing else! He never told anything about a kidnapping!"
The two interrogators exchanged a look. One of them, a man with glasses, asked, "Do you know anything unusual about your brother’s social connections? These kidnappings are a nationwide affair. He couldn’t have managed it alone. There must have been others involved."
This interrogator was none other than Li ng, the forr police chief of Yunhua City who had been transferred here.
Li ng said, "If you tell us now, he might still have a chance. If we don’t get to him first, soone else might silence him for good."
To extract more information, Li ng naturally withheld the fact that his brother, Zhao Jiping, had already committed suicide.
Hearing the words "silence him for good," Zhao Jize’s face turned pale. He frowned, thinking hard for a mont before speaking hesitantly.
"About ten years ago, I rember my brother ntioning sothing... He said he’d joined so organization full of bigwigs... and that the founder was an incredibly resourceful person."
Li ng’s eyes narrowed. He imdiately pressed, "What organization? What’s its na? Who are the other mbers?"
Zhao Jize thought for a long while before shaking his head. "I can’t rember. He only ntioned it once, excitedly, at a family gathering over a decade ago right after he joined. I think the organization must have had extrely strict confidentiality rules—mbers couldn’t even tell their families—because my brother never brought it up again."
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