Plan Successfully Executed

"As for how I knew, hehe, you can figure that out yourself."

Natasha looked at Jiang Mo. He was clearly just a child, yet the oppressive aura radiating from him sent a chill down her back.

He was like a shadowy mastermind lurking in the dark, as if he knew everything and saw everything with perfect clarity.

"So?" Natasha forced herself to remain calm. "What are you planning to do?"

Jiang Mo leaned forward, his black eyes staring straight at her.

"As for me, it's simple..."

The corners of his lips curled upward, and that smile made Natasha uneasy.

"I just want to be the true leader behind Wildfire."

Wildfire's leader behind the scenes?!

Natasha froze.

A child wanted to become the unseen leader controlling the entire Underworld organization?

A powerful sense of absurdity and resistance welled up inside her.

"No, you're just a child. How could you..."

"This isn't a request. It's an order."

Jiang Mo cut her off and said coldly, "Have you forgotten our agreement?"

Natasha weighed her options rapidly.

That agreement did exist, and she did owe him a favor.

But letting a child manage Wildfire? This was madness!

Wildfire carried the hopes of too many people and concerned the Underworld's future. This was not some child's game!

Even if it meant breaking her promise, she absolutely could not agree.

"No. I refuse. Ask for something else."

Jiang Mo raised an eyebrow, and a faintly amused expression appeared on his face.

"I have only one request."

"I'm afraid I can't comply."

Natasha refused to yield an inch.

Jiang Mo looked at her. The smile on his face gradually vanished, replaced by an icy threat.

"Aren't you afraid I'll tell everyone about how you privately traded Riftworld Monster parts with someone?"

Panic flashed through Natasha's eyes, but she quickly recovered.

"Who would you tell? Who would care?"

"Don't forget, there are no Silvermane Guards in the Underworld anymore."

Jiang Mo smiled. "Natasha, you're being unreasonable."

"Call it whatever you like."

Natasha looked at him and thought that no matter what Jiang Mo asked for, she could agree as long as it did not involve Wildfire's leadership.

Only this was absolutely unacceptable.

"Fine..." Jiang Mo looked at her as though he had expected this all along. "I guessed you'd say that."

He paused, and Natasha thought he was about to give up.

"How about this?"

"There's something I know that you want to know. How about we trade for it?"

Jiang Mo suddenly proposed.

"No matter what it is, it's impossible." Natasha refused decisively. "And I'm not interested."

However, Jiang Mo's next words were like a sharp dagger, instantly piercing through all of Natasha's pretense and defenses.

Jiang Mo looked at her and said clearly:

"It concerns your brother."

Natasha's body shuddered violently.

Her brother?!

"Actually, he isn't dead," Jiang Mo said.

Her mind went blank.

Her brother... Vahk?

Natasha had been an orphan in the Underworld before being adopted by a doctor's family in the Overworld. Though they were not related by blood, she and her adoptive brother, Vahk, had been deeply close. Vahk had always been someone she admired.

Vahk had devoted himself wholeheartedly to medical research, especially to developing medicine capable of resisting the snowstorms.

However, that obsession gradually became twisted. He began conducting dangerous experiments and eventually crossed the line.

When his actions were discovered, Oleg, then a captain of the Guards, exiled Vahk to the snowfields beyond the Overworld.

Vahk had vanished without a trace ever since.

For all these years, Vahk had been the deepest scar in her heart.

Natasha had always believed that her brother had died in that frozen wasteland.

She had always blamed herself, believing that she had failed to care enough about him and failed to stop his experiments in time, leading him to commit such an irreparable mistake.

But what was Jiang Mo saying?

Her brother was alive?

"Y-You... what did you say?" Natasha's breathing quickened. "How do you know about my brother? Is he really alive?!"

Seeing her lose control, Jiang Mo knew he had seized her weakness.

"You don't need to worry about how I know."

Jiang Mo said, "In any case, your brother is alive, and... I know where he is."

Natasha was completely stunned.

All the guilt, self-reproach, and longing she had felt for Vahk over the years erupted at that moment.

She had thought she would never see him again. She had thought he had long since been buried in the snowfields.

But... Jiang Mo said he was alive and even knew where he was?

A powerful impulse surged through her—she wanted to see her brother, no matter the cost!

Just as Natasha's resolve wavered violently, Jiang Mo's voice rang out again:

"As long as you let me take power, become Wildfire's leader behind the scenes, and have you carry out my orders... I'll let you see your brother."

His words seemed to carry a certain magic, every syllable striking precisely at Natasha's weakest point.

Natasha's mind was in complete chaos.

She could only feel her consciousness beginning to blur, her reason crumbling away bit by bit.

Vahk... Brother... See him...

"...All right."

As if possessed, Natasha's mouth made the decision for her.

Her mind could no longer think properly. Only one thought remained: See her brother.

She agreed.

Jiang Mo looked at her, his black eyes filled with triumph.

He had won again.

He, Jiang Mo, a nine-year-old child, was about to become the leader behind the scenes of the Underworld organization—Wildfire.

Natasha stood where she was, her body trembling as a mist clouded her eyes.

"Then, a pleasant cooperation, Natasha."

The Plan Succeeds

Two days later, in the small clinic in Boulder Town.

Oleg looked at Natasha before him and noticed that she seemed distracted. Even her hands arranging the medicine bottles were moving half a beat slower than usual.

"Natasha, are you all right?"

"You haven't seemed quite yourself these past two days."

Natasha's hands paused briefly. Then, as if nothing had happened, she straightened a bottle of medicine and forced herself to calm down.

She raised her head, wearing her usual professional smile.

"It's nothing, Oleg. There have just been more patients lately, so I'm a little tired."

She avoided Oleg's probing gaze and changed the subject.

"By the way, I have an idea regarding patrols around Boulder Town."

Oleg frowned slightly, but still listened patiently.

"Riftworld Monster activity has become more frequent lately, especially around the abandoned mining area in the east and the entrance to the scrapyard in the north. Our current patrol routes are too fixed, making it easy for the monsters to exploit gaps."

"I suggest we adjust them and increase the frequency of random patrols, especially at night. We should also shift more defensive forces toward those two areas."

She carefully packaged Jiang Mo's instructions as her own analysis and suggestion.

She weighed every word, making sure it sounded reasonable.

Oleg rubbed the stiff stubble on his chin as he considered Natasha's words.

The suggestion did make sense. Several previous incidents involving Riftworld Monsters attacking residents had occurred during gaps in the patrols.

Although Natasha rarely took the initiative to interfere with specific defense deployments, her analysis was not without merit.

"Mm, you're right. Fixed routes really are easy to exploit." Oleg nodded. "I'll make the arrangements, adjust the patrol plan, and strengthen security in those two areas."

He did not investigate why Natasha had suddenly made this suggestion. Years of working together had given him considerable trust in his partner.

Besides, the suggestion itself benefited Wildfire.

Natasha secretly let out a breath of relief.

Passing on orders for that child for the first time really wasn't easy...

A few days later.

Jiang Mo lay in his shelter, listening to the scattered discussions outside.

"...Hey, did you hear? Wildfire caught several monsters trying to sneak in around the eastern mining area again last night!"

"Really? Hasn't that area always been pretty peaceful?"

"Not at all. The monsters have obviously been restless lately! Good thing Wildfire's been patrolling diligently. If those things got in, we'd all be in trouble!"

Jiang Mo leaned against his makeshift bed, his expression completely blank.

Good. The first step had gone smoothly.

Oleg had carried out the order.

His chessboard had quietly received its first move.

Over the following days, Boulder Town's residents began to feel the changes firsthand.

The harassment by Riftworld Monsters did not stop. If anything, it showed signs of growing worse.

But every time they tried to break into the town, Wildfire's patrols discovered them in time and drove them back.

The new patrol routes and defensive arrangements were astonishingly efficient.