Inescapable

Manila International Airport.

A passenger plane from Malaysia slowly touched down on the runway.

Yang Tiancheng stepped out of the cabin, looking rather gloomy. His bodyguards and assistant beside him were also on edge, afraid of provoking him while he was in a bad mood.

As soon as they reached the airport exit, a crowd of taxi drivers swarmed toward them like vultures spotting a carcass.

But the assistant had come prepared and immediately had the bodyguards drive the drivers away.

A middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses waved as he called out, "Young Master, welcome to Manila. I'm glad you're here to inspect the place."

He was Yang Changfeng, manager of New Nanyang Company's Luzon branch. By seniority, he was Yang Tiancheng's uncle, but Yang Changfeng knew his place. Even within the same family, some relatives were closer than others.

Though he knew Yang Tiancheng had been banished to Borneo by the family patriarch, he also understood one thing: the man was still the patriarch's son.

The patriarch and Yang Tianci might look down on Yang Tiancheng, but that didn't mean the rest of the family could do the same.

Yang Changfeng personally opened the car door for him.

Once they were in the car, Yang Changfeng showed good sense and didn't bring up what was happening at the company headquarters in China, nor did he ask how Yang Tiancheng had been faring in Borneo. Instead, he introduced him to the Luzon branch and filled him in on recent events in Manila.

"...Quite a few things have happened in the Tondo district of Manila lately. Several Chinese gang strongholds were wiped out. I heard the Fernando family was behind it."

"The Fernando family? I've heard of them in Malaysia, too. Is Manila still safe?" Yang Tiancheng asked.

Clearly, the trials of the past two years had made Yang Tiancheng more mature. Besides, this was Luzon, not Yangcheng, the Yang family's home base. People here might not care about his status as the Yang family's eldest young master.

Yang Changfeng smiled. "As long as you stay out of Tondo, there shouldn't be any major problems in Manila's South District. We have some connections among the Chinese business community here."

"Uncle Changfeng, which gangs are active in Manila now?"

Yang Changfeng thought it over, then explained, "After the Fuqing Gang branch was wiped out, the Fernando family's Tiger Shark Gang took its place. The Sakura Society has also expanded its territory, and the Lopez family has reorganized the Claw Gang. Then there's the Iron Fist Society under Xu A. Those are currently the four strongest gangs in Manila."

"Has the Manila branch's business been affected?" Yang Tiancheng continued.

"Not much. We mainly work with plantations, and tourism has actually picked up a little."

"That's good." Yang Tiancheng leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, thinking about what to do next.

After his father, Yang Haibo, had sent him off to Borneo, he had been deeply unwilling to accept it. He had always been overshadowed by his younger brother, Yang Tianci, and over the past two years, he had been pushed to the very edges of the family.

But how could he return to the family's inner circle?

Yang Tiancheng felt utterly helpless. The palm plantations he managed in Borneo brought in only hard-earned money. Without some real profits to offer, why would the rest of the family support him?

As if sensing Yang Tiancheng's frustration, Yang Changfeng pulled an invitation from inside his jacket.

"Young Master, this is an invitation to the Manila Chinese Business Association's New Year's banquet. It's being held on Minor New Year, the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month. The local Chinese business community will be there, along with members of Luzon's local families."

Yang Tiancheng took the invitation and nodded. "Thanks, Uncle Changfeng."

Yang Changfeng wasn't one of Yang Tianci's people, and this hardly counted as a favor anyway. Whether Yang Tiancheng could make something of the opportunity depended on his own abilities.

Before long, the convoy reached the Hilton Grand Hotel in Manila, where Yang Changfeng said his goodbyes.

Meanwhile.

Homo sapiens Company — Security Department — Luzon Intelligence Group — Manila Intelligence Station.

Near the port in Manila's South District stood an eight-story building bearing the sign "Manila West Sea Seafood Trading Company."

It was an obscure little trading company specializing in seafood exports. The company also dealt in some of the eel fry produced by Homo sapiens Company, evidently serving as one of its fronts.

After the Security Department's intelligence network was standardized, the Manila Intelligence Station was established. The small trading company served as its cover.

The bottom four floors of the building housed the company's operations, while the top four were the station chief's living quarters and a secret base.

The station currently had seventeen bio-soldiers and three technical managers.

Zhang Wei's older brother, Zhang Hao, worked here as a cyber intelligence analyst and was also the station's second-in-command.

At the moment, he was in the server room on the eighth floor.

But the computers inside weren't electronic computers like the ones on the market. They were biological computers unique to Homo sapiens Company.

Compared with electronic computers, biological computers consumed almost no power.

The energy source for the dozen or so biological computers was a specially formulated nutrient solution, mainly composed of glucose, along with vitamins and minerals that kept the cells active.

As a programmer, Zhang Hao didn't know much about the manufacture or principles of biological computers. But he could still use their software editors to write programs.

The dozen or so biological computers had been disguised as ordinary laptop computers. They could communicate only through biological optical fibers and the Pheromone Hive.

Since they couldn't interface with the current communication system, long-distance communication wasn't possible.

Meanwhile, the main base in southern Luzon Island was secretly setting up a dedicated fiber-optic network for Homo sapiens Company through a communications company owned by the Fernando family.

Of course, the Pheromone Hive could solve some of the problem. The new generation of hives could now cover an area with a radius of about eight kilometers.

But pheromone communication had a drawback: each unit of pheromone could carry only a small amount of information, making it impossible to transmit detailed data.

For instance, Yang Tiancheng and his party were currently being monitored by flies, cockroaches, and bees spread throughout Manila.

These genetically modified insects could be remotely controlled through the Pheromone Hive, but there was no way to send the information they gathered back to the intelligence station.

To transmit that detailed information, the insects had to return to the station regularly. There, they could connect to the biological computers, allowing the computers to read the information stored in the insects' DNA Storage Devices.

In the greenhouse on the roof of the eighth floor, five flies returned to a hive cell labeled [JKCY-0201-3682], one of a row of nests resembling beehives. After entering, each fly clung to a biological optical fiber rod fitted with a dense array of optical-fiber signal connectors.

Soon, a steady stream of data was transferred to the biological computers downstairs.

The screen of the biological computer in front of Zhang Hao displayed the latest information on Yang Tiancheng and Yang Changfeng.

After watching the footage and listening to the audio the surveillance flies had collected in the car, Zhang Hao set down his notes.

"Minor New Year, the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, January 28, 5:30 p.m. The Luzon Chinese Business Association will be at the Winfred Casino Hotel..."

He turned and asked, "Hako, do we have surveillance points at the Winfred Casino Hotel?"

The bio-soldier Hako nodded. "Five. They're all semi-stationary surveillance cockroaches."

"Then increase it to fifty. Twenty-five flies and twenty-five cockroaches."

"Okay."

Zhang Hao thought for a moment, then quickly organized the intelligence and entered it into the DNA Storage Devices of five Messenger Dragonflies.

Soon, the Messenger Dragonflies set off in five batches, flying northwest at a speed of forty kilometers per hour.