Jianghai City, Jade Bay.
This was Jianghai City's most upscale villa district, located east of the city's central axis and adjacent to the CBD, yet secluded amid the bustle.
The entire community covered over four hundred mu, with only thirty-six detached villas built within it. Every home faced the water, and every household had its own courtyard.
The entrance was an archway carved from a single block of granite, with the three words "Jade Bay" embedded in pure copper on its lintel.
Two rows of security guards stood at the gate, their uniforms immaculate, looking even sharper than the doormen of a five-star hotel.
Further inside lay groves of camphor and ginkgo trees. It was late autumn, and golden leaves carpeted the ground.
Villa No. 3 was Zhang Ziqiang's home.
The villa was built in a standard Western Continent style, with creamy white exterior walls, a red-tiled roof, and two Roman columns beneath the porch.
The garden was not large, but it was exquisitely maintained. Several valuable Buddhist pines grew there, along with a koi pond.
Engraved on the house number was a silver noble title crest—Baron.
This was a standard residence issued by the Empire to newly promoted Barons. Several such "noble estates" stood in the prime districts of every city, specifically intended to house newly ennobled aristocrats.
At this moment, in the villa's basement.
The lighting was dim, and the air was damp.
Rather than a basement, it was more like a private workshop.
Several rows of stainless-steel shelves stood against the walls, neatly lined with bottles and jars of all kinds.
Formalin, alcohol, lime powder, cinnabar, realgar, as well as rare materials that could not be bought on the market at all.
A handwritten notebook lay open on the workbench in the corner.
The paper was ordinary