Chapter Summaries

After armed rescuers subdued the compound’s guards, A Bin and more than a thousand captives were gathered in the clearing. Bai Shan announced that they were free and directed them to register for travel money and help returning to safety, leaving the crowd overwhelmed with relief as dawn approached.

• A Bin was jolted awake by an explosion and herded outside with the other captives as armed strangers took control of the compound.
• A Bin spotted the bound guards, including Brother Bo, and feared what would happen to the captives.
• Bai Shan announced that the telecom fraud compound had been destroyed and that the captives were free.
• Bai Shan ordered the captives to register for travel money and directions, and sent injured people to a temporary medical station.
• The captives erupted in tears and cheers before the armed guards restored order and A Bin joined the line to register.

K erased the compound's financial data and escaped with Bai Shan and other agents during the evacuation. He left the compound disguised as a captive guard and rode toward the mountains, believing the mission was complete but remaining wary until he reached safety.

• K completed the final backup, erased the compound's financial records, and triggered a disruption in its internal network.
• Bai Shan and another agent entered the finance office, killed A Long and A Hu, and confirmed K's identity with their code phrase.
• K disguised himself as a guard and swallowed a capsule containing the keys and transfer routes for the last encrypted funds.
• Bai Shan led K and the other agent through a ventilation duct and out into an alley, where they joined agents escorting Brother Bo and other captive guards.
• K blended in with the captives and escaped the compound in a pickup truck headed into the mountains.

As Bai Shan announced control of the Northern Myanmar compound and K escaped in a pickup, K’s hidden programs drained the compound’s funds through a web of global accounts and crypto routes. The fortune vanished into secure holdings, leaving the compound’s associates with empty accounts and erased trails.

• K activated disguised programs that fabricated technical failures and obscured the compound’s records.
• K’s backdoors diverted funds through cryptocurrency exchanges, offshore accounts, shell companies, and fraudulent trade channels.
• The money passed through mixers, casinos, and multiple layers of intermediaries to hide its origins.
• The funds converged in protected crypto contracts and private foundation and trust accounts for long-term holding.
• K’s programs erased their traces and abandoned the intermediary accounts as Bai Shan declared the compound under control and K fled.
• The compound’s partners and protectors found their known accounts empty as the stolen fortune disappeared into secure holdings.

After escaping the destruction of his Northern Myanmar operation, Xie Yunchuan became consumed by hatred for K and sought a way to strike back. He posted an anonymous dark-web contract to locate and eliminate K, beginning his final revenge.

• Xie Yunchuan brooded over the collapse of his empire and blamed K for the devastating raid and loss of his money and power.
• Xie Yunchuan decided that his former channels were too compromised and opened a specially modified laptop to access an anonymous dark-web marketplace.
• Xie Yunchuan drafted a high-value commission seeking K’s location and elimination, with proof of completion required.
• Xie Yunchuan overcame his hesitation and submitted the commission, placing it in the platform’s review queue.

K discovered that Xie Yunchuan had posted a dark web bounty to track down and kill him, and assessed the threat as serious but poorly concealed. He ordered the Golden Sun to monitor the bounty and its potential takers while conveying his intentions about Xie Yunchuan to “home.”

• K reviewed routine intelligence in his secure safe house before a high-priority alert flagged a dark web commission targeting him.
• The Golden Sun’s analysis linked the bounty’s funding and writing patterns to Xie Yunchuan with high probability.
• K judged the commission to be a provocation and ordered the team to monitor its visitors, potential takers, and escrow funds without alerting Xie Yunchuan.
• K raised Xie Yunchuan’s threat level to priority handling and told the team to pass on that he knew about the bounty and wanted the matter ended.

Xie Yunchuan tried to draw hunters toward K by adding speculative clues to his dark web commission. The Blood Spear mercenary group accepted the opportunity to investigate, unaware that K was monitoring their exchange and had already turned the hunt against them.

• Xie Yunchuan sent a broadcast message adding vague geographic and security clues about K to the commission.
• Locke and Anvil discussed Blood Spear’s interest in the lucrative job and the risks of K’s suspected powerful backing.
• After the platform relayed Xie Yunchuan’s request for an investigative plan, Locke decided Blood Spear would pursue the commission.
• Anvil replied that Blood Spear wanted more specific background information and a secure contact method, while warning that the price might change.
• K watched the exchange through encrypted networks as Blood Spear began preparing to hunt him.

In an abandoned East African farm camp, Locke and Anvil received a secret offer from K’s side to abandon Xie Yunchuan’s commission and kill him instead. They accepted the $200 million contract and waited to arrange delivery of the supplied weapons and equipment.

• Locke and Anvil discussed demanding an upfront reconnaissance fee from Ghost Boss because the information about K was too vague.
• A hidden communications program contacted Locke, identified Xie Yunchuan as the employer, and warned that hunting K would be fatal.
• The unknown contact provided detailed intelligence locating Xie Yunchuan near the border of Country N and offered Locke $200 million to eliminate him and his armed guards.
• The contact promised helicopters, weapons, night-vision gear, and other equipment, with delivery to a location of Locke’s choosing within 36 hours.
• Locke accepted the new commission, and Anvil began verifying the advance payment and replying to K’s contact.
• K received Blood Spear’s confirmation and closed the communications interface.

Blood Spear received a massive shipment of advanced weapons and equipment from the new boss, confirming Locke’s suspicions about the power behind their employer. Locke prepared the squad to use the gear in a coordinated dawn assault on Xie Yunchuan’s villa.

• Locke and Blood Spear waited at a remote dry riverbed for the promised delivery, with two hours left before the deadline.
• Two modified MD-500 Little Birds arrived, followed by three armored Unimog trucks, and the masked delivery crew verified Locke’s identity before handing over the equipment.
• Anvil and the others inspected the shipment, which included HK416 rifles, night-vision goggles, encrypted radios, M134 Vulcans, explosives, drones, and other supplies.
• After the delivery crew departed, the squad reacted with excitement and awe, while Locke warned them to remember the new boss’s rules and assigned teams for the attack on Xie Yunchuan.
• Blood Spear switched to the new equipment and prepared for the final briefing as Locke reviewed the villa plans and Xie Yunchuan’s location.

At midnight, Lin Feng summoned Kong Xiang, a biomedical engineering student in Los Angeles whose unusual part-time job involved collecting and processing unclaimed bodies. After hearing about Kong Xiang’s work and the information it could provide, Lin Feng ended their first conversation and left Kong Xiang to report more another day.

• Lin Feng used his daily random summoning and received Kong Xiang, a Chinese biomedical engineering master's student studying in the United States.
• Kong Xiang enthusiastically contacted Lin Feng and told him about his studies and late-night lab work.
• Kong Xiang explained that he worked for a licensed specimen transport company collecting unclaimed remains and taking samples before their disposal or transfer.
• Lin Feng questioned the legality and safety of the work, and Kong Xiang said he followed procedures and believed his firsthand knowledge could be useful to Lin Feng.
• Lin Feng told Kong Xiang to stay safe and contact him only when necessary, then ended the conversation after Kong Xiang began recounting a suspicious death.

Kong Xiang told Lin Feng how he helped collect and sample an unclaimed shooting victim’s body in Compton as part of his uncle’s gray-market business. Lin Feng recognized the value of Kong Xiang’s access to hidden networks and told him to stay safe and keep studying.

• Kong Xiang contacted Lin Feng and described a young man killed in a gang shootout in Compton.
• Kong Xiang and Diego collected the unclaimed body from an abandoned repair shop after showing police their paperwork.
• Kong Xiang took blood, tissue, and other samples from the body before they transported it to the company’s processing site.
• Kong Xiang explained how the company distributed some samples to clients and arranged for the body’s cremation.
• Lin Feng told Kong Xiang to prioritize his safety and studies, and considered his work a potentially valuable source of information.

Kong Xiang balanced his biomedical research with his uncle’s illegal corpse-disposal business and told Lin Feng how the gray-market supply chain worked. He returned to his experiments after confirming a pickup for the next morning, still intent on gathering resources and connections for Lin Feng.

• Kong Xiang struggled with weak results in his apoptosis-induction experiment and received his uncle’s message about two rush jobs scheduled for the next morning.
• Kong Xiang contacted Lin Feng and described the contrast between studying living cells and handling corpses, including how the work had deepened his understanding of anatomy.
• Kong Xiang explained the corpse business’s sources, clients, forged paperwork, and methods for disguising and disposing of bodies.
• Kong Xiang told Lin Feng he was not afraid of the dead and saw his work as a way to gather money, information, and connections for his future service.
• Kong Xiang resumed collecting experimental data, confirmed the pickup address and code phrase with his uncle, and returned his attention to the cells.

At a secluded villa near the Southeast Asian border, Xie Yunchuan grew increasingly agitated as the mercenary group Blood Spear failed to respond to his commission to find and kill K. He ordered his remaining bodyguards to keep pressing the mercenaries and guard the villa, then sat alone consumed by fear and suspicion.

• Xie Yunchuan paced and fumed over the lack of progress on his dark web commission after more than forty-eight hours.
• A Wei and A Cheng reported that Blood Spear had gone quiet and other mercenary teams had refused the job.
• Xie Yunchuan slapped A Cheng and raged about his hatred of K and his desire to make K suffer.
• Xie Yunchuan accused his bodyguards of disloyalty, ordered them to raise the bounty with Blood Spear, and told them to watch the villa and not leave without permission.
• After A Wei and A Cheng retreated, Xie Yunchuan sat on the study floor and wondered whether K was already watching him.

Two Little Bird helicopters attacked Xie Yunchuan’s villa, overwhelming its guards and shredding the building with machine-gun fire. Xie Yunchuan realized he believed K had sent the assault as the villa collapsed and burned around him.

• A Ta spotted two low-flying helicopters approaching the villa and warned A Wei over the walkie-talkie.
• A Wei ordered everyone to take cover, but one helicopter opened fire before he could finish his warning.
• Xie Yunchuan heard the gunfire, rushed to the window, and saw a helicopter gunner attacking the villa.
• The bullets shattered the study window, wounded Xie Yunchuan, and tore apart the villa as fires broke out.
• Xie Yunchuan blamed K and lost consciousness amid the destruction.

Jack strafed Xie Yunchuan’s villa from a helicopter with a Vulcan machine gun, leaving it burning and badly damaged. As Team B prepared to rappel inside and confirm the targets’ deaths, Locke emphasized that Xie Yunchuan had to be found.

• Jack fired the Vulcan from Little Bird 1, shredding the villa’s exterior and setting multiple rooms ablaze.
• A Wei knocked A Cheng behind a dining table as bullets tore through the corridor and living room.
• Shadow watched the villa and surrounding woods from his sniper position and reported that the perimeter was clear.
• Locke ordered Jack to focus fire on the villa’s right wing, then cease fire after nearly fifty seconds.
• Rex prepared Team B to rappel into the ruins while Locke ordered them to confirm the targets’ deaths, especially Xie Yunchuan’s.

Rex’s assault team entered the ruined villa, confirmed Xie Yunchuan’s identity, and executed him. After collecting biometric proof and searching for intelligence, the team withdrew toward the extraction point.

• Rex led the assault team into the villa while other members secured the perimeter and searched the living room.
• Rex found Xie Yunchuan gravely wounded beneath debris in the study and confirmed his identity against K’s photograph.
• Rex received Locke’s authorization, and a B team member shot Xie Yunchuan dead.
• Rex photographed Xie Yunchuan’s face, eye, body, and surroundings as evidence, then reported the target eliminated.
• The team searched the study and master bedroom, collected surviving devices and documents, and withdrew toward the rendezvous point.

Kong Xiang told Lin Feng about hunger and hardship he witnessed while helping distribute meals on a rainy Halloween in Seattle. After Lü Yi reminded Lin Feng about Sister Feng’s daughter’s wedding, Lin Feng decided they should attend.

• Kong Xiang drove to a church meal distribution site and described children in the rain hoping for food rather than Halloween candy.
• Kong Xiang saw struggling families in the meal line and heard children ask for extra portions for relatives who had not eaten.
• Kong Xiang described Rose delivering meals to elderly neighbors while working to raise bail money for her son.
• Kong Xiang reflected to Lin Feng that many people around him faced hunger, cold, and uncertainty.
• Lü Yi reminded Lin Feng that Sister Feng’s daughter was getting married the following Saturday.
• Lin Feng told Lü Yi they needed to prepare and should attend Sister Feng’s wedding.

As Chen Hao’s family filled their wedding apartment with preparations and celebration, Feng Ya felt the pain of having no relatives from her side attending because of her father’s reputation as a criminal suspect. Chen Hao comforted her and promised a fresh start in San Francisco, but she remained alone with her grief as she practiced her wedding smile.

• Chen Hao helped his relatives prepare for the wedding while Feng Ya sat alone in the bedroom with her wedding gown.
• Feng Ya reread the invitation messages and saw that nearly all of her relatives had ignored her invitation or responded only distantly.
• Feng Ya recalled that relatives had already been estranged from her father, Feng Jianguo, and now avoided her because he had died as a criminal suspect.
• Chen Hao brought Feng Ya warm milk, comforted her, and promised their move to San Francisco would begin a new life.
• After Chen Hao returned to the guests, Feng Ya put down her milk and practiced the happy smile she would wear at the wedding, though her loneliness remained.

Kong Xiang reported on Rose’s hardship and his uncle’s risky plans while driving through the rain in Seattle. Back in S City, Lin Feng began arranging for Lawyer Zhou, Old Wei, and Old Liu to attend Feng Jianguo’s daughter’s wedding and show their support.

• Kong Xiang watched Rose take leftover soup and bread home for breakfast, then told Lin Feng about her struggles and his own observations of poverty in Seattle.
• Kong Xiang reported that his uncle was considering overseas clients seeking remains with particular health conditions, and Lin Feng warned him to avoid dangerous work.
• Kong Xiang offered to arrange a prominent guest or send money for the wedding, but Lin Feng refused and told him to stay safe.
• Lin Feng asked Lü Yi to contact Lawyer Zhou, Old Wei, and Old Liu about keeping next Saturday free for Feng Jianguo’s daughter’s wedding.
• Lin Feng said they would attend to show goodwill, even if the gathering was not grand.

On her wedding day, Feng Ya endured the loneliness of having no family or close friends beside her while preparing for and attending the banquet. As the ceremony approached, she held onto Chen Hao and faced the empty family table, still hoping someone connected to her father would arrive.

• Feng Ya had her makeup and hair done, but felt the absence of her mother and other close relatives as the preparations ended.
• Xiaoyu praised Feng Ya, and Feng Ya put on her wedding gown despite feeling hollow rather than excited.
• Feng Ya and Chen Hao welcomed guests at the banquet, where the table reserved for her family and friends remained empty.
• When Chen Hao's aunt asked where Feng Ya's family was seated, Feng Ya gave a vague explanation, and Chen Hao offered her quiet support.
• Feng Ya kept glancing toward the entrance, hoping someone connected to her father would appear, before the emcee announced that the ceremony was about to begin.

At Chen Hao and Feng Ya’s wedding, Feng Ya’s father’s old friends arrived to stand in for him and support his daughter. Their visit filled the empty family seats and gave Feng Ya the strength to walk toward her future with Chen Hao.

• As Feng Ya prepared to walk the red carpet, a motorcade arrived and a group of Feng Jianguo’s old friends entered the banquet hall.
• The group’s elderly leader told the guests they had come to send Feng Ya off on her father’s behalf and stand behind her.
• The old friends gave Feng Ya blessings and red envelopes, while Chen Hao’s relatives learned that Wei Guanglin, a deputy mayor and public security bureau director, was among them.
• Feng Ya cried as the group assured her she was not alone, and Chen Hao spotted Lin Feng and Lü Yi watching from a corner.
• The old friends took the seats reserved for Feng Ya’s family, and Feng Ya smiled, held Chen Hao’s arm, and began her walk down the red carpet.