Chapter Summaries

Lin Feng learned that Walton had been killed in South Korea and agreed to attend a Seattle charity dinner after hearing that Lü Yi wanted to see one of the guests. He explained to K that Golden Sun relied on fear and force to survive and expand in the United States, leaving K to accept this as their “Fang Logic.”

• K reported that Lee Byung-hun had killed Walton in South Korea and left no evidence connecting the murder to Golden Sun.
• K gave Lin Feng an invitation to a Seattle charity dinner, and Lin Feng agreed to attend so Lü Yi could see a guest he admired.
• K reported that NLG’s shareholders and executives had repaid the financial shortfalls and made additional compliance deposits after Lin Feng’s harsh intervention.
• Lin Feng explained to K that Dongda people faced a low ceiling in American society and argued that Golden Sun had to use violence and fear to protect its position.
• K accepted Lin Feng’s Fang Logic as the principle guiding Golden Sun’s future actions.

At a Seattle banquet, Lü Yi was racially insulted by actress Emma Russell after asking for her autograph, and Lin Feng confronted her and demanded an apology. A smooth-talking guest intervened before the confrontation could escalate, and Emma fled without responding.

• Lin Feng arrived at the Space Needle banquet with K and Lü Yi, where businesspeople and professionals approached him about NLG and potential deals.
• Lü Yi spotted Emma Russell and went to ask her for an autograph and a photo.
• Emma ignored Lü Yi and insulted him with the racist phrase "Ching chong."
• Lin Feng stepped between Emma and Lü Yi and ordered Emma to apologize to his friend.
• Emma panicked and backed away as a man in a gray Armani suit intervened and led her aside.

At a Seattle banquet, Mike Anderson defused Lin Feng’s confrontation with Emma Russell and tried to draw Lin into a business partnership. K exposed Anderson’s Ponzi schemes and the powerful people profiting from them, but Lin saw the con artist as a useful way to reach the people behind the fraud.

• Mike Anderson sent Emma Russell away, then tried to recast her dispute with Lin Feng as a private feud and offered Lin his business card and investment services.
• K warned Lin Feng that Anderson was a suspected con artist whose shell company ran Ponzi schemes targeting newly wealthy people and other vulnerable investors.
• K explained that influential banquet guests helped Anderson appear credible and later profited from the scheme’s frozen funds while investors were left with losses.
• Lin Feng pocketed Anderson’s card and decided the con artist could help him find the powerful people profiting from the fraud.

Lin Feng endured a stream of opportunistic approaches at a reception before Daniel Crawford, the powerful head of All-American Express, came to speak with him condescendingly. Lin Feng openly challenged Crawford’s superior posture, forcing him to sit; the two then faced each other for a tense conversation.

• Lin Feng politely rejected models and businesspeople who approached him with flirtation, investment pitches, and dubious schemes.
• Daniel Crawford approached Lin Feng, offered a handshake, and made pointed remarks about Lin Feng’s takeover of NLG.
• Lin Feng refused Crawford’s implied superiority and said he was not used to looking up when he spoke because it made his neck sore.
• Crawford suppressed his anger, pulled over a chair, and sat down to speak with Lin Feng at eye level.
• Lin Feng sat opposite Crawford while K and Lü Yi stood behind him, and their tense conversation resumed.

Daniel Crawford offered Lin Feng a partnership in NLG’s FEMA contract, but Lin countered by demanding cooperation on All-American Express’s top-secret Department of Defense transport project. Crawford erupted and stormed away, ending the negotiations on hostile terms.

• Daniel Crawford argued that NLG should let All-American Express lead the renewal and operation of its FEMA contract, with NLG as a strategic subcontractor.
• Lin Feng rejected Crawford’s narrow proposal and pointed out that All-American Express held an exclusive concession to transport top-secret Department of Defense supplies.
• Lin Feng proposed that NLG participate in the Department of Defense project and said they could discuss the profits.
• Daniel Crawford angrily accused Lin Feng of making an insincere joke, ended the discussion, and prepared to leave.

Lin Feng had Lü Yi and K restrain Daniel Crawford, then humiliated him with a public declaration that he would take All-American Express's defense transportation business. Crawford fled the banquet, leaving the guests wary of Lin Feng as he headed to the terrace.

• When Daniel Crawford tried to leave, Lü Yi and K forced him back into his chair while security blocked his assistants.
• Lin Feng told Crawford their cooperation would continue on Lin Feng's terms and declared he was taking the defense transportation business.
• Lin Feng poured whisky over Crawford, who threatened revenge before fleeing the banquet hall.
• The guests reassessed Lin Feng with apprehension, while Emma Russell trembled and Mike Anderson watched him with interest.
• Lin Feng finished his champagne, signaled K and Lü Yi, and walked toward the terrace.

After confronting Daniel Crawford, Lin Feng ordered surveillance and possible business pressure against him, then assessed Seattle as a limited foothold and chose California, especially Los Angeles, for the next stage of expansion. He directed K to build a discreet network there while preserving and strengthening NLG in Seattle.

• On the drive back, Lin Feng ordered K to investigate Daniel Crawford’s company and defense transportation business, monitor its leadership, and apply pressure if Crawford retaliated or ignored him.
• At the villa, Lin Feng said NLG had established a foothold in Seattle but that entrenched local powers limited how far they could expand there.
• Lin Feng chose California and Los Angeles as their next target, citing the state’s economy, ports, industries, and more flexible political and social landscape.
• K confirmed Golden Sun had preliminary contacts in Los Angeles, and Lin Feng ordered him to quietly recruit local contacts and acquire scattered, inconspicuous assets through shell companies.
• Lü Yi volunteered to scout Los Angeles, and Lin Feng joked about sending him to nightclubs or into a gang war before reaffirming Seattle as their base and Los Angeles as the next stage of expansion.

After Lin Feng humiliated Daniel Crawford at a banquet and demanded All-American Express’s defense transport business, Crawford ordered an investigation into his new rival. The intelligence revealed Lin Feng’s violent takeover of NLG Logistics and the ominous backgrounds of his associates, leaving Crawford afraid to refuse cooperation.

• Daniel Crawford returned to his mansion, raged over Lin Feng’s humiliation, and resolved to find a way to resist him.
• Crawford called his assistant Calvin Lee and ordered him to investigate Lin Feng, his bodyguards, and his connections.
• Calvin reported that NLG’s former owner, Old Walton, was suspected to have died in a South Korean gang shootout after selling the company.
• Calvin described how NLG’s dissenting shareholders and former executives had been forced out, leaving Lin Feng in full control.
• Calvin revealed that Lin Feng’s bodyguards had violent or mysterious backgrounds and that NLG was exploring transport routes beyond Seattle.
• Crawford feared Lin Feng might use more than commercial pressure if he refused to cooperate.

Daniel Crawford began a covert campaign against Lin Feng, using his connections to arrange an IRS investigation while stalling NLG’s defense transportation negotiations. He ended the chapter confident that legal pressure could cripple Lin Feng and NLG.

• Crawford decided to avoid direct force and ordered Calvin to arrange prolonged cooperation talks with Lin Feng’s people at NLG.
• Crawford called Richard Cohen, an IRS criminal investigation official with whom he had a corrupt relationship, and asked him to target Lin Feng.
• Crawford offered Richard favors, and Richard agreed to review Lin Feng’s tax affairs and begin with inquiry letters and a scheduled audit.
• Crawford returned his encrypted phone to a locked drawer and imagined the IRS investigation trapping Lin Feng and stopping NLG.

IRS investigator Richard Cohen reviewed a preliminary investigation into Lin Feng and the acquisition of NLG Logistics, finding that Lin Feng and his associates had almost no visible U.S. assets despite the company’s enormous value. The investigation left Cohen suspecting that Lin Feng controlled NLG through offshore funding and nominee shareholders.

• Richard Cohen reviewed a report gathered by Sarah Mendoza and Ben Joyner after Daniel Crawford had asked him to investigate Lin Feng discreetly.
• Sarah reported that Lin Feng had a clean public record, no U.S. tax identification number or significant assets, and only ordinary personal bank activity.
• Sarah said NLG’s purchase funds came through the Cayman Islands firm Silent Wind Capital Limited Partnership, while the legal paperwork and money transfers had cleared U.S. screening.
• Sarah described K’s restricted CBP file and Lü Yi’s resolved violence-related records, noting that neither had visible U.S. assets or tax identification numbers.
• Sarah explained that Chen Jianguo was an ordinary warehouse manager with insufficient wealth or experience to control NLG, despite being its legal controlling shareholder.
• Cohen concluded that Chen Jianguo was probably a nominee for Lin Feng and began questioning who held NLG’s properties and other assets.

Cohen and Sarah identified Lin Feng’s network of ordinary people holding assets on his behalf and planned to pressure Zhao Zhiyong into cooperating. The IRS investigation was poised to widen to Lin Feng, K, and their associated accounts and assets.

• Sarah found that properties and vehicles linked to Lin Feng were held by NLG workers and their relatives whose assets exceeded their means.
• Cohen concluded that Lin Feng was using these people as fronts to conceal wealth and ordered the team to target Zhao Zhiyong.
• Sarah reported that Zhao Zhiyong and another contact gave guarded, rehearsed answers when questioned by the IRS.
• Cohen directed Sarah to send Zhao an information request and invite him to the IRS office, where agents would press him to identify the source of the property funds.
• Cohen planned to seek a full investigation and asset freezes if Zhao admitted that Lin Feng had supplied the money.

Mike Anderson brought Lin Feng to Pine Eagle Canyon Club to play golf and discuss business, assuming Lin Feng’s plain clothes and inexperience made him easy to impress. Lin Feng’s first swing sent a chunk of turf flying and dropped the ball into a nearby bunker, leaving the practice range stunned.

• Mike Anderson welcomed Lin Feng to Pine Eagle Canyon Club and led him to the private practice range.
• Lin Feng said it was his first time playing golf and chose an iron from the rental set.
• Mike Anderson began to offer instruction, but Lin Feng took a casual stance and swung before he finished.
• Lin Feng’s swing tore up the turf and sent the ball about thirty yards into a practice bunker.
• Nearby members, an elderly instructor, and K stared in astonishment.

Mike tried to impress Lin Feng with a golf lesson and the course’s social prestige, but Lin Feng found the game tedious and ignored his attempts at conversation. As they continued playing, Mike saw Lin Feng as an easy mark, while Lin Feng assessed Mike and considered whether his territory might be useful to control.

• Lin Feng hit the ball into a bunker and tore up the teeing ground, prompting Mike to conceal his contempt and demonstrate a proper swing.
• Lin Feng called golf too inefficient and agreed to continue only after Mike suggested they talk while playing.
• Lin Feng played poorly across the next holes and showed little interest in Mike’s golf tips or stories about wealthy members.
• Mike concluded that Lin Feng was an unsophisticated nouveau riche and began planning how to win him over during the visits to the company and mansion.
• Lin Feng privately judged the course unimpressive and continued observing Mike to assess whether his territory was worth borrowing or controlling.

Mike Anderson brought Lin Feng and K to Anderson Global Capital’s Seattle headquarters and presented it as a powerful investment firm with global reach. Lin Feng calmly questioned Mike’s vague claims, while K noticed signs that the office’s apparent activity might be staged.

• Mike drove Lin Feng and K from the golf course to the Columbia Center and led them into Anderson Global Capital’s offices.
• Mike showed off the reception area and open-plan floor, introducing supposed employees and describing the firm’s teams, trading operations, and international connections.
• K noticed scripted interactions, pristine desks, and awkward reactions among some employees as Mike gave the tour.
• Mike took Lin Feng and K to his luxurious private office, served them coffee, and talked about his investment philosophy and past successes.
• Lin Feng asked direct questions about why Mike needed outside funding and how a Middle East project’s returns and risks worked, and Mike answered with prepared explanations.

Mike Anderson hosted Lin Feng and K at his Medina villa, using its luxury and a carefully staged dinner to hint at exclusive investment opportunities and cultivate trust. Lin Feng remained calm and unreadable as Mike left the supposed partnership offer hanging without naming terms or asking for money.

• Mike invited Lin Feng and K to his Medina villa after the company tour.
• Mike showed Lin Feng and K the villa’s lavish rooms, art, cars, and amenities while boasting about the lifestyle wealth could provide.
• At dinner, Mike shifted from displaying luxury to discussing business trends and framed himself and Lin Feng as like-minded people.
• Mike hinted at rare, high-return investment opportunities available through special channels and said he would take the lead on risk.
• Mike proposed a toast to friendship without requesting money or specifying investment terms, while Lin Feng calmly continued his meal.

Mike Anderson presented Lin Feng with a supposedly exclusive SPAC investment in a Zurich biotech company, promising enormous returns and near-zero risk. Lin Feng remained unmoved, and the chapter ended as he finally began to respond.

• Mike Anderson described a secret investment structure backed by the Qatar Investment Authority and Goldman Sachs Special Situations Group.
• Mike showed Lin Feng documents for Project Phoenix, targeting Helixion Bio, with a $50 million minimum commitment and projected returns above 300%.
• Mike said his co-sponsor seat let him invite two trusted partners and urged Lin Feng to join him.
• Lin Feng listened without showing excitement, leaving Mike increasingly uneasy.
• Lin Feng moved just as Mike prepared to try another approach.

Lin Feng agreed to invest one hundred million dollars in Mike’s project, leaving Mike convinced he had landed an enormous windfall. As Mike hurried off to plan how to exploit the money, Lin Feng’s party rode away in a cold, quiet Bentley.

• Lin Feng told Mike he understood the proposal and raised one finger, leading Mike to guess the investment amount.
• Mike guessed one million, then ten million, before asking if Lin Feng meant one hundred million dollars.
• Lin Feng nodded, and Mike celebrated the investment and promised to arrange legal, financial, and funding details.
• Lin Feng told Mike to coordinate the details with K, then left with K and his party.
• Mike watched Lin Feng’s motorcade leave, then rushed to his study to plan how to take advantage of the money.

Lin Feng explained that Golden Sun would use Mike Anderson’s Ponzi scheme to launder sensitive funds while tracing and potentially controlling the people behind it. He also ordered an intelligence rotation and withdrawal from the United States as he waited to learn what the IRS was doing.

• Lü Yi questioned Lin Feng’s decision to invest $100 million in Mike Anderson’s scheme, and Lin Feng explained how it could disguise and launder funds.
• Lin Feng said Golden Sun would track the money and investigate Mike’s partners, making the investment bait and leverage rather than a simple payment.
• Lin Feng ordered K to tell Mr. Jin to withdraw intelligence operatives from Washington State, especially Seattle, and have them erase traces and leave the United States within forty-eight hours.
• K warned that the withdrawal could disrupt surveillance, but Lin Feng directed her to use NLG’s commercial investigators or clean consulting firms to monitor Mike’s money.
• Lin Feng told K to keep the departing teams on standby until he confirmed the IRS’s activity, then assign them one final task before they left.

IRS agents Karl Miller and Sarah Mendoza brought Zhao Zhiyong in for questioning, where Richard Cohen accused him of holding assets for Lin Feng and pressed him to become a witness. The chapter ended with Cohen offering Zhao immunity, a lighter sentence, and a new life for his family in exchange for cooperation.

• Karl Miller and Sarah Mendoza confronted Zhao Zhiyong after his shift at NLG and took him to the IRS office for questioning.
• Richard Cohen questioned Zhao about his job and finances, then showed him records linking him to a $1.5 million safe house and a 0.5 percent stake in NLG.
• Zhao gave a shaky explanation involving a distant relative, lottery winnings, and savings, but Miller, Mendoza, and Cohen challenged his story.
• Cohen accused Zhao of serving as a nominee for Lin Feng and warned that he could face years in prison for tax fraud, false statements, and money laundering.
• Cohen offered to seek immunity or a reduced sentence and place Zhao and his family in witness protection if Zhao provided evidence against Lin Feng.

Zhao Zhiyong rejected Richard Cohen’s offer and insulted him, prompting Cohen to order his arrest. As agents escorted Zhao away, Cohen was left shaken by the man’s unnerving calm.

• Cohen waited for Zhao Zhiyong to break under pressure and accept his deal.
• Zhao Zhiyong raised his middle finger at Richard Cohen and told him, “Fuck you” and “And fuck your deal.”
• Cohen erupted in anger and ordered Miller and Mendoza to arrest Zhao on suspected tax fraud, obstruction, and contempt charges.
• Miller and Mendoza handcuffed Zhao and escorted him from the interrogation room without resistance.
• Zhao gave Cohen a brief, dismissive look as he left, and Cohen felt an inexplicable chill after the door closed.