June 19th, 11 days remaining until the "Snow in June" rule's effective period ends.
In the evening, outside a certain courtyard in a suburban county of the capital Yong'an, over twenty fully ard special forces soldiers quietly surrounded the compound.
The snow around the courtyard had been piled up in the distance, with obvious snowplow marks on the roads near the main gate, and the accumulated snow on the walls had also been cleared away. This showed the courtyard's owner possessed professional snow removal equipnt and substantial manpower for clearing snow.
"Report."
The operation team leader reported to the superior commander via headset.
"We have arrived outside the target's shelter. Should we comnce the capture operation?"
"Begin imdiately." The commander's voice ca through the headset.
"Received."
The operation team leader made several hand signals. Several special forces mbers crouched down, opened the cases they were carrying, which contained several military-grade drones.
As the operators activated them, a total of five drones took off, flying high above the courtyard, transmitting the internal situation through high-definition caras.
"The outer courtyard contains parked snowplows, drilling vehicles, snow removal machines, and other equipnt. Three people are sitting under the eaves on the left playing cards, and they are ard. The inner courtyard has a roofed design, making it impossible to view the situation via cara."
"Activate thermal imaging scanners."
"Scans detect activity in three rooms within the inner courtyard, totaling twenty people. Only two people are in the southern room, suspected to be the target's location."
The operation team leader said, "All personnel, prepare for action. Team One breaches the front gate. Team Two enters by scaling the walls from both sides. Team Three moves to the rear for security. Drones deploy stun grenades."
The drone operator said, "Stun grenades deployed."
Bang--!
The three people sitting together playing cards under the eaves in the courtyard suddenly heard a dull thud, followed by blindingly intense light and a buzzing sound that instantly deafened and blinded them.
The special forces team imdiately entered the outer courtyard, subdued the three individuals, and then breached the inner courtyard gate.
By this ti, people inside the inner courtyard had beco aware. Nurous footsteps sounded, followed by a series of "bang bang bang bang" gunfire, splintering the wood of the inner courtyard gate.
An operation team mber requested via headset, "The enemy has initiated ard resistance. Request permission to eliminate."
"Permission granted." The commander said. "All ard resisters are to be eliminated on the spot, except for the target individual."
"Received."
The five drones whirred as they flew into the inner courtyard, deploying stun grenades that disoriented all the ard personnel inside.
The special forces mbers then filed in one by one, killing all the ard individuals in the courtyard.
anwhile, inside the southern room of the inner courtyard, a man in his fifties held a terrified woman in front of him as a shield with one hand, while quickly dialing a phone with the other.
His first call attempt indicated the recipient's phone was powered off.
He made a second call, and this ti it connected.
"Hello, Big Sister!" As soon as the call connected, this fifty-sothing man actually spoke with a hint of tears in his voice. "Didn't you say back then that if anything happened, you could handle it? Now soone's co to arrest , they're about to break in!"
"Jiping." An elderly woman's voice ca through the phone.
"You can only bla yourself for being too careless, actually letting a low-level gang thug uncover your identity. Big Sister can't help you either, but I can still look after your relatives overseas to so extent. Take care of yourself."
Hearing this, the man's heart turned cold, already understanding Big Sister's aning.
The call ended. He gave a miserable smile and pulled a handgun from under the bed.
"Thud!"
The door was kicked open at that mont, and a stun grenade was thrown inside.
But before it could explode, two gunshots rang out in the room.
"Bang! Bang!"
When the special forces mbers rushed in, they only saw the corpses of a man and a woman lying on the floor.
The operation team leader stepped forward to inspect the male corpse and reported, "Report, capture mission failed. Target individual 'Zhao Jiping' has committed suicide."
There was a mont of silence in the headset before the commander said, "Bring back the target's body and his personal belongings. Mission concluded."
"Yes."
...
["Hengyun Real Estate Chairman - Zhao Jiping" has been removed from the group by "Big Sister"]
A system announcent appeared in the phone group of all Qingi Society mbers.
After the announcent appeared, nurous replies quickly surfaced.
"Big Sister is here???"
"Why did Big Sister kick Old Zhao out?"
"What happened to Brother Zhao? Why was he kicked out of the group?"
"Did sothing happen? It seems we can't contact Old Zhao on his end..."
The group mbers didn't know what was going on, but they were quite surprised by the appearance of the group owner "Big Sister."
As the founder of the Qingi Society, Big Sister rarely spoke in the group, but every mber respected her.
Because before the Doomsday Rules era, she seed to have endless money. She had invested in almost every mber's company through different interdiaries, holding shares on their behalf.
But she didn't have any companies under her own na, which led group mbers to privately speculate about who she really was and what background she had. So bold ones even used their connections to investigate privately, but not only did they find nothing, the connections they used ended up being imprisoned.
After that, the Qingi Society mbers all knew that "Big Sister" was soone they absolutely could not afford to provoke, and she might even co from the Top Levels.
Then Big Sister sent a ssage in the group.
Big Sister: "Jiping had a bit of trouble; I'll handle the follow-up. All of you focus on getting through this rule first. After this rule period ends, I'll organize a gathering for everyone to discuss our Qingi Society's future plans."
"Received, Big Sister!"
"Just follow Big Sister's lead. Over the years, Big Sister has taken great care of our businesses."
"Yes, my company was at a critical mont fighting for market share back then, but we couldn't secure financing. It was Big Sister who generously stepped in, investing several billion with a wave of her hand, giving
the confidence to secure victory."
As soon as Big Sister ntioned a gathering, the mbers imdiately beca excited and started discussing. As for what happened to Zhao Jiping and why he was kicked out of the group, it seed to be quickly forgotten.
Only a few mbers privately considered using their connections to investigate.
After all, Zhao Jiping was the chairman of Hengyun Real Estate, the largest real estate company in the country. At its peak, there were Hengyun properties in every city across the nation. He employed countless people underneath him, and it was said he even controlled the underworld in many cities.
Such a once-powerful figure, even if he declined after entering the Doomsday Rules era because money beca worthless and housing beca free, shouldn't just encounter trouble and disappear like that. There must be sothing fishy going on.
At the sa ti, in the Doomsday Rules Counterasures Research Office, a researcher in his forties was being held in an interrogation room.
Facing two interrogators, he said with indignation, "I've told you, I don't know what my brother did! I know nothing about him sending people to kidnap others!"
This researcher was none other than Zhao Jiping's younger brother, Zhao Jize.
Because of his outstanding research abilities, he had been selected by the authorities to join the Counterasures Research Office.
"You say you don't know what your brother did, but we've already discovered that you violated the Research Office's discipline by contacting your brother outside of designated hours."
Everyone in the Research Office who wants to contact people outside must do so during designated hours.
These designated hours are not fixed, typically occurring after new Doomsday Rules are announced and before hidden rules are identified.
The purpose of this regulation is to prevent Research Office personnel from having opportunities to privately leak hidden rules that shouldn't be disseminated when they appear.
This rule wasn't strict initially, but after the first Doomsday Rule, it beca extrely stringent.
Because after the hidden rule of the first Doomsday Rule was identified, several researchers in the office privately disclosed it to their relatives, allowing them to use the rule to obtain Alertness Mints and seize survival opportunities.
Afterwards, a large number of researchers were investigated and held accountable.
Zhao Jize, because he had been more careful, had never been exposed. But after his brother was investigated, he as the younger brother was naturally investigated in detail, thus revealing that he had secretly contacted Zhao Jiping.
Zhao Jize's expression changed slightly at this point. He didn't deny it, knowing that if the interrogators said this, it ant they had evidence.
"That's right, I violated discipline and secretly contacted my brother. But we only discussed rules-related matters, nothing else at all! He never told
anything about kidnappings!"
The two interrogators glanced at each other. One of them, wearing glasses, asked, "What do you know about your brother's social connections that's particularly noteworthy? You should understand that these kidnapping cases involve the entire country; he couldn't have managed them alone. There must be others involved."
This interrogator was none other than Li ng, the Police Departnt Chief transferred from Yunhua City.
Li ng said, "If you talk now, there might still be a chance to save him. Otherwise, even if we don't arrest him, he might be silenced by others."
To extract more information, Li ng naturally wouldn't tell Zhao Jize that his brother Zhao Jiping had already committed suicide.
Hearing the words "silenced," Zhao Jize's face turned sowhat pale. He frowned, seeming to think hard, and after a mont spoke uncertainly.
"About ten years ago, I heard my brother ntion that he had joined so organization, where all the mbers were major players... The organization's founder was an especially powerful and well-connected person."
Li ng's eyes sharpened, imdiately pressing further, "What organization? What's its na? Who are the other mbers?"
Zhao Jize thought for a long ti, then shook his head. "I can't rember clearly. He only ntioned it excitedly once at a family gathering right after he joined over ten years ago. Later, it seed because the organization had extrely strict confidentiality rules—mbers couldn't even disclose it to relatives—so my brother never brought it up again."
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