156: Chapter 156 The Backlash of the Rules

Imperial Capital International Hospital, the corridor outside the top-floor VIP ward.

Chen Haoyu's phone vibrated in his pocket like a bomb about to explode. Every new message represented a clean and efficient "accident" that had just concluded in some corner of the Imperial Capital.

"Haoyu! Deputy Director Wang from the Industry and Commerce Bureau was crushed into a tin can along with his car!"

"At Section Chief Liu's house from the Fire Department, a natural gas explosion... the family of three... all gone!"

"That professional medical agitator and the agency behind her, over a dozen people, vanished from the Imperial Capital overnight!"

Each piece of information was like an icicle, piercing Chen Haoyu and making his whole body run cold. He looked up toward the figure standing by the window at the end of the corridor.

His second uncle, Chen Fan.

That back was terrifyingly calm, betraying not a hint of emotion. Yet it was this extreme stillness that made Chen Haoyu feel as if he were staring at an active volcano about to erupt; even the ground beneath his feet seemed to tremble.

Chen Fan slowly turned around.

There was no anger on his face, no sense of triumph, only a hollow, pure indifference. He walked up to Chen Haoyu and handed over a brand-new, pitch-black encrypted phone.

On the screen was an action plan titled "Heaven's Punishment."

"The Shadow Unit handles the trash," Chen Fan's voice was soft, yet every word struck Chen Haoyu's heart. "Now it's our turn to flip the table using the very rules they are most proud of."

...

The Capital, the Chen Family main residence.

On the red sandalwood coffee table, a freshly brewed cup of Longjing tea sent up wisps of white steam.

Liu Manwen picked up the teacup, gently blowing on the foam. An elegant and composed smile of a successful plan hung on her face. Her subordinates had just reported that the woman, Su Wanqing, had been rushed to the hospital due to shock, her pregnancy was unstable, and her supermarket had been ordered to cease operations.

Everything was under her control.

In her eyes, this was only the beginning. No matter how rich an upstart from out of town was, once they arrived under the sky of the Imperial Capital, they had to follow the rules here. And the rules were set by their Chen Family.

Next, she had a hundred more ways to make it impossible for that woman named Su to stay in the Imperial Capital.

"Madam, a masterful stroke," Chen Tianyou complimented from the side, his face filled with unconcealed excitement.

Liu Manwen gave a shallow smile and was about to speak.

The study door was slammed open from the outside. Chen Jianguo rushed in with a livid face, clutching a phone so tightly that the veins on the back of his hand bulged.

"Who did you contact last night?" He stared fixedly at Liu Manwen, his voice suppressed as if squeezed through gritted teeth.

Liu Manwen's smile froze. She had never seen her husband lose his composure like this. "Jianguo, you..."

"I asked you who you contacted!" Chen Jianguo roared, slamming the phone onto the coffee table. "Wang Dehai, Liu Kun, Sun Bin—their entire families met with accidents! All dead!"

Wang Dehai, Liu Kun, and Sun Bin were precisely the heads of the Industry and Commerce, Fire, and Health departments she had contacted last night.

Liu Manwen's hand holding the teacup shook uncontrollably. Scalding tea splashed onto the back of her hand, but she felt no pain, only a chill rushing from her tailbone straight to the top of her head.

This wasn't commercial retaliation.

This was... silencing.

...

10:00 AM sharp.

The office building of the Imperial Capital Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce.

Dozens of bodyguards in black suits wearing identical Huihuang Group badges escorted an elite legal team of twelve directly through the main gates.

Ignoring the security guards' attempts to stop them and the stunned looks of the staff, they headed straight for the top-floor conference room.

"Who are you people! A meeting is in progress!" A secretary tried to block them.

The lead bodyguard merely glanced at him; that look was like looking at a dead object. The secretary's legs went weak, and he instinctively stepped aside.

The conference room door was pushed open.

The top official of the Industry and Commerce Bureau, who was presiding over the meeting, stood up abruptly. "Who let you in!"

The chief lawyer of Huihuang Group, a refined middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses, ignored his roar. He walked to the conference table and gently placed a sealed manila envelope on it.

"Our boss is filing a real-name report to the Supreme Supervisory Authority."

The official was stunned for a moment, then gave a cold laugh and tore open the envelope.

In the next second, the sneer froze on his face.

Inside the file were detailed records of corruption and law-breaking by himself and all his subordinates—the time and amount of every transfer, the content of every phone call, and even several high-definition video recordings. The chain of evidence was so complete that he didn't even have a chance to defend himself.

His face instantly turned as pale as paper.

At the same time, a notice was pinned to the top of the Supreme Supervisory Authority's official website.

[Announcement on the establishment of the '1.08' Special Task Force to investigate and file cases against certain public officials in the Imperial Capital suspected of serious violations of discipline and law.]

A single stone stirred up a thousand waves.

The entire officialdom of the Imperial Capital was shaken to its core.

...

At the same time.

The headquarters building of 'Chens Department Store,' a landmark industry under the Capital's Chen Family.

In the office of the Group's Purchasing Director, phones were ringing incessantly.

"Hello, President Li? What? Stopping supply? We've worked together for fifteen years!"

"Boss Zhang, are you joking? Cutting off all fresh produce? We can afford the liquidated damages, but you..."

"What?! Even the Hermès channel has unilaterally terminated the contract?!"

The Purchasing Director took over a hundred calls in succession. From fresh fruits and vegetables to top-tier luxury goods, every supplier they had partnered with for over a decade seemed to have coordinated. Within the same hour, they all announced: effective immediately, they would stop providing any goods to Chens Department Store and demanded that all outstanding payments be settled within twenty-four hours.

The news reached the Chen Family main residence.

Chen Jianguo stood before the massive display screen in his study, watching the K-line chart of the group's stock price. In just half an hour, it had plummeted at a nearly vertical angle.

He looked at the emergency reports showing that all their shopping malls and supermarkets were facing a state of paralysis with no goods to sell.

He finally understood.

Chen Fan's counterattack was never about commercial competition.

This was meant to uproot the century-old Chen Family entirely.

The rules, connections, and business empire he was so proud of were as fragile as a punctured piece of paper in the face of the opponent's absolute capital power and intelligence capabilities.

...

Imperial Capital International Hospital, inside the VIP ward.

Chen Fan received the final message from Chen Haoyu: [Second Uncle, all actions are complete.]

He turned off the phone screen, ignoring the massive storm brewing outside because of his actions, and paid no mind to the countless missed calls from Chen Jianguo and Chen Tianyou.

He just quietly sat back down by Su Wanqing's bedside, watching her peaceful sleeping face, and reached out to tuck in the corner of her blanket.

To him, the collapse of an old era and the reconstruction of a new order were significant only for the sake of protecting this person's peaceful sleep.

Nothing more.

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