Chapter 1 The Dragon City Rises

Saint Paul City, headquarters of the Huagong Association.

Wu Boxin stood before Huo Dongsheng, his face flushed with anger as he demanded, "Outside, it's all guns and cannons, and I'm still sleeping soundly! The Huagong Association is splitting apart, and my brother unit didn't hear a peep beforehand! What's the meaning of this, Lao Huo?"

Huo Dongsheng suppressed his anger and said patiently, "Lao Wu, don't get excited. There are a lot of things involved here that can't be explained in a short time..."

"Not explaining clearly and not saying anything at all are two different things!" Wu Boxin pointed at the ground and roared, "Lao Huo, I treat you like a friend, don't treat me like an idiot! My own people are already pointing at my nose and calling me a puppet!"

Huo Dongsheng was silent for a moment, then stood up, pulled Lao Wu to his feet, and sighed, "Lao Wu, I really didn't want to drag you into this internal struggle. But since you've asked, sit down first, and I'll have a good talk with you about it."

The Huagong Association had already split. No matter how anxious Huo Dongsheng was inside, he had to stabilize Wu Boxin first. If he lost even Wu Boxin, the chips in his hand would be even fewer. So, he had to be patient enough to coax Lao Wu.

Wu Boxin bent down and sat on the sofa, also looking at Huo Dongsheng with a complicated expression.

…

Panama City, Blackwater Mercenary Group headquarters.

A black car stopped in front of the building. Wang Xiao pushed open the door and, with three of his men, strode into the building under the gaze of two Blackwater Mercenary Group soldiers.

Wang Xiao's face was gloomy, his pace hurried, and he didn't say a word along the way. After the Chinese armed forces escaped the encirclement, he didn't rush to meet his nephew Wang Zhengjun. Instead, he took a helicopter directly to Jia City, and then took a special plane from Jia City to Panama City.

Inside, busy staff members and Blackwater Mercenary Group guards were everywhere. Wang Xiao grabbed a staff member and shouted, "Where's Su Tianyu? I need to talk to him!"

The staff member recognized Wang Xiao and replied, "Director Su is in a meeting in the command center on the fifth floor."

Wang Xiao released the staff member, and the group hurried to the fifth floor.

Arriving at the command center, a guard was standing at the door. He saw Wang Xiao and quickly stood up, "Minister Wang..."

Wang Xiao pushed the guard aside, kicked the door open roughly, and walked in with his men.

Sitting in the room were Su Tianyu, Yu Mingyuan, Jiang Zhou, and Wu Han. They were all stunned to see Wang Xiao barging in.

Su Tianyu was the first to react. He stood up and greeted him with a smile, "Come, come, Minister Wang, please sit down!"

As soon as Su Tianyu finished speaking, Wang Xiao gave him a cold look, took two steps forward, reached behind his waist, pulled out a pistol, slammed it on the conference table, and said with a cold face, "Damn it, I don't believe no one stirred this up! How could Huo Dongsheng suddenly start an internal war out of nowhere!"

Everyone's faces darkened. Su Tianyu was slightly stunned, turned his head to look at Jiang Zhou, while Yu Mingyuan sat beside him, smoking a cigarette without saying a word.

Wang Xiao's face was gloomy as he continued to roar, "Just now, the statistics report came in, and our Huagong Association armed forces suffered more than two hundred combat casualties, and nearly a thousand wounded! I don't believe that if no one was stirring things up, Huo Dongsheng would inexplicably sell my brother to the Huafu, and then launch an internal war against our Wang family!"

Everyone was silent, while Su Tianyu glanced at Wang Xiao, bent down and sat back in his chair, and reached out to pick up his teacup.

Wang Xiao became even more agitated, and he shouted sharply, "I just want to ask, who the hell is playing dirty tricks behind my back? If you have the ability, then come at me directly!"

The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive, and at this time, Jiang Zhou crossed his legs, glanced at Wang Xiao, and interjected, "Who are you yelling at? Me, or Su Tianyu? Take a good look, the people sitting in this room are the ones who just saved your Wang family's armed forces! What are you doing with a gun? Who are you trying to scare?"

Wang Xiao gritted his teeth and looked at Jiang Zhou without saying a word.

Jiang Zhou frowned and continued, "What kind of occasion is this? Is this how you solve problems?!"

At this moment, Wu Han stood up, gently patted Jiang Zhou on the shoulder, and said to him, "Okay, okay, stop arguing, now is not the time to argue. You guys talk first, I'll have a few words with Minister Wang alone."

As he spoke, Wu Han walked over and pulled Wang Xiao, but Wang Xiao didn't move.

Wu Han simply increased his strength and dragged him out.

Wang Xiao was still indignant and shouted at Su Tianyu and the others, "Your methods are too despicable!"

…

Wu Han dragged Wang Xiao to a small, empty conference room next door. He closed the door of the conference room, then took out a cigarette and handed it to Wang Xiao.

Wang Xiao glanced at it but didn't take it.

Wu Han asked helplessly, "What's wrong? Do you want me to light it for Minister Wang myself?"

Wang Xiao still didn't take it, so Wu Han didn't force it. He lit the cigarette and sat next to him, smoking.

"You were a little impulsive today." After taking two puffs of smoke, Wu Han said to Wang Xiao, "Now is not the time to talk about these things, and don't talk about these things anymore."

"My brother is gone!" Wang Xiao stood there, his voice a little agitated, his eyes red as he said, "So many of my troops died too, is it just going to pass like this?"

Wu Han comforted, "Uncle Wang, calm down."

Wang Xiao directly retorted, "Could you calm down if it were you?"

Wu Han's face also darkened, and he glanced at Wang Xiao coldly, "Then what do you want to do? Do you want me to have the people from the All-Systems Bureau and the Anxi all withdraw now? You want to start a war with them?! Without them, could those five thousand people have come out just now?!"

Hearing Wu Han say this, Wang Xiao gritted his teeth, "Without them, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Pa!!"

Wu Han suddenly slammed the table, glaring and shouting, "Alright, stop looking for external reasons! If we have to get to the root of the problem! It's that your political skills aren't enough, giving Huo Dongsheng an opportunity! From the establishment of the Huagong Association until now, how many resources have we allocated to you?! You do the math, how much cash alone has there been? After so many years of development, there isn't even one of your own people in the administrative faction! Is this also a problem brought about by the All-Systems Bureau? Huh?! If your political skills were mature enough, and you could steadily restrain Huo Dongsheng, even if others were provoking, it wouldn't be the situation it is now! The internal factional divisions are too obvious, which caused the infighting! This is an inevitable result, a problem sooner or later, it's not like someone's provocation is going to be useful, understand?"

Wu Han was usually carefree, but at critical moments his wording was very sharp and unforgiving.

After Wu Han lost his temper, the two were silent for a long time.

After a while, Wu Han's tone softened, "Uncle Wang, I know it's difficult for you to develop overseas, and I can understand your difficulties. But what's done is done, and there's no use in dwelling on it. Without the All-Systems Bureau, the Huagong Association will plummet in influence once it splits. Alas, we should solve the immediate problems first, and then work together to find a way to rescue Wang An as much as possible."

Wang Xiao's eyes turned red, he covered his face, his voice a little choked, "We've become like this, damn it... what's the point... Xiao An definitely won't come out... This anger, no one can swallow it."

…

Saint Paul City, a certain basement.

Qiu Ge and a dozen brothers lay in the dimly lit basement, the air filled with the smell of disinfectant. Several private doctors in white coats were treating their injuries.