Capítulo 1477: Chapter 696: Victor, Can You Still Control Everyone?!

At this moment, the music was interrupted by an extremely subtle electronic beep.

It wasn’t the phone in the room, but a specially made satellite communicator inside Ye Zhenli’s pajama pocket.

Ye Zhenli’s dance steps halted instantly. He released his wife, patted her arm to reassure her, smiled, and then quickly walked to the study room, locking the door from the inside.

He took out the device, smaller than a phone, with a single line of constantly changing codes and a countdown on display.

This was the highest level of alert, indicating that a critical node in his vast network might have a fatal vulnerability or has already been touched.

His eyes swiftly input a string of commands onto the device.

A few seconds later, a stream of heavily encrypted and scrambled information was received and decoded. The message was short, its source obscure, but its content sent a chill down his spine:

[“Fisherman” silent, church swept clean, but “Cleaner” may have been marked, wind direction changed abruptly, suspected “Monsoon” from the East. Suggest “Gardener” deep dive.]

“Fisherman” was a code name for an important contact of his in Europe, and “church” obviously referred to the distribution point in Naples where a bloodshed had just occurred. “Cleaner” referred to the action team handling the aftermath.

And “Monsoon from the East”…

East!

Ye Zhenli’s pupils contracted sharply.

This hinted that the focus and method of the investigation had undergone a qualitative change, with forces more familiar with internal operations rules intervening.

What unsettled him the most was the last sentence, “Gardener deep dive.” “Gardener” was one of his own code names.

The message was warning him that danger was approaching, and he himself might already be exposed under the crosshairs.

Who could it be? The Italians? Impossible, their level was not sufficient to send out such high-level warnings.

Mexico’s Victor? His reach was mainly in the Western Hemisphere, and his penetration into Asia might not be so precise and swift.

Then the answer was almost self-evident.

The vast homeland to the east.

The one they initially thought they could avoid by fleeing overseas.

Ye Zhenli took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, and he deleted the message.

He walked out of the study room, his face restored to calm, even with a hint of a relieved smile, he said to his wife, “It’s okay now, just a small business trouble, it’s already handled.”

He downed the liquor in his cup, the fiery sensation burning down his throat, then gave his wife Yu Zhiyi a kiss, whispering, “Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to withdraw once I’ve made enough three billion.”

Under the effect of medication and exhaustion, his wife Yu Zhiyi finally fell into a deep sleep, yet her brow still slightly furrowed, as if even her dreams couldn’t bring her peace.

How many drug traffickers could sleep peacefully?

Ye Zhenli silently got up, walked into the soundproofed study room.

He locked the door, the heavy curtains already drawn tight.

He didn’t turn on the main light, only illuminating the desk with an old green-shaded lamp, the dim glow encircling the desk, casting his shadow on the wall.

He picked up a satellite phone, his fingers hesitating over the buttons for a moment, but ultimately dialing a deeply memorized number.

This number belonged to “Third Brother” Xie Zhile, a core who hid even deeper and controlled a vast network of channels in Asia.

The phone rang for a long time before being answered, no greeting from the other side, just silent waiting.

“Third Brother, it’s me, Old Ye.” Ye Zhenli’s voice was pressed low.

“Knew it was you, at this hour, it’s surely not good news.”

“There’s a leak internally, we might have been targeted by the East.”

The other end fell into a longer silence, so long that Ye Zhenli almost thought the signal had cut off.

He could even imagine Xie Zhile on the other side weighing the pros and cons swiftly.

Finally, Xie Zhile’s voice resurged, his pace quickened a bit: “The East is indeed troublesome; when they move, it’s a complete lockdown. Seems like the commotion in Europe was too big.”

He paused, decisively issuing orders: “Execute the second contingency plan, Asia, especially the mainland and Southeast Asia routes, go completely silent. In HK, leave the minesweeping to the local snakes like 14K and Wo Shing Wo, haven’t they always wanted a share? Give them some sweetness, let them charge forward to draw fire, our people retreat, go underground, maintaining only the most core financial channels.”

Ye Zhenli listened silently, which conformed to his usual cautious style: “Then what about the demand in Europe and the Americas? They’re in a frenzy now, cutting off supplies might cause major trouble.”

“Chaos? Chaos is good.” Xie Zhile sneered, “Chaos can eliminate the trash, and chaos can make prices soar, the supply won’t be cut, but will take new routes, Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, the inspections at those ports are virtually non-existent, police are easier to buy than robbers, divert part of the supplies there, enter Europe from Africa, albeit a longer route, but safer.”

Ye Zhenli concurred: “I’ll arrange for people to open up the African route immediately. There’s also one more thing, Mexico’s Victor is a major threat. His Belize Special Zone has now become a free trade paradise and a paradise for money laundering and transshipment. Should we cause him some trouble!”

His mind wasn’t generous, Victor liked to meddle so much, let him meddle more, solve internal problems first.

Xie Zhile interrupted him, with a hint of sinister calculation in his tone: “Mexico! Yes, does Victor think he’s built an impregnable kingdom? A joke, as long as there’s a port, there are gaps.”