That night, Li Qiang finally noticed something strange.
He had mapped supplier connections for hours.
One pattern kept appearing.
Delivery routes were changing.
Not randomly.
Strategically.
Some suppliers received faster distribution priority.
Others experienced recurring delays.
It looked like someone was slowly adjusting the network.
Not attacking it directly.
Controlling it.
Li Qiang leaned back in his chair.
"Interesting…"
If his theory was correct…
The sabotage might only be a distraction.
Someone else was manipulating the market behind the scenes.
But who?
He stared at the supply map again.
Then circled several companies with his pen.
Investment firms had recently appeared in all of them.
Small investors.
Different names.
Yet the timing was suspicious.
Across the city, Chen Mo's system interface flashed again.
Suspicion Detected
Source: Li Qiang
Intensity: Rising
Emotion Harvest:
Curiosity +14
Suspicion +19
Chen Mo smiled slightly.
Li Qiang was smart.
Much smarter than Zhang Rui.
He had already realized the network was being controlled.
But he still didn't know by whom.
Chen Mo looked out across the city skyline.
Lights stretched endlessly into the distance.
The web continued tightening.
And the deeper Li Qiang investigated…
The more emotions the system would harvest.
Which meant only one thing.
The next evolution was getting closer.