The Gulfstream G650 climbed through the clouds, leaving the city skyline behind. Inside the cabin, the transition from janitor to master was most apparent. The leather was hand-stitched, the wood was polished walnut, and the silence was heavy. Ye Chen sat at the desk, looking at a digital map.
He wasn't just flying; he was analyzing. The Mu family had folded because they were dependent on fuel and debt. But the Lin Family was a different beast. They controlled the Life-Tech Group, a conglomerate that held eighty percent of the city's pharmaceutical patents and private hospitals. You could live without a luxury hotel or a private jet, but you couldn't live without medicine.
The Lin family didn't rely on debt; they relied on secrets.
---
Two hours later, the jet touched down at the coastal hub of Sea-Port City. This was the headquarters of the Lin family's research division. The air here was salty and humid.
Ye Chen stepped off the plane. A black SUV was already waiting for him on the tarmac, part of the 'SkyLink' fleet he now owned. He didn't head for a hotel. He headed for the coast, toward a facility built into the side of a cliff: The Blue-Glass Medical Center.
[Ding! Coordinate Reached: Blue-Glass Medical Center.]
[Sign-In Requirement: Enter the Restricted Records Room (Floor B4).]
[Reward: One hundred percent ownership of 'Gene-Sync Pharmaceuticals' & The Lin Family's Private Patient Ledger.]
Ye Chen drove the SUV toward the facility. The Blue-Glass Center looked like a fortress. It was a high-tech hospital where the world's elite went for treatments that weren't available to the public.
He pulled up to the main entrance. This time, he didn't use a lawyer or a business card. He used the information he had gathered from the Mu family. He knew that the Lin family's medical center relied on SkyLink for the transport of temperature-sensitive organs and rare chemicals.
He walked into the lobby. The floor was white marble, polished to a mirror finish.
"I'm here to see Director Lin," Ye Chen said to the receptionist.
"Do you have an appointment, sir?" she asked, her voice soft and professional.
"Tell him the owner of SkyLink is here to discuss the 'delay' in today's shipment of heart-lung stabilizers," Ye Chen replied.
The receptionist's face changed instantly. Those stabilizers were critical. Without them, the surgeries scheduled for the afternoon, surgeries for very powerful people, would have to be canceled. She made a quick call, and within three minutes, a man in a white lab coat hurried into the lobby.
"I am Director Lin Feng," the man said, looking at Ye Chen with confusion. "We were told the shipment was stuck at the airport. Why are you here in person?"
"Because the airport is under new management," Ye Chen said. "And I wanted to see the facility before I signed the delivery release."
Lin Feng looked at Ye Chen's suit and then at the SUV outside. He didn't know Ye Chen's history, but he knew power when he saw it. "Of course. Please, follow me. I can give you a tour of the public wards."
"I'm not interested in the public wards," Ye Chen said as they stepped into the elevator. "I want to see the storage and record facilities in B4. I need to ensure the shipping environment matches our transport standards."
Director Lin hesitated. "B4 is restricted. Only family members and senior researchers..."
"Then the stabilizers stay on the tarmac," Ye Chen interrupted.
The elevator went quiet. The Director looked at the floor numbers, then at Ye Chen. The pressure was simple logic: if the surgery failed, the Lin family would lose millions and face the anger of their elite clients.
"Very well," the Director said, swiping a keycard. "But only for five minutes."
The elevator descended deep into the earth. When the doors opened at B4, the air was chilled. The walls were reinforced steel. This was where the Lin family kept their real wealth: the data of the powerful.
[Ding! Sign-In Successful!]
[Reward: Total ownership of 'Gene-Sync Pharmaceuticals' (The Lin Family's main supplier).]
[Asset: Digital Access to the Lin Private Ledger.]
As they walked past the server racks, Ye Chen's phone vibrated. A new file had appeared. He didn't stop to read it. He knew exactly what it was. It wasn't just a list of names; it was a list of every bribe the Lin family had paid to suppress cheaper medicine, and every illegal experiment they had funded to stay ahead of the market.
"The temperature seems fine," Ye Chen said, turning back toward the elevator. "You can have your shipment. I'll authorize the release now."
Director Lin breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Mr. Ye. I apologize for the caution. We deal with very sensitive information here."
"I know," Ye Chen said as the elevator doors closed. "More sensitive than you think."
---
Ye Chen sat back in his SUV and opened the file. His situational awareness allowed him to scan the data with professional speed. He found a specific entry from twenty years ago.
[Project: Morning Star Recovery.]
[Patient: Ye Min.]
[Status: Treatment withheld per agreement with Long Group.]
Ye Chen's grip tightened on the steering wheel. It wasn't an accident. His grandmother hadn't just died of old age. The Long family had paid the Lin family to withhold her heart medication so they could seize the Morning Star Trust land more easily.
The "trash" he was clearing away wasn't just about business. It was about a debt that was twenty years overdue.
He looked up at the Blue-Glass Center. They thought they were a hospital, but they were a crime scene. And now, Ye Chen owned the company that supplied their medicine.
He picked up his phone and called Su Mei.
"I have the proof," Ye Chen said. "The Lins and the Longs didn't just share a city. They shared a murder."
"Ye Chen, be careful," Su Mei's voice was urgent. "The Lin family has a private security force that makes the Mu family look like children. If they know you have that data..."
"They'll know in ten minutes," Ye Chen said. "I'm about to cut off their supply of Gene-Sync medicine. If they want the cures for their patients, they're going to have to come to me."
He put the car in gear and drove away from the cliff. The third family was about to find out that the man who owns the ledger doesn't just take your money, he takes your history.
---