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Chapter 70 – The Shadow Strategist Reveals Himself
The conference room was unusually quiet.
Xueqing stood by the massive whiteboard, tapping a marker against her palm. Behind her, Lin Nuo rearranged the digital projection. Meng Zhihao had gone silent mid-joke—never a good sign.
Mo Chen sat at the head of the table, arms crossed, staring at the blurry image Lin Nuo had extracted from the hacked Oracle feed.
The figure was cloaked, faceless beneath a wide-brimmed hat. Black gloves. Lean frame. And the voice… distorted.
"He's been feeding commands to the Oracle network from an offshore node," Lin Nuo explained. "High-level encryption. Military-grade, or better. But I cracked part of the routing trail."
Xueqing turned. "And?"
Lin hesitated. "The signal bounces through six countries, but the origin is local."
"Here in City A?" Mo Chen asked, his tone low and sharp.
"Worse." Lin zoomed in.
The final ping centered on an innocuous building—just four blocks from Bai Corp. A wellness spa. Neutral ground.
Xueqing's jaw clenched. "Bold."
"He's taunting us," Mo Chen said. "He knows we're watching."
She nodded. "And he wants us to come to him."
Meng Zhihao finally spoke. "Should I ready the drones?"
"No," Xueqing said. "We go ourselves. This isn't about firepower. It's about understanding the game."
---
That afternoon, under the guise of a business lunch, Bai Xueqing and Mo Chen entered the glass-walled spa.
The receptionist, a perky girl with a robotic smile, gestured toward a private room. "Right this way, Ms. Bai. He's expecting you."
The room was soundproofed and lined with artificial bamboo. Incense smoke curled from a burner in the corner.
At the center sat a man in a grey suit, back straight, fingers laced before him. A tablet glowed at his side, looping security feeds from Oracle.
Xueqing's eyes narrowed. "You're the strategist."
He smiled—calm, unbothered. "You may call me Wei Ziren."
Mo Chen stepped forward. "And we're supposed to care?"
"I think you will," Wei Ziren said softly. "Because everything that has happened—from Qiao Lan's betrayal to the baited documents—was anticipated. By me."
"You've been watching since the beginning," Xueqing said slowly.
Wei Ziren nodded. "I knew the Oracle's methods would be blunt. I chose to shape something... sharper. You, Miss Bai, are an anomaly. A resurrected thread from a broken weave. You upset the pattern."
"Good," she said. "Patterns are boring."
Wei chuckled. "But predictable. You came here instead of sending Mo Chen's mercenaries. Why? Because you want control."
She said nothing.
He leaned back. "I don't want to kill you, Bai Xueqing. I want you to help me kill the system. Oracle, Bai Corp, Mo International—everything built on old power. Let's end it and start anew."
Mo Chen's eyes darkened. "You sound like a fanatic."
"I'm a weaver," Wei corrected. "And the tapestry needs unmaking."
Xueqing stepped closer, her gaze cold. "And if I refuse?"
Wei Ziren's calm faltered just a fraction. "Then I'll activate Yanshang fully."
The name struck like a whip.
"You can't control him," Mo Chen snapped.
"Maybe not," Wei said. "But I can steer him. And he still dreams of her."
He stood, bowed politely, and said, "When you're ready to burn down the world, you'll find me in the ashes."
Then he was gone.
---
Back in the car, Xueqing sat in silence.
Mo Chen finally asked, "What are you thinking?"
She stared out the window. "That we underestimated this enemy."
"And Yanshang?"
"I don't know," she whispered. "But I won't lose him again. Not to them. Not to madness."