Homo Sapiens

The sun was setting.

The sunset in Bangkok brought a hint of coolness to the fiery, passionate city. It also stirred the restless hearts of some, making them eager to act.

Inside the secret base.

Chen Jianxiong and his subordinates were analyzing intelligence on the entire interior of the Riverfront Hotel. Although their focus was the business center on the top floor, it didn’t mean the other rooms and areas were being ignored.

Watching the footage of Yang Tianci and the others talking, as well as the cooperation agreements they signed, he quickly gleaned the highly detailed contents.

”The Kam Oil Field?” Chen Jianxiong turned his head to look at a map.

He quickly found the oil field’s specific location using its latitude and longitude.

Its location wasn’t near Borneo, but in the waters east of the Malay Peninsula, at approximately 5.3 degrees north latitude and 105.4 degrees east longitude.

Quite a few offshore oil fields were already in operation in this maritime region.

He noted down the relevant intelligence and continued to review the data.

By integrating the currently known data, it seemed this so-called cooperation was likely the result of Yang Tianci and the people behind him using an exchange of benefits to convince Thomas Morgan to let them in on the deal.

Of course, Chen Jianxiong knew there was no such thing as a free lunch.

In this cooperation, the Malaysian government didn’t have to spend a single cent. Meanwhile, Temasek Investment Company, acting as the middleman, had only paid 130 million US Dollars for a 7% stake.

As for the true shark in the water, the Morgan Clan, they had obtained their 25% stake without spending a dime. Thomas was essentially getting something for nothing.

Although the exploration report had already confirmed the approximate reserves, it couldn’t be fully certain until oil and natural gas were actually extracted.

The 1.75 billion US Dollars raised this time was the Kam Oil Field’s real operating capital. If these billions of US Dollars were spent without any oil being extracted, the Morgan Clan would definitely not up the ante.

Moreover, according to the contract, the petroleum equipment manufacturing company that won the bid to build the three offshore drilling platforms was also a subsidiary of the Morgan Clan. The total contract price was 660 million US Dollars.

Whether anyone else would make a profit was still an unknown, but the Morgan Clan had already earned several hundred million US Dollars from the order for the offshore drilling platforms.

”Huh...?” Another manager, responsible for checking the other rooms in the Riverfront Hotel, discovered that Thomas Morgan had checked in the night before last. By that time, the Security Department’s surveillance insects had already been in the hotel for several days.

By searching the database, he uncovered Thomas’s every move in the hotel over the past few days.

”Director, I’ve found a target worthy of investigation.”

Chen Jianxiong walked over and looked at the compiled information. ”Victor Austin, an American businessman, frequently active in Southeast Asia, has a partnership with Meisha Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Celestial Silk Company...”

”Meisha Pharmaceutical?! Isn’t that an anesthetic manufacturing company? And the content of his conversation with Thomas...”

Chen Jianxiong designated this person a B-level surveillance target. He hadn’t expected this pleasant surprise during the operation.

Night fell, but Chen Jianxiong and his team were still intently examining every piece of data, ensuring no important intelligence was missed.

After all, the truth was often hidden in inconspicuous details.

As more and more intelligence was filtered, the files on the details of the Kam Oil Field cooperation, as well as on Yang Tianci, Thomas, Temasek Investment Company, the Siam Chinese Merchants, and the Malaysian Guo Family, were rapidly being fleshed out.

Meanwhile.

The special operations team led by Domino had also arrived on a street about a kilometer from the Xu Manor. She sat in an SUV.

After ensuring the entire Xu Manor was within the control range of her pheromones, she released the first batch of toxic mosquitoes.

Half an hour later.

The Soldier responsible for receiving data from the surveillance insects reported, ”The target has been bitten by a toxic mosquito.”

A flicker of pleasure crossed Domino’s face. ”Withdraw.”

She hadn’t always been called Domino, but she had buried her old name deep in her heart. Now, she would live on as Domino and eliminate all of her boss’s enemies.

From the moment she was saved, Domino had harbored an extraordinary hatred for the world, and an even greater loathing for the gangs and powerful families.

To Domino, people like Yang Tianci were clearly nothing more than detestable jackals.

The reason for her intense hatred was her tragic experience in Manila and the powerful families and gangs who had manipulated everything from behind the scenes. Causing these scumbags to be utterly destroyed and pledging loyalty to Li Qingye had become Domino’s life mission.

Having been bitten by the toxic mosquito, Yang Tianci was still unaware that the poison was slowly spreading through his body.

「The next morning.」

Yang Tianci felt exhausted, but he chalked it up to the drinking and socializing from the previous day and didn’t think much of it.

After breakfast, he left with Xu Xue Meng.

The two of them went to the Riverfront Hotel again.

This time, however, they didn’t go to the business center on the top floor, but to a private dining room in a restaurant that offered excellent privacy.

Thomas had already left.

But another person was there. He was a heavyset white man.

”Hello! You must be Mr. Yang, right? I’m Victor Austin, but you can call me Victor.” The overly familiar, heavyset man was none other than Victor, who had met secretly with Thomas earlier.

Yang Tianci replied with a dry laugh, ”Hello, Mr. Victor.”

”Sit, sit. Let’s eat and talk,” Victor said, knife and fork in hand.

Xu Xue Meng, however, didn’t seem to mind. ”OK.”

The three of them exchanged pleasantries for about ten minutes.

Victor picked up his napkin, wiped his mouth, and flashed a mouthful of pearly whites. ”Yang, we’re friends, aren’t we?”

”Of course we are.” Yang Tianci knew he couldn’t refuse.

”I have a small matter I need your help with,” Victor said with a smile, his eyes fixed on Yang Tianci like a hawk. ”I have a shipment that needs to go from Old Street through Yunnan. I need you to coordinate things.”

Yang Tianci hesitated. ”What kind of shipment?”

”A batch of commemorative stamp replicas. Not a large quantity, only about five tons,” Victor said, his smile growing even wider.

”Stamps? I doubt they’re ordinary stamps, are they?” Yang Tianci asked, a grave feeling washing over him.

Victor picked up his wine glass and took a small sip. ”Yang, you didn’t think that 20% stake would come so easily, did you? Even though you had that Bibi ride-hailing company cooperate with us, which made Mr. Thomas a lot of money back then, it’s still not enough.”

”...” Yang Tianci fell silent.

He knew, of course, that the oil field’s exploration data for this cooperation wasn’t as vague as what had been publicly disclosed during the previous talks. In reality, it was highly credible.

But Thomas hadn’t told anyone else; he had only told Du Jianxin.

That was why the New Nanyang Investment Company had invested 1 billion US Dollars without hesitation.

The price had been the database of the Bibi ride-hailing company, as well as a 20% stake in Xinxin Group’s subsidiary, Xinxin Precision Engineering. Although this subsidiary was only valued at over a billion Huayuan, Xinxin Precision Engineering possessed several special alloy formulas and the manufacturing process for high-precision bearings, making it one of the few companies in Huaguo capable of producing them.

But even after paying such a high price, the other party still felt it wasn’t enough.

Yang Tianci knew this business with Victor wasn’t a simple trade; there had to be some problems involved.

But he couldn’t refuse.

”I can help, but I’ll need a sample of those ’stamps’.”

Victor shrugged. ”No problem.”

He then pulled a few stamps from his briefcase and handed them to Yang Tianci with a smile.