Chapter 121: Nie Zihao Is Attacked

Over the next few days, Tian Wenyuan used surveillance footage to locate the little girl, but she could only recall that a middle-aged man had given her the envelope; his features were already a blur in her memory.

Peng Dongli used the location provided by the girl to track the man via surveillance, but eventually lost his trail inside a shopping mall.

Back in the hospital room, the three men sat with heavy hearts, heads bowed as they racked their brains for any remaining leads.

"Junior brother, how is the decryption of the video content coming along?"

Zhang Mingyang shook his head. "I've finished reading that book, but I still can't make sense of what it means."

"Oh, that's right! Senior brother Peng, what is Director Wang's stance on this?"

Peng Dongli replied, "Director Wang only told us to keep investigating; he didn't say anything else."

"That's strange." Tian Wenyuan couldn't understand what the Director was implying. "Old Peng, haven't you noticed that Director Wang seems to be deliberately discouraging us from investigating?"

Hearing this, Zhang Mingyang recalled the scene in the Director's office that day. When the old man looked at Jin Yaowen's photograph, he had sighed deeply—it didn't look at all like the reaction one would have toward an enemy.

Zhang Mingyang asked, "Brothers, do you think Director Wang might be connected to Jin Yaowen?"

"What? No way!" The two were stunned. "Jin Yaowen just wiped out a team from the base. The Director should hate him to the bone; how could they be connected?"

Peng Dongli nodded in agreement. However, Zhang Mingyang couldn't shake the feeling that they were linked, though he couldn't put his finger on why.

*Beep, beep!*

Peng Dongli’s communicator rang. "Hello, who is this?"

"What?" Peng Dongli’s expression shifted to one of pure shock. "Alright! Understood! Send me the location, I'm on my way."

After hanging up, Zhang Mingyang hurriedly asked, "Senior brother, what’s wrong? Is it an emergency?"

Peng Dongli stood frozen, his eyes wide, unable to believe what he had just heard. When he didn't respond, Zhang Mingyang asked again, "Senior brother, what happened?"

"Oh!" Peng Dongli snapped back to reality. "Our Chairman’s motorcade has been attacked!"

"What?" Zhang Mingyang nearly leaped out of his bed. "Senior brother, are you saying Nie Zihao was attacked?"

Peng Dongli nodded. "The motorcade was struck just as it left headquarters. Most importantly, we don't even know the status of the Chairman yet!"

Upon hearing about the attack, Tian Wenyuan immediately thought of the Black Hole organization. "Old Peng, was it the work of the Black Hole group?"

Peng Dongli shook his head. "It's unclear for now. Rescue teams have only just arrived at the scene."

"Senior brother, you should go quickly. As a high-ranking executive of the Northern Group, the company definitely needs you right now."

Peng Dongli nodded. "You're right! They need me. Junior brother, Old Tian, I'm heading out."

As soon as Peng Dongli rushed out, Tian Wenyuan looked at Zhang Mingyang and scratched his head. "Junior brother, if it’s alright with you, I’ll go with Old Peng. They’re going to need all the help they can get."

"Go, go," Zhang Mingyang urged. "I'll be fine here on my own."

"I'm off, then!" With that, he sprinted out of the room to catch up with Peng Dongli.

Left alone in the room, Zhang Mingyang lay back, his mind racing through recent events: the motorcade ambush, Jin Yaowen sending him videos, and now the attack on Nie Zihao. These incidents left him wondering about the underlying connections. Was it the Black Hole organization? What were they trying to achieve?

With the completion of the *Energy* project drawing near, he couldn't foresee what horrors might follow. Why was Jin Yaowen so determined to stop the project? Zhang Mingyang racked his brains but could find no reason.

He picked up the book *Resource Game* and thought of Jin Yaowen’s words. What was the answer hidden inside?

"No, I have to read it again."

...

Elsewhere, Peng Dongli drove as fast as he could toward the scene, with Tian Wenyuan in the passenger seat.

"Old Peng, watch the road!" Tian Wenyuan gripped the handle in terror as the speedometer hit 150.

"Old Tian, take my phone and call the second person in my contacts."

Tian Wenyuan pulled the phone from his pocket and found the number. "Okay, what do I say?"

"Tell them to recall all senior executives to headquarters for an emergency meeting immediately."

"Got it!" Tian Wenyuan followed his instructions and relayed the message.

The site was only twenty kilometers away, and after twenty minutes of reckless driving through the city, they arrived. As they stepped out of the car, they were stunned into silence.

The scene was a battlefield: incinerated vehicles, collapsed structures, corpses and bloodstains everywhere, and the acrid smell of gunpowder filling the air. It felt like they had arrived at the wrong place.

"Old Peng, this isn't an attack; this is a massacre!"

They waded through the debris to the center of the blast.

"Director Peng?" A young man, his face covered in blood, spotted them and scrambled over. He collapsed at Peng Dongli’s feet, clutching his legs and sobbing, "Director Peng, I failed to protect him! Chairman Nie… he’s missing!"

"What? What did you say?" A furious Peng Dongli grabbed the young man by the collar and hauled him up. "What do you mean, he's missing?"

"It’s my fault! I couldn't protect him!" the young man wept.

Tian Wenyuan stepped in and pulled them apart. "Old Peng, are you crazy? He's injured!"

Peng Dongli shoved the man aside and ran toward a burning vehicle. He refused to believe Nie Zihao was gone; he had to find him. He ignored the heat and flames, frantically searching the wreckage.

Police and medics eventually pulled him away, and Tian Wenyuan held him back in a safe area. By now, Peng Dongli was openly weeping, muttering that it was impossible for the Chairman to be missing.

Tian Wenyuan looked at the broken man. He understood. He knew their history—when Peng Dongli was a poor man from the countryside, it was Nie Zihao who had paid for his father’s funeral. Everything Peng had achieved was due to Nie Zihao. To him, the Chairman was like a second father.

Tian Wenyuan crouched down. "Old Peng, I know how you feel, but 'missing' doesn't mean he's gone. Our priority is to find him, not to sit here crying. Will crying for a lifetime bring him back?"

Peng Dongli wiped his eyes. "You’re right. Finding him is the only thing that matters."

He stood up, forcing his emotions into check, and pulled out his phone to call someone. "Bring the equipment and get here now."

After hanging up, he wiped his face once more and marched back into the carnage.