Shadow Winds Headquarters.
While Iris' halted showbiz career started taking off again with the now socially relevant film "Strong Yet Broken" and her soundtrack album, Lu Zihao was busy gathering power and resources for his group.
The authorities remained lenient towards the Shadow Winds, still considering them a vigilante group. Although they were already starting to become warier of the group, they hadn't become antagonistic yet. For now, at least.
Security in the Shadow Winds compound was tightened. Things inside became more organized, even starting to give off a militaristic feel. Not only was the group growing in power as a whole, but each of the individual members were also growing stronger. Training took up most of their time.
Inside the control room, Lu Zihao was currently reviewing a failed mission and reprimanding the assigned team when the leader of his hacker team asked for permission to speak to him.
"What is it?" he asked.
The hacker looked around, feeling hesitant to speak about the matter in front of other people.
Lu Zihao understood. "Leave for now. I'll call you again later to continue our discussion," he instructed his subordinates.
When the two of them were the only ones left inside the room, the hacker handed him a tablet.
"Boss Hao, we finally found traces of the person writing the biography about the Vetrov family. He was moving from country to country in the Mediterranean. We first tracked him down in Spain, then in Morocco. From there, he moved through North Africa until we lost track of him somewhere in Egypt. It's very hard for us to pinpoint his exact locations. We can only track him down when he's in places where internet is available. Whenever he goes to rural areas, we completely lose track of him."
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His team concluded that the person's identity must be fake. No matter how hard his hacker team tried, they couldn't dig through his fake background and uncover his real identity.
"We know that several powers are helping and protecting him," the hacker continued. "Some of them are from governments of different countries while others are from criminal groups. They are also the ones feeding information to him so that he can write the biography. We know that he's writing it under the orders of someone else but as to who, we have no leads yet at the moment."
Lu Zihao tapped the tablet screen. It showed a photo of a middle-aged white male who looked gentle and quite dignified. He didn't recognize the man. He examined the photo carefully, trying to find traces of plastic surgery.
If the man really had his looks altered, then his plastic surgeon did an excellent job. However, it might also be that this was the man's real appearance and that Lu Zihao had never met him before. If so, finding the real culprits of the Vetrovs' downfall and total annihilation would only become much more difficult.
"Boss Hao, it appears that this man is wealthy in his own right even without the assistance of the various powers protecting him. But since we already know that his current identity is fake, we can't determine the origins of his wealth. It also seems that he has other identities that he switches to when it's convenient. One of those identities is that of an American investigative journalist. This identity is probably the one he'll use when he publishes the biography. We're unsure of his true citizenship as the identity he was using before we lost track of him is that of a Spanish citizen."
Lu Zihao wasn't surprised. Fake identities were common in the Underworld. Even he had several ones in his past life as well.
"You mentioned that he has helpers from several governments. Are they authorized by their respective governments or are they acting independently?"
Helplessness flashed in the hacker's eyes before he was able to smooth out his expression. But of course Lu Zihao caught it. He already knew the answer before the hacker replied.
"Sorry, Boss Hao. My team and I are already doing our best, but our current skill levels are still not enough to dig and gather all the information that you need. Not to mention that there are a lot of major powers involved that we have to evade as well, so as not to let them track us back instead. We're not sure whether the helpers from the government are authorized or not."
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"Uh…" The hacker hesitated.
"Spit it out."
"I think that all of these will be so much easier if we have Boss Drakon—I mean Miss Xiulan working together with us. Her skill levels are several leagues more superior than any of us in the hacker team combined. So…uhm…what I'm saying is that, uh, if Boss Hao can just ask Miss Xiulan to—"
"Enough!"
The hacker immediately shut up. The boss' aura was too scary! Fortunately, Lu Zihao was able to control himself.
"Good job in gathering all of these information so far. Continue digging and updating me. You may go now."
"Yes, Boss Hao!"
The hacker was relieved to be dismissed. He immediately fled out of the room.
As for Lu Zihao, he sank in a contemplative silence alone in the room. He read through the information on the tablet once again but felt that it was far from enough. The progress of his team's investigations was too slow.
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No!
'She's already happy living her second life. Her career is doing well and will only improve in the future. She's also newly engaged and will soon build her own family. I should support her happiness and not involve her in this dangerous business.'
His hands clenched into tight fists.
'Yes, it'll be faster if I ask for her help but I can do this without her. This second chance in life has given me plenty of time. Let's take this one step at a time. Even if it takes years or decades, I swear that I'll have revenge. And even if something happens to me, she has Jin Liwei to take care of her and protect her from danger. I don't have to worry about her much.'
A determined look flashed in his intense eyes.
"I have to do this alone," he murmured to himself.
The two siblings had chosen different paths from each other.
One was growing her wings and flying as high as she could to reach her dreams and happiness. If she failed, she could still stand up and try again. If she succeeded, virtually nothing would be impossible for her anymore. She could do whatever she wanted.
The other chained himself to the past and was trudging towards the dangerous and deadly pits of vengeance. If he continued at this rate, he would eventually reach a point of no return where success and failure no longer mattered. The end result would be the same either way. He would burn in the fires of hell.
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The wheels of fate were slowly sealing the destiny of these two siblings. It would be up to them whether to follow this destiny or fight against it.