Lateral branches

  The Olympics closed smoothly, and the Russian trade delegation stayed in China for various reasons. From heavy industry foundation to production assembly lines of lighters, Prolov took people to inspect everything that could be thought of, because all expenses were self-funded, so they also made some contributions to the economic development of those Chinese cities along the way.

  The Chinese side did not know why Plov and others, after completing all the formalities, still lingered in China. However, now everyone's attention is focused on the situation in the UK, as long as Plov and his group do not cause trouble, who cares about them? According to a casual remark made by a high-ranking official of the Foreign Affairs Committee: "Plov has been bored at home in Russia, it's just right that he takes advantage of public funds to travel to China, let him go wherever he wants, just tell all hotels not to give him a discount."

  In London, England, Cain sat stone-faced behind Chekhov, watching as Chekhov and seven or eight others messed around with his keyboard and mouse, the screen flashing with things that Cain couldn't understand. But Cain didn't care. After all, the boss only required him to keep an eye on Chekhov and make sure he didn't cause any trouble. Now that he wasn't taking drugs, was only slightly drunk, and hadn't picked up a prostitute, he was being pretty obedient.

  The mobile phone suddenly rang out, Chikov, who was facing the monitor, narrowed one eye with a smile and took a sneak peek at Cain.

  "Ah, yes, I'm Cain... What? Mr. Fabio has arrived in London? Something urgent to discuss with us? Alright, I'll be right there." He hung up the phone and patted Chikov on the shoulder: "Chikov, remember what the boss said, don't cause any trouble now, got it?"

  Chekhov blinked his eyes: "Kain, what do you mean? I absolutely won't disobey the captain's orders, don't worry."

  Cain looked at Chekhov with some unease, and Chekhov immediately exclaimed: "Oh heavens, great and almighty God, dear Cain, can it be that in your eyes, I, Chekhov, so sincere, honest, kind, and pure, a model for the youth of the world, am actually a shameless, foul-mouthed liar? You have wounded my fragile heart."

  Cain had a taste of overnight butter, licked his lips, stared at Chekhov fiercely, threatened to swing the heavy handgun in his hand, and walked out with several subordinates.

  Chekhov crouched stealthily on the windowsill, watching as Kane started up the engine. The civilian Hummer screeched out of there and he leapt to his feet, whooping: "Brothers, it's party time... Come on, brothers, let's count them off, ah ha, British government, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Defence, Foreign Office, British royal family overseas stations... Right, right, those big shots, send all the carefully collected pictures and videos to them, give all the gentlemen and ladies in Britain a free sex education!"

  A group of Russian hackers who didn't know any better shouted that they would transmit the relevant information to attack the British financial system into a foreign server controlled by funds, and after erasing the traces on their own machine, they started this great project crazily. Chikov smiled and said: "We should try our best to make Britain's birth rate increase a bit, so we must put up the most wonderful movies, you know?"

  A young man with a big beard quickly lit a marijuana cigarette, took a daze-like puff, and smiled as if floating in the clouds: "Dear Chekhov, don't worry, I have the latest Japanese film here, the story of ten dogs and two women, the British will surely be excited."

  In the living room on the second floor of Yicun's old nest, Zhongcheng City, Fabio, dressed in a crisp white Western suit, was walking back and forth excitedly.

  Cain brought in a few subordinates and pushed open the door. Fabio hurried to welcome him: "Dear Cain, where is my brother China Yi?"

  Cain simply said: "The boss went to China to watch the Olympics... Mr. Fabio, is there anything that needs our help? The boss has given me full authority to handle all matters when he is not around."

  Fabio tilted his head and took a look at Cain's three subordinates, pouting.

  Cain said calmly, "They are my personally trained subordinates, absolutely loyal to our boss and me. There's no need to hide anything from them." Cain's three subordinates raised their eyebrows, slightly lifted their chins, and his words greatly satisfied their German standard of self-respect, instantly radiating a captivating glow on their faces.

  Fabio made a somewhat exaggerated gesture, bowing and raising his hands: "Sorry, Mr. Kane, and you three gentlemen, sorry, ahah, let's sit down and talk."

  Cain gestured for Fabio to take the seat he had occupied that day, and sat down beside him. Three of Cain's subordinates pushed a cart of liquor over and filled their glasses.

  Fabio signaled to the four men he brought with him to guard the living room door, and whispered mysteriously: "Last time, my brother, your boss, China's Easy, and I agreed that I would transfer $2.07 billion of our family's assets under my control, and also bring a batch of high-quality heroin from Silver Crescent. You see... the plan last time was."

  Cain nodded and said, "Our boss doesn't touch heroin, you can handle those things yourself. As for that batch of money, I think you should put it there first, we can start registering a security company, right? Mr. Fabio, we can train our own people with legitimate identities."

  Fabio smiled, lightly clinking his glass against Kane's and said with satisfaction: "Yes, yes, Mr. Chekhov is a genius, I transferred so much money out, the family didn't notice anything... I've already filled this gap with Silver Crescent's poison, haha, the garrison officer over there was very cooperative, very cooperative."

  Cain and Fabio clinked glasses together, Cain also cracked a smile: "Our boss will definitely be thrilled with your achievements... once we have enough strength in our hands, we'll help you wipe out the old Anchetti family, and at that time, you'll be the master of the Anchetti family, the prince of Rome's upper class." Cain also gave Fabio a not-so-light pat on the back.

  Fabio became excited: "First, I'll get rid of my beloved brother, then that bitch he's got now, that damned movie star, that worn-out piece of trash who's been ridden by thousands and crushed by tens of thousands, I'll sell her to Africa as a military prostitute."

  Cain burst out laughing: "You will definitely get what you want... Of course, it is. But everything has to wait until our boss comes back, your money, you'd better put it in that account first, and also, don't leak any wind. Our boss is never afraid of anything, but we don't want you to be killed by the gunman from your own family on the way."

  Fabio stood up, nodded and said: "Don't worry, I have a sense of propriety. I'm going to Switzerland, beautiful Switzerland, ahah, peaceful Switzerland... My family has some business there, don't worry, I'll be absolutely careful. This time I came just to give my brother a hint, but since he's not here, everything is entrusted to you, Mr. Cain."

  Cain also stood up, nodded and said: "No problem, I will definitely handle the relevant matters well. Next, I'll go find a lawyer with good connections to inquire about the feasibility and restrictions of setting up a security company in the UK... Goodbye, be careful on your way."

  Fabio almost danced out with a little night tune, his face was radiant and formed a sharp contrast with the gloomy look of that day.

  Cain furrowed his brow and chased after him quickly, catching up to Fabio just as he was about to start the car. Cain leaned against Fabio's car window, looking at Fabio's puzzled face, and solemnly reminded him: "Mr. Fabio, our boss has always taught us a phrase: pride goes before a fall. Before things are thoroughly successful, any abnormal behavior on your part will bring catastrophic consequences to yourself and your assistant."

  Fabio's face stiffened, he examined himself, collected the smile on his face, and nodded quietly: "Yes, I was too carried away, thank you for your reminder, Mr. Cain... I envy my brother, he is so lucky to have such an excellent subordinate as you."

  Kane nodded and silently walked back to Chinatown.

  A major in the British electronic surveillance department shouted: "Boss, that damn pervert is on the move again! Damn it, this son of a bitch has simultaneously launched an attack on almost all of our government department websites... Does he think we're not chaotic enough now?"

  His superior, a brigadier general, glanced at his monitor screen and said viciously: "Notify all surveillance centers in the UK, as well as that damned Joint Intelligence Center, to thoroughly investigate where this bitch is from. Be careful not to alert them..."

  Finally found a scapegoat to vent their anger, the UK's network monitoring department and all relevant agencies are fully mobilized. Anyway, they can't find those bastards who are making waves in the financial market, so they might as well use these guys to let off steam... Their leader even maliciously thought: "In the end, if our superiors ask us to hand over those damn people who destroyed our banking system, we can also use these few sex maniacs as scapegoats."

  Chekhov and his gang burst into maniacal laughter, in the midst of a haze of marijuana smoke, they had successfully hacked 80% of British government institutions' external websites... completely yellowed. The hard drives of these government institutions were filled with pornographic videos, except for those with physically isolated backup servers that recovered their information an hour later, other institutions' network administrators could only helplessly unplug the optical fiber cables after their passwords were changed.

  As Chekhov had them expect, some five million Britons saw the lively adult sex education material on their government department's external website.

  MI6 agents have moved in, and the electronic eavesdropping centre they operate with the Americans has finally tracked down these brazen hackers. Chikov and his crew were too careless; after months of smooth sailing, they had used fewer than four servers as cutouts, which was enough for the Brits to pick up their trail.

  Of course, it's not that Chekhov and his crew were too weak technically; perhaps the excessive intake of hashish was the real culprit behind their capsizing.

  A team of special forces officers, at the request of the agents, surrounded Chekhov's dacha.

  Three special task force members wearing black tactical uniforms set up a strange machine twenty meters away from the villa's gate, with a fist-like object aiming at the villa's front door. With a not-so-loud "bang" sound, the steel fist shot out and shattered the villa's middle door, which was wrapped in 2cm thick steel plates, like tearing paper. The special task force members rushed in. A group of agents holding handguns followed closely behind them into the villa.

  The basement was empty, the first floor was empty, a group of people rushed upstairs quickly, tiptoed along the corridor, and kicked open the renovated bedroom where Chekhov and others were.

  A group of special agents wearing masks rushed in, and a group of people including Chikov were beaten with fists and feet, and the butts of their guns were slammed against them several times before being dragged out like dead dogs. Several agents rushed in, but soon ran out panting and coughing, one of them cursing: "This bunch of bastards, smoking so much weed, how haven't they been poisoned to death?"

  One of the SWAT team members casually tossed Chikov's stack of CDs on top of his speaker onto the floor, and Chikov, who was lying on the ground, suddenly struggled to get up, cursing: "You damn bastard, those are premium CDs that I spent $200 mailing over, don't damage personal property."

  A special forces soldier punched Chikov heavily on the head, and Chikov fainted with his eyes rolled back.

  Several agents, covering their noses with handkerchiefs, walked in and opened the floor-to-ceiling windows. The dimly lit room was suddenly bathed in bright light, and the thick marijuana smoke wafted out through the windows. One agent exclaimed: "Ah ha! Look, look, we've caught a big fish... Such a professional decoder, dear, please don't tell me that these hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of facilities were only used to hack into our government servers."

  A somewhat dazed Russian rolled his eyes and said in a drawling tone, "Those? Oh God, those are for use with your mother... Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh." The agent's eyes widened, and amidst the stifled laughter of his companions, he kicked the guy's head hard, sending him following Chekhov.

  When these agents and commandos were carrying Chikov's equipment to load the car, while escorting Chikov into the car, Kane returned with three subordinates in a Hummer. Seeing that at least hundreds of people surrounded the villa, Kane did not slow down at all, and directly rushed past the entrance of the villa. Several agents cursed: "Damn it, do you know how to drive? Be careful or we'll catch you and make you stay for a few days."

  However, another agent couldn't help but exclaim in envy: "Damn it, the latest civilian Hummer, God, which big star has a car addiction again?"

  At a public phone, Cain dialed Phil's cell: "Phil... tell the boss I didn't finish what he told me to do. If he's free, it'd be best if he came back now. There's trouble."

  Phil quietly shut down his phone and stared at Yichen, who was still enthusiastically talking to Professor Puro. Yichen glanced at Phil briefly, but remained expressionless and continued talking.