Chapter 184: The True Mastermind

Very quickly.

Xiang Lianyun drove the car to the roadside.

Su Xin and the other two got in.

"Xiaozhi, go to Green Bud Mountain."

Su Xin gave the order directly.

As his voice fell, the vehicle started smoothly and slowly drove off in a certain direction.

"Boss..."

The young female bodyguard called out.

Although she did not know where Green Bud Mountain was, she could tell just from the name that since it was a mountain, it must be a relatively remote place.

Su Xin had clearly just been warned that he was being watched by people with ill intentions, yet he was deliberately running toward a remote area.

Wasn't this just asking for trouble?

Who knew what weapons the other party was carrying? How many people were there? What was their combat capability?

With no intelligence on the other party, where did Su Xin get such confidence? Was it just because of the two of them as bodyguards?

The female bodyguard Liyuefang subconsciously placed her hand on her waist, feeling the outline of her pistol through her clothes, which gave her a sense of security.

Su Xin said calmly: "Green Bud Mountain is not a famous scenic spot and is usually deserted; it is the perfect place to lure out those with ill intentions."

Hearing this, Xiang Lianyun realized what was happening, his expression changed, and he asked:

"Boss, are there enemies again?"

Su Xin smiled: "I suppose so."

"After the attack in Tianjing, many people were uncovered, public security has become much stricter over the past few months, and my security has been tightened significantly, so I assume those with ill intentions haven't been able to get close to me."

"It has been calm for a while, and I thought those behind the scenes had decided to retreat in the face of difficulties."

"Now it seems..."

"They were just waiting for an opportunity."

"They knew they couldn't strike in Tianjing, so they arranged for people to lie in wait in Baohe City, waiting for me to return to my hometown. The security here cannot compare to Tianjing, which gave them an opening."

"It seems that warning from back then did not have the intended effect."

Xiang Lianyun and Liu Xuewei thought the warning he mentioned referred to the crackdown in Tianjing.

But in reality, Su Xin was thinking of the hacker attack incident from back then.

That time, the reason he used hacking methods to retaliate was both to create chaos for Yingjiang Country through covert means and to strike at the public's confidence in the Yingjiang Country stock market.

Such measures were destined not to cause catastrophic damage to Yingjiang Country, nor could they shake the foundation of the nation; it was merely a "salami-slicing" approach to influence the internal stability of Yingjiang Country step by step and shake its economic status.

He also knew that the other party was, after all, the world's number one power, and he had to stop his retaliation at a reasonable point; otherwise, if they really tore off the mask and provoked a large-scale direct conflict, it would be a terrible disaster for everyone.

In this era, various weapons of mass destruction are emerging one after another, and if it were to accidentally escalate to the most tragic point, no one would benefit.

Therefore, the most practical means of struggle between major powers are energy, food, and economy.

And the former two, in the final analysis, can also be considered economic struggles.

Su Xin, as he is now, could only retaliate against Yingjiang Country with economic means to give them a warning.

But now it seems that while his methods caused a certain amount of loss to Yingjiang Country, the other party does not seem to have been deterred by it.

"Wait..."

Su Xin's eyes suddenly flickered.

"Could it be that Yingjiang Country didn't associate that hacker incident with me at all?"

"If that's the case, it makes sense."

"They think I just swallowed the bitter pill and didn't dare to say a word, which is why they dared to make a move on me again."

"That's right, my retaliation that time was done too covertly; let alone Yingjiang Country, even so many netizens didn't guess it was me."

In fact.

Su Xin's guess was indeed correct.

Yingjiang Country did not link that hacker attack incident to Su Xin, thinking it was just an attack carried out by some hacker for profit.

But Su Xin was wrong about one thing.

After that operation failed, Yingjiang Country did not intend to harm Su Xin within the borders of Long Country.

Because after the three survivors returned and reported their encounter during the attack, it led the high-level officials of Yingjiang Country and several other nations to believe that Su Xin was protected by large-scale forces at all times.

Based on this speculation, those high-level officials believed that as long as Su Xin stayed within Long Country, it would be impossible for them to kill him.

Therefore, after discussions, they decided to abandon all assassination attempts against Su Xin and instead find ways to lure him abroad.

Only after leaving Long Country's territory would it be possible for forces led by Yingjiang Country to kill Su Xin, who was under the tight protection of Long Country.

And before Su Xin left Long Country, any action against him would only make him more vigilant; therefore, not only did Yingjiang Country not arrange for assassinations, but they even secretly stepped in to stop certain assassination orders against Su Xin in the black market.

Luring Su Xin out of Long Country was an extremely meticulous plan that could not afford the slightest mistake.

The premise of all this.

Was to first numb Su Xin's crisis awareness, making him think that no one was targeting him anymore.

Otherwise, while being targeted, it would be impossible for Su Xin to go abroad, and the authorities of Long Country would not allow Su Xin to leave easily; in that case, their plan could not be implemented.

Thus, under the strange balance of multiple forces, Su Xin was able to spend these few months so peacefully in Tianjing.

However, what the high-level officials of Yingjiang Country and others did not expect was that another group of forces, who had long held a grudge against Su Xin, had also been eyeing him.

That was the major automobile companies of Sakura Country.

Over the past year, apart from Mutian Automobile, the sales of all other major automobile companies in Sakura Country had been declining sharply, and their room for survival was being squeezed smaller and smaller.

All of this.

Was because of the deliberate suppression by Tianqi Group, like boiling a frog in warm water.

Thor Battery has consistently supplied in limited quantities, delaying delivery schedules and preventing the major car companies of Sakura Country from ever increasing their production capacity; many users have paid to order cars but still have to wait for quite a long time, with delivery efficiency being about the same as imported cars from Long Country.

Furthermore, this year is precisely the year of a worldwide explosion in intelligent driving, also called by many the first year of intelligent driving.

However, among the local car companies of Sakura Country, apart from Mutian Automobile, no other car companies have obtained authorization for the Xiaozhi Driving System, leaving them without the slightest competitiveness in intelligent driving, which has led to their sales being crushed by Mutian Automobile and several major car companies from Long Country.

Coupled with the import cost issues of Thor Battery, the prices of their cars are not much different from imported cars from Long Country, not to mention the competition from the local car company Mutian Automobile.

Sakura Country citizens who yearn for Long Country cars would rather spend a little more money to buy Long Country cars.

Some Sakura Country citizens who firmly support local car companies will also prioritize purchasing Mutian Automobile.

As for the other local car companies of Sakura Country, they can only watch bit by bit as their sales continue to slide.

A year passed.

Even Yutian Automobile, which once claimed to be the world's largest car company, has by now declined to the point where it has not a shred of its former arrogance left.

Most importantly, the Laboratory that Yutian Automobile invested a large amount of capital into, jointly established with eight major car companies including Junma Automobile, has yet to develop any effective scientific research results to this day.

This has left the car companies of Sakura Country, led by Yutian Automobile, in complete despair.

And so, one day.

After discussing with several senior executives, the president of Yutian Automobile, Xiaoxi Heshi, sought out the upper echelons of Sakura Country and declared that they would kill Su Xin at any cost.

This, perhaps, is the only method that can save Yutian Automobile and even the automotive industry of Sakura Country.

Even if the hope is slim, they have no choice but to try!