Chapter 450: Capital City Authorization: Tell Them the World Needs a New Way of Living!

The red encrypted phone was still pressed against Lu Qingshan's ear.

Wang Shanghong's words, "including your family," were like a steel needle soaked in deadly poison, piercing the handset and driving hard into the top floor of the Saint Remo Apartment.

The air seemed, in that instant, to be drawn into absolute vacuum.

Li Junjie's body jolted violently; he instinctively reached out to steady himself on the table, but grasped nothing, stumbling back two steps and plopping onto the floor. He wasn't paralyzed by fear; in an instant his brain raced, calculating the success rate of a Decapitation Operation using a national-level intelligence network against a force of Rothschild family magnitude. The result… one hundred percent. Despair flooded him instantly.

Family.

Those two words are the soft underbelly of every armor, the Achilles' heel of every hero.

The Xinghan Team can accompany Lu Qingshan to challenge Wall Street, to taunt the White House, to drive the Prime Minister into the hospital. Because all of that still lies within the realm of "gamesmanship."

But now the opponent has flipped the board, drawn a dagger, and aimed at the softest, most untouchable spot in their boss's heart.

"Brother..." Lu Qingjun's voice was hoarse; he lunged to Lu Qingshan's side, gripping his arm tightly. In those eyes that always held shrewdness and levity, now only pure, bloodline‑born Fear remained, "They… they want to harm Yue E sister‑in‑law and Xiao Xue! We won't go! We won't go, okay? We'll return home! We'll return home right now!"

Lu Qingjun's howl, like a key, unlocked a box deep within Lu Qingshan's mind. Lin Yue'e's gentle smile, the scene of daughter Xiao Xue leaping into his arms, softly calling "Dad," flashed before his eyes.

A fury from the depths of his soul, capable of scorching heaven and annihilating earth, erupted with a thunderous blast!

Yet Lu Qingshan did not move.

He still held the posture of answering the phone, his whole body seeming to become a lifeless statue. The raging fire did not make him roar; instead it was compressed and solidified into a killing intent colder than absolute zero.

Only the hand gripping the phone, its knuckles bulging from overexertion, turned a frighteningly pale white.

On the other end, Wang Shanghong's voice carried an unprecedented gravity and urgency.

"Comrade Qingshan! Did you hear? This is no joke! The Rothschild family has taken a deadly hand this time! They will use the entire Soviet Union's spy network in Europe to trade for your life point! Stop your plan to go to Geneva immediately! We will mobilize all forces to ensure you and your team withdraw safely!"

"Withdraw?"

After a long while, Lu Qingshan finally spoke.

Only a single word.

But that word carried a chill that made the whole room's temperature drop sharply.

It was not fear, but a calm beyond anger, absolute and icy.

"Minister Wang." Lu Qingshan's voice was light, yet through the handset it reached Capital City clearly, "I need something."

"What thing?" Wang Shanghong was startled.

"It's not a KGB list." Lu Qingshan turned slowly, his face showing no expression, those eyes usually as deep as the sea now like two eternally frozen polar caps, "What I want is another list."

"One list that our National Intelligence Department spent decades gathering, concerning the Rothschild family, the Freemasons, and everything about those so‑called Old Aristocracy entrenched in Europe."

"Their Black Account, their Secret Account, the puppets they placed in various governments, all the crimes they committed that cannot see the light."

Lu Qingshan paused, then said word for word, "I want a detailed list of every Blood Debt owed to Huaxia by them, from the First Opium War up to today…"

On the other end, a prolonged, death‑like silence fell.

Wang Shanghong felt his breath had stalled.

He had imagined Lu Qingshan would be angry, fearful, demanding the state spare no cost to protect his family.

He never expected that after such a lethal threat, the young man's first reaction would be neither defense nor retreat.

But to demand a weapon that could uproot the enemy, crush their bones and scatter their ashes!

"Comrade Qingshan… you…" Wang Shanghong's voice was hoarse, "Do you know what you're asking for? It's not commercial intelligence; it's a national weapon capable of overturning the entire Western world's existing order…"

"I know," Lu Qingshan calmly responded, "That's why I want it."

"They want to trade my family's lives for my own."

"Then I'll trade their entire clan's lives for the entire Western world's… submission."

Those words rang out with weight.

In the apartment, Li Junjie and Zhang Qianru looked at Lu Qingshan with an expression of gazing upon gods and demons.

They finally understood that when a true dragon's reverse scale is struck, the fire it spews will be a blaze capable of scorching heaven and annihilating earth!

On the other end, Wang Shanghong's breathing grew heavy and rapid.

It took a full minute before he slowly spoke in a voice mixed with shock, admiration, and a hint of resolve.

"In half an hour, the Encrypted File will be sent to your assistant's Terminal."

"Comrade Qingshan, this time, the state has given you everything it can."

"Go tell them."

"This world needs a new way of living."

The call ended.

Lu Qingshan placed the handset back, then turned, looking at his team, now completely stunned.

"What are you all just standing around doing?"

His voice pulled everyone back from a state of soul‑shattering bewilderment.

"Li Junjie, Zhang Qianru."

"Here… here!" The two jolted upright as if shocked by electricity.

"Hand over all current matters completely," Lu Qingshan's voice was cold, without a hint of warmth, "Both of you, come with me to Geneva."

"Huh?" Both were stunned.

"Brother! You're crazy!" Lu Qingjun rushed up again, clutching his arm tightly, "You're still going? That's the Hongmen Banquet! They'll kill you!"

"Kill me?" Lu Qingshan glanced at him, his gaze making Lu Qingjun feel as if frozen by millennia‑old abyssal ice, "They are probably praying now, not to kill me."

He pried Lu Qingjun's hand away and walked to Ye Ning.

The girl who was always expressionless now could hardly hide the panic on her face, her lips trembling slightly.

"Ye Ning."

"Boss..."

"Cancel the Air Ticket to Geneva."

Ye Ning froze, then a flicker of ecstasy appeared on his face: "You... you're not going?"

"Who said I'm not going?" Lu Qingshan glanced at her, "I mean, we're not taking a commercial flight."

He picked up the dedicated line of the US Treasury Department and directly pressed the redial button.

The phone was answered almost instantly, and Bowen's exhausted voice came through.

Lu Consultant, what else?

"Mr. Bowles." Lu Qingshan got straight to the point, "I need a means of transportation."

"Transportation?" Bowen was bewildered.

"Yes." Lu Qingshan gazed out the window at the Steel Jungle symbolizing the Old Order, and slowly said, "I need an aircraft to take me to Geneva."

"An... what kind of aircraft?"

A grim arc curled at the corner of Lu Qingshan's mouth.

"One that can fly at three times the speed of sound, can evade all radar, can carry sufficient self-defense weapons, and, moreover, can represent the highest will of your United States of America."

On the other end of the line, Bowen's breath stalled once again.

He finally understood what this devil wanted.

"You... you're blackmailing me!"

"You can understand it that way." Lu Qingshan responded calmly, "Or you could see it as me having settled the British for you and helped you 'orderly handle' AIG, after which you paid in advance... a small token of gratitude. After all, I am now the world's top assassination target; if I die on the way to Geneva, what do you think those friends of mine who are ready to take over AIG's Quality Assets will think?"

"By the way, help me pass a message to the Pentagon and the White House."

Lu Qingshan's voice echoed clearly in the quiet apartment.

"Tell them, within half an hour I want to see at Kennedy Airport that aircraft painted with the Stars and Stripes. This is not just a means of transportation; it is also the attitude of your US Government. The whole world is watching—are you choosing to stand beside the corpse of the old world, or to board the ark of the new world?"

"Otherwise, tomorrow's Wall Street Journal will feature a front-page in-depth report on 'the US Government and Xinghan Capital joining forces to short Europe'."

"I think you and President Reagan would not want to see this, right?"