The Only Privilege

"A battleground?"

Jiang Han chewed on these three words, a playful smile curving his lips.

He reached out and took the heavy brown paper bag, his fingertips tracing the bright red sealing wax stamp on the closure.

"That sounds much more interesting than a lake full of dead fish and rotten shrimp."

Li Zhenguo did not laugh.

His expression was as serious as if he were reading out a pre-battle mobilization order.

"Open it and take a look."

"This was approved overnight from above, a privilege granted solely to you."

Jiang Han casually tore open the seal and pulled out the documents inside.

It's just a thin sheet of paper.

There was no bureaucratic nonsense, just a few lines of bold black text, stamped with the double seals of the Central Military Commission and Bureau 749.

[Wartime Authorization Letter for Special Operations Advisor Jiang Han]

[Authorization Level: S-level (Highest)]

[Scope of Authority: During this "Locking the Dragon Well" mission, you have absolute control over the allocation of all resources on site.]

[Special Clause: In the event of obstruction of mission, leakage of classified information, or endangerment of national security, action may be taken without prior consultation.]

Jiang Han's gaze lingered on the four words "execute first, report later".

If it were an ordinary person, seeing this authorization letter would probably make their hands tremble.

This is hardly an explorer's certificate.

This is clearly a legal—license to kill!

"A big investment."

Jiang Han casually tossed the document back onto the table, leaned back in his chair, and slumped down.

"It seems that the place we're going to this time is tricky even for you, and you need an 'outsider' like me to be the butcher."

"It's not tricky."

Li Zhenguo corrected him, a hint of sorrow flashing in his eyes.

"It's despair."

"Jiang Han, remember my words. When you get there, trust no one but yourself, and don't believe anything you see with your own eyes."

"Including your guide, and even... the troops we sent to support you."

Jiang Han raised an eyebrow.

Even the military can't be trusted?

It seems that what lies beneath the Dragon-Locking Well can not only kill, but also destroy one's spirit.

"rest assured."

Jiang Han stood up, picked up the S-level document on the table, and stuffed it into his pocket right in front of Li Zhenguo.

"My blade only recognizes the dead."

……

The next day, noon.

A VIP room at a private club in Beijing.

Wang Hai, CEO of Shark Live, sat upright with a fine layer of sweat on his forehead.

Even though the air conditioner was set to 20 degrees Celsius, he still felt incredibly hot.

Because the young man sitting opposite him was wiping his knife.

The black gold ancient sword lay across the priceless huanghuali tea table.

Jiang Han held a white cloth in his hand and slowly wiped the blade.

With each rub, the metallic scraping sound made Wang Hai's heart skip a beat.

"Mr. Jiang... Mr. Jiang."

Wang Hai swallowed hard and shakily pushed a thick contract over.

"This is a new contract drafted by the board overnight. Would you...would you like to take a look?"

"We've raised the signing bonus to 500 million! After tax!"

"You get 90% of the gift revenue! The only S+ level promotional resource on the entire platform!"

"And there are no penalties for breach of contract! You can broadcast whenever you want, and stop anytime you don't want to broadcast!"

This is nothing short of a humiliating and degrading contract of servitude.

The only difference is that the platform sold itself to the streamer.

Wang Hai was suffering.

But there's no way around it; Jiang Han is now a walking traffic bomb.

As long as he broadcasts, the server crashes; as long as he stops broadcasting, the stock price plummets.

Offering sacrifices to this deity is equivalent to offering sacrifices to the God of Wealth.

Jiang Han didn't even lift his eyelids.

"Five hundred million?"

He sneered, and the white cloth in his hand suddenly stopped.

Swish!

A flash of cold light.

The black gold ancient sword was drawn half an inch from its sheath in an instant, and a chilling killing intent instantly filled the entire private room.

"Mr. Wang, do you think I'm short of money right now?"

Jiang Han's voice was soft, yet it carried an undeniable sense of pressure.

"I could easily find more than this price by just picking up a random stone from the lake."

Wang Hai was so frightened he almost slipped off his chair.

"Yes, yes, yes! Mr. Jiang regards money as dirt! So you mean..."

"I'll take the money."

Jiang Han sheathed his knife with a crisp "click".

"But I have one condition."

"Tell me! I'll even take my shares!" Wang Hai hurriedly declared.

Jiang Han raised his head, a golden glint flashing in his deep eyes.

"I want absolute control over this live stream."

"No matter what I filmed inside, even if the sky falls, the earth collapses, or even..."

Jiang Han leaned forward, staring intently into Wang Hai's eyes.

"They even captured images of things that shouldn't exist in the world."

"Your servers must not have their signals cut off."

"Even if the King of Heaven himself calls to order you to shut down the broadcast, you have to hold on."

"Is it possible?"

Wang Hai was stunned.

He is a smart man.

Jiang Han's meaning was clear—the content of this live stream might cause a huge uproar.

It might even violate certain taboos.

If something goes wrong, the Shark platform could face annihilation.

But looking into Jiang Han's unwavering eyes, he suddenly recalled the image of this man riding a dragon on the lake.

Take a gamble!

We won! Shark Platform will become the world's number one media platform!

If I lose... the worst that can happen is I'll end up in jail working on a sewing machine!

"Let's do it!"

Wang Hai slammed his hand on the table and said through gritted teeth.

"Don't worry, Mr. Jiang! As long as I, Wang Hai, am in this position, no one will be able to touch your live stream!"

"Unless they blow up my servers!"

Jiang Han smiled.

He reached out, picked up the contract worth 500 million, and without even glancing at it, threw it directly into the trash can next to him.

"Just transfer the money to my card."

"There's no need to sign a contract, it's just a piece of paper."

"My reputation is worth more than these few pieces of paper."

After saying that, he grabbed the Black Gold Ancient Sword, got up, and left.

As he reached the door, he suddenly stopped, turned his back to Wang Hai, and said:

"By the way, have your people get ready."

"This live stream could kill a lot of people."

"Including...me."

boom.

The door to the private room was closed.

Wang Hai slumped in his chair, panting heavily, as if he had just gone through a life-or-death battle.

madman.

This guy is absolutely insane!

But fucking...it was really awesome!

……

three days later.

Located at the junction of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, deep in the Shiwan Mountains.

A modified off-road vehicle struggles to make its way along a muddy mountain road.

The car body was covered in mud, and the chassis kept making a screeching sound as stones scraped against it.

But that's not the most unsettling thing.

What was most unsettling was the increasingly thick fog around us.

That wasn't ordinary mountain mist.

Instead, it carried a faint, fishy, ​​foul odor... miasma.

"Squeak—!"

The SUV braked suddenly and stopped in front of a dead end.

There is no road ahead.

There was only a dense, dark primeval forest shrouded in thick fog.

The trees were extremely strange, their branches twisted and coiled like ghostly hands reaching out from hell, trying to grab every intruder.

"I'm not leaving! I'd rather die than leave!"

The driver was a local man in his fifties, whose face was pale and whose hands were trembling as he gripped the steering wheel.

"Young man, take my advice and go home!"

"This is a place where you're trapped in a maze!"

"This forest is incredibly eerie! People who went in to gather herbs have never come out again!"

"The village elders all say this is a 'corpse-raising ground,' and that if a living person goes in, their yang energy will be drained!"

In the passenger seat.

Jiang Han slowly opened her eyes.

He didn't speak, but simply glanced at the gloomy, dense forest outside the window.

The Qilin tattoo is burning hot.

That's an instinctive reaction when encountering something extremely yin.

This place... is indeed quite interesting.