Li Yan took them to the observation deck again, showing off as they went, and walked around the area. While on the deck, he quietly pointed out the direction of the mine to give them a sense of its location.

After coming down from the observation deck, everyone seemed eager to try their hand at mountain climbing, so they rented electric vehicles and headed to the foot of the mountain, the same place as yesterday.

Li Yan led his group of eight into the woods and stopped once they were covered by dense forest, refraining from climbing further up the mountain.

"Now we need to circle around in that direction! They’ve been operating here for many years, and originally there should have been a road leading to the mine. But after discovering the rare-earth mine, they removed all traces of the road at the foot of the mountain. They’ve even replanted large trees, shrubs, and thorns to create the illusion that there’s no road ahead."

They followed Li Yan, speeding up their pace as they navigated through the forests. Ji Yi, walking beside him, couldn’t resist asking, "They need to transport the mined materials off the island. If the main road is closed, where do they send it? Surely not by helicopter?"

Li Yan shook his head: "I checked last night. Since they’ve severed ties with the resort, it seems like this area hasn’t been developed, but they actually don’t use the pier to transport goods! They have a small path leading to the shore where they use hand carts to move the mined materials. There might be small boats at the coast that transfer stuff to cargo ships anchored offshore. Food, tools, and other supplies are transported to the mine the same way."

Ji Yi pondered for a moment. If the initial machinery and equipment were sent over via the pier or main road, smaller supplies and shipments could indeed be secretly handled this way.

The group moved stealthily forward, taking longer than Li Yan did the previous night in the darkness because the two experts were slow and the path through the mountains was meandering. They arrived at the mine in the afternoon. They found this area to be isolated like a hidden paradise. Dense forests and rugged roads served as their best barrier, and with deliberate concealment, there wasn’t a particularly tight security system. The main job of the security here wasn’t keeping outsiders out, but monitoring the workers.

...

There were no fixed phone lines here; apart from a few responsible individuals equipped with mobile phones, others communicated using short-range walkie-talkies. The five police officers were adept and quickly contained the situation. By Ji Yi revealing his identity with the name of the Mayor’s special investigation unit, the security team and the person in charge dared not resist.

Li Yan had visited once last night and now directly led the two already exhausted experts to the raw mined materials. After their assessment, they confirmed it was indeed a rare-earth mine.

The rest was simple. Ji Yi made a phone call, and Yu Hong, having already arranged for police officers waiting at sea, had them dock near the shipment area and make their way up through the small path to completely take control of the mine.

Regarding how the government would wrap things up, how they would penalize the parties involved, whether they’d investigate smuggling, or whether it would all end up with paperwork in order and taxes paid, returning the mine to the original owners, Li Yan didn’t know and was too indifferent to care. In any case, this once clandestine mine would now become a government sanctioned site, ensuring that the unearthed rare earth wouldn’t be clandestinely sold to Beihai Country or Li Country at low prices.

He didn’t linger much longer, heading back alone to the resort. Before leaving, he made sure to tell Ji Yi about the six people still on the mountain, asking him to have the police check and deal with it. As for those lost at sea during escape, ensuring justice was beyond his concern.

Li Yan returned to the resort by evening. Everyone was occupied with their activities and paid no attention to his day-long disappearance. Upon his return, he joined the company-organized bonfire barbecue. This was the only group activity during the three-day, two-night trip. Together, they barbecued, drank, and some even prompted impromptu performances, which turned out to be an enjoyable experience.

Li Yan’s gaze searched the crowd for two people: Hai Fu and Wen Qianyi. Hai Fu responded with a slight nod, while Wen Qianyi avoided eye contact. Overall, neither of them revealed any unusual reactions.

He was somewhat surprised to see Zhang Yurong adapting quickly, engaging in casual chats and offering encouragement during the evening barbecue, energizing the atmosphere wherever she went. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

After two days of exploration, everything this unimpressive Carefree Island had to offer was done. On the morning of the third day, everyone was relatively quiet, either strolling along the shore or capturing memories with photographs. After lunch, they left the island together.

Despite most being unimpressed with Carefree Island’s tourist facilities, the overall sentiment was one of a joyful journey. Typically, as urban professionals, leisure activities often revolved around bars, dining, or gaming with occasional outdoor or sports play taking up little time. A three-day complete retreat was a rare chance for significant mental relaxation.

Back at the mainland pier, the colleague from the admin department who organized the event had arranged for the travel agency’s bus to transport everyone back to the company headquarters, with the option to disembark along the way. Drivers were required to return to the company to retrieve their cars.

Upon arriving at the company, the security personnel approached Li Yan, notifying him of a package awaiting his signature. After signing and receiving the package in the company parking lot, he spotted Wen Qianyi with Hai Fu.

Since yesterday morning, he hadn’t had a chance for private conversation with them. Even attempts to call that morning were cut off, leaving him puzzled. However, he couldn’t approach them now as they were bidding farewell to Yurong.

Li Yan got into his car but didn’t drive off immediately, realizing that closely observing them wouldn’t be appropriate, he instead opened his package. It was a letter printed on A4 paper, lengthy and filled with content that was confusing.

Upon seeing the signature, Li Yan grew cautious, his focus shifting entirely away from Wen Qianyi, Hai Fu, and Zhang Yurong. He knew it was sent by the third brother, Zheng Yixuan, carrying a mission...

Following the agreed encryption method, he read the letter, and his expression grew more severe. The letter contained a mission to travel to Si Country to carry out an assassination plan. The targets were two candidates for the next governor of a province in Si Country. The plan wasn’t to kill both, but to injure one with a gunshot, leaving evidence of the shooting without causing death.

The mission was continuous, utilizing the gunshot to negatively impact the opponent. Within two days, another task aimed for a public setting to kill the other candidate in a way that seemed accidental!

In simpler terms, first shoot one candidate to anger their supporters and gain voter sympathy, while damaging the other. Then, after mobilizing public opinion, eliminate the competition more directly! The first part required remarkable precision, causing injury without fatality; the latter was even more challenging—crafting a believable accidental death in public without suspicion of retaliation. The initial step tested the assassin’s proficiency with firearms; the latter, overall assassination skills!

Li Yan had undertaken many political assassination missions before, but given Si Country’s advanced media landscape and established election procedures, politicians rarely hired assassins against opponents. The pay was often low for good assassins, and spending more on publicity advertisements would be more effective; killing opponents would lead to backlash and be counterproductive.

This time, it was a two-part interactive mission, suggesting the employer’s interests were probably well secured. Of course, Li Yan didn’t care about the employer’s interests. However, this mission didn’t benefit him!

It wasn’t a formal assignment through the Assassin Platform via Yue Yao, but ’his’ mission—or rather, an order conveyed by the third brother!

(Third update, 11,000 requests for monthly passes!) (To be continued, for more on what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com, with more Chapters available, support the author, and support legal reading!)