Chapter 1 The Dragon City Rises

Saturday arrived, and the main building of the Hua Rong Hotel was closed, no longer open to the public, as it had been booked for the next two days.

At 5:30 PM, Tan Mingzhao and Wawa's engagement ceremony would begin. This event was causing quite a stir in overseas Chinese circles, and many celebrities had already arrived in Dragon City, invited to attend the banquet.

…

At 3:30 PM, Liu Hongxu led Qiu Ge, walking quickly towards the An family's villa.

Qiu Ge had also dressed up, wearing a formal suit, which made the scar on his face look much more agreeable.

Soon, the two entered the villa and arrived in the living room.

An Zecheng sat on the sofa, wearing a well-fitting suit, with a low-key yet elegant blue tie.

Liu Hongxu stood to the side and asked, "Commander, we've already communicated with Diplomat Bai. Do you think we should pick him up now?"

An Zecheng raised his arm and looked at his watch, feeling that the time was about right. "Go ahead, but be as quick as possible. I want to take him to see Old Tan privately."

The meeting between the garrison and Da Bai was also pre-arranged by An Zecheng, and the two sides had communicated in advance.

Old An made this arrangement because Panama City had a strong military presence and maintained extremely close ties with the Dragon City administrative faction. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it could influence the situation in Dragon City to a certain extent.

This relationship naturally allowed Bai Huanghou to take off, so he was now a regular guest in Dragon City's top circles.

After receiving An Zecheng's instructions, Liu Hongxu stayed behind, and Qiu Ge immediately led a team and left the villa.

…

Ten minutes later, Qiu Ge, with more than thirty men in six or seven military vehicles, headed towards the foreign guest hotel in Dragon City.

Because of Tan Hengqiang's engagement, the Dragon City Police Department was cooperating with related work, closing several less important streets.

This ensured the safety of the high-level leaders attending the engagement banquet and did not affect the normal travel of Dragon City's residents.

At this time, Qiu Ge's convoy was traveling on these closed streets, moving very fast.

But Qiu Ge's face was not looking good. He was clutching his stomach, his eyes constantly scanning the streets.

Xiao Yu, his deputy of many years, noticed this and asked with concern, "Qiu Ge, what's wrong?"

Qiu Ge gritted his teeth and said, "Damn it, I don't know what I ate, but my stomach hurts a bit."

Xiao Yu hurriedly asked, "Should we stop for a moment?"

Qiu Ge looked down, checked the time, and waved his hand. "Forget it, I'll deal with it when we get there."

"Alright."

Xiao Yu nodded and urged the driver, "Drive faster!"

Qiu Ge panicked and quickly reminded, "No! Try to be steady!"

"Okay."

The driver understood and gradually accelerated while maintaining a smooth ride.

…

At the same time, at the foreign guest hotel.

Da Bai sat on the large sofa in the suite, looking at his attire in the wide dressing mirror.

After selecting for a long time, he turned to a young man beside him and asked, "Xiao Qi, which looks better, the white suit or the black suit?"

Xiao Qi was a member of the Bai family and Da Bai's current secretary, accompanying him on this trip.

Hearing Da Bai's question, Xiao Qi grinned and said, "Brother, you look good in anything. Even if you went out in just your underwear, people would applaud."

"Heh."

After hearing this, Da Bai pointed at Xiao Qi and said, "Your style of flattery is purely a traitor template!"

"If you say that, then there's no good person in the Old Li faction! Everyone chats like that!"

"Cut it out!" Da Bai waved his hand. "Alright, I'll still choose the black one. It's Tan Mingzhao's engagement, I should be handsome in a low-key way…!"

As the two were bragging, there was a gentle knock on the door.

Xiao Qi quickly walked over, opened the door, and saw a cadre from the Dragon City Municipal Party Committee Office standing outside.

The person entered and said politely to Da Bai, "Mr. Bai, sorry to disturb you."

Da Bai buttoned his suit and asked, "Is there something?"

The cadre nodded slightly. "Yes, the Ministry of Finance needs to report to the leadership, so they wanted to ask if you could sign the clauses of our contracts today."

Da Bai glanced at his watch and agreed readily. "Sure, there's still time. Where do we sign?"

"Just in the hotel's conference hall."

"Alright, let's go then."

After the two finalized the arrangement, they left the suite and headed towards the conference hall at the end of the corridor.

Besides attending the engagement banquet, Da Bai was also going to sign many economic and trade cooperation clauses with Dragon City, as well as a series of rights for the canal passage.

They had already discussed it several times before, and the relevant content had been finalized.

Soon, Da Bai followed the other person out of the guest room and entered the conference room.

…

The An faction's convoy arrived at the front of the foreign affairs hotel. Qiu Ge led his group and quickly walked towards the lobby.

In front of them, many people in work uniforms were changing shifts. About twenty or thirty people were punching in on a machine with their work cards.

Then, under the meticulous inspection of the security personnel, these people were allowed into the hotel one by one.

Qiu Ge had no choice but to stand behind and wait for them to finish. At this time, another wave of cramps came from his abdomen, and he couldn't help but clutch his stomach again.

Xiao Yu couldn't help but joke, "Qiu Ge, can you still hold it? If you can't, it's okay, I brought a plastic bag."

"Get lost!" Qiu Ge scolded irritably.

After waiting for about five minutes, the staff finally finished. Only then did Qiu Ge and his men step forward and show their documents to the security personnel.

Qiu Ge endured the abdominal pain, tensed his muscles, and tried to say in a calm voice to the security guard, "Hello, we're here to pick up Chief Bai."

The security guard verified the documents and glanced at them. "Are you carrying firearms?"

"Yes."

"Hand them over first, and we'll return them to you when you leave."

Qiu Ge frowned. "We're the An faction garrison, do we still have to hand them over?"

The security guard smiled. "Even if you're the Jade Emperor's guards, you still have to hand over your guns when you get here. Please understand, this is to ensure the safety of foreign guests."

Business was important, so Qiu Ge didn't argue much and waved his hand, urging, "Hurry, hurry, hurry."

The group took out their weapons, long, short, thick, and thin, and put them all into the box on the table.

"Alright, you can pick them up when you come downstairs later." The security guard said, taking a label and slapping it on the weapon box, then shoving the box under the table.

Qiu Ge's eyes were green with impatience. "Can we go in now?"

The security guard waved his hand. "No, you still have to wait a while. I have to have Chief Bai's people come down to pick you up."

As he spoke, he picked up the walkie-talkie and shouted upstairs a few times.

After waiting for about five more minutes, Qiu Ge was covered in sweat, and Xiao Qi finally walked out of the hotel.

…

At a certain port, a cargo ship was slowly docking.

In the ship's dining room, the members of the visiting delegation were eating around several tables.

Su Tianyu put down his water glass, turned his head and asked, "We've been drifting at sea for more than ten days, do you want to get off the ship and take a stroll?"

Su Tiannan thought for a moment and shook his head. "Forget it, we'll be there soon. Let's stay put and not run around."