The mountain air was crisp, laced with the faint scent of pine and soil. The sun broke through the mist in slanting beams, casting shifting shadows on the gravel roads of Chen Valley. It was a new day, but Lin Feng already felt the stirrings of disruption.
Inside his study, the quiet hum of a generator filled the background as Lin Feng reviewed several encrypted documents. The cold-chain expansion was ahead of schedule, the passive solar greenhouse's foundational frame had been completed, and Silverleaf Greens had just earned their second request—from a Michelin-starred restaurant in Ningcheng.
But he wasn't smiling.
Instead, his eyes were fixed on a different tab—one showing a traffic analysis chart. A courier vehicle had been followed three times in the past ten days. The routes changed daily, the vehicle models were unbranded, and the license plates had fake registrations that didn't show up on local records.
"Observation, not interference," Lin Feng muttered under his breath. "They're patient."
He leaned back, fingers tapping against his ceramic teacup.
Whoever was behind the trench coat man—they weren't ordinary competitors.
They were something deeper.
---
Down in the valley, Auntie Mei was preparing pickled vegetables at the village square, surrounded by chatter and children running circles. Life in Chen Valley went on as usual, but Lin Feng had already begun shifting some operations under layers of plausible deniability.
The villagers weren't told about Guanshi Agricultural Logistics Ltd., or about the underground cold storage. They only knew that their vegetables now fetched a better price and that Lin Feng's cooperative had opened up new collection points in neighboring towns.
To them, it was prosperity with a humble face.
Only a few of his trusted insiders—Liu Qiang, Xu Yuhan, and two ex-military logisticians he quietly hired—knew the scope of what was unfolding.
And even they only saw the surface.
---
That afternoon, Xu Yuhan arrived at the logistics center holding two envelopes.
"One from the eco-restaurant in Ningcheng," she said. "And this…" She held up a black envelope, unmarked except for a red wax seal stamped with the emblem of a maple leaf. "Looks government-adjacent."
Lin Feng's brow furrowed. He opened the first letter quickly—polite praise, a request for increased volume, and an invitation to co-host a regional organic farming summit. Nothing unusual.
But the second envelope…
He peeled open the seal.
Inside was a folded note:
> "You've caught the wind. Just don't let it carry you too high.
We'd like to talk.
Maple Group, Rural Sector Division."
Below was a contact number and a meeting location in Ningcheng's outskirts.
Xu Yuhan leaned over. "Maple Group? That's not a commercial brand."
"It's not," Lin Feng replied quietly. "It's a cover name for one of the Ministry of Agriculture's special project arms."
She blinked. "Wait—government?"
"Quasi-government," he corrected. "They focus on backdoor deals to secure rare agricultural resources. Think seed banks, endangered soil biomes, private partnerships."
Her voice lowered. "So they've noticed you?"
He nodded. "And now they want to either co-opt me… or box me in."
---
Two days later, dressed in an ordinary flannel jacket and work boots, Lin Feng boarded a city-bound bus. He left his electric SUV behind to avoid being tracked.
Ningcheng's outskirts were smogged and gray, industrial decay masked by rows of new developments—half-built malls and empty towers. He arrived at an abandoned tea warehouse, its façade untouched since the 90s.
Inside, he found a long wooden table, three steel chairs, and a single man seated with a thermos of green tea.
"Mr. Lin Feng," the man greeted calmly. He was in his fifties, hair graying at the temples, sharp eyes behind wireframe glasses.
"I prefer to listen before I speak," Lin Feng said as he sat.
"Fair. Then let me be clear," the man said. "We know about the cold chain. The shell companies. The silver leaf branding. You've kept a clean surface, but underground growth like yours always draws attention."
Lin Feng didn't flinch.
"What we don't know," the man continued, "is where your supply capacity comes from. Your produce quality exceeds provincial benchmarks by 30%. That's not organic soil alone."
Lin Feng answered evenly. "I study. I experiment. I'm careful."
"And secretive," the man added.
He poured Lin Feng a cup of tea. "We're not here to threaten you. We're here to propose a deal."
Lin Feng raised an eyebrow.
"You keep doing what you're doing. But we want limited rights to three crops—exclusive seed samples and propagation data. In return, we'll fast-track your logistics permits, grant you protected regional supplier status, and ensure that no competitors can outbid you for land in the next five townships."
It was a tempting offer. Legitimacy. Protection. Expansion.
But at a cost: exposure.
"I'll need time," Lin Feng said calmly.
"You have seven days," the man replied. "After that, if you're not with us, we assume you're against the current. And currents break stones, no matter how polished."
---
Back in Chen Valley, Lin Feng stood in the Inner Realm's newly completed herbal greenhouse, lit by soft spectral sunlight. His fingers brushed the Silverleaf beds. Nearby, a batch of mountain radishes was being cross-bred for climate resistance.
He had seven days to choose: partner with a shadow government agency or keep skating on the thin edge of autonomy.
Xu Yuhan met him there, carrying two thermoses. "You met them?"
He nodded.
She offered him a cup. "You trust them?"
"I don't trust anyone whose power comes from ambiguity," he said. "But I respect the game."
She sipped. "You think you can outplay them?"
"No," he replied. "I think I can reroute the board."
---
That night, Lin Feng drafted a new project file.
Codename: Project Echo Seed.
It had three parts:
1. Mirror Fields: Build parallel greenhouses outside Chen Valley using traditional methods to mimic Inner Realm results.
2. Controlled Variants: Develop crop versions similar in appearance but subtly different in yield—suitable for licensing without exposing the true source.
3. Decoy Branding: Launch a secondary silver-leaf brand with limited quality to satisfy Maple Group's appetite.
He would give them just enough to keep them interested—while shielding the true core of his work.
He wasn't going to surrender the realm he had built in secret.
He would create a shadow of it.
---
By day five, the logistics permits arrived—quiet approval from a provincial office. No fanfare. No signatures. But the path was opened.
By day six, Lin Feng delivered three sealed crop profiles to the Maple Group's contact office in Ningcheng, including Silverleaf Variant B.
It had 70% of the flavor, none of the shimmer.
The deal was sealed.
---
But as the sun set that evening and Lin Feng returned to his space, a new system notification bloomed across the sky of the Inner Realm:
> [ALERT: External Interest Detected – Spatial Integrity Scan Initiated]
Hidden Realm Stability: 98.7%
New Threat Class Identified: Government Proxy Agencies
Suggested Action: Expand Inner Realm Territory to Reduce Detection Vector
Lin Feng stared at the glowing words for a long time.
He had thought he was ahead.
But the game had only just begun.
And the real stakes… were only now revealing themselves.
---
End of Chapter 24