1.

At a traffic light, cars lined up in a long queue. Fang Chao and Liu Zhi drove a decrepit little junker of a car—like an excavated artifact—following behind a large truck with about four meters of space between the two vehicles.

At this moment, a luxurious SUV came speeding along the bus lane on the right. Liu Zhi watched the rearview mirror and urged: “Brother Chao, hurry up and block him—that bastard’s definitely going to cut in.”

Fang Chao shook his head with a smile. When the SUV was about to cut in, he suddenly floored the gas pedal and blocked it. The SUV hastily braked to a stop, and a bald, tattooed tough guy inside stuck his head out the window and cursed at them loudly.

The two men looked at each other and laughed heartily.

Before long, the light turned green and the cars started moving again. As the junker pulled away from the SUV, Liu Zhi coughed forcefully, turned around, and spat a thick glob of phlegm onto the SUV’s windshield. The tattooed man was completely dumbstruck on the spot.

2.

Fang Chao continued driving the junker down the road, but not long after, the tattooed man came chasing after them in the SUV. Relying on its superior performance, he kept cutting them off, trying to force them to stop. Fang Chao didn’t want trouble and could only evade. The two cars chased each other all the way to the outskirts. Finally, the junker’s brakes failed to stop in time and crashed into the SUV.

The tattooed man got out and saw a dent in his rear end. Furious beyond control, he rushed to the front of the car, pounding on the hood and shouting for them to get out. Liu Zhi immediately pulled out a dagger from under the car seat, intending to deal with him, but Fang Chao held him down and warned him to stay in the car—don’t cause trouble!

After getting out, Fang Chao kept apologizing to the tattooed man. Finally, he timidly negotiated with him: our car has no insurance, so big brother, could you take full responsibility and get your insurance to pay?

The tattooed man mocked them: you spit on me and crash into my car, and you want me to take full responsibility? Should I just give you my car too?

Fang Chao turned and exchanged glances with Liu Zhi. After considering for a moment, he could only say: yes.

3.

An hour later, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi put on sunglasses, turned on music, and drove the luxurious SUV down the road. The tattooed man was bound hand and foot, gagged, and stuffed in the trunk unable to move.

4.

The SUV drove to a deserted intersection in the suburbs and stopped. Across from them was a jewelry store. Fang Chao and Liu Zhi put on hats, masks, and other disguises in the car, grabbed tools and backpacks, got out, and quickly walked to the jewelry store entrance. Liu Zhi pulled out an “Under Renovation” sticker and swiftly stuck it on both sides of the glass door. The two rushed into the store.

Fang Chao pulled out a handgun and shouted “Robbery!” Liu Zhi nimbly jumped behind the counter. The two worked together with perfect coordination, herding three female shop assistants into a corner in just seconds, quickly controlling the entire scene. The three women were frightened out of their wits, petrified like wooden chickens. Fang Chao turned back to pull down the rolling shutter, then rather politely said some comforting words, advising: “Stay calm, fear won’t solve the problem. Right now you just need to cooperate. Remember, your life is your own, the money belongs to the boss.”

One woman weakly raised her head: “I’m the boss.”

Fang Chao immediately fired a shot at the wall, frightening her so much she quickly shrank back, raising her hands with keys. Liu Zhi muttered impatiently that they should have just fired the gun earlier.

5.

At a Mercedes-Benz dealership, salesman Du Cong encountered a poorly dressed elderly couple who immediately asked which Mercedes was the cheapest. He casually pointed to the cheapest one, lazily saying even the cheapest one costs over two hundred thousand.

Upon hearing this, the elderly couple’s faces showed difficulty. The old lady complained: “Mercedes are too expensive! Even the cheapest one costs over two hundred thousand—that’s almost a month’s rent collection.”

In the next second, Du Cong’s face broke into a broad smile as he enthusiastically invited them for a test drive.

6.

In the jewelry store, Fang Chao stood at the counter holding a gun, monitoring the three female shop assistants lying on the ground with their hands and feet tied. Liu Zhi frantically searched for gold and jewelry nearby. He carefully wrapped a huge white jade statue of the God of Wealth from the center cabinet in newspaper and forcefully stuffed it into his backpack.

Taking advantage of the robbers’ inattention, the jewelry store owner discreetly extended her toes and pressed a hidden alarm button at the base of the wall.

7.

In the Public Security command center, the monitoring screen displayed the situation inside the jewelry store. The commander grabbed the microphone and shouted: “Dafu Jewelry Store is being robbed at gunpoint by criminals. West city police forces respond immediately!”

8.

On a road in the west part of the city, detective “Liu Big Mouth” drove a police car while the rookie female detective Luo Jia complained beside him that the detective team never took her on cases—the gender discrimination at the unit was too severe.

Liu Big Mouth consoled her: “This isn’t gender discrimination. All rookies are like this. If you want people to take you along, you need to actively build relationships. For example, I got up early and haven’t had breakfast yet, and now I’m hungry. A smart rookie would proactively help me buy a hamburger.”

Liu Big Mouth stepped on the brakes and stopped at a convenience store entrance. Luo Jia looked at him, reluctantly got out to buy him a hamburger, and just as she was about to pay, she heard an alert through her earpiece: “Dafu Jewelry Store is being robbed at gunpoint by criminals. West city police forces respond immediately!” She dropped the hamburger and ran out, only to see Liu Big Mouth driving the police car away with a U-turn. She cursed “not waiting for me again” and could only chase on foot.

9.

In the jewelry store, Fang Chao glanced at his watch and shouted “Retreat!” Liu Zhi grabbed the heavy backpack, jumped out from behind the counter, and the two pulled open the rolling shutter, went outside, got in the SUV, and quickly drove away.

10.

At the Mercedes-Benz dealership entrance, Du Cong helped the elderly couple into the back seat, saying he’d drive a couple laps first to demonstrate before letting the old man drive. Just as Du Cong was about to get in the car, someone grabbed him. Luo Jia jumped into the driver’s seat before him and flashed her police badge in front of his eyes: “Police, temporarily requisitioning this vehicle!”

Du Cong rushed to the front of the car to block it, then jumped into the passenger seat and grabbed the steering wheel to prevent her from driving, saying: “I’m with clients. Do you have the proper paperwork? Police don’t pay for using cars?”

Luo Jia responded coldly: “The case is urgent, I don’t have time to talk with you!”

The scene froze for a moment. The second hand on the Mercedes dashboard’s decorative clock made five full circles…

“I only have three hundred on me, not a cent more.”

“You can pay by phone. I originally said one thousand, now it’s already down to five hundred—what more do you want? I’m with clients here. Who’s responsible for my lost commission?”

The elderly couple in the back seat stared at them dumbfounded. At this moment, a luxurious SUV sped past them, followed by several police cars with sirens blaring.

Luo Jia immediately pulled Du Cong’s hand off the steering wheel and floored the gas pedal in hot pursuit.

11.

The SUV relied on its superior performance to turn left and right, quickly shaking off all the poorly performing police cars behind it, leaving only one Mercedes still in hot pursuit.

The two cars soon arrived at a new two-lane road in the suburbs that hadn’t yet opened. Ahead in the middle of the road, metal barriers began closing from both sides, preparing to stop the SUV. At this critical moment, Fang Chao gritted his teeth and kept the gas pedal floored, charging straight ahead. Both side mirrors were knocked off by the barriers, but fortunately the vehicle body made it through.

The Mercedes behind saw the barriers closing and could no longer get through. Du Cong shouted in fright: “Brake, brake quickly!”

Luo Jia called out in panic: “Where’s the brake? I don’t know how!”

Du Cong changed his shout: “Gas pedal, step on the gas pedal!”

Luo Jia stepped on the brake instead. All the tires locked up, sliding horizontally. During the slide, all four tires blew out one after another, the steel rims sparking, finally stopping just before the barriers.

Seeing he’d finally shaken off all pursuers, Fang Chao breathed a long sigh of relief and continued driving.

12.

Behind a large tree on a suburban roadside, Gang Ge and Xiao Mao sat lazily on a tricycle with a large sign hanging on it: “Mobile Tire Repair, 200.”

Xiao Mao was complaining: “Gang Ge, where are the cars in this wilderness! We should change locations.”

Gang Ge confidently stated: “It’s precisely because there’s nowhere to repair tires in the wilderness that we make money.—Look, here comes business!”

Xiao Mao turned to look. A luxurious SUV was speeding toward them. Gang Ge saw the vehicle’s brand and immediately flipped a “0” onto the back of the “200” on the tricycle sign, changing it to “2000.”

As the SUV drove closer, suddenly all four tires blew out. Fang Chao forcefully gripped the steering wheel and managed not to flip over. Opening the car door and seeing tire spikes all over the ground, he cursed that these cops were really vicious. Without any pause, the two immediately grabbed their stolen goods and ran toward the farmland below the roadbed.

Gang Ge was riding the tricycle to take this big business when he saw the two men from the SUV get out and run away, not even wanting the car. The two men looked at each other in dismay. Then they heard police sirens roaring from the opposite lane as three police cars came speeding over. In the next second, they heard a series of popping tire blow-out sounds one after another. One police car lost control and flipped directly into the adjacent farmland.

Seeing they’d punctured police vehicles, the two were so frightened they abandoned the tricycle and turned to run away.

13.

More than ten police officers successively climbed out of the three police cars. Seeing tire spikes all over the ground, they cursed loudly: “Who the hell did this!”

Then everyone surrounded the SUV with guns drawn. There was no one in the car. Opening the trunk, they saw only a bound and gagged tattooed man with tape over his mouth. The police tore off his tape, and he shouted with eyes closed: “Big brother, I’ll never cut in line again!”

14.

Gang Ge and Xiao Mao fled in disarray back to a scrap collection station on the urban-rural fringe—this was their home. Just as they reached the courtyard gate, three tough-looking men blocked them and threw over a bank envelope, demanding they repay the credit card debt by the deadline or face the consequences.

Gang Ge flew into a rage: “When did I ever owe the bank money?” He kicked one of them down. The man got up cursing “You’ve got guts” while retreating.

After the debt collectors left, Xiao Mao admitted he owed the money—he’d used credit cards to buy lottery tickets.

Gang Ge mocked him: “You, a professional con artist, would buy lottery tickets? Hand over the bill—how much do you owe?”

Xiao Mao handed him the bill, muttering: “Not that much.”

Gang Ge read from the bill: “With your qualifications, you managed to get thirty thousand on a credit card? Won’t this bank go bankrupt? Huh—Xia Tinggang, you’re 180 days overdue. The bank’s quite funny too—you owe money but they printed it under my name.”

Xiao Mao lowered his head: “My ID is blacklisted. I couldn’t get a card, so I used yours.”

Gang Ge flew into a rage, grabbed a wrench, and chased after him. Xiao Mao ran behind a scrapped taxi in the courtyard, begging for mercy, asking Gang Ge to first find a way to help him repay the money.

Gang Ge scolded him: “Where would I get the means to repay thirty thousand for you!”

Xiao Mao pointed at the scrapped taxi, saying he had a money-making idea.

15.

In a hotel room, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi quietly stared at the white jade statue of the God of Wealth standing before them.

Fang Chao sighed heavily: “We rob a jewelry store and you don’t take more gold—instead you haul back a statue of the God of Wealth? What for?”

Liu Zhi defended himself: “I saw this thing displayed in the center, thought it was valuable. It felt like Hetian jade.”

“Hetian your mother! Over twenty pounds of Hetian jade in a fingernail-sized store—you think this is the Palace Museum!”

The two sighed to themselves. Fang Chao noticed an old newspaper wrapped around the statue with text reading “Corrupt Official’s Home Robbed of Millions, Dares Not Report to Police.” He pondered: “Need to change our approach. Robbing stores has high risk and low returns. Get one big corrupt official and we’d recoup everything.”

16.

The Public Security Bureau Director walked out of the dealership and reprimanded Luo Jia, who stood aside in civilian clothes with her head lowered: “Thanks to the unit’s reputation, the dealership gave a discount and only wanted thirty thousand for vehicle repairs plus depreciation. The unit won’t pay a cent of this—you solve it yourself. If you can’t solve it and someone complains to the inspectorate, you won’t need to be a police officer anymore.”

After the Director left, Luo Jia turned to look at Du Cong nearby. Du Cong said he’d also been scolded by the general manager—she should hurry up and pay to settle this matter. Luo Jia said she’d just started work and had no savings, and was too embarrassed to ask her family for money for such a shameful matter. She asked Du Cong to help advance the money first. Under her repeated pleas of “Brother Cong,” Du Cong agreed to unlimited dinners and movies together in exchange for helping to advance the money.

At this moment, a Mercedes S600 pulled up to the store entrance. Big boss Zhou Rong and secretary Hu Jianren got out and walked toward the lounge area. Luo Jia asked Du Cong who this person was. Du Cong said: “The richest man in San Jiang Kou, Boss Zhou Rong!”

Luo Jia frowned slightly, recalling what the leader said at the detective team meeting: according to intelligence, Zhou Rong’s criminal gang has entrenched itself in our city for years, but he’s extremely cunning and it’s very difficult to obtain evidence. An informant revealed he has a safe in his study that likely contains key evidence. Zhou Rong is lustful—the only way to get close to him is probably a honey trap. But our police force has limited female officers. Only one person can complete this task. Luo Jia had just lowered her head when all the detectives’ gazes turned in unison toward the chubby female officer Xiao Mei. A few days later, the detective team collectively went to the hospital to visit Xiao Mei. According to others, that day she wore a tank top to chat up Zhou Rong and ended up being beaten by his subordinates. It seemed the honey trap approach wouldn’t work.

Luo Jia had an idea. She asked Du Cong to lend her the car one more time to satisfy her craving. Facing Luo Jia’s gentle words, Du Cong couldn’t resist and once again lent her the test drive vehicle, telling her not to cause trouble this time. She promised “Don’t worry, I’ll take full responsibility for everything.” In the next second, she drove the car and scraped a big white line across the rear of Zhou Rong’s S600.

Du Cong was stunned speechless.

17.

Inside the dealership, secretary Hu Jianren was reporting to Zhou Rong that if they could acquire that specially approved land plot in the East New City, the profit would be extremely considerable. However, the Management Committee Director Fang Yong was an honest official, known as the Hai Rui of San Jiang Kou—money couldn’t be given to him.

Zhou Rong smiled, saying there’s no money that can’t be given, only people who don’t know how to give it. He had Hu Jianren arrange a personal meeting with Fang Yong.

At this moment, the driver rushed over to tell him the car had been hit, and the person who caused the accident even blamed them for having a car that was too long—no sense of propriety!

Zhou Rong saw Luo Jia and looked her up and down, immediately negating the driver’s judgment: “Excellent propriety!”

Luo Jia kept apologizing to him, saying she’d treat Zhou Rong to dinner to make amends. Zhou Rong smiled and took down her contact information, saying there was no need to compensate—just leave the car at the shop for paint work.

Du Cong watched Luo Jia use the honey trap on Boss Zhou again and secretly cursed how shameless.

18.

Fang Yong, Director of the East New City Management Committee, lived on the first floor of an apartment building with a small garden in back. He walked out of his home, wheeled out a creaky, dilapidated Phoenix-brand bicycle, and rode away from the residential complex.

In a junker parked on the roadside outside the complex, Fang Chao pointed at Fang Yong, saying he was the big corrupt official.

Liu Zhi looked at the broken bike Fang Yong rode, very confused: “This poor—he can be a big corrupt official?”

Fang Chao pulled out several old newspapers. He’d already investigated—Fang Yong was a Management Committee Director with decent official income, yet every day he rode a broken bicycle to and from work. This was clearly trying to cover something up. Moreover, in news photos of Fang Yong over the years, he’d changed bicycles at least five times. The question was, where did he find so many broken Phoenix bikes from the 1980s! Small corrupt officials had no need for such disguise. Hiding this deeply, he must be a big corrupt official.

The two immediately decided to make their move.

19.

Fang Yong rode his bicycle. Zhou Rong stepped out of a luxury car parked by the roadside and stood before him with a beaming smile: “Director Fang, would it be convenient to chat at your home for a bit?”

20.

Fang Chao and Liu Zhi entered the complex through the green plant barrier behind it, climbed over the wall from Fang Yong’s small garden, easily picked the lock, and entered the house.

Fang Yong’s home had simple furnishings and rather old-looking décor. The two searched around but couldn’t find a single cent. Liu Zhi complained that just looking at Fang Yong, you could tell he was very poor—how could he possibly be a big corrupt official? Fang Chao couldn’t help but doubt his own judgment. Just as the two were filled with disappointment, footsteps came from outside the door. They quickly ran to hide under the garden wall.

21.

Fang Yong opened the door and led Zhou Rong and Hu Jianren inside. After simple tea and pleasantries, Zhou Rong got straight to the point about the East New City land matter. Fang Yong stated he handled matters officially. Hu Jianren pushed over a briefcase. Opening it revealed a case full of money placed before Fang Yong. Fang Yong’s expression darkened. He glared at them, snapped the case shut, and walked solemnly to a piece of calligraphy on the wall: “Look carefully at this!”

Zhou Rong read the characters on the wall: “Ask the canal where it gets such clarity, for fresh water comes from the source!” He immediately panicked: “I was too presumptuous, Teacher Fang. I’m not usually like this, I—”

Fang Yong interrupted him: “This is an authentic work by Yu Youren.” Fang Yong walked to other calligraphy, paintings, and decorations to explain. It turned out these seemingly shabby items in the house all had origins. Fang Yong said he had not the slightest interest in money, had never taken money in his life, and wouldn’t make an exception for them. His only hobby was collecting.

Zhou Rong repeatedly sighed about Teacher Fang’s elegant taste, unlike him as a businessman whose home was just piled with money—vulgar! After this comparison, he truly felt ashamed!

Hiding under the garden wall, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi heard this and quietly slipped away. Once outside, the two couldn’t help but laugh: “I’ve never in my life seen an idiot talk about having money at home right in front of two robbers.”

22.

Zhou Rong and Hu Jianren left the complex and got in the luxury car to leave. Not far behind, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi sat in the junker. Seeing them depart, they excitedly turned the car key to follow, but the junker took several tries to start before finally succeeding, barely keeping up.

In the car, Zhou Rong instructed Hu Jianren to inquire about reliable people in antiquities circles—he wanted to buy some big items.

At this moment, the driver looked in the rearview mirror: “Boss Rong, there seems to be a car following us.”

Zhou Rong glanced at the junker in the rearview mirror and sneered: “Those cops think they can catch me red-handed this way—they’re dreaming.”

The driver asked: “Should we lose them?”

Zhou Rong said disdainfully: “No need, drive slowly. Otherwise it makes me look guilty.”

In the junker, Fang Chao had the gas pedal to the floor just to barely keep up. Seeing the other car wasn’t driving fast, he breathed a sigh of relief: “When I first saw him come out in a big Rolls, I panicked, thinking we couldn’t keep up. Who knew this idiot can’t drive—so slow.”

23.

At the dealership, Luo Jia found Du Cong and first returned ten thousand to him, saying she’d slowly repay the other twenty thousand after her salary came.

Du Cong said sourly: “You’ve already hooked up with Boss Zhou—does twenty thousand even count as money?”

Luo Jia flew into a rage: “What did you say!”

Du Cong said: “Don’t think I don’t know—you deliberately crashed that day.”

Luo Jia argued she was executing a mission. After saying this, she knew she’d misspoken. Du Cong looked at her expression and asked if she was investigating Zhou Rong. She had to admit it and asked Du Cong to keep it secret. Du Cong’s condition for keeping the secret was dinner and a movie together tonight.

While they were chatting happily, Du Cong’s friend from a wedding company came looking for him. The two stepped aside. The friend said tomorrow he had a job—the wedding car suddenly broke down and he needed to borrow an S-class Mercedes for appearance. Du Cong said there were no S-class Mercedes test drive cars—the ones at the shop all belonged to customers. Lending them out wouldn’t be professionally ethical. The friend pulled out a thousand-yuan red envelope and stuffed it in his hand: “This is professional ethics.”

Du Cong’s eyes shifted as he thought of Zhou Rong’s Mercedes that was being repainted.

24.

After work, the delighted Du Cong invited the reluctant Luo Jia to dinner and a movie together. After they each went home, Luo Jia received a WeChat message from Zhou Rong inviting her to his home for dinner tomorrow evening—he’d send a driver to pick her up.

Luo Jia thought for a moment, had an idea, and readily agreed.

25.

The next day during daytime, at a train station in a neighboring city.

Seven members of an antiquities smuggling group each carried a huge suitcase through the security scanner. The security inspector noticed something unusual in the cases and demanded they open them for inspection. Each case turned out to contain fake antiquity crafts from street stalls, so they were all allowed through. Actually, the real items were hidden among these fakes.

26.

On another front, the big boss of the antiquities smuggling group, Zhu Yifei, arrived at Zhou Rong’s luxurious villa to meet with him.

Zhu Yifei pulled out a row of photographs—these were the antiquities brought this time. Zhou Rong took a liking to a Xuande incense burner among them. Zhu Yifei said the price had already been discussed with Hu Jianren over the phone—five hundred thousand US dollars. Zhou Rong indicated no problem and had Hu Jianren bring out five hundred thousand dollars from the study and place it on the table.

Zhu Yifei’s subordinate Huo Zheng brought out a large suitcase. Opening it revealed clothes and other travel items. Under Zhou Rong’s puzzled gaze, Huo Zheng pressed a hidden button in the case. A secret compartment popped out from the bottom of the suitcase. He neatly arranged the five hundred thousand dollars inside.

Seeing their criminal gang’s equipment, Zhou Rong repeatedly praised their professionalism. He then pulled out a spa card worth thirty thousand and put it in the case, telling Boss Zhu to take his brothers to have some fun.

Zhu Yifei thanked him and glanced at his watch, smiling: “The goods will arrive soon.”

27.

The seven members of the antiquities smuggling group took a train to San Jiang Kou. After leaving the station, only six of the seven remained—Xiao Liu, who was responsible for carrying the Xuande incense burner, had disappeared. They called his phone and he hung up. Calling again, it was already turned off. The leader hurriedly called Zhu Yifei to report the situation.

Zhu Yifei received the call from his subordinate—Xiao Liu had disappeared with the Xuande incense burner. His expression changed dramatically. He returned the case packed with dollars to Zhou Rong, saying the goods were delayed on the road and the transaction would proceed in a few days.

He hurried back to the hotel where they were staying. His subordinates said Xiao Liu owed loan sharks and suspected he’d stolen the Xuande incense burner to pay his debts. Zhu Yifei told Huo Zheng to find Xiao Liu: “Get the goods back, kill the person!”

28.

Tonight was destined to be a spectacular night.

Gang Ge and Xiao Mao carefully repaired and decorated the scrapped taxi in the courtyard, then drove the fake taxi onto the road.

Fang Chao and Liu Zhi applied disguises to their faces in the hotel room, took guns and weapons, and prepared to make their move on Zhou Rong.

Huo Zheng held a tracking device in his hand. Before departure, they had secretly installed a tracker in each suitcase precisely to prevent subordinates from being light-fingered. Following the direction indicated by the tracker, he walked head down into a demolition area, his gaze fixed on a dilapidated residential building in the distance.

At home, Zhou Rong had the maid prepare a lavish Western dinner, eagerly awaiting Luo Jia’s arrival.

Luo Jia dressed herself up carefully, took out a small medicine bottle containing pale yellow powder and a defensive folding knife, and tucked them into her pocket.

Du Cong drove Zhou Rong’s S-class Mercedes left at the shop for repairs, carrying the wedding couple, happily driving down the road.

All parties were preparing for tonight’s plans.

29.

Fang Chao and Liu Zhi came to the back of Zhou Rong’s estate villa and entered the green barrier. Just as they poked their heads out, they drew back because there was also a security post behind the villa with two security guards on duty. The two discussed briefly—they’d wait until deep in the night when the guards left before making their move.

30.

Du Cong delivered the newlyweds to the wedding venue, enjoyed a free wedding feast, and also received two packs of cigarettes and a large red envelope. Delighted, he drove Zhou Rong’s Mercedes back to the dealership.

31.

In a second-floor room of a dilapidated residential building, the room was pitch black.

Xiao Liu hid in a corner with a large suitcase in front of him topped with a Xuande incense burner. He carefully pulled out a promotional flyer for Rongcheng Group, found the contact number on it, and dialed.

“Hello, please connect me with Boss Zhou Rong.”

“The company has closed for the day,” the duty staff replied coldly.

“Help me out, I have urgent business with Boss Zhou.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No, but Boss Zhou will definitely be very happy to receive my call.”

“Everyone without an appointment says that.” The duty staff hung up directly.

Xiao Liu cursed and was about to dial again when suddenly light footsteps came from outside the door. He quickly grabbed a stick and hid behind the door. Seconds later, the footsteps reached the door. Huo Zheng pushed the door open and rushed in. Xiao Liu behind the door swung the stick down at him. Huo Zheng instinctively raised his hand to block. His left hand took multiple strikes from the stick. Enduring the severe pain, his left hand grabbed the stick while his right hand pulled out a dagger and slashed directly across Xiao Liu’s neck. Xiao Liu immediately fell, blood flowing everywhere.

Huo Zheng shook his left hand—the bone wasn’t broken but he couldn’t use much strength for the moment. After inspecting the scene, he saw Xiao Liu’s phone had just called Rongcheng Group. He frowned slightly and called Zhu Yifei to report: “Brother Fei, got the item, dealt with the person. But… Xiao Liu just called Zhou Rong.”

Zhu Yifei said suspiciously: “He wanted to privately sell the goods to Zhou Rong? Never mind, clean up the scene and come back.”

Huo Zheng dragged Xiao Liu’s corpse into the bathroom to drain the blood to reduce the weight. He dumped all the fake antiquities out of the suitcase, put in the Xuande incense burner, then laboriously stuffed Xiao Liu’s corpse inside, breaking the tracker in the process. He carefully cleaned up blood stains and signs of struggle from the scene, then dragged the suitcase downstairs and left.

Huo Zheng dragged the case to the outside road. Not far away, a taxi approached. He flagged it down, opened the rear door, and was about to load the case onto the back seat, but because his left hand was injured, he couldn’t lift the hundred-plus pound case on the first try.

The driver kindly suggested: “Sir, put the big case in the trunk.”

Huo Zheng responded coldly: “My belongings cannot leave my sight.”

The driver asked curiously: “What’s so valuable?”

Huo Zheng snorted and ignored him. Gathering his strength again, he managed to heave the case onto the back seat. Just as he was about to push it in further, the case got stuck on the safety latch in the middle of the seat and wouldn’t go through.

After several attempts, the driver suggested: “Sir, why don’t you sit on the other side?”

Huo Zheng had no choice but to close the door and walk around the rear of the car to the other side. But after just two steps, the driver’s lips curved into a smile. His foot floored the gas pedal and the taxi roared away.

“Go to hell!” Huo Zheng took off running after the taxi, but how could a person outrun a car? Watching the taxi drive farther and farther away, Huo Zheng saw someone riding an electric scooter nearby. He kicked the person off with one foot, snatched the electric scooter, and chased after them urgently.

32.

Du Cong was very happy today. The car stereo blared as he hummed along on his way back to the dealership.

33.

The taxi pulled up to an intersection and stopped. Driver Xiao Mao rolled down the window and waved triumphantly at Gang Ge standing nearby.

Gang Ge got in the back seat. Xiao Mao resumed driving, showing off about the “spoils of war” in the back seat: “That idiot wouldn’t let anyone touch it—must be really valuable!” He even mimicked the idiot’s words: “My belongings cannot leave my sight.”

Gang Ge rubbed his hands together, turned the case around, and expectantly pressed the case’s switch to inspect their prize. In the next second, he jumped up in fright, hitting the car ceiling, his face turning deathly pale.

Xiao Mao looked through the rearview mirror and asked curiously what was wrong. Gang Ge couldn’t speak. Xiao Mao turned his head to look and was instantly petrified as well. Suddenly at this moment, headlights shone from ahead. Gang Ge yelled “Brake!” Xiao Mao slammed on the emergency brake. But at the same time, an S-class Mercedes next to them swerved to avoid them and crashed into a large tree by the roadside.

34.

Du Cong climbed out of the car, his mind blank. The Mercedes had snapped a roadside tree in half at the trunk. The front end was severely damaged, billowing smoke.

He rushed to the taxi that had stopped in the oncoming lane and pounded on the door, demanding the driver get out.

Xiao Mao rolled down the window, looking at him innocently: “Brother, what’s wrong with you? How did you just crash while driving fine?”

“How did I just crash!” Hearing the other party trying to play dumb, Du Cong grabbed his collar and roared: “Open your eyes wide and see which lane your car is stopped in!”

Gang Ge in the back seat was terrified Du Cong would see the corpse. He covered his mouth and urged quietly: “Run, run!”

Xiao Mao immediately consoled Du Cong: “Brother, don’t worry, this is easy to solve. Look quick, someone’s stealing your car!”

Du Cong turned his head. Xiao Mao used the same trick again, flooring the gas pedal. The taxi shot forward. Du Cong desperately clutched his collar, being dragged along by the car for dozens of meters. With a ripping sound, Xiao Mao’s collar pocket tore off in his hand. Du Cong fell outside the car, helplessly watching the taxi escape.

Not long after the taxi passed, Huo Zheng came chasing from behind on the electric scooter.

Du Cong sat on the ground, clutching the torn collar pocket and half a bank credit card statement envelope in his hands.

35.

In Zhou Rong’s grand villa, after dinner, Luo Jia poured two glasses of red wine. She secretly dumped powder from the small medicine bottle in her hand into one glass, then presented the drugged wine to Zhou Rong, intimately thanking Brother Rong for his hospitality.

Zhou Rong downed the wine in one gulp, grabbed Luo Jia’s little hand, put his arm around her shoulder, and tried to kiss her. Luo Jia coquettishly pushed him away, saying: “You smell like smoke—go take a shower.”

Zhou Rong smiled and scraped her nose, then went to the bathroom with great delight. As soon as Luo Jia saw him leave, she immediately ran into the study. Just as the police informant had said, a huge safe was embedded in the wall. She pressed her head against the safe, gently turning the combination lock.

Before long, Zhou Rong came out wearing pajamas after his shower, calling Luo Jia’s name. Luo Jia ran to the bookshelf, pretending to read. Seeing her in the study, Zhou Rong glanced alertly at the safe and asked why she was there. She made excuses about how big his house was and just taking a look around, then reclined slightly on the sofa in an alluring pose. Zhou Rong smiled and moved forward to grab her. She circled around the sofa playing a teasing game of cat and mouse.

Just as Zhou Rong was delighted, his phone rang. He stopped, saw it was Hu Jianren calling, temporarily said goodbye to Luo Jia, and went outside the door to answer.

Hu Jianren told him that the Mercedes left at the dealership had been stolen by a salesman to use as a wedding car and crashed tonight—the vehicle damage was severe. Zhou Rong flew into a rage—this was pure theft! He came to the villa entrance, called over security captain Zhang Debing, and told him to take several brothers to the dealership to cause a scene and make them pay big.

36.

Fang Chao and Liu Zhi were patiently waiting behind the villa for their opportunity. Seeing the two security guards at the security post called away by their captain, a group of security guards soon drove away in two cars. The two seized the chance to quickly infiltrate the villa.

37.

Zhou Rong returned to the study. Seeing Luo Jia still sitting sexily on the sofa, he impatiently lunged at her chest. Luo Jia tried every way to resist. Suddenly, a loud gurgling sound came from Zhou Rong’s stomach. Zhou Rong stood up, his stomach rumbling constantly. He apologized awkwardly: “This is… this is so embarrassing.”

Luo Jia smiled consolingly: “It’s human nature.” Her face showed disappointment, but her heart was overjoyed. For this moment, she had prepared for two days. She first found the unit’s medical examiner and obtained colorless, odorless, powerful laxative. Then she tested it on a vicious dog in the courtyard of the building she rented. When she checked hours later, the dog had collapsed on the ground with diarrhea, barely alive. With this trick, even if Zhou Rong wanted to take advantage of her, he’d be willing but unable. That’s why she dared accept Zhou Rong’s invitation to his home. Of course, she’d also tucked a small folding knife in her pants pocket just in case.

Zhou Rong could only say disappointedly: “I need to step out for a moment.”

Just as he was about to go to the bathroom, he suddenly noticed the safe’s lock. His expression immediately changed. He turned and glared at Luo Jia: “Who exactly are you?”

Luo Jia looked innocent: “Brother Rong… what’s wrong?”

Zhou Rong walked to the safe: “Both times I came back, I found the combination lock dial had moved. The first time I thought you were just curious, but the second time can’t be explained.” He glanced at his watch and sneered: “What, you’ve been turning it for a quarter hour and still can’t open it?”

Luo Jia stood up, her eyes filled with vigilance.

Zhou Rong laughed: “Forget about you—even the world’s best locksmith could turn it their whole life and not open it!” He gripped the combination lock and with a slight effort pulled it right off: “This is just a decoration—it’s actually a voice-controlled safe!”

“That high-tech?” A voice came from behind Zhou Rong.

Zhou Rong smiled: “Of course it’s high-tech—who’s there?” He suddenly turned around and saw a gun. The masked Fang Chao and Liu Zhi appeared before him, one holding a gun, the other a knife. In no time, these two fierce criminals tied up both Zhou Rong and Luo Jia on the ground.

Liu Zhi stared at the safe studying it: “Voice-controlled safe—this is my first time seeing such a thing.—Hey, what’s the password?”

Zhou Rong gritted his teeth and said nothing.

Liu Zhi tried on his own: “Open sesame!”

Fang Chao sneered: “Ignorant. Would such high-tech equipment use that password?—Hey, I’ll count to three. Say the password or I’ll shoot. One, two…”

Zhou Rong blurted out: “Emases nepo.”

Bang! The safe opened with a sound.

“Truly high-tech!”

Liu Zhi searched through the safe but only found a pile of documents and a USB drive. The two turned to ask Zhou Rong where the money was. Zhou Rong lied that he kept no money at home. Without wasting words, the two went straight at him with fierce kicks. After just a few hits, he couldn’t take it and revealed there was money in the large suitcase nearby.

Liu Zhi opened the suitcase and only found a spa card worth thirty thousand on top, with clothes underneath. Zhou Rong said there was a hidden mechanism in the suitcase. Liu Zhi followed his words. The bottom of the suitcase popped open a secret compartment, revealing neatly arranged five hundred thousand US dollars. Both men’s eyes went straight.

Fang Chao suppressed his inner joy and asked Zhou Rong where else he kept money. Zhou Rong said this was all he had at home. Liu Zhi gave him another fierce beating. Zhou Rong’s stomach gurgled loudly. Under the violent assault, he farted and all his feces sprayed out, the back of his pajamas a foul yellow mess.

Fang Chao frowned and stopped Liu Zhi: “Forget it—we’ve beaten the shit out of him. Looks like there really is no more money.”

He took out the USB drive from the safe and asked him: “What’s this?”

Seeing the USB drive, Zhou Rong’s expression changed dramatically. He quickly said it was just some files—take the money and go.

Fang Chao detected the anomaly in his expression, plugged the USB drive into a computer, and saw various complex accounting spreadsheets. After pondering a while, he understood: “This is your bribery ledger, right?”

Hearing this, Luo Jia perked up her ears.

Zhou Rong didn’t answer directly, only begging them to leave the USB drive and take the money. Fang Chao smiled, saying this USB drive could cost him his life—after waking up, he’d better not report to the police, or the USB drive would go to them.

Zhou Rong asked why he said “after waking up.”

Liu Zhi made his palm into a knife and chopped at his neck, but failed to knock him out. He cried out in pain: “Heroes spare my life! I promise not to call the police. There’s my business card on the table—call me and I’ll pay money to redeem the USB drive.”

Liu Zhi chopped him several more times in succession, finally succeeding in knocking him out. He then did the same to Luo Jia. With just one chop, Luo Jia quickly pretended to faint and fell to the ground.

They taped both Zhou Rong’s and Luo Jia’s mouths. Fang Chao picked up Zhou Rong’s business card, glanced at it, and tucked it in his pocket. Liu Zhi originally wanted to take out the dollars, but Fang Chao felt carrying so many dollars wasn’t safe. This case with the hidden mechanism was quite professional, so they took the entire case.

38.

That night at the dealership, Du Cong was surrounded by Zhang Debing and others. Store representatives and police station officers participated in mediation together. Finally, they agreed: the store would handle repairs, Du Cong would compensate three hundred thousand in depreciation fees. Stealing a customer’s vehicle could also be defined as theft—if he couldn’t pay within a month, he’d be waiting to go to jail.

Du Cong returned home dejected. He called friends one by one to borrow money—no one would lend. He called his parents. Hearing his already struggling mother say his father’s medical expenses for the next few months were sufficient and he didn’t need to send money, he swallowed back the matter of needing compensation money and silently hung up.

Du Cong sat dazed in the living room, thinking about tonight’s disaster, and broke down crying. He pulled out paper from his pocket to wipe his face and saw the bank statement envelope. He clenched his fist tightly.

39.

Huo Zheng rode the electric scooter. After watching the taxi drive into an area on the urban-rural fringe, he lost them. He called Zhu Yifei to report—the case was hijacked. He’d memorized the vehicle and would find the people soon.

40.

Gang Ge and Xiao Mao drove the fake taxi home, closed the courtyard gate, carried the case inside, and opened it. Seeing the Xuande incense burner, they thought it was an ashtray. They had no mind to think carefully right now—they tossed it aside and ignored it.

The two stood facing each other before the corpse. Gang Ge wanted to call the police. Xiao Mao said they’d used a fake taxi for theft and had already stolen several laptop computers—if they called the police, they’d probably go to jail too. He suggested secretly disposing of the body.

41.

In the villa, after the two robbers left, Luo Jia pulled out the small folding knife from her pants pocket that she’d brought for self-defense, quickly cut through the ropes, and left. Returning to the unit, she found the Director waiting for her. The Director said angrily that he’d just received intelligence—she went to Zhou Rong’s home tonight. If she hadn’t come out, he was prepared to send people to force their way in.

Luo Jia reported that someone had robbed Zhou Rong and taken the USB drive recording his bribery ledger.

Learning this unexpected intelligence, the Director immediately demanded the detective team find the two robbers and obtain the USB drive.

42.

At dawn, Du Cong took the envelope with half the bank statement address and followed the partial address to find last night’s hit-and-run vehicle to settle accounts.

43.

The area around San Jiang Kou train station sat lower than the surrounding terrain. At dawn, Gang Ge and Xiao Mao appeared carrying their case on a road seven or eight meters above ground level, crouching at the edge of a green belt observing the station not far below.

Watching people coming and going near the station, the two discussed perhaps taking a minibus to a rural reservoir to dispose of the body—mixed in the crowd, they likely wouldn’t be noticed.

At this moment, voices of two people conversing came from the road seven or eight meters below them.

“Brother Chao, can’t we just drive out of San Jiang Kou directly? Why take a bus?”

“What do you know? If Zhou Rong reports to the police and they set up roadblocks on the highway, we’ll have nowhere to escape.”

“He wouldn’t dare report it, right?”

“What if he does? Once we’re caught by police, we’ll be in prison for life. Being cautious is never wrong. You wait here. I’ll go to the station first to check the schedule.”

Liu Zhi responded, set the suitcase to the side, pulled out a rice ball, and ate leaning against the wall, completely unaware that two furtive heads poked out from the green belt above.

The two heads drew back. Xiao Mao whispered to Gang Ge: “Those two have major cases on them, and… their case is the same as ours.”

Gang Ge nodded. The two had an idea. They dragged their case down stairs by the road to the lower street. Gang Ge went up to chat with Liu Zhi, pretending to ask for directions. Xiao Mao took advantage of Liu Zhi’s inattention and switched the suitcases.

44.

Moments later, Fang Chao returned saying they couldn’t buy tickets today—there were police conducting temporary inspections outside the station. He didn’t know if they were looking for them. Better return to the hotel and make plans.

The two retraced their steps. Liu Zhi picked up the suitcase and stopped after just two steps, scratching his head: “Something’s wrong!” He turned to stare at the case. Both were black suitcases—same brand, same design, even the front and back looked identical. Only the weight had increased dramatically. After several seconds, Liu Zhi’s eyes slowly widened, his expression changing violently as he cried out in shock: “Those goddamn bastards!”

Fang Chao listened to his account of having the suitcase switched just now. His whole heart sank. His gaze swept the surroundings but couldn’t find those two small-time thieves.

At this moment, Du Cong passed by them holding the envelope with half an address, asking: “Excuse me, how do I get to Haiyan South Road?”

Liu Zhi stared at him for three seconds, cursed “Here comes another one,” jumped up, and pinned Du Cong to the ground, beating him savagely. Du Cong cried out in pain, drawing the collective attention of surrounding passersby. Fang Chao quickly stopped him: “Stay calm. Getting angry won’t solve the problem. Let’s go back and make plans.”

The two grabbed their suitcase and hurriedly left. Du Cong struggled to grab Liu Zhi but was kicked away, only able to helplessly watch them escape. The surrounding crowd didn’t dare intervene.

Cursing, Du Cong got up again. After checking his body, he ached all over but had no internal injuries. He picked up something Liu Zhi had dropped while beating him—a hotel room card with “Purple Butterfly Hotel 306” written on the paper sleeve.

45.

After successfully switching cases and escaping, Gang Ge and Xiao Mao breathed a temporary sigh of relief. On the street, they saw someone selling turtles. Xiao Mao bought one, saying releasing it would accumulate virtue—their luck had been too bad recently.

Coming to the riverside, Xiao Mao put the turtle in the water. The turtle desperately swam back. After several attempts, Xiao Mao said this turtle had a connection with him—he’d keep it with him.

A woman with a child stood by the river. The child whispered: “Mommy, why is this uncle trying to drown a land turtle?”

The mother quickly shushed him.

46.

After being inexplicably beaten up, Du Cong had no time to report to police. Holding the half envelope, he continued searching for last night’s hit-and-run vehicle. After searching for a long time, he finally found the offending taxi in a rundown courtyard in the southern suburban urban-rural fringe.

In the house separated by one wall, Gang Ge and Xiao Mao returned home and opened the switched case to search through it. Besides clothes and luggage, the most important thing was a spa center foot massage card worth thirty thousand. This could wash away tens of thousands worth of foot massages—definitely washing something other than feet. The two were overjoyed, planning to go have fun in a few days.

At this moment, someone knocked on the door. The two peeked through the door crack—it was last night’s Mercedes driver. They didn’t know how he’d found this place. Regarding last night’s incident, they weren’t worried—last night he’d crashed into the tree himself. Their car had no scratches at all. So the two righteously opened the door, categorically denying last night’s hit-and-run. Facing Du Cong’s demand for compensation, Gang Ge beat him up and pushed him out of the courtyard, warning him not to come cause trouble again or they wouldn’t be polite.

47.

Fang Chao and Liu Zhi returned to the Purple Butterfly Hotel full of anger. Opening the switched suitcase hoping to find clues about those two small-time thieves, they were terrified into collapse by the corpse that suddenly appeared in the case.

After a long while, the two gradually recovered their senses.

Liu Zhi was shocked and furious, swearing to kill those two and retrieve the case. Fang Chao thought for a long time and decided to first wait until tonight to dispose of this corpse of unknown origin, then find a way to locate those two.

48.

That morning, Zhou Rong’s villa security noticed the boss and two maids hadn’t left the house, felt something was wrong, knocked to inquire—no response from inside. But moments later they faintly heard slight sounds from the direction of the study on the other side of the house. Security called captain Zhang Debing, who found keys and opened the door. They first found two bound and gagged maids, then in the study found the boss in the same state but covered with footprints, feces beaten out all over the ground.

After being rescued, Zhou Rong flew into a rage and slapped all the security guards.

Hu Jianren asked if he wanted to report to police. Zhou Rong refused. He told several subordinates a USB drive had been taken by the robbers—money was secondary, but the USB drive couldn’t fall into police hands.

Zhang Debing brought surveillance from inside and outside the villa. The two robbers wore masks throughout—their identities couldn’t be determined.

After pondering, Zhou Rong analyzed these two had skills—definitely not their first time. Ask friends in the underworld if anyone has seen this case and who recently suddenly has US dollars. Whoever could find these two and retrieve the USB drive would not only get all 500,000 dollars in the case, but Zhou Rong would additionally reward 3 million yuan.

Such a high reward—earning a lifetime’s worth of money in one shot. All the subordinates’ blood immediately boiled.

Hu Jianren asked where last night’s Miss Li went. Zhou Rong, reminded by him, reacted and said angrily that this bitch had been staring at his safe as soon as she arrived. Later when the robbers came, she was clearly also tied up, but afterward slipped away mysteriously—definitely part of their gang! Finding her would definitely yield clues.

49.

After being beaten by Gang Ge and driven out, Du Cong could only go to the police station to find last night’s responding officers to uphold justice. After hearing his description, the police said that taxi didn’t collide with him—he was frightened by their driving pattern and crashed himself. If frightening someone while driving required compensation, the whole street would be full of insurance scammers.

Du Cong helplessly returned home. Calculating all his savings, he was far from three hundred thousand. He thought of all the encounters from last night until now, thought of Gang Ge and Xiao Mao’s shameless refusal to admit fault, thought of being beaten twice today—all his anger suddenly erupted.

He found a hammer and tucked it in a bag, then went to settle accounts with Gang Ge and Xiao Mao again.

50.

At dusk, after searching the southern suburbs all day, Huo Zheng finally found last night’s case-snatching taxi in a rundown courtyard. Just as he was about to go in and deal with them, he saw an SUV driving toward the courtyard. He quickly hid to the side and recognized the person getting out of the SUV as one of Zhou Rong’s subordinates.

Zhou Rong’s subordinate Li Penggai drove the SUV into Gang Ge and Xiao Mao’s courtyard. Gang Ge and Xiao Mao enthusiastically welcomed him inside, asking what job could help their brothers get rich.

Li Penggai said his boss had lost something. Whoever in the underworld could help find it would get a reward of several million. He pulled out photos, having them watch for a case like this. Halfway through speaking, Li Penggai suddenly saw a case on the table. He held up the photo and compared for several seconds, walked over, opened the case, pressed the mechanism—the secret compartment popped out with neatly arranged five hundred thousand US dollars inside. Without a word, he closed the case and carried it to the car outside.

Outside the courtyard, Huo Zheng watched Li Penggai carry away his case and get in the car. He bit his teeth bitterly and slipped away.

Li Penggai returned to the house and asked Gang Ge and Xiao Mao: “Where’s the USB drive?”

Gang Ge and Xiao Mao were confused.

Li Penggai immediately called Zhang Debing: “Found those two. They won’t say about the USB drive yet. Okay… I’ll bring them back first. …No problem, I know what those two are capable of. I’ll bring them back now.”

Hanging up, he pulled out a sharp dagger, held it to Gang Ge’s neck, and relying on his large build, threatened both to get in the car.

Gang Ge called out in terror: “What… what’s going on?”

Li Penggai responded coldly: “This time your guts were really too big. I can’t help you either. Let’s go!”

Holding the dagger, he forced both onto the car, having Xiao Mao sit in the driver’s seat, Gang Ge in the passenger seat, while he sat in back threatening and controlling them with the dagger.

Xiao Mao meekly complied. Suddenly, he turned and grabbed Li Penggai’s arm, lunged to the back, pulled out a turtle, and smashed it hard against Li Penggai’s head. After smashing over a dozen times, Li Penggai completely lost his strength. Even in death, he stared at the murder weapon in Xiao Mao’s hand, never understanding in his dreams—where did the turtle in the car come from?

Gang Ge checked Li Penggai’s breathing and found he’d been beaten to death. Terrified, he stared at the fierce-looking Xiao Mao and asked timidly: “You… what have you done?”

Xiao Mao said coldly: “This morning, the two we switched cases with robbed Boss Zhou. There’s five hundred thousand dollars in the bottom. I saw everything when Li Penggai opened the case’s hidden compartment just now.”

Gang Ge recalled the sequence and finally understood: “But… we can’t kill people!”

“He mistook us for those two. If we went with him, we’d be walking into certain death. Better to kill him and take the five hundred thousand dollars! Otherwise we’d never earn five hundred thousand in our lifetime.”

Gang Ge was intimidated by Xiao Mao’s sudden imposing manner. He carefully asked: “Now… what do we do now?”

Xiao Mao said coldly: “First carry the body inside. Tonight we’ll figure out how to dispose of the car and body together.”

Xiao Mao got out first, locked the courtyard gate, then returned to help Gang Ge carry the body inside. Gang Ge’s mind was in chaos. Looking at Li Penggai’s corpse—truly one wave hadn’t settled before another came crashing—he was completely without ideas.

Xiao Mao suggested putting the body in a bag, driving out tonight to find a place to bury it, then driving the car to the lake bottom where no one would find it.

As the two were discussing, Du Cong’s intense door pounding and cursing came from outside the courtyard. Faced with corpses in the house, they didn’t dare open the door and could only let him curse.

After cursing for a while with no one opening the door, Du Cong directly kicked the courtyard gate lock open and rushed in. Coming to the house, he pounded on the door cursing: “You two bastards get out here! I know you’re hiding inside!” Gang Ge and Xiao Mao hid in the house not daring to breathe.

Seeing these two shameless hit-and-run perpetrators wouldn’t come out, Du Cong grew even angrier. He looked around for something to smash the door with. Turning his head, he saw the SUV nearby—the car door was actually open. He went over to look—the keys were still in the car. After thinking for a few seconds, without another word he got in and started the vehicle.

Gang Ge and Xiao Mao hid in the house holding their breath tensely. Suddenly they heard the engine sound from the courtyard. Gang Ge pressed against the door crack to look outside. Du Cong had already driven the SUV to the courtyard gate, rolled down the window, and shouted inside: “I’m impounding the car! Come pay to get it back!”

51.

Du Cong drove furiously. He knew impounding their car wasn’t legal, but thinking about how he’d go to jail if he couldn’t pay three hundred thousand within a month, facing these two scoundrels, he could only be more of a scoundrel than them.

At this moment, a phone ringtone came from the back seat. He turned his head and saw a suitcase on the back seat with a phone ringing beside it. He figured those two scoundrels must be calling to negotiate, so he stopped the car, turned around to grab the phone from the back, saw the caller ID showed “Boss,” and answered the call.

52.

In the villa, Zhou Rong paced back and forth irritably while scolding Zhang Debing who was making a call nearby: “Is that Li Penggai of yours an idiot? He found them but didn’t ask for help—he wants to pocket the reward himself? He doesn’t know those two have guns. Now look—can’t even get through on the phone. I bet Li Penggai’s probably dead too. Serves him right!”

Zhang Debing kept his head lowered, not daring to speak, only continuing to focus on calling Li Penggai’s phone. The phone rang for seven or eight seconds. Just when he thought no one would answer again, it suddenly connected. A voice that wasn’t Li Penggai’s responded: “Hello?”

Zhang Debing put the phone on speaker and asked: “Who are you?”

Du Cong said: “You don’t know who I am?”

Zhou Rong held up his hand—no need to ask the other party’s identity, they definitely wouldn’t say. He took the phone and asked: “Brother, you took my things. What will it take to return them?”

Du Cong said: “Give me money and I’ll return them.”

Zhou Rong asked: “How much do you want?”

Du Cong thought for a moment. Having them pay all three hundred thousand was definitely impossible. Getting a few tens of thousands in compensation so he could scrape together the rest would already be a blessing. He said: “Bring a hundred thousand.”

Zhou Rong felt incredulous: “A hundred thousand? Did I hear correctly?”

Du Cong snapped coldly: “That’s right, a hundred thousand!”

Zhou Rong frowned: “Are you joking with me?”

Du Cong cursed: “Joking your mother!”

He hung up directly.

Zhou Rong held the disconnected phone in his hand, looking up at Hu Jianren and Zhang Debing: “What now?”

Hu Jianren frowned: “Li Penggai went looking for him today—probably provoked him. But I think his purpose is definitely still money. It just depends how much he wants.”

Zhou Rong nodded helplessly, glared at Zhang Debing, and gave him another scolding. If not for that idiot Li Penggai, they wouldn’t be so passive now.

At this moment, Hu Jianren’s phone rang. He glanced at it and said to Zhou Rong: “It’s Boss Zhu.”

53.

On another front, Huo Zheng returned to the hotel and told Zhu Yifei he’d found last night’s case hijackers, but he hadn’t made a move because he saw Boss Zhou’s car parked in their courtyard. Boss Zhou’s subordinates had found them and carried the case into the car.

Zhu Yifei asked incredulously: “Are you certain you saw clearly?”

Huo Zheng was very certain and suspected that from when Xiao Liu stole the Xuande incense burner, this whole thing was a trap designed by Boss Zhou.

Zhu Yifei shook his head—he didn’t believe Zhou Rong would do such a thing.

Huo Zheng said: “Brother Fei, if you don’t believe it, call Hu Jianren and ask if they still want to buy the Xuande incense burner.”

Zhu Yifei considered for a moment, pulled out his phone, and called Hu Jianren, saying falsely: “Manager Hu, ran into some trouble yesterday. When is it convenient to continue yesterday’s transaction?”

Hu Jianren covered the phone, turned to ask Zhou Rong when to continue completing the transaction with Zhu Yifei.

Zhou Rong immediately slapped his head and scolded: “What time is it now? How would I have the mood to buy his broken burner!”

Hu Jianren could only pick up the phone again and say: “Boss Zhu, we’re not buying it.”

Zhu Yifei hung up the phone in one motion and smashed it hard on the ground, roaring: “There’s no one in the world who does business this way!”

54.

After hanging up the phone in anger, Du Cong continued driving home. Passing by the Purple Butterfly Hotel on the road, he stopped the car, his gaze sweeping toward the hotel’s third floor. Biting his teeth bitterly, he pulled out Li Penggai’s phone and dialed 110: “Hello, police? I want to report something…”

55.

In room 306 of the Purple Butterfly Hotel, Liu Zhi put on stockings and a wig while Fang Chao applied a fake beard in front of the mirror. The two were preparing to disguise themselves and dispose of the body under cover of darkness.

Just as the two were still applying makeup, urgent knocking came from outside, followed by a gruff male voice: “Open up, quickly now. Police inspection.”

The two immediately jumped up. Fang Chao tiptoed to behind the door, looked through the peephole, and whispered reassurance to Liu Zhi: “Doesn’t look like detectives. Don’t panic. If they were really here to catch us, they’d have charged right in.”

At the same time, the two prepared to resist. Liu Zhi quickly removed the stockings and wig, hid the dagger under the blanket, and Fang Chao tucked the gun behind his waist.

After bustling about, the police outside grew more impatient: “Open immediately or we won’t be polite!—Xiao Gang, you call the receptionist.”

Fang Chao hurriedly called out: “Coming, coming!”

He opened the door, his hand discreetly placed on his lower back. But seeing the two police officers enter without immediately going after them, he believed this was more likely a routine inspection. He asked ingratiatingly: “Officers, why the sudden room inspection?”

The two police officers walked in with heads held high, surveyed the room, and said: “Citizens reported you’re using drugs and prostitution in this room.”

Fang Chao laughed: “Must be a mistaken report. Drug use? How could that be? We don’t look like drug users. Prostitution is even more ridiculous—two grown men, how could we be prostitutes?”

A policeman coughed: “The citizens reported homosexual prostitution.” He swept his gaze around the room. Liu Zhi still had eyeshadow and foundation on his face, and wigs, stockings, and women’s clothing were scattered on the bed. The policeman sneered: “You sure know how to play, huh?”

Following his gaze, Fang Chao awkwardly replied: “Officers, you… you’ve misunderstood.”

The police urged: “Stop explaining. Come with us.”

Fang Chao asked: “Where to?”

The police snapped: “To the police station, of course! Hurry up and get changed!”

Liu Zhi looked up at Fang Chao questioningly. Fang Chao gently shook his head, indicating they should do as the police said first. The two changed clothes and stood before the police.

The police pointed at the case: “You’re being detained tonight. Bring all your luggage. Bring that case too.”

Fang Chao’s gaze fell on the case. He repeated: “The case has to come to the police station too?”

Now they had no choice but to resist. He glanced at Liu Zhi. In the next second, both attacked simultaneously. Fang Chao grabbed the lead officer’s head and slammed it against the wall, instantly making him dizzy. Liu Zhi seized the other officer, locked his upper body, kneed him in the head, and in moments subdued both officers. They pulled out rope, tied them up in circles, and threw them in the bathroom. The two grabbed the suitcase and fled.

Because the suitcase was too heavy, dragging over a hundred pounds, they couldn’t run fast. Halfway through, they saw several people who seemed to be from a tour company loading suitcases into a van. The suitcases looked similar to theirs, so they left their case nearby and had them take it along.

Running through several streets, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi finally stopped to catch their breath. After discussing, they concluded finding those two small-time thieves would be fruitless. Having clashed with police today, they couldn’t stay in San Jiang Kou. They’d risk using the USB drive to extort Zhou Rong once, get the money, and leave quickly.

56.

Du Cong drove the car home and parked it at a free parking lot not far from home. He took the suitcase from the back seat and brought it home. After opening it and searching around, he found a spa foot massage card worth a full thirty thousand.

57.

Early the next morning, Du Cong went to the spa and pulled out the foot massage card, asking if he could get a refund. The receptionist took the card, checked it, discovered it was their boss’s card, called out the manager, and whispered a few words.

The manager looked at Du Cong suspiciously and asked: “Is this card yours?”

Du Cong felt guilty, took back the card saying never mind about the refund, and turned to leave.

The manager couldn’t stop him and hurriedly called Hu Jianren.

Hu Jianren received the notification, grabbed his phone, and rushed to Zhou Rong: “Boss Rong, someone at the spa wanted to refund a card—that thirty-thousand one.”

Zhou Rong quickly took the phone and asked where this person was now. The duty manager said he’d just left and gotten in a car—the license plate was Li Penggai’s vehicle.

Zhou Rong immediately ordered the duty manager to have someone follow him right away—if they lost him, don’t bother coming to work.

After giving instructions, Zhou Rong quickly summoned Zhang Debing—he was personally going out to give chase.

58.

Outside Zhou Rong’s villa, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi saw Zhou Rong’s car leaving. They quietly followed in their junker.

59.

All along the road, Du Cong drove while people from the spa followed behind, simultaneously on the phone with Zhou Rong, constantly communicating his location.

60.

Du Cong returned to the parking lot below his building and parked. Before long, Zhou Rong also arrived. His car stopped in the distance, quietly observing Du Cong’s movements.

Zhang Debing saw Du Cong get out and said in surprise: “Boss Rong, this is the dealership salesman who crashed the Mercedes the night before last! How does he have Li Penggai’s car?”

Zhou Rong scolded: “What salesman! He’s an expert! Sent a woman to case the place, saw we had many people, so crashed a car to trick the security guards away, then two people came in to rob the house. A chain of schemes—damn it!”

Zhang Debing asked what they should do now.

Zhou Rong told him to take reliable subordinates to follow Du Cong upstairs. After getting the USB drive, bring all the robbers back.

At this moment, Zhou Rong’s phone rang.

61.

Fang Chao and Liu Zhi’s junker was parked far away at the other end of the street. The two huddled in the car. Fang Chao pulled out Zhou Rong’s business card and dialed: “Boss Zhou, what are you doing sitting in a car with a bunch of people?”

Zhou Rong shuddered, turned to look outside. Du Cong was walking toward the residential building, not looking their way.

Fang Chao smiled: “Want to get the USB drive back? If so, prepare five million in cash. We’ll make the exchange tomorrow.”

Zhou Rong gasped: “Five million!”

Fang Chao sneered: “Compared to the accounts on the USB drive, five million is just loose change. How about it?”

Zhou Rong frowned: “How do we make the exchange?”

Fang Chao smiled: “I’ll contact you tomorrow. Remember, don’t try any tricks. Your every move is under our watch.”

After hanging up, Zhang Debing looked at the boss’s gloomy face and asked carefully: “Boss Rong, should we still go up?”

Zhou Rong snapped: “Go up for what? Our every move is under their noses. The enemy’s in the dark, we’re in the light. They want to make a deal!”

62.

At the Public Security Bureau, the leader gave orders. According to intelligence, Zhou Rong’s people had traced the robbers’ general activity area to near Siming Street. The police team arranged some plainclothes officers to conduct covert investigations around Siming Street. Remember, the investigation must be low-key—absolutely don’t alert the targets. The ultimate goal was to obtain the USB drive before Zhou Rong.

63.

The next morning, Du Cong went out. Zhang Debing sent two subordinates to follow at a distance.

As he passed a corridor corner, he encountered Luo Jia, who was lurking there monitoring Zhang Debing’s subordinates. He asked: “How come you’re here?”

Luo Jia had no time to answer. Seeing the two tailing lackeys approaching, she quickly pulled Du Cong aside and embraced him, pretending to kiss. After the two passed, Luo Jia pushed Du Cong away, explaining she was on a mission. But seeing Du Cong’s distracted appearance, she asked what was wrong.

Du Cong told her about crashing Zhou Rong’s Mercedes and owing three hundred thousand in compensation. Luo Jia was surprised—so it was him who crashed the car.

Du Cong asked rather embarrassedly if she could return the twenty thousand first. Luo Jia agreed and asked what else she could help with. Du Cong thought about it, declined Luo Jia’s kind offer, and said he’d figure something out himself.

64.

After Zhang Debing’s two lackeys passed by the corridor pretending to be passersby, they immediately called Zhang Debing: “Du Cong was just kissing a woman.”

Zhang Debing glanced at Zhou Rong and Hu Jianren beside him and asked: “Who’s the woman?”

The lackey answered: “Seems to be that Miss Li from that night.”

Hu Jianren admired the boss: “Boss Rong, your foresight is divine—they really are working together!”

The lackey asked: “What now? Du Cong’s walking south alone.”

Zhang Debing looked at Zhou Rong. Zhou Rong gritted his teeth: “Forget it. Complete the deal first. We’ll deal with them later!”

65.

After saying goodbye to Luo Jia, Du Cong went straight to find Gang Ge and Xiao Mao.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, the two had completely changed from yesterday’s arrogance. They warmly welcomed him in, calling him “Brother Cong,” begging him to return the car.

Du Cong demanded they compensate a hundred thousand. Surprisingly, Gang Ge immediately agreed, saying they’d give the money as soon as he returned the car. Du Cong didn’t believe them—money first, then the car.

The two begged for a while. Du Cong was too lazy to waste words with them and left with a parting shot: “No money, I’m selling the car.” He turned to leave.

Seeing Du Cong depart, the two exchanged glances and followed from a distance.

Du Cong returned to the area below his home. Zhang Debing’s lackey, receiving instructions, stepped forward and stopped him: “Big brother, the money’s ready.”

Du Cong looked him over for a few seconds: “They’re still having you tail me?”

The lackey denied it: “Not tailing—the boss told me to wait here for you.”

Du Cong sneered: “Still calling him ‘boss’—stop pretending. If I’m in a bad mood, one slap and he’s dead!”

In the villa, Zhou Rong listened in real-time through the phone. Hearing this, he gritted his teeth and forcibly suppressed his rage.

The lackey coughed awkwardly: “When do I give you the money?”

Du Cong snapped: “Now, immediately, the faster the better!”

Zhou Rong spoke through the phone to the lackey’s earpiece: “Set it for one hour from now. Make the exchange at Jiade Plaza.”

The lackey immediately repeated the boss’s words.

Du Cong said: “Why not just give it to me directly? What’s with Jiade Plaza!”

Zhou Rong said again: “This is his turf—afraid he’ll play tricks. Jiade Plaza is better—it’s open there, fair for everyone.”

The lackey repeated again.

Du Cong scolded: “Really don’t understand what you’re saying. Anyway, don’t you dare try to trick me!”

The lackey hurriedly said: “Absolutely don’t worry.”

66.

Du Cong passed the corridor corner and was stopped by Luo Jia: “Who was that person just now?”

Du Cong hedged: “I don’t know him.”

Luo Jia asked: “What did he want from you?”

Du Cong lied: “Nothing. He asked me what road this is.”

Luo Jia was half-convinced.

67.

Gang Ge and Xiao Mao followed Du Cong home from a distance. Watching him enter the residential building, the two discussed how the car must be parked nearby. Looking around, they quickly noticed a free open parking lot not far from the residential building. They soon found Li Penggai’s SUV. Looking inside, there was no case—the case must have been taken by Du Cong. They discussed and decided to go home for tools, then commit burglary to steal the case out.

In a junker not far from the SUV, Liu Zhi stared at Gang Ge and Xiao Mao through gritted teeth. Fang Chao desperately held him back, warning him not to make a move outside. They immediately decided to tail these two small-time thieves and temporarily set aside the deal with Zhou Rong.

68.

At the Public Security Bureau, police received intelligence that in one hour, Zhou Rong would make an exchange with the robbers at Jiade Plaza—they wanted to catch them red-handed with evidence. To ensure a successful arrest, rookies like Luo Jia were excluded from the operation.

69.

In the hotel, Zhu Yifei told Huo Zheng that Zhou Rong was after all a local power—with him, show courtesy before resorting to force. Give him one more chance.

70.

Gang Ge and Xiao Mao walked on the road home. Fang Chao and Liu Zhi quietly followed behind.

Xiao Mao suggested to Gang Ge that they didn’t have lockpicking tools at home. He knew a friend who was a locksmith—why not borrow tools from him? So the two turned back.

Seeing the two turn around, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi quickly turned their heads and moved aside. Fang Chao warned Liu Zhi that at this critical moment they must stay calm. The two pretended nonchalance and continued walking forward. Just reaching the corner, suddenly a basin unexpectedly clamped down on Fang Chao’s head, and he was drenched head to toe in feces and urine. It was three thugs from a debt collection company.

He froze for a second or two, then immediately rushed forward and beat the three feces-throwing thugs savagely to the ground. The three begged for mercy repeatedly, saying they meant to throw it at the two people ahead, but who knew they’d turn back—they hit the wrong person.

Fang Chao forcibly extracted Gang Ge and Xiao Mao’s address from the three thugs and rushed to their home—they weren’t there. After being doused in feces, Fang Chao’s calm demeanor changed. He furiously smashed everything in the house to pieces. Liu Zhi advised him: “Brother Chao, stay calm. Anger and cursing won’t solve the problem. We still need to make long-term plans.”

“Plans your mother! I’m going to kill these two bastards, dismember them completely!”

At this moment, Fang Chao kicked a sack. Opening it, he discovered yet another corpse. He immediately said: “These two are psycho serial killers. Killing them today counts as doing heaven’s work!”

71.

Gang Ge and Xiao Mao crouched upstairs in Du Cong’s residential building with their lockpicking tools. Seeing Du Cong on the second floor open his door, the two quickly drew back.

After Du Cong went downstairs, he headed straight for Jiade Plaza.

72.

Around Jiade Plaza, plainclothes police lay in ambush.

Zhou Rong’s car arrived and stopped at a corner of Jiade Plaza. After they stopped, a business van also pulled up behind them.

Hu Jianren said: “Boss Rong, that car behind has been following us for a long time.”

Zhou Rong said: “Honk the horn.”

In the business van behind, Zhu Yifei heard the horn and said since Zhou Rong had noticed, they should confront him face to face.

The business van opened its doors. Zhou Rong had thought the robbers were arriving, but seeing Zhu Yifei, he was greatly disappointed.

Zhu Yifei walked to the car front, but Zhou Rong didn’t get out. Zhu Yifei looked at him coldly: “Boss Zhou, you’re too unethical. No one does business this way.”

Zhou Rong impatiently dismissed him: “I’m very busy right now. Stop bothering me.”

At this moment, Huo Zheng noticed several people slowly approaching from around the plaza, and saw several more hiding behind distant trees. He immediately grabbed Zhu Yifei: “Brother Fei, something’s wrong!”

Zhu Yifei hastily fled into the car. The vehicle sped directly out of the plaza. At the same time, civilian vehicles in ambush around them mounted police lights, sirens roaring as they gave chase.

The business van was pursued front and back by a swarm of police. Finally chased onto an elevated bridge where they encountered traffic, Zhu Yifei, Huo Zheng, and the others fled the car, jumped from the bridge over ten meters high into the river, and escaped in disarray. The group swam into a sewage pipe to hide. Zhu Yifei cursed loudly that Zhou Rong not only swallowed their goods but deliberately brought the police, trying to destroy them completely—this grudge must be avenged! He told Huo Zheng to get guns—he’d make Zhou Rong know who the real gangsters were!

73.

On another front, police surrounded Zhou Rong’s car and only found five million in cash inside. Zhou Rong explained he was a businessman—no law against carrying any amount of cash in his car. The police helplessly let him leave.

After leaving, Hu Jianren whispered his speculation that police appearing at today’s exchange meant there was likely a mole. Zhou Rong nodded, his gaze turning toward the driver Xiao Mi. Afraid today’s incident would make the robbers mistakenly think he’d reported to police, he had Zhang Debing send lackeys to quickly find Du Cong and apologize.

74.

Du Cong waited at Jiade Plaza for a long time with no one paying attention to him. He cursed them as liars.

75.

Gang Ge and Xiao Mao used tools to pick open Du Cong’s door, found the case, opened the hidden compartment, took out the dollars and packed them in a bag, then left downstairs completely satisfied.

76.

Du Cong returned downstairs. Zhang Debing’s lackey hurried up to apologize—what just happened was a misunderstanding.

Du Cong said angrily: “Stop with the useless talk—give me the hundred thousand now!”

The lackey was confused: “A hundred thousand?”

Du Cong said: “Stop wasting time—hand over the money!”

Zhou Rong instructed the lackey by phone: “If he wants a hundred thousand, just give him a hundred thousand.”

The lackey acknowledged, returned to the car, immediately took a hundred thousand wrapped in a plastic bag and handed it to Du Cong.

Seeing him so readily actually give money, Du Cong was incredulous. After checking—the hundred thousand was real currency—he immediately nodded with satisfaction and pulled out a car key to hand over.

The lackey was puzzled: “This is?”

Du Cong pointed toward the parking lot: “Car key.”

The lackey understood and ran toward the parking lot.

Meanwhile, Luo Jia in the adjacent corridor, unable to participate in the arrest but still secretly tailing Zhou Rong’s subordinates, saw Du Cong exchange something with them. After they left, she hurriedly followed Du Cong upstairs.

77.

The lackey drove the car back to Zhou Rong’s villa. Zhang Debing searched the entire vehicle but found no USB drive—only a dead turtle under the seat. Hu Jianren analyzed that the robbers were calling Boss Rong a shrinking turtle. Zhou Rong was completely enraged.

Zhou Rong had the driver take his car with two vehicles of subordinates to the outskirts.

78.

Inside the Public Security Bureau, police received intelligence that Zhou Rong had taken two vehicles of subordinates to the outskirts. The leader urgently mobilized various police units to follow.

79.

In reality, Zhou Rong had Zhang Debing take the most reliable lackeys, grab weapons, and ride in a different car to confront Du Cong and settle accounts.

80.

In Du Cong’s home, he was counting money, repeatedly confirming he held genuine hundred-thousand in cash. Just as he was calculating how to scrape together the remaining amount, Luo Jia came looking for him.

Luo Jia demanded to know his relationship with Zhou Rong. Du Cong said he owed Zhou Rong three hundred thousand. Luo Jia then asked what he’d just exchanged with Zhou Rong’s subordinate.

Hearing Luo Jia say the lackey was Zhou Rong’s subordinate, Du Cong was completely baffled. He recounted the past few days’ events. Luo Jia roughly guessed what was going on.

She checked the case in the room. The hidden compartment was empty with no USB drive inside. She believed the USB drive was still with Gang Ge and Xiao Mao, so she told Du Cong to immediately take her to find them.

81.

Du Cong and Luo Jia just opened the door and encountered Zhang Debing waiting outside. Zhang Debing said the boss requested they sit in the car. Luo Jia said she had no time.

Zhang Debing waved his hand. Lackeys immediately came at them with knives. After Luo Jia fought several rounds with the lackeys, Zhang Debing personally stepped forward with a knife and stabbed at Luo Jia. Du Cong rushed up and took the blow for her, his hand getting cut. Then both were captured by Zhang Debing, stuffed in sacks, and forced into the car downstairs.

After being brought into the car, Zhou Rong was sitting there. Zhou Rong demanded where the USB drive was. Du Cong didn’t know what USB drive. Zhou Rong didn’t waste words—he threatened with a knife to cut Luo Jia’s face. Du Cong immediately said it was with two other people.

Zhou Rong told him to lead them to Gang Ge and Xiao Mao.

82.

On another front, Gang Ge and Xiao Mao returned to the courtyard with five hundred thousand dollars, breathing a sigh of relief, saying as long as they disposed of Li Penggai’s corpse, everything would be perfect.

Inside the house, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi saw the two return and hid behind the door.

As soon as Gang Ge and Xiao Mao entered, one was grabbed by the neck by Liu Zhi—”Move and I’ll snap your neck”—the other had Fang Chao’s gun pointed at his head. Fang Chao took the bag from Gang Ge’s hands, opened it—five hundred thousand dollars. Finally, the treasure was returned intact.

83.

Zhou Rong’s people arrived outside Gang Ge’s courtyard. Du Cong pointed inside—they live here. Zhang Debing said the courtyard gate wasn’t closed—someone was inside. Zhou Rong nodded and told them to go together, be careful—the other side has guns.

Inside the house, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi had Gang Ge and Xiao Mao firmly tied up. Liu Zhi asked how to deal with these two bastards. Last time they got a corpse that nearly killed them, and there was another one in the room. These two looked so sleazy—definitely psycho serial killers. Fang Chao was furious to the extreme, planning to make the two suffer more before killing them.

Liu Zhi found plastic wrap and wound it around both their mouths several times. Fang Chao lit a lighter and burned Gang Ge, making him wail in pain but unable to make a sound.

Just as the two were immersed in the joy of revenge, the door was suddenly kicked open. Zhang Debing led people rushing in. Two shotguns pointed directly at Fang Chao and Liu Zhi, while other lackeys held various blades, surrounding them.

Zhang Debing commanded: “Squat down with hands raised!”

Fang Chao frowned, urgently seeking a strategy.

Zhang Debing said: “I’ll only count to three. One, two—”

Fang Chao had no choice but to comply. The lackeys came forward and removed the guns and daggers from them. Zhang Debing kept his gun firmly pointed at their heads, forcing them back behind a narrow tool table.

After controlling those two, lackeys brought the bound Du Cong and Luo Jia into the house, pushing them behind the table as well. Zhou Rong entered and looked at Fang Chao, Liu Zhi, and four other bound people, smiling: “Now it’s lively. Everyone’s here, right?”

Luo Jia and Du Cong were bound hand and foot, placed side by side against the wall like two stakes. Luo Jia whispered to Du Cong that Zhou Rong definitely wanted to silence everyone—they needed to find a way to escape. She gestured with her mouth. Du Cong saw a blade on the ground nearby. He tried hard to shift over but couldn’t use his strength. He whispered that he’d try to get them to kick him so he’d roll over. He shouted at a nearby lackey: “Let me go, let me go now—when I get up you’re dead!” The lackey glared at him. Du Cong continued cursing: “What are you looking at? Kick me if you dare!”

Zhou Rong was interrogating Fang Chao and Liu Zhi about where the USB drive was when Du Cong interrupted him. He said angrily: “Cut out his tongue!”

The lackey immediately rushed forward with a knife. Du Cong hurriedly begged for mercy—I said kick me, not cut my tongue! As the lackey charged, Luo Jia forcefully stood up and took a kick from him, falling by the blade. Du Cong shook his head frantically, not letting them cut his tongue, begging: “I won’t talk, I absolutely won’t talk, big brother spare me!” The lackey slapped him twice, telling him to be quiet.

Meanwhile, Luo Jia secretly picked up the blade in her mouth, laboriously fell into Du Cong’s embrace, and used the blade to cut the rope around Du Cong’s stomach. Du Cong’s genitals instinctively rose, pressing against Luo Jia’s face. Luo Jia glared at him but could only continue cutting the rope.

Xiao Mao nearby, watching Luo Jia in what looked like an oral sex position, swallowed.

Luo Jia cut through Du Cong’s ropes. Taking advantage of the lackeys’ attention being focused on Fang Chao and Liu Zhi, Du Cong hid behind the table and quickly helped Luo Jia cut her ropes too. Luo Jia whispered—they had to find a way to rush out.

Du Cong looked up and saw a screwdriver on the table.

Zhou Rong interrogated Fang Chao about where the USB drive was. Fang Chao didn’t answer. Zhou Rong told his subordinates to search them. At this moment, Liu Zhi’s gaze caught the screwdriver on the table nearby. A barely perceptible cold smile appeared at his lips. In his imagination, when the subordinate came to search him, he’d flip and jump up, kick the opponent away, grab the screwdriver with one hand, rush at Zhou Rong, and threaten him to release everyone.

Zhou Rong’s subordinates came forward to search. Liu Zhi’s body shifted slightly right. But at this moment, Du Cong was hiding under the table behind him and reached up to take the screwdriver from the table.

Just as the subordinate was about to search, Liu Zhi’s lips curved into a smile. He suddenly jumped up, kicked the opponent flying, his other hand reaching for the screwdriver, shouting: “Fuck you—” Suddenly his hand came up empty. Discovering he’d grabbed nothing, Zhang Debing’s shotgun rang out. Bang! The shot sent him flying to the ground.

Seeing Liu Zhi lying on the ground clutching his stomach with blood flowing profusely, Fang Chao stopped resisting and blurted out: “The USB drive is on me!”

He felt behind a button in a hidden pocket in his clothes and pulled out the USB drive, handing it to Zhou Rong. Zhou Rong took the USB drive and breathed a long sigh of relief—finally back. He waved his hand, telling subordinates to tie up Fang Chao and Liu Zhi too, saying: “Get gasoline. Burn this place down.”

Everyone present instantly turned deathly pale with fright.

84.

In the outskirts, the plainclothes police car passed Zhou Rong’s vehicle. The plainclothes officer reported to the unit: “Something’s not right—Zhou Rong doesn’t seem to be in the car.”

85.

Inside the Public Security Bureau, officers reported to the leader: “Not good—Luo Jia and the informant have both lost contact.”

The leader immediately ordered: “Stop Zhou Rong’s vehicle!”

86.

In the outskirts, the plainclothes police car stopped in front of Zhou Rong’s vehicle. Several officers got out, showed credentials, and demanded Zhou Rong exit the car. Zhou Rong’s subordinates said the boss wasn’t in the car—they didn’t know where he was either.

87.

Two of Zhou Rong’s subordinates went out to get gasoline. Luo Jia whispered: “Good opportunity—find a way to rush out.”

Du Cong asked: “What about you?”

Luo Jia said: “Don’t worry about me. I’m a police officer. Don’t look back—rush outside and run immediately.”

Du Cong said: “That won’t work!”

Luo Jia urged: “There’s no time.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Luo Jia suddenly overturned the table and attacked one of the lackeys holding a shotgun, knocking his gun away. At this moment, Zhang Debing’s gun barrel turned toward her.

At this critical moment, Du Cong shouted “Watch out!” and jumped up to block in front of her. Bang! The bullet struck Du Cong. Without thinking, Du Cong used the force of being shot to lunge at Zhou Rong nearby, pressing the screwdriver nearly into Zhou Rong’s neck, roaring: “Let them go! I’m telling you to fucking let them go!”

In the next second, both shotguns pointed at Du Cong. Du Cong gripped Zhou Rong’s neck tightly, shouting: “Shoot then! I’ll definitely drag your boss down with me!”

Zhou Rong’s whole face turned red from being strangled. He swallowed and asked: “What do you want?”

Du Cong glanced at Luo Jia: “Let her go.”

Zhang Debing said: “You’re shot—you won’t last long.”

Du Cong shouted: “So what? Let her go! I’m counting to three. One, two—”

Zhou Rong was so frightened he immediately declared: “Let her go!”

Luo Jia looked at Du Cong gratefully but didn’t leave.

Du Cong shouted: “Hurry up and go!”

At this moment, Hu Jianren sneered: “Boss Rong, we can’t let her go. If we do, we’ll all go to prison.”

Du Cong stabbed with the screwdriver. Zhou Rong’s neck was already bleeding. Zhou Rong said urgently: “Let her go! Let her go!”

Hu Jianren shook his head: “Boss Rong, we’ve already come this far. The result of letting her go—I can’t do it. None of us can.—Debing, tie her up.”

Zhang Debing hesitated for a second but still did as Hu Jianren said. Just as he was about to step forward to tie up Luo Jia, Luo Jia shouted urgently: “I’m a police officer! The main force will arrive immediately. You’re already surrounded. Release them now and you can still get lenient treatment!”

Hu Jianren sneered: “I think the police should still be in the outskirts right now.”

88.

But just at this moment, the door was smashed open with a bang. Multiple people rushed in, all holding guns, threatening: “Nobody move! Hands on head, get down!”

Seeing this scene, everyone present was stunned. Liu Zhi said in shock: “There really are police!” Fang Chao sighed: “I’m actually longing for prison now.” Gang Ge and Xiao Mao also breathed sighs of relief, moved almost to tears.

Zhou Rong hurriedly shouted: “Help! Help! He’s going to kill me—I’m innocent!”

Hu Jianren, Zhang Debing, and everyone else threw down their weapons and squatted on the ground with hands on heads.

Watching this scene, Du Cong sighed: “Finally here.” He could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground.

89.

“Ha ha ha ha! Boss Zhou, don’t be afraid—I’m here to save you!”

Several seconds later, a call rang out from outside the door. Zhou Rong looked up. But it was Zhu Yifei and Huo Zheng entering. He asked in shock: “How is it you?”

“How is it me? I don’t even want to talk about it!” Zhu Yifei lifted his foot and kicked Zhou Rong in the face, knocking out his front teeth on the spot. Then Zhu Yifei had his subordinates tie everyone up.

He looked around at Zhou Rong: “Boss Zhou, what’s all this? Pretty exciting, huh? Kidnapping a group of people, planning to burn them all to death—quite ruthless!”

Huo Zheng found the Xuande incense burner and the bag of dollars in the house and brought everything over. Zhu Yifei nodded with satisfaction and told his subordinates to leave. Huo Zheng asked him: “Brother Fei, we’re just letting Zhou go like this?”

Zhu Yifei sneered: “Let him go? You’re joking!”

He took Zhou Rong’s phone and pressed 110, saying as he dialed: “You did it on the first, I’ll do it on the fifteenth—I’m reporting to police too.—Hello, police? Someone here kidnapped several people and is planning to murder them to silence them. The location is at—you figure it out yourselves.”

After making the call, he tossed the phone aside and departed dashingly with his subordinates.

90.

Before long, the main police force arrived and arrested everyone.

Luo Jia rushed to Du Cong’s side, tears streaming: “Hold on a bit longer—the ambulance will arrive soon!”

Du Cong weakly opened his eyes, looking at her pleadingly: “I… I want CPR.”

Luo Jia stood up coldly and called out: “Sun Big Mouth, give him CPR!”

91.

At San Jiang Kou train station, a van stopped in front of the station. Zhu Yifei had his subordinates take their cases from the van one by one and enter the station.

Passing the security scanner, the security inspector looked at the computer screen and frowned, rushed over to stop them, and demanded they open the cases for inspection.

Zhu Yifei’s subordinates opened a case and calmly said they all ran street stalls—everything inside was crafts.

However, after opening one of the cases, Xiao Liu’s corpse appeared. Everyone froze in place. The entire gang was caught in one swoop.

92.

Luo Jia came to the hospital to visit Du Cong lying in the hospital bed. Du Cong asked what to do about the three hundred thousand owed to Zhou Rong. Luo Jia said that was a vehicle involved in a case—it had already been impounded. Besides, this whole affair was thanks to him stealing Zhou Rong’s car that day.

After chatting for a while, Luo Jia asked him: “Why did you shield me from danger twice?”

Du Cong’s face reddened: “You still owe me money—of course I can’t let anything happen to you.”

Luo Jia stood up disappointedly and turned to leave.

Du Cong called out to stop her.

She asked coldly: “What else?”

Du Cong pulled out the thirty-thousand-yuan spa card from his pocket: “If I happen to have an extra foot spa ticket, would you be willing to go get a foot massage with me?”

THE END]