At the traffic light, vehicles were jammed together.

Fang Chao held a cigarette in one hand and gripped the steering wheel with the other, driving their collector’s edition Xiali car while expounding enthusiastically to Liu Zhi beside him.

“There’s a theory in economics that a person will encounter at least three major opportunities in their lifetime. As long as you seize one, you can turn things around and leap across social classes. Most people go their entire lives without catching even one. Why? Because they aren’t prepared! When opportunity comes, they don’t even know it—they only realize they missed it when they look back. Opportunity is always reserved for those who are prepared! Looking back on my decades of life, I’ve already missed the first major opportunity. My college entrance exam results weren’t ideal, so I planned to study abroad to gain some credentials. Back then, my family sold our homestead and scraped together several hundred thousand yuan to send me overseas. If we’d kept that homestead until now, I’d be a demolition household worth tens of millions—why would I need to work in this line? But there’s no medicine for regret in this world. People must always look forward. Now the second opportunity of this lifetime has come—this big fish Zhou Rong has swum our way. We must make complete preparations and absolutely cannot let this one slip through our fingers again!”

He turned his head and discovered that Liu Zhi wasn’t listening to him at all, but was rummaging through the glove box on the passenger side on his own.

“What are you doing!” Fang Chao was very displeased.

Liu Zhi pulled out a stack of items wrapped in plastic sleeves from the box. When he spread them open to look, they were all identity cards belonging to different people. He asked curiously, “Brother Chao, you prepared so many identity cards? This workmanship—mmm, the fakes look really authentic!”

“Put those back!” Fang Chao vigilantly surveyed their surroundings and scolded, “Why are you causing so much trouble! These are all real identity cards, bought at high prices online!”

“So many real identity cards—that means we can stay at hotels openly and aboveboard. We don’t have to worry about fake IDs being detected anymore. This preparatory work is really thorough!”

Fang Chao raised his head proudly. “Of course! This time we’re going after San Jiang Kou’s richest man. After this job, won’t it be earth-shattering? If I don’t plan an escape route early, do you want to go to prison?”

Liu Zhi closed the box and wailed, “But going after this guy surnamed Zhou is too difficult! He lives in an estate with bodyguards in front and back. When he goes out, people follow him. At a glance you can tell he’s a big boss from the underworld. We’ve been tailing him for so many days and haven’t found an opportunity to make our move. Let’s just take him out on the street. If we do it in broad daylight, we’ll definitely alert the police and won’t get a single cent of ransom.”

Fang Chao snorted dismissively. “If he were easy to target, wouldn’t San Jiang Kou’s richest man get robbed every other day? You see how he has bodyguards in front and back of his estate—clearly when he says his house is full of money, he’s not wrong. Since the money is in the house and won’t run away, we’ll stake out every day and will eventually find an opportunity. Take it slow—making money is never easy! You should know that in this world, aside from foot massage parlors, there’s no easy money to be made!”

At that moment, Liu Zhi noticed in the rearview mirror a large Land Rover rushing forward rapidly from the bus lane on their right. He glanced at their own car—there was about three meters of space between them and the car in front—and hurriedly said, “Brother Chao, quickly move up. That bastard behind us is definitely going to cut in!”

Fang Chao snorted, looking completely unmoved.

The large Land Rover behind them sped forward along the bus lane. Seeing a small broken-down car ahead with a gap between it and the car in front, sure enough, it swung its steering wheel to cut in front of them.

“No manners!” Fang Chao grunted, then suddenly floored the accelerator and closed the gap. The large Land Rover hastily braked to a stop.

Several seconds later, the Land Rover’s left window rolled down. A burly man stuck his head out and started cursing directly at them. “Screw your mother! Can you drive or not? Are you blind!”

Fang Chao glanced at him and ignored him. Liu Zhi laughed heartily, even rolling down his window and extending his hand to give the big man the middle finger.

“Go to hell, you bastard! Get out of the car if you dare!” The big man’s eyes widened in disbelief that there were such arrogant people in the world.

At that moment, the traffic light turned green at the intersection. The vehicles ahead started moving, and Fang Chao’s car followed along. Liu Zhi coughed forcefully, stuck his head out, and a thick glob of phlegm flew straight onto the Land Rover’s hood. Then he rolled up the window as if nothing had happened. The big man watched this scene, stunned for several seconds, wanting nothing more than to ram into them directly, but the small broken car had already driven far away.

The collector’s edition Xiali drove for a while and came to a stretch of open road. At that moment, urgent honking sounded from behind the car. Fang Chao looked in the rearview mirror—that large Land Rover was chasing them urgently, honking continuously for them to stop.

“Brother Chao, that bastard is chasing us.”

Fang Chao glared at Liu Zhi and said with dissatisfaction, “Who told you to cause trouble by spitting at him? Don’t you know we have a gun in this car? If we stir up trouble and attract the police, won’t we go straight to prison!”

Liu Zhi muttered, “Just now you didn’t let him cut in either.”

Fang Chao snorted through his nose, said “Hold on tight,” and floored the accelerator. After all, it was a collector’s edition Xiali—no matter how hard he pressed the accelerator, Liu Zhi still sat very steadily. The anticipated feeling of being pressed back in the seat from acceleration didn’t appear. The engine roar was very loud, but the speed remained frustratingly slow.

The big man saw that the small broken car didn’t stop but instead showed signs of accelerating. He became even more furious, stomped on the accelerator, and the large Land Rover closed in rapidly.

Seeing this situation, Fang Chao didn’t dare be careless. He gripped the steering wheel tightly and swerved left and right trying to shake off the car behind them. But helplessly, the gap in vehicle performance was too great—like a child racing an adult on foot. Even though he suddenly turned onto another road and the Land Rover didn’t react in time, within moments it turned around and quickly caught up again.

Within a few minutes, both parties had long abandoned their original routes and were racing on a remote road in the suburbs.

At this point there were no other vehicles blocking the road. The large Land Rover, relying on its superior performance, charged up to their side again and forced the small broken car into the rightmost lane. The Land Rover’s front end deliberately cut over, trying to force their car onto the median barrier. Fang Chao saw there was no way to avoid it and quickly stepped on the brake. Unfortunately, these brake pads as thin as cicada wings, even combined with the handbrake, still couldn’t stop the car. The Land Rover was still cutting closer to them. Seeing they were about to crash into the barrier, Fang Chao could only steel himself and jerk the steering wheel to the left. With a bang, they crashed into the Land Rover’s rear end.

After a sound of metal tearing, both vehicles stopped simultaneously. Fang Chao frowned tightly, pondering how to deal with the aftermath.

The Land Rover’s door opened. A big man about five feet ten inches tall and heavily built got out of the car. He first looked at his own car’s rear end—the bumper was broken off, and the rear had a large dent caved into it. He had already been full of rage, and now being rear-ended was adding fuel to the fire. He slammed the small broken car’s hood and shouted at the two people inside, “You two idiots get out here right now!”

Liu Zhi hated nothing more in his life than being called an idiot. Instantly enraged, he opened the glove box and reached for the gun to teach the other party a lesson, but Fang Chao quickly pressed his hand down and scolded in a low voice, “Are you crazy!” He snatched the gun away and stuffed it back in the box, pointing at Liu Zhi’s forehead and warning sternly, “You stay in the car and don’t you dare get out! Do you hear me!”

Liu Zhi was intimidated by his imposing manner and reluctantly nodded.

Fang Chao took a deep breath, put on an ingratiating smile, got out of the car, and pulled out a cigarette to hand over with pleasantries. “Big brother, are you alright?”

“Am I alright? Alright my ass! Look at this!” He swatted away the cigarette Fang Chao offered and pointed at his car’s rear end, then spread his large hand. “Don’t waste my time with nonsense. Pay up!”

“Pay? Big brother, look—you were the one cutting in front of our car all along. We couldn’t brake in time, which is why—”

“Damn it, you still have the nerve to talk! I was honking at you to stop the whole way. Are you deaf! If that bastard next to you hadn’t spit on my car, why would I cut you off?”

Fang Chao didn’t want to cause trouble. He swallowed and used up all the good temper he’d accumulated in his lifetime, smiling obsequiously. “Big brother, let’s address things separately. My brother spitting on your car—that was wrong. I’ll have him apologize to you. As for the car situation, you cut in front first. Let’s just forget about the compensation.”

“Forget it? You’re quite the comedian, aren’t you? My car is smashed up like this and you don’t want to pay?”

“That’s not what I’m saying. The rear-ending is your responsibility for cutting in, and the spitting is my brother’s responsibility. In the end, both cars are damaged. I suggest we each fix our own.”

“You’ve got some beautiful thoughts, don’t you!” The big man walked forward and gave Fang Chao several hard shoves.

Fang Chao retreated several steps to dodge. He thought about it—better to turn a big problem into a small one. After all, Zhou Rong was the important matter. He’d tolerate this guy for a while! He pulled out his wallet and looked inside. Very reluctantly, he pulled out a stack of bills and handed them over. “I only have three thousand. I’ll give it all to you. Is that okay?”

Liu Zhi inside the car saw Fang Chao pulling out money for compensation and couldn’t help crying out. Fang Chao turned his head and glared at him fiercely before suppressing his temper.

But the big man didn’t even touch the money. “Three thousand? Do you know how much it costs to repair my car after this damage? You can’t get it done for less than thirty thousand.”

“Thirty thousand!”

“Don’t say I’m extorting you. Extorting your broken car wouldn’t even be satisfying. You call the insurance company—I won’t make you pay out of pocket. As for the spitting matter, I won’t hold it against you either.”

Fang Chao looked troubled. After several seconds, he said directly, “Big brother, let me be straight with you. Our car isn’t insured, and we can’t come up with thirty thousand. How about this—I’ll give you three thousand under the table, you claim full responsibility with the insurance company. What do you say?”

“I claim full responsibility?” The big man laughed dryly twice. “You crashed into my car, and you want me to claim full responsibility? Why don’t I just give you my car too!”

“This—” Fang Chao froze, turned his head to look at Liu Zhi. Liu Zhi was excitedly nodding his head repeatedly, already impatiently opening the door to get out. Fang Chao could only turn back with difficulty and say, “Yes!”

An hour later, at a nearby empty parking lot that had not yet been put into use, the big man was gagged, bound hand and foot completely unable to move, and stuffed in the rear compartment of the large Land Rover. The Land Rover had already had its license plates changed. Fang Chao and Liu Zhi moved all their belongings from the small broken car onto the large Land Rover and drove the small broken car to another concealed location to hide it. With everything settled, the two men looked at this large Land Rover with its superior performance—their blood was practically boiling. Now all their equipment was complete. Time to go after Zhou Rong directly!