When someone encounters a misfortune, they shouldn’t complain right away, because what follows is often even worse.
At this moment, in a small inn’s guest room, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi stared blankly at the floor, where an open suitcase contained Liu Bei’s curled-up corpse.
After a long while, Fang Chao slowly raised his head, his throat dry: “What skill, what skill!”
Liu Zhi roared: “Those two bastards killed someone and switched bags with us. I’m going to kill them!” Enraged, he snapped the suitcase shut, zipped it up, grabbed it, and headed out.
“Where are you going!” Fang Chao stopped him.
“To kill those two beasts!”
“Where will you find them?”
“The station!”
“They switched the corpse with you at the station—why would they still be there?”
“Then they must be near the station.”
“Impossible. They killed someone—they’ve definitely fled far away by now.”
Liu Zhi sat down hard on the floor with reddened eyes, slapping his own head in self-reproach: “Then what do we do! What do we do!”
“This debt will naturally be settled!” Fang Chao’s words were ice-cold. Having been switched at the final step of their victorious escape, his mood was utterly ruined. He was determined to find these two people—whether to retrieve the dollars or avenge the bag switch, these two had to die. But his mind was still relatively calm. Although San Jiang Kou was only a county-level city, it had over a million people. Finding two people out of thin air was no easy task—he needed to plan carefully. However, before finding these two, he had to dispose of the corpse first.
He pulled back the curtain and looked at the surrounding environment, pondering for a moment. It was daytime now—he’d wait until night to dispose of the body, then make further plans.
Meanwhile, Gang-ge and Xiao Mao, who had switched the suitcases, were now breathing easier. The two returned home and opened the switched suitcase, finding several thousand yuan in small bills and three Maple Forest Late Hotel gift cards worth ten thousand each. Gang-ge naturally pocketed the money. Looking at the three ten-thousand-yuan gift cards, they discussed whether they could exchange the cards for cash to pay off their credit card debt. But how much could these hotel stored-value cards be exchanged for? Would they be registered under those two men’s names?
While they were discussing, they heard shouting from the courtyard: “Xia Tinggang, get your ass out here!”
The two exchanged glances, wondering if those criminals had tracked them down. Gang-ge quickly threw the gift cards back into the suitcase and pulled Xiao Mao to hide behind the door, peering through the crack toward the courtyard.
“Who is this guy?” Gang-ge didn’t recognize him.
“It’s… it’s the one who drove the Mercedes into a tree yesterday.”
In the courtyard, Du Cong stood beside the taxi, glaring furiously at the house.
Last night, he had borrowed Zhou Rong’s Mercedes to make extra money. When Xiao Mao drove the taxi off course and headed straight for him, his instinctive reaction was to swerve aside, resulting in him crashing into a tree. The vehicle sustained severe damage. When Du Cong got out to negotiate with the taxi, the offending vehicle simply floored it and escaped. As it fled, he tore off Xiao Mao’s collar pocket, ripping off half of a bank collection notice envelope. The envelope had only half an address. Du Cong spent most of today searching along the road and finally discovered the offending vehicle in their courtyard. But seeing this broken-down scrap yard, he nearly cried. After last night’s accident, he reported to the shop. The 4S dealership immediately called the police. Soon, everyone from the shop and the police arrived at the accident scene. The police took Du Cong to the station for a statement. Because there was no surveillance at the scene and the taxi hadn’t actually collided with Du Cong, his account of what happened could only be his one-sided story. However, his stealing the car from the shop was an ironclad fact, so the legal responsibility still fell on him. The station temporarily released Du Cong and told him to negotiate with the shop. Hu Jianren arrived with his people and threatened him with only two options: either go to prison for theft or pay compensation. The insurance company wouldn’t cover stolen vehicles. The damage and depreciation totaled six hundred thousand yuan, all to be borne by Du Cong alone. If he couldn’t pay within a month, it would be processed as theft, and civil compensation would still be required. That night, the devastated Du Cong returned home and explained the situation to his parents in the countryside. Scraping together everything and borrowing from relatives, they could gather over two hundred thousand. A friend who ran a wedding company offered to contribute fifty thousand out of humanitarian concern. That still left exactly three hundred thousand unaccounted for. Du Cong thought all night and could only try to find the offending vehicle using the address on the envelope.
He stood in the courtyard shouting for a while, but Gang-ge and Xiao Mao hiding behind the door made no sound. He rushed to the door and began pounding heavily with his fists. After pounding for a while with still no response, he prepared to peer through the crack. Gang-ge, seeing they couldn’t hide any longer, immediately waved for Xiao Mao to hide behind the door while he yanked the door open and barked: “Who are you? What are you yelling about at my house!”
Du Cong had vaguely seen a passenger in the taxi’s back seat last night but hadn’t clearly seen the face, so naturally didn’t recognize him now: “I’m looking for Xia Tinggang.”
“That’s me!”
“You’re Xia Tinggang?” Du Cong stood there stunned.
“Any problem with that?”
“Whose car is that outside?”
“Mine.”
“Were you driving last night?”
“Nobody drove last night.”
“Then how is this car parked in your courtyard?” Du Cong pointed at the two fake license plates lying beside the car.
“How should I know! What does this car have to do with you? Get lost!” Gang-ge cursed impatiently and moved to close the door.
Du Cong held the door: “I’m asking you one more time—who drove this car last night?”
“Who cares who was driving! This is my home—you get lost!” Gang-ge pushed him. Du Cong, seeing his guilty, angry manner, knew the perpetrator was definitely from this household. Thinking how they’d saddled him with six hundred thousand in debt, he was already furious. When Gang-ge pushed him, Du Cong punched him in the face. In an instant, the two grabbed each other, fell to the ground, and wrestled.
Xiao Mao, hiding in the inner room, saw Gang-ge losing the fight and taking several punches. Unable to keep hiding, he grabbed a stick and rushed out to help beat Du Cong.
Du Cong looked up and saw that the one beating him with the stick was last night’s driver. Anger surged in his heart. He released Gang-ge, got up, and went after Xiao Mao. Gang-ge, now free, also ran into the house to find a bamboo pole. Together they beat Du Cong, quickly gaining the upper hand and forcing him back.
Du Cong stood at the courtyard entrance, confronting them. Though he was bigger than both, barehanded against two men with weapons, he naturally couldn’t win. He could only call the police instead, notifying the officers from yesterday that he’d found the offending vehicle. Soon the police arrived and questioned all three. Gang-ge, worried this fake taxi would expose other matters, firmly denied driving last night, saying he’d acquired the car collecting scrap and it had been parked in the courtyard all along. The fake plates had been removed last night and thrown in the river. The police could tell Gang-ge and Xiao Mao were being difficult, but without evidence, they could only say that scrapped vehicle disposal had designated places, and their private purchase was illegal—they would impound the taxi. Gang-ge said indifferently that they could impound it if they wanted.
Today, many of the station’s police force had been transferred to assist with a case, so they were short-handed. The police didn’t want to waste more time, so they had Du Cong come back to the station to make another statement, saying they’d send a tow truck in a few days to impound the car.
After Du Cong and the police left, Gang-ge and Xiao Mao finally breathed easier. They closed the courtyard gate to prevent any more unwelcome visitors.
Huo Zheng was someone who had killed before. In all his years roaming the underworld, he’d never been as humiliated as last night.
Everyone said Liu Bei was a desperate criminal who had killed police, but Huo Zheng didn’t take him seriously at all. Liu Bei struggled in his hands for less than three minutes. He easily killed Liu Bei and retrieved the chime bell. But who knew Liu Bei’s corpse and the chime bell would be hijacked by a taxi.
Last night when he returned to see Zhu Yifei, his boss cursed him out and highly doubted his account. “When you hailed a cab, did you get a taxi or a hearse? Why would a taxi steal a corpse?”
For an old hand like Huo Zheng to be robbed by a taxi—he himself couldn’t believe it, let alone convince his boss. To prove himself, he had to find that taxi again, silence the driver, and retrieve the case.
He checked the case’s GPS location—it was in an urban-rural transition area in the south of the city. Later, whether the tracker’s battery died or the connection was poor, the signal disappeared. When day broke the next morning, Huo Zheng came to this area where the signal had last appeared and searched house by house, but found no taxi. After searching most of the day, he saw a police car drive past from an area ahead. He worried whether the corpse in the case had been discovered and reported to police. To verify this, he walked forward. Passing by a small shop, he heard several people talking nearby, saying the police car had just gone to handle a taxi at a scrap yard ahead. Hearing “taxi,” he immediately became alert and quietly made his way to the scrap yard people mentioned. The scrap yard’s gate was closed. Huo Zheng looked through the middle of the iron gate and immediately spotted the taxi in the courtyard. Although the taxi had no plates, from certain features on the body, he confirmed right away it was the vehicle that hijacked him last night.
Huo Zheng’s gaze turned toward the house inside. Through the window he saw moving figures. He was about to climb over the wall to kill them when he wondered—the police had just been here, could it be a trap inside, waiting to catch him?
He hesitated for a moment and decided to withdraw and observe for a while. A few minutes later, a tall black SUV drove straight toward them and stopped at the courtyard gate, honking its horn.
Huo Zheng watched the SUV and its license plate. Suddenly his pupils lit up. He slowly turned his head and left the area.
Gang-ge and Xiao Mao heard a car horn outside. They came to the courtyard and looked through the gate crack. A black SUV was parked outside, and the person in it was Li Penggai. They quickly opened the gate to let the vehicle in.
Although Li Penggai had nearly had his limbs amputated at Zhou Rong’s house without daring to talk back, he was still a well-known figure in San Jiang Kou’s small underworld. He was fairly loyal and had befriended many junior associates, always generously lending others hundreds or thousands when they needed emergency help, never charging interest. Gang-ge and Xiao Mao had occasionally done some work for him and always called him big brother.
Li Penggai got out of the car. Gang-ge and Xiao Mao warmly welcomed him into the house, moving stools and pouring tea, asking his purpose. Li Penggai was busy today and had no time for pleasantries. From a stack of copied photos, he selected a few and handed them over, saying: “You know Zhang Debing, right?”
They both shook their heads: “Don’t know him.”
“Zhang Debing is my boss. Brother Bing was robbed.”
“What? Which bastard dares rob Brother Bing? They must have a death wish!” Gang-ge immediately cursed with righteous indignation.
“The ones who robbed Brother Bing are these two people in the photos. Brother Bing said whoever helps him find them gets one million US dollars in reward. Even providing clues will be well compensated afterward. Look carefully—this could be your chance to get rich.”
“One million US dollars!” Gang-ge and Xiao Mao’s eyes nearly popped out. They’d never seen even one million yuan in their lives, let alone one million US dollars! They quickly looked down at the photos. After flipping through several, they couldn’t help but frown: “Why are the photos so blurry? Can’t make anything out.”
“The photos were taken by surveillance cameras at night—these are already the clearest ones. You can’t see their faces clearly, but these two took one of Brother Bing’s suitcases containing one million US dollars. Brother Bing said whoever finds the case can keep all the money inside—he just wants the people. There’s a photo of this case taken in daylight with very clear features—black with a silver border around it and a circle logo in the middle. Look, it’s very similar to yours here. Wait a minute—”
Li Penggai noticed that the suitcase on the nearby table, both in size and other features, closely matched the boss’s missing case. He walked over and compared it several times, opened the case and felt around—sure enough, there was a hidden button at the bottom. He pressed it and the bottom panel began to shift, revealing neatly stacked US dollars. He immediately pressed the button again to retract the panel, then quickly closed the case. He turned back to look at them warily, grabbed the case, and headed outside.
“Chai-ge, what’s wrong?” Gang-ge hadn’t reacted yet.
Li Penggai said nothing. Carrying the case, he pushed the door open and walked out, opened the car door, and tossed both the car keys and the case onto the back seat. From under the car seat he pulled out a sharp dagger. Holding the dagger behind his back, he immediately turned and walked back into the house. His large hand shot out, quickly grabbing Gang-ge and pressing the dagger to his throat: “Where’s the USB drive?”
Gang-ge looked at this sudden turn of events in terror and asked in shock: “Chai-ge, what are you doing?”
“Where’s the USB drive?”
“What USB drive?”
“I’m asking you one more time—where’s the USB drive?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Don’t know, huh?” Li Penggai pulled out his phone with his other hand and called Zhang Debing. “Brother Bing, I found those two. They won’t say where the USB drive is yet. Okay… I’ll bring them back first… No problem, I know what these two can do—I’ve already got them under control. I’ll bring them back now.” After hanging up, he sighed and looked at them with great difficulty. “If it were anything else, I could speak on your behalf. This time you’ve really gone too far. Let’s go, get in the car!”
“Chai-ge, what’s going on?” Gang-ge cried out in terror.
Li Penggai didn’t answer. He was built like an ox and held a dagger—grabbing Gang-ge was like grabbing a small chicken. He glanced sideways at Xiao Mao, signaling him to walk ahead. Xiao Mao lowered his head and shuffled forward a few steps. When he reached Li Penggai’s side, he suddenly pulled out a large hammer and swung it down at Li Penggai’s head. Li Penggai instinctively blocked with his dagger. The hammer struck hard against his hand bone. Xiao Mao didn’t pause—he continued striking hard. The second blow hit right on his head. After three or four consecutive strikes that smashed several holes in his skull, Li Penggai collapsed on the spot.
Gang-ge looked at Li Penggai, who had fallen heavily with his eyes rolled back, then at Xiao Mao holding the hammer with a fierce, menacing expression. He was too shocked to speak.
After a long while, Xiao Mao threw down the hammer. His whole body went limp from tension as he sat on the floor, his face flushed red, breathing heavily.
Gang-ge carefully felt for Li Penggai’s breath—there was none. His head was smashed with holes and brain matter was oozing out. He was definitely completely dead.
“You… what did you do that for?”
Xiao Mao put on a calm expression: “Those two people we switched suitcases with this morning are the ones Zhang Debing is looking for. The case we got back has exactly one million US dollars inside. I saw the money when Li Penggai opened the hidden compartment at the bottom just now.”
“What!” Gang-ge thought through the sequence carefully before understanding. “But… but you can’t just kill someone!”
“He mistook us for those two. If we went with him, we’d definitely die. Better to kill him and take the one million US dollars ourselves!”
“If Zhang Debing finds out… he’ll have our lives!”
“Zhang Debing doesn’t know. Li Penggai didn’t mention us on the phone just now. Gang-ge, this is worth doing. Otherwise we’ll never get one million US dollars in our lifetime.”
Gang-ge frowned, looking at the gruesome corpse on the floor, then thinking about one million US dollars. The joy from so much money gradually overcame the fear of killing. He couldn’t help but gradually smile. Seeing his expression, Xiao Mao also smiled. The two deliberately laughed loudly, driving away their inner fear.
“Laugh at your mother! You two bastards get out here!”
Suddenly, their laughter was interrupted by Du Cong in the courtyard.
They quickly hid behind the door and looked out, seeing Du Cong had returned from the police station. He now held a long metal pipe and stood in the middle of the courtyard, cursing.
They exchanged glances, knowing that at this moment they absolutely couldn’t let Du Cong into the house. So Gang-ge suddenly spoke very civilly toward the outside: “What are you here for again? If you have any grievances, I suggest you pursue legal channels.”
“Legal my ass! Get out here!” Du Cong rushed up and struck the door hard with his metal rod.
Usually, Gang-ge would have rushed out to fight him. But right now, the door absolutely could not be opened. Gang-ge and Xiao Mao shrank by the doorway, trembling with fear, not knowing what to do.
After cursing for a while, Du Cong began directly kicking the door. The lock was already old—after two or three kicks, the lock’s screws loosened. The two behind the door panicked. Xiao Mao quickly dragged over the old sofa to block the door, then moved the tool table over, and inserted an iron rod through the door gap.The two hurriedly lifted the corpse from the floor and carried it to the back room.
Du Cong soon kicked the lock open, but the door still wouldn’t open. Looking through the crack, he saw a pile of things blocking it inside. Annoyed, he kicked a few more times. Turning back, he saw the black SUV’s rear door was open. He pulled open the back door and saw a suitcase and car keys thrown on the seat. He grabbed the keys, sat in the driver’s seat, and started the vehicle directly.
Gang-ge and Xiao Mao inside the house heard the engine and rushed to look out from behind the door. They saw Du Cong start the car and begin driving out. Instantly realizing the case was in the vehicle, they panicked and shouted: “What are you doing?” Du Cong rolled down the window and yelled: “You won’t pay compensation, so I’m impounding the car! Prepare three hundred thousand to redeem it!” With that, he floored the accelerator and burst out of the courtyard.