Du Cong failed to refund the cards and returned home dejectedly. The reason he’d nervously left when the hotel wanted to verify his identity was because he worried the car he’d impounded didn’t belong to those two bastards. Those two lived in a rundown house and didn’t look like they could afford this kind of SUV—it was probably borrowed. Those three stored-value cards seemed even less like something at their consumption level.
However, even if they were poor, this car accident was clearly their fault. By humanitarian standards, they should at least compensate something, right?
The more Du Cong thought about it, the angrier he got. He grabbed a shoulder bag, stuffed an iron hammer inside for self-defense, and went downstairs to demand money from them—whatever he could get.
He took the bus and got off at a certain stop in the south of the city. Walking a few hundred meters would bring him to their home. He pulled out the hammer and gripped it in his hand, so he’d have something to rely on if they started fighting.
At this moment, Gang-ge and Xiao Mao were at a complete loss at home. Li Penggai’s corpse was still in a sack in the back room. The car had been driven away by Du Cong, and inside was a suitcase containing one million US dollars. They didn’t know Du Cong’s phone number and could only hope he hadn’t discovered the dollars in the case and would come back to demand money from them.
After waiting all day, when they heard someone knocking, they rushed over eagerly. Looking through the crack, they saw it was Du Cong and joyfully yanked the door open. Du Cong was startled and hastily raised his hammer defensively, but these two sidled up to him, calling him “big brother” repeatedly, like two mangy dogs.
“Big brother, we’ve been waiting for you! Big brother, that car yesterday was left at our place by a friend. Please be kind and return the car to us quickly.”
“You still have the nerve to ask for the car? What about my crashed car?”
“We’ll compensate!” Gang-ge’s stance was decisive. “We’ll pay the full amount.”
“You’ll compensate?” Seeing their attitude do a complete one-eighty, Du Cong didn’t react at first and asked dumbly: “How much will you pay?”
Gang-ge clapped his hands: “Big brother, you name the price!”
“I’ll say…” Seeing their attitude was so good, Du Cong felt hesitant even asking for three hundred thousand. “That car isn’t mine. The car was crashed—repair costs plus depreciation total six hundred thousand. I’ll take a loss and pay three hundred, but you pay the other three hundred.” Worried they wouldn’t believe him, he quickly added: “The accident was registered by police. If you don’t believe it, you can ask them.”
“No need to ask. Three hundred thousand yuan, right?”
“Well… what else?”
“No problem!” Gang-ge agreed immediately. Xiao Mao nudged him, meaning where would they get three hundred thousand? Gang-ge shoved him aside and scolded: “Brother Cong said three hundred thousand, so three hundred thousand! We won’t haggle!”
Seeing them suddenly adopt this attitude, Du Cong couldn’t figure it out. Looking at their rundown house, he said hesitantly: “You can come up with three hundred thousand?”
“Of course we can. You just return the car to us, and we’ll give you the full three hundred thousand the next day!”
Du Cong’s mood instantly cooled: “You’re trying to trick me into returning the car, aren’t you?”
“How could that be!” Gang-ge drew out his tone. “Brother Cong, we’re all people who follow rules. You return the car to us, we’ll immediately go pawn it off, and we’ll give you every penny you’re asking for!”
Du Cong laughed coldly and extended his hand: “Saying all this is useless. First give me a hundred thousand, and I’ll drive the car back.”
“A hundred thousand…” Gang-ge looked at Xiao Mao with a troubled expression. Xiao Mao looked even more troubled.
Du Cong never expected to get three hundred thousand from them. If they could compensate a hundred thousand and he figured out the rest himself, he’d be thanking heaven. Seeing their expressions, Du Cong lowered his own price: “Give me eighty thousand first!”
“Eighty thousand…” The two still looked very troubled.
“Then you tell me how much you’ll give first!”
Gang-ge patted his chest and promised: “As long as you return the car to us, not a penny less than three hundred thousand.”
“Impossible!” Du Cong’s attitude left no room for negotiation.
Xiao Mao interjected: “Brother Cong, trust us. You return the car to us first. Once we get the car, we’ll have way more than three hundred thousand—” Gang-ge slapped Xiao Mao on the back of his head. He’d almost revealed the suitcase’s secret. He immediately said: “Brother Cong, let us raise the money first. We’ll give you the money first, then you return the car. Is that right?”
“Just these few days—I can’t wait long!”
“No problem! Brother Cong, give me your phone number. We’ll call you once we raise the money.”
Du Cong sized them up. Their attitude today was rather strange, but no matter how good their attitude was, he couldn’t just drive the car back without taking a penny. Frowning, he left his phone number and departed half-believing, half-doubting.
The moment he left, Xiao Mao muttered: “Where are we going to find eighty thousand yuan for him?”
Gang-ge turned and slapped him: “Your IQ is fatally low—you almost let him know there’s big money in the car. We can’t come up with the money. He grabbed our car—we’ll just go steal it back.”
“But we don’t even know where the car is.”
Gang-ge slapped the back of his head again: “Follow him back!”
No sooner said than done. The two immediately quietly followed, trailing Du Cong through several small streets to the main road outside. From a distance, they saw Du Cong walk to a bus stop. After a while, he boarded a bus.
Gang-ge quickly hailed a nearby waiting disabled mobility vehicle and told the driver: “Drive fast and follow that bus.”
“Want to pass the bus?” The driver was a man in his forties.
Gang-ge kept his eyes on the bus and replied impatiently: “You think this vehicle can pass anyone?”
“Hey brother, I don’t appreciate that. My vehicle has great performance. I—”
“Just follow the bus closely—not too near, not too far.”
“Are you police?” The driver looked at them in the rearview mirror.
“No.”
“If you’re not police, why are you following the bus?”
“Catching an affair, okay?” Gang-ge was too lazy to waste words with him.
“You’re borrowing my vehicle to catch an affair. If something happens, I’ll be in trouble. I’m following the bus with you, which is delaying my other business. The fare should at least be double, right? Otherwise I won’t follow.” The driver took the opportunity to raise the price.
Gang-ge pulled his gaze from the bus and glared at him: “Let me ask you—do you have a disability certificate to run this disabled vehicle as a taxi?”
“No.”
Gang-ge raised his hand and slapped the back of his head: “You keep talking nonsense and I’ll make sure you need a disability certificate!”
On the other side, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi were also driving their disabled vehicle, moving slowly.
“Brother Chao, you had Zhou Rong set the exchange time and place—what if he plays tricks and tries to catch us?”
“Stay calm. I’m testing him.” Fang Chao snorted dismissively. He drove the disabled vehicle around several roads surrounding Jiade Square to observe the environment, during which countless times he waved off pedestrians trying to hail them. After surveying the terrain, Fang Chao prepared to find a place roadside to park and wait, but there were no parking spaces around the square. Nearby malls had parking, but they wouldn’t let their disabled vehicle in. After searching a large circle, Fang Chao finally stopped at a temporary free parking lot in a demolition site less than a kilometer from the square. Not far away sat Li Penggai’s SUV.
Fang Chao slowly explained to Liu Zhi: “This is our last deal in San Jiang Kou. If we don’t do this one well, won’t we both end up inside?”
“Yes.”
“So this time, we can only succeed, not fail. I had Zhou Rong set the exchange time and place, but not to actually make the exchange with him. I’m seeing if he’s set a trap. If he’s brought in police to set a trap, then we won’t hope to get money from him—we’ll just make the USB public. If he hasn’t set a trap, I’ll set the exchange method later. I just looked at the terrain around Jiade Square. We can walk there from here in just five or six minutes. Hiding here is very inconspicuous, so we’ll wait here. When the time is almost up, I’ll go out to investigate.”
Du Cong got off at the bus stop. Gang-ge and Xiao Mao also quickly got off and followed from behind, pretending to be casual. Du Cong entered the apartment building. Gang-ge also quietly followed in. Through the gaps in the stairwell, he saw Du Cong walk to a room on the left side of the fourth floor and enter.
After Gang-ge came back out, he told Xiao Mao: “He lives here. The car should be nearby.” The two carefully searched through the vehicles parked on both sides of the road but didn’t find Li Penggai’s car.
“Let’s check next door.”
Soon, the two came to the temporary parking lot behind the building. Many cars were parked there. After searching around, they joyfully discovered Li Penggai’s SUV among them. They excitedly ran to the car and looked inside, but the suitcase wasn’t there.
Gang-ge pondered: “The suitcase isn’t in the car, so he must have taken it upstairs. He came to demand money from us, which means he doesn’t know there’s money in the case yet.”
“Gang-ge, what do we do?”
“One option—we go straight to his place and grab the case. But if he reports to police and they investigate, the Li Penggai matter will be exposed. So there’s only the second option—we go pick his door lock, find the case, take the money inside. Then we’ll exchange the dollars for yuan, give him three hundred thousand to shut him up. We’ll drive the car away and dispose of it, and the matter will be clean.”
After discussing, they felt this plan was feasible and decided to go home first to get tools for picking locks.
However, a dozen meters away, two pairs of eyes were glaring at them viciously.
“You’re sure it’s them?” Fang Chao’s voice carried a chill.
“I’d recognize these two even if they turned to ash!” Liu Zhi was already impatient to get out of the car.
Fang Chao grabbed him and said in a deep voice: “Wait—you’ll have your chance to act. Let’s follow them first.”
After the two walked to the intersection and hailed a disabled vehicle to leave, Fang Chao also turned his key. Their disabled vehicle followed at a moderate distance behind.
Gang-ge and Xiao Mao got out of the disabled vehicle and walked toward home, discussing their action plan.
“In a bit, you get the tools ready. I’ll call Du Cong and arrange to meet him. You take the opportunity to pick his door lock, go in, find the case, take the money and leave. Understand?” Gang-ge instructed him.
“I’m picking the lock?”
“Yes.”
“But I don’t know how to pick locks. Isn’t lock-picking your specialty?”
“When did lock-picking become my specialty? When have I ever picked a lock?” Gang-ge looked shocked.
“I heard people from back home all say you were always picking the doors of village women’s homes at midnight and sleeping with them. Later their husbands found out and that’s why you were driven out of the village.”
“Bullshit!” Gang-ge spat and said angrily: “That’s what those stinking women told their turtle husbands. Back when I was in the village, did I need to pick locks? Believe it or not, even if my house had three security doors installed, those women would still climb in.”
“Those… those days…” Xiao Mao swallowed hard, his eyes filled with infinite longing.
“Stop talking nonsense,” Gang-ge interrupted his imagination. “What do we do now!”
The two had happily discussed for ages how to pick the lock and get the case, only to realize neither of them had ever picked a lock.
They stopped walking and pondered for a long time until Xiao Mao finally thought of a solution: “I know a guy from a locksmith company who also steals things sometimes. I’ve seen him pick locks—he turns the peephole around, then has a special rod he sticks down and turns a few times to open it. I’ll borrow his special tools. Then I’ll put on work clothes and disguise myself as a locksmith. If I can’t pick it quickly and someone passes by, I can still cover it up.”
Gang-ge clapped happily: “Your brain seems enlightened these past few days! First figuring out the dollar scheme, now thinking of disguising as a locksmith. Hey, let’s do it!”
With that, the two turned back and headed toward that locksmith buddy’s house.
Fifty or sixty meters behind them, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi had been following silently without a sound. If not for these two bastards, they’d have robbed Zhou Rong and fled long ago. How would they have fallen to this point where they still needed to run? Today they’d not only get back the case but also end their lives.
They couldn’t act in broad daylight. Once the two got home, they could strike. Just then, seeing the two suddenly turn around, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi immediately turned slightly toward a wall, lowered their heads pretending to be passing pedestrians, and walked quickly past. After walking several dozen meters to a wall corner, they stopped. Just as they were about to turn back to look at the two petty thieves, suddenly a shout came from behind the wall: “Take this, grandson!”
Fang Chao and Liu Zhi instinctively turned around, only to see two huge washbasins flying straight at them. Liu Zhi, with his long limbs, raised a foot and kicked the basin flying toward him aside. Fang Chao saw the basin coming but had no time to react. He instinctively raised his arms to block. Though the basin was knocked aside, its contents drenched him completely the next second.
Fang Chao froze, stuck out his tongue to lick his lips—a salty, foul smell. Looking down, his entire body had been doused clean with feces and urine. Several seconds later, he raised his eyes burning with raging flames and stared directly at the three dumbstruck men opposite.
“Two big brothers, sorry about that. I was aiming for those two behind you. How did they turn around and leave? Brothers, let me apolo—” Before he could finish saying “apologize,” Fang Chao had already grabbed his throat and thrown him against the wall, smashing his head bloody. His two subordinates behind him saw their boss beaten and were about to grab roadside stones as weapons when Liu Zhi followed up with a few punches and kicks, sending them flying to the ground unable to move.
“Big brother, spare us. Little brother… really didn’t mean it.” The man caught in Fang Chao’s grip knew he’d met ruthless people and cried out begging for mercy.
Just then, an electric scooter passed by. Liu Zhi glared at the rider fiercely, and that person quickly pretended not to see anything and drove past. Fearing making a big commotion on the road and attracting police, Fang Chao could only suppress his towering rage. He signaled Liu Zhi to grab all three men and bring them into a nearby small alley. Gripping the man’s throat, he asked: “What do you three do?”
“Big… big brother, we… we’re from a debt collection company. Just now… those two who walked past behind you owe credit card debt and won’t pay. We’ve dunned them several times without success, so we could only… teach them a lesson. We didn’t expect to offend you big brothers. Please… please let us go.”
Fang Chao asked through gritted teeth: “Where do those two live?”
“Behind here.” The debt collector pointed backward.
“Take us there.”
“Take you there?”
“They owe us money too. It’s not your turn to collect debts!”
All three quickly agreed. To collect tens of thousands in credit card debt, they dared not offend these two deities. Mixing in the underworld daily, they could tell at a glance these two couldn’t be provoked. The three led Fang Chao and Liu Zhi to Gang-ge’s courtyard. Fang Chao dismissed them, telling them to scram and never let him see them again. The three hurriedly ran off.
The courtyard gate was locked, but this broken lock was meaningless to them. Liu Zhi found a bank card and casually fiddled with it to open the door. The two entered the courtyard and came straight to the house. The door had been kicked in by Du Cong yesterday and was only loosely closed. Fang Chao, full of rage, didn’t care if anyone was inside and directly kicked it in.
The two went inside and searched around—no one was there, but they also didn’t find the suitcase or dollars.
Just then, Liu Zhi noticed a sack in the back room. He kicked it and felt something unusual. A sense of foreboding arose in his heart. He immediately untied the sack’s rope and sure enough exposed a male corpse—Li Penggai’s body.
“Brother Chao, again… another corpse.” Those two had just switched them with one corpse, and now there was another one in the house. Even though Liu Zhi was extremely bold, he wasn’t a serial killer. Encountering such people, he couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. “These two… could they be psycho killers?”
Fang Chao stood in place, his gaze lingering on the corpse for several seconds. Suddenly aware of the sticky feces and urine on his face, in an instant all rationality was consumed by rage: “I don’t care if they’re killers or not. Today I’m going to dismember these two dogs, dismember them!” He excitedly grabbed a nearby chair and hurled it violently to the ground, smashing it to pieces.
Liu Zhi had never seen Brother Chao, who could usually “stay calm,” lose his temper like this. Watching in terror, he could only carefully persuade: “Brother Chao, today’s last job needs long-term planning. We must stay calm!”
“Calm my ass! I’m going to kill these two dogs, kill them!”