Could he have knocked someone to Xi’an? Xiong Hei took a moment to reflect – his fists were as heavy as hammers, and over the years, quite a few people had tasted their power.
“The one from last night?” What a coincidence! While surprised, Xiong Hei felt a hint of pride: when he struck, he struck big – had he managed to hit Feng Dao?
Through the earpiece, Lin Xiruo’s voice was firm: “Impossible.”
Xiong Hei raised his gun. “Trying to fool me? Want me to make your face symmetrical?”
Jiang Baichuan had passed through the initial phase of rolling around in agony and had entered another extreme – lying as still as a corpse as if absolute stillness might temporarily suspend his pain.
He weakly mumbled: “It’s true. Feng Dao usually moves together with Kuang Quan. Last night, they were together. That blind man is Xing Shen, and the other one is… is Nie Er…”
His voice gradually weakened until it completely faded away.
Xiong Hei nudged his chin with his foot and reported to Lin Xiruo: “The old man’s got no willpower, passed out from the pain.”
Lin Xiruo remained silent.
Xiong Hei offered his opinion: “Sister Lin, I think he might be telling the truth. You know what they say – wealth doesn’t last three generations, and the emperor who founded a dynasty gives birth to the turtle that loses it. This Chan Tou Army might have been formidable in ancient times, but now… this so-called Kuang Quan is nothing but a useless dog. Last night he almost got run over by my car…”
He felt quite regretful as he said this – if Yan Tuo hadn’t ruined things last night and forced him to leave, he could have taken out both Feng Dao and Kuang Quan in one go.
Lin Xiruo pondered: “It just seems too coincidental.”
Though from what they’d seen so far, these supposed descendants of the Chan Tou Army weren’t much to fear.
Xiong Hei chatted away: “Well, truth is stranger than fiction! I never would have guessed that the blind man could be Kuang Quan. Damn, has the Quan family run out of able-bodied descendants?”
Lin Xiruo responded irritably: “Don’t talk nonsense about things you don’t understand. The five senses each take up a portion of one’s energy. There’s always a trade-off – when one sense is lost, the other four become heightened. It’s not surprising at all that Kuang Quan is blind. If any of you had a scent, he would have sniffed you out long ago.”
Xiong Hei felt sheepish. After a pause, he asked for instructions: “Then… Sister Lin, what should we do with these people? There are seven or eight of them – wouldn’t it be too conspicuous to tie them all up?”
Though he’d done his share of illegal activities over the years, it had always been one or two people at a time. Dealing with seven or eight at once made him somewhat uneasy.
Lin Xiruo: “Take them all to the farm first, separate them, and question them one by one. I need to see this Jiang Baichuan myself. Clean up the place thoroughly, and collect all their belongings, especially their phones. Better leave two people there to watch if anyone else shows up.”
After hanging up the phone, Xiong Hei felt refreshed, considering it a battle well fought.
He looked around, feeling like he’d forgotten something, then suddenly remembered: “Where’s that blind man? Haven’t caught him yet? What useless trash!”
Yan Tuo woke up in the middle of the night to a sudden commotion outside – doors opening and closing, footsteps coming and going, someone crying out in pain, mixed with Xiong Hei’s angry shouts: “What are you screaming for? Isn’t there a doctor here? Lü Xian, if he screams again, sew his mouth shut!”
He immediately threw on his coat and went out.
There were quite a few people outside, and sure enough, Xiong Hei was there with his hands on his hips, yelling towards the operating room. Lü Xian had just woken up as well and was hurriedly changing into surgical clothes.
Through gaps between people, he could see the familiar figure lying on the operating table – one of Xiong Hei’s men. The bandage around his waist was completely soaked with blood.
Xiong Hei cursed: “Should’ve prayed more at the temple, such bad luck! A man with two good eyes, taken down by a blind man’s shot!”
The operating room door quickly closed.
Yan Tuo came over smiling: “Brother Xiong, what blind man?”
Xiong Hei finally noticed him: “Oh, you’re back! Tell me, where did you go earlier?”
As he spoke, he sank into the large sofa and shouted at the remaining people: “Those who need to sleep, go sleep! Walking around making my head hurt!”
The others walked towards the dormitory across the way. Lü Xian’s area was relatively professional, with both medicines and medical equipment, and they were used to coming and going as needed, to avoid getting in the way.
Yan Tuo chose the single sofa on the side and sat down, reaching to lift his coat collar to show his injuries: “Well, it was like this, I…”
Xiong Hei ordered the slowest-leaving person: “Go get some beer from the fridge. Any cold dishes? Bring a couple of plates.”
Yan Tuo lowered his hand.
It was strange – Xiong Hei had gone out on business tonight, and one of his men was injured, yet why was he so happy?
He put aside his matter first: “Brother Xiong, did things go smoothly today?”
Xiong Hei was beaming: “Of course!”
He leaned in closer: “Yan Tuo, this time we’ve thoroughly avenged you…”
He made a sweeping gesture across the table: “Took out the whole nest.”
Yan Tuo’s heart tightened, but his face remained puzzled: “Who?”
Xiong Hei was displeased: “Don’t play dumb, Ban Ya’s group!”
Yan Tuo pulled his coat tighter and sank deeper into the sofa: “You’re just boasting. Probably just beat up some small fry and claim you took out everyone.”
Xiong Hei was in a good mood and had actual results to back him up, so he didn’t take offense. Instead, he proudly declared: “I’ll just say one thing – their leader, old man Jiang, heh, I shot half his foot off.”
Yan Tuo made a noncommittal sound: “Took out the whole nest – men, women, young and old all included?”
Xiong Hei waved his hand: “Didn’t see any women. Are you thinking of that Que Cha? No, she wasn’t there. Hah, what can women accomplish anyway?”
Yan Tuo smiled: “Why don’t you say that in front of Sister Lin?”
Xiong Hei was momentarily speechless.
As they spoke, the beer and cold dishes arrived. Xiong Hei broke apart a pair of disposable chopsticks and stuffed a large bite into his mouth.
Yan Tuo stared at his chewing mouth: whether it was Sister Lin or Xiong Hei’s group, they drank and ate like normal people – what exactly made them “omnivorous”?
Just then, Xiong Hei looked up at him: “So what happened to you earlier?”
The prepared story couldn’t be used anymore, and improvising was quite challenging. Yan Tuo reached for a can of beer and forcefully pulled the tab: “Well…”
He suddenly thought of Nie Jiuluo – she could lie without breaking a sweat. He’d never seen anyone lie so naturally and seamlessly in his life.
He tried to stall with meaningless details: “I was heading east at the time, originally planning to call a car, but you know how it is in rural areas – drivers won’t take orders…”
Xiong Hei was eating noisily while nodding vigorously: “That’s right, plenty of cars in the city, easy to get a ride, but not in the countryside. Hey, eat up!”
Yan Tuo continued: “So I just kept walking, trying to get a ride, not paying much attention to the roadside. Suddenly, two people jumped out and knocked me down.”
Xiong Hei’s chopsticks paused: “Ban Ya’s people?”
“I thought so too, figured they must have been lying in wait. I panicked a bit, and since I wasn’t prepared at first, I took some hits. Finally found an opening to escape, but they kept chasing me and even called in two more accomplices. I found a corner to hide in and called you.”
Xiong Hei nodded: “No wonder you were so out of breath when I heard you.”
“But before I could finish the call, those guys caught up. I had to hang up quickly before they could hear anything. I could have stayed hidden, but I made a stupid mistake – I hadn’t put my phone on silent. When you called back, they discovered me.”
Xiong Hei’s mouth hung half-open – he hadn’t realized he’d played a part in this, and yes, he had called back more than ten times…
“How was I supposed to know you were in that kind of situation? I don’t have thousand-mile eyes!”
Yan Tuo made a calming gesture across the air: “It’s fine, Brother Xiong, we’re all our people. Though afterward, I did take a knife hit…”
He lifted the bottom edge of his coat to show Xiong Hei the scratch on his lower right abdomen. This wound wasn’t deep, the cut was fine, looking similar to a knife graze: “But it only broke the skin, nothing serious. After that, it was just fighting. Those guys weren’t tough, but there were too many of them. After I knocked them down, I ran. I had another thought at the time: since I believed they were Ban Ya’s people, I wanted to secretly follow them – if I could track them back to their hideout, it would’ve been an unexpected gain.”
At this point, he tilted his head back and took two gulps of beer. So far, his story seemed to hold up without any holes.
Xiong Hei said: “You should have told me though…”
Yan Tuo put down his beer can and wiped his mouth: “Lost my phone, those guys took it.”
So that’s what happened. Xiong Hei finally understood – no wonder the last call connected but there was no sound, and after that, the phone was completely switched off.
He asked: “Then? They weren’t Ban Ya’s people, were they?”
“Finally confirmed they weren’t – just some thugs looking to rob people. How could I let them off? It got pretty complicated after that, but long story short – there were four of them who attacked me, and I dealt with each one properly. My phone got damaged in the process, so I had it repaired…”
He pulled out his phone from his coat: “Look, they even threw in this incredibly ugly case.”
Xiong Hei listened in amazement and finally pointed at the still-closed operating room door: “When he’s better, you two should go pray together. What kind of luck is this, running into trouble one after another!”
Yan Tuo smiled bitterly: “Let’s not talk about it. Brother Xiong, if Sister Lin asks, just tell her I ran into some trouble and my phone was broken, that’s what delayed me. I’ll say the same thing – let’s skip the details, makes me look useless.”
He tapped his beer can on the table, making a virtual toast with Xiong Hei: “Congratulations, Brother Xiong. I might not have accomplished anything, but your breakthrough… by the way, you said you shot off half of Jiang’s foot? With a gun? Shouldn’t Lü Xian take a look at that?”
Xiong Hei gave a cold laugh: “Take a look? He doesn’t deserve it! Let it rot.”
Nie Jiuluo always kept her phone on silent while sleeping.
But this night, halfway through her sleep, she was awakened by the persistent flashing of her phone screen, opening her eyes in a daze, thinking she might be dreaming.
She picked up her phone to see an unfamiliar number. The call had automatically disconnected after ringing for too long.
Scrolling back, she saw this number had been called more than twenty times.
Just as she was wondering about it, a new round of screen flashing began.
Nie Jiuluo hesitantly pressed the answer: “Hello?”
Surprisingly, it was a man with a heavy accent: “Your boss here, wait a moment.”
Nie Jiuluo was completely confused: “What?”
The next second, the voice changed – it was Xing Shen: “A Luo?”
Forty-five minutes later, around 2 AM, Nie Jiuluo rushed to the destination by taxi through the gradually diminishing snow.
This was a private lumber mill at the junction of urban and rural areas. Usually, normal factories wouldn’t be operating at this hour, but private workshops were more flexible. With a large order due by year’s end, the machines were still running non-stop even in the middle of the night.
Nie Jiuluo crossed through the chaotic yard and entered the noisy, crude workshop. The smell of wood was heavy, with sawdust floating in the air. The night shift workers looked at her curiously, and one of them pointed her toward the back.
As she walked deeper inside, suddenly something rose from beside the pile of scrap lumber: “A Luo.”
Nie Jiuluo was startled, initially thinking a wood knot had come to life. When she looked closer, her heart filled with mixed emotions, unable to identify exactly what she was feeling.
It was indeed Xing Shen, without his sunglasses, his face pale, lips purple, wearing only one slipper, wrapped in a dirty blanket of indiscernible pattern – probably lent to him by a kind-hearted worker who saw him cold.
Nie Jiuluo approached him: “What happened?”
Against the constant roar of machinery, Xing Shen recounted what had happened earlier.
After landing, he noticed lights and instinctively rushed into the darkness. In his hasty backward glance, he saw Jiang Baichuan being forcibly dragged through the window.
“I couldn’t save him anyway, better to save whoever could escape.”
He ran at full speed, while Grasshopper was even faster, like a ground-skimming wild cat.
Soon after, pursuers with flashlights caught up. Xing Shen, not relying on light, was more agile than them. During the chase, they fired two shots, but between the darkness and their unstable aim while running, the bullets didn’t even come close to him.
When he reached the village outskirts near the road, he heard approaching vehicles. Making a split-second decision, he turned and dropped to the ground, took aim at one of the pursuers, and fired.
The man fell unexpectedly, and the other two were shocked, immediately dropping to the ground. Xing Shen seized this opportunity to get up and sprint toward the road, originally planning to stop a car, though getting Grasshopper in would be challenging.
But luck was better than he’d imagined – it was a flatbed truck carrying lumber. Because the lumber was too long, the tailgate was down. Xing Shen used all his strength to grab the edge and leap up, and almost simultaneously, Grasshopper jumped into the truck bed.
The driver noticed something but thought someone was just hitching a ride, so instead of stopping, he stepped on the gas and sped up frantically. By the time his pursuers caught up, the road was dark and empty.
That’s how he ended up at the lumber mill.
Hearing this, Nie Jiuluo instinctively looked around: “Where’s Grasshopper?”
Xing Shen knew what she was worried about: “Don’t worry, I had it get off when we entered the mill. It’s hiding outside, won’t frighten anyone.”
After a pause, he added: “The escape was rushed, couldn’t bring anything. Fortunately, I remembered your phone number, so I borrowed a worker’s phone and had him keep calling you. The blanket is also borrowed from him – the one who gave you directions… if it’s convenient, help me transfer him one or two hundred yuan as a gesture.”
Nie Jiuluo nodded: “What about Uncle Jiang and the others? How are they?”
Xing Shen shook his head: “Don’t know. They might have surrendered, or they might have killed their attackers – though the latter is less likely.”
Nie Jiuluo took out her phone.
Xing Shen guessed her intention: “If you’re thinking of messaging Uncle Jiang, I advise against it. His phone might not be in his possession anymore.”
Nie Jiuluo said: “I know what I’m doing.”
She opened the burn-after-reading app.
The chat with “that side” was empty – the advantage of burn-after-reading was evident now, as she was invisible in Jiang Baichuan’s phone.
After some thought, she quickly searched online for a photo of a provocatively dressed hostess and sent it, followed by a message: “Year-end special: 1,800 for one time, 5,000 for overnight. Boss, when are you coming back?”
The message was read instantly, but there was no reply.
Nie Jiuluo stared at the screen for a few seconds and said: “The phone is definitely in someone else’s hands.”
After a pause, she asked: “Where’s the address? We need to check out the situation.”
Xing Shen reminded her: “They have many people and guns.”
Nie Jiuluo repeated: “I know what I’m doing.”
She first went to thank the worker who had helped Xing Shen make the calls. When she returned, she was carrying a flat canister in each hand.
Xing Shen asked: “What’s that?”
Nie Jiuluo answered: “Gasoline.”