Chapter 89

The young man turned back and smiled, “You’ll know when the time comes!” Then he got into the sedan.
Xie Wendong wanted to say more, but a soldier beside him pushed him onto a military truck, with six soldiers surrounding him in the middle. Looking around, Xie Wendong saw the soldiers with stern expressions, gripping their weapons tightly. He chuckled to himself: He wasn’t exactly an important figure—was this really necessary?!
Several cars quickly left the hospital and headed north on the main road. Sitting inside, Xie Wendong could see the outside through the door. As they drove further, he sensed something was wrong—the tall buildings on both sides grew fewer, and there were no pedestrians on the road. They were heading to the suburbs! He was shocked—could they be planning to execute him secretly? At that thought, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. If that were the case, it would be utterly unjust. After all, the Fourth Master had at least gone to court; he couldn’t just be killed so carelessly. Lowering his head, he sneaked glances at the soldiers on either side, hoping to find an opportunity to escape.
To his disappointment, the six soldiers didn’t relax at all, especially the three across from him, whose six eyes stared at him unblinkingly. Xie Wendong sighed inwardly. These soldiers were energetic and strong—true elites. Even if he had a weapon, he might not be a match for them, let alone now with his hands handcuffed and the knife given by Old Master Jin missing. Escaping was practically impossible!
As he grumbled in frustration, the car suddenly stopped. Voices came from ahead, but Xie Wendong could only see the back. After a while, the car moved forward again, but much slower.
Xie Wendong kept watching the outside. Only after traveling a while did he realize they had entered a military camp. The voices earlier were from people in the car in front greeting the soldiers on duty at the entrance.
The camp was huge. Xie Wendong couldn’t see the whole area, but he could faintly spot countless helicopters in the distance. This didn’t surprise him—City H was the main production base for military helicopters in China! But with so many aircraft here, it must be the location of a garrison division. Why had they brought him here? One thing was certain: they weren’t bringing him to join the army!
The cars stopped in front of the largest five-story building in the camp. Two soldiers got out skillfully first, then two more pulled Xie Wendong out by his arms, with the last two standing guard with their guns drawn.

The group was led into the building by the young man in a suit. Upon reaching the entrance, the young man left two soldiers to disperse the others and then took Xie Wendong up to the third floor. Along the way, Xie Wendong didn’t ask any more questions, knowing it was pointless—better to see what tricks they had in store! It probably wasn’t to kill him; otherwise, there would be no need to go through such trouble to bring him here.

The young man stopped in front of a brown door. After adjusting his suit slightly, he knocked gently on the door.

A deep voice came from inside: “Come in!”

The young man pushed the door open and led Xie Wendong in. It was an office of at least fifty square meters, with two men inside, both in their fifties. One was dressed casually, slightly bald, with small eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses that sparkled from time to time. The other was in a neat military uniform, looking imposing; despite his age, his height of over 1.8 meters meant he wasn’t hunched at all, still looking extremely formidable. Both men noticed Xie Wendong behind the young man and showed surprise.

The young man stepped forward and saluted loudly, saying, “Reporting to the colonel and division commander—Xie Wendong has been brought here!”

The man in casual clothes nodded and smiled at the one in uniform, saying, “Lao Huang, I didn’t expect the real person to be even younger than in the photos! Heh, who would have thought this man was the one who unified the underworld in the city?! And he even managed to pull off something as big as the Fire Red Nightclub incident!”

The man in uniform nodded in agreement, studying Xie Wendong with great interest.

Xie Wendong felt goosebumps rise all over his body under their gazes—he realized neither of these two was easy to deal with; they were a typical pair of wolves and a fox! Xie Wendong cleared his throat and asked proudly, “Did you bring me here just to take a look at me?!”

The man in uniform inwardly praised his courage but deliberately adopted a stern expression, saying, “Xie Wendong, this isn’t City J. You’re not some underworld boss here. If you act arrogantly toward us, you could be taken out and executed at any moment!”

Xie Wendong knew they were trying to scare him. Both of these men held high ranks—division commander and colonel—so bringing him here must have their own purposes. With that thought, he sneered and said, “If I were that easily scared, I wouldn’t be out here in the first place! And don’t threaten me with execution so casually. I’ve got more murder cases on my back than you can count—execution is only a matter of time!”

The man in casual clothes laughed heartily and said, “Young man, you’re quite interesting!” Then he turned to the man in a suit and said, “This is an internal matter between you. I’ll take my leave and not disturb you any further!” With that, he stood up and left the office.

After the man in suit watched him leave, he said to the young man, “You go out too. I’ll call you if there’s anything needed! Oh, and unlock his handcuffs!”
“Yes, Colonel!” The young man saluted, unlocked Xie Wendong’s handcuffs, and stayed at the door with two soldiers.
Now only Xie Wendong and the “Colonel” were left in the office. The “Colonel” smiled at Xie Wendong and said, “Please sit!”
Not knowing what he had in mind, Xie Wendong boldly sat down across from him, waiting to see what would happen next.
The Colonel stretched out his hand and said, “My name is Dong Fang Yi. I’ve long heard of your fame, Xie Wendong!”
Xie Wendong slightly bowed and shook Dong Fang Yi’s hand politely, saying, “My name isn’t worth mentioning. How could someone like me even enter your eyes?” He realized that although this man was just a colonel, his status must be high, as could be inferred from the attitude of that division commander when speaking to him earlier.
Dong Fang Yi stared at Xie Wendong and asked, “Do you know how many people died at the Fire Red Nightclub?”
Xie Wendong remained silent, thinking it must be quite a number—no less than forty from the Soul Squad alone!
Dong Fang Yi took out a stack of documents from a drawer and threw them in front of Xie Wendong, then said, “A total of 112 people died! Xie Wendong, listen carefully—this is over a hundred lives. You’re really too bold! And many of them were Japanese!”
Xie Wendong’s eyes lit up slightly. “None of those Japanese are good people. Killing them is like getting rid of threats to the country…”
“That’s not about whether it’s a threat to the country or not!” Dong Fang Yi interrupted him, shaking his head. “Even if these people pose a threat, it’s the country’s responsibility to deal with it, not yours. Moreover, the Japanese consulate has filed a protest. These people were all legitimate employees of Japanese-owned companies in China. Even if you really did eliminate threats to the country, the state won’t protect you! Besides, you did this for personal gain—many of the dead were middle school students, and their parents are all waiting at the police station!”
“Legitimate employees? If they were legitimate employees, how do you explain the guns they carried? I know it’s not an excuse. The country can’t offend Japan just for me!” Xie Wendong thought for a moment but quickly calmed down, saying coldly, “This is the way of survival! The legitimate world has its rules, and the underworld has its own. As for those dead middle school students, I can only express my sympathy. If given another chance, I’d do the same thing! It was just an accident that I got caught by the police.”

Dongfang Yi stared at Xie Wendong for a long time without speaking, lost in thought. After a while, he said, “Xie Wendong, you’re very smart and ruthless. It’s truly a miracle that you’ve managed to reach this level in just a few years. But correspondingly, if all the crimes you’ve committed were brought to court, it would be enough to sentence you to death a hundred times! Aren’t you afraid? Look at the documents on the table—everything you’ve done is recorded there!”
Xie Wendong flipped through them briefly and indeed found records of all the major crimes he had committed, including the robbery of the Tigers Gang, all detailed clearly. He had thought these actions were kept secret, but it turned out they were known in such detail. Though shocked, he smiled and said, “Everyone is afraid of death, and I’m no exception. But it’s useless now that I’m in your hands. At worst, I’ll just die!”
Dongfang Yi suddenly said, “What if I could spare your life?”
“You can?” Xie Wendong looked at him in surprise. “Who are you? Why do you say you can spare my life?”
Dongfang Yi smiled and said, “Have you heard of the Central Security and Political Department?”
“The Central Security and Political Department?” Xie Wendong looked at him doubtfully and shook his head. “I’ve only heard of the Central Political Bureau. Why is there also a Political Department?” He had no interest in politics and knew little about China’s administrative structures. The Central Political Bureau was considered China’s highest authority and was often mentioned in the news, so Xie Wendong had some awareness of it. As for this Security and Political Department, he really didn’t know about it.
Dongfang Yi wasn’t surprised and smiled. “It’s normal that you don’t know. The predecessor of the Central Security and Political Department was the Central Political Department, which was established even before the liberation. But later it was replaced by the Central Political Bureau, and the Central Political Department disappeared. However, in the past decade or so, out of concern for national security, the Standing Committee decided to reestablish a Political Department, renaming it the Central Security and Political Department. I’m one of its members!”
Although Xie Wendong didn’t fully understand the powers of this so-called Political Department, he knew it must be significant—its authority was likely above that of the police and military. But why would they target him? He asked doubtfully, “Maybe you do have great power, enough to spare me from death. But I suppose there must be conditions—there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
Dongfang Yi nodded in approval. “Smart! There are indeed conditions. We hope to make a deal with you—a deal that benefits both you and the country!”
Xie Wendong raised his eyebrows, interested. “What kind of deal?”
“I suppose you’re familiar with the Soul Group!” Dongfang Yi said, leaning back in his chair.

Xie Wendong cursed in his heart, calling Dong Fang Yi a foolish idiot. Having killed so many members of the Soul Group, how could there be anything unfamiliar about it? One could even say a deep-seated enmity had been formed—how could he not know? But since he was now under someone else’s control, he suppressed his anger and said politely, “I know a little!”
“What you know is just the surface!” Dong Fang Yi stood up, walked to the window, and gazed into the distance. “The Soul Group was established in the late 1980s. A small group of left-leaning elements within the Japanese military, together with right-leaning forces, were the first to set it up. Later, several major Japanese conglomerates and the Yamaguchi Gang also got involved. They secretly formed gangs to recruit middle school students, and the Soul Recruitment Gang is one of them. Their goal is simple: to assimilate China’s next generation into Japanese culture!”
“Asimilate?” Xie Wendong stared at Dong Fang Yi in surprise.
“That’s right! Middle school students are at the most rebellious stage of life, and their views on things are quite simple. The Soul Group saw this and used incentives to lure students to join, then promoted the advantages of Japan and its culture, gradually eroding the students’ thoughts. If this continues, the consequences will be terrifying!”
Xie Wendong never expected such great ambitions from this secret organization. No wonder it was so powerful yet never made a fuss—no wonder they were wealthy yet kept a low profile; they were afraid of attracting the government’s attention. It also explained why the main members of the Soul Recruitment Gang were middle school students who willingly worked for the Japanese. Xie Wendong asked doubtfully, “If it poses such a serious threat, why doesn’t the country eliminate the Soul Group? I think no matter how strong they are, the central government could just wave its hand and end them!”