Chapter 128

Sanyan and Gaoqiang watched quietly, unsure of what trick Chen Baicheng was about to pull. Sweat beaded on Yan Ke’s forehead; he didn’t know what game Chen Baicheng was playing, but one thing was clear—this guy, who always wore a smile but whose eyes occasionally flashed with cold light, definitely had ulterior motives. Yan Ke stared fixedly at the blade’s tip, as if an entire century had passed, until he finally felt the tip approaching his forehead.

Chen Baicheng’s smile vanished, his cheek muscles twitching as he lowered his voice and said, “Kid, don’t blame me!” Seizing the blue veins on Yan Ke’s forehead that had bulged under pressure, Chen Baicheng resolved himself and applied slight force with the knife, slicing downward. With a sound, everyone was shocked, including Sanyan and Gaoqiang. Though neither was timid and had taken dozens of lives, nothing had ever shocked them like this before.

It turned out that after cutting Yan Ke’s veins, the pressured blood finally found an outlet. His body acted like a high-pressure pump, spraying blood from the wound on his forehead—so high it reached over a person’s head. The blood flying in the air formed a beautiful red fountain. Feeling his face heat up, Gaoqiang regained some clarity and instinctively touched it, only to realize it was blood from the air.

“That’s too cruel!” Gaoqiang thought to himself. Even if Yan Ke had done terrible things in the past, this was excessive. With that thought, he turned to look at Sanyan. The latter’s lips curled upward, his dark eyes glowing with excitement, seemingly thrilled by what was happening. Gaoqiang didn’t care what Sanyan thought. After years of sharing life and death, their bond was as strong as steel, and he had always spoken his mind around Sanyan. Discontentedly, Gaoqiang said, “Brother Sanyan, haven’t we gone too far?! Killing deserves retribution, but torturing someone like this makes me feel like an animal!”

“Oh?” It took a while before Sanyan’s gaze reluctantly left Yan Ke’s exposed head. He hadn’t heard a word of what Gaoqiang had said and asked, “Qiangzi, what did you just say?” Before Gaoqiang could respond, Chen Baicheng interjected, “Brother Sanyan, Brother Qiang said what we’re doing is like being animals…”

Both Sanyan and Gaoqiang’s expressions changed. Gaoqiang turned his gloomy face toward Chen Baicheng, saying nothing, but his gaze cut like a knife across Chen Baicheng’s face. Chen Baicheng felt his face burn and instinctively lowered his head to avoid Gaoqiang’s piercing stare.

The atmosphere in the area immediately turned gloomy, with only the barely conscious Yan Ke emitting weak sounds through his hoarse throat. A gust of summer wind blew through the trees, causing the leaves to rustle. San Yan’s expression softened as he patted Gao Qiang’s shoulder and said with a smile, “Qiangzi, what are you doing? Don’t treat me like one of your subordinates!” Gao Qiang nodded, turning his gaze away from Chen Baicheng to look at Yan Ke, whose entire head was stained red with his own blood. Frowning, he seemed to want to say something but swallowed his words instead. He sighed and said, “I really don’t want to see anyone kill in this way again!” His voice was not loud, and it was unclear whether he was speaking to himself or to San Yan. After that, Gao Qiang walked over to Yan Ke, pulled out his gun as he went, and shot him in the head from close range to end his suffering. Without even looking, he put away his gun, waved at San Yan, said nothing, and left with his men in the car, heading toward the city. Watching Gao Qiang leave, San Yan sighed. This might have been the first time they had disagreed, but he didn’t take it too seriously, as their relationship was too deep. Chen Baicheng stood aside, seething with anger. He thought he already had a high status in the Wen Dong Hui, but compared to core figures like Gao Qiang, he felt utterly insignificant. He also had to admit that Gao Qiang’s presence commanded respect—after all, strength determined one’s authority! Chen Baicheng stepped up to San Yan, clenching his fists, but with a look of resentment on his face, he said, “Brother San Yan, Brother Qiang went too far. He just killed that guy without even saying a word, showing no respect for you as the leader of Long Tang. Our Long Tang is the strongest faction in the gang—what does he even count for…” Before Chen Baicheng could finish, San Yan slapped him in the face and snapped, “What do you mean ‘showing respect’ or not? What kind of relationship do we have?! You don’t know anything. Don’t speak like this in front of me again, or don’t blame me if I’m not polite.” With that, he left Chen Baicheng standing there in shock and ordered his men to get in the car. After getting in, San Yan seemed to remember something else, leaned out of the window, and said to Chen Baicheng, “You were quite observant today. I’m satisfied!” Chen Baicheng’s heart, which had been in his throat, dropped back to its normal place upon hearing San Yan’s words. After rolling his eyes and sneering twice, he also got in the car and followed San Yan’s direction.

The ivory-white courtyard walls and classic black fences gave off a special luster under the morning light. Walking on the marble-paved ground and looking at the familiar villa, Xie Wendong was filled with emotions, feeling as though he had been reborn.
“I want to go to the Golden Triangle soon,” Xie Wendong said, leaning against a big tree and gazing at the sky that was just beginning to brighten.
Li Shuang was shocked and asked, “Why go there? There’s nothing we can’t discuss with Lao Gui!”
Xie Wendong shook his head. “Lao Gui is only in charge of ‘external relations’ in the Golden Triangle; he doesn’t have much real power. We can discuss minor matters with him, but he can’t make decisions on major issues. It seems we need to meet their top leaders to get things done.”
Li Shuang knew Xie Wendong’s temperament—he would do whatever he set his mind to, no one could stop him, even if danger lay ahead like an abyss. Li Shuang stepped back and said, “Brother Dong, if we’re going, we should discuss it first. Bring more brothers with us so that even if something goes wrong, we won’t be at a disadvantage.”
Xie Wendong chuckled, tilting his head as he looked at Li Shuang with a smile. “Little Shuang, how many should we bring so we won’t be at a disadvantage? One hundred or one thousand?”
Caught off guard by Xie Wendong’s question, Li Shuang became serious and started counting on his fingers. “One hundred people… no, that won’t be enough. If a fight breaks out, they’ll just laugh at us. One thousand… still uncertain. I heard their weapons are very advanced. What if we bring ten thousand…”
Seeing Li Shuang’s serious expression, Xie Wendong felt both amused and exasperated. He said, “It would be best to bring an atomic bomb!” Then he returned to the villa’s hall. Li Shuang shuddered at the mention of an atomic bomb—the legendary weapon. After pondering for a while, he nodded calmly in agreement. “Okay! Brother Dong, let’s bring an atomic bomb. Whatever happens in the Golden Triangle, if they act tough, we’ll blow them to pieces. Hey… hey, Brother Dong, why are you leaving? Wait for me!”
Xie Wendong had just sat in the hall for a while when he heard brakes in the courtyard. Two people rushed in—Jiang Sen and Zhang Yanjiang, with a black bag under Zhang’s arm. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Zhang Yanjiang stepped forward and said, “Brother Dong, I have something to show you!” With that, he opened the leather bag and handed a stack of white papers to Xie Wendong.
Xie Wendong looked puzzled as he took them and examined them carefully. Jiang Sen explained, “These were obtained during the surprise attack on the Soul Group last time. But with so much going on back then and us busy dealing with the Tiger Gang, we didn’t pay attention to them. Today, while organizing documents, Yanjiang found them on the table by chance. Brother Dong, do you think they’ll be useful to us?”

The more Xie Wendong read, the more shocked he became. The documents contained various intelligence gathered by Soul Group in China and Japan, so detailed it was astonishing. One item in particular was marked with a highlighter—it was news about the “Red Army.” Seeing this, Xie Wendong’s hand trembled slightly, his expression changed briefly before returning to normal. He placed the documents on the coffee table beside him and asked, “You two have also read it, right?”
Jiang Sen and Zhang Yanjiang nodded in unison and asked, “Brother Dong, is this information really that important?”
“I don’t know!” Xie Wendong shook his head. “It can only be said to be important for the country. For us who live in the shadows, it’s not worth a penny.”
Jiang Sen asked, “Brother Dong, anyway, you’re now part of the Central Political Department. Right…?”
Xie Wendong stood up straight and thought for a moment before saying, “I and the Political Department are just using each other. I know exactly what to do.”
Jiang Sen and Zhang Yanjiang nodded after hearing this and didn’t ask any further questions. Jiang Sen said, “Alright then, Brother Dong. We’ll be leaving first!” After getting Xie Wendong’s nod, the two left in a hurry. After all, it was a time of many troubles, with too many matters to handle both within and outside the gang.
After they left, Xie Wendong took out a cigarette, his mind racing. “The Red Army!” He sneered. The image of a man appeared before his eyes—the Japanese youth he had only met once in the school cafeteria and who spoke decent Chinese. Xie Wendong muttered, “You brats, how bold of you!”
It turned out the documents contained detailed intelligence about the Japanese Prime Minister’s visit to China next month and the Red Army’s plan to assassinate him during that visit. The timing, location, and some aspects of the plan were all clearly outlined. Naturally, the Red Army wouldn’t reveal such important information, and Soul Group’s ability to gather intelligence made Xie Wendong secretly admire their skill. He didn’t know what the relationship between Soul Group and the Red Army was. Logically, they should be enemies—one a government-backed right-wing organization, the other an anti-government liberal group. But why would Soul Group bring such crucial information to the Northeast? It was baffling.
Xie Wendong shook his head, still puzzled. But he had to pay more attention to Soul Group. He muttered to himself, “It seems I’ll have to go to the capital again. What a headache!”
These words happened to be heard by Li Shuang, who had just entered. He widened his eyes and shouted at the top of his voice, “What? Brother Dong, you’re going to Beijing?”

Xie Wendong felt the glass on the window vibrating violently due to Li Shuang’s high-pitched voice. He glared at him and said unhappily, “Exactly! It’s not exactly a secret, but there’s no need for the whole world to hear it!”
Li Shuang scratched his head and apologized, “I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful next time.”
“More careful next time? Unlikely!” Xie Wendong said as he put away the documents on the coffee table. “I heard Guan Delin has a son, right?!”
“Huh?” Li Shuang was caught off guard by Xie Wendong’s sudden question. Seeing his confused expression and him scratching his head with wide eyes, Xie Wendong really wanted to kick him to get him to think. After a while, Li Shuang realized and hurriedly said, “Yeah, that old man does have a son. I think his name is… Guan something.”
Xie Wendong rolled his eyes. It was as if Li Shuang hadn’t said anything at all—Guan Delin’s son surely had the surname Guan.
“It’s Guan Pei!” Sanyan said as he walked in, following closely behind by Chen Baicheng.