Chapter 180
It was a pity that the assassin blindly headed to his death, not even knowing how he would die. The man questioned by Xie Wendong shuddered, thinking to himself that Xie Wendong was indeed ruthless. He looked up at Xie Wendong and asked, “If I tell you, will you spare my life?”
Xie Wendong nodded with a smile. The man stared at him for a long time before finally saying, “I’m not sure of the exact name of that place, but I know how to get there.” Xie Wendong’s eyes gleamed as he said, “Then take us there!” A barely noticeable cold smile appeared on his lips. The assassin didn’t see it, but Jin Yan did. After pulling the man away, Jin Yan asked in a low voice, “Brother Dong, don’t you trust this man’s words?” Xie Wendong sneered and said, “Ma Feng isn’t a fool, nor is he from the Soul Group. It’s impossible for them to send just three men to try and kill me. Besides, have you ever seen anyone from the Soul Group afraid of death? It’s too easy for him to reveal Ma Feng’s hiding place—there must be some trick.”
Jin Yan nodded repeatedly and said, “Brother Dong is right! Should we still go? They might already be waiting for us in ambush!”
Xie Wendong replied, “Then let’s use their tactics against them. Let Ma Feng know that if he can’t set a good trap, he’ll still fall into it.”
Following the assassin’s guidance, the group arrived at an unfinished construction site in the west of the city. It was just dawn, and a poorly built building could be faintly seen in the distance, surrounded by iron fences. Xie Wendong ordered everyone to get out of the car and pointed at the building, asking the assassin, “Is Ma Feng inside?”
The assassin nodded and added, “On the second floor!” Xie Wendong asked, “Are they waiting for me on the second floor in ambush?” The assassin was stunned, wondering if he had heard wrong, and looked at Xie Wendong doubtfully. Xie Wendong smiled and said, “There must be quite a few people waiting for me there, right? But it’s understandable—last time’s battle scared Ma Feng half to death.” Cold sweat immediately broke out on the assassin’s forehead. Xie Wendong was absolutely right; there indeed were many people in ambush there, mostly sent by the Soul Group. Last battle had made Ma Feng lose all confidence in his own men, so he placed all his hopes on the Soul Group. After all, when had the Soul Group ever benefited from Xie Wendong? But Ma Feng no longer cared about such things. It was like a person who couldn’t swim suddenly falling into water—seeing a straw, he would grab it even though he knew it couldn’t keep him afloat.
The assassin sighed. Only now did he realize that killing Xie Wendong was by no means an easy task. But it was too late for him to realize—Xie Wendong would never give anyone a chance to regret their actions. At his signal, the Golden-Eyed man swung his knife and pierced the assassin’s heart. They dragged the body aside, then asked, “Brother Dong, what should we do now?”
Xie Wendong had already thought of a plan before coming here. Confidently, he said, “Let’s first clean up those ‘Lonely Souls’ outside!”
There were over a dozen members of the Soul Group lurking in the shadows around the building. The sun had just risen, and it was getting light. After waiting half the night without seeing a trace of Xie Wendong, and without receiving orders to withdraw from their superiors, the members dared not leave their positions. They sat on the ground, pretending to sleep with their guns in their arms. Even those who weren’t sleeping were listless, yawning constantly.
Xie Wendong and the others silently made their way to the construction site entrance. Pressing themselves against the metal wall, they peeked inside. It was empty, but there was a spy on the fourth floor, scanning the surroundings. Since the building wasn’t fully constructed, the windows had no sill, allowing the spy’s body to be clearly visible, along with his clothes. Xie Wendong turned to Mu Zi, gave him a gesture pointing at the building, then drew his finger across his throat. Mu Zi understood. He put down the rifle he was carrying, installed a silencer and scope, and aimed it at the spy on the fourth floor. The spy was using binoculars to look around. The street was deserted; not a single person in sight. Yawning, he was about to put down the binoculars when he accidentally spotted movement at the main entrance. He focused his gaze and indeed saw someone crouched there, holding a gun, with its dark muzzle pointed right at him.
The man was terrified. He opened his mouth to shout, but all he heard was a crisp “bang”—the binoculars shattered, and a bullet also penetrated his skull. The spy didn’t even have time to scream before collapsing to the ground with a thud.
Xie Wendong below watched clearly and nodded with a smile, giving Mu Zi a thumbs up. But Mu Zi didn’t move his gun. As Xie Wendong wondered why, another person appeared beside the dead spy, seemingly checking on why his companion had suddenly fallen. When he saw the blood hole in his companion’s eye, he understood everything. But Mu Zi pulled the trigger at the same time. The bullet flew past the man’s head and embedded itself in the wall behind him. The man shuddered, sat down abruptly, struggling to stand up but unable to muster any strength, not even enough to shout. A blood hole the size of a finger appeared on his temple.
Mu Zi waited for a while longer, but no one appeared. Only then did she put away her gun and sling it back on her back.
Xie Wendong inwardly praised Mu Zi—her experience was far greater than his own. She had even managed to figure out that there were two spies. If he had rushed in right after killing the first one, everything would have been exposed. He patted Mu Zi’s shoulder in approval, then waved his hand, and they all crouched and entered the construction site.
Xie Wendong divided his team into two groups. One group, led by Mu Zi, was tasked with dealing with the Soul Group members outside, while he led another group straight into the building.
The interior of the building was in disarray. The walls were unpainted and pitch black. The floor was covered with old newspapers, cement, sand, and other debris. Xie Wendong smiled, thinking it was quite difficult for Ma Feng to hide here. They found the stairs and were about to go up when they heard someone coming down. Xie Wendong and the others quickly hid in the shadows, waiting to see what would happen.
Two men came down from upstairs—Ma Feng’s trusted subordinates. One of them said, “It’s almost dawn. I think Xie Wendong probably won’t show up.”
The other man spoke in a loud voice, as if shouting. He seemed to know Xie Wendong well and said, “Not necessarily! Xie Wendong is narrow-minded and always seeks revenge. Ma Ge raped his girlfriend—how could he not come for revenge?” It turned out that Ma Feng had hurt Qiu Ningshui because he thought she was Xie Wendong’s girlfriend. To some extent, this was also Xie Wendong’s fault. Last time, he gave flowers to Qiu Ningshui and then waited for her to finish work to go out for dinner at a luxury hotel together. Ma Feng’s subordinates saw this and reported it to him. To boost their own merits, they exaggerated, describing how close and attentive the two were. After hearing this, Ma Feng was overjoyed, assuming Qiu Ningshui must be Xie Wendong’s girlfriend. He then sent people to ambush her on her way home and captured her by surprise.
“Could Xie Wendong still come today? It’s already daylight, and this isn’t the suburbs. With so many people around, would he dare to act?” “Heh, you must not have heard about Xie Wendong’s past. If he wants to kill someone, does he care about day or night, city or suburbs!? He’s probably the bravest in the underworld! Anyway, if it weren’t for his good luck, he wouldn’t be alive today!” “Oh! That’s why I thought it—I heard he’s just in his early twenties, with baby hair still on his head. How could he be that formidable?!” “Hmph, a hundred people at the old factory couldn’t kill him the day before yesterday. It’s a shame I wasn’t there; otherwise, heh…” The two of them talked as they went down the stairs. As soon as they reached the bottom, they were stunned. There were about ten people standing by the walls on both sides of the stairs, all with grim faces, staring fiercely and gritting their teeth, looking like fierce demons. The two of them asked blankly, “Who are you?”
Xie Wendong stepped forward with a smile and said, “I’m the guy with good luck you’re talking about!”
“Huh?” The two were momentarily stunned, blinking at Xie Wendong. Jin Yan also smiled, reached behind his back, pulled out a knife from his waist, stood next to Xie Wendong, and said with a laugh, “His name is Xie Wendong—exactly the person you’ve been waiting for!”
The two were shocked, their mouths wide open, unable to close them. Staring at the young man in front of them, they stammered, “You… you… you’re…” As the saying goes, “The name of a person is like the shadow of a tree.” It was fine for them to say it jokingly, but when they actually saw Xie Wendong in person, they were completely stunned.
Xie Wendong smiled and said, “Go ahead and talk. Just act like I’m not here!”
The two were too shocked to speak. One of them, who was very loyal to Ma Feng and brave, glanced downstairs, suddenly knelt down, and shouted, “Brother Dong, please spare me…” “You’re seeking death!” Before he could finish speaking, Jin Yan’s expression changed. He covered the man’s mouth with his hand and thrust the knife out. The gleaming blade pierced through the man’s throat, with the red tip appearing at the back of his neck. The man’s eyes bulged outward, his face contorted in pain, but he couldn’t utter a word—his trachea had been severed. Jin Yan gritted his teeth, pulled the knife back with force, and drew it out. Hot blood sprayed from the wound in the man’s throat, covering Jin Yan’s face. Jin Yan quickly turned to look at the other man. That man was already terrified, sitting on the ground in a daze, staring blankly at the twitching corpse below, his pants soaked.
Just as Jin Yan was about to finish off the other man with his knife, a voice came from upstairs, “Lao Zhang, what’s all that noise? Did something happen?”
Xie Wendong grabbed the arm holding the golden eye and whispered to the man, “Tell him it’s okay!”
“Huh?” The man stared at Xie Wendong blankly, not understanding what he meant. Xie Wendong waved his hand and slapped him, then said in a deep voice, “Tell the people upstairs it’s fine here!” The slap made the man much more alert; he didn’t dare hesitate and shouted loudly, “It’s okay! Lao Zhang just fell!” “Damn, what’s the big deal about falling…” The people upstairs muttered angrily for a while, after which no further sounds were heard. Xie Wendong waited with his gun for a while; when he saw no one else coming down, he breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled at the man and said, “You should rest for a while!” As he spoke, he swung the gun and hit the man at the back of the neck. The man thought he was dead, but when he saw Xie Wendong swinging the gun handle, his anxious heart finally settled, and he collapsed with a relieved smile. Surviving under Xie Wendong’s hand was just as difficult as trying to kill him.
Xie Wendong and his men quietly went upstairs. On the second floor, there were long corridors on both sides, with at least twenty rooms—finding Ma Feng wasn’t easy. They checked each room one by one, pushing the doors open slightly to see if he was inside. Just as they had finished searching the left corridor silently, gunshots suddenly rang out outside. Xie Wendong and his men were shocked—it seemed Mu Zi’s whereabouts had been exposed. Sure enough, with the first gunshot, more shots followed, the sound incessant.
The doors in the corridor opened one after another. The people inside heard the gunshots and knew it must be Xie Wendong. They wondered why the scout hadn’t given a warning in advance and why they had attacked before Xie Wendong even entered the building. As soon as someone stepped out, they were met with a barrage of bullets. Before they could even see who was shooting, three or four bloody flowers had already appeared on their bodies. The door at the far end of the right corridor opened, and a burly man stepped out. Spotting a person in a black Zhongshan suit with narrow, sharp eyes in the corridor, he shouted loudly, “Xie Wendong!”
Xie Wendong turned to look, sneered, and said, “So it’s you! You ran fast last time—this time, you’ll be going on the road with Ma Feng!” With that, he raised his gun and fired. The man reacted quickly; by the time Xie Wendong raised his gun, he had already retreated back into the room. This man was the same one who had attacked Xie Wendong on his way back after the deal with the Golden Triangle and then fled. Knowing he belonged to the Soul Group, Xie Wendong didn’t hold back at all. Seeing him return to the room, he rushed in without hesitation. The others, worried he might suffer a setback, followed as well. The room was quite large, at least several hundred square meters, likely designed as a meeting room, with many thick columns as wide as two people side by side. After rushing into the room, Xie Wendong saw that about a dozen people were gathered inside. Not only was there the man from the Soul Group, but also Ma Feng, standing beside him with a nervous expression. Xie Wendong laughed heartily, then said coldly, “No one here will be able to leave today!”