Chapter 121

The two men in front were not familiar with the terrain; they wandered around the alleys for a long time without finding a way out. Seeing Xie Wendong closely following behind them, both began to sweat. They stopped and exchanged glances. One of them, a bearded man in his thirties, snapped, “Kill that kid behind us first!”
“Okay!” the other replied, turned around without looking, and fired two shots.
Xie Wendong had sensed something was wrong as soon as the two stopped. Seeing one of them suddenly turn, he reflexively rolled to the side. “Bang! Bang!” Two bullets flew past him. Kneeling on one leg, Xie Wendong threw his golden knife. Due to the complete darkness in the alley, the man didn’t even notice anything flying toward him. After seeing Xie Wendong dodge, he laughed and was about to shoot again when he felt his neck tighten—as if something had wrapped around it. Without giving him time to think, Xie Wendong pulled hard, and the silver thread instantly severed the man’s trachea.
Seeing his accomplice fall to the ground after just two shots, the bearded man didn’t understand what was happening. He fired several shots at Xie Wendong, forcing him to hide behind a trash can, then pushed his companion and asked, “Hey? What’s going on with you?”
The man lay on the ground, still convulsing, with blood gushing from his neck. Realizing something was wrong, the young man pointed his gun at the trash can where Xie Wendong was hiding, while his other hand reached for his accomplice’s head. Feeling something sticky in his hand, he felt a chill and realized things were bad.
Xie Wendong snorted, sticking half of his head out and shouting, “If you don’t want the same fate as him, throw your gun down right now.”
The young man was shocked. He hadn’t seen clearly how Xie Wendong had killed his accomplice and felt an indescribable fear of him.
As he hesitated, a voice rang out, “I’m a police officer. Throw your weapons down!”
Hearing this, Xie Wendong was stunned. Was it him? He turned to look. Yan Ke was pointing his gun at the young man, nodding and smiling at him, then shouting at the man, “Throw your gun down, or I’ll shoot!”
With no choice, the young man slowly threw his gun to the ground. Yan Ke didn’t relax. “Put your hands on your head and lie down! Quick!”
The young man sighed inwardly and did as he was told. It seemed the other man was an experienced police officer, and he gave up resisting.
Yan Ke waved confidently at Xie Wendong and said, “It’s okay now. Come out! Hehe, thanks to my timely arrival, otherwise you would have met the Devil earlier, haha!”

Xie Wendong didn’t have a good impression of Yan Ke, but this time he had done him a favor. He stood up and walked over, asking, “How did you know we were here?”
Yan Ke stepped beside the young man, picked up the pistol he had thrown away, and fiddled with it while saying, “I saw you run into the alley from afar, but it’s too dark here. If it weren’t for the gunshots, I wouldn’t have been able to find this place!”
Xie Wendong nodded and said, “So what do you plan to do with this guy? I hope you’ll hand him over to me to deal with. You’ll benefit from this in the future.”
“Tch!” Yan Ke sneered. “Why should I listen to you? Who do you think you are?” Saying that, he kicked the young man lying on the ground. “Kid, you’re lucky to have run into me! Get lost!”
The young man was stunned. He looked up at Yan Ke in confusion and asked, “What?”
Yan Ke snapped, “Get away from me before I change my mind. The farther, the better. If the police catch you, I’ll shoot you first!”
Seeing that he wasn’t joking, the young man quickly stood up, said thank you, and ran away.
“What do you mean by this?” Xie Wendong shouted angrily. He was about to chase after him when Yan Ke pointed a gun at him.
Yan Ke laughed mockingly. “Xie Wendong, do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this opportunity? You damn scoundrel—how did you manage to get into the Political Department? How did you make Peng Ling like you? How dare you act so arrogantly in front of me? I’ve tolerated you for a long time, but today seems to be the end of it.”
Xie Wendong glared at him and said loudly, “You want to kill me?! Don’t forget my status now. Even if you kill me, you won’t get away alive!” As he spoke, he quietly tried to pull out the silver thread to retrieve the golden knife to deal with Yan Ke. But the knife was wrapped around the neck of a corpse on the ground, so he couldn’t pull it free right away.
This small move didn’t escape Yan Ke’s careful eyes. He sneered, “Xie Wendong, still planning to stab me with that little knife? Haha, don’t treat me like an idiot!” Saying that, he stepped on the silver thread and said triumphantly, “If I kill you now, who do you think will know it was me? One bandit has run away, and the gun used to kill you is also a bandit’s gun. Heh, now you can go in peace, right? I’ll take care of Peng Ling!” Yan Ke’s gaze gradually turned murderous.

Xie Wendong sensed something was wrong; he felt the other man’s murderous intent. He waved his hand, trying to grab the golden knife, but it was too late. Yan Ke lost his smile and fired two shots at Xie Wendong. The bullets exploded against Xie Wendong’s chest, leaving two holes in his black clothes. The force of the bullets pushed him backward repeatedly. Unwilling to give up, Yan Ke kept pulling the trigger until his gun was empty.

By then, Xie Wendong was already pressed against the wall, his chest riddled with bullet holes. He spat blood in large gulps before collapsing to the ground, his body still convulsing.

“Hehe, hehe, hahaha! Hahaha…” Yan Ke laughed maniacally. What could Xie Wendong do? No matter how formidable he was, he died at his hands. Yan Ke stepped forward, kicked him twice violently, and cursed, “You made a hole in my neck, so I’ll make ten holes in you. Were you so arrogant? Get up! You tried to steal women from me—damn you!” Xie Wendong lay on the ground, blood streaming from his mouth and nose; it was unclear whether he was alive or dead.

After kicking him for a while, footsteps and shouting came from afar. Realizing it was “his own people,” Yan Ke quickly shoved his empty gun to the bottom of the trash bin, then took his police service pistol and smashed it hard against his own head. The force was so great that he gritted his teeth in pain but didn’t cry out. Blood poured from his head, and he collapsed, dizzy.

Sure enough, soon after, several police officers rushed over. They checked the surroundings and found nothing unusual. They helped Yan Ke, who was groaning on the ground, up. One of them asked, “Old Yan, what happened to you??”

Yan Ke weakly said, “Hurry… go catch the criminal! That man killed Xie Wendong! Go catch him… he ran that way…” He pointed in the opposite direction.

The others were shocked. Who was Xie Wendong?! The police surely knew who he was. He had someone kill him—how could they just ignore it? They helped the man lying on the ground, covered in blood, up, and saw it was Xie Wendong! The police were stunned. The leader reacted first and shouted, “Stop being idiots! Take them both to the hospital! Good heavens, chaos is about to break out again! Xiao Song, take a few people and chase after him—hurry!”

The officer named Xiao Song nodded and led four or five others in the direction Yan Ke had indicated. The rest helped carry Xie Wendong and Yan Ke out of the alley. The leader called an ambulance first, then called Liu Dexin. “Director Liu, it’s bad news—Xie… Xie… Xie Wendong has been killed!”

“Ah… Huh?? What did you say? Xie Wendong was killed??” Liu Dexin was watching TV at home when he received the call. In his forties, he jumped up high in surprise and asked urgently, “Say that again. I didn’t hear clearly. Who was killed?”
“It’s… it’s Xie Wendong!”
Liu Dexin was stunned for a long time before slowly saying, “Tell me where. I’ll be there right away!”
The leading police officer repeated the address. Liu Dexin wrote it down quickly, threw on his coat in a hurry, and even forgot to say goodbye to his family. He took a taxi out and headed straight to the scene. Sitting in the taxi, he was extremely anxious. As mentioned earlier, he had a very good relationship with Xie Wendong, both personally and in his official career. Xie Wendong had always supported him, and as long as this underworld boss was around, his career prospects seemed limitless—he might even reach the position of provincial director. Now, hearing this terrible news was like being thrown from the sky straight to the ground, and quite painfully at that. One can imagine how anxious Liu Dexin was.
In the taxi, Liu Dexin first called Sanyan. Sanyan had just returned from City M that day, intending to rest for a few days after being exhausted from fighting in various places. But less than five minutes after lying in bed, he received Liu Dexin’s call. Naturally, he didn’t believe it—could Dongge die?? Unless the earth split open and water flowed uphill! He complained, “Liu, you can joke about other things, but don’t joke about Dongge’s life or death or else don’t blame me for turning against you!”
Sanyan’s reputation had risen sharply recently. With his determination and sharp mind, he had successively defeated several major gangs in other cities. He was the de facto second-in-command of the Wendong Gang, and even Liu Dexin, the official head, feared him a bit. Liu Dexin hurriedly said, “How could I joke about this! I just got the news and am on my way to the scene now. I can’t talk more—come quickly too!”
Sanyan still wasn’t convinced. Xie Wendong’s legendary image was deeply rooted in his mind. He had faced countless storms and dangers and always survived unscathed. He had never thought that his idol Dongge could die. Sanyan said shakily, “You’re joking! This is impossible!”