Chapter 244
Xie Wendong ignored him and didn’t bother with nonsense. He simply said coldly to the man with a bulbous nose, “It’s better you take your hand away before I start hating you!” His gaze was both icy and fierce—icy enough to make the man with a bulbous nose feel as if he were in an ice cellar, yet fiercely hot in a primal way that seemed capable of melting that coldness. With just one sentence, the man with a bulbous nose numbly released Li Yingnan’s hand. He himself was surprised at why he obeyed the other person without reason!
Xie Wendong pulled Li Yingnan behind him and said, “These are scoundrels. Go find your brother!” Worried, Li Yingnan saw that Xie Wendong was so thin; leaving him alone in the room with three burly men would be putting him in danger. She agreed, but didn’t move an inch. Xie Wendong understood her thoughts and was moved, but he didn’t want to hurt her. So he deliberately shouted, “Hurry up and go find your brother! What are you waiting for?” Without hesitation, he pushed Li Yingnan out of the room and locked the door behind him. Without Li Yingnan around, Xie Wendong let out a sigh. He glanced at the faces of the three men and said coldly, “Now, it’s time to deal with our business!”
The man with circular eyes shuddered and asked nervously, “What do you want?” “It should be me asking you that!” Xie Wendong smiled innocently and tightened his grip, pulling the silver thread taut. The man with a bulbous nose screamed in pain as he clutched his wrist, drenched in cold sweat. Xie Wendong lightly flicked the silver thread and asked, “From your accents, you don’t seem to be locals, do you?”
The man with a bulbous nose gritted his teeth and barely managed to say, “Yes…” The man with circular eyes glared at him and said sternly to Xie Wendong, “So what if we’re not locals? What does that matter?” Xie Wendong smiled slightly and said, “I saw that this brother has quite good grappling skills—obviously, he’s received specialized training. I’m just curious about your identities.”
“You don’t need to know that!” the man with circular eyes said, forcing himself to stay strong. Xie Wendong had sharp eyes. The way the man with a bulbous nose had effortlessly controlled Li Yingnan wasn’t something ordinary people could do. By intuition, he felt a resemblance to Jiang Sen. He shook his head and said, “If you hadn’t come after me, it might not be my concern. But since you’ve come, I have to find out.” As he spoke, he secretly tightened the silver thread and said smilingly, “Don’t you think?” The last sentence was directed at the man with a bulbous nose. The silver thread sank deep into his flesh, seemingly capable of cutting through his bones at any moment. The man with a bulbous nose couldn’t help but fall to his knees, screaming loudly, “Ask me anything! I’ll tell you everything! Please have mercy…”
Before he could finish speaking, the man with ringed eyes beside him changed expression, kicked him in the face, and snapped angrily with red eyes, “Useless thing! If we tell you, we’ll all die miserably. We might as well fight to the death!” Before he could say more, the short man suddenly rushed toward Xie Wendong, holding a dagger in his hand, and stabbed fiercely at his eyes. He was fast, and the man with ringed eyes wasn’t slow either—he lifted his thick military coat and quickly pulled out a dark-colored Type 54 pistol from his back waist. Yet they underestimated Xie Wendong’s strength. He hadn’t survived to this day just by luck. When the short man’s dagger was still half a foot away, Xie Wendong suddenly spun, dodging the blade in an instant. He ended up face to face with the man, their faces less than five inches apart—so close that he could count the hairs on the other man’s face. With a smirk, Xie Wendong took advantage of the short man’s shock, lifted his leg, and struck him squarely in the groin. “Ahh…” The man let out a shrill scream. Without hesitation, Xie Wendong grabbed the man’s wrist holding the dagger and twisted it outward. The short man cried out in pain as the dagger slipped from his hand. Xie Wendong caught it effortlessly, swung it, and in a flash, half the blade pierced the forehead of the man with ringed eyes, who was about to shoot.
These actions seemed slow when described but were actually extremely fast, executed in one smooth motion. If Xie Wendong had been a second slower, it would likely have been him lying on the ground.
The man with ringed eyes didn’t utter a sound before dying. Blood slowly flowed from the groove of his dagger, staining the black ground deep red.
In just one turn, he killed one and injured another. Xie Wendong shook his head as if nothing had happened and said with a smile, “Now that the troublesome person is gone, you can speak freely.” The short man clutched his groin and curled up on the ground. Even so, he managed to say intermittently, “No… I can’t say…”
“Sigh!” Xie Wendong sighed helplessly. He walked over to the dead body of the man with ringed eyes, bent down, used a little force to pull the dagger from his head, shook off the blood, and said sympathetically, “If you can’t even save your own life, why worry so much?” The short man trembled inwardly. This handsome young man was nothing but a merciless demon. He had always thought he was cruel enough, but compared to him, he was nothing. Enduring the pain, he said, “I only know one thing: if I speak, I’ll die a hundred times worse than now!” Xie Wendong shrugged and said, “If you don’t speak now, you’ll die right away!”
The short man glanced at his dead companion, his heart shrinking in fear. No one was fearless; he was scared too. But he understood that if he said a word, his fate and his family’s fate would be no better than that of his just-dead brother. He tightly closed his eyes and said, “If you, Xie Wendong, are a real man, then end this quickly!”
Xie Wendong lowered his head, fiddling with the dagger—a half-foot-long blade that spun in his hand as if it were an extension of his own. He was thinking about his next move. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Garlic Nose looking at him in terror, his face filled with hesitation. An idea struck him. He stopped playing with the dagger, took two big steps toward the short man, bent down to cover his eyes, and sighed, “I’m sorry, friend!” Before the words faded, he slashed the man’s throat with his blade. It was fast—before the short man could feel pain, his trachea was cut, and he couldn’t utter a sound. He struggled violently for a few moments before gradually going still. Xie Wendong stood up with a dark expression, not even turning around, and said coldly to Garlic Nose, “Now it’s your turn!”
Garlic Nose watched helplessly as another companion had his throat cut. His pants immediately became soaked. He didn’t care about what would happen next, nor did he care about the silver thread cut into his wrist. He struggled to get on his knees and shouted, “Don’t kill me! I’ll tell you everything! Anything you want to know!”
Xie Wendong took a deep breath and asked, “Three days ago, the ones who attacked me must have been with you, right?” “Yes!” Garlic Nose nodded slightly, not daring to look at Xie Wendong, afraid the demon might kill him in an impulse. “Don’t worry. Speak freely. I promise, as long as you don’t hide anything, I won’t harm you!” Xie Wendong said it casually with a smile, then asked, “So where are you from?” “Beijing!” Garlic Nose hesitated for a moment, then mustered courage and replied in a low voice.
“Beijing?” That was unexpected for Xie Wendong. He didn’t seem to have any connection to people from Beijing! Doubtful, he didn’t ask directly but said, “It seems like you guys aren’t from the underworld, right?!” Garlic Nose nodded blankly. “Then who are you? Are you from the military?” Xie Wendong asked with a smile. His joking remark turned out to be true! Garlic Nose widened his eyes, staring at Xie Wendong, wondering if he had figured out their identities from the start.
Xie Wendong was quite smart; seeing his expression, he guessed most of what was going on. By now, he was truly confused—his opponent was a military officer, while he himself was still under the Political Department, with intricate ties to the military. Why would they assassinate him for no reason? Besides, if the military really wanted to get rid of him, they could find any crime to condemn him a hundred times over and do it openly. Why go through the trouble of hiding it? Could it be someone sent by Dong Fang Yi? That didn’t make sense either—he posed no threat to him at all, and their relationship had always been one of mutual exploitation. Moreover, with Zhang Fanyou as a potential threat, how would he have time to deal with him?! Xie Wendong tapped his forehead. When things were too confusing, it was better not to think about them. He asked directly, “Who sent you?”
The man with the garlic-shaped nose shook his head like a rattle and said to Xie Wendong, “I really don’t know that. We came to City H entirely following orders from above!”
“Orders from above? Who does this ‘above’ refer to?” Xie Wendong pressed further. The man with the garlic-shaped nose replied, “Our company commander!” “That’s it?” “That’s it! But…” He glanced at Xie Wendong, hesitating. Xie Wendong smiled and said, “Just speak up. There are only the two of us here. No one else in the world will know it was you who said it!”
The man with the garlic-shaped nose calmed his heartbeat and whispered, “I heard it was an extremely powerful person in the central government who gave the order, that’s why we dare not speak out easily.”
The central government? Xie Wendong was shocked. The central government would go after him? What an impressive status! He shook his head. No, that didn’t add up. Judging from their ability to mobilize the military, this person indeed had considerable power. But if so, why would such a powerful person resort to a secret attack? His eyes lit up as he smiled. A secret attack meant they were also acting in the shadows, indicating that at least for now, the central government hadn’t targeted him yet. With that in mind, Xie Wendong asked, “How many people are there in total?”
Suan Tou Bi said, “I’m not sure exactly how many, but most of us have arrived.” “Oh, then there must be quite a number!” Xie Wendong murmured, then asked, “Surely not all of them are staying in hotels?” Suan Tou Bi looked stunned and replied blankly, “We do stay in hotels, but scattered around.” Xie Wendong laughed coldly. “How did you know I would appear at that dance hall by the river at night?” Suan Tou Bi hurriedly said, “I’m not sure about that. I’m just a lowly soldier; I can only follow orders from above. Someone who came to City H tried to escape before but was caught later. His end was tragic—he was even accused of treason, and his family was implicated too, so…” “So you wholeheartedly decided to kill someone who had nothing to do with you before!” Xie Wendong said coldly. He had already obtained what he needed from Suan Tou Bi. He untied the silver thread, put away the golden knife, and his icy eyes pierced Suan Tou Bi like sharp blades. Realizing things were going wrong, Suan Tou Bi stammered and pleaded urgently, “You… you said you wouldn’t kill me!?” Xie Wendong chuckled. “Don’t forget, I’m not exactly a good person either!” He weighed the dagger in his hand, deciding what to do with this man when footsteps were heard outside—seems like quite a few people. He quickly unlocked the door, then flicked the knife in front of Suan Tou Bi’s face and ordered, “Pick it up!”
Suan Tou Bi, having lost his wits, obediently picked up the dagger from the ground. With a loud bang, the door was forced open, and a group of people rushed in. Leading them was Li Gensheng, the scheming man in Xie Wendong’s mind, holding a thick stick three fingers wide, his face filled with anger. As soon as he entered, he shouted loudly, “Who bullied my sister?”
Xie Wendong shrugged and said nothing, merely pointing at Suan Tou Bi, who was holding the dagger with a puzzled expression. “I didn’t…” Suan Tou Bi tried to explain, but Li Gensheng didn’t give him a chance and swung the stick at him. Startled, Suan Tou Bi sidestepped reflexively and slashed with the dagger. Perhaps because Li Gensheng had used too much force, the stick missed him but caused him to stumble forward, his arm being cut deeply by the dagger, with blood gushing out and his clothes turning red. The villagers, who had never seen such a scene before, and those who had come with him started screaming at the sight of blood, “Murder! Murder!”
Everyone was from the same village. Seeing Li Gensheng stabbed by a stranger, they were filled with rage. Someone mustered the courage to push Suàn Bítóu to the ground. Then, a crowd rushed in, beating him mercilessly. Li Yingnan, standing nearby, bandaged her brother’s wounds while observing the situation inside. Two corpses lay on the ground, their eyes wide open and faces pale as paper—extremely terrifying. Xie Wendong, on the other hand, wore a smile on his face, acting as if nothing had happened. Her heart tightened; she seemed to understand something.
Half an hour later, suburban police and ambulances arrived. Since there were deaths involved, it wasn’t a minor matter. Xie Wendong and the swollen-faced Suàn Bítóu were taken to the car and handcuffed. Li Yingnan didn’t know who Xie Wendong was, and she even suspected that those two deaths were his doing. But she thought he did it to protect himself. She wanted to step forward to stop them and explain the situation, but Xie Wendong glared at her coldly and said, “My affairs don’t need anyone’s interference, especially not yours!”
With those words, he left Li Yingnan standing there, tears streaming down uncontrollably. The police car drove away slowly, while the villagers pointed and speculated about the identity of the young man who had fallen into the water.
After the police car had gone a distance and reached the highway, the police officer in the passenger seat turned around, grinned, and said, “Brother Dong, you really made us work hard to find you!”
Thieves and cops are one and the same. Xie Wendong didn’t know this police officer, but few did. Wendong had close relationships with the police in City H and often interacted with them. When he went missing, the police must have spent just as much effort as he did. The officer took out keys from his pocket and unlocked his handcuffs. “Thanks, brother!” Xie Wendong moved his wrists and nodded at the officer with a smile. Then he pointed at Suàn Bítóu beside him and said, “This guy is a real hassle.”