Dwarf

Chen Junbin was rather pleased today, because the target he had been searching for for nearly two months had delivered herself right into his hands. Perhaps he could use this opportunity to make up for his mistakes with the boss and regain his favor.

Thirty-five-year-old Chen Junbin was a retired special forces soldier. Of average height, he had a sturdy build and well-proportioned, agile limbs. On the surface, he was the sales manager of a trading company; in secret, he was a minor leader under Tang Jingyao. His overt and covert monthly income was astonishing. As the saying went, a man established himself at thirty, and Chen Junbin was currently at the height of his ambition.

Last year, when he had gone to a temple to worship Buddha, a monk said to possess considerable supernatural powers had told him that he still had eighteen years of great fortune ahead of him, that everything would go smoothly. Who would have thought that when a mother and daughter escaped from Tang Jingyao's control, he had mobilized all his resources and searched for over a month without finding them? These past days, Tang Jingyao had flown into a rage over it, saying that the situation in the United States was not looking good. Chen Junbin had thought his incompetence would be punished, but the woman had unexpectedly come right to his door. And, by sheer coincidence, his men had spotted her daughter on the street. It seemed that monk had been right. Once this year was over, he would have to donate more incense money.

As one of Tang Jingyao's confidants, he knew what this organization did. Tang Jingyao had connections with Mafia families in New York and Italy. China was now developing, and the drug market held enormous potential. Those families wanted to infiltrate the mainland, and Tang Jingyao was one of their partners. For the time being, however, they did not dare deal with individual buyers. They personally handled all incoming and outgoing shipments, supplying only the children of wealthy families. Those people could afford it, so they were supplied with the best drugs. Occasionally, he would think back to the oath he had sworn in the military, to the naive ideas he had once held. They really had been childish ideas. A man had to eat, and if the world was dark, then he had to be even darker. Once he understood that, he prospered.

When he received the call from below bringing good news, he was in the company negotiating a major deal. Though he knew Tang Jingyao's matter should take priority, the commission and kickbacks from this deal would be substantial if it went through. Knowing the boss was busy as well and certainly would not be able to inspect the situation until evening, he relaxed. By the time he had secured the order, it was already late. He politely declined the other party's dinner invitation, called the boss's secretary, and estimated that he still had a little time. He planned to go home to pick something up before hurrying over. Since the matter had been resolved, being a little late should not be a problem.

He had money now and could afford a small villa outside the city. When he returned home and opened the door, the living room was pitch-black, but the sound of running water came from the bathroom around the corner on the second floor. His wife must have been taking a shower. Thinking of her alluring naked body, he chuckled wickedly to himself. Good fortune lifted a man's spirits. He quietly shut the door without turning on the lights, intending to sneak upstairs for a little intimacy and let his wife share in his joy.

He had only taken two steps when, with a bang, light burst out from the bathroom and a body came tumbling from within, falling to the floor. Chen Junbin had been special forces; in that hurried instant, he rolled, intending to use the glass coffee table in the living room as cover while drawing the pistol from inside his suit jacket. Yet just as his body hit the ground, the glass coffee table ahead shattered with a bang. His hand went numb, and the gun flew away. The other party's shot had passed through the table in the darkness and struck his pistol with perfect accuracy—without injuring him.

What kind of miraculous marksmanship was that?

"Move, and your wife dies."

The cold, slightly hoarse voice made Chen Junbin dare not move another inch. The first shot had been for his wife; the second would certainly be for him. He looked toward the corner of the second-floor staircase. In the light stood a short man holding two silenced pistols—one aimed at him, the other at the woman beneath his foot. His wife lay naked on the floor, clearly dragged straight out while she was still bathing.

"Turn on the lights. There's a button on the inside of the sofa armrest. I advise you not to think about pressing it."

Chen Junbin's heart jolted, and he no longer dared entertain any clever ideas. Only after turning on the lights did he clearly see the dwarf's face. He looked like a middle-aged man in his thirties. Not only was he a dwarf, but he also had a scar across his face. A person like that was unlikely to be liked by others and could easily become a pervert... Chen Junbin analyzed silently, and the shot from earlier made him even more frightened.

"Friend, which road are you from? Even if I offended you somehow, disaster shouldn't extend to one's wife and children. At least..." Seeing the murderous gleam in the short man's eyes, he swallowed. "At least... let my wife put some clothes on..."

"That depends on your attitude." The short man remained unmoved as he said coldly, "I don't like wasting words. The two people your boss is looking for happen to be under my protection. You will take me to where they are now. Otherwise, I guarantee that not only will your wife die completely naked in the busiest place in Jianghai City, but so will... the child in her belly that the hospital confirmed only a few days ago."

"The... the child?" Chen Junbin's eyes widened. Seeing his wife, sprawled on the carpet, nod in humiliation and shyness, he did not know whether to feel joy or sorrow. Then the short man said, "That is why I chose you... Chen Junbin, I have investigated your family line for three generations thoroughly. You had better not think you can play any tricks in front of me. I'll give you three seconds to decide. One, two..."

The night was deep, the neon dazzling. It was eight-thirty in the evening, and the main streets of Jianghai City were still packed with flowing traffic. Shops and supermarkets on both sides of the road were brightly lit. A black Jeep SUV drove at a moderate speed along Airport Road, carrying Chen Junbin and his wife along with the dwarf assassin.

Chen Junbin was driving, while the dwarf assassin sat motionless in the passenger seat with lowered eyelids, seemingly resting with his eyes closed. The beautiful young wife, who had just been dragged naked from the bathroom, now wore a bathrobe and sat in the rear of the Jeep. Her hands and feet were bound with rope, and she stared in terror at the scar-faced dwarf in the passenger seat.

His hands gripping the steering wheel nervously, Chen Junbin breathed rapidly. Noticing that the dwarf had closed his eyes, he deliberated for a long time before cautiously lifting his right hand from the wheel. In an instant, a gun was pressed to his temple. "Unless I tell you otherwise, your hands are not to leave the steering wheel."

He tightened his grip on the wheel. After a moment, the dwarf assassin said, "Relax. No matter what the matter is, I give people one chance. But... only one." Chen Junbin was even more horrified, because that was Tang Jingyao's usual catchphrase. Just who was this man...?

He suddenly recalled the last time the boss had hired Peiluojia to kill that mother and daughter. After Peiluojia's people assessed the situation, they had concluded that only one person was needed to eliminate everyone, including the bodyguards around the mother and daughter. His own people had been somewhat unconvinced. Sure enough, that night, Peiluojia's assassin killed every bodyguard, but the mother and daughter ultimately escaped. At the time, they had assumed the assassin had grown careless after dealing with the bodyguards and had been shot dead by that Mafia heiress. Thinking about it now, had they actually been rescued by someone this terrifying?

After that, he no longer dared harbor any crooked thoughts. After the Jeep had driven for a while, a red light came on ahead. Stopped in front of them was an extremely expensive silver convertible sports car. The man in the driver's seat still wore a scarf on this summer night. Taking advantage of the red light, he climbed onto the seatback and lounged there as though admiring the scenery. His rather unconventional behavior drew comments from people nearby.

Under normal circumstances, Chen Junbin would definitely have taken a few extra looks at that silver sports car and imagined that, after a few more years of work, he could buy one himself. But he was in no mood for that now. He stared ahead, his thoughts in complete turmoil, and failed to notice that the dwarf assassin had opened his eyes. Looking at the sports car and its driver ahead, the dwarf frowned slightly.

Peiluojia... he had come...

A moment later, the light turned green. The sports car ahead turned onto a fork to the right. In the brief moment Chen Junbin hesitated, the dwarf assassin had already swung his gun around and aimed it at the young woman in the back seat.

"This is a crucial fork in the road. If you still insist they are at Jiangdong Sand Factory, I'll blow her stomach apart."

Chen Junbin seemed to let out a breath, then turned the wheel. The Jeep, which had originally been preparing to go straight, followed the silver sports car and turned right.

"S-Sorry, they're actually... actually at the abandoned site of the Second Cement Factory. Please don't hurt them. I won't..."

"You don't need to explain. As for directions, you have used up your chance. If you make a similar mistake again, I guarantee you will have a very exciting death. Now accelerate and pass them."

A moment later, the Jeep overtook vehicle after vehicle ahead, including the silver sports car. It continued onward, heading toward the abandoned site of the closed Second Cement Factory on the outskirts of the city.

Before long, the vehicle entered a side road with little traffic. Though the road, wide enough for only two cars to pass side by side, was smooth, there were no streetlights beside it. In the darkness, the lone Jeep gradually drove away from the glowing metropolis. A mountain wall stood on one side of the road, while a shallow ravine lay on the other. Of course, if a vehicle really fell down there, it could still be fatal. Thus, many jagged little concrete blocks had been placed along the roadside as makeshift guardrails.

Following the assassin's instructions, the Jeep maintained its speed through the darkness, occasionally passing a small car. After a while, lights shone from behind. In the rearview mirror, the approaching vehicle was moving incredibly fast and was about to catch up to the Jeep. The dwarf assassin spoke again. "Accelerate, and move toward the inside so he can pass."

Accelerating in such darkness was dangerous, but Chen Junbin naturally did not dare say anything. He gradually cleared the side of the road by the ravine. The vehicle behind came roaring up and drove parallel with the Jeep. It was the expensive silver sports car they had seen in the city. The man inside had his scarf flying high behind him. He raised a hand toward them and seemed to shout "Hi." Apparently, he was a racing fanatic. The Jeep had passed his car earlier, and now he had passed them back, even taking the chance to show off.

Ordinarily, seeing someone who could drive such a sports car, Chen Junbin would not have dared say anything. At this moment, he was even less likely to react. At the same time, a gun was suddenly pressed to his temple. The dwarf assassin seemed to lunge forward as he shouted, "Let go of the steering wheel!"

The gun had an excellent effect. In an instant, Chen Junbin released the wheel as though his hands had caught fire. The assassin seized it, violently yanked it outward, then jerked it back.

With a boom, the silver sports car was struck hard at high speed. Its wheels rode up onto the small concrete blocks beside the road. Then the entire sports car, along with the man showing off inside it, flew diagonally into the air. The body spun as its lights traced a beautiful arc through the sky before it plunged into the ravine below. The Jeep swerved wildly for quite a distance before a violent shockwave hit it. Behind them, the sports car exploded in the ravine, turning into a massive fireball that soared into the sky.

"Very good. Very powerful... We continue."

Retracting his complicated gaze from the scene behind them, the dwarf assassin gave the order calmly.