The Leaker

At the western outskirts villa, a wolfhound chained up outside barked in a way that sent chills down the spine. The thug hurried alone toward Long Wen's house. The wolfhound stopped barking, its keen nose recognizing him as a regular visitor. An old woman came to unlock the door. The thug smiled at her and entered through the iron gate gleaming with a cold light. The woman said Long Wen was on the second floor. The house was empty and somewhat gloomy. The thug crept along, scarcely daring to breathe.

Long Wen stood at the second-floor stairway, watching Hu Pan look around nervously without daring to come upstairs, and felt a trace of displeasure. Hu Pan had come uninvited before being summoned—wasn't that breaking the rules? Long Wen deliberately imitated his boss, trying to project an aura of awe and mystery before the little thugs. Still, Hu Pan must have something important to say if he had come so rashly. With that thought, Long Wen waved his hand and slightly opened his mouth.

"Come up!"

Hu Pan looked up in terror, took a few weak, awkward steps, and walked upstairs with his head lowered.

"Brother Long, sorry to bother you!"

Long Wen turned around and sat on the sofa, slowly lighting a cigarette. He could not help asking about that day's gambling den. "Hu Pan, did you get anything?"

Hu Pan stood in the empty living room as if being punished, looking embarrassed. He wanted to speak but stopped himself, hesitating and stammering, afraid to tell the truth.

"What is it? Speak!" Long Wen raised his voice.

Hu Pan lowered his head, not daring to look at Long Wen. Dejected, he said, "Brother Long, we screwed up today. The police came and wrecked the operation!"

Long Wen paused, and his face suddenly stiffened.

"How could that happen? I even met with our boss today! What happened? How much did we lose?"

The thug said, "Several tens of thousands!" Brother Hu put on a pitiful, defeated appearance, but he knew they had not lost much. He deliberately inflated the figure and skimmed ten thousand for himself. The scene had been chaotic, and everyone had been like frightened birds, focused only on escaping. No one noticed his little trick. The thug had simply repeated his old routine.

The moment Long Wen heard there had been losses, his expression darkened. In a rage, he smashed the cup on the table, making the thug tremble. When handing out reward money last time, Long Wen had been wary. He had deliberately placed uneven stacks of cash into the envelopes. Sure enough, the thug could not resist the temptation and switched Cuntoucao's envelope. Long Wen later confirmed it with Cuntoucao, but he had said nothing.

Long Wen gave a savage grin. "Really several tens of thousands?"

The thug said, "Y-yes." He spoke evasively, obviously lacking confidence. Long Wen had seen it all.

"How much was the reward I gave you last time?" Long Wen asked smoothly.

"Th-this..." The thug stalled, at a complete loss.

"You won't say? I knew you had something to hide. You think you can play tricks in front of me? No chance!" Long Wen roared.

The thug lowered his head without speaking, his body trembling slightly.

"I see everything each of you does. Anyone who says one thing and does another in front of me, anyone who obeys on the surface while defying me behind my back, will never come to a good end!" Long Wen continued berating him.

"B-Brother Long, I was wrong. My greed got the better of me. I switched Cuntoucao's share. I was possessed by greed and confused for a moment. Punish me!" the thug begged.

"How much money did Cuntoucao actually get?" Long Wen suddenly demanded in a raised voice.

"Th-this... I-I don't know." The thug had not been prepared for Long Wen to ask about Cuntoucao. Beads of sweat kept appearing on his forehead. At the time, he had guessed that Cuntoucao's money might have been much less.

"Ha... ha..." Long Wen, his expression turning vicious, sneered.

"Stupid pig. You took six thousand for yourself but let someone else take ten thousand, when you should have gotten ten thousand yourself. Tell me, aren't you stupid?"

At a complete loss, he wondered how things had turned out like this. He began to realize that it had been a trap laid by Long Wen, a deliberate test. And he himself had proven to be nothing but a petty man. Unable to stop himself, he slapped his own face a few times and muttered, "That really was stupid!"

The envelope switch had been exposed. Almost at the same moment, the thug dropped to his knees with a thud. "Brother Long, I was wrong..." He also confessed to skimming ten thousand at the gambling den.

Long Wen clasped his hands behind his back and paced back and forth through the living room. Suddenly, a sinister smile appeared on his face. He turned and slapped Hu Pan hard across the face.

Long Wen should have reported such a matter to the boss. But wanting the thug to obey him completely, he took matters into his own hands and covered it up. Rather than following the gang rules and cutting off a finger, he only gave Hu Pan several hard slaps, swelling his face.

Hu Pan pleaded, "Brother Long, I was wrong!"

Knowing the consequences, the thug was grateful despite his swollen face. His pleas softened Long Wen's heart. The thug knew what to do—he knelt before Long Wen, knocked his head on the floor three times, and pledged his loyalty.

"A great man does not hold a petty man's faults against him. From now on, I'll absolutely obey Brother Long!"

Hu Pan's gesture of submission pleased Long Wen greatly. "Forget it. Learn your lesson!"

Long Wen asked again, "How did the police find out?"

The thug answered vaguely, "I don't know!" He raised his head and cast Long Wen a fearful sidelong glance.

"You really don't know?" Long Wen asked.

"I really don't know. I swear to heaven! I've never done anything to betray Brother Long!"

"Fine. But I'll investigate this matter further!"

"Good. We must find the one who tipped them off and tear him to pieces!" the thug said through gritted teeth, still unable to quell his anger.

Long Wen had the thug gather gambling commissions to provide funds for gambling operations. Safety had always come first, and they had almost never been caught gambling in the western outskirts. This time, their location and movements had been exposed. Someone must have tipped off the police.

At that day's gambling den, the thug believed he had been extremely thorough. He had assured Long Wen that gamblers could enter but not leave, and that all communication devices had to be stored together. How had they been exposed? He could not figure it out no matter how hard he thought. Fortunately, the gambling den had a hidden exit, allowing them to escape.

Long Wen was also puzzled. He thought, Who could it be?

The thug was greedy and unscrupulous, so he could possibly betray him. Cuntoucao, meanwhile, had only recently been released after being arrested for drug use, yet he had not revealed the drug source or his accomplices. That showed Cuntoucao was still reliable.

The thug had lost all face before Long Wen and was deeply upset. Long Wen had, in fact, begun to suspect him to some extent, as the reward money incident showed. On the surface, the thug was completely obedient to Long Wen, but resentment had grown in his heart. He knew he was not the leaker in this gambling operation, yet he could find no trace of anyone else leaking the news. Still, Long Wen had made him the primary suspect. Unwilling to accept it, he claimed illness at home and did not come to work at the company for several days.

Long Wen swore to find the leaker. He called in his assistant, Ma Shaokang, to discuss it. Ma Shaokang was a shrewd man. He had attended high school for three years before returning home to start a business. When the market economy soured, his business went bankrupt, and Long Wen's men pressed him for debts. Long Wen had deliberately brought Ma Shaokang into the group in exchange for forgiving the debt. With no other option, Ma Shaokang joined to survive, becoming one of the few somewhat educated people under Long Wen.

Ma Shaokang saw Long Wen's troubled expression and casually said, "President Long, what's so difficult about this? If we don't root out the traitor within our ranks, how can we survive? Don't worry. Do this..." Ma Shaokang whispered a plan into Long Wen's ear...

Five days later, Long Wen drove to Mount Mao'er, not far from the city. He secretly summoned the thug, Cuntoucao, and several other minor bosses to meet at a mountain farmstead at four in the afternoon. At the same time, Long Wen asked Wu De, a close friend in telecommunications, to secretly monitor the minor bosses' phones. However, Wu De's condition was that Long Wen had to bleed heavily. For the sake of making things easier in the future, Long Wen reluctantly paid the price. He also secretly sent people to monitor the movements of the minor bosses. With this double layer of protection, he would surely dig out the leaker.

Long Wen told no one about the wiretapping, not even Ma Shaokang, who had devised the plan. Until he had figured things out, he trusted no one.

But what he had not expected was that, while speaking with his telecommunications friend on the phone, Cuntoucao happened to pass by and overhear the secret.

At four in the afternoon, Long Wen, the thug, Cuntoucao, and several minor bosses all arrived as agreed. Long Wen paced back and forth in a small sitting room at the farmstead. The minor bosses had no idea what scheme Long Wen was cooking up or what he intended to do. They knew it was rare for Long Wen to appear openly before everyone like this and assign tasks. Something very important must be waiting for them this time. They all waited anxiously for Long Wen to speak.

"Brother Hu, what happened to your face?" one of the minor bosses asked when he noticed Hu Pan's red, swollen face.

"I got drunk and took a fall! Listen up, President Long is about to speak!" Hu Pan deliberately covered it up and redirected everyone's attention.

Long Wen finally spoke. "The boss is having some trouble getting a bank loan this time. He's short on cash, so he wants us to move some goods and ease the urgent situation. To make sure nothing goes wrong, I want all of you to follow me to the provincial highway at the border between Hedong and Tangdu to receive a shipment, then sell it. The time will be set later. But he stressed one point: whether this succeeds depends on secrecy. Otherwise, all our efforts will be wasted. If anyone leaks word of it, I, Long Wen, will never let him off." After speaking, Long Wen snapped a chopstick on the table in two.

"Those who don't follow the rules will end up like this!" Long Wen hurled the broken chopstick heavily onto the floor.

When assigning the task, Long Wen thought everything through with great care. He made specific arrangements for who would lead, who would bring up the rear, who would keep watch, and contingency plans in case they were exposed or the transaction failed.

Other than the thug, Cuntoucao and the other minor bosses were seeing Long Wen's way of handling things for the first time, and it sent chills through them. They all drew a deep, cold breath. Yet the thugs firmly believed Long Wen was about to pull off something big. Thinking of the generous rewards they would each receive once it was done, faint excited smiles appeared on their faces. They had no idea that a bloody test awaited them.

After Long Wen finished assigning the task, the thug, Cuntoucao, and the minor bosses left the farmstead separately and headed down the mountain.