Action 2

Wang Yiyang rubbed his weary temples, headed to the bathroom for a quick rinse, downed a cup of ginger and brown sugar water, and climbed straight into bed.

He was drifting in a hazy, half-asleep state in the middle of the night when a heavy, muffled thud jolted him wide awake.

Wang Yiyang had been a light sleeper since childhood; the slightest disturbance would have him leaping out of bed in an instant.

Moreover, that sound had been exceptionally jarring in the dead of night.

What's going on? He opened his eyes, feeling groggy, and threw off the quilt to sit up.

BANG!!

Before he could fully clear his head, another muffled thud echoed up from downstairs.

Wang Yiyang picked up his phone and frowned at the screen: 3:31 AM.

Outside the window, everything was pitch black. Aside from the occasional distant bark of a dog, it was deathly silent.

BANG!

Another, slightly softer thud followed.

Wang Yiyang put on his clothes and shoes, then reached into his closet to retrieve a metal baseball bat he kept for emergencies.

This wasn't for playing ball; it was for self-defense.

Clutching the bat and grabbing his keys, Wang Yiyang headed down the stairwell, feeling a surge of irritation.

He arrived just in time to see the security door of unit 303 tightly shut, with several burly men cursing and kicking the door with all their might.

Several sheets of printer paper were plastered to the side of the door, with blood-red characters scrawled in thick, jagged strokes: "Pay your debts, or your whole family dies. Pay up now, die, die, die."

One man was holding a spray paint can, frantically spraying graffiti all over the wall beside the door.

The men glanced at Wang Yiyang with fierce, menacing eyes as he descended, but they ignored him, delivered a few more savage kicks to the door, and then packed up their things and swaggered off.

Wang Yiyang glanced at the door of 303; the metal panel was visibly dented from the kicks.

He had heard debt collectors coming to the building before, but this was by far the most aggressive incident yet.

Coming to kick and smash doors in the middle of the night.

It seemed the debt owed this time was much larger than usual.

As the men left, still cursing, Wang Yiyang turned around, intending to head back to bed.

Suddenly, he caught a faint sound—a soft, whimpering cry coming from the dark corner of the electrical box at the far end of the stairwell.

The layout of Green Tree Home was different from other apartment buildings.

The stairwell here was rectangular, with recessed alcoves on both sides designed to house electrical meters and network boxes.

Because the voice-activated lights in the stairwell were broken and it was the middle of the night, the area was shrouded in darkness, illuminated only by a sliver of moonlight, making it difficult to see clearly.

Consequently, both ends of the stairwell had become dark, blind spots.

The door that had just been smashed was at one end, at 303.

The crying Wang Yiyang heard was coming from the other end, at 301.

"Who's there?" he demanded, gripping the baseball bat tightly.

The crying stopped instantly. Then, a tear-streaked, pretty face peeked out from behind the electrical box.

It was Li Ran.

The young girl from 301 downstairs.

"Brother Yiyang..." Li Ran stepped out. She was covered in dust, and her once-pristine dance outfit was smudged with the black grime from the electrical box.

"Why are you still out here so late?!" Wang Yiyang asked, stunned. "Where is your mother?"

Li Ran just cried and didn't answer. Her hands were gripped tightly around her backpack, her knuckles white from the strain.

In the dead of night, the temperature in the stairwell was only three or four degrees. Li Ran was wearing nothing but a thin dance dress and tights; her cheeks were flushed red from the cold, and her body was trembling slightly.

He had no idea how long she had been waiting in the stairwell.

"Have you been waiting here the whole time?" Wang Yiyang asked, frowning again.

"Mm..." This time Li Ran replied, but her voice was as faint as a mosquito's; if he hadn't been listening closely, he wouldn't have heard her at all.

Wang Yiyang was speechless. He walked down a few steps and peered through the peephole into Li Ran's apartment; it was pitch black inside.

He reached out and knocked on the door.

There wasn't a sound from within.

"They haven't come back..." Li Ran whispered from the side.

"Where did they go? To just leave you alone in the stairwell like this?" Wang Yiyang frowned.

"My mom... went to find my dad..." Li Ran kept her head down, her voice so small it sounded as if it were coming from somewhere else.

Wang Yiyang thought it over. In the middle of the night, inviting a young girl into the home of a single man was clearly inappropriate.

"Wait here." He quickly went upstairs, brought down a bowl of hot brown sugar ginger tea, grabbed a blanket, and headed back down.

"Here, be careful, it's hot. Drink it, then wrap yourself in the blanket. Don't get sick."

Li Ran looked at the brown sugar ginger tea held out to her. The rising steam gave her an indescribable sense of warmth and comfort.

She looked up at Wang Yiyang, who was holding the red blanket. Suddenly, she couldn't hold back her tears, and they began to fall like broken beads.

She didn't sob, just reached out to take the bowl, wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and began to sip it gently.

Seeming afraid of wasting Wang Yiyang's time, Li Ran drank quickly. Once finished, she returned the bowl and took the blanket, carefully draping it over her shoulders.

"Brother Yang, you should go back to sleep. I'm fine. I called my mom, and she said she'll be here soon." Her voice was much calmer after drinking the tea.

"Alright. If you need anything, come find me. Do you want me to call a locksmith so you can get inside first?" Wang Yiyang asked.

"No... no need." Li Ran shook her head. She didn't have her ID on her, so a locksmith wouldn't open the door for her anyway.

She urged Wang Yiyang to go back to sleep again and again, insisting she was fine and would be home soon.

Wang Yiyang had only been trying to be kind. Since she said she was fine, regardless of whether it was true, he couldn't keep lingering.

He simply returned to his room, closed the door, took off his clothes, and went back to sleep.

The next morning, he woke up at 7:30 sharp.

He got up, washed, changed his clothes, and checked the texts and calls from the night before.

There were no calls, but a pile of texts—mostly spam and advertisements.

After clearing the junk, Wang Yiyang opened Feixun.

Feixun was one of the most popular chat apps in the Federation and its surrounding countries. Nowadays, everyone preferred using Feixun over SMS.

Feixun was free, while SMS cost five cents per message.

The Feixun icon was a small blue cloud.

Upon opening it, a flood of unread messages popped up.

There were messages from Wang Dongning, Xie Xiaodan, An Yuxi, and other college classmates, along with various unread notifications from chat groups.

Wang Yiyang quickly sorted through them.

'Yang, what exactly happened yesterday? Why did that guy with the slicked-back hair want to see you? Tell me privately, I promise I won't leak it! I won't even tell my wife!' -- Wang Dongning.

'Heh heh heh.' -- Wang Yiyang.

Wang Dongning's ability to keep a secret lasted three days at most. This was a result Wang Yiyang had confirmed through multiple tests.

'Brother Yang, don't be a stranger if you need anything. Just say the word, and I'll help without hesitation!' -- Xie Xiaodan.

'Thanks. It's nothing, don't worry.' -- Wang Yiyang.

Next was the message from An Yuxi.

Wang Yiyang opened it and was momentarily stunned.

The first thing in An Yuxi's Feixun message was an image.

The image was a news report on the latest research breakthrough regarding portable multi-functional musical instruments.

Below that was the text An Yuxi had typed.

'Tsk tsk tsk, it's a pity I didn't get to join the fun at the last digital expo. Did you go?'

She liked digital products too?

Wang Yiyang blinked. He hadn't heard of that before, but he wasn't very close to An Yuxi, so perhaps he just hadn't known.

He replied casually: 'I went, but it wasn't as good as the previous expo. Many new products just had new shells, while the core remained unchanged.'

After replying, he checked the encrypted messages. Jian had already dealt with Dada.

A human life had vanished just like that—easily and silently.

Wang Yiyang felt a bit uneasy, but he knew he would inevitably encounter more situations like this in the future.

Since he couldn't resist, he had to adapt.

Among the encrypted messages was intelligence from his hometown, Guixi Town.

Guixi Town was now under the command of an elite operative named Catherine.

Wang Yiyang had deployed three teams there, all of them the best of the best.

Each team consisted of ten people, capable of easily dismantling a small terrorist base or slaughtering an armed group of over a hundred people.

Yet here, these three teams were only being used to protect Wang Xinlong at the Yuekong Martial Arts Hall and to investigate the forces behind Dada and Zhong Can.

Wang Yiyang reviewed all the intelligence sent to him and organized it.

If he were truly the competent Security Department head and Mister director from the memories in his files, he might have easily found a lead on the mastermind behind Dada.

But Wang Yiyang was just an ordinary office worker. No matter how he turned the information over in his mind, he couldn't find any flaws in the enemy's trail.

After thinking for a long time without any leads, Wang Yiyang decided to have the teams continue protecting his grandfather, Wang Xinlong, in secret.

Then, he would start by looking into the Mantis strongholds that Dada had revealed.

Since there were no further clues to be found, it was time to take direct action.

Of course, that didn't mean crushing them with brute force.

Times had changed, and with ready-made power at his disposal, Wang Yiyang was no fool; he had no intention of going in head-first.

He thought for a moment, quickly flipped through his contacts, found a name, and dialed the number.

Beep... beep...

After two short rings, the other party picked up.

"Hello, what are your instructions?" The voice on the other end sounded like a middle-aged man around fifty, deep and resonant.

Ordinarily, such a voice would easily command awe and authority, but over the phone, it didn't give Wang Yiyang that impression at all.

Instead, it carried a hint of wariness.

"Have the person in charge of Yingxing City cooperate with the operation here," Wang Yiyang commanded in a low voice.

"Understood, I will issue the order immediately," the man replied swiftly.

"During the cooperation, do not expose our connection. Furthermore, if necessary, you may need to mobilize armed forces to suppress them," Wang Yiyang added.

"Understood. I can issue the documents for small-scale armed mobilization directly. Rest assured."

"Good, do your job well. This mission is worth one hundred contribution points. Do not disappoint me."

"Yes!" The man's mood soared; he seemed visibly excited at the mention of contribution points.

Hanging up, Wang Yiyang let out a breath.

This was the power wielded by his hidden identity...

It was also the private force he had cultivated himself over the past few years as the head of the Security Department.

Contribution points were naturally the internal valuation method of the group, but the man on the other end of the line was one of the high-ranking officials he had truly brought under his control using chip technology.

"And the K-Crystal Serum..." Wang Yiyang felt his mind cluttered with a mess of information.

He decided not to overthink it. Since Dada had provided those strongholds, he only needed to send people to probe them, and he would learn more about the other party.

After processing the information, it was already nearly ten o'clock.

He put on his coat, changed his shoes, and headed out, trying the elevator once more.

It still didn't respond; the elevator clearly hadn't started repairs yet.

Wang Yiyang sighed and had no choice but to walk down the stairwell again.

Just as he reached the corner of the stairs, he saw Li Ran again.

The girl was wrapped in a blanket, sitting at her doorway, her head tilted as she slept soundly.