At the hotel.
The flames gradually spread through the hotel.
The fire seemed to have reached the electrical wiring. With a snap, the hotel's lights went out. Only the moonlight slanted faintly through the windows.
Wang Yiyang stood by the door, calm, with a slight smile. He waited for the two men to respond.
He felt perfectly rational, yet at that moment, he'd acted on an impulse to face the Avengers head-on, without any warning.
He'd thought he was being impulsive. But right then, his mind was completely calm.
Before, the Avengers had moved with ruthless efficiency, slaughtering their way through everything and leaving not a single opening.
But now they'd reached Yingxing City and still hadn't attacked outright. That suggested they, too, had their doubts.
And doubt meant hesitation.
Hesitation meant there was a chance to ease the tension. That was why he'd come. As soon as he learned there'd been a riot and a fight here, and discovered that the Avengers were involved, he'd rushed over.
"Wang Yiyang?" Gu Fu blinked, looking at the man in the doorway, then turned to Kong Ping beside him.
He was waiting for his friend to decide whether to kill Wang Yiyang or talk to him.
For small matters, Gu Fu usually made the decisions. But when it came to something this important, experience had taught him that he trusted Kong Ping more.
They'd had a hard time clawing their way out of the Abyss. Their journey might have seemed smooth, but they couldn't afford even the slightest mistake.
Thud!
The man in black, who'd just been begging for his life, was impaled through the forehead by a finger. His trembling body went rigid, then toppled to the ground, lifeless.
Kong Ping remained expressionless as he withdrew his finger. No emotion showed in his eyes as he quietly watched Wang Yiyang in the doorway.
But inside, he was far from calm.
When he'd first learned that his enemy was the head of Security at Mister, he'd been furious.
But as things gradually changed, it had become increasingly clear that there was a conspiracy at work.
So he'd suppressed his urge to act and started going over all the information again.
He knew that neither he nor his friend could afford a mistake.
They had the Reaper Suits, but no supplies. Their fuel was limited, and the suits were taking more and more damage. They couldn't fight as easily as they had at the beginning.
So they had to be more careful than ever.
The three of them stood in silence, not moving.
Only when the flames in the hotel grew stronger, the guests began to scream in panic, and the sound of fire engines gradually drew closer from the distance did Wang Yiyang speak again.
"This isn't the place to talk. Please come with me. Believe me, I didn't send these people." His expression was sincere.
Kong Ping considered this for a moment, then nodded slightly.
He turned to Gu Fu.
"Put out the fire."
Gu Fu nodded and raised his hand toward the area where the flames were strongest.
Hiss!
His palm split open, and a silver arc shot out.
The moment it touched the flames, it burst with a bang, scattering into countless white particles.
The powder quickly brought the fire on the hotel's first floor under control.
Once he was done, Gu Fu and Kong Ping looked back at Wang Yiyang.
The three of them turned and soon climbed into the motorhome waiting outside on the road.
The engine started, and the vehicle pulled away slowly, passing the speeding police cars and fire engines.
In less than half a minute, the burning hotel was left behind, gradually disappearing from sight.
Soon, even the sirens of the police cars and fire engines faded away.
In the small hours of the morning, the streets of Yingxing City were deserted, with barely a car in sight. Only the occasional stray cat or dog darted across the road, letting out a few faint yowls.
"Would you like something to drink?" Wang Yiyang bent down and took a can of pineapple beer from the mini-fridge.
Gu Fu and Kong Ping didn't answer. Sitting in the back, they turned their gazes from the window and looked at Wang Yiyang.
"Let's hear it. Did you come to us because you think we wouldn't dare kill you, or because you think we're easy to fool?" Gu Fu chuckled mockingly.
Kong Ping stayed silent beside him, apparently leaving the talking to his companion rather than stepping in himself.
Wang Yiyang swept his gaze over them and immediately understood their strategy.
He smiled.
"I have no reason to deceive you. I'm facing a deadly threat myself. Otherwise, I wouldn't risk my life by coming here in person to talk to you."
"You mean someone besides us wants to kill you?" Gu Fu asked in surprise.
After everything he'd been through, he knew just how much power and influence came with being a director at Mister and the head of its Security Department.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Wang Yiyang could call on more than a hundred armed men with a single order.
That was practically unheard of in a modern city.
And those armed forces might even include official military units.
He was the kind of big shot who had connections on every side of the law.
But now, Wang Yiyang seemed to be saying there was an even deadlier threat, one serious enough to force him to seek them out and talk.
"I don't think anyone but us could threaten you," Gu Fu said, shaking his head.
Wang Yiyang smiled bitterly.
"If I had any choice, I wouldn't risk my life to meet you. But things have reached a critical point. It's not just me—you're in danger, too.
"That's why I came to you. I hope we can work together."
"Then who's your real enemy?" Gu Fu asked.
"The current chairman of the Board of Directors, Sivan Fisher." Wang Yiyang answered frankly.
Sivan Fisher was also the representative of the powerful consortium that had forced the previous chairman out of office.
Behind him stood the mighty Fisher Family.
He was arrogant, cold-blooded, and deeply calculating. On the surface, he seemed warm and considerate, always thinking of others.
But in truth, he was cruel to the core.
That was how he'd lulled the previous chairman into a false sense of security, then caught him off guard and had him forced out.
Wang Yiyang had planned to present evidence and confront him at a board meeting. Instead, the Avengers had hunted him down, forcing him to flee the headquarters in the Maria Islands.
If so many of his subordinates hadn't been controlled with chips, he would have been left with no one to rely on by now.
"Sivan Fisher?" Gu Fu repeated the name thoughtfully.
He'd seen it mentioned once or twice in classified files he'd found at the military base they'd destroyed.
"What does he have to do with us?" Gu Fu asked after a moment.
"Your families were killed by men he sent. And he deliberately gave you the suits you're wearing." Wang Yiyang answered seriously.
He wasn't lying.
The people from the Security Department had indeed killed Gu Fu and Kong Ping's families.
But that didn't mean they'd been his people.
Wang Yiyang had done some unsavory things in his early years to achieve his goals and seize power quickly.
But he wasn't stupid enough to kill an entire family and deliberately leave survivors.
He'd recently gone over his memories carefully and realized he had nothing to do with Gu Fu and Kong Ping.
He'd killed plenty of people back then, but he'd never wiped out an entire family. He'd punished people according to their crimes without involving their families.
So the Avengers weren't his responsibility after all.
"Believe me or not, I'm being sincere. I want to work with you to find out who framed me back then and who killed your families."
Wang Yiyang spoke earnestly.
"And according to the information I have, Sivan may also come after you. His right-hand man, Gewen, another member of the Board of Directors, has already arrived here. He could make a move at any moment."
As a local of Yingxing City, Wang Yiyang could easily keep track of what was happening around the city, even with so many spies at his side.
After all, he still controlled a considerable force within the Security Department.
"What do you plan to do?" Kong Ping finally spoke.
He'd actually had his suspicions for a long time, though he hadn't been sure. Now that Wang Yiyang had come to them of his own accord, those suspicions and guesses gave him a good reason to believe that what Wang Yiyang said was true.
At those words, Wang Yiyang finally felt some of the tension leave him.
He knew that this move had been the right one.
He'd risked everything by coming forward and placing himself within reach of people who could kill him at any moment. He'd done it to earn their trust.
It was a gamble that left him no choice but to press on.
He knew very well that, with his current strength, he had little chance of standing against the true power behind Mister.
If that man could create two Avengers with ease, he could just as easily create more.
So Wang Yiyang had to unite every force he could.
Now that he'd confirmed Kong Ping and Gu Fu had their own suspicions, the knot of worry in his chest finally loosened. Following the plan he'd worked out earlier, he began explaining things to the two of them.
On the top floor of the Azure Hotel, inside a luxurious suite.
Gewen was sleeping soundly with Lei Wei, who was naked, in his arms.
Suddenly, Lei Wei's phone vibrated beside her pillow.
She opened her eyes at once, picked up the phone, and unlocked it to take a look.
"Did they all die?" Gewen sat up beside her and yawned.
"Yeah." Lei Wei nodded.
"It's fine. As long as they left a trail, that's all that matters." Gewen smiled.
"But the micro-cameras at the scene were destroyed. The satellite images were jammed, too. Without clear footage, we can't monitor the details." Lei Wei furrowed her brow.
"Doesn't matter. I have people around Wang Yiyang. He'll report any developments to me. Right now, the priority is that the Federation's transport team is almost here."
Gewen said it casually.
No matter how much Wang Yiyang and the Avengers stirred things up, he had a trump card powerful enough to keep the whole situation under control.
Once they dealt with the Federation transport team, the trump card would be the key to bringing everything to an end.
"Don't worry about anything else. Just make sure you're ready. You should be able to access a lot of Wang Yiyang's resources, right?" Gewen asked with a smile.
"Yeah, but he's wary of me now and hasn't given me any work in a long time. I don't have the authority to mobilize most of his subordinates." Lei Wei frowned.
"That's fine. As long as you're still his assistant, that's enough." Gewen smiled. "By the way, has he ever slept with you?"
Lei Wei's expression didn't change, but her pupils contracted slightly as she forced out a smile.
"No..."
"That's a shame." Gewen rolled out of bed, stretched, and headed toward the bathroom.
Lei Wei stayed on the bed by herself, sitting in silence.
Before you continue