At the entrance to Haicheng First Prison, a guard watched Ye Wudao step through the gate and said softly, "Ye Wudao, go out there and be a good person!"
Ye Wudao didn't turn back to look at the guard. He remembered what his Second Master had said and replied nonchalantly, "Do you think I look like a bad person?"
The guard pressed his lips together. He had only reminded Ye Wudao out of habit.
He was just a prison guard on the outer perimeter and didn't know what went on in Cell No. 1.
He only knew that the prisoner being released today was named Ye Wudao and that he was getting out early.
Hearing the guard say nothing, Ye Wudao smiled faintly and took a step forward.
The next moment, he soared into the air and flew off into the distance.
The guard stared at Ye Wudao as he suddenly flew away, his mouth hanging open. It took him a long time to come to his senses.
"A... a Grandmaster Realm expert!"
Who on Blue Star didn't know about the Martial Path these days? Who didn't know that only those in the Grandmaster Realm could fly?
He stared in disbelief at Ye Wudao's figure as it grew smaller and smaller, then muttered, "I... I actually told a Grandmaster Realm expert to be a good person!"
Sea City, Flower Street, Dragon Chant Tavern.
Flower Street was named for exactly what it was: the entire street was lined with flower shops.
Ye Wudao had followed the address Qin Tianlong gave him. The little tavern had only a single sign above its door, and it had taken him a while to find it.
Looking up at the sign, Ye Wudao muttered softly, "This should be the place!"
He really couldn't understand why someone called Ghost Seven would open a tavern in a place like this.
It was the only tavern on Flower Street, and it was tucked away in a particularly remote spot. He couldn't imagine anyone coming here for a drink.
He pushed open the glass door, which was only wide enough for one person, and looked inside.
The tavern was small, with only five tables. Its decor was quite distinctive, with a sort of dark, modern style.
Behind the counter, a middle-aged man was wiping a glass with a white towel.
Hearing someone push open the door, the man didn't even look up. In a hoarse voice, he said, "Sorry! We're not open yet."
Ye Wudao smiled slightly. "I know you're not open. Nobody comes to a tavern for a drink first thing in the morning, right?"
"I'm here to see someone!"
The middle-aged man raised his eyes to look at Ye Wudao but kept wiping the glass. "Who are you looking for?"
Ye Wudao glanced at him and said softly, "I don't think I'm looking for you. I'm here to see Ghost Seven!"
Hearing this, the middle-aged man smiled. "I'm Ghost Seven!"
Ye Wudao froze. He couldn't sense the slightest trace of cultivation from the man.
He had assumed that the Ghost Seven Qin Tianlong sent him to meet would be a former Azure Dragon Gang martial artist.
He hadn't expected Ghost Seven to be an ordinary person—not even in the Body Forging Realm.
Pressing his lips together, he looked at Ghost Seven and spoke again. "The Azure Dragon gazes upon the bright moon!"
Ghost Seven paused, set the glass on the table, and replied, "The bright moon gazes upon the blue sky!"
Then he looked at Ye Wudao and asked softly, "Are you the young gang leader Boss Qin mentioned?"
Ye Wudao was taken aback. "Young gang leader? What's that about?"
"Great Master sent me to find you. He didn't say anything about making me a gang leader!"
Ghost Seven smiled and replied, "The gang leader told me some time ago that if you wanted to take over, I should gather the members of the Azure Dragon Gang again."
"If you don't want to take over, all I need to do is provide you with information!"
Ye Wudao nodded. Qin Tianlong had indeed told him that.
He sat down across from Ghost Seven and asked, "How many people are left in the Azure Dragon Gang?"
Ghost Seven kept wiping the glass as he answered, "Two of the Four Guardians are dead, one is crippled, and the last fled overseas."
"Of the Eight Protectors, six are dead, one lost his leg, and one is in the hospital."
"All Ten Hall Masters died in battle back then. Not one survived!"
Ye Wudao rolled his eyes. "The people you mentioned are either dead or crippled. Isn't that the same as having nobody?"
Ghost Seven set down the glass in his hand and smiled. "Am I not a person?"
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Li Huai, also known as Ghost Seven, strategist of the Azure Dragon Gang."
Ye Wudao understood. "So you're the strategist. No wonder you don't have any cultivation!"
Ghost Seven shook his head. "It's not that I never had any cultivation. It was crippled."
"Back then, I'd reached Houtian Great Accomplishment. But after that battle with the Zhang Family, my meridians were shattered. I'll never be able to cultivate again."
Ye Wudao pressed his lips together and shook his head. "So now you're the only one left in the Azure Dragon Gang in Sea City?"
Ghost Seven shook his head again. "Not exactly. The people I mentioned were all old members of the Azure Dragon Gang. If you want to rebuild it, I've spent these years training some newcomers, too."
"They just can't be called members of the gang without the leader's appointment."
"Otherwise, who do you think found the cultivation manuals you asked for?"
"I'm just an ordinary person now. How would I find those manuals for you?"
Ye Wudao nodded slightly and murmured, "Rebuild the Azure Dragon Gang..."
He knew what his Great Master had in mind. Qin Tianlong wanted him to rebuild the Azure Dragon Gang and lead it back to the top of Sea City.
He didn't mind the idea. With his current strength, he could put the Azure Dragon Gang at the top of Sea City without breaking a sweat.
And why stop at Sea City? There was no reason he couldn't make it the top gang on Blue Star.
Besides, if the Azure Dragon Gang was rebuilt, he wouldn't have to deal with every trivial matter himself.
He looked at Li Huai and asked, "How many people do you have now?"
Li Huai raised his right hand and clenched his fist. "Ten, including me!"
"Don't let the number fool you. I've carefully selected these people over the past ten years. Every one of them has reached the Houtian Realm—except me, of course!"
"An army is valued for its quality, not its size."
Ye Wudao looked surprised. "Nine people in the Houtian Realm would be a considerable force in Sea City. Why haven't you tried rebuilding the Azure Dragon Gang yourself?"
Li Huai smiled and replied softly, "Isn't this tavern the new Azure Dragon Gang?"
"Also, if you want to rebuild the Azure Dragon Gang, I can gather some of the old members again."
"There are only a few hundred of them, but they've all reached the Body Forging Realm. That's still a considerable force."
Ye Wudao nodded. "Then call everyone over this afternoon so I can meet them."
"For now, give me the files."
Li Huai nodded, took out a phone, and handed it to Ye Wudao. "These are the files Boss Qin asked me to collect. Everything about the Ye Family, the Li Family, and the Zhang Family is in there."
"The Liu Family is in the Magic Capital, so I haven't been able to find much about them."
"I also found something else you might be interested in."
Ye Wudao nodded and began looking through the phone.
The information on it covered the four families' spheres of influence, businesses, members, and assets.
Aside from the Liu Family, the files on the three Sea City families were extremely detailed.
After the information on the four families was an electronic document titled [The Truth About the Car Accident].
Seeing it, he was surprised. "You even reconstructed the truth about my car accident?"
Li Huai shook his head. "It wasn't your car accident. Just look and you'll see."
Ye Wudao froze at that. A hazy figure flashed through his mind.
It was a memory from when he was five years old, one he could barely remember anymore.
He hurriedly opened the document. When he saw the photographs inside, he went still.
The figure in his memory slowly merged with the person in the photograph.
His hand trembled as he slowly scrolled down the screen.
The document contained photographs of the original case files from the Public Security Bureau, recording all the materials from the investigation into his mother's car accident.
The culprit was a truck driver who had been drinking. He ran a red light and struck his mother, killing her.
The truck driver was sentenced to twenty years in prison.
The earlier information all seemed normal. But when he reached the bottom of the file, he froze.
[Hired murder?]
At the very bottom of the file was a handwritten note from the investigator.
But the note had been crossed out, and the final conclusion had been changed to [Accident].
Ye Wudao couldn't calm himself for a long time. Staring at the crossed-out note, he asked in a low voice, "Where did you get this file?"
Li Huai replied softly, "While investigating the Ye Family, I found that thirteen years ago, Ye Zhenshan's wife, Li Yanhua, had transferred three million yuan to someone."
"I thought I'd look into whether Li Yanhua was keeping a man on the side."
"I never expected the investigation to lead to your mother's case. The person Li Yanhua paid was the truck driver's ex-wife. The driver and his ex-wife had a son together."
"But when we went to investigate the driver, we found that he had already died in prison."
"Even so, we managed to uncover some clues. One of the officers who investigated the case back then suspected that your mother's car accident wasn't an accident, but a hired killing."
"But his investigative opinion was quickly rejected, and the officer was transferred off the case team and sent to the archives."
"We found that officer a few days ago. He admitted that there had been many suspicious things about your mother's case."
"The most important point was that, according to the testimony of the truck driver's friend, the driver was allergic to alcohol and normally never drank."
"But in his statement, the driver claimed that he'd argued with his ex-wife that day, didn't want to live anymore, and so drank a lot."
"We investigated, though, and found that the driver was in Sea City on the day of the accident, while his ex-wife and child were in their hometown, Chrysanthemum City. Chrysanthemum City was over a thousand kilometers from Sea City. Even if he'd argued with his ex-wife there the previous day, he couldn't have shown up in Sea City in the early hours of the next morning."
"We had hackers investigate his phone number and trace his call records from thirteen years ago. We found that he hadn't called his ex-wife at all during those days."
"The Public Security Bureau never investigated such an obvious hole in the story. They just rushed to close the case."
"Put it all together, and your mother's car accident was a hired killing arranged by Li Yanhua. And the job was done poorly. It was only covered up because the Ye Family and the Li Family buried the matter."
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