Shutting Them Down

As soon as Liu Yan turned to leave, Chen Hao got up and left the room too, seeking out her assistant, Zhang Jing.

"Zhang Jing, I need some herbs for Chinese Patent Medicine. Do you have any in stock?"

Chen Hao was now a shareholder in Blue Light Pharmaceuticals, and he was also very close to Liu Yan, so Zhang Jing was more than happy to help. "Yes. Part of our business is developing Chinese Patent Medicine, so we always keep plenty of medicinal herbs in reserve. Please follow me."

After taking Chen Hao to the traditional medicine plant, she led him straight to the herb storage warehouse for Chinese Patent Medicine.

Chen Hao's eyes lit up at the sight of an entire room piled high with medicinal herbs. He immediately called over some workers and had them fill several sacks from the warehouse. Then he shut the door and gave them a quick scan with WeChat. The sacks of herbs vanished in an instant.

"Alchemy Boy, Alchemy Boy, hurry and take a look! I've sent you all the herbs. See if they'll work," Chen Hao asked anxiously.

Before long, a reply arrived. "Exalted Immortal, you're incredible! You managed to get so many herbs at once. Thank you so much!"

"Save the thanks for later. Hurry and check whether you can refine these herbs into the furnace ash I need!"

"Yes, Exalted Immortal. I'll try refining them right away."

After closing the chat window, Chen Hao began to pray. Everything had to go smoothly on Alchemy Boy's end, or he really would be too miserable even to cry.

He had barely taken two steps when his WeChat sounded again.

Chen Hao's heart immediately sank. Had it failed?

He opened WeChat apprehensively, only to discover that the message was from Chang'e.

When he opened her message, he found two kissing emojis. His imagination immediately ran wild. "Chang'e, what can this humble immortal do for you?"

Chang'e sent a shy emoji before saying, "Exalted Immortal Little Charlatan, I went to see Matchmaker on an errand today and noticed a strange fruit at his place. Apparently, it rivals the Peaches of Immortality. May I ask if you gave it to him?"

After sending that long message, Chang'e followed it with a flirty emoji, sending Chen Hao's thoughts wandering all over again.

"Yes, my fairy. It's called the Sacred Fruit, and I obtained it in a secret realm. It tastes wonderful, beautifies the complexion, and softens the skin. It's especially suited to a fairy like you."

His extravagant sales pitch immediately made Chang'e even more eager for the Sacred Fruit. She sent another smiling emoji. "Then might you give me one, Exalted Immortal Little Charlatan?"

Chen Hao replied at once, "I could, but this Sacred Fruit is a sacred treasure, after all. It blooms once every thousand years and only bears fruit every ten thousand years. Matchmaker begged me for ages before I gave him one."

Chang'e caught his meaning. "Then let me give you something in exchange."

Ding-dong! You have received one Crescent Pendant from Chang'e.

Chen Hao immediately tapped it to check its description. "Crescent Pendant: unique to the Moon Palace and worn by Chang'e. Refreshes the mind, replenishes vital energy, and stores soul power. The pendant can also absorb the essence of the moon to aid cultivation."

"What? It can even absorb the essence of the moon to aid cultivation?" Chen Hao immediately retrieved it. The pendant was shaped exactly like a crescent moon and was crystal clear. At first glance, it looked no different from an ordinary jade pendant.

On closer inspection, however, he could clearly see translucent white strands of light slowly flowing through the Crescent Pendant like liquid. It was quite extraordinary.

Chen Hao didn't bother considering anything else and put the pendant straight around his neck.

The moment he put it on, Chen Hao felt a cool stream flow directly into his mind, leaving him refreshed and clearheaded. Even his intensely agitated mood seemed to improve a little. The sensation was indescribably strange.

"Exalted Immortal, you received the pendant, right? Don't forget my Sacred Fruit!" Chang'e urged.

Damn, she gave me something this good. Sending her an apple would take no time at all!

Chen Hao rushed straight back to Liu Yan's office, grabbed an apple off the desk, and scanned it over to Chang'e, much to her delight.

He had just finished dealing with Chang'e when Long Guangsheng called to say he had arrived at the entrance.

When Chen Hao reached the entrance, he saw Long Guangsheng and twenty or thirty of his men gathered outside Blue Light Pharmaceuticals' gates. The elderly security guard had nearly called the police. Only after seeing Chen Hao come out to greet them did he let them in.

"Brother Hao, what do you need us to do?" Long Guangsheng was impatient by nature and asked right away.

"I might need you to help me put on quite a show!"

Over the next few hours, Chen Hao brought Long Guangsheng and his men into the conference room and discussed their respective assignments for the coming days.

In another room, five or six men sat together amid clouds of cigarette smoke. The atmosphere was deeply oppressive.

A burly, short-haired man sat in an executive chair with a cigarette between his lips and a gold chain as thick as a finger around his neck. His face was vicious, and his cold gaze swept over everyone else present.

These men were all core members of the Black Tiger Society.

The short-haired brute took a deep drag on his cigarette, then said flatly, "More than a dozen men against one, and we ended up with three unconscious, four seriously injured, and six with minor injuries. Haizi, give me a reasonable explanation."

The short-haired brute was nicknamed Black Tiger. Known as Brother Tiger, he was the leader of the Black Tiger Society.

Haizi was the man who had led the ambush on Chen Hao that day, only to be left utterly bewildered by the appearance of eight identical Chen Haos.

Haizi lowered his head and gave a light cough. "Brother Tiger, I don't know what that little bastard Chen Hao's deal is either. He seems to know ninjutsu. Last time..."

Before Haizi could finish, Brother Tiger flicked his cigarette butt at his head. "Ninjutsu, my ass! Have you been watching too much Naruto? Ninjutsu? Are you fucking stupid?"

After his outburst, Brother Tiger slammed the table. "The Black Tiger Society has never taken a fucking loss like this since we were founded! If word gets out, how are we supposed to show our faces? Get someone to grab that little bastard right away. I want to meet him myself."

He had barely finished when Haizi's phone rang. Haizi answered, listened for a moment, then shot up from his seat. "What's going on? A surprise inspection? The club's been shut down?"

Brother Tiger's brow furrowed in alarm, and he hurriedly asked, "What happened?"

Haizi hung up, looking utterly bewildered. "They said the police conducted a surprise inspection and shut the place down."

Brother Tiger slammed the table and cursed, "That bastard Yang! How dare he screw me over!"

With that, Brother Tiger pulled out his phone to make a call.

But before the call connected, the other men's phones began ringing one after another.

"What? The place got raided?"

"Huh? The police took over the whole place? What's happening now?"

The men in charge of their entertainment venues received the bad news that their establishments had been sealed by the police, one after another. Brother Tiger's expression grew hideous, his face twisting with rage.

The atmosphere in the room became suffocating. No one dared breathe too loudly as they quietly waited for their boss to handle things.

Brother Tiger dialed a number. The instant the call connected, he demanded furiously, "Director Yang, just what do you mean by sending people to shut down my establishments?"

Unexpectedly, the man on the other end was even angrier. "How many fucking times have I told you not to call me whenever you feel like it? Those aren't my men shutting down your places. The municipal bureau sent people directly. Who the fuck did you offend? Think it over yourself, and don't drag me down with you!"

"Beep, beep, beep..."

After that tirade, the other man hung up.

Director Yang's words left Brother Tiger stunned. What the fuck was going on? They weren't Director Yang's men—they'd been sent by the municipal bureau!

But even after thinking it over for ages, he couldn't understand. He had been keeping his nose clean lately and hadn't caused any trouble or offended anyone important. How had the Municipal Public Security Bureau become involved?

Seeing Brother Tiger fall silent, Haizi stepped forward and asked, "Brother Tiger, what's going on?"

Brother Tiger remained dazed for a while before looking up at the gang's core members. "All of you, think carefully. Have you offended anyone important lately? Our places were shut down by the Municipal Public Security Bureau."

"What? The Municipal Public Security Bureau? How did they get dragged into this?"

"Shit, we're in serious trouble now. If the municipal bureau shut them down, without connections, our places might..."

"Quit fucking jinxing us! Ask your men whether they've pissed anyone off lately!"

And so every boss launched into a frantic round of phone calls.

Only a few minutes later, Haizi suddenly cried, "What?" His voice drowned out everyone else in the room.

Haizi quickly picked up a pen and wrote a phone number on a magazine.

As soon as he finished writing, Haizi cried out again, "What?"

That shout made everyone else jump again. Brother Tiger smacked Haizi across the forehead. "Are you fucking having a fit? Can't you talk properly?"

Haizi hung up with an aggrieved expression, then looked at Brother Tiger with a wavering gaze. He sounded frightened as he said, "Brother Tiger, it looks like the shutdowns have something to do with this phone number. And..."

Brother Tiger snatched the note from him. Haizi's hemming and hawing made him want to hit someone. "What the fuck is wrong with you lately? Stop keeping me in suspense. If you've got something to say, spit it out!"

Haizi stammered for a long time. "This number belongs to Chen Hao."

"What?"

At last, everyone in the room cried out in shock at the same time.

One moment, they had been discussing how to deal with Chen Hao. How had all their establishments been shut down the next, with Chen Hao somehow involved?

Could it be that, because they had offended Chen Hao, he had pulled strings to get the municipal bureau to close every one of their establishments?

Countless questions rose in Brother Tiger's mind. He barked, "Haizi, did you fucking check his background before making your move?"

Haizi answered with absolute certainty, "Of course I did. That's the Black Tiger Society's rule. Chen Hao's just a poor kid from the countryside. How could he possibly have any connections?"

That only made Brother Tiger more puzzled. He muttered to himself, "Could it just be someone with the same name, rather than the same person?"

After thinking for a long time, Brother Tiger finally dialed the number.

When the call connected, Brother Tiger said nothing. Chen Hao remained silent on the other end too, as though he had already guessed who was calling. Neither needed to say it aloud.

After a long silence, Brother Tiger finally lost his patience. Setting aside his usual arrogance, he kept his tone as level as possible. "Is this Chen Hao?"

Chen Hao chuckled. "Yes. Who's this?"

Brother Tiger frowned. "I'm Brother Tiger. I heard you had someone shut down my establishments?"

Chen Hao didn't answer directly. He merely smiled and asked, "You're the boss of the Black Tiger Society?"

"That's right, I am. I'm warning you, Chen. You'd better hurry up and..."

"Beep, beep, beep!"

Brother Tiger had intended to use their usual approach and start with threats to see whether he could scare Chen Hao. If that failed, he would try a softer approach.

He hadn't expected Chen Hao to hang up before he had even finished a sentence. Furious, Brother Tiger slammed his phone onto the table.

Seeing their boss fuming, none of his men dared make a sound.

After a long while, Brother Tiger said, "Send men to keep watch on our places immediately. Report any developments to me. As for Chen Hao, do whatever it takes to bring him here. I'm going to kill him."

"Yes!"

Just after Chen Hao hung up, Sun Long called him.

"Hello, Director Sun!"

"Oh, come on, Brother Chen. Why be so formal with me? I've already sent men to seal all those establishments. I've also passed down orders that no one is to reopen them without your say-so."

"Thank you very much, Director Sun. When I have time later, I'll definitely visit and thank you in person!"