Whether anyone had been beaten to death was still unknown, but Number Two was certainly getting anxious.
The target client had been attacked!
On Number Two's orders, four Funeral Directors rushed toward Zhang Youzhi's location at top speed from the east, west, south, and north.
Meanwhile, the White Jade Capital Company's representative in Crane City immediately called the police and headed over with local officers.
Leading them was Yang Donglin, captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade.
But someone got there before them.
He Min.
He Min drove her rich-lady car straight into two knife-wielding thugs, killing them before they could react. But in her haste to save Zhang Youzhi, she had barely gotten out of the car when another thug kicked her hard, before she could even reach him.
He Min felt as though her back was about to snap. She grunted and, finding strength from somewhere, scooped up the dying Zhang Youzhi and barely managed to throw him into the car.
But that was as far as she got.
He Min dove into the car, but before she could reverse, the scar-faced leader in a suit dragged her out of her seat. He kicked her hard twice in the lower abdomen, then dragged Zhang Youzhi, whose fate was uncertain, out of the car and pinned him beneath his foot.
"You filthy bitch. Chairman Gao taking an interest in you was an honor, and you actually started thinking you were somebody, huh?"
Scarface grabbed He Min by the hair, looked at her blood-covered face, then flung her to the ground. He picked up a baseball bat and swung it at the Audi's windshield.
Bang!
A massive hole opened in the windshield.
"Four Tigers, take this bitch's car and bring our two brothers back to get them checked out. The rest of you, bring this guy and the bitch. We'll hand them over to the boss and let him deal with them. Consider it a favor to Chairman Gao," Scarface ordered angrily.
They had lost two brothers on what should have been a sure thing. Fucking rotten luck.
Then the gang loaded everyone into two modified vans, took a side road without streetlights, and vanished.
Life Countdown. 22h.
A limping Gray Kitten scrambled into the dead-end alley, which had fallen silent.
The kitten scraped at the blood-soaked dirt with its only remaining front paw, then turned back and let out a pitiful cry.
The homeless man behind it lowered his hood. He stared silently at the blood on the ground and the candied hawthorn skewers trampled into mush.
Then he noticed something seemingly wedged beneath the dirt.
An inconspicuous name badge had fallen from the pocket of one of the suited men He Min had run over and killed.
Jiacheng Entertainment.
After the homeless man left,
the four Funeral Directors and a squad of law enforcement officers arrived almost simultaneously. With Number Two's remote authorization, the two sides exchanged information.
The White Jade Capital Company's people learned about the tangled web of "Crane City Group-criminal and gray-market forces" in Crane City.
Yang Donglin, who led the officers, also pinpointed the base of the forces behind the attack on Zhang Youzhi. The two sides immediately agreed on a plan. After leaving a few personnel to examine the scene, they set out on their respective operations.
Meanwhile,
at the White Jade Capital Company,
Number Two paced anxiously.
"What's the situation?"
"Crane City is very remote, a small fifth-tier city. Public security has been poor lately. The city is conducting a crackdown and closing the net on a large criminal organization, but the bulk of the police have already been deployed to the surrounding key locations. There's only so much support we can draw on.
"The company has only one representative stationed in Crane City, plus four Funeral Directors accompanying clients. All five have headed out based on the client's location, but none of them are good at fighting."
Having finished his report, the subordinate lowered his head and awaited Number Two's orders.
"Are there any romance experts or Combat Team members on assignments nearby? Send them all over," Number Two asked.
"There's only one young girl carrying out a Friendship Line assignment. She has no combat capability whatsoever."
The subordinate replied without expression.
Number Two sighed.
"How long until the nearest reinforcements can arrive?"
"It would take at least six hours to send the negotiation experts, psychology experts, and Combat Team members over from the Provincial Capital. The nearby airspace is restricted, and our aircraft don't have clearance to fly."
"Six hours? It'll all be over by then."
"Indeed," the subordinate agreed.
"Indeed, my ass! Get moving! Find a way to get the nearest employees there, whatever it takes. Broadcast Zhang Youzhi's location to the entire company. Now!" Number Two snapped.
"Understood." The subordinate nodded slightly, then left the room.
Please don't die before your time. Number Two clasped his hands and sighed inwardly.
Two hours earlier, the fat man, who had only recently been released on bail, wore a fawning expression as he presented a USB drive with both hands to the older man known as Chairman Gao.
"Mm. You did well."
Gao Fu tossed the USB drive onto the floor and gently crushed it beneath his leather shoe.
"It's my honor to serve you, Chairman," the fat man said respectfully.
"How did you end up in custody earlier? The police didn't find anything, did they?" Gao Fu asked.
"No, nothing at all. Mainly, that lunatic He Shoudou chased me through several streets with a knife. I couldn't outrun him, so I grabbed some sickly guy to threaten him. I wanted to muddy the waters and slip away, but who knew that fucking idiot He Shoudou would call the police... Luckily, the USB drive was password-protected, so the police couldn't open it either... I heard that sickly guy got released on bail today too," the fat man explained coherently.
Gao Fu frowned at the last sentence.
"Contact Wild Fang and have them take out that sickly guy. Bring He Min, that bitch, along too..." Gao Fu visibly hesitated.
"Never mind. Don't touch her yet. I'll handle her personally. Tell Wild Fang to make it quick and clean. I'm not giving them hundreds of thousands a month for nothing."
The fat man kept his head lowered, not daring to speak. The secretary behind Gao Fu acknowledged the order.
Gao Fu looked down at the fat man before him again.
"Get lost. Go to accounting and collect your pay."
The fat man froze. "Ch-Chairman Gao, didn't you say I could become the chief financial officer..."
"Get lost."
The fat man scrambled out of the office.
According to the intelligence gathered so far,
the cancer afflicting Crane City consisted of three branches: the gangs led by Wild Fang, operating as Jiacheng Entertainment; the Crane River Group's gray-market businesses; and certain officials shielding them.
The Crane River Group provided long-term funding to keep Jiacheng Entertainment running.
The three were intertwined, forming a tangled knot.
And Zhang Youzhi happened to be the unfortunate man caught in that knot.
Following the unexpected death of the Crane River Group's chairman, Vice Chairman Gao Fu had colluded with local gangs and begun targeting the group's other, more conservative vice chairman, attempting to seize full control of the company.
The Crane River Group was also Crane City's only publicly listed company and the main engine driving local GDP growth. Taking it down without collateral damage had therefore become the Law Enforcement Bureau's top priority.
Thus, the Law Enforcement Bureau's primary objective was to deal with the easier target first, and most of its officers had been deployed around the Crane River Group's headquarters.
The Funeral Directors' primary objective was Zhang Youzhi, so they followed the location information provided by headquarters and gathered near the tougher target: Jiacheng Entertainment's entertainment complex.
Downtown Crane City.
The Crane River Group headquarters.
Carrying his bag, the fat man walked out of the Crane River building with a gloomy expression.
That fucking Gao Fu. Tossing me aside now that I've served my purpose. I'm going straight back to dig up all your filthy dealings and expose them to the media.
But as soon as he left the building, he noticed something off about his surroundings. The area was unusually busy, with several extra jianbing carts run by unfamiliar young faces.
The jianbing they made looked fucking awful. Even when the pancakes fell apart, they still insisted on stuffing them into bags.
There were also people selling drinks and balloons.
Every single vendor was young.
The fat man immediately lowered his eyes and kept quiet, carrying his bag as he went to find his battered little electric scooter.
"Hey, friend."
A smiling jianbing vendor blocked his path.
"Who the fuck are you? Get lost." The fat man shoved the vendor, making him stumble.
"Want a jianbing? I'll make you one."
"No, no." Irritated, the fat man turned to leave.
The jianbing vendor, an undercover officer, suddenly fell over and bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Why are you hitting me?"
The fat man turned back, shocked and furious. "When did I hit you..."
Just then, the "security guards" patrolling the entrance to the Crane River building "happened" to see the scene. Without another word, they hauled the fat man away.
"Wait! I didn't hit anyone! I didn't hit anyone!" the fat man screamed in terror.
The onlookers gathered to watch the spectacle.
The security captain, a police officer who had successfully infiltrated the building, exchanged a covert glance with the jianbing vendor, another undercover officer. The vendor nodded slightly, then returned to his stall and resumed calling out to sell his jianbing.
Before you continue