Finding assassins within this black market assassin network is incredibly easy. Whoever you are, simply register an alias on the website, deposit sufficient funds into the linked account, and you can post a bounty. Once posted, almost every assassin in the world will see it. Anyone interested in the mission can then take action, and whoever completes it receives the bounty. So… whoever's name appears on the black market assassin network's bounty list is practically a global alarm. So far, it seems… it seems very few targets on the black market assassin network's bounty list have survived… Brother Wei… what are we going to do… ah…”
As Liu Xiaofei spoke, she became increasingly frightened and finally broke down in tears.
"Xiaofei...Xiaofei...What happened...Why are you crying? Open the door quickly and let Daddy in..."
Liu Xiaofei's crying startled Liu Haiyang, who had just returned from outside the hospital with a basket of fruit and was quietly walking towards the door to listen to what was happening inside. He was quite startled; hearing his daughter crying so sadly, he figured she was probably still being harmed by Zhou Ziwei.
Although Liu Haiyang had mentally prepared himself for this situation in order to cure his daughter's eyes, it was still a completely different story when he actually faced it... After all, the reason Liu Haiyang tacitly allowed Zhou Ziwei to take advantage of his daughter was because Liu Xiaofei herself was willing. Now that he heard his daughter crying, Liu Haiyang naturally couldn't care less about his original thoughts. It was already quite remarkable that Liu Haiyang managed to refrain from kicking open the ward door at this moment.
Liu Xiaofei's mother followed closely behind. When she heard Liu Haiyang shouting excitedly, she was stunned for a moment. She rushed to the door of the ward, but just as she raised her hand to knock on the door, the door suddenly creaked open from the inside.
Just as the couple was about to confront Zhou Ziwei fiercely, they suddenly saw Zhou Ziwei and their daughter Liu Xiaofei standing side by side at the door. Liu Xiaofei was now clinging to Zhou Ziwei's arm even more affectionately, leaving the two of them dumbfounded.
Looking at their daughter's clothes, they saw that they weren't disheveled, and Zhou Ziwei was dressed very neatly. The two of them didn't look like the protagonists of any forbidden scenes that had just happened. As a result, Liu Haiyang and his wife breathed a sigh of relief.
It was only then that they had time to notice their daughter's eyes... They discovered that the gauze on Liu Xiaofei's eyes had been removed, revealing a pair of dark, bright, and spirited eyes. They were definitely not the eyes of a blind person, although at this moment those spirited eyes were slightly red and swollen, with a trace of tears at the corners.
"Ah... Xiaofei, your... your eyes... are really healed?"
Upon seeing that her daughter was unharmed, Liu Xiaofei's mother disregarded her embarrassment and hurriedly stepped forward. She deliberately waved her hand in front of Liu Xiaofei's eyes, and when she saw that Liu Xiaofei's eyes followed her hand and blinked unconsciously, she exclaimed with delight.
"Yes... my eyes are completely healed, Mom, Dad... you don't need to worry about me anymore."
Liu Xiaofei knew how worried her parents had been about her these past two days. Although she was feeling sad, she forced back her tears and smiled at them in response to their concerned gazes.
"That's great...it's really healed."
Liu Haiyang was even more excited than Liu Xiaofei's mother. He turned around, grabbed Zhou Ziwei's hand, shook it vigorously a few times, and said with a face full of gratitude, "Mr. Zhou, thank you so much! I never imagined your qigong was so amazing. I... I really don't know how to thank you enough... How about I write a factual article about this and publish it in the newspaper? I believe it will definitely make your miraculous medical skills famous at home and abroad..."
"Stop...please don't!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei hurriedly waved his hands and said with a wry smile, "Uncle Liu, if you are truly grateful to me, then please help me not to reveal the inside story of this matter... and don't let others know that I can use qigong to heal people. If you can do this, it will be the best way to repay me."
"Ah...why?" Liu Xiaofei's mother asked, puzzled. "Isn't it good to be famous? Once you're famous and become a world-renowned doctor, you'll definitely reap both fame and fortune. Isn't that a good thing?"
Zhou Ziwei gently shook his head, deliberately feigning weakness, and said, "To be honest... I can't use this qigong often, otherwise it will seriously damage my body, and might even... might shorten my lifespan. If you spread this news, and people know that my qigong can cure even diseases that doctors all over the world can't treat, then the people seeking my treatment will probably line up from Tengchong to Kunming. Even if I can't bring myself to ignore those seeking treatment, what if some people with special status come to my door? For example... a leader of some country, or even a mafia boss? Do you think I can refuse them? And if I don't refuse, then I will have to shorten my own life again and again to treat people... Do you think... becoming famous like this is a good thing?"
Zhou Ziwei was genuinely afraid that Liu Haiyang might, in a moment of passion, spread the word about his treatment out of good intentions. Therefore, he deliberately exaggerated the burden of treating the patient to the point that it would shorten lifespan. He figured that only by saying this would Liu Haiyang and his wife truly take his instructions to heart.
However, he forgot that Liu Xiaofei was still there. Liu Xiaofei had already been treated once by Zhou Ziwei using his so-called "qigong massage." She hadn't noticed anything unusual about Zhou Ziwei that time, so she had never thought about it in this way. But now, when she suddenly heard Zhou Ziwei say that using this qigong to treat people would shorten his own lifespan, her face changed drastically. She grabbed Zhou Ziwei's shoulder and said in a trembling voice, "Brother Wei, you... how could you be so stupid... why would you sacrifice your own lifespan to treat my eyes... and why didn't you tell me sooner that this would happen? I... if I had known, I would have rather died than let you treat me."
Seeing this, Zhou Ziwei realized he had gone a bit too far, but since the words were already out, he couldn't say he had just made things up. He could only try to explain, "Oh... well... don't worry, it's not as serious as you think. I was just saying that if I use qigong to heal people continuously, it might shorten their lifespan. If it's just once in a while, it won't cause any problems. Don't worry..."
Liu Xiaofei was slightly relieved upon hearing this, but she was still a little uneasy and asked, "Is it true? You're not lying to me... Then... then you just treated me with qigong a few days ago, and you did it again today. Doesn't that count as continuous qigong treatment?"
Zhou Ziwei nodded quickly and said, "Of course not... My qigong isn't something I practiced for nothing. After treating someone once, although it might have some effects on the body, it's almost fully recovered after two or three days of rest. It's been more than three days since I treated you last time, so you don't need to worry at all. I'm just reminding your aunt and uncle to keep this a secret and not cause me any more trouble."
Liu Xiaofei still had some doubts, but seeing how certain Zhou Ziwei was, she could only choose to believe him. She nodded and said, "Okay! As long as you're not lying to me, otherwise if I find out that your treatment will shorten your lifespan, then... then I might as well just gouge these eyes out."
No sooner had Liu Xiaofei finished speaking than a loud "crash" was heard, and the fruit basket that Liu Haiyang was carrying fell to the ground. Liu Haiyang's face showed an expression of uncontrollable regret, shame, and worry.
Seeing this, Zhou Ziwei suddenly remembered that he had demonstrated his so-called "qigong massage" to Liu Haiyang yesterday in order to prove that it was effective. If he did it again yesterday and again today, as he had just said, his "lifespan" would probably be shortened. Liu Haiyang was probably feeling both regretful and ashamed because he had thought of this.
Of course... his concern wasn't necessarily for Zhou Ziwei, but more likely for Liu Xiaofei to find out about it and confirm that Zhou Ziwei's treatment of her injuries today had shortened her lifespan. If she got too agitated and actually gouged out her eyes, that would be terrible...
In order to keep Zhou Ziwei's secret, Liu Xiaofei insisted on wrapping her eyes, which had clearly recovered completely, with gauze again. When Director Zhao from the hospital came to inquire about the progress of the treatment, everyone said in unison that Zhou Ziwei's treatment had failed and Liu Xiaofei's eyes showed no signs of improvement.
Director Zhao witnessed the miraculous effects of Zhou Ziwei's "qigong massage" yesterday, which is why he had a glimmer of hope that Zhou Ziwei could treat Liu Xiaofei. Now that he heard that the treatment had failed, it was within his expectations, so he did not inquire further.
However, since he had come, he was about to perform some eye examinations on Liu Xiaofei according to the usual procedure. But Liu Xiaofei pretended to be disheartened and refused to undergo any more examinations, insisting on being discharged from the hospital immediately.
Liu Haiyang immediately chimed in, saying that he was very disappointed with the medical conditions here and was preparing to take his daughter to Beijing for treatment immediately, and that he would be checking out of the hospital right away...
And so... Liu Xiaofei and her family left the hospital and temporarily moved into the hotel where Zhou Ziwei was staying.
Originally, Liu Haiyang intended to hire a car immediately to take them away from Tengchong and back home.
However, Liu Xiaofei is currently extremely worried about Zhou Ziwei being wanted by the black market assassin network, so how could she be willing to leave Zhou Ziwei at this time?
Moreover, Liu Xiaofei came to Tengchong specifically to be Zhou Ziwei's personal bodyguard. This is her job and her mission. If her eyes were not fully recovered, she could temporarily waive this responsibility, but now that they are healed, she certainly won't give up her job so easily.
Mr. and Mrs. Liu were still a little worried about their daughter, but seeing that she was determined to do so, they naturally had no choice but to stay with her.
After settling back into the hotel, Liu Xiaofei immediately reported Zhou Ziwei's current situation to her superiors, explaining that Zhou Ziwei's life was under constant threat and requesting that they immediately dispatch a large number of additional personnel to upgrade the level of protection for Zhou Ziwei.
Zhou Ziwei didn't quite approve of this, after all, he wasn't an ordinary person, and if the assassin who came to kill him didn't have any special skills, he really wouldn't take him seriously.
As for relying on police protection... After experiencing what happened in his previous life, Zhou Ziwei has never had a very good impression of the police, so even if something happens, he rarely thinks of asking the police for help.
This time is no different. If some clueless assassin comes knocking on his door, Zhou Ziwei has plenty of ways to deal with them. However, if he is always surrounded by a bunch of police officers, then if Zhou Ziwei doesn't want to expose his special abilities, then he will probably have to hold back whatever he wants to do.
However, since Liu Xiaofei insisted on doing so, Zhou Ziwei did not refuse again. In any case, the police could not waste too much time on such an insignificant person as him. Even if Liu Xiaofei's superiors approved Liu Xiaofei's suggestion, they would at most send a few people to deal with him for a few days and then withdraw.
However, the names of black market assassins on the internet are not easily removed. I heard Liu Xiaofei mention this before... It seems that as long as a wealthy person who wants to post a bounty deposits enough bounty money into their account beforehand, then even if the employer of the bounty dies for some reason, the bounty will still exist until the target is completely eliminated.
It is precisely because of this that almost no one who is listed on the bounty list of this black market assassin network can escape their ultimate fate. Even the few instances of failure are mostly because the bounty offered by the employer was disproportionate to the danger of the target, which is why no assassin was willing to take the job, and thus some escaped.
Zhou Ziwei didn't know his exact value on the black market assassin network's bounty list, but considering his reputation as the young master of the Zhou family, he figured even if it was low, it couldn't be too low! So... trying to escape the endless stream of assassins... that would be quite difficult.
In Zhou Ziwei's view, the only way to eliminate this threat was to completely dismantle the organizer of the black market assassin network. Otherwise, even if the employer was found and killed, it would be of no use...
Volume 1, Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 145: All Disappeared in Five Seconds
Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Zhou Ziwei's body had been further strengthened during these three days. He practiced Niu-style Tai Chi every morning, and he could still feel that the soul power distributed throughout his body was being rapidly absorbed by his body's cells. However, the speed was far less intense than the first day, and the absorption rate had been slowing down day by day. Fortunately, the effect was still continuing. In just a few days, Zhou Ziwei felt that his physical strength had exceeded several times that of before. At least compared to an ordinary adult, his strength and endurance were definitely much stronger.
However, Zhou Ziwei's physique remained unchanged; he still looked thin and frail, with only his sickly appearance less pronounced.
It is evident that the strengthening effect of this soul power on the body is not simply about enhancing muscles and bones. As for the mystery behind it, Zhou Ziwei had no idea.
That day, the coffee shop across from the hotel finally moved out as scheduled. Before leaving, the flirtatious proprietress specially asked Zhou Ziwei to go and see the new place, and then handed all the keys to Zhou Ziwei.
Zhou Ziwei cautiously used his soul power to peer under the foundation of the small building again. Seeing that the large pile of jadeite was still there intact, he felt much more at ease.
Through his interactions with Mr. Gu Dongfeng over the past few days, Zhou Ziwei subtly asked many questions and finally managed to guess the approximate origin of the batch of jadeite pieces located below the small building.
According to Gu Dongfeng, Tengchong was already a jade trading market connecting Myanmar and the Central Plains of China hundreds of years ago, when jade was not highly regarded.
Back then, jade gambling wasn't popular. Jade was usually mined in Myanmar, extracted from the stones, and then carved into jade bracelets by craftsmen before being sold in large quantities to the Central Plains.
Because Tengchong is a key transportation hub connecting the two places, many jade bracelet processing workshops are located here.
At that time, jade was not very valuable, and most people only recognized gold and silver jewelry, so basically no one would use it to carve any ornaments or pendants.
This led to the fact that jade processing workshops at that time produced nothing but bracelets. Often, after a whole piece of jadeite was transported from Myanmar, only a small portion would be used to make bracelets, while most of the remaining scraps were discarded like garbage because they were no longer enough to make bracelets.
Over time, after hundreds of years of accumulation, some scattered pieces of jadeite that were discarded back then can still be unearthed from the ground of many old houses in Tengchong.
After liberation, a jade jewelry processing factory was established in Tengchong. However, at that time, the relationship between China and Myanmar was still quite tense, and raw jade stones were not circulated at all. The jade jewelry processing factory could only maintain production by using scraps that had been accumulated for hundreds of years and dug out of the ground.
Even now, if there are old houses in this area that are to be demolished, the homeowner will usually only pay the demolition team a small portion of the wages. However, if jade can be found under the house, at least half of it will belong to the demolition team.
In a way, this could be considered a form of gambling on jade.
If there's nothing underneath the old house, the construction team basically only earns enough for a few meals, having put in a lot of effort for nothing.
But if they actually pull out a few pieces of valuable jade, they'll make a fortune.
Of course... After so many years of digging, especially after the price of jadeite skyrocketed a few years ago, people's enthusiasm for finding scattered pieces of jadeite buried underground has soared. In just a few years, the entire Tengchong area has been dug up and turned upside down. Now, it is almost impossible for anyone to find jadeite anymore. Even if someone does find some, they can only find a dozen or twenty pieces at most, making a small fortune.
After all, these jadeite pieces are "waste materials" left over from making bracelets back then. Each piece is not very large, and if there are no particularly high-quality glass-type or ice-type materials inside, they will not be worth much money.
After listening to Gu Dongfeng recount these stories of Tengchong, Zhou Ziwei was basically certain that the large pile of jadeite buried under the foundation of the two-story building was likely left behind by a large jadeite processing workshop that had disposed of waste materials at least a hundred years ago.
As for whether it belonged to the ancestors of the ancient Dongfeng... that possibility is not very high.
Nevertheless, Zhou Ziwei planned to give some of the jadeite to Gu Dongfeng after all the jadeite was dug out. After all, Gu Dongfeng had reluctantly sold the house to pay for Liu Xiaofei's medical treatment, and Zhou Ziwei felt that he was taking advantage of Gu Dongfeng's situation and felt very guilty.
In the afternoon, Zhou Ziwei, through Wu Di's connections, found a construction team and signed a contract with them, agreeing to start construction the next day to demolish and rebuild the two-story building.
When signing the contract, the construction team leader, as usual, proposed that they would only charge 30% of the demolition fee, but if anything was found underneath the building after it was demolished, they would have to share half of it with the construction team.
Zhou Ziwei naturally rejected this without hesitation. Others might sign such an agreement with the construction team because they don't know if there is any jade under the house. After all, it is more likely that nothing will be dug out, which would give the homeowner a lot of benefits. Even if some jade is dug out, wouldn't they get half of it?
Zhou Ziwei, however, already knew that there was indeed jade beneath the house, and in a rather astonishing quantity, so naturally he would never sign such an agreement, even if his life depended on it.
Although he had planned long ago not to let the construction team see the jade, he still cautiously changed the agreement to full payment, and that if anything was dug up after the house was demolished, it would belong solely to him, the homeowner.
After all, compared to the massive amount of jadeite beneath the house, the small amount of money paid to the construction team was just a drop in the ocean. Zhou Ziwei didn't want to sow the seeds of trouble by being greedy for such a small gain.
In fact, the construction team leader had already seen the small building. In his opinion, although the building was an old house, it was not very old, at most forty or fifty years old, and it had undergone at least two major renovations. Therefore, the possibility of finding jade under the house was not high.
In fact, the project foreman offered Zhou Ziwei such favorable terms in order to curry favor with Wu Di. Since Zhou Ziwei was unwilling, he was happy to earn more wages himself.
That evening, Zhou Ziwei practiced Niu-style Tai Chi again in his room, then took a shower in the bathroom. After showering, he felt even more energetic and had no sleepiness at all. So he prepared to call Li Yifeng and Liu Xiaofei and ask if they wanted to go out for a late-night snack.
Liu Xiaofei's parents left Tengchong yesterday, as they both still have to work and taking too long off work wouldn't be good.
It could be said that Liu Xiaofei's presence here with Zhou Ziwei was her job. Although Liu Haiyang and his wife were a little worried, they had no reason to interfere with Liu Xiaofei's work. Helplessly, they could only give their daughter some instructions before boarding the long-distance bus to Baoshan City.
Liu Xiaofei appears to have fully recovered, but she always seems a bit listless and is easily agitated.
Others might see these as normal reactions from someone recovering from a serious illness, but Zhou Ziwei understood that they were signs of damage to her soul, and he couldn't help but feel guilty.
Therefore, these past few days, Zhou Ziwei has been spending his time with Liu Xiaofei, whether there's something to do or not. However, to avoid a repeat of the near-accident that day, Zhou Ziwei generally avoids spending time alone with Liu Xiaofei in a room.
Zhou Ziwei knew that Li Yifeng hadn't gone out partying in his Mercedes RV tonight, which is why he wanted to invite the two of them out for a late-night snack. If Li Yifeng weren't there, Zhou Ziwei wouldn't dare go out alone with Liu Xiaofei so late at night.
However, at this moment, Zhou Ziwei suddenly received a call from Wu Di, who said that the twelve cross-shaped darts that Zhou Ziwei had asked him to order a few days ago had been completed and had just been delivered to the hotel. They were expected to arrive soon. As for the other new type of cross-shaped darts that Zhou Ziwei had personally ordered, it would take a few more days to receive them.
Upon hearing this news, Zhou Ziwei was immediately excited. Judging from the memories he received from the assassin's remnant soul, the power of this cross-shaped dart was extraordinary. Zhou Ziwei had long wanted to put it to use, but he had never had any cross-shaped darts to use. Now that he had finally made a batch, even if he didn't want to use it to kill people in the future, it would be good to play with it when he had nothing to do.
In his excitement, Zhou Ziwei didn't bother to call Liu Xiaofei and Li Yifeng. He immediately changed his clothes and went downstairs alone, preparing to wait for the delivery person outside the hotel.
After receiving those cross-shaped darts, he immediately drove to the outskirts to practice.
After all, these darts are very powerful, so it's not appropriate to just throw them around in a hotel room.
However, as soon as Zhou Ziwei stepped down the stairs, he saw more than a dozen men in blue suits standing guard at the stairwell and in front of the elevator with serious expressions. Some of them were walking up the stairs, and as soon as they saw Zhou Ziwei coming down, they immediately reached out to block his way.
"Excuse me……"
A man with a cold expression glanced at Zhou Ziwei, waved his hand, and said, "Sir, please go back to your room and don't go out for the time being to avoid unnecessary trouble. We will all be leaving in half an hour at most. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused. We ask for your cooperation, thank you."
Although the man spoke politely, his tone was full of command, not allowing anyone to object.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei frowned and said, "What... are you police officers? Are you here to arrest a suspect?"
The man with the cold expression became impatient when he saw Zhou Ziwei still asking questions. He said, "We're not police officers, we're just handling some private matters here. But boss... since you're out and about, I advise you to mind your own business. Go back to your room and stay there. You can go wherever you want in half an hour. If you continue to obstruct our work, don't blame me for being impolite."
Zhou Ziwei really wanted to ask the man what would happen if he didn't act politely, but then he thought it would be too boring to fight with these small fry over something so trivial. So he swallowed his anger, snorted, and turned to go upstairs.
Anyway, since Wu Di sent someone to deliver the goods, they would definitely deliver them all the way to his room. If Wu Di's men couldn't even handle a few small fry here, then Wu Di wouldn't deserve to be called the biggest local tyrant on the Yunnan border.
However, Zhou Ziwei had only taken a few steps back when he heard someone calling out to him from behind. He turned around and saw a person carrying an exquisite wooden box walking quickly towards him through the hotel lobby. He figured this person must be the one Wu Di had sent to deliver the cross-shaped dart.