“And…” Yang Wei spoke quickly, seemingly anxious and wanting to bombard me with everything she knew: “Don’t underestimate Doug… He’s very capable, but definitely not someone you can trust! Politicians like him are even harder to deal with than someone like Norton! He might use you to salvage the situation in Vancouver today, but tomorrow, when he doesn’t need you anymore, he might just sell you out!” She gripped the steering wheel and continued rapidly, “I’ve already asked some old friends to help me investigate Cobra. Someone will send you the information later. I got your phone number… These are all friends of mine in some special departments… um, and… Xiao Wu…”
I looked up, interrupting her, staring at her intently, and said seriously, "Yang Wei!"
“…Hmm?” Yang Wei was somewhat surprised.
“I’ve discovered something very interesting.” I laughed, a relaxed and casual laugh: “It’s just that… when you care about me a lot, or are very kind to me, you’ll call me ‘Xiao Wu,’ but when something happens, or when you’re angry with me, you’ll call me ‘Chen Yang.’”
Yang Wei's face flushed red at first, then darkened, and she scolded, "When did you start thinking about these things!"
Her fair face held a hint of anger, her brows half charming and half angry, her nose slightly upturned, her phoenix eyes wide open, and her eyebrows slightly raised—a truly beautiful woman in a state of feigned anger.
“…Sigh.” Yang Wei and I exchanged a glance before she turned back to look at the road ahead. “I can’t delay any longer. I just got a call from my uncle telling me to go back immediately and catch the earliest flight… Our family rules are very strict, and I can’t disobey him… I originally thought that by coming to Vancouver, I could be there to offer you some guidance, and help you when you encounter difficulties. But now, I’ve come in a hurry, and I have to leave in a hurry…”
Then Yang Wei took out a small piece of paper from the pocket inside her shirt and stuffed it into my hand.
“These are two phone calls… Well, the people on the other end are contacts I made privately, allies I cultivated for myself… They have no connection to our family…” Her tone was grave: “One of these people is a member of parliament, and the other is a powerful figure in the government. These connections were bought at great expense, and I wouldn’t use them lightly… Now I’m giving you this phone number… If you absolutely need to use official power, you can call this number; perhaps you can get some help… As for anything else, I can’t do anything more for you.”
My expression changed immediately!
This is the power that Yang Wei developed himself!
I know very well that this woman is talented, intelligent, and ambitious! Someone like Yang Wei is definitely not someone to be underestimated in her family! Although she doesn't seem to be in a position of power in the family right now, she is clearly already cultivating her own influence!
Now, she has handed over her allies in Canada to me... I know that such connections must have been built at a great cost, and now that she has handed them over to me, this favor is huge!
"Thank you!" I didn't refuse... because I knew that if I refused her after what she had done for me, it would be an insult to her.
I carefully put the note away, hesitated for a moment, and said softly, "Yang Wei, I'm not good at saying thank you... because I believe that great kindness doesn't need words of thanks! I will remember your kindness to me!"
The car returned to the entrance of the repair shop. After Yang Wei parked the car, Xi Luo and the others got out and gathered around.
"Go downstairs." Yang Wei sighed, looking at me hesitantly, "I... I won't see you in. I need to go to the airport right now."
There was a hint of reluctance in her eyes, but she quickly concealed it.
I silently pushed open the door and got out of the car, and Xiluo quickly helped me up.
"Take care of yourself!" Yang Wei said to me deeply from inside the car. "When it's convenient for me, I'll come over for a drink again!"
After saying that, she started the gas pedal, and the car sped away for more than ten meters, but then stopped and reversed back to the spot.
Just as I was wondering what was going on, Yang Wei rolled down the car window again. This time she didn't say anything, but stared at me intently for a few seconds before tossing something out of the car and throwing it to me.
I reached out and caught it, but before I could say anything, the car had already started up again and sped away in a flash.
Looking down, I saw a ring in my palm.
The eye of the storm!
Instantly, my heart felt burning hot, as if I had swallowed a piece of burning coal!
She didn't say anything, but her actions spoke volumes more than any words could have conveyed!
"Xiao Wu".
I stood at the doorway, staring blankly at the empty street, when Ciro nudged me and asked, "Shall we go in?"
I jolted, glanced back at him, took a deep breath, and felt my energy return. I rallied, looked at him, and laughed loudly, "Of course! We still have a lot to do!"
I looked around at my brothers and then pointed to the tallest building I could see in the distance.
"Do you see that building?"
“Hmm, that’s LivingShangni-La.” Xiluo said, somewhat bewildered.
I laughed. That was the tallest building in Vancouver, a 646-foot-tall hotel and residential complex.
"Siro, do you dare to do something with me?" I looked at him with a smile.
"What?"
"In a few days, I'll throw those cobras and rat snakes off the roof of that building!" I sneered. "If I fail, I'll throw myself off!"
This damn weather.
Vancouver summers are rarely this hot. Located in the far north latitude, Vancouver has never been known to have temperatures that never exceed 30 degrees Celsius, even in summer.
But today's temperature is as high as 36 degrees Celsius.
Ciro and I were sitting in the car, about five kilometers northeast of Vancouver, near the coast, in an open area.
There was no air conditioning in the truck… It was a very old and dilapidated van. I tried it out. But when I turned on the air conditioning, it just blew out hot air!
To no avail. Xiluo and I simply took off our shirts, opened the car windows to let in as much air as possible, and sat in the car smoking silently.
It's been four days.
Four whole days.
For the past four days, the situation in Vancouver has been as...hot as this damn weather!
News reports are filled with daily media coverage of police deployments. A massive anti-gang operation is underway, with police reportedly deploying over two thousand officers daily, sweeping almost the entire length of the infamous Hastings Street from east to west!
Drug injection sites, illegal meat processing plants, and gang strongholds were raided one after another. At first, some gangs resisted, but... after all, we are thieves and they are soldiers. When it comes to a real fight, the underworld is no match for the authorities.
In the west and east districts, almost every night you can hear police cars rushing around with sirens blaring. This is completely different from the usual patrols of one or two police cars! It's now teams of officers deployed!
The police were blinded by rage, as you can imagine. Forget relationships and saving face now! They've torn everything apart! They're sweeping through every establishment, regardless of which organization it belongs to! And after one sweep, they'll sweep again!
I must say, when the police get serious, it's really effective. At least I've noticed a significant improvement in security these past two nights…
Of course, I know that after countless drug injection sites were shut down, many addicts were already going crazy, and the police's drug rehabilitation centers are now full. Several of the most vocal underworld leaders have been arrested, and those without evidence have been placed under surveillance.
Aziz, the Iranian man who was beaten at the police station, was lucky; the very next day he led his men to seek revenge on me… As for me…
As a law-abiding citizen, of course I called the police!
We abandoned almost all of the surrounding territory, leaving it unattended for now. I only understand one thing: save the people first! Everything else will be easier to handle later!
The Vietnamese acted much like I did, retreating into their shells. Of course, I didn't just sit idly by; I also sent people out to gather information.
After all, they were all people who frequented the underworld, whether they were Vietnamese, Chinese, or from other nationality gangs; they all shared some common fringe areas. The search yielded good results; through clues, they found some hiding places for Vietnamese people, mostly small fry.
As for those cobras I hate to the core, there's been no news.
However, I've been gathering more and more intelligence.
Especially those about cobras.
After Yang Wei left, she said she would provide me with some information through certain channels. The very next day after she left, I received a phone call from an unknown number.
The call was clearly made from a public phone on the street. The caller was a cold-voiced man who didn't say a word, but simply told me to go to an email address to retrieve some documents.
I read that document many times.
Cobra was originally a clandestine government armed group supporting a certain government in a small West African country. Such small armed groups are numerous in war-torn West Africa, ranging in size from dozens to hundreds to thousands of members. Four years ago, the dictator of that small West African country was overthrown and assassinated while in exile… There are some special political backgrounds involved. It is said that the small country possessed some energy resources, and the dictator negotiated with major Western powers to gain their support. However, after the situation changed, the Western powers found a new proxy and overthrew the original dictator.
Cobra was originally an armed force loyal to the dictator. After the dictator died, these professional executioners lost their master and most dispersed. A small group remained and took up the mercenary trade. They did many things in some small West African countries, and enjoyed a period of great success.
However, as the political situation in West Africa stabilized in the final years, opportunities to stop the uprising diminished. The conditions for this armed group to survive gradually dwindled, and it declined once again.
According to the latest intelligence, the Cobra now has fewer than 100 members, but most of them are veterans who have been armed for more than ten years! Some of them have left West Africa, where it is becoming increasingly uninhabitable, while others are trying to expand into South America and Southern Europe, attempting to continue their mercenary business.
However, this armed group operates with a strong sense of bloodshed and is extremely ruthless. These are habits they picked up in their early years in West Africa. In that hellish place, West Africa is plagued by political instability in small countries, and various armed groups are as numerous as hairs on a cow. When fighting breaks out, people often become bloodthirsty and slaughter entire villages of natives without warning; this is commonplace.
This style of operation has caused Cobra to run into obstacles everywhere in the "civilized world," and in recent years it has left a bad reputation everywhere, but in reality, its development has not been very smooth.
Heaven knows where Yang Wei got this kind of intelligence from... Generally speaking, only government intelligence agencies can probably possess this kind of intelligence.
These past few days, I've been staying at the repair shop every day. The brothers from the island have been transferred back, and the island has been cleaned up, leaving no trace.
The guy who infiltrated the police station that day was clearly one of these mercenaries. No wonder he was so skilled! But I'm certain of one thing... these cobras didn't leave! They're still in Vancouver!
Because, according to my intelligence, just the night before, someone broke into the police morgue and stole a body. I didn't even need to ask; I was certain that the stolen body, which was practically a pile of rotting flesh, was the Cobra I had killed!
I'm still waiting. First, I'm waiting to see how much patience these guys have left to hide!
Secondly... I've been waiting for today!!
It took me a lot of effort to get out of the auto repair shop.
The police are now monitoring us closely. Although Doug and I intend to cooperate, he can't just let us go like this. Besides, the situation is very different now than when we talked the other day. Who knows if he'll pull a trick on me!
These past few days, I have strictly ordered everyone not to go out, except for those who go out to buy food every day. Everyone else must stay at home... under strict guard!
As for me, for three consecutive days, I mingled with Xiluo in the van that went out to buy food. The first time we went out, when we parked outside to buy food, the police immediately came up to check, but we hid in the van and were not discovered.
The second and third times, Xiluo and I figured out the situation. We asked the guys from the repair shop who went out to buy supplies to park their cars near the fire lane in the underground parking lot of a supermarket. That's how we quietly slipped away from the police and managed to escape.
As for the car we're in now... it was stolen temporarily. This beat-up car was parked not far from the supermarket entrance, and Xiluo and I just drove off. Anyway, with so many cases the police are handling right now, the theft of such a beat-up car probably won't attract much attention.
But this car is really dilapidated; it doesn't even have air conditioning in this hot weather.
I wiped the sweat from my brow; my wounds were soaked and throbbed slightly. My mouth tasted bitter from smoking. Looking at the sky, the sun blazing down, I smiled at Xiluo: "What? Feeling down? The police have it much worse than us these days… In this heat, they still have to go around in groups sweeping up areas…"
Xiluo pursed her lips: "Police cars have air conditioning."
Finally, my phone rang. I glanced at the number, picked it up, and the first thing I said was, "Old friend, you're late this time! This isn't like you at all."
On the other end of the phone came Captain Wick's voice... oh, it should be Chairman Wick's voice, his tone bitter: "Damn it... you have no idea what the situation is at sea right now! The Coast Guard's activity is three times more than usual! Alright... Chen Yang, this is the last time I'll make an exception for this! Please remember, I'm not the captain anymore, I'm the chairman! Next time, find someone else for this kind of thing!"
Wick complained a couple of times before finally saying, "They'll be there in about twenty minutes, right where we've arranged!"
He looked somewhat tired: "Remember, transfer the money to my account on time... Remember, it's the overseas account, you need to make three transfers! Also... I can help you bring it in this time... but when it's time to ship it out, don't come looking for me! I won't do it anymore! No matter how much money!"
After saying that, he hung up the phone.
I laughed and tossed the phone behind the car.
No wonder Wick was furious. This matter had to be handled discreetly, and with the police cracking down hard, I had no choice but to turn to a seasoned sailor like him for help.
Even though he's no longer a sailor, when he encounters someone like me, with a combination of persuasion and pressure, Chairman Wick still has to obediently take off his suit and put his crooked hat back on, temporarily playing the role of "Captain Wick" for me again.
What I asked him to smuggle wasn't anything else...
It's a human!
A whole ship full of elite paratroopers who are ready to fight and fight!!
Part Two: The Road to Success, Chapter Thirty-Nine: Here, the Night Is Quiet
Twenty minutes later, I looked at the dust rising from the road in the distance, then threw away my cigarette butt: "They're here."
A small, sealed van drove up from a distance, bumping along the road. It was one of those vans used by fishing companies at the port to transport seafood; the cargo hold was sealed and contained ice. I remember when I first arrived in Vancouver, after disembarking, Wick used one of these vans to evade the dock inspectors and take me into the city.