What puzzled Wan Xianzhuo even more was that Li Changwu contacted him personally and said to him, "Brother Wan, I have no choice but to keep a close eye on your people. If you do anything too extreme, don't blame my people for taking action... To be honest, if you cause a major upheaval in Minggang, I'll have to do it too."
What do you mean by that?
"Just wanted to say hello to you, brother. In Minggang, we're both pretty much the same," Li Changwu said calmly.
Wan Xianzhuo sneered, "Alright then."
They said it that way, but both of them knew in their hearts that it was almost impossible.
Wan Xianzhuo was annoyed and puzzled because everyone knew these things could only be done in secret, never openly. If things really escalated, Gong Xinhao and his gang would ultimately bear the blame.
But... Li Changwu's words clearly carried a threat. Could it be that he really intended to expose the truth and openly confront him? Wan Xianzhuo didn't believe it, but he couldn't help but be wary, because he couldn't be sure that if things really couldn't be covered up, his influential uncle in the capital wouldn't pin the blame on him.
Fortunately, they held the absolute initiative because... Gong Jia was just waiting for Wan Xianzhuo's reply. As long as Wan Xianzhuo made an empty promise, Gong Jia would sell out his own father.
Like Wan Xianzhuo, Wan Yun in the capital also felt conflicted, unable to fathom the other party's thoughts. He had never imagined that, with the covert mediation of high-ranking figures, the Li family would still dare to act so recklessly, or perhaps… this was merely the Li family's son-in-law going mad and refusing to listen to anyone's advice?
It's quite possible, after all, he's just a hot-blooded young man.
The phone rang. Wan Yun picked it up; it was his nephew calling.
"Uncle, I think we shouldn't wait for them to meet. Let's just kill Xu Zhengyang, then agree to Gong Jia's demands, and then take care of Gong Xinhao..."
"No." Wan Yun rejected Wan Xianzhuo's opinion without any hesitation. "How can someone who would betray even his own father for profit be trusted in the future?"
"We can cultivate other things..."
After considering it for a moment, Wan Yun said, "Let's play it by ear."
Wan Xianzhuo was helpless. According to his opinion, they could have completely turned the tables and taken the initiative. Because no matter what, if they wanted to target someone or kill someone, it would be done in the dark. It's easy to dodge an open arrow, but hard to guard against a hidden one. Why should we keep passively letting the other party lead us around, and only take action when we have no other choice? What if something unexpected happens?
But Wan Yun clearly didn't think so. The Li family didn't express any attitude towards his and the higher-ups' intentions at all, or they just dismissed it with disdain.
Perhaps... Xu Zhengyang went to Minggang for something else, and I'm being overly sensitive?
Wouldn't my attitude be like protesting too much, making me the target of everyone's criticism?
...
The black Mercedes-Benz slowly drove to a stop at the grand entrance of the Victoria Hotel.
Several men in black suits walked out of the gate and surrounded the car.
The car door opened, and Li Chengzong and Zhu Jun were the first to get out of the car. They then stood sideways and raised their arms to block the open rear door, and then walked into the hotel under the protection of several people.
Xu Zhengyang is not there.
However, even with high-powered binoculars, it was impossible to determine from a distance, through layers of rain, whether Xu Zhengyang was among those people. After all, the bodyguards were all tall and burly; if they surrounded Xu Zhengyang, who was relatively thin and less than 1.75 meters tall, it would be difficult to spot him.
Soon, the hotel's two security guards and a manager received inquiries about whether any of the people who had just arrived had a young man with a buzz cut, wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, and who was about 1.73 meters tall. The answer they received was that they hadn't noticed him.
The two security guards and the manager all thought the question was naive and lacked sophistication.
In this kind of weather, when you get out of a Mercedes-Benz and enter a hotel where the temperature is maintained at 20 degrees Celsius 24 hours a day, are you not allowed to wear a black suit?
However, they still went to the twelfth floor, hoping to see what was going on up close.
Unfortunately, everyone, including the waiters, was kept outside the luxury room.
...
Mei Ya Apartments.
A taxi drove through the rain and onto the platform in front of the apartment building. Xu Zhengyang, who had changed into a pair of light brown glasses and was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, sat quietly inside the taxi.
Gong Xinhao, dressed casually and wearing a baseball cap, walked out of the building.
Accompanying Gong Xinhao were his two bodyguards. However, both bodyguards were slightly puzzled. What was wrong with Brother Hao today? Why was he suddenly leaving without a word, and why was he ignoring their questions?
Gong Xinhao opened the back door of the taxi and got in.
The two bodyguards frowned slightly and exchanged a glance when they saw a young man wearing sunglasses sitting in the car besides the driver. Then, one of the bodyguards, who was thin, looked to be about the same age as Xu Zhengyang, and was even less than 1.7 meters tall, opened the passenger door and got in.
Xu Zhengyang, who was inside the car, said, "You don't need to come along."
The bodyguard ignored him.
Gong Xinhao bent down, patted the bodyguard on the shoulder, and waved for him to leave when he turned around.
result……
The bodyguard didn't get out of the car at all, but turned around and smiled, "Brother Jia gave the order that I must protect you at all times."
Xu Zhengyang's heart skipped a beat. He initially thought of immediately ordering Wang Yonggan to control the bodyguard, force him out of the car, or leave with him. However, the thought that even Gong Xinhao's personal bodyguard was disobeying Gong Xinhao's orders made him realize that if they left like this, Gong Jia's side, and even the police, would immediately know. After all, there were other people nearby, and there were also people in the apartment. They would definitely notify Gong Jia, and then... Wan Xianzhuo's people would inevitably find out as well, and it might even alert the police.
In that case, it will probably be difficult for them to leave Minggang smoothly.
So Xu Zhengyang turned to Gong Xinhao and said, "Brother Hao, since that's the case, let's not change locations and just wait here."
Gong Xinhao nodded, opened the car door, and got out.
Xu Zhengyang paid the fare and got off the bus with them.
The taxi driver looked at the strange group of people with some confusion, but said nothing and drove away from Mei Ya Apartments.
That's right, Gong Xinhao is now under the control of the ghost messenger Guo Li.
Xu Zhengyang, originally an Imperial Censor, was allowed to lead two ghost messengers on missions within the territory under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Heavenly Court. He had envisioned that after being promoted to the position of Prefecture God, he could lead even more ghost messengers to swagger around and show off his power. However, this turned out to be a complete farce.
The saying "a local official is more powerful than a distant one" applies to the duties of the gods in Heaven as well.
The Spirit Official is powerful, isn't he? He can command three personal assistants to travel to various places on his behalf, and each assistant can bring another ghost messenger. However, when the Spirit Official goes out, he can only bring two ghost messengers—that's the rule. The State God's rank is even higher than the Spirit Official's. When he goes out, he can bring a chief clerk, a steward, and two assistants, but he can only bring two ghost messengers.
The reason is simple: ghost messengers are not even in the hierarchy of the gods, so how could they be qualified to be the close attendants of the local god and spirit officials?
This is contrary to the heavenly rules, and the requirement to have two ghost messengers follow closely is merely to make it convenient for them to do some serving work.
Okay...
It seems that the higher one's official rank, the more likely they are to be deified.
Xu Zhengyang had considered the matter of bestowing titles upon the gods as early as when he was a judge. He couldn't bestow titles upon the gods, otherwise, what would happen if they rebelled against him in the future?
It seems this matter requires careful consideration. There's no time now; we'll deal with this first and then think it over more carefully.
As they walked into the apartment, Guo Li reported to Xu Zhengyang using the ghost messenger token. The short guy next to Gong Xinhao had always been called Xiao Jing, and the other one was called Er Tiao.
Xu Zhengyang scoffed at the name.
Xiao Jing and Er Tiao were also puzzled. They didn't know this young man, nor did they know his identity or his relationship with Gong Xinhao. However, seeing that Brother Hao remained silent and seemed quite familiar and respectful towards this person, the two bodyguards didn't dare to stop Xu Zhengyang.
Xiao Jing thought to himself, and once they got upstairs, he immediately signaled to his brothers to report the situation to Brother Jia.
Xu Zhengyang, however, was making plans in his mind. After dealing with these two guys, he would immediately call Li Changwu and ask him to arrange for a few inconspicuous people to come to Meiya Apartment and pick them all up. In short, safety and confidentiality were essential.
Each lost in their own thoughts, they entered the elevator...
Mei Ya Apartments is a U-shaped building. The elevator doors opened on the sixth floor, and four people stepped out.
Xu Zhengyang frowned. It seemed that Gong Xinhao was indeed cautious. Not only did he have people downstairs, but there were also several bodyguards on the sixth floor who were always on the move.
Should we kill all of them?
Xu Zhengyang felt he was leaning towards Hushanxing. Damn it, he never expected that Gong Xinhao would be controlled by his son.
Upon entering the room, Xiao Jing glared fiercely at Xu Zhengyang, then gestured for another person to go out and report the situation to Gong Jia. After that person left, three burly men walked in.
Xu Zhengyang immediately ordered Wang Yonggan to follow the man and prevent him from contacting anyone.
"I'm going out to make a phone call." Xu Zhengyang got up and walked out without hiding anything.
Xiao Jing looked puzzled. After Xu Zhengyang left, he nodded to the three of them, then got up and walked out.
Xu Zhengyang came out of the house, completely ignoring the stares from the other people in the hallway, and casually walked towards the end of the corridor. At the end of the corridor, Xu Zhengyang turned to the corner next to the elevator, looked behind him, and seeing that no one was following, took out his phone and sent a text message to Li Changwu: "Immediately arrange for someone to go to Meiya Apartment. Gong Xinhao has been taken into custody by people arranged by his son."
After sending the text message, Xu Zhengyang lit a cigarette, pretended to make a phone call while holding his phone, and then turned and walked back.
Unexpectedly, all of Gong Xinhao's men who had been in the hallway earlier had vanished. Only Xiao Jing remained, standing with a cold smile at the doorway of Gong Xinhao's room, looking this way.
Xu Zhengyang frowned slightly, but didn't think about anything else and walked straight over there.
What a joke! The mighty God of the Prefecture, afraid of these insignificant figures? Even if they each had a pistol, under Xu Zhengyang's heightened vigilance, they wouldn't be able to harm him. Hearing footsteps behind him, Xu Zhengyang turned around and thought, "Fine, if I'd known this would happen, why did I bother coming upstairs to fight? Wouldn't that have caused just as much of a commotion?"
Ugh, that's like taking off your pants to fart – completely pointless.
However, several of Gong Xinhao's men blocked Xu Zhengyang's retreat from behind.
The one blocking the way is Xiao Jing.
At that moment, Xiao Jing walked towards them, a short dagger, about a foot long, with a silver scabbard, now in her hand. She twirled it constantly in her right hand, the scabbard's ring making a clattering sound. Xiao Jing walked slowly, a cold smile on her face, her round but not large single-lidded eyes gleaming with a chilling light.
Xu Zhengyang stopped and squinted at Xiao Jing, suddenly feeling a sense of familiarity.
Oh yes, the ruthless killing intent emanating from Xiao Jing at this moment is like that of a person... Chen Chaojiang.
"Sir, they want to kill Gong Xinhao!" Guo Li's voice rang in Xu Zhengyang's mind.
Immediately afterwards, a few faint gunshots rang out from the house on the other side.
Just then, two of the four men following Xu Zhengyang pulled out pistols!
Almost as soon as they drew their guns, Xu Zhengyang turned around abruptly and pounced on the four men like a ghost. Before the two men could even pull the trigger, they felt a numbness in their wrists, and their pistols fell to the ground with a clatter. Then, a sharp pain shot through their wrists, and the two men cried out in pain.
The other two were terrified and rushed towards Xu Zhengyang, who had rushed in front of them.
The sounds of fists and kicks, along with screams, echoed through the stairwell!
In the blink of an eye, Xu Zhengyang had knocked all four of them to the ground. He turned around abruptly and saw that Xiao Jing, who had been walking, had already rushed towards him. The short dagger in his hand was already unsheathed, gleaming coldly, and he held it upside down in his right hand. Like a cheetah, he pounced on Xu Zhengyang in the blink of an eye.
The speed and ruthlessness of the blade strikes were extremely fast, leaving streaks of light and shadow in its wake.
However, amidst the flashing blades, Xu Zhengyang's fist strangely broke through the swift light and struck Xiao Jing's chest without any fancy moves.
The blade flashed, and Xiao Jing's body flew backward, landing on her back with a thud. She coughed up blood, her eyes widened, and she suddenly jumped up, lunging at Xu Zhengyang again!
"What a pity." Xu Zhengyang sighed inwardly, but his attack was ruthless. He punched Xiao Jing's wrist, which was holding the knife, and then raised his knee and slammed it into Xiao Jing's knee. With a cracking sound of bones breaking, Xiao Jing could no longer help but scream "Ah!"
The screams lasted only about half a second before Xu Zhengyang grabbed Xiao Jing's neck and squeezed it gently, abruptly stopping the screams.
At this moment, the door to Gong Xinhao's room had already been opened, and Gong Xinhao staggered out and ran towards the corridor.
The three people inside the house were already lying in pools of blood.
As the three men drew their guns, pointed them at Gong Xinhao, and said a few words of apology, one of them suddenly turned his gun on his own man and fired. In a panic, the other man drew his gun and fired back at the man.
In the ensuing melee, Gong Xinhao, a seasoned veteran, reacted swiftly and immediately fled, but was also caught in the crossfire and shot in the right arm.
Unexpectedly, just as Gong Xinhao reached the stairwell, he froze, and was subdued by Wang Yonggan, who arrived shortly after.