Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Dahu remained silent. Something was clearly wrong with him. He stared blankly, unresponsive even when they hit and kicked him. He neither fought back nor dodged.

In the end, Ah Hao and Shuai Zai pulled the furious Red Pole away. “Stop, stop. Look at his eyes. He’s probably been scared out of his wits.”

For the Tianding Society, this was a disaster that demanded revenge. Not one person in the entire building had survived.

Dahu was the only one who had been in contact with the killers. His four usual followers had seen Zhao Xiuming too.

But they could offer nothing useful. Even now, none of them believed that the foolish-looking student could have done it.

Questioned separately, they spilled everything without needing to be tortured. “Yes, his name’s Zhao Xiuming. I don’t know where he lives.”

“We only met him by chance. We were helping Liu Wenhe escort some people that day. That’s when we ran into him and took his money.”

“Liu Wenhe said we could trade Zhao Xiuming for Dahu’s brother. We were just trying our luck when we went looking. We didn’t expect to find him. Then we told him we’d treat him to stuffed vegetables, but really we were taking him to Liu Wenhe.”

Ah Hao and Shuai Zai weren’t spared questioning either. Their accounts had no holes.

Though questioned separately, they gave much the same answers.

“Dahu asked Shuai Zai and me for help with his brother. We don’t have much influence, so there wasn’t a lot we could do. Who knew that old animal Liu Wenhe would hear about it and say he could help?”

“Ah Hao and I were worried. You know what Liu Wenhe’s like. It was our own fault for sticking our noses in. He made fools of us.”

“Shuai Zai and I weren’t there when it happened.”

“Huh? What were Ah Hao and I doing? Ask around. We got drenched in shit, went to wash it off, then went drinking. Loads of people can vouch for us.”

A full day of questioning got the Tianding Society nowhere. Their last hope was Dahu.

He was in terrible shape, too weak to withstand harsh interrogation. In the interrogation room, all he did was cry and frantically try to kill himself.

The old man questioning him wore a sinister expression. “Don’t play mad or stupid with me. I’ve got plenty of ways to make you wish you were dead. Cooperate, and I can get the gang to find a way to save your brother Xiaolong.”

At last, Dahu reacted. He looked dazed, his face crumpling in tears. “Xiaolong… Xiaolong’s dead…”

“You’re all lying to me. You lied. Liu Wenhe lied too.”

The old man’s expression didn’t change. He followed that lead. “Who told you Xiaolong was dead? Zhao Xiuming?”

“Tell me everything you know, and I’ll consider letting you see his body.”

Dahu gave a dry laugh. “Let me see Huang Jinsheng. Then I’ll talk.”

“Ha!” the old man snapped. “You talk first, then you can see him!”

Dahu shook his head. This time, nothing would make him speak again.

The old man showed no mercy. He pulled out nails, drove in needles, and put Dahu through his repertoire. Dahu kept his mouth shut. Clearly, he was prepared to die.

With no other choice, they agreed for the moment and left the matter for discussion. Ah Hao and Shuai Zai came to see him in the meantime, trying to persuade him. “Don’t be so stubborn.”

“What can you do even if you see Huang Jinsheng? Kill him?”

Ah Hao leaned close, his manner conspiratorial. “Hey. Did Zhao Xiuming tell you to do this? Did he?”

Dahu closed his eyes and said nothing. Knowing someone was listening outside, Ah Hao and Shuai Zai could only drop it.

The Tianding Society’s leader, the Incense Master, stared helplessly at the portrait of Zhao Xiuming before him.

Neither he nor his district bosses had been able to discover who Zhao Xiuming was.

Tea bubbled on the round table. Far from calming anyone, the sound only made them more anxious.
One district boss broke the silence. “The last time, when those two boys turned the tables on the Longhu Society’s Red Bandanna, they met this anomaly called Zhao Xiuming. They only managed to kill Red Bandanna because he helped them.”

“I sent people to look afterward. The room turned out to be Granny Snake’s tailor shop. She’s from Spirit Medium Hall. She went on about how her place was spiritually sensitive and attracted unclean things. I had her followed, but we found nothing suspicious.”

Afraid that word would spread and panic their people, the gang had given Ah Hao and Shuai Zai the credit for killing Red Bandanna.

Many of the younger members knew nothing about it. Naturally, they hadn’t heard Zhao Xiuming’s name either.

“That’s the strange part,” the same district boss continued. “Other people didn’t know, but Liu Wenhe did.”

“He knew about Zhao Xiuming and kidnapped him anyway. Was he suicidal, or just that bold?”

The assistant beside the Incense Master, also a White Paper Fan strategist, sneered. “He was ambitious.”

“Liu Wenhe let Tianding Society members live in that building. Said it saved the gang money.”

“But everyone knows they were his own men. He was using our banner to raise a private army.”

It wasn’t that the Tianding Society hadn’t wanted to act against Liu Wenhe. Recently, however, he had been trafficking people with the wealthy businessman Huang Jinsheng, and the gang was getting a share of the money.

With those interests entangled, they had no good way to deal with him for the moment. Who would have thought that before they could act, trouble would find him first?

That was also why the gang kept silent about supernatural incidents. Their own hands weren’t clean. If vengeful anomalies really existed, who would dare commit crimes?

The Tianding Society resolved to eliminate Zhao Xiuming. There were even hints that they might join forces with the Longhu Society.

Soon, all of Zimu City was under lockdown. It was an ungoverned area controlled by gangs to begin with. Human rights meant nothing, and their methods were crude and brutal.

They imposed a curfew. Businesses in the apartment blocks had to close at the appointed time. Extra men patrolled day and night, bursting into residents’ homes to search whenever they pleased.

The thieving gang members used the opportunity to loot valuables, harass women, and throw their weight around.

The western district continued business as usual, but portraits of Zhao Xiuming were posted everywhere.

They falsely branded him a serial killer wanted by the police and offered an enormous bounty.

Anyone who supplied a lead would receive a handsome reward.

These measures naturally affected the players who had entered the instance. They had come to Zimu City as “mainlanders,” ostensibly dupes lured there to be sold like livestock.

In reality, they were “masters” recruited by the informant Liu Wenhe. A few days earlier, they had demonstrated their abilities at Spirit Medium Hall.

Liu Wenhe had promised to contact the wealthy Huang Jinsheng and arrange a meeting between him and these “masters.”

During the wait, the players had already uncovered the dealings behind the Tianding Society and the Longhu Society.

Human trafficking, and the development and export of illegal addictive drugs.

Just as their meeting with the big boss drew near, Liu Wenhe had died.

A male player tore Zhao Xiuming’s wanted poster from a wall. “We were dropped into Zimu City. We can’t leave to find Huang Jinsheng ourselves. We have to get him to come here.”

Another player ventured, “You mean… give up on Liu Wenhe and contact someone else in the city’s gangs? Do you think they’ll believe us?”

Liu Wenhe had recruited the masters privately, to serve Huang Jinsheng.

The gang knew nothing about it. They thought the mainlanders brought in were merchandise for the trafficking business.

And with the gang deliberately concealing the supernatural events, the players still genuinely believed Zhao Xiuming was a wanted murderer.

Meanwhile, Zhao Xiuming, who had plunged Zimu City into turmoil, had all but figured out the green door’s secret.