Chapter 281: You're Playing Dirty with Me
"Oh?" Zhang Yang glanced at Ao Tian without giving anything away. This bastard smoked like crazy, and the worst part was that he kept blowing the smoke outward, forcing Zhang Yang to inhale a bunch of secondhand smoke for no damn reason.
After quickly finishing one cigarette, apparently still unsatisfied, he pulled out a crumpled pack from his pocket. Before he could grab a second one, Zhang Yang reached out, snatched the entire pack, and tossed it downstairs.
"Eh... eh..." Ao Tian reached out but grabbed nothing, helplessly watching his precious pack get arrogantly thrown away by Zhang Yang. His eyes widened, his whole body trembling with rage, and he even forgot what he wanted to say. "You sister, that was premium smokes gifted by the boss, damn it!"
"Isn't it just Panda..." Zhang Yang glanced at it and curled his lips. "I'll compensate you with a pack of Da Qianmen. Now back to business—you mentioned some important person earlier."
"Da Qianmen my ass, have you even smoked before? Damn it, I can't even stay serious now." Ao Tian stared painfully at the drifting cigarette pack. There weren't many left inside, but still—that was good stuff. Twenty yuan a pack.
"You're at least a section-level cadre. Can you try to maintain some image?" Zhang Yang looked at him from a forty-five-degree angle with extreme disdain.
"Image my ass." Ao Tian glared at Zhang Yang irritably. "You're obviously trying to get back at me. Yeah, fine, I didn't collect enough intel beforehand, but that's not entirely my fault. This time the opponent was totally unexpected."
Speaking of that, he paused and looked at the slowly shrinking black dot that was the Panda pack. Then he glared angrily at Zhang Yang. "You compensate me for the smoke, and I'll talk."
Zhang Yang shot him another disdainful look, pulled out his wallet, took out a ten-yuan note, and slapped it into his hand. "Now can you talk?"
"What am I, a beggar to you?" Ao Tian stared at the ten-yuan bill, his brows wrinkling like a hundred-year-old man's.
"You want it or not? If not, I'll take it back."
"Damn it, not wanting it would be stupid. You think I'm like you? Too rich to spend it all?" Ao Tian quickly stuffed the ten yuan into his chest pocket. But then he felt like he got ripped off, shook his head, and sighed, "Such a huge piece of intel sold to you for just ten yuan. I'm losing big time."
"Stop yapping, uncle. Say the important parts. My time is valuable."
"Aye, my damn temper... You call me 'uncle' again and I'll beat your ass. Who talks like that to me?" Ao Tian's barely suppressed anger flared up again.
"You want a fight? I'll even let you use one hand."
"Damn!" Ao Tian sulked and pulled his hands back into his sleeves.
He held it in, cleared his throat, glanced at Zhang Yang, and said, "This time, the opposing side lost thirty-three people. But I suspect two escaped. One is the Green Scorpion from Spade Eight's Green Group. That group had eight members. Only seven bodies were found. The Green Scorpion was missing."
Zhang Yang froze for a moment. No wonder they couldn't find the Green Scorpion—she had already been taken away by Lao Yi. He had even secretly notified her family to prepare to bring her home—a leaf returning to its roots.
Zhang Yang asked calmly, "And the other one?"
"A woman. Young. From Ukolan. Only her father's corpse was found at the scene. Their immigration record shows they entered the country together. Sure, it's possible her father left her at a hotel or something, but considering he brought her here, she must be connected to the attack."
Hearing this, Zhang Yang was secretly shocked. He didn't expect them to uncover Meixin's identity so fast—only a few hours had passed.
"Zhang Yang?" Ao Tian suddenly turned to him with a very serious expression. Then he smiled faintly and asked, "Don't you think this whole thing is suspicious?"
Did this kid notice something? Zhang Yang frowned.
"What do you mean? Didn't you say the important person was one of the two who escaped?" Regardless of whether Ao Tian had noticed anything, Zhang Yang played dumb.
"You tell me first—did the Green Scorpion live or die?" Ao Tian instinctively reached into his pocket, only to touch nothing.
Zhang Yang knew from this question that Ao Tian already suspected the Green Scorpion ended up with him. Ao Tian understood her background, and he also knew Lao Yi.
"Dead." Zhang Yang thought for a moment and answered calmly.
"Really dead?" Ao Tian looked at him, leaning on the railing as if talking to himself. "The Green Scorpion joined this path for complicated reasons... but..."
His brows tightened. "Still, many of the people she killed were innocent. Maybe the early ones were forced... but she knew exactly what she was doing later on."
"I know what you're trying to say." Zhang Yang glanced at him and said lightly, "Since you know her relationship with Lao Yi, I won't hide it. The Green Scorpion is truly dead. I saw her take her last breath. Pan Ningning shot her straight through the heart and lungs. Lao Yi saw she was in pain. He fired the final shot himself."
"As for her body..." Zhang Yang looked at him and said slowly, "Lao Yi wants to bring her home. Her father searched for her for so many years..."
"You hid her?"
"Yeah." Zhang Yang looked down at his feet and nodded.
"You won't tell me where they are now, will you?"
"What do you think?" Zhang Yang raised his head. "One pack of Huanghelou. Deal?"
"Peh! You want to bribe me with one pack of Huanghelou? At least a whole carton!"
"Deal!"
Ao Tian looked at him, rubbed his nose, defeated. "That foreign woman... Is she also in your hands?"
"Please. That really has nothing to do with me. I don't have such heavy tastes."
"Really?"
"Believe it or don't." Zhang Yang frowned at him. "You've been dragging this out talking about women—weren't you supposed to tell me about some important person?"
Ao Tian gave him a suspicious look and nodded. "Yeah, there is an important person. But honestly, besides talking about women, there's nothing else worth talking about with you. In your worldview, besides women—and they must be beautiful women—what else even exists?"
"I'm a scientist! Tech-oriented! Your worldview is what's vulgar."
"Yeah, sure, you're pure and noble." Ao Tian said impatiently. "Fine, I'll tell you the truth. Someone died in the chaos today. His name was Luo Lai, a murderer. A few years ago during a demolition project in Rui City, he led a bunch of thugs to collapse the home of a family who refused relocation, killing an eighty-year-old grandma and the homeowner's three-year-old son. Not only that, the bastard later killed the homeowner too when he went to confront him."
"Public outrage exploded. Luo Lai was arrested. Because there wasn't enough evidence for the homeowner's murder, he got a suspended death sentence. But during an emergency medical transfer, he escaped. Months later, the police found a corpse in the river—similar build, carrying his ID and clothes. The face was badly decomposed. DNA tests claimed it was him. Case closed."
"But this man who should've been dead... somehow died again today. And he was mixed in with mercenaries. More importantly, he had a phone on him. The last call he made lasted six minutes."
Ao Tian paused, glanced at Zhang Yang, and said calmly, "The number's owner hid their identity. But we still traced it. The owner is someone named Meng Du—an administrative director at the headquarters of the Cai family's Yongxing Group. Before holding that position, he was the personal assistant of Cai Xingwang."
"In other words, this whole thing is definitely tied to the Cai Group." Ao Tian revealed a sly smile.
"Cai Group?" Even though he was prepared, Zhang Yang's heart still sank. Damn it, really them.
"Exactly. Before Luo Lai committed those crimes, he worked for one of Cai Group's subsidiaries—Yanxin Real Estate Group—as a project director in their Central China region. It was while handling tasks for Yanxin that he committed those murders. So whether it's Luo Lai or Meng Du, both are tied to the Cai family."
"Why are you telling me this?" Zhang Yang frowned. "What benefit do you get from going against the Cai Group?"
"Ah... For world justice... world peace... okay, okay, stop looking at me like that. It's simple. I suspect Spade Eight is closely linked to the Cai family. I've chased them for years—tons of clues but no solid evidence. This is the perfect breakthrough."
"Didn't Luo Lai already get killed? What more value is there?"
Ao Tian smiled slightly. "Think about it. Why was Luo Lai here? Why were Spade Eight and GK Mercenaries mixed together? Why did he call Meng Du? Once we arrest Meng Du, the truth comes out."
Hearing this, Zhang Yang sneered. "The moment this operation failed, Meng Du was definitely silenced."
"Impossible to silence." Ao Tian clasped his hands behind his back proudly. "We already captured him."
Zhang Yang looked at him in surprise. Their efficiency was… unexpected.
"What if Meng Du refuses to talk?"
"He doesn't need to." Ao Tian walked back to the railing. "Once someone like him gets caught, the real culprits will panic and reveal themselves."
"I can guarantee you." Ao Tian raised one finger. "Within a month, Spade Eight will disappear completely."
"Then I'll wait and see."
"Heh, just wait." Ao Tian grinned at him, then frowned as if remembering something. "Right, let's go check on your injured guy."
"You're that kind-hearted now?"
"Yeah. I'm suddenly overflowing with kindness and have nowhere to release it. Problem?"
"No problem." Zhang Yang shrugged and walked ahead. "Let's go."