The interior of the building was decorated in a style resembling the Syrian battlefield.
Everywhere were shattered walls and a scene of utter devastation.
In the first-floor military zone, many people could be seen wearing hoods and goggles, armed with various water pellet guns, taking cover behind broken walls and firing at each other.
Tracer rounds flew through the air.
However, as soon as Liu Ping'er appeared, they spontaneously cleared a path for her.
Not a single pellet came their way.
Passing through this "ruin," they arrived at the club's offices.
Inside a completely transparent glass room.
Liu Ping'er, with the young girl in tow, invited Li Chonglou into the office.
Xu Tianyou followed, his eyes red.
"What should I call you?" Liu Ping'er asked, locking the glass door and pressing a switch.
The fully transparent glass immediately turned frosted.
The next second, Liu Ping'er turned back to face Li Chonglou, a small Beretta M9 now in her hand.
The muzzle pointed directly at Li Chonglou, and she asked coldly, "Yanbin's death, was it you?"
A flicker of surprise flashed in Li Chonglou's eyes.
He had to admit, this woman was formidable.
Hearing the news of Yanbin's death, she brought him to a room without missing a beat, then pointed a gun at him.
He couldn't be sure if it was a real gun or a water pellet gun.
But he was certain that being pointed at with a gun felt extremely uncomfortable.
Suppressing the surge of displeasure, Li Chonglou focused intently on Liu Ping'er's gun-wielding hand, ensuring that he could detect and react to even the slightest movement.
He couldn't let his life end here.
His mother and wife were still waiting for him to save them.
He had to be cautious until he figured out who this Liu Ping'er really was.
"My surname is Li, and my name is Zhonglou, like the medicinal herb," Li Chonglou said, doing his best to appear calm.
"Ping'er, leave him to me, we'll settle both old and new scores!" Xu Tianyou growled through gritted teeth.
As soon as he spoke, the young girl said with a crying tone, "Brother, he didn't bump into me, I ran into the door myself..."
"Yanbin Gege is dead, I don't want anything to happen to you too..."
While playing was one thing, and joking was another.
Xu Tianyou was, after all, her biological brother.
If he, in a fit of righteous indignation, were to kill Li Chonglou, he would either become a fugitive or face the death penalty.
At that point, she would have lost another brother.
The young girl's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Xu Tianyou's head.
The veins on his forehead, which had begun to bulge, subsided somewhat.
He said coldly, "Lingling, don't worry, I'll spare his dog life, nothing will happen."
"Enough," Li Chonglou interrupted Xu Tianyou, standing tall with no trace of fear on his face.
He declared clearly, "Yanbin was killed by his adoptive father, Li Hanlong."
"And it wasn't done in my presence. As for the reason, you'll likely have to ask Li Hanlong yourself."
"There's a head for every debt. I don't know what your relationship with Yanbin was."
"But if you want to avenge him, we can certainly cooperate."
"Li Hanlong captured my mother and wife."
"What I came to you for is to save their lives!"
If it came to a fight, Li Chonglou was confident he could handle everyone in the room within a minute.
Even if Liu Ping'er had a real gun, what of it?
Having already broken through to the second realm, while his movements weren't as fast as bullets, his neural reflexes far surpassed those of ordinary people.
Liu Ping'er wouldn't even have time to fire.
But brute force wasn't the only way to solve problems.
In this Yong'an, he was unfamiliar with the territory.
To deal with Li Hanlong, he needed allies.
Judging by the feelings Liu Ping'er and Xu Tianyou had for Yanbin, they were undoubtedly the best candidates.
"You're also surnamed Li, how do I know you're not in league with him?" Liu Ping'er's beautiful eyes finally showed a hint of red, and the gun barrel involuntarily lowered.
She had her own judgment, knowing Li Chonglou wasn't lying, but she couldn't believe him immediately.
Yanbin had mentioned Li Hanlong's name more than once.
Although they weren't related by blood, Yanbin had always seen him as a true father.
Yet now he had died at the hands of this "father."
Of course, the truth still needed to be verified.
"My Qin Prefecture accent, which he called 'farmer,' is enough to prove I have no connection to Li Hanlong," Li Chonglou said, gesturing towards Xu Tianyou.
This single sentence turned his face from pale to red.
Red all the way to his ears.
Judging by appearance was a low-level mistake that should never have happened to him before.
But concerning his sister, he had prejudged.
Who knew he had misjudged so badly?
This "farmer" was superior to him in both skill and demeanor.
And the matter concerning his sister was now a misunderstanding.
It was he who should apologize.
But his pride wouldn't allow him to bow to Li Chonglou.
Fortunately, Li Chonglou didn't dwell on the previous incident and changed the subject: "Aunt Gao, the director of your orphanage, is an elder of my senior sister."
"She gathered all information about Yanbin from Aunt Gao."
"I intended to have a good talk with him but received news of his death."
"If you agree to cooperate, take me to Yanbin's room first!"
Having said all this, Li Chonglou believed Liu Ping'er would make her own judgment.
"Ping'er, we can't trust him so easily, what if we're being used?" Xu Tianyou, seeing Liu Ping'er frowning, advised.
"I make my own choices, you don't need to say more," Liu Ping'er clearly didn't want to hear him.
She tucked the gun back into the strap on her thigh and beckoned Li Chonglou, "Follow me."
With that, she led Li Chonglou out of the office, ignoring Xu Tianyou's frantic scratching.
They arrived at the lounge area on the third floor.
She opened the door to a VIP room and said, "This room is usually Yanbin's."
"Besides me, no one else has a key."
"If he kept the item at the club, it would only be here."
Li Chonglou entered the room and looked around.
The decor was simple, like a five-star hotel, clean and tidy with no unpleasant odors.
Even the bedsheets were folded neatly, without a single wrinkle.
On the bedspread lay two camouflage uniforms.
Clearly, they were for his use when he visited the club.
Inside, besides a desk and a wardrobe, there was no other place to store anything.
Li Chonglou walked quickly to the desk and pulled open a drawer.
He only found a notebook.
The wardrobe also contained only a few pieces of clothing.
The space under the bed was completely empty.
"Did you not find it?" Liu Ping'er asked, seeing Li Chonglou still searching after retrieving the notebook, her face full of doubt.
Li Chonglou stopped and shook his head.
It seemed Yanbin hadn't brought the base to the club.
Now, he could only pray that his senior sister's efforts were successful in finding the item.
"I'll take this notebook for now. Sorry to have disturbed you," Li Chonglou said, shaking the notebook.
Since the item wasn't found and he needed to continue his investigation, this notebook might contain some clues.
"Wait, how do I contact you?" Just as Li Chonglou had expected, although Liu Ping'er didn't trust him, she was already leaning towards an alliance.
They exchanged mobile numbers.
Under Xu Tianyou's watchful gaze, Li Chonglou left the club building.
In the office, Xu Tianyou asked with confusion, "Ping'er, even if Yanbin was killed by that Li Hanlong, can't we get revenge ourselves?"
"Why are you being so accommodating to that farmer!"
Hearing this, Liu Ping'er brushed a strand of hair from her face and said with a sidelong glance, "You underestimate him too much."
"When I pointed a gun at him, there wasn't a trace of fear on his face."
"But his eyes were constantly fixed on my finger."
"This indicates he had an eighty percent chance of ensuring he wouldn't be shot by me."
"What kind of confidence is that?"
"Even his wife and mother were taken by Li Hanlong. Tell me, can this Li Hanlong be simple?"
"With just our hot-blooded enthusiasm?"
"It would be better to let him be our vanguard."
What Liu Ping'er said was the complete opposite of the fragile impression she gave.
Strategizing, with a mind as delicate as a hair.
From just the subtle changes in Li Chonglou's expression, she had deduced a rough outline.
If Li Chonglou were to hear these words, who knew what he would think.
At the same time, in the taxi, Li Chonglou was flipping through the notebook.
Most of it contained accounts and social interactions.
Among them were the names of Xu Tianyou and Liu Ping'er.
In addition, there were a few underprivileged children he had sponsored.
Just as Li Chonglou was about to close the notebook, having flipped through the entire thing casually, he suddenly noticed that the notebook, when read from back to front, had densely packed small characters.
They were several diary entries.
Some entries were about his secret crush on Li Duo'er.
Others were about going to the orphanage to retrieve the identity certificate base.
This was exactly what Lin Ying had said.
However, one detail caught Li Chonglou's attention.
Yanbin recorded that after taking the item that day, he had gone directly back to the golf course.
Reading this, Li Chonglou felt a jolt of apprehension.
No way?
Could it be that the base was actually placed by Yanbin in a place where he himself had been confined for over half a month?
Ring ring...
Just then, his phone rang.
It was his senior sister calling.
"Junior Brother, I've searched everywhere and found nothing. What about you?" Lin Ying asked.
"No base, but I found a notebook. We'll talk when I get back," Li Chonglou said, his tone heavy.
If the item was indeed where he suspected, placed by Yanbin at the golf course, it would be a major misunderstanding.
Did he have to go back to that wretched place?
Wouldn't that be walking into a trap?
The last time had led to Yanbin's death, and the next time could very well be his senior sister or Li Duo'er.
This outcome was too heavy to bear.
Upon returning to the hotel, Li Chonglou told Lin Ying of his suspicions.
"What do you plan to do then? Wait for news, or take a risk?" Lin Ying asked calmly, her face showing no discernible emotion.
She had already made a firm decision in her heart.
No matter what Li Chonglou did, she would help him.
Only by overthrowing Li Hanlong and exposing the mysterious backer behind him could this matter be considered resolved.
Otherwise, with the enemy hidden and them exposed, they would be at a disadvantage everywhere.
"Neither of those suits me. I need to go back to Qin Prefecture first to check on Xu Lie," Li Chonglou said resolutely.
On his way back, he had thought it through.
Li Hanlong's confidence in his inevitable return to beg for help stemmed from his control over Li Chonglou's mother and wife.
But even if he returned, he couldn't defeat them, nor could he find them. What use would obtaining the base be then?
Being at the mercy of Li Hanlong at the golf course?
It would be better to wait for news then.
Besides these two options, there was still one more way, and that was to return to Qin Prefecture.
Since his mother and Jiang Yuxin were kidnapped, he could track surveillance video and investigate their whereabouts himself.
Of course, his return to Qin Prefecture was also to see Xu Lie.
Xu Lie was in the hospital, his life hanging in the balance because of him. Xu Qianqian must now be as helpless as a rootless duckweed. Whether it was for Xu Lie or for his own peace of mind, he couldn't abandon him regardless.
As for Li Hanlong, after he returned from Qin Prefecture, if his mother's whereabouts were still unknown, then a battle would be inevitable!