Chapter 1 The Dragon City Rises

It was morning, a little after eight o'clock. Dragon City, Tianhong Port in Zhanan District.

Wei Xiangzuo sat on his sofa, bleary-eyed, pouring himself tea.

"Zuotang, you came back yesterday?" a man asked, sitting across from him somewhat cautiously.

"Ah!" Wei Xiangzuo yawned, picking up his teacup and offering, "Have some tea."

Beside him, a handler proactively pushed a teacup toward the man, saying softly, "Tell Zuotang what you told me."

"Uh, there's not much to say," the man said, scratching his head. "Since Gu Lao's incident, I've been called in by the police four times, all asking about the cars."

"The two cars used by the thugs, are they yours?" Wei Xiangzuo asked.

"Yes, those two cars are grey imports I picked up, no paperwork," the man immediately explained. "They were cheap, and I had someone fix them up. I was originally planning to sell them to small companies working in the port. As long as they didn't leave the port, there wouldn't be any problems. No one here would stop them."

"And then?" Wei Xiangzuo asked.

"And then the cars were stolen," the man said, frowning. "They disappeared from the alley behind my sister-in-law's restaurant."

"When did they disappear?" Wei Xiangzuo asked, holding his teacup.

The man thought for a moment. "It must have been the day before Gu Lao's incident."

Wei Xiangzuo calculated in his mind. "You didn't report it?"

"How can you report grey imports?" the man replied with a grin. "That's what I do. I have over a dozen in my warehouse. It would be troublesome to go through official channels, and it's not a lot of money."

"Did you look for them privately?" Wei Xiangzuo asked again.

"I did, but I couldn't find any leads," the man said, shaking his head. "Everyone in the port is a familiar face. They usually don't touch my stuff. When they disappeared, I thought it was some kids from the district stealing them."

"Are you sure it was the day before Gu Lao's incident?" Wei Xiangzuo asked again.

"I'm sure. My sister-in-law called me that day," the man nodded.

"Before they were stolen, were they moved?" Wei Xiangzuo looked at him.

"Other than my sister-in-law using them a couple of times to deliver goods to the restaurant, they basically weren't moved," the man paused before replying. "They were always parked there. You know, those cars aren't hard to sell. They could be driven away at any time."

"Alright, I understand," Wei Xiangzuo nodded. "Thank you, Lao Lu!"

"Don't mention it, it's the least I could do," the man replied with a smile.

"Then you can go back now," the handler said, getting up and gesturing towards the man.

"Okay!" The man stood up, nodding and bowing to Wei Xiangzuo. "I'll be going then, Zuotang!"

"Alright, alright!" Wei Xiangzuo replied politely.

The man was seen off, and Wei Xiangzuo sat on the sofa, lost in thought.

After a while, the handler returned after seeing the man off and said to Wei Xiangzuo, "Brother, what he said isn't the same as what he said to the others. The Yu family said the car appeared in Tianhong Port six days ago, which is correct, but the time the car was stolen was the day before Gu Lao's incident. This doesn't prove that the gunmen arrived a week ago."

Wei Xiangzuo took a sip of tea and frowned. "The car wasn't moved much, they might have been watching it for a long time."

"Why do I feel like you trust that kid surnamed Su so much?" the handler said with a smile.

"Trust him with what?!" Wei Xiangzuo waved his hand. "Has the port been peaceful these past few days since Gu Lao's death?"

The handler pondered for a moment. "It hasn't been peaceful. Lao Xu has been contacting people these past two days while we were gone. There's a meeting tonight."

"I don't trust that kid surnamed Su, but I also don't want to be used as a pawn," Wei Xiangzuo stood up. "Let's go to the port and wait for Xiao Feng to come back."

"What did he go to do?"

"Right now, I just want to know when these gunmen entered Dragon City," Wei Xiangzuo replied expressionlessly.

…

The Su Residence.

Su Tianyu sat in his room, working on the materials for establishing the association.

In Dragon City, for social organizations to be officially recognized, from application to approval to registration, they need to submit materials to the Dragon City Public Affairs Department.

The Dragon City Public Affairs Department has a very high administrative level, but it does not have subordinate offices. All units handling affairs only need to go to the department in the Longkou District to draw numbers and queue up, and the approval process is very cumbersome.

In order to avoid the situation of "one thing taking three years," Su Tianyu had to call Wang Daolin and ask him to introduce him to a friend in the Public Affairs Department to go through the back door and expedite the procedures.

In the morning, Su Tianyu filled out the main documents according to the application form of the Public Affairs Department and called Kong Zhenghui to meet Wang Daolin's contact together.

Before leaving, Third Sister found Su Tianyu, "Little brother! Busy?"

"Just finished, what's up?" Su Tianyu smiled and stood up.

Third Sister blinked her eyes, stepped to Su Tianyu's side, and said in a low voice, "I told Tianbei about Da Xiong's matter. He said he would go take a look, but what happened, why didn't I hear back?"

Su Tianyu was stunned for a moment. "Ah, he took people to that air-raid shelter, but didn't find any clues."

"Didn't?" Third Sister pressed.

"No," Su Tianyu shook his head.

"Sigh." Third Sister sighed, "Da Xiong's life... it's really bitter."

"Originally, I wanted to find him and find a way to arrange for him to leave, but I can't find him either, so there's really nothing we can do," Su Tianyu said softly. "However, there have been a lot of incidents in Dragon City recently, and the police are very busy. Police force are being diverted, and there are fewer people watching Da Xiong. I guess this kid has probably already run away himself."

"Hopefully, he ran away," Third Sister nodded slowly.

Su Tianyu glanced at her. "You care about him quite a bit."

"...Actually, besides my family, I really don't have many friends at the company." Third Sister said a little sentimentally, "The sanitation workers are all big men. Usually, besides work, there's not much personal interaction. Only Da Xiong and I are close. He's diligent and has helped me a lot at the company."

"Mm," Su Tianyu nodded.

"...Well, alright, you're busy!" Third Sister lifted her hair, "I'm going to the company."

"Okay, I'm going out first!" Su Tianyu nodded with a smile, reached out and patted Third Sister's arm, "If Da Xiong knew you were thinking about him, he'd probably be quite happy."

"Don't talk nonsense, I'm just thinking about him as a friend," Third Sister rolled her eyes.

After the two finished communicating, Su Tianyu left with the information to find Kong Zhenghui and Da Bai.

Before getting in the car, Su Tianyu sent Tianbei a text message.

…

One o'clock in the afternoon.

Inside a tea shop in Tianhong Port, Wei Xiangzuo sat under a sun umbrella, folding his hands and asking, "What have you found out!"

"I sent out fifty or sixty people and asked around the surrounding area. I only got a little information," a rover sat in a chair and said softly, "About a week ago, a few unfamiliar faces did enter the port. They didn't have a familiar face to lead them. The first day, they stayed at the Xishuiting Foot Massage City."

Wei Xiangzuo paused and asked, "Does this match up with the gunmen?"

"Normally, it wouldn't match up, but after Gu Lao died, these people haven't appeared again," the rover replied.