Chapter 1 The Incident

Zha Nan District, the Bai family.

It was already past eight o'clock when the Su brothers finished drinking with Old Man Bai. Even Gou Liu Zi, with his good alcohol tolerance, was feeling lightheaded. He wanted to suggest heading home, but Bai Hongbo and Bai Hongtao were being too enthusiastic, insisting on playing a bit longer, maybe some mahjong.

To be honest, Su Tianyu had no interest in gambling, but the Chinese New Year was all about festivities. Since they were being such gracious hosts, he couldn't refuse, so he stayed with his older brothers to play with the Bai family members.

Midway through, Bai Hongbo remembered Kong ZhengHui and, being the mischievous sort, called him, claiming a sudden issue with their business at sea required a meeting at his house.

Normally, Kong ZhengHui's intelligence would prevent him from being fooled by Bai Hongbo, but it was the first day of the new year, and Kong ZhengHui was already tipsy from visiting relatives. He vaguely made his way to the Bai residence, where Bai Hongtao relieved him of over two thousand yuan in less than two hours.

Inside a side room of the Bai family compound, the atmosphere was boisterous and thick with smoke. Over a dozen people were crammed together, collectively burning through at least two cigarettes per minute, making the room resemble a scene from a myth.

The mahjong table had been replaced with a Texas Hold'em setup. Su Tianyu, his head pounding from the noise, stood up and shouted, "Damn it, another five minutes and I'll have lung cancer! Fine, you guys play, I'm going to take a break."

"Don't, keep fighting!" Bai Hongbo grinned. "Everyone in here is drunk, let's stay up all night, and we'll have money to marry a wife tomorrow!"

"No more, no more." Su Tianyu got up from the table, walked to the sofa, pushed open a window, and sat on the windowsill to get some fresh air.

At a nearby table, Su Tiannan, the usually steady and conservative eldest brother, was riding high on the alcohol, waving a stack of bills as he yelled, "Come on, let's speed it up! Go big, finish early! We're not leaving until we've bankrupted these Bai family guys!"

As he spoke, a phone rang. Su Tiannan, still smiling, pulled out his phone. "Hello? Ah, I'm visiting friends. What's up? Really? No way! Holy crap...!"

After only a few words, the smile on Su Tiannan's face turned to astonishment. He stepped away from the group, frowning, and asked into the phone, "The police have already gone? Okay, okay, I'll be right there. That's it."

Hanging up, Su Tiannan waved his hand. "Something's come up, I have to stop playing."

"What's wrong?" Su Tianyu asked from the windowsill.

Su Tiannan paused, deciding there was no need to hide it. "Da Xiong killed someone, killed five people, and they were all... officers."

"What?!" Bai Hongbo was the first to react. "Who killed someone?"

"Da Xiong, Wu ShiXiong!" Su Tiannan repeated.

After only those few words, the once-raucous room fell silent. Su Tianyu, sitting on the windowsill, was also stunned. "Killed someone???"

"Yes, he was caught escaping. Tang BaiQing and Yang An from the police went to arrest him, and he killed all five of them." Su Tiannan frowned. "He used to work at our company, and the incident happened at the landfill where we dump reclamation waste, so the police want me to come in for questioning."

"Holy crap, killed five people?! That's Panda Q'd!" Bai Hongbo stood up, his expression shocked. "What was he thinking?"

"Bullshit, how could that idiot kill five people? Police officers, no less?!" An overseer from the Bai family's company, who had come by for a visit, said in disbelief. "That kid trips over his own feet, who could he kill?"

Fixed impressions are a terrible thing, because they easily lead to fear, suspicion, carelessness, and even contempt.

Objectively speaking, Da Xiong's escape from the hospital and his ability to kill five people during his resistance were both related to this fixed impression. In everyone else's eyes, Da Xiong was good for nothing except for his large frame. Who would bother to understand such an "idiot"?

Su Tianyu sat on the windowsill in a daze for a while before jumping down and saying, "What was he thinking? Why would he kill people?"

Not only Su Tianyu, but everyone else in the room was confused, because they had no idea what Da Xiong's life had been like for the past twenty years, much less what he had experienced in the detention center. They simply felt that Da Xiong's sentence wasn't long, he could have just served his time and been done with it, why did he need to escape and kill people?

"Alright, I'm leaving." Su Tiannan said, and started to walk out.

"Should I go with you?" Su Tianbei asked.

"No need, they just want to question the person in charge of the landfill." Su Tiannan waved his hand. "I'll go alone."

With that, Su Tiannan left, while Su Tianyu, Bai Hongbo, and the others were still reeling from the shock.

"It's over, Da Xiong is completely finished now." Bai Hongbo shook his head and sighed.

...

Sinaruo Living Village.

Liang Feng hung up the phone, looked up at Xu Er, and said, "Lao... Lao Hei is here. He wants me to go see him in ten minutes."

"What's he playing at?" Xu Er was also confused, because he never expected Lao Hei to show up tonight.

"...He... he's always been like this, he doesn't trust anyone but himself." Liang Feng stammered. "But I didn't expect him to come tonight."

Xu Er looked down at his watch. "Get dressed, let's go."

"Okay." Liang Feng got up.

"Ming, you guys pack up too, we're going out." Xu Er didn't have time to think. Since he only had ten minutes, he could only go meet Lao Hei as requested to avoid raising suspicion.

Everyone inside the house was assembled, Xu Er checked his weapons, pointed at Liang Feng and cursed, "Damn it, I have people outside, you know that. If you try anything, they'll kill your family right away."

"Yes, yes... I definitely wouldn't dare." Liang Feng nodded.

"Let's go!"

Xu Er called out and led everyone towards the door.

Liang Feng was in the middle of the group, flanked by two people, with no chance to escape.

The group arrived at the door, Xu Er's right hand on the doorknob, but he suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong, Second Brother?"

"Damn it, something's not right!" Xu Er retracted his hand from the door, suddenly turning to Liang Feng and asking, "Does Lao Hei know where your family lives?"

Liang Feng paused. "He shouldn't. I never mentioned it to him, and he wouldn't ask, that's the rule."

Xu Er stared into Liang Feng's eyes and quickly realized. "Damn it, we can't just walk out there! That guy's cunning, what if he's watching the door? If we go out like this, we're screwed!"

Inside the living village, Lao Hei, carrying a simple backpack, lowered his head, lit a cigarette, and glanced at his watch again.