Cheng Ge walked up to Qin Tianyi, took his hand, and helped him lift the weapon. "The first time is always like this. Aim, close your eyes, and pull the trigger," he said.
Qin Tianyi raised the weapon but couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger.
Lu Yuanhong, seeing his hesitation, pointed his own weapon at Qin Tianyi and issued an ultimatum, "If you don't do it, you'll lose your life before he does."
Qin Tianyi knew he had no choice. He aimed at A Rong's leg, closed his eyes, and finally pulled the trigger.
But as he pulled the trigger, Lu Yuanhong fired multiple shots at A Rong's vital spots while he was lying on the ground.
When Qin Tianyi opened his eyes again, blood had pooled on the ground, and A Rong was dead. He immediately dropped the weapon, unsure if he had hit A Rong's leg or a more fatal area. He froze.
Lu Yuanhong put away his weapon and said to Cheng Ge, "You're in charge here from now on. Don't disappoint me again."
Cheng Ge acknowledged him.
Lu Yuanhong then said unhappily to Qin Tianyi, "Useless. You stay and dispose of the bodies."
With that, Lu Yuanhong left with another bodyguard, leaving Cheng Ge and Qin Tianyi behind.
Cheng Ge breathed a sigh of relief, bent down to pick up the weapon Qin Tianyi had dropped, and said, "You only hit A Rong's leg. Hurry and drag these two bodies outside the cave and bury them."
Qin Tianyi grunted, feeling a little better. At least he hadn't killed anyone, but the sight of their deaths was still shocking.
Cheng Ge called out to those still outside the factory, "It's alright now. Go back inside and continue working."
Gritting his teeth and steeling himself, Qin Tianyi dragged the bodies outside the cave by himself, found a spot, dug a pit, and buried them. He marked the burial site, which would later serve as evidence of Lu Yuanhong's crimes.
By the time he finished, it was almost dawn. He returned to the cave; everyone else was asleep, and the factory was no longer in operation.
Cheng Ge emerged from the factory, yawned, and looked at the ground outside. Seeing that everything had been cleaned up, he said to Qin Tianyi, "Your name is A Ban, right? You did a good job disposing of the bodies. I'll take you down the mountain."
Qin Tianyi glanced at the darkened factory and asked, "Brother Cheng, is there still a car to go down the mountain? Where are those people in the factory going now?"
"They sleep in the factory during the day and have stocked up on essential supplies," Cheng Ge said as he led him out. "There are no more cars. We'll have to walk back. Parking at the cave entrance during the day is too conspicuous; if anyone passes by, they might notice."
Qin Tianyi said "oh" and followed him as they walked through the mountains.
Without Cheng Ge's guidance, he wouldn't have known which path to take down the mountain or how to get back to the Lu family's old residence.
Cheng Ge asked again, "This is your first time dealing with Mr. Lu's businesses, isn't it? What did you do before?"
"I was a fighter in underground casinos in Southeast Asia," Qin Tianyi replied.
Cheng Ge smiled. "No wonder you're so agile and strong. It seems Mr. Lu intends to cultivate you."
"I doubt it. I just want to make a living. Mr. Lu was very angry with me last night, so he probably won't favor me anymore."
Cheng Ge stopped and tried not to look at his face. "He wasn't really angry with you. Everyone is like that the first time they do something serious. I wet my pants back then, so you're doing better. Don't think about it anymore; forget what happened."
"But was that guy A Rong last night really your brother who went through thick and thin with you? Why didn't you beg for his mercy?"
Cheng Ge's expression darkened, and he said helplessly, "When I first started following Mr. Lu, I just wanted to make a living. I only realized it was a path of no return after I joined. Whether you die early or late, you're going to die anyway. No one in our line of work dies of old age."
Qin Tianyi fell silent and continued walking, head down.
After a while, Cheng Ge asked, "Are you scared? You've officially joined the ranks last night. It's probably too late to withdraw now."
"I'm not scared. With my current situation, I can't do anything else but this. For me, living one day is earning one day. It doesn't matter," Qin Tianyi said with a relaxed tone.
Cheng Ge thought about it. People like him were indeed suited to be desperadoes, which explained why Mr. Lu intended to use him.
They continued their journey without much further conversation. When they reached a fork in the road, Cheng Ge pointed him in the direction. "If you're going back to the main residence, you go this way. I still have to go back to the restaurant in the city, so I'll have to walk and flag down a car."
Qin Tianyi acknowledged him and headed towards the Lu family's old residence on his own.
In a deserted area along the road, he changed his SIM card and tried to see if there was any signal. Although the signal was very weak, he could at least send messages.
He quickly sent a message to Su Kangxi, roughly describing the location of the factory. After so long, he had finally made some tangible progress, and he felt an indescribable excitement.
...
After Xiao Anjing settled Su Su, he was overwhelmed with work every day.
He had to constantly deal with shareholders who wanted to stir up trouble within the group. The plan to secretly acquire Shu's was officially halted, but it hadn't stopped. He had simply fired all the traders involved and was now handling it himself.
He suspected that someone among the traders had been unreliable, leading to Lu Yuanhong discovering their secret acquisition of Shu's. Since he couldn't identify the specific person, he decided to dismiss them all.
After rumors spread about Gu Susu's accident, Shu Zhongze had approached him twice, wanting to know if Susu was alright, dead or alive.
Xiao Anjing gave Shu Zhongze the same explanation he had given to people within the group.
Shu Zhongze, not having seen Susu, was skeptical of his words and had lost confidence that Aoxiang could win against Lu Yuanhong in acquiring Shu's.
In the current situation, Xiao Anjing dared not make any promises of certainty. He could only take things one step at a time and advised Shu Zhongze to prepare for the worst.
Today, sitting in his office, he looked at the troublesome equity information and thought about the three-month deadline he had promised Su Kangxi. He still had to hold on for three more months. If Tianyi hadn't made any progress by then, what would he do? He rubbed his forehead, finding the thought headache-inducing.
At that moment, his secretary knocked and entered, handing him an envelope. "A Ms. Lan asked me to give this to you," she said.
Xiao Anjing looked at the envelope expressionlessly. The handwriting was elegant, with the words "For Mr. Xiao's eyes only" written on it.
After the secretary left, Xiao Anjing raised an eyebrow and opened the envelope. Inside was a check for four million dollars, written in his own hand. To his surprise, Lan Yu had returned it to him, untouched.
He had previously reviewed her proposal and decided to invest four million dollars. However, due to his constant busyness, he hadn't had time to meet with her to discuss it further, so he had sent her the check, expecting her to use it to start the media company she had envisioned.
He stared at the check with icy eyes, somewhat confused. Hadn't she been desperate for money at the charity auction?