Chapter Twenty: The Fuse

  Guo Jing drove the four girls out of the private room and sat down to tell Cao Sen, "I've dug up some dirt on that little brat Zhu Jianjun."

  Cao Sen leaned in closer and looked at Guo Jing, gesturing for him to continue.

  "This kid indeed has some skills, his hands reached into a big real estate transaction in Nanquan City, and it seems that there are some problems with this transaction. Originally, a very powerful company mysteriously withdrew from the competition, but instead, a second-rate small company won the bid, Zhu Jianjun played a certain role in it."

  "Bribery, under-the-table deal?"

  Guo Jing shook his head, "It's not that simple, I suspect it involves threats and intimidation, that small company has a triad background."

  Cao Sen sank into thought. As the son of General Zhu Jianjun, what role could he possibly play in this? Was it to provide arms to the underworld, or even directly participate in some illegal activities?

  "If it's connected to the murder in the teaching building last time, I suspect that Zhu Jianjun might have done something shady during the bidding process and suspected us of having evidence against him, so he sent special forces to silence us." Guo Jing analyzed.

  "It's possible. But things are definitely not that simple. If we were threatened by Zhu Jianjun, it would make sense for him to send someone to silence us. But the current situation is a bit unusual. Guo Jing, if you're the one who ordered the special forces to kill us, what would you do after failing?"

  "Keep going until it's dead." Guo Jing didn't hesitate.

  Cao Sen nodded and looked at him with a profound gaze without saying a word.

  Guo Jing thought for a moment and suddenly said, "Later they didn't bother us again, and we didn't tell them clearly that we had nothing to do with their affairs. This is very strange... how could this be?"

  "I also feel strange, since meeting Jing Zhe, the strange things that have happened around us have been endless. I always feel like there's someone or some force calculating us, manipulating everything behind the scenes. But no matter how hard I think about it, I can't find any basis for it, and I also can't figure out what benefits they would get from doing this." Cao Sen said.

  Kuo looked at Cao Sen in astonishment. If what Cao Sen said was true, then things were complicated.

  "So, I want to start investigating from scratch." Cao Sen continued.

  "From the beginning? From where?"

  "Quiet wisdom."

  "Do you suspect her?"

  "It's not about doubting Jing Zhe himself, but about doubting what Jing Zhe is connected with."

  "How?" asked Guo Jing.

  "Tell Taotao and Tengfei to find someone who really understands yin and yang, let's ask him about the habits of ghosts, maybe we can get some clues. Following these clues, we can slowly uncover the truth. If recent events are just a series of coincidences, we'll solve them one by one; if there's really someone behind the scenes manipulating things, will my brothers be afraid of them?"

  "Your mind is indeed meticulous, I've never thought so much...I say, why are you saying these things now? And choosing this place?" Guo Jing looked at Cao Sen with doubt.

  Cao Sen smiled, "You think I've thought of all this before? Those who are in the midst of things are often confused, and it wasn't long ago that I just sorted out my thoughts."

  "A short while ago?"

  "Haha, just now when I was on the bed with the young lady, I don't know why but these things came to mind."

  Kuo Jing was taken aback and lost his smile, this Cao Sen, even when going to bed could still think of these things.

  At this time, Cao Sen's mobile phone rang, and after connecting, it was Tengfei's voice.

  "Brother Sen, Lan'er has been found. However... she refuses to see you, and when asked what's wrong, she just keeps crying."

  "Where are you?" Cao Sen asked.

  "The staff dormitory behind Hongyuan, 3rd floor, Tao is waiting for you at the door."

  "It's all in the past."

  After explaining the situation to Guo Jing, the two of them rushed towards the dormitory building.

  The business building of Hong's was luxurious and spacious, while the employee dormitory building was dark and narrow, filled with a musty smell.

  Arriving at the third floor, Cao Sen saw Ding Haitao standing at the door of a dormitory, looking around. Seeing Cao Sen and Guo Jing coming over, he pointed to the door behind him with his hand, and the three people entered the room together.

  The room was as small as the dormitory building, with less than 7 ping of space, and eight high and low single beds were arranged in it. What surprised Cao Sen was that he saw many men's clothes on two or three beds, could it be cohabitation?

  Ren Lan sat on her bed, silently weeping, still wearing the bright dance costume that she hadn't changed out of. The flying cloak was draped over her shoulders, and she had shrunk into its wide folds. Her black hair hung down to cover her face, and tears fell occasionally, dripping onto her long legs.

  Teng Fei made a helpless gesture, indicating that Lan'er refused to say anything.

  With a loud crash, the door was kicked open and a young man rushed in, "Hurry up, it's your turn to go on stage, you've been out here for so long..." He suddenly stopped talking because he saw the gun handle under Teng Fei's arm.

  The three Cao Sen ignored the young man who came in, still looking at Lan Er. Guo Jing pushed him out of the room with one palm and showed his police badge, "Tell your leader that she has been taken away by us and will not come back."

  The young man was taken aback for a moment, seeing the extraordinary aura on Cao Sen's four brothers. He muttered and turned to leave.

  "Lan'er, come with us, let's get out of here first." Cao Sen tried to make his voice sound warmer.

  Lan'er continued to cry silently, without looking at Cao Sen or moving a muscle.

  "Taotao, bring the car over," said Cao Sen.

  Ding Haitao took the car key handed over by Teng Fei and went out.

  Cao Sen made a gesture of resistance to Teng Fei, who nodded slightly and looked around, searching for something. He spotted a relatively clean bed sheet, grabbed it, took off his own jacket, and wrapped the sheet tightly around Lan Er, covering her legs.

  Cao Sen and Guo Jing roughly searched the room, apart from some cheap items and clothes, there was nothing noteworthy, it seemed that Lan Er's luggage wasn't here.

  A short blast of a horn sounded from downstairs. Guo Jing came to the corridor and looked down, nodding at Cao Sen.

  Cao Sen rushed out of the room, leaving only Teng Fei and Lan Er behind.

  Teng Fei happened to like errands, holding Lan Er tightly in his arms, Guo Jing led the way in front, Cao Sen followed behind, and the four of them walked down the dormitory building.

  Just as they were about to leave the dormitory building, the young man who had come earlier rushed over with several security guards and blocked Guo Jing. The security guards all held electric batons, and the one in charge turned on the switch, pointing it at Guo Jing's forehead, neck, and eyes, "Leave him behind..."

  Guo Jing wouldn't bother with these petty thugs, he drew out his Colt pistol, cocked it, and ignoring the electric baton, pressed the muzzle against the thug's forehead. "You little punk, dare to shock me?"

  How dare the security guard? The electric baton was on Guo Jing's body, his body would instinctively convulse, and with a slight movement of his fingers, the gun would fire, and his head would explode. The security guard not only didn't dare to use the electric baton but was also afraid that it might accidentally touch Guo Jing, so he quickly raised the baton high up in the air, "Big brother, be careful not to misfire, be careful not to misfire!"

  Guo Jing used his gun to push aside the security guard and clear a path, while Teng Fei carried Lan'er onto the car.

  Cao Sen stood by the car door, his right hand under his armpit, silently staring at several security guards. After Guo Jing got on the bus, he also got into the Audi and drove away immediately.

  Ding Haitao drove his car straight to Dongda Kai.

  "Why go there?" Cao Sen protested.

  "We all have someone at home, it's not convenient." Teng Fei still had his arm around Lan Er, who was leaning against him with her eyes closed and didn't say a word, but the expression on her face showed that her emotions were much more stable than before.

  Cao Sen glanced at Jing Zhe who was hiding and didn't say anything else.

  Audi rushed to Dongda, four brothers and Lan'er returned to Cao Sen's dormitory, Jing Zhe also followed in, because of Lan'er's presence, she hid behind Cao Sen without saying a word.

  Teng Fei carefully placed Lan'er on Cao Sen's bed and busied himself finding a cup to pour water for Lan'er, bustling about.

  Cao Sen and Ding Haitao exchanged a glance, it seemed that Teng Fei had some feelings for Lan Er. When did this start? Just entering the Red Jade Inn and discovering Lan Er dancing, he didn't seem to have this feeling at first.

  "Lan'er, this is my dormitory. If you have anything to say, just speak up." Cao Sen broke the silence by speaking first, seeing that Teng Fei was standing beside Lan'er with a somewhat awkward expression.

  Lan'er took small sips of water, and tears fell into the cup from time to time.

  Teng Fei gently patted the girl's hair, "Tell us, Lan Er, what's going on that we brothers wouldn't help you with?"

  "It's... it's Zhu Jianjun, he forced me to go there to work, he said if I didn't become his girlfriend, I was only fit to be a..." Lan'er stuttered out her own experience.

  After graduation, Zhu Jianjun continued to pester Lan'er, wanting her to change her mind and come back to him. Lan'er resolutely refused. Zhu Jianjun then used Lan'er's parents' lives as leverage, telling her that she had two choices: either become his girlfriend or go work at the Red House as a prostitute. He said that if she didn't choose one of these options, he would send someone to kidnap her mother and sell her into a brothel in Southeast Asia, where there were many perverts who especially enjoyed abusing older women. Just when Lan'er was at a loss for what to do, her mother really was kidnapped. Zhu Jianjun's condition was that if Lan'er returned to him or went to work at the Red House, her mother would be allowed to return home immediately.

  Although Lan was weak by nature, she did not want to return to Zhu Jianjun's side and would rather choose to go to the Hongye Nightclub. Fortunately, she met a kind-hearted mama who roughly understood Lan's experience, was very angry but couldn't afford to offend Zhu Jianjun, so she arranged for Lan to dance without having to actually entertain guests.

  Zhu Jianjun knew that Lan'er had gone to Yiyong Hong, so he let go of Lan'er's mother. From time to time, he would take a group of people to Yiyong Hong to "appreciate" Lan'er dancing and would specifically ask Lan'er to accompany him for drinks. If it weren't for the kind-hearted mom who intervened on Lan'er's behalf, Lan'er would have been taken advantage of by Zhu Jianjun's men long ago.

  Four brothers listened to Lan's story and were all furious. Is there such a scoundrel in the world? His girlfriend wanted to break up with him, so he took revenge on his girlfriend by forcing her into prostitution. Is this not against heaven and humanity? The viciousness of this revenge is no less than using sulfuric acid to disfigure someone!

  A sudden gust of cold wind blew through the room, causing Lan to shiver. Cao Sen glanced at the female ghost Jing Zhe hiding beside him and saw that her eyebrows were furrowed and her eyes were wide open, clearly enraged by Lan's situation. However, Jing Zhe's gritted teeth didn't intimidate Cao Sen; instead, he found it somewhat endearing. Perhaps it was because Jing Zhe was born too delicate, unless she transformed into a limbless state, otherwise no matter how angry she got, even as a female ghost, she wouldn't be frightening.

  Guo Jing's temples throbbed with rage as he suppressed his anger and asked Lan'er, "Why didn't you report it to the police?"

  "He said I reported to the police, there is no evidence to accuse him, and he will kill my dad, sell my mom to Southeast Asia, I don't dare... Waaahhh...” Lan'er couldn't hold back her tears anymore, burst into loud crying, releasing all the grievances and humiliation in her heart.

  Teng Fei's eyes turned red and he immediately turned around to leave.

  Cao Sen winked at him, and Ding Haitao pulled him back.

  "Let's go together, brothers," Cao Sen said, "get the stuff ready, guys. We'll settle old and new accounts all at once." As he spoke, he pulled out a long box from under the bed, opened it, and inside were a Remington shotgun and a Desert Eagle, along with boxes of bullets.

  "No, you... don't take risks for me, Zhu Jianjun has many underlings, those people are very fierce... I... don't deserve to have you take risks for me." Lan'er said, lowering her head, a strong sense of shame making the girl unable to say another word.

  "No, Lan," Teng Fei walked over to her and gently patted Lan's shoulder. "We've been wanting to get rid of Zhu Jianjun for a long time. Thanks for giving us a good reason, Lan. I, as well as Cao Sen, Guo Jing, and Ding Haitao, have never looked down on you. In our eyes, you're the purest and bravest girl, worthy of our respect. If you don't believe me, you can ask them if it's true."

  Teng Fei's last words moved Lan Er deeply, she raised her head, a pair of tear-filled eyes looked at Cao Sen and the others with an urgent gaze, she yearned for understanding and recognition from these former classmates, the famous iron-blooded hard men.

  Ding Haitao repeatedly said no mistake, no mistake, Teng Fei's words are correct.

  Cao Sen also nodded, but Guo Jing did not react, considering how to deal with Zhu Jianjun.

  Ding Haitao secretly kicked him and Guo Jing hurriedly said: "Right, no mistake, completely correct."

  Lan'er smiled for the first time, and Teng Fei was stunned by her beauty.

  At this moment, the sky and earth suddenly lit up, a dull thunder sounded outside the window, the rumbling thunder swept across the roof, followed by strong winds, large raindrops hit the windows with a loud crash, and the violent storm instantly engulfed the entire Nanquan City.

  Cao Sen opened the window against the wind and rain, looking at the lightning that was flashing in the dark night from time to time, thinking that this was indeed a good weather for murder and arson.