Chapter 1: Strange Phenomena in the Underworld

  Lu Xiao Ying's phone call almost made him suffocate, he felt a dizziness in front of his eyes, and he swayed as if he was about to fall. Fortunately, there was a wide bed behind him, he stumbled backwards a few steps, sat down on the bed with a thud, and the phone in his hand fell to the ground with a "bang", the battery and back cover flew out. He didn't even care if the phone was broken, let out a sigh and collapsed onto the bed.

  A moment later, he came to, hastily put on his clothes, not caring what they were, just grabbing something to wear and rushing out the door, heading towards the Lan Corporation's warehouse.

  At the entrance of the warehouse, the employees of Lan's Group who had been working hard for several months surrounded the warehouse, sighing, some even shedding tears, and some squatting on the ground wailing. Lan Yutong sat paralyzed on the ground, his eyes dull, with two lines of tears still wet at the corners of his eyes, and he was speechless with worry.

  Qian Xiaohong and Lu Xiaoying stood in front of a pile of useless cosmetics emitting black smoke, looking helpless and pitiful. Dugu Zhong shook his head repeatedly, muttering to himself: "How can this be good? How can this be good?"

  Lan Jingyu glanced at everyone and hastily rushed into the warehouse. After a moment of bitter laughter, she walked out dejectedly.

  "Why did it catch fire? Where did the spark come from? I told you to be careful again and again," Lan Jingqiu walked up to Lan Yutong, squatted down on the ground, looking at Lan Yutong with tears in her eyes.

  "I don't know either!" Lan Yutong shook her head lifelessly and cried to Lan Jingqiu.

  "There's a smell of gasoline in this warehouse," Qian Xiaohong said, sniffing with her nose in the warehouse. "But we didn't use gasoline, did we? How come there's a smell of gasoline?"

  "Petrol smell?" Lan Jingqiu stood up with furrowed brows, and walked back into the warehouse. He looked around and sniffed several times before walking out and saying: "What you said is true, there really is petrol. But why there would be petrol, that's unknown. So, I think this big fire must have some ulterior motives."

  After saying a few words, he turned around and said to Lu Xiaoying: "Call Zhenhua and let him come over to take a look. Maybe someone set the fire secretly."

  Lu Xiaoying nodded repeatedly, then walked aside and took out her phone, she must be making a call.

  Lan Jingqiu and the others watched as wisps of blue smoke rose from the warehouse, sighing in despair. Everyone was at a loss for what to do.

  Just as everyone was feeling down, a harsh voice entered the crowd's ears. Several people turned their heads to see a luxurious Mercedes-Benz stopping by the side of the road with a "ding" sound. Chou Xiaoqian, who had a ugly appearance with a big head and big ears, got out of the car, laughing at others' misfortune as he walked in front of everyone, making "tsk" sounds nonstop, shaking his head in disdain while looking at this scene.

  "What's wrong, everything is burned?" He chuckled and said to Lan Yutong, "What a pity! You must take care of your body, don't be heartbroken because the goods are gone, it's not good for your health."

  "Get out of our sight!" Lu Xiao Ying said gritting her teeth.

  "Don't be angry," Qian said with a smile, "it's not worth getting sick over. Oh, and the company has been out of money for a long time now. I'm sure we borrowed a lot to produce this batch of goods. What will you say if the customers come to pick up their orders on time? Will you tell them there's nothing?"

  "That's our business," Lu Xiao Ying said coldly, staring at him, "it has nothing to do with you."

  "Of course, it has nothing to do with me," Qiu Xianqin sneered, "I used to be a member of the company too, just showing some concern. But now I'm more worried about our chairman, oh no, and you Lan Jingqiu as well. You didn't deliver any goods, but you collected deposits from clients and borrowed money. I don't know if that counts as illegal fundraising? If it is, are you two going to spend a few years in prison? But hey, being able to enjoy 'state-funded meals' for a few years is also a kind of happiness, don't you think? Ha! Just thinking about you two ending up behind bars makes my heart ache——ahh." He laughed loudly, intentionally prolonging the pronunciation of the word "ache".

  "That has nothing to do with you." Lan Jingqiu stood up and said, "Get out of here quickly, we don't want to see a disgusting person like dog shit around here."

  Qiu Xiaoqian didn't get angry, instead he smiled and said: "Is that so? I'm concerned about the company, Chairman. Look, anyway the company will be sold soon, why not sell it to me now? I can still give you a few million."

  "Absurd!" Lan Jingqiu shouted, "Even if this building is worth tens of millions, let alone the company's brand."

  "Why is this dog barking wildly here?" Dugu Jin stepped forward and said, "Such a vicious dog, why release it from its cage? Aren't you afraid of being bitten?"

  "You!" Qiu Xiaoqian's eyes blazed with anger, her fists clenched tightly, her face purpling with rage.

  Dugu Zhong saw his comical angry look and also coldly laughed, saying: "Although I don't understand the current laws and regulations, judging from the situation, I'd like to ask you, my goods were burned, the news hasn't spread yet, how did you know about it? You actually came here before others, could it be that you have the ability to predict good or bad fortune in advance, and had already foreseen that my warehouse would meet with disaster, so you arrived ahead of time?"

  "What era is this now, still speaking such pretentious words?" Qiu Xiaoqian disdainfully glanced at Dugu Jinzhong without answering the question he raised.

  But Dugu Zhong's words made Lan Jingqiu's heart skip a beat. Previously, he was deeply saddened and almost confused, but Dugu Zhong's words quickly cleared his mind. He got up and walked to Qiu Chaiqian's front and said: "My company's goods were burned, except for my company employees, no one else knew about it. How did you know? Was the arsonist you?"

  Chou Xiaoqian, facing Lan Jingqiu's questioning, was no longer so smug and gloating. His eyes darted back and forth, not daring to meet Lan Jingqiu's sharp gaze.

  "Nonsense!" he said loudly, trying to appear calm. "I can sue you for slander." After saying this, he quickly turned around and left in a hurry.

  Lan Jingqiu watched as Qiu Xiaoqian hastily departed, feeling even more suspicious of him. He was certain that Qiu Xiaoqian was the most likely suspect in the arson case.

  Qiu Xiaoqian left, Chen Zhenhua and Huo Jucui also arrived. After they said a few comforting words to the people, they walked into the warehouse. The two of them tried not to damage the scene as much as possible while checking around to see how the fire was caused.

  After searching for half a day, they didn't find anything except for smelling gasoline from time to time, in other words, there was no clue at all.

  "Is this a lighter?" Suddenly, standing behind the door, Huo Jucai's foot seemed to step on something. He bent down to take a look and found it was a lighter, a gold-plated shell lighter, a high-end lighter.

  "Whose lighter is this?" Chen Zhenhua asked.

  "I don't know!" Lan Jingqiu said, "None of us have such a lighter."

  "It seems like I've seen it somewhere," Qian Xiaohong thought for a moment and said, "Oh, I remember now. Another time, Qiu Xiang brought us to have dinner with a client, and he used this lighter to light that client's cigarette."

  "Right!" Lu Xiao Ying also said, "I remember now."

  "That Qiao Xiang's suspicion is the greatest," Chen Zhenhua said, "Have you reported it to the police?"

  "It's reported," said Lan Yutong, "the police came and took a few photos before leaving. They said they would file the case for investigation."

  "Did the insurance company know?" asked Huo Jucai again.

  "Unfortunately," said Lan Yutong, "I thought it wouldn't be a problem, so this batch of goods wasn't insured."

  "That means the Lan family will have to compensate for this loss themselves?" Huo Jucai said in surprise.

  Everyone was silent, and the atmosphere was quiet. Lan Jingqiu heard that Lan Yutong didn't buy insurance and felt extremely angry in his heart. He scolded Lan Yutong loudly to vent his emotions, but thinking that Lan Yutong wasn't doing well either, he could only hold back his feelings.

  "If that's the case," said Huo Jucai, "others will definitely sue you in court. Even if they don't sue, they will definitely ask for compensation from you because you can't deliver the goods. The compensation is also a large sum of money. If such a situation arises, the company will face bankruptcy, and Uncle Lan and Lan Yutong will also face imprisonment."

  "What can be done?" Qian Xiaohong was very anxious for them after hearing this.

  "For now, the only thing we can do is to get another sum of money as soon as possible and make use of the remaining three months to intensify production and produce a batch of goods," said Huo Jucai.

  "Where did we get the money from?" Lan Jingqiu sighed and said.

  "You've forgotten," said Lu Xiao Ying, "there's still one person who can save us, and that's Lan Yu Tong's sister, Lan Yu Xing."

  "Will she help me?" Lan Yutong furrowed his brow, shaking his head, he didn't dare to imagine that Lan Yuxing would help him.

  "Now there's nothing else we can do." Lan Jingqiu said, "No matter what the outcome is, you have to try anyway."

  "That year, because of the dispute over Father's inheritance, my sister and I became enemies. Now if I go to find her, she will laugh at me." Lan Yutong sighed, not wanting to face his sister's ridicule.

  "For your father's sake, for Uncle Lan and for yourself, just give it a try." The crowd surrounded him, Qian Xiaohong repeatedly advising him, with saliva flying everywhere due to his excitement.

  Under the strong persuasion of everyone, Lan Yutong gazed at a pile of discarded goods with intense inner struggle, hesitating to pace back and forth in front of everyone. After more than ten minutes passed, he stood still, his lips tightly closed, and then nodded heavily once, deciding to go find his sister tomorrow.

  The next day, the sky was shrouded in a haze of smoke and rain, with gloomy clouds covering the horizon like a blanket of sorrow on people's faces. The cold wind blew in waves, causing people to shrink their necks and hide in their collars, just like turtles withdrawing into their shells.

  Lan Yutong came to a beautiful suburb in the north of the city with Lu Xiaoying, and Lan Yuxing lived in a luxurious villa in this suburb.

  Since she inherited her father's general legacy, plus her efforts over this period of time, it can be said that her family is now worth hundreds of millions. Unfortunately, at the age of nearly twenty-five, she has never had a boyfriend, let alone thought about getting married. She has a talent for doing business and is known as a "business killer beauty", but in her daily life, she is very simple, with a pure heart and empty emotions. Maybe it's because strong women are hard to marry, thinking of finding someone who is less capable, she is not willing to compromise, and more afraid that the man loves her money rather than herself; thinking of finding someone stronger and richer than her, she is also afraid that her money will be dominated by the other party, making her only a housewife, causing her to lose her career. So hesitating, until now, she still lives alone in this huge mansion.

  Every day, apart from work, she hides at home reading books. Occasionally, she goes out to have tea with a few female friends. Her friends see her so beautiful yet still single and secretly worry about her, but she doesn't care. She once told her friends: Women don't necessarily need to get married, right?

  Two days ago, I went to Ubon City for business and didn't return until around 11:00 today. When she got home, she was exhausted too, so she took a bath, asked her maid to make something simple to eat, and then went back to her room to sleep.

  Lan Yutong had just arrived at his sister's villa shortly after she returned, he and Lu Xiaoying stood outside the gate of the yard, he gritted his teeth, wandering around outside the door, several times stretching out his hand was about to touch the doorbell, but instantly retracted. Lu Xiaoying looked a bit impatient, seeing Lan Yutong refused to press the doorbell, so she stepped forward and pressed her left index finger on the doorbell without moving.

  The sound of the doorbell reminded the nanny in the house, a woman of about 45 years old, who came out of the house to the door and was about to ask who Lu Xiaoying was looking for when she saw Lan Yutong.