vncnus Chapter 11: If you can't beat them, join them. No problem.
Chapter 11: If you can't beat them, join them. No problem.
Shen Shaofeng immediately recognized her as Sister Fang, the widow of the previous leader and the mother of Fang Zhanqiang.
She stopped in front of Li Wenbin.
"Li Wenbin." Sister Fang looked at Li Wenbin and called out to him in a hoarse voice.
"Your father is Li Shutang. According to the hierarchy in the martial arts world, you're practically one of us."
Li Wenbin looked up, rain streaming down his cheeks.
"But my son is dead." Fang Jie's voice suddenly turned cold.
"Only you know his whereabouts."
She took a step forward and looked down at Li Wenbin: "A life for a life, that's fair."
Li Wenbin's Adam's apple bobbed, but he did not defend himself.
He went through great lengths to gain Ruan Ruolan's initial trust and obtain Fang Zhanqiang's secret hideout.
Because the matter was too serious, he didn't want to implicate his colleagues at the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau (OCTB), so he immediately notified his most trusted superior, Cai Yuanqi, of the relevant clues.
Who knew that in the end, Fang Zhanqiang and the others were all sent away, and he himself almost got taken away by the Political Department.
If he hadn't noticed something amiss and subdued the driver in the car that Cai Yuanqi had arranged for him to "escape" Hong Kong Island, he probably would have been sent away on the spot as well.
The last car crashed into the roadside guardrail, and the driver lost consciousness. When he woke up, he found himself being controlled by Lao Wan's men.
He could only blame himself for trusting the wrong person; faced with Sister Fang's questioning, he had nothing to say.
Even if he were to accuse Cai Yuanqi now, he would have no evidence. Besides, people in the underworld never need to talk about evidence.
Seeing that Li Wenbin did not refute, Sister Fang took a Black Star pistol from one of the elders beside her:
"Is there anything you need our old man to explain to you?"
Seeing that Li Wenbin remained silent, she put her finger on the trigger.
"Bang!"
Gunshots rang out, but they didn't come from the Black Star gun in Sister Fang's hand.
A burst of blood erupted from Li Wenbin's body, and he fell backward with a "thud" into the seawater behind him, instantly swallowed by the waves.
Fang Jie's hand holding the gun froze in mid-air, and she slowly turned her head.
Ruan Ruolan stood behind her, also holding a Black Star sword: "Sister Fang, enforcing family discipline is Old Master Wan's business, no need to trouble you."
……
Shen Shaofeng witnessed the whole scene and muttered to himself: Holy crap!
A dignified Chief Superintendent of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau was executed by gangsters in a manner reminiscent of an execution. This Hong Kong variety show's timeline is a bit too sci-fi.
You guys could at least have carried out an assassination, honey.
Fortunately, after checking the information on Fang Zhanqiang's case in the afternoon, he immediately contacted Ruan Ruolan using a public phone.
The police leadership couldn't find a completely trustworthy senior officer for the time being, but Lao Wan's side might be won over by them because of Fang Zhanqiang's death.
Ruan Ruolan's cell phone—or rather, her old-fashioned mobile phone—had been switched off until recently when it was turned back on.
Shen Shaofeng anonymously and selectively shared some of his speculations with Ruan Ruolan, who simply said "I understand" and hung up.
The scene before him convinced Shen Shaofeng that the shot was not fatal and that Ruan Ruolan was trying to save him.
With that thought in mind, Shen Shaofeng cleaned up the traces at the observation point and went downstairs towards the sea.
……
One day later, in Dapeng Bay, a fishing boat.
Li Wenbin slowly opened his eyes and struggled to get out of bed.
He was shot twice in less than a week, and neither bullet was treated by a proper doctor, which has left him in very poor health.
"Son, you're awake?"
In a daze, I heard a familiar voice in my ear. This... sounds like my dad?
I vaguely remember being shot before, didn't I?
"Boss, have a glass of water first, drink slowly."
Then another voice came, and a pair of hands helped him sit up.
Finally, Li Wenbin woke up completely and saw his father, Li Shutang, and his subordinate, Shen Shaofeng.
"Dad, Shaofeng? What happened?"
He drank half a glass of water to moisten his pale lips before asking in a slightly hoarse voice.
"Don't rush, eat something first, then we can talk slowly."
Li Shutang turned around and walked back to the ship's kitchen, bringing out a pot of fish porridge and several side dishes.
Half an hour later, the three of them, having eaten and drunk their fill, began to smoke.
"Dad, you mean Shaofeng saved me?"
"Yes, Mr. Ruan notified me in advance, and I also sent people to the beach to look for you, but they found that this young man had already rescued you and brought you ashore."
At this point, Li Shutang nodded slightly to Shen Shaofeng to express his gratitude.
Shen Shaofeng exhaled a smoke ring and said, "Boss, we're all brothers, no need for formalities. Tell me what happened after you left the restaurant kitchen that night."
Li Wenbin organized his thoughts and began to recount: "That night, Mr. Ruan was attacked, and we left through the back door of the kitchen..."
Shen Shaofeng and Li Shutang listened attentively until Li Wenbin mentioned a key point.
"After we finished talking at the police station, Cai Yuanqi had someone take me away, and then... for some reason, I was taken to the dock by Lao Wan's men, and you all know what happened after that."
The two exchanged a glance, then looked at Li Wenbin.
Li Shutang frowned and said, "Son, there are probably some things you've been hiding from me, aren't there?"
Shen Shaofeng was even more direct: "Was Fang Zhanqiang's affair orchestrated by Cai Yuanqi?"
Li Wenbin was taken aback upon hearing this: "How...how did you know?"
He deliberately concealed it just now because the matter involved the second-in-command of the police force, and he didn't want to drag Shen Shaofeng into it. Little did he expect that his subordinate had already guessed the truth.
Li Shutang also looked at Shen Shaofeng with great interest:
"Fung, how did you guess that?"
Shen Shaofeng held up three fingers: "It's very simple. Fang Zhanqiang and the others got into trouble, and the hostages and ransom have disappeared. There are only three possibilities."
"First, it could be that the mastermind behind the scenes killed them to cover it up."
"Secondly, there's infighting among them."
"Third, a powerful third party intervened."
"Fang Zhanqiang is nicknamed the Tiger of Kuiyong. If he couldn't even control his own people, he wouldn't have gotten to this level, nor would he have been able to pull off this kidnapping case. So the second possibility is extremely unlikely."
Li Wenbin nodded and said, "Then what's the first possibility? By the way, why do you think there's a mastermind behind it all?"
"I'll tell you about this later, boss," Shen Shaofeng continued his reasoning.
"As for why I ruled out the first possibility, it's because I went back to the police station and checked the relevant files, and a lot of key information was top secret."
"Even if the mastermind has a long reach, they shouldn't be able to penetrate such a core position in our police force. Therefore, it's highly likely that it was done by someone within the police force."
"Based on the intelligence I've gathered before, and the behavior of Xu Huaihan and Cai Yuanqi before you were taken away that day, I boldly speculate that it was Cai Yuanqi who did it."
The Li father and son looked at each other in bewilderment.
After a long while, Li Shutang patted Shen Shaofeng on the shoulder and said, "Fengzai, you have a bright future."
Then he turned to Li Wenbin: "Son, Cai Yuanqi is someone I personally trained. Now, only you guys in the entire police force know he's betrayed us. To be honest, you can't outmaneuver him."
Li Wenbin remained silent, but Shen Shaofeng suddenly said something surprising: "Since you can't beat them, why not join them? You two, Li Sir, I have a plan..."