Chapter 18: Prelude to the Offensive

In Wang Daolin's hospital room at Zha'nan District People's Hospital, five or six mid-level officials from the Dragon City Police Bureau were angrily cursing Changqing Company's people, feeling indignant about Old Wang being implicated in this matter.

Wang Daolin wasn't injured at all. He sat on the hospital bed, lit a cigarette, took two deep drags, and suddenly said: "Damn it, when Changqing Company first came, they were very well-behaved, always minding their own business. These past few years they've set up a chamber of commerce, inserted people into the system, put on airs, and now they don't respect anyone. Now they even dare to shoot at my hat. This won't do, I can't swallow this!"

"If you can't swallow it, then investigate this matter to the death," a friend of Wang Daolin's age immediately frowned and replied. "The vandalism and arson case, the serious injury of team leaders case, the public shooting case at the Cantonese restaurant - these are all leads. If we grab any one of them, it'll be enough to scare Li Hongze into pissing his pants."

"Brothers, do you know what Su Er's kid came to talk to me about today?" Wang Daolin now showed no signs of fear, but instead asked very calmly.

"What did he want?" someone asked, following the conversation.

"He made an offer!" Wang Daolin took a drag on his cigarette, looking intently at everyone as he said: "If we work together, not only can we vent our anger, but we can also get some benefits. And most importantly, we'll have justification, because we didn't start this."

"An offer? What kind of offer?"

"What did he say?"

"...!"

Everyone was very interested and gathered around Wang Daolin.

About ten minutes later, Wang Daolin walked out of the hospital room and went downstairs, just as Su Tiannan was being wheeled out of the emergency room. He had been shot once, but fortunately the bullet had grazed the edge of his abdomen, a through-and-through wound that hadn't damaged any major organs, though his intestines were damaged and he needed immediate surgery.

"Little Nan, are you alright?" Wang Daolin asked, walking beside the moving hospital bed.

Su Tiannan hadn't been given general anesthesia and was still conscious. He looked at Wang Daolin and said in a trembling voice: "That was too close, Uncle Wang!"

Wang Daolin turned to the nurse beside him and said politely: "I'm from the Police Bureau, I'd like to say a few words to him in private."

"Not too long, he needs to prepare for surgery," the nurse said as she walked away.

Wang Daolin looked down at Su Tiannan and said concisely: "That matter you mentioned at the restaurant, I'll help you take care of it."

"Uncle Wang!" Su Tiannan tried to sit up when he heard this.

"It's alright, it's alright, lie down," Wang Daolin pressed Su Tiannan's shoulder and bent down to say to him: "Hand the people over to me, you don't need to worry about the rest."

"Good, good!" Su Tiannan nodded repeatedly.

"If your four companies still have any bargaining chips, don't be in a hurry to reveal them. Wait for me to make my move first," Wang Daolin looked at Su Tiannan very calmly and said: "If I make a move, it won't just be me handling this matter. Some of the connections that get involved will need to be taken care of later."

"I understand, I understand!"

"Like this..." Wang Daolin casually picked up the prescription form on the hospital bed, wrote down a phone number on it, and handed it to Su Tiannan saying: "Call this number later."

"Understood!" Su Tiannan was so excited that all his body hair stood on end.

"Recover well, we'll discuss the rest tomorrow," Wang Daolin patted Tiannan's arm and turned to leave.

After watching Wang Daolin walk away, Su Tiannan excitedly sat up with a jerk, his left hand covering his wound, his right hand taking out his phone to immediately dial Su Tianyu's number: "Hello?"

"Big Brother, how are you? I heard you were shot, our family is on the way to the hospital. Wait for me, wait for me, hang in there...!" Su Tianyu's mouth was like a machine gun, full of concern.

"Stop fucking pretending! You know where I'm injured better than a CT scan, what are you yelling about?!" Su Tiannan cursed in a low voice, then immediately said: "Uncle Wang found me. You immediately bring out Lu Feng's thugs. I'll give you a phone number, you and Tianbei deliver the people there. Don't cause any extra trouble."

"Alright, I understand," Su Tianyu immediately agreed.

......

About five minutes after Wang Daolin had just left the hospital, Li Xing's car from the Police Bureau, as well as Li Hongze and Lu Feng's business van, all stopped in the hospital's No. 2 parking lot.

Li Xing was the first to get out of the car with an assistant, walking hurriedly into the main building and all the way to Wang Daolin's hospital room door.

"Where's Old Wang? How's the situation?" Li Xing asked the few police officers standing at the door.

Everyone turned to look at Li Xing, and a middle-aged man of police chief rank smiled and replied: "Oh, Director Li!"

"Where's Old Wang, is he inside?"

"He just left," the police chief replied softly. "The Cantonese restaurant incident has caused a big stir. Deputy Director Hong just went to the office to prepare for a case filing meeting. Old Wang had to go attend."

"Ah, I thought he was in the hospital," Li Xing was already very anxious at this point.

"Did you need to see him for something?" The police chief's words sounded normal, but his tone was somewhat aggressive.

Li Xing paused before replying: "Nothing much, just heard he was at the shooting scene, so I came to check on him."

"Ah!" The police chief nodded and said no more.

"Alright, you all carry on. I'll be going," Li Xing said goodbye to everyone.

Everyone nodded in response.

Li Xing quickly went downstairs and took out his phone to call Wang Daolin directly, but the latter didn't answer.

"Sigh, what a mess!" Li Xing complained with a very unpleasant expression, walking towards the business van and directly pulling open the door to get in.

"Did you see Wang Daolin?" Li Hongze immediately asked.

"No, he went back to the Police Bureau. I just called him, but he didn't answer," Li Xing said with a gloomy face.

"You need to talk to him," Li Hongze said urgently. "We can't let this turn into a misunderstanding."

"How can I talk to him? Should I directly tell him that the people who shot Su Tiannan and him weren't sent by Lu Feng?" Li Xing frowned and replied. "Wouldn't that indirectly admit that the previous incidents were related to Lu Feng and me?"

"You need to hint at it!" Lu Feng reminded.

Li Xing looked at Lu Feng with piercing eyes and suddenly asked: "Tell me the truth, did you really hire the gunman?"

"???"

Lu Feng's face instantly turned purple upon hearing this.

The car fell silent for a moment, and after a long while, Li Hongze also asked: "Speak up, did you hire him or not?"

Lu Feng looked at Li Hongze in bewilderment, and after holding back for a long time, he shouted: "If you two ask about this again, I'll fucking kill myself! How many times do I have to say it, the gunman has absolutely nothing to do with me!"

Li Xing stared at Lu Feng for a long time, then turned his head and said: "A shooting case, and the assailant even fired at a Police Bureau director. This matter... is definitely beyond my power to suppress. Now it depends on Wang Daolin's attitude. I'll go back to the Police Bureau in a bit and call you if there's any news."

"Alright," Li Hongze nodded.

"Bang!"

Li Xing pushed open the car door and stepped out.

Lu Feng's composure shattered. After a long silence, he suddenly asked Li Hongze: "Big Brother, if I didn't do the shooting, is it possible that Wang Daolin did it himself?"

Li Hongze was stunned.

Lu Feng thought he was signaling him to continue, so he immediately added: "Wang Daolin and Old Su Er are war comrades. He wants to get involved in the dirty gang business, but has no justification, so he and Su Tiannan staged this trick together."

"I just praised you a few days ago for learning to use your brain, how can you say something so ignorant now?" Li Hongze looked helplessly at Lu Feng and replied in a low voice: "Are you stupid? Wang Daolin is a police officer, a director! How sick would he have to be to fire three shots at himself in a public place?!"

In the police car beside them, Li Xing sat in the passenger seat, saying nothing.

As the driver drove out of the hospital, he couldn't help but ask: "Lu Feng says he didn't do this, so who could have done it?"

"You believe him just because he said so? Before Lu Feng came to Dragon City, who knows how many lives he had taken. Parachuting in from the Big Circle, shooting and killing people - he's more skilled at these things than anyone!" Li Xing frowned and replied. "Whether or not they can take over the Zha'nan District territory is most directly related to Lu Feng's interests. When the workers went on strike, he was more anxious than anyone. Just because he doesn't say it doesn't mean he didn't do it. The matter has just gotten too big for him to admit. These desperados, not a single word of truth comes out of their mouths!"

......

On a rural dirt road in Zha'nan District, three vans were parked. Su Tianbei stood beside the cars, smoking and scanning the surroundings.

In the middle van, Su Tianyu sat in the passenger seat, drowsiness overtaking him as he kept yawning.

Inside the car, the iron-blooded warrior Floral Shirt had his hands bound with chains. He lowered his head, squinting at Su Tianyu as he cursed: "You little punk, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Su Tianyu wasn't in the mood to pay attention to him.

"You've detained us but don't dare hand us over to the police, and don't dare kill me. In the end, I think you're going to be in a lot of trouble, hehe!" Floral Shirt said in a vicious tone. "I'll say it again, don't let this old man get out, or your two legs will be broken too."

Su Tianyu got tired of listening and turned back to look at him, saying: "Stop yelling. The four companies have already negotiated with your Changqing. In a while, people from the Police Bureau will come to pick you up - Li Xing's people."

Floral Shirt paused for a moment, then said with a cold laugh: "So you do have some brains."

"Why else would we catch you if not to negotiate?" Su Tianyu said, then fell silent.

After about ten minutes, two police vans stopped, and more than a dozen police officers got out. The leader exchanged a few words with Su Tianbei, then directly pulled open the van door to take the people.

After Floral Shirt and the others were taken away, Su Tianbei nodded to the lead police officer, then immediately left with his own people.

After the group of iron-blooded warriors were put into the van, Floral Shirt sat in the middle row of seats and asked with a smile: "Brother Li didn't come?"

"Which Brother Li?" the lead officer asked in return.

"Wasn't it Li Xing who sent you?" At this moment, Floral Shirt had no idea about the shooting incident outside, let alone that Wang Daolin had also been shot at. So in his understanding, he really thought the higher-ups had finished negotiating, otherwise the Su family wouldn't dare keep detaining them with their strength.

The lead officer looked at the iron-blooded warrior in confusion and asked: "You know Li Xing?"

"Fuck, we often rip panties together. We even drank together a couple days ago. Hey, which team are you from?" Floral Shirt asked.

The officer bent down with great interest and handed Floral Shirt a cigarette: "Here, keep talking. Where did you and Brother Li rip panties? Why didn't you call us?"

......

In a high-end apartment building in Longkou District.

A refined-looking middle-aged man got up from bed, walked to the study, and said on the phone: "Has Lu Feng gone crazy? Why is he biting Wang Daolin?"

"I don't know, but this incident has caused quite a stir. The Police Bureau held an emergency case filing meeting overnight."

"...Do this, tomorrow find someone to pass a message to the four companies, just say this..." The middle-aged man paused, then began instructing his secretary.