Chapter 16: Why Did the Iron-Blooded Warrior Go Missing?

About half an hour after the fight ended, the Su family garbage yard was already packed with people, both inside and out.

Surrounding onlookers, Su family workers, over twenty police officers from the Zha'nan District Police Department, and dozens of firefighters from the Fire Department were all busy with their respective tasks in the yard.

At the entrance, Kong Zhenghui's car stopped. He scanned the situation inside the yard and nodded to a large private media interview van following behind.

Five people got out of the interview van - two cameramen, two assistants, and a male host. They set up their equipment and began recording the situation inside and outside the yard with practiced ease.

"Tonight around 8:40 PM, a malicious incident of vandalism and arson occurred at a garbage disposal company in Dragon City's Zha'nan District..." The male host began fluently narrating to accompany the footage.

......

Inside the garbage yard.

Su Tianbei was being questioned by the Police Department, and before this, Su Tianyu had already very clearly instructed him on what to say.

"How many people were there?" The questioning police officer was Police Chief Ermao, who had been drinking with Lu Feng that day.

"Probably around twenty or thirty people, all carrying weapons. They started vandalizing as soon as they entered the yard, and even set fire to our company's warehouse..." Su Tianbei said with furrowed brows. "Five of our workers were injured and have already been sent to the hospital."

"Are you sure it was the attackers who set the fire?" Ermao asked skeptically.

"Officer, this is my own family's company. If they didn't set the fire, could it have been me who set it?" Su Tianbei frowned and asked in return.

"During the fight, did they say anything? Where did they run after the fight?"

"They said if the Su family workers strike again, they'll take our lives. After vandalizing, this group jumped over the wall and ran. I heard from the workers on duty that there were cars waiting for them outside," Su Tianbei replied.

"You have so many workers here, and you didn't catch a single attacker?"

"Everyone was terrified at the time, how could we dare fight back!" Su Tianbei responded smoothly. "Most of the workers came later."

"Do you have surveillance cameras here?"

"Yes, but we stopped work a few days ago to change the system, so only the cameras at the main entrance and a few cargo areas are working," Su Tianbei replied.

......

While Tianbei was giving his statement, Su Tianyu had already walked out of the yard and found his big brother and Kong Zhenghui: "Brother!"

Su Tiannan turned around: "You're not giving your statement in the main building?"

"No, Second Brother is doing it," Su Tianyu put on his very refined glasses again and pointed at Kong Zhenghui saying: "I came over to say a few words to Brother Kong."

Since the incident of stabbing Lu Feng, Kong Zhenghui had already seen that this kid Su Tianyu was no pushover, and he had left a deep impression, so he took the initiative to ask: "What is it, brother?"

"Brother Kong, I don't recommend involving media relations now," Su Tianyu said directly.

"Why not?" Kong Zhenghui didn't understand.

"The time isn't ripe yet, we need to let Changqing accumulate more offenses," Su Tianyu never wasted a single word when speaking to outsiders.

Kong Zhenghui frowned slightly: "Changqing is already in deep shit now, do we still need to wait?"

"My big brother is still talking with his connection at the Police Bureau," Su Tianyu said in a low voice. "Let's wait a bit longer."

Kong Zhenghui considered for a moment: "That works too. Let me know when we can reveal our hand."

"Alright," Su Tianyu nodded.

Kong Zhenghui smiled, turned to look at the Su family garbage yard, and shook his head saying: "Lu Feng is really an idiot! If you want to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, just do that, why set a fire? Even if we don't actively spread this news, by tomorrow everyone in Zha'nan District will know that Changqing Company dared to kill and set fires just to seize territory. Hehe, this can't be covered up."

"Indeed," Su Tianyu agreed, then immediately said: "Brother Kong, wait here a moment, I need to say something to my big brother."

"Alright!" Kong Zhenghui nodded.

The two brothers walked to the dimly lit area by the wall, and only then did Su Tiannan ask: "What is it?"

"Big Brother, arrange to meet Wang Daolin right away, right now," Su Tianyu replied.

"What time is it now? Why meet him?"

"Listen to me, arrange it now, and give him conditions directly," Su Tianyu leaned close to his big brother's ear and said with clear logic: "Just tell him that this time Lu Feng really wanted to take our family's lives, you're scared, so..."

......

In Zha'nan District, at the end of Fulin Street, there was a small gambling den. This place specifically served poor people - small in scale, poor in environment, with the surrounding alleys all smelling of urine. But there were still many gamblers who could barely afford to eat, spending night after night playing cards here. When they ran out of money, they would rather watch from beside the tables than go home to sleep.

In a dilapidated security room on the second floor of the gambling den, Lu Feng sat on the sofa, raising his eyebrows as he demanded: "You call yourselves knife-wielding professionals?! Over a dozen of you went together, even if you couldn't win the fight, how the fuck could you not even know if all your own people got out or not?"

"Brother Feng, it was really chaotic at the time. They had more people, we were all dazed from being beaten. We all scattered and ran towards windows and corridors. We really didn't notice where Brother Ah Ming and the others were," a man whose knife wounds hadn't been stitched yet, haphazardly using a whole pack of napkins to stop the bleeding, replied pitifully.

"Useless!" Lu Feng cursed, then used his phone to call Police Chief Ermao: "Hey, is it convenient to talk?"

After a short while, Ermao replied: "It's fine, I'm at the scene."

"Damn it, several of my brothers haven't come back! I just called them but they didn't answer. Are they being held by the other side?" Lu Feng asked directly.

"I asked the Su family people, they said your brothers ran away after vandalizing and setting the fire," Ermao replied in a very low voice. "They weren't trapped at all."

"Bullshit! My people were the ones being beaten. They were trapped in the lobby by the Su family as soon as they went in. I suspect someone in the company leaked information," Lu Feng pressed further. "Scare the Su family people a bit, ask if they're holding people and not admitting it."

"How can I ask that? I'm a public servant of the Police Department, Brother Feng!" Ermao replied exasperatedly. "But I've already warned Su Tianbei that if they're holding people without handing them over, it would definitely count as illegal detention, so I don't think they should be holding anyone. There's no point in doing that!"

Lu Feng was also confused: "That's strange then, where did my brothers go? They wouldn't not answer their phones after finishing a job!"

"Keep looking," Ermao stood outside the lobby, turning his head to look around as he advised: "But let me tell you, Brother Feng, what you did this time is no small matter. Not just vandalism, but arson too. This is a garbage storage area - do you know what the consequences would be if it caused a major fire? Your brothers were too impulsive!"

Hearing this, Lu Feng also became anxious and stood up cursing: "I'm not running a fucking crematorium, why would I set a fire? Someone is framing us."

Ermao was silent for two seconds, not arguing, only asking in return: "Brother Feng, first there was the strike, then workers were cut, and today someone attacked the Su family garbage yard and it caught fire. I can believe what you're saying, but... can others believe it? The core of this matter isn't about who set the fire, but that your people charged into the yard, understand? The Police Bureau is also afraid of trouble!"

Lu Feng had no response.

"I'll handle the scene first, we'll talk later," Ermao hung up first.

Lu Feng gritted his teeth, and as he stood with his hands on his hips pondering what to do, all the thugs in the room stood up, looking towards the stairway and calling out: "Big Brother!"

"Boss Li!"

Lu Feng turned around to see Li Hongze walking over with two people, his face extremely grim.

"Big Brother!" Lu Feng called out.

"What did you do? How could you let them counterattack when you were prepared? And why did you have people set a fire, were you trying to refine elixirs?!" Li Hongze demanded, his composure shattered.

"I didn't set the fire!!" Lu Feng instantly broke down.

......

Around 11 PM.

Su Tiannan's car stopped in front of a popular Cantonese restaurant on Guangming Road in Zha'nan District. After pushing open the car door and adjusting his clothes, he said to the family member accompanying him: "Just wait in the car."

"Alright," the young driver nodded.

Su Tiannan quickly walked into the Cantonese restaurant, went up the stairs to the third floor, and entered a private room. At this time, in an alley directly opposite the restaurant, a man wearing a baseball cap casually glanced at Su Tiannan's car a couple of times.

In the private room on the third floor of the Cantonese restaurant, a man around fifty years old, wearing a white shirt and with his hands in his pockets, said: "Little Nan, I heard about what happened at your factory. How is it, is everyone in your family alright?"

The speaker was called Wang Daolin, a director at the Dragon City Police Bureau with considerable power. He was also a war comrade of Su Tiannan's father. Before Tianyu returned, the Su family had given him fifty thousand yuan, asking him to mediate the dirty gang infighting.

Seeing Wang Daolin, Su Tiannan said with an extremely grave expression: "Uncle, if you don't help me now, I might lose my life!"

Wang Daolin fell silent hearing this.

"The strike was to save my father, purely out of desperation, but before any results came, two workers were already maimed, directly causing the workers below to not dare protest with us anymore," Su Tiannan bent to sit down, pouring tea for Wang Daolin while softly narrating: "Before we could catch our breath, today the factory was vandalized and set on fire again, and five more of our workers were injured. Uncle Wang, for my father's sake, please help the Su family again!"

"I told you before, I can't interfere in your family's matters," Wang Daolin sighed. "Moreover, it's very difficult for you to catch Changqing Company's weakness. I suggested you pay to avoid disaster before, but you didn't listen."

"I have evidence!" Su Tiannan suddenly said.

Wang Daolin paused: "What evidence?"

"I can hand over to you the main thugs who vandalized the factory," Su Tiannan said, looking directly at him.

Wang Daolin looked at him with surprised eyes, not responding.

"I give you the people, and Lu Feng won't be able to explain himself," Su Tiannan said in a low voice. "The Kong, Liu, and Bai families will also exert pressure from the outside, amplifying this matter. I believe the Police Bureau's upper levels definitely don't want to see this kind of sustained negative public opinion, so as long as you exert a little effort to mediate, Changqing Company will definitely soften their stance and settle the matter, and my father can naturally be released."

Wang Daolin put his right hand on his leg, fingers tapping lightly, and after thinking for a while, slowly shook his head: "Little Nan, I'm afraid I can't handle this matter."

"Uncle, as long as you're willing to take the lead in helping us put some pressure on Changqing Company, I won't let you work for nothing," Su Tiannan said in a lowered voice. "The other three companies won't either."

Wang Daolin frowned upon hearing this.

......

Inside the Su family factory.

The Police Department people were still investigating the scene, while Su Tianbei found an opportunity to go to the back courtyard of the main building, opened his car door, and reached under the car seat.

Tianbei had brought a gun when trapping Lu Feng today, because he was afraid of unexpected situations, but now this thing obviously couldn't be used, so he planned to take it away and hide it.

After reaching his right hand under the car seat, Su Tianbei froze on the spot.

The gun was gone!