Du Cong returned home dejected after failing to withdraw the stored-value cards. The reason he had timidly left when the hotel asked to verify his identity was that he feared the car he'd impounded might not actually belong to those two bastards. The rundown house they lived in didn't seem like the home of people who could afford such an off-road vehicle—most likely they'd borrowed it. And those three stored-value cards were far beyond their usual spending level.
But even if they were poor, they were clearly responsible for the car accident. By humanitarian standards, they should at least pay some compensation.
The more Du Cong thought about it, the angrier he became. He grabbed a shoulder bag, stuffed an iron hammer inside for self-defense, and went downstairs to demand money from the pair—whatever amount he could get.
He took the bus to a stop in the southern part of the city, then walked a few hundred meters to their home. Gripping the hammer in his hand, he prepared for any potential confrontation.
Meanwhile, Gang Ge and Xiao Mao were at home, utterly at a loss. Li Penggai's corpse still lay in a sack in the back room, while the car—containing a suitcase with a million dollars—had been driven away by Du Cong. Without his phone number, they could only hope he hadn't discovered the money and would return to demand compensation.
After waiting all day, they rushed to the door at the sound of knocking. Peering through the crack and seeing Du Cong, they eagerly yanked the door open. Startled, Du Cong hastily raised his hammer in defense—only to have the two men fawn over him like mangy stray dogs, addressing him as "big brother" repeatedly.
"Big brother! We've been waiting for you! That car yesterday belonged to a friend who left it with us. Please, be merciful and return it to us."
"You still want the car back? What about my damaged vehicle?"
"We'll pay!" Gang Ge declared decisively. "We'll compensate you fully."
"You'll pay?" Du Cong was momentarily stunned by their sudden 180-degree attitude shift. Dazedly, he asked, "How much?"
Gang Ge clapped his hands. "Big brother, you name the price!"
"Well..." Their unexpectedly cooperative demeanor made even demanding 300,000 yuan feel audacious. "That car wasn't mine either. For the repairs and depreciation, the total is 600,000. I'll swallow 300,000 of the loss myself—you pay the other 300,000." Worried they might doubt him, he quickly added, "The accident was registered with the police. You can verify with them if you don't believe me."
"No need! 300,000 RMB, right?"
"Well... yes?"
"No problem!" Gang Ge agreed immediately. Xiao Mao nudged him—where would they get 300,000?—but Gang Ge shoved him away, scolding, "If Brother Cong says 300,000, then it's 300,000! We won't bargain!"
Their sudden obsequiousness left Du Cong suspicious. Glancing at their shabby house, he asked skeptically, "Can you actually come up with 300,000?"
"Of course! Just return the car first, and we'll have the full 300,000 ready for you the very next day!"
Du Cong's mood instantly cooled. "You're just trying to trick me into giving the car back, aren't you?"
"How could we!" Gang Ge drawled. "Brother Cong, we're men of our word. Return the car, we'll immediately mortgage it, and you'll get every cent you're owed!"
Du Cong smirked coldly and extended his hand. "Enough talk. Give me 100,000 first, then I'll bring the car back."
"100,000..." Gang Ge looked uneasily at Xiao Mao, who appeared even more troubled.Du Cong never really expected to get the full 300,000 from them. If they could compensate 100,000 and he could figure out the rest himself, he’d already be thanking his lucky stars. Seeing their expressions, Du Cong lowered his offer: "Give me 80,000 first!"
"80,000..." The two still looked troubled.
"Then how much can you give me now?"
Gang Ge thumped his chest in assurance: "As long as you return the car to us, we’ll pay you the full 300,000 without missing a cent."
"Impossible!" Du Cong’s stance left no room for negotiation.
Xiao Mao chimed in: "Cong Ge, trust us. Return the car first, and once we have it, we’ll have way more than 300,000—" Gang Ge immediately slapped the back of Xiao Mao’s head, nearly stopping him from revealing the secret about the trunk. He quickly added, "Cong Ge, we’ll gather the money first, pay you, and then you return the car. That’s how it works, right?"
"Just these few days, though. I can’t wait long!"
"No problem! Cong Ge, give us your phone number. We’ll call you once we have the money."
Du Cong studied them for a moment. Their attitude today was oddly cooperative, but no matter how nice they acted, he wasn’t about to let them drive off without paying a single cent. Frowning, he left his phone number and walked away, half-convinced.
The moment he was gone, Xiao Mao muttered, "Where are we supposed to get 80,000 for him?"
Gang Ge turned and smacked him again: "You’re so damn stupid, you almost let him know there’s big money in that car. If we can’t pay him, and he stole our car, we’ll just steal it back!"
"But we don’t even know where the car is."
Gang Ge slapped the back of his head once more: "We’ll follow him home!"
No sooner said than done. The two quietly tailed Du Cong through several alleys until they reached a main road. From a distance, they saw him walk to a bus stop and board a bus shortly after.
Gang Ge quickly flagged down a nearby iron-sheet tricycle for disabled, waiting for passengers, and told the driver, "Step on it, follow that bus."
"Want me to overtake the bus?" The driver, a man in his forties, asked.
Gang Ge kept his eyes fixed on the bus and snapped, "With this piece of junk? Fat chance."
"Hey, buddy, I don’t like that tone. This baby’s got great performance, I—"
"Just keep up with the bus. Not too close, not too far."
"You cops?" The driver glanced at them through the rearview mirror.
"Nope."
"If you’re not cops, why are you tailing that bus?"
"Cheating spouse, alright?" Gang Ge couldn’t be bothered to explain.
"You’re using my ride to catch a cheater? If something happens, I’m screwed. Following the bus means I’m missing out on other fares. You’d better pay double, or I’m out." The driver seized the chance to haggle.
Gang Ge tore his gaze from the bus and glared at him: "Let me ask you—do you even have a disability permit for driving this thing?"
"Nope."
Gang Ge smacked the back of his head: "Keep yapping, and I’ll make sure you get one!"
Meanwhile, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi were also driving their own iron-sheet tricycle for disabled at a leisurely pace.
"Chao Ge, you let Zhou Rong set the time and place for the deal. What if he tricks us and turns us in?""Hold on, I'm testing him." Fang Chao snorted dismissively. He drove his disabled scooter around the streets surrounding Jade Plaza several times to survey the area, repeatedly waving off pedestrians trying to hail rides. After scouting the terrain, Fang Chao wanted to park nearby and wait, but there were no parking spots around the plaza. Although nearby shopping malls had parking, they didn't allow disabled scooters. After searching extensively, he finally parked at a temporary free parking lot set up in a demolition site less than a kilometer from the plaza. Not far away was Li Penggai's off-road vehicle.
Fang Chao slowly explained to Liu Zhi: "This is our last deal in Three Rivers Estuary. If we mess this up, aren't we all going to jail?"
"Yeah."
"So this time, we must succeed. There's no room for failure. I had Zhou Rong set the time and place for the deal, but not because I actually want to trade with him. I'm checking if he's setting a trap. If he's working with the police, then we can forget about getting money from him—we'll just release the USB drive publicly. If there's no trap, I'll decide how to handle the deal later. I've checked the area around Jade Plaza. It only takes five or six minutes to walk there from here, and this spot is inconspicuous. So we'll wait here and scout again when it's almost time."
Du Cong got off at the bus stop, and Gang Ge and Xiao Mao quickly followed, pretending to be casual as they trailed behind. When Du Cong entered the apartment building, Gang Ge quietly went in after him. Through the stairwell gaps, he saw Du Cong enter the left-side apartment on the fourth floor.
After stepping back outside, Gang Ge told Xiao Mao: "He lives here, so the car must be nearby." The two carefully checked all the parked cars along the street but didn't find Li Penggai's vehicle.
"Let's check the surrounding area."
Soon, they arrived at the temporary parking lot behind the building, where many cars were parked. After searching around, they excitedly spotted Li Penggai's off-road vehicle among them. They rushed over and peered inside, but the suitcase wasn't there.
Gang Ge pondered: "If the suitcase isn't in the car, he must have taken it upstairs. He came to us for money, which means he still doesn’t know there’s cash inside."
"Gang Ge, what do we do now?"
"One option is to go straight to his place and take the suitcase by force. But if he calls the police and they investigate, Li Penggai's whole scheme will be exposed. So the only other way is to break into his apartment, find the suitcase, and take the money. Then we can exchange the dollars for yuan, give him 300,000 to keep him quiet, take the car away, and dispose of it. That way, everything’s clean."
After discussing, they agreed the plan was feasible and went home to gather tools for breaking in.
However, just over ten meters away, two pairs of eyes glared at them fiercely.
"Are you sure it's them?" Fang Chao's voice was icy.
"I'd recognize those two even if they were ashes!" Liu Zhi was already eager to get out of the car.
Fang Chao grabbed him and said darkly, "Wait, you'll get your chance. Let’s follow them first."
As the two hailed a disabled scooter and drove off, Fang Chao turned the key, and their scooter followed at a careful distance.Gang Ge and Xiao Mao got off the disabled scooter and walked home, discussing their plan of action.
"Later, you take the tools, and I'll call Du Cong to lure him out. You take the chance to pry open his door, find the box inside, take the money, and leave. Got it?" Gang Ge instructed him.
"Me? Pry open the door?"
"Yeah."
"But I don’t know how to pick locks. Isn’t that your specialty?"
"Since when is prying doors my specialty? When have I ever pried a door open?" Gang Ge looked shocked.
"I heard from folks back home that you always sneaked into women’s houses at night, pried open their doors, slept with them, and got chased out of the village when their husbands found out."
"Bullshit!" Gang Ge spat angrily. "Those damn women and their cuckold husbands made that up. Back when I was in the village, did I even need to pry doors open? Believe me, even if my house had three security doors, those women would’ve climbed in anyway."
"Ah… those were the days…" Xiao Mao swallowed hard, his eyes filled with longing.
"Enough nonsense," Gang Ge cut off his daydream. "What do we do now?"
The two happily debated for a long time about how to pry open the door and grab the box, only to realize neither of them had ever done it before.
They stopped walking, pondering until Xiao Mao finally had an idea: "I know a guy who works for a locksmith company and dabbles in theft. I’ve seen him pick locks—he twists off the peephole and uses a special rod to turn the lock from inside. I’ll borrow his tools, put on a work uniform, and pretend to be a locksmith. If I can’t get it open right away, passersby won’t suspect anything."
Gang Ge clapped excitedly. "Your brain’s been working overtime lately! First, the U.S. dollars, now this locksmith idea. Alright, let’s do it!"
With that, they turned around and headed toward the locksmith’s place.
About fifty or sixty meters behind them, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi had been silently following. If not for these two bastards, they would’ve robbed Zhou Rong and fled long ago, instead of being forced to go on the run. Today, they wouldn’t just take back the box—they’d end their lives too.
They couldn’t act in broad daylight, so they waited for the pair to return home. But when the two suddenly turned around, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi quickly averted their faces, pretending to be passersby as they hurried ahead. After walking a few dozen meters to a corner, they stopped and were about to look back when a shout came from behind the wall: "Eat this, scum!"
Instinctively turning, they saw two large washbasins flying straight at them. Liu Zhi, with his long limbs, kicked the one aimed at him aside. Fang Chao, with no time to react, raised his arms to block—the basin was deflected, but its contents drenched him completely.
Fang Chao froze, licked his lips, and tasted something foul. Looking down, he realized he was covered head to toe in excrement. A few seconds later, he raised his burning eyes and glared at the three stunned men across from him."Sorry, big brothers, I was aiming for those two guys behind you. I didn’t expect them to turn around and leave. Let me apologize—" Before he could finish the word "apology," Fang Chao had already grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall, leaving him bloodied. His two underlings, seeing their boss beaten, were about to grab rocks from the roadside as weapons when Liu Zhi swiftly kicked them down, leaving them motionless on the ground.
"Spare us, big brother! I... I really didn’t mean it!" The man in Fang Chao’s grip knew he had crossed paths with ruthless men and wailed for mercy.
Just then, an electric scooter passed by. Liu Zhi shot the rider a fierce glare, and the man quickly pretended not to see anything, speeding away. Fang Chao, worried the commotion might attract police, suppressed his fury and signaled Liu Zhi to drag all three into a nearby alley. Still gripping the man’s throat, he demanded, "What do you three do?"
"B-big brother, we... we work for a debt collection agency. Those two guys who just walked behind you owe credit card debts and ignored our warnings. We just wanted to teach them a lesson—we didn’t mean to offend you! Please... please let us go!"
Fang Chao gritted his teeth. "Where do they live?"
"Right behind here," the debt collector pointed backward.
"Take us there."
"Take you there?"
"They owe us money too. Debt collection isn’t your job!"
The three hastily agreed. Chasing a few thousand in credit card debt wasn’t worth provoking these two. They could tell at a glance these were men not to be trifled with. Leading Fang Chao and Liu Zhi to Gang Ge’s courtyard, Fang Chao dismissed them with a warning never to cross his path again. The trio scurried away without hesitation.
The courtyard gate was locked, but the flimsy lock was no obstacle. Liu Zhi fiddled with a bank card and popped it open. The two strode in, heading straight for the house. The door, already broken by Du Cong the day before, was slightly ajar. Fang Chao, consumed by rage, kicked it open without caring who might be inside.
After searching the house, they found no one—and no sign of the suitcase or the cash.
Then Liu Zhi noticed a burlap sack in the back room. He gave it a kick and felt something off. A sense of dread crept in as he untied the ropes—revealing the corpse of a man. It was Li Penggai.
"Chao, it’s... another body." The two had just been tricked with a swapped corpse, and now another one turned up here. Even Liu Zhi, fearless as he was, felt a chill. "Are these guys... serial killers or something?"
Fang Chao stood frozen, staring at the corpse for a few seconds. Then the sticky filth on his face brought his fury to a boiling point. "I don’t care if they’re killers—today, I’m going to tear those bastards to pieces! To pieces!" In his rage, he grabbed a nearby chair and hurled it to the ground, smashing it to splinters.Liu Zhi had never seen Brother Chao, who was usually "steady as a rock," fly into such a rage before. Watching with trepidation, he cautiously advised, "Brother Chao, we need to carefully plan today's final job. We absolutely must stay steady."
"Steady my ass! I'm gonna kill those two dogs, kill 'em!"
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