Meanwhile, Yan Liang had already begun looking into the background of Tony and his brothers.
Regarding the three Vietnamese brothers, Yan Liang's knowledge of them came only from the movies. After all, dealing with these people was usually left to the lower-level guys, and he rarely got involved himself. Even so, he knew very well that the three brothers were absolute madmen.
The eldest, Zha Ge, a demonic dancer, was vicious, cruel, and stopped at nothing to achieve his goals. The second brother, Tony, was the muscle of the operation, but he also had some brains and served as the backbone of the trio. As for the youngest, A-Hu, he was simple-minded and arguably the easiest to deal with, though his hardened martial arts skills were not to be underestimated.
"Damn it, Liang Kun must have lost his mind! How could he possibly trust these three freaks?"
As Yan Liang sat on a park bench complaining to himself, his brick-sized mobile phone rang beside him.
"Boss, we've tracked them down. Right now, Tony and his brothers are asleep at a nightclub in Yau Ma Tei. Do you want us to take care of them right away?"
"No rush. Wait until I get there!"With that, he hung up the phone and turned his gaze toward Xia He in the distance, who was busy playing with a little girl.
To be honest,
this young lass only looked harmless at a time like this.
Yan Liang stood up and called out to Xia He not far away:
"Let's go!"
"Big sister is leaving now! This is for you!"
Hearing this, Xia He handed the balloon in her hand to the little girl squatting before her, waved goodbye to her, and walked over to Yan Liang.
...
The two of them hailed a cab and soon arrived at the nightclub where the three Tony brothers were staying.
It was currently afternoon, and the nightclub had not yet officially opened for business, leaving the area in front deserted.
As soon as they got out of the car, a burly man dressed casually, with a rough appearance that made him look like a smuggled immigrant, walked up to them.
The man glanced briefly at the captivating Xia He, then never looked at her again, turning instead to Yan Liang and respectfully calling out:
"Boss!"
"No need to stand on ceremony."Yan Liang raised his hand and patted the burly man on the shoulder, then introduced, "Old Mian, this is one of our own. You can just call her Xia He."
With that, Yan Liang turned to introduce Xia He: "This is Mian Zhenghe, Old Mian. He mainly handles the maritime business in cooperation with Hon Bun, and secondarily gathers intelligence..."
Hearing this, Xia He cast another slight glance at the rough-hewn man before her, a trace of surprise welling up in her heart.
She noticed that apart from a flash of amazement in his eyes when he first saw her, this rough man showed no other desire whatsoever.
In fact, looking into Mian Zhenghe's eyes, she saw nothing else besides cruelty and a profound depth—not a single other color.
Even though this man was not as powerful as she was, among ordinary people, he was certainly no simple character.
This was Xia He's first impression of Mian Zhenghe.
As for the latter, though he did not overthink things the way Xia He did, his instinctive perception of danger at that moment warned him that this seemingly harmless woman was extremely dangerous.
She even gave him a feeling more dangerous than Jinzhuhua, the fierce tigress he had previously worked with.
Of course, this was merely a vigilance born of instinct; in reality, Old Mian felt quite at ease around his own people.
The two nodded at each other, completing a brief introduction.
Mian Zhenghe said to Yan Liang, "I've already found out. Tony and his three brothers are sleeping in the main hall inside right now. Should we just go straight in?"
"No, let's go to the parking lot. Have one of your men pretend to be a buyer and call to place an order, luring them out."
...
Inside the nightclub, all the staff were busy with their own tasks.
In a private booth with its door wide open, two rugged men lay sprawled across the sofa, snoring loudly and uninhibitedly.On the sofa on the other side sat a thin-faced middle-aged man who looked strikingly like Chang Wei, puffing away on a cigarette.
Suddenly,
the cell phone lying on the table rang.
Chang Wei—no, Tony—frowned, picked up the phone, and answered it.
"Who is it?"
"All right, we're on our way!"
After a brief exchange, Tony hung up. Zha Ge, who had just been woken up, asked,
"What is it?"
"A Mainlander wants to place an order."
As he spoke, Tony stood up and nudged A-Hu, who was still fast asleep, with his foot.
"Get up, time to work!"
"Wait, if he's placing an order, he should bring the money to us. Why do we have to go to him?"
A-Hu, having just been forced awake, complained with a disgruntled look upon learning the situation.
"Idiot, you got a problem with money?"
Zha Ge cursed, then stood up and led the way out.
Without saying much, Tony directly dialed their driver and lackey, Wah Sang, instructing him to wait in the underground parking lot.
...
Before long,
the three men arrived at the parking lot, but there was no sign of Wah Sang.
Even their car was nowhere to be seen.
At this, Tony couldn't help frowning. Although Wah Sang wasn't the most reliable guy, he had never been late like this before.
Without thinking too much, Tony instinctively took out his phone and called Wah Sang again.
*Ring, ring...*
As the call connected, the ringing tone echoed through the underground parking lot.
"Damn it, what is this Wah Sang playing at?"
Hearing the ringtone, A-Hu cursed instinctively and started walking toward the source of the sound.
However,
he had only taken two steps when Tony, eyes narrowing, called out to him.
"A-Hu."
"Hmm?"
A-Hu stopped in confusion. Before he could ask anything, he saw a man and a woman step out from behind a pillar not far ahead of them.
The moment he laid eyes on the pair, Tony's eyes narrowed into slits, and the caution in his gaze grew even heavier.
A martial artist's intuition told him that neither the man nor the woman in front of them was ordinary.
Yet,
before they could even speak, Yan Liang delivered the most classic line from the original story:
"You three bastards!
What the hell are you playing at?
Every time we ask you to move some goods, it's either wind or rain—you sons of bitches, how much longer are you going to drag this out?"
Yan Liang's words momentarily stunned the three of them.
Quickly, however, the boss Zha Ge recovered, a gentle yet mocking smile spreading across his face:
"I was wondering who it was. Turns out it's Brother Shan's man.
Sorry, but that's just how we brothers do things!"
Hearing that these people were here to collect a debt, Tony and A-Hu also let down their guard.
After all, the money was in their hands now, and whether they returned it or not was entirely up to them brothers.
They figured the other side wouldn't dare go too far!
However,
to their utter astonishment, the moment they dropped their guard, sudden chaos erupted.
From beside a car just a few steps away, a rugged man with a messy, unshaven face suddenly lunged out.
Without a word, the man raised his hand and brought down his blade, a cold flash cutting through the air...
*Splat—*
Blood instantly sprayed from A-Hu, who was standing in front of Tony and Zha Ge.
Amidst a mist of blood, A-Hu clutched his throat, his eyes wide with disbelief as he stared at Mian Zhenghe, who was holding a machete.
What the fuck—
Why didn't this guy even say hello?
In a flash of lightning, Mian Zhenghe slit A-Hu's throat in a single stroke.
"A-Hu!!!"
Seeing this, Zha Ge and Tony behind him flew into a rage.
The former instinctively drew his gun, while the latter viciously lunged forward...