Ning Chen frowned, sensing trouble.
However, Qiao Jing was too persistent, and even Xu Jingshan insisted that he get checked out, leaving him with no choice but to make the trip.
The female assassin was taken away by the police who arrived shortly after.
The entire hotel was in chaos. The manager was held accountable late into the night and lost his job.
Inside the Rose Garden villa, Xu Shuyan and Jiang Tang had gone upstairs early.
The events of tonight had truly terrified them.
Xu Shuyan and Fan Yi sat together, discussing Ning Chen.
"Impossible."
When the conversation turned to Ning Chen blocking the gun barrel with his bare hand, Fan Yi shook his head decisively.
"At that range, blocking a bullet with a bare palm and walking away without a single scratch—even a Transformation Realm Master couldn't do that. Unless he is a legendary Martial Dao Grandmaster, capable of condensing true qi to protect his body."
Xu Shuyan's grandfather realized the implications. "So you're saying it really was a gun malfunction?"
Fan Yi fell silent.
He knew this explanation was far-fetched. How could an assassin's sidearm easily jam and even explode in the chamber?
Yet Ning Chen was so young; it was even less likely that he was a Martial Dao Grandmaster.
"Old Fan, contact the police first thing tomorrow morning. I want to know as soon as possible who wants me dead," Xu Shuyan's grandfather said with a dark expression.
"Yes, Chairman!"
...
It was nearly eleven by the time they returned from the hospital.
"Xiao Chen, thank you for saving our family tonight."
Sitting in an Audi A8 parked by the roadside, Qiao Jing handed Ning Chen a bank card, looking somewhat embarrassed as she said, "Don't think Aunt Qiao is being materialistic. I honestly don't know how to thank you properly. There's three hundred thousand on this card—the PIN is your birthday. Take it and buy yourself something you like."
"If you ever need money in the future, just tell Aunt Qiao."
Without missing a beat, Ning Chen took the card and slipped it into his jacket pocket. "Thanks, Aunt Qiao."
Qiao Jing gave a gentle smile. The boy's unpretentious straightforwardness was very much to her liking.
Afterward, Qiao Jing drove away. Instead of heading straight back to the Rose Garden villa, Ning Chen made a trip to Li Mei's Barbecue.
Tonight's farce had left him without a proper dinner.
Upon arriving at the shop, Li Mei brought out the beef and free-range chicken he had brought her in the afternoon and began preparing a late-night snack.
To accommodate Ning Chen, this barbecue joint had basically turned into a small restaurant. Li Mei's culinary skills were excellent, which was the main reason Ning Chen frequented the place.
Yet among the spread of food, Ning Chen spotted a very familiar ingredient.
Ghost Hand Mushroom!
A highly toxic fungus from Lingnan!
"What's wrong, Xiao Chen? Do these dishes not suit your taste?"
Li Mei stood nearby wearing an apron, her gaze clear, looking nothing like someone about to poison him.
"I haven't seen this dish before, Aunt Mei."
Ning Chen picked up his chopsticks, plucked a piece of Ghost Hand Mushroom, and chewed it thoughtfully.
Good grief, the mushroom wasn't even fully cooked, making the toxicity even more potent!
Hearing Ning Chen call her Aunt Mei, Li Mei beamed with joy and said, "I got these fresh mushrooms from an acquaintance. They're from Lingnan, cost over a hundred yuan a jin—super expensive."
"Really? Aunt Mei, you shouldn't have spent so much."
Ning Chen continued to eat the stir-fried meat with "mushrooms."
To be honest, although this Ghost Hand Mushroom was toxic, it tasted truly delicious!
An ordinary person would never be able to savor such a delicacy; a single slice would mean instant death.
"What do you mean, 'spent so much'? This is all your money anyway."
Li Mei smiled with rustic simplicity, referring to the hundred thousand yuan Ning Chen had given her a few days ago.
"These mushrooms are delicious, Aunt Mei. Where did you buy them? Take me with you tomorrow so I can get some for my friends, too," Ning Chen said between bites.
"Right where you bought groceries this morning, the Ancient Canal Farmers' Market," Li Mei replied.
"Got it." Ning Chen nodded, though a trace of icy coldness flickered in the depths of his eyes.
***
In Li Mei's Barbecue, a dozen or so customers sat scattered about.
Two of them were Bai Xiao's lackies, assigned to keep an eye on Ning Chen.
Seeing Ning Chen consume the Ghost Hand Mushroom, they were overjoyed, but after waiting for a long time, Ning Chen showed no symptoms at all, his complexion remaining as rosy as ever.
After a while, Ning Chen learned from Li Mei that there were still a few large Ghost Hand Mushrooms left in the back kitchen.
Asking to take a look, he left his seat and walked into the kitchen.
The two thugs walked over to check the situation.
"Could that dead woman Li Mei have cooked the mushrooms all the way through?"
One thug picked up a pair of chopsticks and poked at the remaining half-plate of stir-fried mushrooms and meat. "I heard that if you cook those poisonous mushrooms completely, the poison goes away."
"That's possible!"
The other thug hadn't eaten dinner yet, so he picked up a pair of chopsticks, grabbed a mushroom slice, and popped it into his mouth. "Let me taste... Mmm! Delicious, so fresh!"
"Damn it, are you crazy? You dare eat that?"
"What's there to be afraid of? That kid ate it for ages and nothing happened... Mmm... Mmm-mmm..."
The thug who had just been praising the taste of the Ghost Hand Mushroom suddenly felt dizzy. In a hazy blur, he saw many little figures holding his hand and dancing around him, and then, with a loud clatter, he collapsed to the floor.
In the kitchen.
Ning Chen found the fresh Ghost Hand Mushrooms and was surprised to discover a wisp of spiritual qi within them.
Though the concentration was pitifully thin, it was enough to delight him.
Just as he finished packing three Ghost Hand Mushrooms into a plastic bag, he heard a commotion outside. Running out with Li Mei, he saw a thug with a crew cut lying on the ground, foaming at the mouth, convulsing all over, and turning slightly pale.
Another thug with an ear stud was squatting anxiously beside him.
Ning Chen immediately recognized them as the two who had been peeking at him while he was eating earlier.
"What on earth happened here?!"
Terrified, Li Mei rushed over.
Someone had already called an ambulance and said, "This young fellow seemed to have eaten a couple of pieces of mushroom just now, and then this happened. Boss lady, could these mushrooms of yours be poisonous?"
"Impossible!"
Li Mei pointed at Ning Chen and said, "He just ate half a plate of them and he's fine. How could they be poisonous?"
"My ass!"
The ear-stud thug jumped up from the ground, pointed at Li Mei, and cursed bitterly, "You poisoned us! The mushrooms in this plate of stir-fried meat aren't regular mushrooms—they're poisonous ones from Lingnan!"
An uproar broke out inside the shop.
A dozen pairs of eyes looked at Li Mei in terror.
"Nonsense!"
Ning Chen sneered. "If these really were poisonous mushrooms, would I still be standing here talking?"
With that, he grabbed the plate and dumped all the remaining mushroom and meat slices into his mouth, chewing vigorously.
After waiting for a long time without seeing any abnormality in him, Li Mei finally relaxed.
"This..."
The ear-stud thug was left speechless, his face flushing red.
"That reminds me, I wanted to ask you two. You've been staring at me the moment I stepped into this shop, and you even came over specially to eat my food. What are you up to?"
Ning Chen narrowed his eyes and suddenly demanded, "Did Bai Xiao send you?!"
"N-no, no, no! Not Brother Xiao! I don't even know who you're talking about!"
Scared out of his wits, the ear-stud thug shrank back in a hurry.
"It really is Bai Xiao, this death-seeking bastard..."
A flash of murderous intent appeared in Ning Chen's eyes.
Originally, he had planned to go to the vegetable market tomorrow morning to track down the vendor, but now it seemed unnecessary.
"Leizi! My brother! How miserably you died!"
At that moment, the ear-stud thug plopped down onto his knees, slumped over his poisoned companion, and began to wail loudly.
"Get lost. He's not dead yet."
Ning Chen kicked him aside, then pressed his hand onto the poisoned thug's chest and began channeling true qi.
Before long, the poisoned thug started vomiting and having diarrhea, purging the toxic mushroom slices he had eaten completely, and his symptoms immediately eased significantly.
"He ate it and was fine, but this one ate it and started vomiting, purging, and losing his mind. This looks like an allergic reaction."
After arriving, the ER doctor gave a preliminary diagnosis.
Only then did Li Mei let out a long sigh of relief. If word of food poisoning got out about her eatery, she wouldn't need to stay in business anymore.
When she recovered her wits, Ning Chen was already gone.
In an alley on Shuiyue Food Street.
The ear-stud thug was beaten black and blue, kneeling before Ning Chen and begging for mercy. "Stop hitting me, stop hitting me, Big Brother! I'll talk, I'll tell you everything!!"
"It was Brother Xiao. Brother Xiao sent me, and the Ghost Hand Mushrooms were arranged by him through a vegetable vendor to be sold to Li Mei. Spare me, Waaah..."
A glint of murderous intent flashed in Ning Chen's eyes!
His principle for doing things: never more than twice.
Bai Xiao would pay the price for his actions.
...
A little past one in the morning.
Diamond Club.
Bai Xiao and his cronies were partying in a private room.
"Brother Xiao, Leizi said he saw with his own eyes that Ning Chen ate the Ghost Hand Mushroom. By now, he's probably already met the King of Hell, hahaha!"
The yellow-haired thug Yang Kai laughed, holding up a wine glass.
"Just a wet-behind-the-ears kid, not even fully grown, yet he wants to fight me!"
Bai Xiao sat astride the sofa like a grand commander, puffing away on a smoke.
His mistress Wang Yinhua snuggled in his arms, smiling seductively. "Brother Xiao, Li Mei has been taken in. What do you plan to do with that barbecue joint?"
"Just recruit another tenant. Shuiyue Street has so much foot traffic, we won't worry about finding someone."
As he spoke, Bai Xiao flicked his cigarette ash directly onto Wang Yinhua's plump thigh. "Right, I heard Li Mei has a daughter named Su Wanwan. I've seen her photo—quite a pretty little thing. Which of you will go bring her to me?"
"Brother Xiao, I'll go. I'm best at this kind of thing!"
Yang Kai quickly put down his half-finished glass of wine and said excitedly, "Li Mei's husband is called Su Haichao, and he still owes our company a few hundred thousand. That hopeless gambler—let alone selling his daughter, if you asked him to sell his own mother, he wouldn't even blink."
"Hahaha." Laughter erupted in the private room.
"Good. Yang Kai, go have him bring his daughter over right now. I'll waive the hundreds of thousands in interest." Bai Xiao wore a wicked grin.
"You got it, Brother Xiao!" Yang Kai immediately had one of his lackeys call Su Haichao.
At first, the man on the other end was reluctant, but when Yang Kai snatched the phone and threatened him a few times, he had no choice but to comply.
Soon, a middle-aged, out-of-shape man with heavy eye bags brought a pure and lovely female college student to the Diamond Club.
Su Wanwan stood one meter sixty-eight tall, with an exquisite, fair-skinned oval face, smooth and delicate skin, and cherry lips that were moist and tempting without lipstick. Paired with a pair of slender, upright legs, she drew many burning gazes in the Diamond Club's lobby.
"Dad, why don't... why don't you find someone else to help?"
Su Wanwan sensed a hint of danger.
If her father hadn't suddenly called, saying his friend was drunk and needed help supporting him, how could she possibly have come to a place like the Diamond Club?
***
In the luxurious private room.
Bai Xiao took a sip of western liquor and smiled at Su Wanwan.
"Help! Help me!"
Su Wanwan shrank into a corner like a helpless kitten, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Tears, like pearls with a broken string, streamed incessantly down her pretty face.