"Clang!"
The dagger struck Su Hao, but instead of piercing his body, the blade bent upon impact.
"Impossible!" The man in the suit shrank his pupils, then frantically tried to stab Su Hao in various places again and again, but failed to produce even the tiniest scratch.
"Why? Why can't I kill you?!"
The man in the suit roared frantically. The massive blow caused him to drop the already bent dagger, bury his head in his hands, and weep bitterly on the floor.
Su Hao waited until the other man had vented most of his emotions before reaching out to pull him up.
"I'm not an ordinary person; I'm a martial artist. If you want to kill me, you'll have to train for another five hundred years."
"Of course, none of that is the main point. If you want to avenge your mother, come inside and talk to me. The most pressing matter right now is to find the real mastermind behind the scenes, understand?"
Hearing this, the man in the suit suddenly calmed down.
With Su Hao's immense strength, he wouldn't need to stage a car accident at all if he wanted to kill his mother—he could have ended her life without anyone knowing.
He took a deep breath, followed Su Hao into the apartment, and sat down on the sofa.
"I've also been investigating your mother's case recently. The inspectors originally intended to close it as an accident; it was I who gave them the hint to reopen the investigation. So you can completely trust me."
"If there is anyone who doesn't want this matter to be brushed off so vaguely, that person is inevitably me."
Influenced by Su Hao's calm and rational emotional state, the man in the suit watched the surveillance footage Su Hao had just reviewed all over again.
"There's nothing special about it."
Unable to figure out what was wrong, the man in the suit shook his head, looking thoroughly agitated.
"Didn't you notice? This man named Xue Zhiyi was faking drunkenness!"
"Faking drunkenness?" The man in the suit looked utterly bewildered, having no idea how Su Hao had made that judgment.
"Forget it. Your powers of observation are too weak."
Su Hao poured himself a glass of water, and while drinking, asked, "Let me ask you, did your mother show any abnormal behavior in the past few days?"
The man in the suit buried his head in his hands, clutching his hair tightly. After a long moment, he suddenly remembered something.
"The noon the day my mother met with her accident, she was a bit unusual. It seemed like she had found out something she shouldn't have known, and even told us she wanted to resign or something."
"I see." Su Hao understood in a flash.
Presumably, that noon, Aunt Qin had walked in on Xue Zhiyi using feigned drunkenness to dismiss her, while actually poisoning Xue Kangning.
It was precisely because she had seen what she shouldn't have that Aunt Qin had panicked and talked about resigning.
And because Xue Zhiyi worried that Aunt Qin would talk, he had arranged for the hit-and-run driver to silence her via a car accident, cutting off future trouble.
Once Su Hao figured this out, everything became clear to him. However, he had no intention of telling the man in the suit right now; after all, the fellow was simply too impulsive. If he went out blindly to kill someone again, it would only mess things up.
"Do you know something?"
Seeing Su Hao's expression clear up, the man in the suit hurriedly pressed for answers.
"I know a few things, but they're still open to discussion. I believe this will be very helpful in finding the mastermind behind the scenes. I still need to investigate this further—you go back and wait for news first." Su Hao put down his water glass.
"Stop trying to exact revenge blindly, or you'll only bring disaster upon yourself, and then your mother won't find peace even in the netherworld."
Upon hearing Su Hao tell him not to meddle, anger instantly flared up inside the man in the suit, and he slammed the table as he sprang to his feet.
"I knew you were all birds of a feather! You got information out of me and now you're planning to destroy the evidence, right?"
"You tell me to keep my mouth shut now, but later, even if I figure it out and want to speak up, nobody will believe me anymore. It's even possible you'll silence me too, isn't it? I'm not that stupid!"
Hearing this, Su Hao rubbed his temples.
"Your imagination is quite rich, but your IQ is lacking. Use that rusted brain of yours—given the gap in our martial arts levels, would I need to wait until later if I wanted to kill you?"
The man in the suit was left utterly speechless and drained of words by Su Hao's retort.
"For this period, just lie low for a while. Don't tell anyone what you just said to me. No matter who tries to fish for information from you, don't say a word," Su Hao continued.
"This matter involves the internal strife of the Xue family, and there are some things I haven't figured out yet, so it's not convenient to tell you. But don't worry, the truth will come out very soon."
Although Su Hao had confirmed that the mastermind was Xue Zhiyi, what he couldn't figure out was this: if Xue Kangning died, the biggest beneficiaries should be Xue Aohan's family. What did it have to do with Xue Zhiyi?
Could it be that behind the scenes, he had reached some sort of agreement with Xue Aohan and the others?
"Alright..."
Things having reached this point, the man in the suit could only pin his hopes on Su Hao.
He knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times to Su Hao.
"Brother, please be sure to secure justice for my mother. I will repay you by acting as a beast of burden for the rest of my life."
Su Hao helped the man in the suit up and said word by word, "Aunt Qin has been in the Xue family for so many years; I won't let her die in vain."
Choking back a sob, the man in the suit nodded, muttered a thank you, and wiped his tears as he left.
Watching the filial son depart, Su Hao's gaze gradually turned icy.
"Xue Zhiyi, tonight I am going to make you pay the price!"
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Cause and Effect
After sending the man in the suit away, Su Hao unzipped the backpack he had brought down from the mountain, which contained a pile of assassin's tools.
On the world assassin leaderboard, there was one super assassin whose bounty far surpassed all others—Code name: Pure Love God of War!
He was the universally acknowledged God of Assassins in the underworld, and the ultimate peak every assassin longed to surpass.
Yet in recent years, the Pure Love God of War had appeared less and less frequently. His most recent appearance had been a year ago, with his target being the rebels of the South China Sea.
In just a single night, that group of South China Sea rebels, who had plagued Huaxia for a long time, all met violent deaths.
Though they possessed all sorts of high-tech weapons purchased from the US, they didn't even have time to activate them before being wiped out in one fell swoop by the Pure Love God of War.
The strength of the number one assassin was evident.
To this day, nobody knew the true identity of the Pure Love God of War.
If those veteran assassins knew that the figure who dominated the region and crushed them all was actually just a young man in his early twenties, they would probably vomit blood and die.
After dinner, Su Hao put on night-walker attire. When midnight arrived, he put on a black mask and prepared to step out.
Unexpectedly, a video call from Xue Rou popped up on WeChat.
Su Hao was torn between laughter and tears. He had no choice but to return to bed, change into pajamas, and fake the appearance of someone about to sleep.
On the other end of the video, Xue Rou had just finished showering. Her hair was still damp and her fragrant shoulders were half-exposed, making her look extremely charming.
"Why haven't you gone to sleep yet?"
"Oh, I spent the whole night sorting account books and only got off work not long ago."
Xue Rou's complexion wasn't great right now; she didn't look like someone who was tired just from auditing accounts.
"You're calling me on video, surely not just to tell me that?"
Xue Rou let out a soft "hmm," stared at Su Hao for quite a while, and then slowly began to speak.
"Su Hao... Grandpa agreed to let Qian Duoduo come to the house to deliver betrothal gifts..."
"As expected."
Seeing how relaxed Su Hao's tone was, Xue Rou instantly grew anxious.
She glared at Su Hao with her peach-blossom eyes, her expression full of grievance.
"Do you know that delivering betrothal gifts is equivalent to getting engaged? I'm almost going to marry someone else, and you can still remain so calm and unmoved?"
"As long as the two of you haven't gotten your marriage certificate, there's still room for maneuver in everything," Su Hao said rationally.
"Old Master Xue has amnesia right now and isn't thinking clearly. It's normal for him to make such a decision—we can't exactly yell at him, can we?"
Even though Su Hao's answer was entirely rational, Xue Rou was deeply unhappy inside.
"Do you really not want to marry me at all? Are you just dying for me to marry someone else? That way you won't have to deal with this engagement anymore, right?"
Seeing Xue Rou pouting with a heartbroken expression, Su Hao wore a half-smile. "For a bumpkin like me who just came down from the mountain to win a celestial wife like you, I must have accumulated immense virtue in my past lives. How could I possibly fail to appreciate my blessings and want to dump you instead?"
Hearing Su Hao rattle off a flurry of sweet words like a machine gun, Xue Rou's mood finally shifted from cloudy to sunny.
"You're just full of slick talk!"
"When Mom and Dad heard that Grandpa wanted me to marry Qian Duoduo, they were so agitated they talked back to Grandpa on the spot!"
"Although Grandpa chewed them out severely in the end, the two of them don't regret it a bit."
"My mom even told me that she only recognizes you as her son-in-law, so you can put your mind completely at ease—I'm not running off with anyone else!"
Su Hao let out a dry, amused chuckle. "Then let me thank my future father-in-law and mother-in-law in advance. Once I finally win this beauty, I'll definitely treat them with the same filial piety as my own parents and never let them down!"
"You should go say those things to my mom and dad!"
Blushing, Xue Rou checked the time and said, "It's getting late. You go on back to sleep, I need to blow-dry my hair too. Bye-bye."
"This little girl is terrified I'll run away, huh?"
Su Hao shook his head with a smile, sprang up from the bed in a flash, changed back into his night-walker outfit, and rapidly vanished into the night.
..................
At the same time, Xue Zhiyi was frantically typing away, cursing people out in his messages.
"Didn't you tell me the poison you newly developed was untraceable and incurable by anyone? Why is Xue Kangning still alive and kicking?"
"And you still have the nerve to ask me for the final payment? Your grandmother's foot, get lost!"
After chewing the person out thoroughly, Xue Zhiyi returned to his room in a fury, put down his phone, and was just about to pull the curtains closed to sleep when he discovered a person hiding behind the curtains.
Before he could even process what was happening, a strangely shaped blade was already pressed against his throat.
Feeling that his skin had already been sliced open, Xue Zhiyi was scared half to death, his vision blurring.
He dropped to his knees on the spot and begged for mercy, "Big Brother, don't be rash. If it's money you want, I can give it to you."
Su Hao remained silent, offering no reply.
"Big Brother, my name is Xue Zhiyi. The person you're looking for is probably Xue Kangning—he's in the other apartment complex. Did you go to the wrong place?"
Receiving no response from Su Hao, Xue Zhiyi grew even more terrified and tried changing the subject.
"How do you know I'm here to kill Xue Kangning?" Su Hao altered his voice, playing along with Xue Zhiyi to trap him.
Xue Zhiyi fell right into the trap and confessed honestly, "Because my employer wants to kill him too, and I'm one of the parties working for them. Perhaps our employers are even the same person."
"The poison you used to try to kill Xue Kangning came from the employer too?"
"No, I bought it overseas."
Xue Zhiyi shook his head and said, "The employer just gave me a sum of money and told me to get rid of Xue Kangning. They didn't say anything else..."
"How much money did they give you to make you kill even your own cousin?"
Xue Zhiyi didn't dare conceal it. "A deposit of one hundred million, and another four hundred million after the deed is done."
"Aunt Qin's car accident—was that arranged by you?"
"Heaven and earth bear witness, I really have nothing to do with that matter." Xue Zhiyi shook his head frantically.
"I originally just wanted to give Aunt Qin some money to keep her tight-lipped, but who knew she'd be so unlucky and get hit by a car on the road."
Su Hao grabbed Xue Zhiyi by the throat and said coldly, "As if there's such a coincidence! The inspectors all said the driver was taking orders from someone else. If it wasn't you, then who?"
"I... there's a liaison between me and the employer. It... it must have been him..."
Su Hao loosened his grip, feeling he had figured everything out.
Aunt Qin's death hadn't been a hired hit ordered by Xue Zhiyi after all; rather, the liaison knew a blunder had been made and was cleaning up the mess for him.
"Regarding the poisoning, does Xue Yi's side know about it too?"
Coughing, Xue Zhiyi replied, "They know. The liaison contacted him to make the move first, but he didn't have the guts, which is why I stepped up."
The two parties were in a cooperative relationship: Xue Zhiyi was after the commission, while Xue Aohan's family was after the family estate.
Su Hao's gaze grew complicated.
With both his older brother and grandson wanting him dead, what kind of sins had Xue Kangning committed? He clearly hadn't done anything wrong, yet he was driven to such isolated straits by everyone around him.
Just as Su Hao was about to ask for the liaison's contact information, a red laser dot aligned itself with Xue Zhiyi.
"A sniper?!"
Su Hao's expression shifted drastically. With lightning speed, he pressed Xue Zhiyi's head down and shoved him under the bed.
Immediately following that, a hole appeared right where Xue Zhiyi had been standing a moment before.
Fortunately, Su Hao had been quick-witted enough to protect Xue Zhiyi, otherwise the man's head would definitely have been blown open.
"Twelve o'clock direction."
Su Hao's counter-reconnaissance skills were top-tier, and he quickly pinpointed the sniper's location.
Sheltered by the curtains, he picked up a pen from the desk and flicked it back along the trajectory of the incoming bullet.
On a high-rise rooftop a hundred meters away, before the sniper even had time to react, a pen pierced straight through his head. He collapsed in a pool of blood and died instantly...
Chapter Twenty-Four: Lies All Around
Half an hour later.
Inspectors responding to the emergency call arrived at the scene.
Everyone found the occurrence of a midnight shooting to be utterly unbelievable.
The inspectors took a detailed statement from Xue Zhiyi, who stammered and rambled incoherently, seemingly concealing something.
Before leaving, Su Hao had specifically warned Xue Zhiyi not to leak even a shred of his existence.
Otherwise, the next sniper bullet would hit Xue Zhiyi's brain.
Xue Kangning and the others, who arrived belatedly, were equally shaken and found the whole affair highly suspicious.
Xue Zhiyi had been retired for so long; logically speaking, he couldn't have made enemies with anyone, let alone have someone deploy firearms to assassinate him!
Faced with everyone's chorus of comfort and inquiries, Xue Zhiyi remained silent, his suffering too bitter to voice.
He knew that the sniper wanted to silence him permanently, just like Aunt Qin.
Yet he didn't dare mention a single word of this, forced to put on the act of someone scared out of his wits, too terrified to make a peep.
Zhu Bi knew nothing of the cause and effect behind this incident. She curled her lip and snorted, "If you ask me, this whole mess was brought on by that Su Hao. Ever since that kid showed up, our family has had one disturbance after another—first the old man, then the eldest uncle, and maybe it'll be our family's turn next!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Yue's gaze instantly turned sharp.
"Sister-in-law, people need to speak based on evidence; you can't just talk nonsense."
"Su Hao has already been stripped of even the qualification to enter our doors, so how is this his problem? Stop looking for trouble where there is none!"
Zhu Bi hadn't expected that Shen Yue, who usually tolerated her on most occasions, would dare to reprimand her in front of so many people today. Her expression turned extremely ugly.
Just as she was preparing to make a big fuss over the matter, Xue Aohan's father, Xue Yi, grabbed her in a rare display of restraint.
"Alright, say less."
Though Xue Yi was a bad person, he wasn't stupid.
First Aunt Qin, and now the eldest uncle—who could guarantee that he wasn't next in line?
Xue Zhiyi had survived this brush with death, but the mastermind behind the scenes definitely wouldn't let it rest. Preserving one's life was the top priority at this stage.
What's more, the more one spoke, the more mistakes one made. If Zhu Bi blurted out something she shouldn't while arguing, it would only accelerate the exposure of the truth.
Xue Rou was clever. She caught a loophole in Zhu Bi's previous words and turned to ask Xue Kangning, "Grandpa, you heard what Eldest Aunt just said, right?"
"Before Su Hao arrived and before Eldest Great-uncle's accident, you had a severe bout of illness once."
"Back then, everyone in the family was worried sick. After sending you to the hospital, President Sun treated you personally."
"At the time, he couldn't figure out what was wrong and thought your liver disease had worsened. Later on, he even invited the elder Feng Zhongyi over, but unfortunately, nothing could be done."
"In the end, it was entirely thanks to Su Hao stepping in that you were saved from the jaws of death. Moreover, the reason you fell so gravely ill in the first place was because someone poisoned you."
The more Xue Rou spoke, the more panicked Zhu Bi and Xue Yi became.
The moment the word "poisoned" left her lips, the two of them spoke in unison, "Don't spout nonsense here, girl!"
"What can't be said? Everything Rourou said is the absolute truth!" Seeing this, Xue Er proactively stepped forward to shield Xue Rou.
"The two of you are twisting the facts here, and you won't even let others clarify?"
Spouting nonsense, Zhu Bi retorted, "What did you clarify? The old man has always been fine. It's obviously your family that harbors malicious intentions, dying for the old man to kick the bucket early. You..."
"Enough, shut up, all of you!"
Xue Kangning's head was throbbing from their bickering, and he shouted an order to stop them.
Aunt Qin had died inexplicably, and immediately afterward, his cousin had been targeted in a shooting. At a time like this, when the family should have been united as one to face the outside together, he hadn't expected his two sons and daughters-in-law to be screaming at each other right in front of him.
What an utter disgrace!
"Elder Xue, we will keep a close eye on this case. Recently, we suggest you hire a few bodyguards from a security agency and call the police immediately if anything happens so that it's convenient for us to investigate on-site." After finishing the transcript, an inspector offered this advice to Xue Zhiyi before leaving with his colleagues.
Worried that his cousin was still shaken, Xue Kangning actively offered to stay and keep Xue Zhiyi company, but was rejected.
The mastermind was dying to get rid of Xue Kangning; if he stayed close to the man, he'd only die faster.
The group dragged things out until the deep hours of the night before finally retreating to their respective rooms to rest.
Lying in bed, Xue Kangning thought about what Xue Rou had said earlier. He flipped through his phone for a long time, but couldn't find a single contact listed as President Sun or Feng Zhongyi.
Just at that moment, Wang Fugui called, seemingly aware that an accident had occurred in the Xue family and calling to check in.
"Lawyer Wang, do I know President Sun?"
Remembering Xue Aohan's warning to him, Wang Fugui shook his head. "You don't know him!"
"What about Feng Zhongyi?"
"That's the Medical King of Jinling. You might know him, but he definitely doesn't know you."
This answer left Xue Kangning completely dumbfounded.
Since he wasn't close to either of them, why had Xue Rou claimed that President Sun had gone out of his way to invite Feng Zhongyi to treat him?
The more Xue Kangning thought about it, the more wrong it felt. He asked, "Do you know President Sun? Do you have his contact information?"
"Hold on, let me look."
On the surface, Wang Fugui was searching for the number, but secretly he was messaging Xue Aohan to ask whether he should give Xue Kangning the contact info.
Receiving Xue Aohan's affirmative reply, he immediately gave the number to Xue Kangning.
After jotting it down, Xue Kangning immediately dialed President Sun's number.