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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
"One million?" The boss lady shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Boss Zhong, you really underestimate yourself."
"You mean... my worth is ten million?" I asked in surprise.
"That's right! Ten million is nothing for Lingfeng and the Yang Guo Family," the boss lady said with a smile. "As for that Fatty, asking him for three million is just giving him face. If we ask for too little, he'll feel inferior and won't be able to hold his head up in front of you. He might even end up going down a path of isolation. Sigh, I have one flaw—I'm too considerate of others; it's all for his own good."
Damn, so you kidnap and extort us, and still expect us to be grateful? I forced a bitter smile and said, "So, Wen Zhan and the others were all brought here by you?"
"Exactly, everything was set up by me," the boss lady replied proudly. "We're all from General Township. For years, we've been out there engaging in kidnapping and extortion. Recently, things have gotten too tight, and we were thinking about retiring. Just as we returned to General Township, we heard Wei Family was in trouble. When we heard Wei Haibo shouting about some Cellar gold, we were all excited, thinking about making one last big score before retiring."
At this point, the boss lady paused and glanced around before continuing, "So we quickly took over Wei Family. After a thorough search, we finally found this secret passage. However, we didn't discover any gold inside the passage. In anger, I was ready to burn this place down."
"Then why didn't you set it on fire?" I asked. I thought to myself that would just erase everything.
The boss lady pointed at a young woman named A-Zhen and smiled. "Fortunately, Early Summer reminded me that since we went through so much trouble for the rumor of gold, others would do the same. As long as we spread this news, various people will gather in General Township. Of course, we need to set a threshold; we can't just let any small fry approach Wei Family's old residence."
"What do you mean? Do you want others to come or not?" I asked in confusion.
"You can't figure that out? What kind of intelligence do you have?" The boss lady looked at me disdainfully. "Our target is those who can pay a hefty ransom, not just anyone. If a homeless person shows up, who am I going to ask for ransom? Even if I chop him up and sell him as pork, it would only fetch a few thousand bucks. To put it bluntly, we'd earn more just hauling bricks at a construction site."
I nodded in understanding.
The boss lady continued, "Only by eliminating all those small fries and raising the threshold will we attract the attention of heavyweight figures. At that point, we'll resume our old business and casually catch some big fish; isn't that better than anything else? Just like now—the Young Man we've captured is from Wen Family; the girl is also from Wen Family and of direct lineage. Their price is much higher than yours—fifty million each, no bargaining."
"What about Du Neng and Li Xiaoxiao? Why did you kill them? Don't they have money?" I asked angrily.
"How much money could they possibly have? At most a few hundred thousand; we don't even care about that amount. Besides, if we don't take out a few slightly bigger small fries, how can we attract heavyweight figures like you?" The boss lady chuckled.
I fell silent; her words hit home. Wasn't Wen Zhan drawn here by the rumors of gold and ghosts? He had seen everything last night when that right hand showed off its power at the hotel entrance—he didn't back down but instead showed even more interest.
In some ways, people are predictable.
"To filter out people like you, Sister Zhang has been gathering information from all sides. Anyone heading to General Township will be brought back for assessment; we'll register your names and check if you have the ability to pay large ransoms before we take action," the boss lady said with a smile.
"I understood, you and Early Summer... uh, you and A-Zhen are just acting. Whether it's your mysterious demeanor or Early Summer's warning about playing hard to get, it's all to pique our interest, and we foolishly fell for it. Even at the cabin door, you were using a Shanzhai Phone to create illusions." I shook my head and chuckled, "I have to admit, you really understand human nature."
"It’s not me; it’s Sister Xia." The boss lady smiled and pointed to the middle-aged woman behind her. "Sister Xia, Zhang Qixia, she is an authority in psychology, and she personally designed the mechanisms of this secret passage. Back in the day, she was known in the martial world as the Cloud Dream Fairy for her exceptional skills in trap mechanisms."
I glanced at the middle-aged woman, Zhang Qixia, and thought to myself, how could someone like her dare to call herself a fairy? Were all those who roamed the martial world back then blind? Uh, does having 'fairy' in her nickname give her a sense of pride when she registered? Maybe I should come up with a fairy-like nickname too; Spicy Hot Pot Fairy sounds pretty good.
Lost in my thoughts, I lightly cleared my throat and said, "What was it? Dream Fairy... uh, Dream Cloud Fairy, right? I'm curious where you got all these props from—these hands and feet, and these jewels. How did you make them?"
"I am the Cloud Dream Fairy!" Zhang Qixia smiled lightly. "As for your questions, I have no comment."
What are you so smug about? I silently scoffed but continued to smile. "Especially those Severed Limbs; they were so powerful that I almost couldn't handle them."
Zhang Qixia paused for a moment before laughing. "Zhong Zhengnan, stop joking around. Those hands and feet are just for scaring people; they only have some brute force. You are the underground boxing champion of Star City; how could they possibly be your match?"
I certainly didn't believe her. Escaping from those Severed Limbs was a personal experience of mine. She must be mocking me for not being able to defeat them. I couldn't be bothered to respond and said, "Losing to you isn't exactly embarrassing."
The boss lady heard this and playfully lifted my chin with a smile. "Embarrassing? What face do you have left to lose? It seems your face isn't that handsome anyway. But you look quite sturdy; I wonder if your stamina is good. If your Kung Fu is decent, you could sell yourself to pay off debts—ten thousand for one night! You could clear your debts in three years. Ten thousand isn't a small amount; why not consider it?"
I remained silent; such obvious teasing—did she expect me to haggle with her?
"Bring those hostages in," the boss lady ordered a few Muscular Men.
The Muscular Men complied and turned to leave. Shortly after, four of them dragged three people inside. These three were tied up like dumplings; upon closer inspection, they were Wen Zhan, Wen Qianqian, and Fatty. Wen Zhan and Wen Qianqian even had their mouths gagged. Following them was a young man with a big smile on his face—Fang Feng.
Wen Zhan and the others looked at me in shock, while Fatty shouted loudly, "Ghost Brother! How did you get caught too?" He then looked up at the boss lady angrily and demanded, "What’s going on? How could it be you guys?"
The boss lady sneered and recounted everything that had happened. Fatty fell silent for a moment before cursing loudly, "Damn it! I'm only worth three million?" Then he glared at Fang Feng angrily: "Damn you! You're definitely a traitor! If I had known earlier, I would have killed you on the spot!"
Fang Feng smiled at Fatty. "Can’t you use a nicer term? I prefer to call it being an undercover agent!"
"Undercover?" I squinted at Fang Feng. "No wonder you look like Chen Guanxi. Mr. Undercover, may I ask if you're not part of the same team as Du Neng and Li Xiaoxiao? Since you're on the same team, you've been working together for years now; how could you bear to watch them die right in front of you?"
Fang Feng sneered, "They were ungrateful first; it's only natural that I repay their schemes."
"They schemed against you?" I repeated.
"That's right!" Fang Feng gritted his teeth and said, "Two years ago, I partnered with them on a big deal. That batch of artifacts sold for a total of 1.3 million. After deducting our principal and expenses, we made 610,000. They gave me 200,000, and the remaining 1,000 was supposed to treat everyone to a good meal. But when I asked the waiter afterward, that meal clearly only cost 97,000. So, they embezzled 300! And my 100 was included in that! Damn it, they didn't even give me back my 100! Because of this, I swore on the spot that I would take revenge! Later, when Sister Zhang contacted me, I immediately agreed to go undercover."
I was speechless upon hearing this. Marego Bi, you turned against them over just 100? This was the first time I had heard of such a bizarre person. They still spent 97,000 on that meal; if it had only been 17,000, wouldn't you have killed Old Du on the spot?
Boss Lady lightly coughed and looked at Fang Feng with a half-smile: "Fang, I promised you beforehand, but it's only 500,000. Now that you know how valuable these people are, are you going to turn against me?"
Fang Feng was taken aback for a moment and quickly replied, "No, no way! This is the price we agreed on; I'm only taking my fair share."
Boss Lady snorted; she probably also looked down on Fang Feng's character. She turned to the young woman Early Summer and said, "Alright, next we need to contact their families. Four!"
One of the muscular men responded and stepped forward.
Boss Lady pointed at us: "You get a knife and hold it to their necks. Early Summer, you're responsible for filming the video. After you're done, send it to their relatives via WeChat. Remember, we don't want any cash; we only want gold. Give them three days to prepare."
Early Summer agreed with a nod. Boss Lady glanced at us and said to the other three muscular men: "Two, Three, Five, and Sister Xia, you all come back to the cabin with me to prepare for the retreat."
Everyone acknowledged her command as the three muscular men and Zhang Qixia followed Boss Lady out.
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