Ding Renfeng slung his work uniform over his shoulder and sauntered over, eyeing the foreman as he said, "Liu Tuzi, you called for me?"
The foreman cleared his throat. "Uh, nicknames don’t need to be said to someone’s face. There’s someone outside looking for you."
Ding Renfeng frowned in confusion.
Just then, a clear, bright voice sounded from behind.
"Hey, what’s-his-name Feng, long time no see." An Yi waved as he spoke.
The moment he saw An Yi, Ding Renfeng froze, his eyes welling up with tears. "Yi-ge! What brings you here?"
An Yi was baffled.
Why was this guy—what was his name again?—so emotional?
And why the hell was he crying?
Ding Renfeng bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Brothers! Yi-ge is here! Gather up!"
At his words, the gang of hoodlums swiftly assembled.
An Yi was even more bewildered as he watched the ragtag group form up. "Why are there so few of you left?"
Compared to before, their numbers had dwindled by more than half.
Now, there were only about twenty of them.
"It’s a long story," Ding Renfeng sighed, shaking his head before recounting the tale.
After the incident at the underground boxing ring, Ding Renfeng’s gang had split.
Ding Renfeng no longer wanted to live a life of crime and aimed to go straight. But half the group preferred the old days under Long-ge—life had been comfortable back then.
Now, not only had their standard of living plummeted, but they couldn’t even indulge in their usual vices!
No more gleaming silver, no more fair-skinned girls—what was the point of sticking with Ding Renfeng?
So, one faction left, while the other wandered aimlessly with Ding Renfeng.
Lately, things had gotten so tough that they’d taken up odd jobs at this construction site just to scrape by.
"This must be Yi-sao, right? So beautiful—a perfect match for Yi-ge," Ding Renfeng said, eyeing Shen Muxuan beside An Yi.
Shen Muxuan quickly waved her hands. "No, no, not yet! Don’t say such things!"
An Yi cut straight to the point. "I came to ask for your help with something."
"Yi-ge, we’re family. Whatever you need, just say the word."
Ding Renfeng’s eyes gleamed as he thumped his chest earnestly.
This was his chance to prove his loyalty. If he did well, maybe An Yi would finally take them in as his own men.
"Ever heard of Zhou Jun?"
An Yi pulled out his phone and showed a photo. "He was a well-known hoodlum in Jiangbei City back in the day—probably ran in the same circles as you. No idea where he is now."
"Damn, Junzi!"
Ding Renfeng’s face lit up at the photo.
The other hoodlums, including Yaoji, crowded around. "It’s Junzi! It’s really him!"
An Yi was taken aback. "You know him?"
"That bastard’s one of our brothers! No one’s seen him in two years!"
Ding Renfeng’s eyes reddened as he stared at the picture.
Yaoji shook his head, his expression darkening. "Two years ago, we got into a fight with another gang. Junzi accidentally hurt someone bad and went on the run. No one’s heard from him since."
An Yi finally understood. "So that’s why Aunt Zhou never reported it to the police."
Zhou Jun was Aunt Zhou’s son.
Recently, An Yi had discovered that Aunt Zhou secretly visited a certain place every month.
She’d been so discreet about it that he wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t been injured lately.
Aunt Zhou had saved his life and let him live with her for a year without asking for anything in return. If he could help her now, he wouldn’t hesitate.
"What about this guy? Do you recognize him?"
An Yi pulled up another photo—one of the two men who’d abducted Aunt Zhou in the surveillance footage.
Ding Renfeng’s expression turned odd. "Actually, yeah. But Yi-ge… are you sure you want to mess with him?"
"Mmph! Mmph!"
A beautiful girl with short black hair, her hands and feet bound and her mouth taped shut, was dragged into the hall by a burly woman.
"Let Mama Liu take a look. How’s this one?"
A woman covered in tattoos, her appearance plain but her aura sinister, puffed on a cigarette and grinned.
The man glanced at the girl on the floor—and couldn’t look away. His eyes gleamed with greed. "This quality… unbelievable. A total knockout! Wild Rose, where’d you find her? She’s prettier than a damn celebrity."
"Found her on the roadside," Wild Rose said with a smirk.
The man licked his lips. "Name your price. For a girl like this, Mama Liu would pay anything."
"I want 500,000."
Wild Rose exhaled a smoke ring, her lips curling.
The man’s face fell. "500,000? Are you insane?"
"If you don’t want her, I’ll find another buyer," Wild Rose taunted.
"Fine. I’ll ask Mama Liu."
The man gritted his teeth, his eyes locked on the bound girl.
After years in this business, he knew a girl like this was a goldmine.
500,000 was steep, but the profits would be even greater.
The other burly woman beside Wild Rose bit her lip but didn’t dare speak.
The girl on the floor was Nie Qinglan.
Terror filled her eyes as she struggled uselessly against her restraints.
Wild Rose wasn’t some ordinary thug.
After An Yi had abandoned her in the suburbs, Brother Bao and his men had picked her up and brought her back to the city.
But this woman had intercepted their car, beaten Brother Bao and his crew senseless, and kidnapped her in broad daylight.
The sheer audacity!
Soon, the plump figure of Mama Liu waddled into the lobby.
"Oh my heavens! This little treasure is exquisite!"
Mama Liu scurried over, caressing Nie Qinglan’s face. "Tsk tsk, such smooth, delicate skin. Who did your makeup? This ugly smoky eye is a crime! And this nose ring—what, are you a bull? It’s not even pierced, just clipped on. Ridiculous!"
"So, Mama Liu, how’s the merchandise?" Wild Rose asked sweetly.
Mama Liu coughed, forcing a stern expression. "It’ll do. What’s your price?"
A good businesswoman never showed her excitement—otherwise, the seller would jack up the price.
She’d already broken that rule.
Wild Rose smirked. "500,000. Not a penny less."
Mama Liu hesitated, then clenched her jaw. "Deal!"
She motioned for the man to fetch the money.
For a girl like this, 500,000 was painful but still a bargain.
The muscular woman beside Wild Rose whispered nervously, "Rose-jie, this is Boss Nie’s daughter. Are you sure—"
"Such a perfect opportunity—how could I resist? I’d love to see how Boss Nie reacts when his precious girl gets ruined in a place like this."
Wild Rose’s grin turned venomous.
This bathhouse wasn’t just any establishment—its backers were shady as hell.
If Nie Qinglan got defiled here, Boss Nie would lose his mind.
Then, they could sit back and watch two hated factions tear each other apart.
What a beautiful sight that would be.
Meanwhile, unnoticed by anyone, a tall, lean figure quietly pressed against the window, peering into the hall.
"Nie Qinglan? What the hell is she doing here, tied up like that?"
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
