At that time.
On the golf course in the western suburbs of Quancheng.
"Haven't played for over half a month, Director Song's golf skills have improved swiftly. I'm afraid this old bag of bones can't beat you anymore."
Sitting on the sofa under a sun umbrella, Su Bingtian put down his golf club and poured two cups of hot tea.
Next to him sat a middle-aged man.
It was none other than the director of the Quancheng Public Security Bureau, Song Qingshan.
"Mr. Su, what are you talking about?"
Song Qingshan shook his head with a smile and said, "My golf skills were all taught by you personally. To tell the truth, I should call you Master. My eyes aren't blind. How could I not see that you let me win on purpose?"
Song Qingshan was able to reach his current position partly thanks to Su Bingtian's efforts behind the scenes. Su had helped him a great deal, so Song was very grateful to him and had always respected him deeply.
This was also why Su could easily get him to come out and talk today.
"You were born to be a policeman. Your eyes are very sharp."
Su Bingtian complimented him a few times, then got to the point and asked, "Did you find what I asked you to investigate?"
"Mr. Su, are you referring to..."
Song Qingshan frowned. "That Xiao Zhan? Didn't Wenchao already look at his personal file and criminal record when he went to Quancheng Prison No. 4? Is there a problem?"
Previously, the reason why Su Wenchao could go to Quancheng Prison No. 4 to view the information of those prisoners and choose Xiao Zhan was that he made use of Song Qingshan's connections.
"Oh, it's complicated to explain."
Su Bingtian's face darkened as he briefly told Song Qingshan about what had happened at the engagement banquet this morning.
"Oh?"
Song Qingshan looked surprised and said, "Does Mr. Su mean that Xiao acted recklessly and arrogantly, and ruined the engagement banquet in front of everyone by beating Wenchao, embarrassing you?"
"Yes."
Su Bingtian nodded. "He is wild and hard to tame, highly skilled in combat, and has a serious tendency for violence. I worry that leaving such a dangerous person in the Su family will inevitably become a disaster sooner or later."
"Also, if he gets out and causes trouble, committing arson or murder, he will pose a considerable threat to the social order of Quancheng."
Su Bingtian was cunning and crafty.
He wanted to get rid of Xiao Zhan with Song Qingshan's help, but didn't want to put Song in a difficult position with private interests, so he directly elevated Xiao Zhan's threat to the social level.
This made him appear highly righteous.
The implication was: I'm doing this not just for myself and the Su family, but even more so for the common people of Quancheng. And as the director of the Public Security Bureau, maintaining public order is originally your job anyway...
How could Song Qingshan refuse?
Song was also a smart man. He immediately understood Su's intention and asked, "So...what does Mr. Su plan to do?"
"How about this."
Su pretended to think for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "When I get back, I'll have some people keep an eye on that violent maniac's every move. As soon as he does anything outrageous, call you immediately. Then you bring people to arrest him and lock him back in prison."
"Alright."
Without thinking twice, Song agreed, while silently mourning for Xiao Zhan for a few seconds.
If you want to convict someone, what's to stop you from fabricating charges?
It was so easy for Su Bingtian to frame Xiao Zhan with a trumped up accusation. The only one to blame was Xiao Zhan for being too high-profile and not knowing when to back down, taking the wrong side by helping Su Muqiu and becoming Su Bingtian's enemy.
"Five years ago, the victim who was raped by Xiao Zhan couldn't be found?"
Su Bingtian suddenly asked.
Song Qingshan shook his head. "Strangely, all the officers who investigated that case back then have left Quancheng without a trace. Now we can only find that Xiao Zhan was imprisoned for the crime of rape, but nothing else is recorded in the dossier."
"How is that possible?"
Su Bingtian's pupils shrank. Obviously he didn't believe it.
Song Qingshan said gravely, "Based on my experience, there are generally only two possibilities in this kind of situation."
"Tell me."
"Either the identities of at least one of the parties involved in the case are special, or the case itself is special, so the detailed dossier has been classified with access restricted. Those without sufficient clearance can only see a simplified version with important information deleted, or even a complete fake dossier fabricated to gloss things over."
"Oh?"
Su Bingtian's pupils shrank even tighter as his sword-like eyebrows stood erect, his gaze cold and sinister.
Previously, he had let Su Wenchao handle the matter of going to Quancheng Prison No. 4 to select an engagement partner for Su Muqiu. He thought it was an insignificant trivial matter and didn't pay much attention to it.
Who could have imagined that from the thousands of choices, Su Wenchao would pick such an "oddball" like Xiao Zhan?
The dossier was classified...
Was there something special about Xiao Zhan's identity?
Or was there something special about that case from five years ago?
If Su Bingtian knew that his granddaughter Su Muqiu was the victim in that case, and Xiao Zhan was the young master of the Xiao family in Jingcheng, the prestigious Northern Wolf King, one could only imagine his reaction!
"In my opinion, it's very likely that Xiao Zhan is..."
Song Qingshan's mind was meticulous and his experience in handling cases was abundant. He seemed to have guessed something and was about to continue speaking, but at that moment, a jarring ringtone suddenly interrupted him.
It was Su Bingtian's phone.
"Let me take this call."
Su Bingtian stood up, took out his phone and glanced at it. Seeing it was the HR manager of Su Shi Group, his expression immediately turned unpleasant.
An insignificant department manager shouldn't have the right to call him directly, with Su Wenchao and Su Jiangguo in between.
"You have thirty seconds."
But after some hesitation, he still pressed the answer button and said coldly, "What is it? Speak!"
"Chairman Su, something big has happened! Really big!"
A panicked male voice came from the phone, "Chairman Zhao, Chairman Li, and Chairman Wang, they...they brought over a hundred people and suddenly broke into the company and started smashing things..."
"What?!"
In an instant, Su Bingtian's eyes widened as he became enraged.
He almost dropped the phone in shock.
"Mr. Su, what happened?"
Song Qingshan also stood up. Seeing Su Bingtian's reaction, he knew it was nothing good. But before Su Bingtian could respond, another jarring ringtone sounded.
This time, it was Song Qingshan's phone.
Song immediately answered, "Little Liu, what's the situation?"
"Director Song!"
The anxious male voice from the phone said, "I just received reports from eighteen Su Shi Group employees in a row saying Chairman Zhao Yongrong of Zhao Group, Chairman Li Lixing of Li Tang Technology, and Chairman Wang Zhitao of Shenglong Building Materials brought around 150 security guards to attack Su Shi Group, smashing things. It's a major case with an extremely urgent situation..."
"Su Shi Group???"
Song Qingshan's heart skipped a beat as he thought, this is bad. Now even without Su Bingtian saying it, he knew what was going on.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
