Chapter 649: Overwhelming Force
The residential building in the Old River Street district of Star City was still undeveloped and was not yet opened for inhabitants, and the transportation network had already extended from all directions with numerous alleys and lanes. It was easy for one to lose direction in the lanes and alleys there if they were not familiar with the place.
Bardeen Lane.
Outside the tenement door number 01966, two young men were squatting by the door while chatting, but their sharp eyes swept the side street from time to time. They carefully observed the street under the dim lights whenever someone passed by.
"Old Yang, I kinda feel like… something bad is about to happen." One of the young men suddenly spoke in a low voice.
The young man called Old Yang had his expression change slightly. He vigilantly looked around and said, "Hey, don't scare me like that. The last time we were in Guangyang province to take care of those dead bodies in the river bank, you had this kind of feeling too, and it turned out that the cops were rushing there. You were able to run away by jumping into the river, but Black Mole was shot dead on the spot. Everyone in our team says that you have a keen intuition, you know."
"I really didn't mean to scare you. This kind of premonition is kinda similar with what I felt back then in Guangyang Province." The other young man smiled wryly.
Old Yang frowned and pondered about it. He threw the cigarette butt in front of his feet and said, "You keep watching here. I'll go inside to talk with Brother Cheng. I'm sure we'll leave this place at once if he believes it."
"Got it," Heizi nodded without speaking more.
Inside the six-story tenement two kilometers away from them, Kang Xia was holding binoculars and observing that number 01966 tenement. Beside her were stood two bodyguards. One of them also held binoculars and said, "Chief Kang, there should be eight people inside that building. Apart from those six who came to Manager He's place, those two people are staying there."
Kang Xia put down the binoculars as she looked at her watch and asked, "How long does it take for the Boss to get there?"
"Boss has just arrived over there; about a kilometer away from the target's courtyard. Also, he should have transferred some people from the Everlasting Feast Hall's Jingmen Island HQ, since I can see six of our comrades near the vicinity of that courtyard."
With eyes lit up, Kang Xia immediately said, "Let's go there immediately!"
The bodyguard held the binoculars as he forced a smile and said, "Chief Kang, I'm afraid my calculation is mistaken. Boss and the others have arrived there. Take a look…"
Kang Xia hurriedly lifted her binoculars. After watching through it, she found that there were more than a dozen figures around the courtyard. Some of them were experts of the Everlasting Feast Hall who were staying in Star City. She could not recognize eight of them. However, they looked very skillful and sturdy as they easily climbed the roof from the left, right, and the back of the building.
"They are about to act," muttered Kang Xia.
Her guess was correct.
Tang Xiu issued the order to apprehend those people the moment he arrived at the courtyard entrance. Heizi, who was smoking and on guard by the door, simply did not have the time to pull the gun in his waist as two middle-aged men approached him all of a sudden and put a sharp dagger on his neck.
Bam…
The door was kicked open and Tang Xiu only glanced at Heizi with indifference as he arrived there and went straight inside. The two men in the courtyard had already been captured by the four experts and had their mouths covered and with sharp daggers also on their necks.
Inside the building, Chen Cheng was currently listening to Old Yang's report. He frowned deeply in silence, pondering whether they had to leave. As the sounds from the courtyard door were heard, what he first did was pull the pistol from his waist and bolted toward the windows to look outside with an alarmed expression.
"Trouble!"
His face instantly turned nasty after seeing the scene outside. Little did he think that he and his team would be found even though they had been careful to conceal their whereabouts. Judging from the scene outside, the other party had probably surrounded the place already.
"Get ready for combat and risk your life to rush out!" Chen Cheng looked at the other four in the room and said with a grim expression.
The only woman among them, who was smoking, caressed the ring in her left ring finger. Her eyes were cold and looked savage as killing intent burst out from them. Though she was not an assassin, she had committed a lot of murders and even felt that she was much better than many of these assassins.
"The other party may be people from the Magnificent Tang Corporation. I don't know the strength of this company's security forces, but I'm sure only a few of them came here, else it would create quite of a big ruckus outside. Therefore, we'll fight with everything we have. Kill as many as we can and find a chance to escape," said the woman calmly.
Chen Cheng furrowed his brows and glanced at her. He then nodded silently and said, "We all have guns, and I don't think they have many guns even though they have us surrounded. So there's no need for us to fear them. Wait for my command before shooting them."
Old Yang had also taken out his gun. Almost everyone in their team brought a gun when they came here. After he went to the door, he slowly pushed it and made an opening, and then pointing his muzzle out.
"Old Yang, shoot the man who put the dagger on Heizi. Your marksmanship is the best among us, so be sure to kill that guy with one shot!" Chen Cheng commanded.
"Got it!"
A bloodthirst look flashed in Old Yang's eyes. He aimed his gun at the middle-aged man who held Heizi, silently counted to three and then directly pulled the trigger.
BANG!
A gunshot was heard and the bullet shot through the slit of the door towards that man. At the same instant moment, that man's expression changed and forcefully moved Heizi's body, causing him to get shot by the bullet instead.
Tang Xiu was standing at the forefront. After finding that he was not the target of the bullet, he immediately shouted, "MOVE NOW! LEAVE SOME OF THEM ALIVE!"
Crash! Crash!
The windows on both sides of the room were shattered to pieces as two ghostly figures bolted into the room the moment after. Their movements were so fast that Chen Cheng's group of five could only see flashing images and feel the guns in their hands seized from them at once. What made their souls almost depart their bodies was that their hands and wrists were fractured instantly at this moment.
"Don't move if you don't wanna die!"
Two men aimed the guns they just robbed from the four people at Chen Cheng. While a man who did not aim his gun at them was now slowly slumped to the floor with his neck twisted.
Despite the fear he felt inside, Chen Cheng forced himself to keep calm on the surface. He glared at the middle-aged man who just spoke and asked, "Who are you, people? Do you know that breaking into someone's house is breaking the law?"
"Is that so?" sneered Tang Xiu as he strode into the room. His eyes swept over them before they finally fell on Chen Cheng and said, "Breaking the law, huh? Some villains unexpectedly talk to me about breaking the law? Don't you think that you're ridiculous?"
"Who are you?" Asked Chen Cheng in a heavy voice.
Under his gaze, Tang Xiu walked to the chair nearby and sat down. He lit a cigarette and took a puff, blowing out some smoke rings and indifferently said, "You cast your greedy eyes over my stuff, and yet you ask me who I am? Do you have a bad memory or something? Are you some kind of idiot?"
Chen Cheng's complexion greatly changed. His breathing turned rapid at this moment as he looked at Tang Xiu with an incredulous expression and muttered, "You are Tang Xiu? The Big Boss of Magnificent Tang Corporation?"
"Well, well. Seems like you have a very detailed information about me, no?" Tang Xiu sneered. "That's right. I'm Tang Xiu, the Magnificent Tang Corporation's owner, a rich yet down-to-earth man."
With a face drained of any color, Chen Cheng's hope of seizing the chance to escape was smashed, since Tang Xiu himself was already here. As a experienced man who had gone through many storms and waves, he naturally knew that it was highly likely that he would meet his demise by the other party here and now.
"Winners are kings, and losers are always in the wrong. I've fallen to your hands, hack and kill us, I don't care, do what you will." Chen Cheng took a deep breath. He raised his hand to touch his forehead and gave an eye signal to the woman.
Tacitly understanding it, the woman instantly dashed toward Tang Xiu. Mo Awu, who was behind Tang Xiu, instantly moved to Tang Xiu's front to block her and fiercely kick her abdomen, sending her flying upside down and then spurted out some blood after she fell. The instant moment after, Mo Awu had dashed to Chen Cheng's front and sent him a heavy punch that straightly knocked him down.
"Tie them up!" Ordered Tang Xiu coldly.
A dozen minutes later, the two men who were acting as watch guards were also brought, and a total of seven enemies who were still alive had been tied up.
"Greatly done, Boss!" Kang Xia was very happy with the outcome. Though she was perfectly aware of how powerful Tang Xiu's combat ability was, she was still worried that he would be injured. She felt relieved after seeing that he was safe and sound, and immediately let out a praise.
Tang Xiu only faintly smiled in response and said, "If my guess is correct, the rest of them should probably be some trivial henchmen except for that man and woman who visited Manager He Dong. Anyways, you should go and wait outside, Kang Xia. I'm going to torture them to extract what I need to know."
Kang Xia hesitated for a moment before nodding and turned around to leave.
Right as the door was closed, Tang Xiu ordered Mo Awu to wake Chen Cheng, and then lightly spoke to him, "Since you already investigated my identity, I'm sure you already know that my identity as the Young Divine Doctor of Star City Chinese Medical Hospital. As a divine doctor, I can bring back a man from the death's door and yet let them hang on the bridge toward it. So I'm going to use it to torture you. You must know that I can guarantee to have your life still hanging even though you have been cut by a thousand blades. I can still keep your life for two or three days after that, and you won't be able to commit suicide even if you want to."
"I already prepared to die since I dared to come to Star City." Chen Cheng sneered. "I was never afraid of torture. Bring it on if you have the ability. If my brows even furrow then I'm not a man!"
"Then I'll let you taste the feeling of having a twisted muscle and slipped bones first." Tang Xiu sneered. "Then I'll make you taste how death is much better than staying alive."
After saying that, he patted Chen Cheng's body without stopping with a good control of force. He then stopped more than ten seconds after, stepping back and returning to the chair. On the other side, the woman also sobered up.
Aaaargh…
A heart-rending scream came out from Chen Cheng's mouth. The pain brought by twisted muscles and slipped bones was the most painful sensation he had ever suffered in his whole life.
Tang Xiu looked at the woman and indifferently sneered, "Well, my treat of twisted muscles and slipped bones seems to have a great effect. If you wanna try it, I can use it on you too."
Chapter 650: Moving
The woman, however, was unperturbed by the threat. She looked at Chen Cheng, who was tied up and rolling about on the floor while screaming out miserably. Half a minute later, she turned her head to look at Tang Xiu and suddenly let out a strange smile.
"I give in." The woman's voice was a bit hoarse.
Tang Xiu frowned and felt that something was wrong. Just before he could figure out the reason, Mo Awu strode forward and firmly pressed the woman's cheek to open her mouth. A stench smell came out from her mouth and Mo Awu's face drastically changed. He immediately lifted her and punched her belly while his other turned her upside down.
Cough…
The woman coughed up blood, and yet the blood she coughed out was blackish dark-red.
Tang Xiu finally realized that this woman had committed suicide by taking poison. Countless times had he encountered people who hid poisonous drugs inside their teeth back in the past. But he had never thought that this woman would resort to such a method to suicide since he was, after all, someone who had knowledge in Chinese medicine. He quickly examined the woman's condition, only to discover that the poison she had taken was extremely potent. Furthermore, the time from when she first took it was quite long, and the poison had corroded her internal organs. Unless he was able to get an Immortal Antidote pill, then it would be close to impossible to save her.
Slash…
A dagger slashed the woman's neck. Tang Xiu decided to prevent her from the agony of dying from the poison and released her from the suffering directly by giving her a quick death to free her from worldly matters earlier.
"Get him up again!" Said Tang Xiu casually after returning to the chair and glancing at Chen Cheng, whose body was convulsing with blood overflowing from his seven orifices.
"I WILL SPEAK!" With a painfully heart-rending roar, Chen Cheng finally gave in.
"Well, aren't you giving in too quickly?" Tang Xiu slightly smiled. "You know, I still have loads of ruthless means compared to this trifling one, or else how come you would withstand for a few hours then? Don't worry, I can definitely double the pain you gotta endure under the premise of protecting you from dying."
"OKAY, I WILL SPEAK!"
Chen Cheng's fear had reached the limit after enduring such an inhuman pain. He had seen numerous kinds of torture, and he himself was skilled in various kinds of torturing tools to extract information from people since he had done it to a lot before. However, he never thought that this method called "twisting muscles and slipping bones" would bring so horrifyingly painful a pain to the tortured.
Tang Xiu nodded as Mo Awu brought Chen Cheng before him. He then relieved him from the pain of having his muscles twisted and bones slipped. While looking at Chen Cheng, who looked like a dead dog lying on the ground, panting and gasping for air, he sneered, "Tell me everything you know, else you will have to taste this feeling that dying is much better than being alive for a very long time. I promise that I'll use whatever means necessary to find your family and extract it to find that guy surnamed Qian if you don't spit out everything. I have never believed such an idiot saying that one must never involve a third party whenever they solve conflicts, to begin with. You have already annoyed me, thus I'll make you and your family have the same fate. You all will feel taste that death is much better than being alive!"
It was a full, undisguised threat!
Upon hearing Tang Xiu's threat, Chen Cheng's heart was as though falling into an ice hole, and he found that Tang Xiu at this time was completely not a human, but an Archdevil!
Two minutes after, his condition was much better, as he raised his head to look at Tang Xiu and asked, "What exactly do you want to know?"
"Just tell me everything you know," said Tang Xiu coldly. "You should understand what I mean!"
"The person who wants to get the technology of your Magnificent Tang Corporation's product is Qian Xingwang. He's my Boss and if my guess is correct, you should have obtained the detailed information about him by now. Our plan is very simple. The director of the winery that produces the Gods Nectar doesn't want to sell the wine recipe to us, so we planned to remove him since we've already bought the vice-director of the winery, and thus we attempted to kill him and replace him. Also, striking the man in charge of the winery is a diversionary tactic, to snatch the other products' technology of your company..."
"So, where is Chen Xingwang now?" Asked Tang Xiu with a cold glint flashed in his eyes after listening to Chen Chen's confession about all of their plans.
"He's in Blue City, in the Seneschal Mansion Garden."
Tang Xiu turned his head to Mo Awu and said in a deep voice, "Lead a team to seize Chen Xingwang. Do remember. I want him alive!"
"Don't bother. It's useless." Chen Cheng shook his head. "Chen Xingwang contact us every six hours. And he will move at once if our safety is compromised here. It's about one and a half an hours before our next contact."
"Aren't you still alive?" Tang Xiu sneered.
"I am." Chen Cheng bitterly smiled. "But he doesn't fully trust me. The one he fully trusts is this woman. But she's dead now, and he will surely realize it in our next contact."
One and a half hours left?
Tang Xiu's expression slightly changed. He gazed deeply at Chen Cheng and immediately asked, "In the case… I mean, if you receive a call from Chen Xingwang, can you delay him for an hour more?"
Chen Cheng's face turned blank. He knitted his brows and said, "An hour would be quite difficult. Chen Xingwang is an oversuspicious man in nature, but half an hour wouldn't be a problem, I think."
"That's fine. Half an hour it is," said Tang Xiu without hesitation.
After saying that, he dialed his aunt—Tang Ming's cell number and asked, "Auntie, does the army garrison in Star City have a military chopper?"
"Yes. There's a few of them," replied Tang Min after pondering for a moment.
"Do you have the privilege to use it by chance? I need to send some people from Star City to Blue City immediately. The time is very urgent since I only have two hours," said Tang Xiu.
Tang Min took a deep breath and then said, "I don't have the authority for that, but your Third Grandpa should. I'll call him immediately."
"Alright, thanks!" Replied Tang Xiu.
Two minutes later, his mobile phone buzzed again, and Tang Guoxing's voice came from the phone, "Xiu'er, Min told me about your request. I'll arrange what needs to be done in the Star City military garrison right away, so you can send your men now. I guarantee that the military chopper will be available for you to take off at any time."
"Alright. Sorry for troubling you, Third Grandpa," replied Tang Xiu before hanging the phone. He then looked at Mo Awu and said in a deep voice, "You're to take our men to the Star City military garrison immediately, there will be a military chopper waiting for you there. Remember, make sure you rush to the target destination and seize that surnamed Qian guy!"
"Affirmative!" Mo Awu replied respectfully and immediately gathered some experts of the Everlasting Feast Hall to leave.
At this time, Chen Cheng had already sat up. He could clearly hear all the contents of Tang Xiu's call as well as his conversation with Mo Awu. What he heard raised a tempestuous storm inside his heart, since he never thought that Tang Xiu could use the military helicopter from Star City military garrison with a call.
An hour later, Tang Xiu and Kang Xia appeared in the Long's Dining Hall. Except for the experts from the Everlasting Feast Hall, the rest of the security forces of the Magnificent Tang Corporation left directly. As for those people under Chen Cheng, all of them had been killed, leaving only Chen Cheng alone, and their corpses were destroyed without leaving any trace.
Inside the business suite of the Long's Dining Hall, Tang Xiu folded his arms while standing before the window, watching the bustling scene of the city outside, and yet he did not have the leisure of appreciating the scene at this moment. That man surnamed Qian was like a savage beast hiding in the dark. He was not afraid of this man, but was worried to have the information of his company's products stolen instead. Hence, he must neutralize all the hidden dangers earlier.
"Don't worry. We'll definitely solve them!" The thoughts of breaking the law and killing people never crossed Kang Xia's mind before, but ever since she started working for Tang Xiu and seen how he resorted to murder in many occasions, it had already made her numb to killing, even though she did not kill them with her own hands.
Tang Xiu nodded without a word. He suddenly remembered something and said, "If I can solve this Qian guy, I intend to take you and Andy to my hometown."
"Huh? What do you want us to do in your hometown?" Asked Kang Xia, puzzled.
"I found an Earth vein's Spirit Spring in the stone forest in the back of the mountain of my hometown. If you are to cultivate inside the Spirit Spring, your cultivation will progress rapidly and be promoted by one or two levels. The situation at present leaves us in the open while our enemies are hiding in the dark with their eyes set on us. You and Andy are my people, so I must guarantee your safety. Having bodyguards is nothing but external protection, only if you have more formidable strength will I really feel assured and at ease," explained Tang Xiu.
Kang Xia felt warm inside and reached out to hold Tang Xiu's arm, saying, "I see. Since we're going to your hometown… do I have to prepare some gifts? Isn't Grandma still living there?"
"You don't need to prepare any gifts." Tang Xiu shook his head. "I still have some important things to tend to in Star City, so we won't be visiting the Su Family Village. I'll directly take you to the forested mountain for cultivation after we get there. After you've finished with your cultivation, I intend to go back immediately."
"How long does it take to cultivate there?" asked Kang Xia. "I must arrange some company's affairs in advance before going."
Tang Xiu pondered for a moment before answering, "About four days!"
****
Blue City, Seneschal Mansion Garden.
Chen Xingwang hung up the phone with a vigilant look in his eyes. Since he sent Chen Cheng and the others out, it was the first time the woman he trusted the most did not answer his call. Chen Cheng said that she was taking a shower, making him somewhat anxious and suspicious because she also knew the time he would call them, and for her to take a shower at this time was truly not her style.
… Could it be that something has gone wrong?
Qian Xingwang pondered for a short while and immediately made a decision. He turned his head to look at the two people behind him and spoke in a deep voice, "Let's get out of here and find a way to control the people living nearby."
"Understood!"
The two middle-aged men replied and left immediately. After a few minutes, one of them came back and reported, "We have the family of three next doors under our control, Boss."
"OK!" Qian Xingwang replied and immediately left the house. After he arrived in the next-door household, he saw that the family of three had all been stunned and tied up. Then he spoke, "Notify our men to keep an eye on all the movements in the vicinity of this tenement. They are to report to me as soon as possible if any stranger approaches."