Special District 9

The accommodation which the soldier had arranged for them was located in the suburbs. It was an abandoned military training field. When everyone arrived in the area, they could even see the signage which wrote ‘Restricted Access’ in both English and Mandarin.

The soldier, wearing casual clothes, brought them over to a rundown building and instructed with a lowered voice, “Don’t light any fire, don’t make too much noise, and don’t go out in the day. Understood?”

“Yeah, got it.” Qin Yu nodded.

“If you were found, you should say that you saw that this area was abandoned so you came here to seek refuge,” the soldier continued. “If you say too much, you’ll only bring trouble to the person who helped you.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t implicate you in this.”

“I’ve brought some medicine over from the platoon. Let’s take a look at your friend’s injuries first.”

“Thanks a lot.”

After communicating some ground rules, the soldier picked up his medicine kit and led Qin Yu and the others indoors. Then, he began issuing instructions, “Help me lay down this antibacterial cloth first. Those who are familiar with the procedure can stay here and help. The rest should wait outside”

“I’ll help you. I’m familiar with treating external injuries,” Qin Yu said as he took off his coat.

On the other hand, Old Ma and the others traded glances before quietly leaving the room.

…

Around two hours later.

The soldier washed his hands with the clear water he had brought before informing Qin Yu, “I’ll be leaving first.”

“How do we settle our meals?” Qin Yu asked.

“It’s just two days, you won’t starve to death,” the soldier replied with a chuckle. “Just bear with it a little.”

Qin Yu nodded his head before taking out the cash he had collated together with everyone else and handed it over to the soldier, saying, “Thanks for your help.”

The soldier accepted the money heartily and placed it into his pocket. Then, he gave one last instruction, “Before you leave, place everything back in their respective positions. Make sure to erase all traces of yourselves.”

“Will do.”

“Alright, I’m going.” The soldier left the medicine kit on the ground for them before making his way toward the entrance. “There’s no need to send me off. I’ll head out by myself.”

Qin Yu saw the other party off with his eyes.

…

In the accommodations prepared by Prosperous Dragon Pharmaceuticals, Yong Dong sat on the sofa with his head lowered, not saying a word at all.

Sitting by his side were eight other executives who were on close relations with him, as well as the brothers working for him. All of them had awful looks on their faces.

“Yong Dong, is Old Yuan really intending to trade you for Xing Zihao?” A middle-aged man broke the silence with a question.

Yong Dong nodded and replied, “Un.”

“Son of a bitch!” the middle-aged man cursed furiously. “Then what did Baldie and Xiao Jiu say?”

Yong Dong replied with a cold sneer, “Heh! Baldie and Xiao Jiu? What do you think they’ll say?”

The middle-aged man fell silent.

“Baldie has already called me before you came over,” Yong Dong said with a wry smile on his lips. “He told me that it was difficult for Old Yuan to make this decision, and that he was crying in his room… Everyone knows how dangerous this matter is, but the company has no choice but to go along with it. We have to prioritize Xing Zihao. He said that if he had been in my position, he would have surely gone, and he believed that everyone would ensure his safety too.”

“A load of bullshit!” the middle-aged man berated furiously. “It sure is easy enough for him to say so! Who doesn’t know how to talk? Let’s see if he really dares to do it when his turn comes!”

Yong Dong cast a sweeping gaze across the room and said, “Those who really care about me are already in this room. The other executives are either afraid of offending Prosperous Dragon and want me to step out so as to protect their interest, or they simply hope for me to die so that they can eat my share of the pie.”

Everyone fell silent once more.

A few moments later, a young lad seated at the left suddenly spoke up, “Brother Dong, if it really comes down to it, why don’t you flee then?”

Yong Dong turned to look at the lad as he smoked his cigarette quietly, not saying a word at all.

“That’s right. Why don’t you flee then?” the middle-aged man chirped indignantly in Yong Dong’s stead.

“Putting aside everything you have done for Old Yuan in the past, if not for you proposing this fake medicine plan to knock down the Ma Family for good, going by the rate at which they were expanding, it would only take half a year before the entire market is in their grasp… By then, Old Yuan wouldn’t be able to pay off his debts even after bankrupting himself! Besides, you weren’t supposed to be the one to deal with Little Qu either. The ones responsible for killing him were the men on the ground, but he ended up tossing this matter over to you. Not to mention, he even assigned that imbecile Xing Zihao to drag you down, which led to this disastrous situation. And now, he wants you to take the blame and die for him? Is this something a human should do?”

Yong Dong still didn’t say a word at all.

“Yong Dong, we don’t owe Old Yuan anything!” the middle-aged man exclaimed angrily. “Even parents don’t have the right to ask their children to die, let alone a self-centered boss who doesn’t care about the plight of his brothers at all! His mouth is always full of what loyalty and brotherhood, and he likes to talk about the past and all sorts of sentiments and whatnot. But when shit really strikes, the first thing he chose was to betray his brothers. Is such a person worth you giving your life away for?”

“Hah! I also didn’t expect him to say such words to me,” Yong Dong scoffed.

“Bro, just give the word, and we’ll help you get out of Fengbei tonight,” a young man sitting opposite to Yong Dong spoke up. “I’ll call some of our brothers over from Songjiang. They should be able to send you away safely.”

Yong Dong extinguished the cigarette with the ashtray before he rose to his feet and said, “Send me away safely? How? Take a look downstairs. There aren’t just people from our company there. Those from Prosperous Dragon are definitely there too.”

“We’ll turn against them then!” the middle-aged man exclaimed in agitation. “If Old Yuan dares to keep you here, I’ll fire at him!”

Yong Dong looked at the group gathered in the room quietly for a long while before exhaled deeply. A slightly sorrowful smile formed on his lips as he said, “It’s my trouble, so I should deal with it alone. It was pretty despicable of me to try roping you into this too.”

“Yong Dong…!” the middle-aged man still had many things to say.

“Don’t say anymore,” Yong Dong waved his hand, gesturing that his mind was already made up. “If you really want to help me, send a few brothers over to where Wenwen is. Get her out and settle her down elsewhere. Only then can I put my mind at ease.”

“Are you really intending on going?” the middle-aged man stood up with eyes widened in disbelief. He glared at Yong Dong and bellowed, “You know that it’s bullshit when Old Yuan, Baldie, and the others said that they would protect you! As long as Xing Zihao is in Old Ma’s hands, we’ll only be led around the nose by them! If Old Ma really wants to kill you, there’s no way you’ll be able to get out alive once you get entangled into this!”

Yong Dong felt a surge of warmth flowing into his heart. He looked at the middle-aged man and said, “I get what you are saying, but you won’t be able to understand my thoughts. It’s fine, there’s no need for you to interfere in this. All I ask of you is to help me take Wenwen away and ensure her safety.”

…

In the building in the military training field.

Qin Yu was fiddling with his new phone when the unconscious Ma Lao-er suddenly groaned hoarsely, “Water… Give me water…”

Qin Yu immediately got up, opened the door, and shouted, “Bring some water over! Lao-er has woken up!”

…

Half an hour later.

Standing by the window, Yong Dong dialed a number.

“Yo! What’s up, Yong Dong?”