The Secret of the Yoga Club: The Women's Identity is Not Simple

She turned and walked towards the iron gate, with Kui Zi following behind. When they returned to the fourth-floor office, Sister Hong was still standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, her cigarette replaced with a new one.

"You asked?"

"Iron Head. The underground casino behind the West City Tile Market." Lin Feng sat down on the sofa and repeated the information Kui Zi had told him.

Then he added, "Kui Zi said that Tie Tou is just a middleman and doesn't deal in drugs himself. So there must be someone else supplying him. If we can catch Tie Tou and trace him back, we should be able to find the real source of the drugs."

Hongjie turned and leaned against the window frame. "So what if we found it?"

"Once we find out, we'll know who's after you." Lin Feng picked up the water glass on the table and took a sip.

The water was cold. "That henchman gave too little information; Iron Head is the only lead. If this lead goes cold, we won't be able to find the person behind it all."

Hongjie stubbed out her cigarette. "Zuo Ning is a very cautious person. Even if he finds Tie Tou, he might not know who the real buyer is. In these kinds of transactions, the upstream and downstream parties are often not in direct contact; there are several layers of intermediaries in between."

"Then we'll investigate layer by layer. Eventually, we'll find the source," Lin Feng said.

Brother Biao, who had been listening for a while, interjected, "Brother Lin, this is no joke. Zuo Ning's men are not to be trifled with; they're all ruthless thugs. If you want to investigate this, how many people can you mobilize? For one thing, you can bring a few of my brothers."

"Too many people will only alert him," Lin Feng shook his head. "Kui Zi and I are enough. Kui Zi has experience, and I'm a new face, so I won't attract attention. Let's stake out the tile market for a couple of days, observe Tie Tou's activity patterns, and then find an opportunity to catch him."

Hongjie looked at him. "Are you really going?"

"If I don't go, who will?" Lin Feng stood up and walked to his desk. "Aren't we partners?"

Hongjie remained silent for a while.

Then she turned to face Lin Feng, her pupils beneath her single eyelids gleaming in the dim light. "Okay. Be careful on your way there. Tie Tou is said to have over a dozen henchmen. Also, no matter how far you investigate, notify me immediately. Don't act on your own. I'm not joking; if anything happens to you, I…"

Lin Feng nodded.

Kui Zi walked in from the door, carrying two black travel bags. He unzipped them, revealing several batons and a switchblade inside. He pulled out a dark black baton and handed it to Lin Feng.

Lin Feng held the baton and weighed it in his hand. The metal tube was heavy, with a weight to it, but not too heavy.

Kui Zi walked over and patted him on the shoulder. "Come on, bro, I'll take you somewhere to practice and get familiar with the weights first."

Lin Feng put the baton in his pocket and followed Kui Zi out of the office. As he reached the door, he turned back and glanced at Sister Hong.

Sister Hong stood behind her desk, a cigarette between her fingers, and smoke slowly escaped from her dark red lips.

Looking at Lin Feng, her lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to say something but swallowed it back. In the end, she just nodded, a very small nod, but Lin Feng understood.

In the following nights, Lin Feng barely slept. He went to classes at the club during the day, and at night he and Kui Zi would change into their most inconspicuous old clothes, put on baseball caps, and squat in the noodle shop opposite the tile market.

After two days of waiting, Tie Tou finally showed up.

He was younger than Lin Feng had imagined, only in his early thirties, with a short, bushy beard. He was not tall but very strong, and wore a thick gold chain around his neck.

He led two henchmen out of the market through the back door and turned into the basement of a nearby residential building, where there was an underground casino.

Kui Zi whispered, "The rats have come out of their holes," and the two of them followed.

The old residential buildings behind the tile market look dilapidated during the day, and at night, not even a single street light is working properly.

Many of the cement bricks on the ground were broken, leaving pits and puddles. The rain from a few days ago hadn't completely dried, and small puddles had formed.

Lin Feng and Kui Zi had been sitting in the noodle shop for over three hours. The owner, an old man in his sixties, came over twice to collect the bowls, glanced at them several times, but didn't ask them anything.

There are all sorts of people around here, and the old man has probably long since gotten used to not meddling in other people's business.

Kui Zi pulled his hat brim low and kept his eyes fixed on the entrance of the residential building across the street.

In front of him sat a bowl of beef noodles that had long since gone cold, a layer of white oil condensing on top. Lin Feng sat opposite him, holding a cup of cheap tea, not having taken a single sip.

"They're out," Kui Zi suddenly whispered.

Lin Feng followed his gaze.

The iron gate of the residential building was pushed open, and three men walked out. The one in front, in his early thirties, was wearing a tight black short-sleeved shirt, with colorful tattoos showing on his arms.

He wasn't tall, probably less than 1.7 meters, but he was very strong, and the gold chain around his neck flashed under the dim streetlights.

"That's him. Iron Head." Kui Zi put his chopsticks on the table.

With a toothpick dangling from his mouth, Tie Tou stretched at the building entrance and whispered something to his two henchmen behind him.

The two henchmen bowed and scraped, one offering a cigarette and the other lighting it. Tie Tou took a drag, exhaled the smoke into the air, and then walked towards the market.

Two henchmen followed him, one on his left and one on his right.

Kui Zi stood up, took out fifty yuan from his pocket, and put it under the bowl. The two of them left the noodle shop one after the other, following behind Tie Tou and his two companions at a distance of about twenty meters.

Tie Tou walked slowly, stopping every now and then to greet people on the roadside. This guy was quite popular in this area; when he passed a barbecue stall, the owner offered him a skewer of lamb, which he swaggered away with in his mouth.

He casually picked up an orange as he passed a fruit stand, and the vendor didn't say a word.

"This street is his territory," Kui Zi said in a low voice. "We have to wait until he's alone before we can make a move. He and his two henchmen are basically inseparable, except when they go into the casino, he goes in alone."

When is the casino most crowded?

"After 10 p.m. It's still early."

The two men followed Tie Tou around the market area. Tie Tou eventually turned into a seafood stall and sat down near the entrance to drink and play drinking games with a few of his cronies.

Two henchmen sat at the table next to him, opening one beer after another.

Kui Zi and Lin Feng squatted down in the alley across the street. The alley was narrow, with brick walls of old factory buildings on both sides. Several black garbage bags were piled up at the base of the walls, emitting a sour smell.

Kui Zi took out two cigarettes from his pocket and handed one to Lin Feng. Lin Feng took it and put it in his mouth, and Kui Zi lit it for him.

The smoke almost made him cough when he inhaled it, but he held it in and just frowned.

"First time smoking?" Kui Zi's lips twitched slightly.

Not really.

"You'll get used to it. No one in this line of work doesn't smoke." Kui Zi exhaled a puff of smoke, glancing at Tie Tou, who was clinking glasses at the food stall across the street. "This Tie Tou, he has a cousin on the border who's supposedly been there for years, dealing in ecstasy. He'll do anything for money. He smuggles it in from there and then distributes it through inland channels. Tie Tou is one of his contacts in Hehai City."

"Where did you get this information from?"

"Sister Hong has many connections in the underworld. I've done some inquiries these past few days and basically figured out Tie Tou's background." Kui flicked his cigarette ash. "But the problem is, Tie Tou's cousin is just a supplier. Tie Tou may not know who bought this batch of goods from him, or who instructed his people to distribute the goods to Baijinhai. In these kinds of transactions, there are often several layers between the buyer and seller. The person who actually pays the money won't show up in person."

Lin Feng put a cigarette in his mouth and frowned. He looked at Tie Tou across from him, who was laughing heartily with a glass of wine in hand, and pondered what to do next.

At 10:30, Tie Tou finally stood up. He slammed the money for the drinks on the table, waved to his cronies, and then walked towards the residential building.

Two henchmen followed behind him, and the three of them entered the basement entrance of the residential building.

"He went in. It's bustling at the casino around this time." Kui Zi stubbed out his cigarette. "When he comes out, those two henchmen usually leave first. They wait for him outside the casino. Once they're gone, we ambush him at the stairwell."