Unparalleled medical and martial arts skills, saving the CEO's fiancée at the start.

On the afternoon of the same day the general meeting was held, news came from Song Tiezhu's side.

Han Dong ran away.

It's not so much that he ran away, but to be precise, someone tipped him off. That old guy is smarter than a rabbit. In the morning, Jiang Ruoxi dealt with Hu Tian and his wife, and by noon he had already canceled his lease on the apartment and even removed his SIM card.

The men Song Tiezhu sent to follow him came up empty-handed, finding only a few half-burnt ticket stubs and a crumpled note in the trash can in his room with a string of numbers written on it, which looked like a locker password.

"This guy has strong counter-surveillance capabilities. He used to work with Li Chengwen and learned a lot of dirty tricks. If he wants to hide in Jiangcheng, it's really hard to deal with him in a short time," Song Tiezhu said on the phone. His voice was still short and forceful, but Ye Chen could tell that he was holding back his anger.

Ye Chen was cleaning his long-unused knife in the security department. After listening, he stuck the knife on the table, thought for a moment, and said, "He can't have gone far. Jiang Ruoxi just made a move against Hu Tian this morning. Once the news gets out, Han Dong will definitely know that the company is investigating him. But he still has a job with Blackwater on his hands, so he can't just escape back to the provincial capital like this. Help me investigate someone, Ding Wanshan of Huitong Pawnshop. Han Dong has no other place to stay in Jiangcheng, so he will most likely go to him for refuge."

Song Tiezhu responded and then hung up.

Ghost Servant stood up from the corner, pulled out the Ghost Gate Iron Ruler from his waist, wiped it with his sleeve, and said slowly, "I've heard of Ding Wanshan too. He runs a pawnshop on the surface, but secretly helps Blackwater with accounting and lending. He's a very slippery guy and rarely goes out. If you want to take action against him, you'd better do it tonight. During the day, there are too many people around, and it's easy for news to leak out."

Ye Chen nodded, sheathed his sword, and stood up to walk out: "Uncle Gui, come with me tonight. Lao He, have the brothers guard the company well, and halve the patrol intervals. Ayiguli stays at the villa. Ruoxi isn't working overtime tonight, so send a few good men to follow her."

Without saying a word, He Jianping picked up his walkie-talkie and went to make the arrangements.

At 11 p.m. that night, Ye Chen and the ghost servant appeared at the entrance of Huai Shu Alley in the north of the city.

This alley is even more dilapidated than the antique street in the provincial capital. Both sides are lined with low old houses with peeling paint and half of the streetlights are not working.

The black wooden door deep in the alley was tightly closed, and a red lantern hung on the lintel, but it was not lit.

The air was filled with the damp, fishy smell of sewage.

Ye Chen didn't knock on the door, but instead led the ghost servant around to the back door of the pawnshop.

The back door was locked; the lock was new, with a copper core, but Ye Chen opened it in just three seconds.

He had learned a few tricks of picking locks and opening doors from a senior martial uncle on the mountain back then. When Su Qinghan found out, he punished him by making him copy the medicine classic for three days, but he couldn't bear to forget them all.

The pawnshop was pitch black, with only a dim light bulb above the counter, like a burnt-out candle.

Ye Chen and the ghost servant sneaked in one after the other, their footsteps so light that they didn't even disturb the dust.

A sliver of light peeked through the crack in the inner door, and people were talking.

"Stay here with me for two days. Once things have calmed down, I'll have someone send you away." The voice was high-pitched and slick, and it was Ding Wanshan.

"Boss Ding, if I get through this today, I, Han Dong, will be your slave for Blackwater's business in Jiangcheng from now on. But that Ye Chen is too damn ruthless. He even took down Wei Qing. I'm not at ease..." Another voice was Han Dong.

Ye Chen gave the ghost servant a wink, and the ghost servant understood, kicking open the door to the inner hall.

The door slammed against the wall with a loud thud.

The two people in the room were startled. Ding Wanshan was the first to react and reached under the counter.

Ye Chen took a step forward, touched the edge of the counter with his toes, and flipped himself inside. He grabbed Ding Wanshan's wrist with his right hand and twisted it upwards. With a crisp crack, Ding Wanshan screamed. When his hand came out from under the counter, he was still clutching a dark, hard object.

"A gun?" Ye Chen snatched the object away and examined it; it was an old-fashioned replica pistol.

Ye Chen quickly removed the magazine, threw the gun on the ground, and slammed Ding Wanshan onto the counter: "What era are we living in? Still playing with this kind of homemade gun? You'll shoot yourself first if it goes off accidentally."

Han Dong was so frightened that his face turned ashen, and his legs went weak like noodles, making it impossible for him to stand up.

He usually followed Li Chengwen around, getting his hands dirty in the cutthroat world of business, but he had never seen anything like this real, hard-hitting situation.

Han Dong tried to run, but the ghost servant stood at the door without even lifting his eyelids. His aura was so overwhelming that Han Dong couldn't even take a step.

"Han Dong, don't make me work hard. Just answer my questions." Ye Chen released Ding Wanshan, pulled up a chair and sat down, gesturing with his chin to the ground.

Han Dong's knees buckled, and he knelt down with a thud, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead onto the ground.

"It was...it was people from the provincial capital who made me do it. They gave me 200,000 yuan and asked me to find a few people in Jiangcheng to spread the news of President Jiang's departure, and then spread it online a few more times. They said that the bigger the commotion, the more chaotic the Jiang Group would become, and then they would arrange for people to buy up stocks on the secondary market and buy them at the bottom when the stock price was low. I was just responsible for spreading rumors, and I really didn't do anything else."

"Who contacted you?" Ye Chen asked.

"I've never met a guy named Nine Fingers; we only contact each other by phone. He changes his number every time, and the money is transferred directly to my overseas account. Nine Fingers said his boss's surname is Qin."

Ye Chen and the ghost servant exchanged a glance.

It is Qin Wuyi.

"Ding Wanshan, what about you? Besides your location, how many other strongholds does Blackwater have in Jiangcheng?"

Ding Wanshan stubbornly retorted, "Ye Chen, if you dare touch me, the Blackwater people won't let you off the hook. Supervisor Qin said you'll have to hand over your life sooner or later."

Ye Chen smiled, reached out and pinched Ding Wanshan's right shoulder, using less than ten percent of his strength.

Ding Wanshan's entire arm felt like it had been stabbed with a hot shovel, and his screams shook the dust off the counter.

Ye Chen released his grip, his tone still light: "I advise you to speak properly. I'm a very reasonable person, but since you're talking to me about black water, all I can do is talk about pain."

Ding Wanshan, panting heavily, finally managed to squeeze out a sentence after a long while: "I said... Blackwater in Jiangcheng, besides this place, is the Dachuan Teahouse in the south of the city, and a warehouse by the East Suburb Wharf. It's not usually used, and the lights are only turned on when important people come. That's all I know. I'm really not responsible for anything else. I only manage the money and don't get involved in the fighting."

Ye Chen asked a few more questions, making sure he knew everything he could, then stood up and said to the ghost servant, "I'll leave this to you. I'll call Lao He to take over. Don't send the person to the station yet. Blackwater has connections in the system, so it'll be pointless to go there. Find a safe place to lock him up and wait until the operation in the provincial capital is over before we talk about it."

The ghost servant nodded, pulled out a thin rope from his waist, and tied Ding Wanshan and Han Dong up separately.

Ye Chen walked to the back door and dialed Jiang Ruoxi's number.

It rang less than two times before I answered.

"Still not asleep?" Ye Chen asked.

"How can I sleep when you're not back yet?" Jiang Ruoxi's voice sounded sleepy.

Hearing the wind whistling on Ye Chen's end, Jiang Ruoxi perked up again: "Did they catch him?"

"We've caught him. The matter has been investigated. It was Qin Wuyi who sent a man named Nine Fingers to find Han Dong. Blackwater has started targeting the Jiang family. You stay home. I won't be going back tonight. We need to investigate several places overnight."

Jiang Ruoxi paused for two seconds, then quickly regained her composure: "Be careful. The fact that Qin Wuyi dared to resort to such underhanded tactics means he doesn't want a direct confrontation with us yet."

"Don't worry, honey. Just lock the door at home. I'll bring you some late-night snacks when I get back. What do you want to eat?"

Jiang Ruoxi seemed to smile slightly: "Get the spicy soup from that place at the alley entrance to go."

"Yes, sir." Ye Chen smiled, hung up the phone, and turned to walk into the alley.