Reborn in 1993, Dark Sea

"Not bad, smart, quick-witted!" An Xiaohai said through gritted teeth, then turned around again to look at the increasingly bright sky.

"You people have never believed in true feelings in this world, yet you love to use emotions to blackmail others. Don't you think that's contradictory?"

You've been watching me for so long, you know Lao Meng, you know Atai, right? Do you know what happened to them?

I believe that even if you don't know, you can figure it out, but you just don't want to believe it, and you still hold onto a sliver of hope!

Kunji is such a naive child. He thinks that as long as I don't lay a hand on you, I'm letting you off the hook. But if I wanted to deal with you, why would I need to do it myself?

I could easily use you to spread a false message and you'd be dead, or I could find the listening device I planted in your house and you'd be dead too.

In fact, if I could just find a way to make that mysterious person feel that I wanted to meet him, you'd be dead!

No matter what I do, you will die. Whether I take action against you or not, your fate will not change in the slightest!

But no, I promised Kunji and Alai I would let you go, and I can't break my promise.

So I gave you a chance to choose whether or not to listen to me, and thankfully you did.

Alright, now that I've fulfilled my promise to Kun Kee and Ah Lai, we can say goodbye.

No, farewell.

"Wait! Please wait a moment!" Kunji's master cried out anxiously, leaping to his feet and swiftly stepping in front of An Xiaohai. "Please, save me!"

"You...you're begging me to save you?"

"Yes, I beg you to save me! Only you can save me. I can't fight them at all, and I can't escape!"

"But why should I save you?"

"I can be of use to you."

"I don't need it. Kunji has done a great job, and you still don't understand me at all."

I won't be on good terms with someone just because they're useful. On the contrary, I have to be on good terms with someone first before I'll use them and be of use to them.

What connects me to Kunji and Alai has never been self-interest, but rather emotion.

Master Kun stood frozen in place, his mouth slightly agape as he looked at An Xiaohai with a complex expression. An Xiaohai met his gaze for a brief moment without backing down, before finally letting out a soft sigh:

"Kunji doesn't have many people in his heart. The most important one is his mother, and the second most likely one is you. He will set off to pay respects to his mother in a little while."

He must be very vulnerable right now. I think he especially needs someone to be with him, but unfortunately, I'm too busy to go with him.

At this point, An Xiaohai took a deep breath and walked out.

"goodbye."

An Xiaohai had already taken more than ten steps when he finally said goodbye, but he did not turn around.

Kunji's master stood there stunned for a moment, then gritted his teeth and ran wildly toward where Kunji was.

--------

An Xiaohai didn't go back immediately, but went to Pan Zhuangzhuang's place instead.

On the one hand, they didn't want to disrupt the communication between Master Kun and his apprentice; on the other hand, they needed a separate time and space to carefully sort out the whole matter and decide on the next course of action.

Pan Zhuangzhuang clearly understood An Xiaohai. After saying a few words, he made an excuse to go replenish the supplies in the cave, leaving An Xiaohai with his own space.

An Xiaohai is now increasingly understanding why Pan Zhuangzhuang likes to stay here.

The cave wasn't large, but it gave people a strong sense of security; all was quiet except for the rhythmic sound of the waves, a sound that their brains could automatically block out, having grown up by the sea.

This cave is like a paradise; sitting inside, you feel as if you are isolated from all the hustle and bustle of the outside world.

Eliminating Kunji's master was like removing a huge hidden danger. This matter is not over yet, but it is not so urgent. The most urgent thing right now is still to get rid of Zhu Polong.

With Kunji's master emerging from the water, the demon that had been hiding in the shadows had essentially revealed its profile. They had to speed things up; it would be best to smash its claws and fangs before its ferocious face was fully revealed.

Otherwise, if he were to directly confront the demon, An Xiaohai would inevitably suffer a fatal attack from its minions.

This is the question that keeps churning in An Xiaohai's mind.

The vast network established by Zhu Polong is now becoming increasingly clear to An Xiaohai.

Piggy Dragon stood in the shadows, constantly accumulating the dirty money in Deepsea City into his pocket, then laundering it through various means, and finally letting it flow into all walks of life in Deepsea City.

Hu Haikong was certainly not the only one who helped Zhu Polong launder his dirty money, but he was definitely the one with the largest amount involved and the one most deeply entangled with Zhu Polong.

The cash flow between Hu Haikong and Zhu Polong was mainly completed through banker's acceptances. In addition, there must have been many other methods, but banker's acceptances were definitely the largest and safest method in the transaction.

Zhu Polong must own many legitimate companies, but these legitimate companies, backed by illicit funds, will develop at an extremely rapid pace, making it difficult for normal businesses to compete with them.

Only by destroying the main treasury of the Pig Dragon can the vast web it has woven be destabilized and ultimately collapse.

Therefore, determining the location of Zhu Polong's treasury is the most crucial step, which is why An Xiaohai proactively sought the support of 073.

As for whether his judgment is accurate, and whether the main vault of Zhu Polong is in the Yulong Wanghai residential area, we'll have to wait and see the results of 073's investigation.

If the Yulong Wanghai residential complex is indeed owned by one person or one company, just as An Xiaohai thinks, then the location of Boss Long's vault can be determined—it must be there!

Having located the location of the Pig Dragon's vault, the remaining question was how to breach it.

If the central treasury is the center of Zhu Polong's wealth, his heart, and his backing, then the finance companies hidden behind various gambling venues are like Zhu Polong's blood-producing machines, and the routes that transport the illicit funds are his main arteries.

Destroying the main treasury would indeed be a fatal blow to the pig dragon, but if these major arteries can continue to supply it with blood, then even this fatal blow will not kill it immediately.

These major arteries must also be severed at the same time!

Only in this way will the pig dragon completely lose its ability to produce blood and die quickly and thoroughly.

With Zhu Polong dead, Hu Haikong's strongest financial support has been cut off, and he will most likely be finished as well. Even if he can survive the break in the financial chain, he will not be able to withstand Zhu Polong's backlash.

Pig Dragon, having lost everything, will surely go mad.

As for the funds hidden by Haiyaozi, the Chen brothers, and those underworld bosses, they became their last hope. If they could also cut off this last hope, then everything would be foolproof.

The main treasury, the lifeline, and the last hope—it would be best to destroy them all at once. If they can't be destroyed simultaneously, and the situation is left to catch their breath, the outcome becomes unpredictable.

This is a massive project, and it certainly cannot be completed by An Xiaohai alone.

An Xiaohai plans to personally manage Zhu Polong's main treasury; he intends to entrust Zhu Polong's main arteries to Xu Tianyou and Ah Huo, with Xu Tianyou and his men in charge of Luotian District and Ah Huo in charge of Fuhai District.

As for Baoshan District, An Xiaohai plans to observe for a while longer. If Wang Bulai and his team demonstrate the ability to handle the task in the coming period, An Xiaohai intends to entrust the task to them.

However, An Xiaohai didn't have much hope for this.

Forcing someone to do something against their will will only harm everyone.

An Xiaohai was already short-handed, and if he also needed to take down the life-saving money that the underworld bosses had hidden away, namely those heavy off-road vehicles, he couldn't find suitable candidates.

For the first time, An Xiaohai felt that his power was still too weak.

Looking at the waves outside the cave, An Xiaohai's thoughts involuntarily returned to that demon.

Now, An Xiaohai is almost certain that Zhu Polong is one of the devil's people, and there is a high probability that Zhu Polong is a force that the devil has cultivated from the beginning.

What if there's more than one person like Zhu Polong? How terrifying would that be! Just how powerful is this demon? ...

No wonder, even people like 073 have a lot of trouble dealing with him!

After understanding this, An Xiaohai suddenly gained a deeper understanding of some of the things that had happened before.

Hu Haikong didn't go all out against me at the beginning, probably not because anyone stopped him, but because it wasn't worth it.

Hu Haikong is likely deeply involved. If this huge secret network is exposed in order to deal with an ant like him, it would be a great loss, and the backlash he would suffer as a result would be terrible.

Therefore, as soon as 073 appeared, Hu Haikong immediately stopped. This was largely not due to the instruction of the high-ranking official in the province, but because he himself needed to stop.

The high-ranking official in the province wasn't really in a hurry to kill him; in his eyes, he was still just a nobody who could be crushed at will.

An Xiaohai let out a soft breath.

Yes, that's how people are. They always think they're important, but in reality, only a few close relatives truly care about you.

In the eyes of others, especially those important figures, we are nothing more than a speck of dust, not that important...

An Xiaohai remained motionless, lost in thought, until he smelled the aroma of grilled fish and suddenly realized that he was starving.

"What time is it now?" An Xiaohai asked while quickly eating the fish that Pan Zhuangzhuang had grilled for him.

"You have a watch, right? It's already 2 PM. I thought you left a long time ago, but when I came back, I found you sitting here in a daze!"

"Has there been any activity from that marine environmental observation center these past few days?"

"Yes, they are doing as usual. I even tried to go out and look for their car the last two nights."

"Did you find it?"

"No, it's a bit hard to find now. I've been watching a few cars, and they're all suspicious, but none of them have reappeared. I suspect they're changing cars every time now, which is a bit troublesome."

"No trouble at all. Have you memorized all these license plates?"

"Of course I wrote them all down."

"That's great, give it to me."

"You mean... I get it! Haha, I knew it, you're a genius! You're amazing!"