Reborn in 1993, Dark Sea

Mai Xiaoyu and An Xiaohai exchanged a glance, and then both looked at Zhan Weiting.

The phone call lasted for nearly ten minutes, during which Zhan Weiting barely spoke, his expression constantly changing.

The private room was very quiet. You could vaguely hear a woman speaking on the other end of the phone. Her Chinese was a little broken. She must be the woman in the kimono.

"I'm sorry, both of you, something's happened in Shenhai City!" After hanging up the phone, Zhan Weiting practically slumped into his chair.

"What happened?" An Xiaohai frowned deeply.

"Don't worry, Brother Chen, it's not a big deal, nor is it something that just happened. It happened a few days ago, and now it's finally come to a head..." Zhan Weiting sighed softly and continued:

"Didn't I mention last time that we invited many top experts to help Jiaxiang? As a result, one after another, these top experts met with accidents."

Some were injured in the accident and unable to continue their mission, while others simply disappeared without a trace, neither alive nor dead.

It's now certain that those who went missing were likely murdered.

"They've all been murdered? How could this happen? What exactly happened?!"

"Mr. Chen, please don't worry. We don't know the details yet. The body was just discovered. It was reported to the police by a citizen of Shenhai City, and the police are currently investigating."

When one of the bodies was discovered, it happened to be near our men. Our men immediately went over to check, and the dead man was indeed one of our men.

Furthermore, judging from the wounds, the perpetrator's method was highly professional, suggesting it was the work of a professional killer.

An Xiaohai exchanged a surprised glance with Mai Xiaoyu, then lowered his head. After a long while, he spoke again: "Brothers, I think this situation is too strange. This will probably be very detrimental to our operations in Shenhai City."

"Don't worry, Brother Chen, this situation is actually in our best interest..."

"How so?"

"Now we can be sure that this was not done by the Shenhai City government. As long as the government doesn't find out, I think it's a good thing."

"Is this a good thing?" An Xiaohai frowned even more.

"I think it's a good thing, at least we have a direction to suspect! Hehe, right now, he's probably the only one capable of doing this in Deepsea City!"

"You mean, bro, this was done by An Xiaohai, that underworld boss from Shenhai City?"

"It's not him, he's just a small-time gangster, he doesn't have that kind of ability!" Zhan Weiting shook his head decisively.

"If it wasn't him, then who could it be?"

"Don't ask about this, buddy. This guy is probably someone we know. He's warning us not to set foot on his territory."

"In that case, shouldn't we coordinate with this guy before we take action?"

"No need!" Zhan Weiting gritted his teeth and waved his hand: "Don't worry, we will handle this matter. Brother Chen, you don't need to worry about this. We don't have enough evidence to prove that he did it yet, but I think we will soon."

I can tell Brother Chen the truth: one of the skilled fighters we invited has some connection with this guy who's causing trouble. This fighter's father is a very influential person in Japan.

This person was also on the missing persons list. If he died, someone would naturally deal with that guy. If he didn't die, it means that guy must have done it. It was because he was concerned about the skilled man's father that he didn't kill him.

If that's the case, then naturally someone will deal with him.

In short, whoever did this behind the scenes will never have a good time, which is why I said this is a good thing, beneficial to us. At least now we don't have to worry about the Deep Sea authorities finding out.

"Alright, although I didn't fully understand, I trust you two," An Xiaohai nodded slowly. "In that case, I'll head back first. I'll go discuss this with the brothers and see if anyone's interested in making some money."

"Great! Then I won't keep Brother Chen any longer!" Zhan Weiting and Kang Lianhai immediately stood up, and Zhan Weiting even took out a black card from his pocket and handed it to An Xiaohai.

"Brother Chen, this is our VIP card. From now on, you will be the most distinguished VIP member of the club. You can choose any of the private rooms you like!"

Even if you prefer the private room with Lian Hai, we can let you use it. It's no problem!

We just hope you can come more often. It'll be more lively when everyone's together. I promise, we have everything you can enjoy in Nancheng.

"Oh, that's great! Thank you both, brothers. I won't stand on ceremony!"

An Xiaohai accepted the VIP card with a smile, handed it to Mai Xiaoyu beside him, and then left with Mai Xiaoyu.

-----

Xingfuyuan Community

"Hey, why are you spacing out again? What are you thinking about?"

"I'm wondering, what exactly are Zhan Weiting and Kang Lianhai up to?"

"Shall we share our thoughts and discuss it together?"

"That's right, I think Zhan Weiting and Kang Lianhai's behavior today is very strange."

"Didn't you notice? Before today, Zhan Weiting and Kang Lianhai had never once considered asking us for help, but today they suddenly did."

"Isn't it because their controlled Japanese Caos (a gambling company) has run into problems?"

"I don't think that's the reason; they've actually already solved that problem."

"How do I know? Because they issued that bounty."

"Yes, but the key is the timing of the action as outlined in the bounty order."

The time we gave Kang Jiaxiang for the transfer was very fixed, at 3 PM on March 21st, but the time they posted for the task on Ghost Network seemed very arbitrary, only specifying a deadline.

That's very strange!

Think about it carefully. If a hitman eager to collect the bounty made his move prematurely, regardless of whether he succeeded or not, how would the Deepsea City Public Security Bureau react?

"If this happens, the Shenhai City Public Security Bureau will definitely cancel all plans and do everything in its power to apprehend the real culprit. The transfer of Kang Jiaxiang will definitely change."

"Yes, that's true. With something this big happening, the orders from above will definitely change. Okay, so the question is, what are they trying to do?"

"If they hadn't given up on rescuing Kang Jiaxiang, they probably never intended to attack on the street; instead, they planned to directly attack the Shenhai City Public Security Bureau!"

"Yes," An Xiaohai nodded, "Now, they've posted a bounty on the Ghost Network. With such a high reward, there will surely be brave men. Someone will definitely take action. Even if they can't kill Director Zhou and his men, the escort plan will definitely change because of it."

In this way, Kang Jiaxiang will remain at the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

"That doesn't make sense. If they planned to storm the police station to rescue people from the beginning, why would they need your help?"

"No, they didn't think in that direction at first, and they never did afterward. The reason they came up with this idea must have been triggered by the deaths of those Japanese assassins."

There must have been some subtle changes that happened that we were unaware of.

"So, according to this logic, these two guys asked you to lend them men because they wanted us to help them storm the Shenhai City Public Security Bureau?"

"Yes, but you're still thinking too kindly of them! They probably have more to do than that. I feel like they want to drag us all down with them."

We look very formidable. If we actually manage to rescue Kang Jiaxiang, that would be ideal; if we fail, they can take advantage of us drawing most of the firepower and do it themselves.

However, regardless of whether we succeed or not, we will ultimately be silenced by them.

"That's why they don't want command authority; they want you to take command of our people. They want to eliminate you along with them after this?!"

"Yes, I think that's what they think."

"Ha ha!"

"Is this funny?"

"I find it quite funny! To be honest, when we were at the club just now, my first thought was that they wanted to drag you down with them and eventually recruit you into their ranks."

"No, I think that's unlikely," An Xiaohai thought for a moment and then shook his head: "Everyone has their own style of hiring people. Zhan Weiting and Kang Lianhai are very conservative in their approach to hiring people."

You can tell this by looking at his subordinates; apart from that Japanese woman, none of them are particularly outstanding.

As for me, Chen Maogan, I was too forceful and too overtly assertive.

They wouldn't like someone like me; they'd just find me difficult to control. Therefore, I don't think they'd be very keen to recruit me.

If that's the case, then what they're thinking must be murder to silence the witnesses.

However, there is another possibility: they are truly desperate and genuinely need my help. They want to leverage our strength and, at the same time, make friends with me through this incident. But one thing is certain: they never intended to recruit me.

There is a fourth possibility…

"Stop! That's enough! Don't analyze any further!" Mai Xiaoyu interrupted An Xiaohai: "You can analyze these things yourself. It gives me a headache just thinking about it. When you're done analyzing, remember to tell me the results."

I'm going to take a shower. After that, I'm going for a run; I'm so suffocated!

After saying that, Mai Xiaoyu rushed into her room as if her life depended on it, leaving An Xiaohai alone in the living room with a bitter smile.

-----

In the club

"Weiting, are we really going to do this?" Kang Lianhai asked cautiously.

"Of course, I've said it before, two tigers cannot share one mountain!"

I have a feeling that if we let this Chen Maogan develop in Haixi Province, he will eventually become a threat to us. We must strike first, and this is a golden opportunity!

"But he's probably not so easy to deal with..."

"That's true, you're right, so we need to be extra careful and make sure he doesn't notice anything amiss! However, I still think there shouldn't be a big problem, and I trust Ms. Ryoko to handle everything!"

Zhan Weiting gritted his teeth and said fiercely.