Madman!

Chapter 60: Turning on a Dime

'So that's how I was found out... I'd actually studied the police bulletins, so when I did it, the angle and force of penetration were completely different. If it had been a Federal Police forensic examiner, they definitely would have noticed that.' Chen Wujun pondered, his expression blank.

'But gangsters and loan sharks aren't the police... They don't examine things that closely. As long as it looks roughly right, that's good enough for them. They don't need evidence.'

"Turns out I was casting pearls before swine—wasted effort for nothing."

'Besides, I really did make a mistake. I have a habit of going for the neck, and when I pull the blade out, I instinctively give it a twist to widen the wound...'

'Those two things combined are what gave me away.' Chen Wujun burned this lesson deep into his memory.

His father used to say that making mistakes wasn't something to fear—what you should fear was making the same mistake twice, refusing to learn, and falling into the same pit over and over.

"Take some men and grab the loan shark company's people too!" Chen Wujun turned to Ah Fei.

Then he picked up the phone and dialed Shark Jiu. "Senior sister, we got them! Tough nuts to crack, but I pried their mouths open. Master Bing really was colluding with Lidong—they framed me together."

"Details!" Shark Jiu's voice came through from the other end. She needed specifics so no one could use anything against them.

"They said the wounds on the loan shark's dead men looked similar to the wounds on the Lidong victims... so they pinned it on me.""That's it?" Shark Jiu scoffed.

"That's all they had. Who knows how his people really died? Maybe he killed them himself! All just to frame someone and mess with the stakes fight!" Chen Wujun replied.

"Got it. Wait for my call!" Shark Jiu hung up the moment she had what she needed.

Chen Wujun settled into the chair behind the desk and rummaged through the drawer. Inside, he found a pack of cigarettes and a box of condoms.

He pulled out the cigarettes, stuck one between his lips, flicked the lighter, and lit up. Then he casually pocketed both the smokes and the lighter.

Twenty minutes later, Shark Jiu called back. "Come to Jindi Finance."

"Keep an eye on the prisoners." Chen Wujun left the gambling den and headed for Jindi Finance.

This time he was in no mood to hassle Ji Xiang's lackeys. He went straight to Shark Jiu's office and knocked before entering. Ji Xiang was already inside.

"Wait till everyone's here, then we'll talk." Shark Jiu was flipping through a stack of documents. She glanced up at Chen Wujun briefly.

Chen Wujun had barely sat down when Cun Bao arrived, right on his heels.

Then came Ah Hao and Flower Boy Rong.

Only once everyone except Karen had gathered did Shark Jiu begin. "Recently, we've been in a stakes fight with Lidong, and Wujun has been going all out to prepare."

"But someone grew a pair of brass ones and decided to stick their nose in—colluding with Lidong to set a trap for Wujun."

"Sis Jiu, who's got that kind of nerve? I'll go take him out!" Cun Bao blurted immediately.

"Master Bing!"

"Master Bing? Who's that?" Cun Bao looked confused. The name rang a faint bell, but he couldn't quite place it.

Chen Wujun finally met someone even more clueless than himself.

"A loan shark boss. Extremely well-connected—has ties to a lot of different gangs," Ji Xiang explained.

"Don't worry about the rest. I'll be meeting with him shortly. If he doesn't give me a satisfactory explanation, we take him out." Shark Jiu leaned back in her chair.

"Wujun, you're coming with me."

"The rest of you have another job..." Shark Jiu tossed the stack of documents onto the desk.

"These are the locations of every loan shark company Master Bing operates. Sixteen in total."

"Wait for my call, then seize control of the personnel, the ledgers—everything. Especially the IOUs. I don't want a single one missing."

The others exchanged glances. Shark Jiu had said she'd take Master Bing out only if he failed to satisfy her.

But she'd already prepared intelligence on every single one of his loan shark operations. She clearly intended to kill Master Bing and then gobble up his entire empire.

"Sis Jiu, isn't it too dangerous with just the two of you? Let me come along," Ji Xiang offered.

"No need. The two of us are more than enough!" Shark Jiu grinned wide, her expression brimming with confidence and audacity.

"You lot worry about your end—all of that is my money!"

The group picked up the documents and skimmed through them. Ji Xiang's brow furrowed almost immediately. "These companies are all in other gangs' territories."

"Heyi... Heyong... Big Four... Four Stripes... Guanglian..."

"Don't start any conflicts with them. If they intervene, tell them to wait—once I've dealt with Master Bing, I'll sit down and talk with them."

Shark Jiu's eyes blazed with unbridled ambition.

The Walled City was different from everywhere else—it was a lawless zone, a world unto itself.

Outsiders didn't come in, and the Walled City's gangs couldn't get out.

Moreover, Walled City people were so accustomed to operating without Federal Police that they felt shackled and restricted on the outside.

But Shark Jiu was brimming with ambition. She'd long wanted to expand her territory and break free of the Walled City.

She'd simply never had the opportunity.

Now one had fallen right into her lap, and she wasn't about to let it slip away.

Besides, even if she ultimately couldn't use this chance to establish a permanent foothold outside, Master Bing's personal fortune and all those IOUs still represented an enormous windfall.

Shark Jiu glanced at the clock on the wall.

"It's 3:50 in the afternoon. At eight tonight, I'll be meeting Master Bing at a teahouse on Gao Senlong Road. Get your people in position and wait for my call."

Everyone nodded, divided up the sixteen loan shark companies by location, and filed out one by one.

Before leaving, Ji Xiang shot a glance at Chen Wujun.

Just as he'd feared—this kid was already threatening his position.

"It'll be just the two of us tonight. Scared?" Shark Jiu propped her legs up on the desk.

Chen Wujun shrugged, utterly indifferent.

What was there to be scared of?

He'd been bold to begin with, and since he'd started training martial arts, his nerve had grown completely boundless.

Plus, he'd recently figured out a new technique during practice—channeling the power of his back's "crane wings" down into his legs. It let him run incredibly fast, roughly twenty percent faster than his normal speed.

Most people wouldn't be able to catch him.

"Bring your men. And bring those prisoners along," Shark Jiu added.

"Got it." Chen Wujun nodded.

Shortly after seven that evening, Chen Wujun and Shark Jiu sat at a street-side stall just outside the Walled City's western entrance, each holding a bowl and spearing fish balls on skewers.

By the time they finished the fish balls, the car had arrived.

Shark Jiu's luxury sedan glided to a stop at the intersection.

They set their bowls on the table, stood, and climbed in.

Moments later, two vans fell in behind them, packed with Chen Wujun's men.

The three-vehicle convoy headed for Gao Senlong Road.

"Whose territory is this?" Chen Wujun asked, gazing out at the glittering, bustling streets beyond the window.

He figured it was time he familiarized himself with the power structure outside the Walled City.

"Four Stripes. Their boss is Tan Cheng—grew up practicing the Old Arts style of Tan Leg, then switched to specializing in New Arts. Decent fighter. Has five or six hundred men under him," Shark Jiu explained.

Shortly after, the car pulled up in front of a teahouse. Chen Wujun and Shark Jiu stepped out, and Curry hopped out as well, falling in behind them.

The three climbed to the second floor and found a crowd waiting.

Among them, a man in his fifties wearing a tailored suit sat at a round table, his expression cold and severe.

It was Master Bing.

At the surrounding tables sat over twenty men. The moment they saw Shark Jiu and Chen Wujun appear, they rose in unison and formed up behind Master Bing.

One of them—a man with a cleft lip and cruel, predatory eyes—was called Cleft Lip Snake. He was Master Bing's top fighter, every bit as formidable as Wen Long.

"Shark Jiu, what game are you playing?" Master Bing toyed idly with a teacup, his tone lazy and dismissive.

"What game am I playing? What game are you playing?" Shark Jiu's expression turned hostile.

"Old ghost Bing, you colluded with Lidong and set a trap for my man. Are you looking to die?"

"Shark Jiu, don't go throwing around wild accusations. I could just as easily say your man killed my people and stole my money. Which one's this 'Wujun' kid—the one standing behind you?" Master Bing sneered, his mind racing to figure out how Shark Jiu had learned the truth.

"You say it's wild accusations, so that makes it wild accusations?" Shark Jiu smiled sweetly as she settled into the seat across from Master Bing.

Chen Wujun gave Curry a nod. Curry immediately hurried downstairs, and moments later, over a dozen thugs dragged six men up to the second floor—each one beaten beyond recognition.

"Old ghost Bing, I've got a stakes fight arranged with Lidong right now, and you go and collude with Lidong's people to set up my man—framing him with false evidence. What else is there to discuss?" Shark Jiu pinned Master Bing with an unblinking stare, her gaze laced with dangerous amusement.

At the sight of his men, Master Bing's expression didn't waver, but his eyes grew even colder, tinged with the irritation of a man being called to account.

"Discuss what? Why don't you ask that new horse of yours what he's been up to? You think I was bluffing earlier?"

"So you're not planning to give me an explanation?" Shark Jiu bared her teeth in a smile—radiant and lethal.

"Explanation? You owe me one!"

That was exactly what Shark Jiu had been waiting to hear.

Before the last word left Master Bing's mouth, Shark Jiu's palm had already slammed into the underside of the table. The entire table launched skyward, flipping end over end as it hurtled straight toward Master Bing.