Chapter 433: No.7 Winery
“Walk slowly on the way to the netherworld. I promise you that the philanthropist will be right with you soon.”
Gao Yang pulled the trigger.
A muffled gunshot rang. Richard fell silently, his blood splattered on the wall behind him.
Nainai stood on the side, lips parted and eyes widened.
Gao Yang stood up and took out a napkin to wipe the fingerprints on the gun before putting the gun in Richard’s stiff hand.
Even if he didn’t kill him, Richard would’ved died soon of Hyena’s binding curse like Dick had. It was better to make him regret his sins before his death and meet a quick, less painful end.
Gao Yang rose to his feet. Nainai was completely still, her expression strange. He asked, “What? Haven’t you killed a wanderer before?”
“No, no...” Nainai finally came back to her senses. She looked at Gao Yang with bright eyes. “How did you come up with the line? It’s my personal goal to sound like that! It’s elegant, so elegant!”
Gao Yang paused. “What line?”
Chen Ying facepalmed. “The one about the netherworld. It does sound a little chuuni.”
Gao Yang humored Nainai carelessly, “It’s easy. Forget about techniques and tap into your emotions.”
Nainai didn’t entirely understand, but she was shaken. “Can...can you teach me?”
“You’ll have to show that you deserve it.”
...
Gao Yang, Chen Ying, and Nainai quickly left through the back door of the bar, walking into the narrow and dark alley filled with garbage.
In the shadow at the corner, Lithe Snake was wearing a gray windbreaker and a checkered deerstalker, his sunken face looking cold and unapproachable. He looked like a veteran turned private eye.
Leaning against a telephone pole, he played with a throwing knife.
“Done?” Lithe Snake asked Gao Yang when he spotted him.
Gao Yang handed him the slip Richard had written the address on. “Hyena had shoes made at this shop. Go interrogate them with Nainai. You may find something.”
“Leave it to me.” Lithe Snake took the slip of paper and had a look before waving Nainai over.
Nainai rushed toward him, jumping while quickly shrinking and diving into the pocket of Lithe Snake’s windbreaker with precision.
Lithe Snake turned around and leaped, stepping between the walls before disappearing.
“How about us?” Chen Ying asked. New novel chapters are published on novel(b)in(.)com
“Let’s head back to the hotel and wait for their findings.”
Half an hour later, Gao Yang and Chen Ying returned to the hotel. They briefed Officer Huang and Qing Ling on what had happened. Then Gao Yang, Officer Huang, and Chen Ying each reported back to their respective organization.
Afterwards, they had some food and turned in.
Gao Yang and Officer Huang shared a bed, while Qing Ling and Chen Ying shared the other.
Three o’clock in the morning, Lithe Snake still hadn’t returned.
Gao Yang hadn’t actually fallen asleep, but merely resting with his eyes closed.
He opened his eyes and confirmed that Chen Ying was asleep before quietly patting Officer Huang’s shoulder. Officer Huang woke up, alert.
Gao Yang made a gesture to hush him, reaching over the gap between the beds to pat Qing Ling’s shoulder.
Her eyes fluttered open, glinting faintly in the dark.
Gao Yang hushed her too, gesturing at them to follow him. Then he went up to the window and opened it.
Gao Yang nodded. “I hope that things won’t get to that point, but if it does, we’ll go independent.”
“Yeah.” Officer Huang nodded. So did Qing Ling.
Officer Huang scratched his cheek with the hand holding a cigarette. “Among the Twelve Zodiac Signs, in addition to Fat Jun, I think Heavenly Dog, Songstress, and Mischievous Monkey may be recruitable, but not Dead Pig, White Rabbit, Lovely Lamb, or War Tiger.”
“Yeah, in the Qilin Guild, I can probably take my team, but not the others.” Gao Yang didn’t have much to offer at the moment, either.
“What about the Hundred Rivers Union?” Qing Ling asked.
Officer Huang joked, “Maybe you can seduce Amon into joining.”
Qing Ling didn’t deem that a response, and she didn’t find it funny.
“Chen Ying would make a good companion,” Gao Yang said regretfully. “Unfortunately, she’s loyal to Surnamed Li. It won’t be easy to recruit her.”
“Oh.” Officer Huang seemed to have remembered something. “Can Lithe Snake be trusted?”
“Although he always looks and sounds like he’s eaten a fly, he’s dependable.” Gao Yang turned to Officer Huang. “Why? Do you find him suspicious?”
“Well, there’s something strange about him.” Officer Huang curled his lips. “When we got here, I noticed him cutting off his pinky secretly and dropping it into a trashcan.”
Gao Yang frowned. “With Gecko, he could regenerate his appendage. But why would he cut off his pinky for no reason? What’s that for?”
“Two possibilities.” Officer Huang’s gaze darkened. “First, he’s a masochist. Second, he’s leaving clues for the enemies, selling us out.”
“The second is unlikely to be the case.” Gao Yang had used Lie Detection on Lithe Snake before, and the fifth team had been through life-and-death situations together.
“I’m not trying to drive a wedge between you.” Officer Huang sighed. “Anyway, be careful.”
“I know. I’ll keep an eye out.”
Then Gao Yang’s phone rang. It was an encoded message from Nainai.
Gao Yang looked up with a faint smile. “Lithe Snake found Hyena’s hideout.”
...
Four o’clock in the morning, they ‘borrowed’ a car parked by the road and drove to Zone 4.
They were briefed on the way.
Lithe Snake had found the clothes shop and easily gotten his hands on the list of clients who had ordered custom-made dress shoes over the past two years. Based on the types and sizes of the shoes, he narrowed the list down and found the philanthropist—Hyena.
It was said that the poor old tailor Lithe Snake had grabbed for interrogation at midnight was so terrified that he spilled out all he knew without having a hand laid on him.
According to the tailor, the philanthropist was a mysterious middle-aged man. He visited the shop only once with a mask on, and he asked the tailor to take measurements for him, ordering shoes, suits, pants, shirts, vests, tailcoats, tuxedos, fedoras, and umbrellas to be custom made here. He was polite and generous when paying. The tailor thought he was a magnanimous man.
Afterward, the philanthropist would always send two bodyguards in black to the shop to pick up his clothes and shoes at the agreed times.
Once, the old tailor had failed to finish a tuxedo because of personal matters. As a result, the two bodyguards pointed their guns at him and had him quickly finish the order.
That day, the two bodyguards talked for three hours while watching him work. They accidentally let loose where the philanthropist lived.
As the tailor remembered, it was a place called No.7 Winery.
Chen Ying opened the map and quickly found No.7 Winery, located in Zone 4 of A City. It seemed that the place wasn’t covered up, but left in plain sight.
Zone 4 was a suburban area with many ranches. A lot of rich people built luxurious private mansions there.
The team drove to their destination.
Gao Yang was in a dark mood. Although it was merely an accident, it felt like a bad omen for his codename, Seven Shadow, to share the same number as the bastard Hyena’s winery.
That left a bad taste in my mouth. I’m gonna destroy you.
