Chapter 235: How Did You Two End Up Here?

He's really putting on an act!

Zheng Tan watched the person below through the gap in the wooden planks.

When those three people came in earlier, Zheng Tan only thought the tied-up person was that kind of immature, stunted rich second-generation with a childish temper, and given how he burst into tears with snot and tears at the slightest hit, anyone would think he was a good-for-nothing wastrel.

Not everyone can cry on cue like that. Seeing the huge contrast before and after, Zheng Tan felt this person could practically win an Oscar.

Besides, having acting skills alone would be forgivable, but I never expected this person to hide so deeply. The ropes were undone easily while Zheng Tan wasn't looking—something an ordinary person couldn't do. And if he could free himself that quickly, how could he end up beaten black and blue, making himself look so miserable?

Either he's a ruthless person, or he's just a lunatic.

Zheng Tan stared at the person below, who was chewing on a steamed bun in his hand while fixing his gaze on Zheng Tan's location.

"Who are you?" the person asked, "Maybe we can cooperate—I have no interest in that batch of goods; if you want them, I'll give them all to you."

Zheng Tan had no idea what the person meant by "goods"; it definitely wasn't referring to the low-quality food he had seen. Still, he could infer that Hetaoshixiong's goal was probably that so-called "goods".

So if this person isn't here for those goods, why did he come here?

Seeing no movement above and no response, the person shoved the last bit of the steamed bun into his mouth, wiped his hands on his blue cloth cotton jacket, then jumped onto the side table and pushed at the wooden ceiling panels.

As the person moved, Zheng Tan quickly left his spot, moved out of the room's area, hid behind a piece of wood, and listened to the commotion there.

The person didn't seem intending to push open the wooden ceiling to escape; after a while, Zheng Tan heard the lock click. Peering through the crack, he saw the door holding that person opened just a slit—the maximum gap before the lock fully opens. The person extended two fingers, with something pinched between them, reaching toward the keyhole.

Having seen Er Mao pick locks before, Zheng Tan wasn't so surprised by this person's actions. There are still many capable people in the world.

In a few seconds, the person opened the lock, came out of the room, glanced around, then went room by room along the perimeter searching.

Zheng Tan didn't know what the person was looking for. Feeling curious, he followed from above. Not getting too close, Zheng Tan remained wary—this person's skill was likely no worse than Er Mao's, and he hid even deeper, so Zheng Tan had to stay on guard.

After checking a few rooms, the person entered the storage room filled with goods; the lock posed no difficulty for him.

Zheng Tan saw the person rummage through the opened boxes, then open a taped-sealed box, rummage inside, pull out a bag of "xx milk tea", tear a small opening, sniff it, and lightly taste a bit.

Watching the person's actions, Zheng Tan wondered if there might be something else hidden in there.

And those low-quality foods were probably just a cover for these items?

As for what the person had just taken, could it be some prohibited "drugs"?

If so, those places up the mountain must be where production happens—no wonder Hetaoshixiong wanted to go there on an adventure.

The person shifted angle, turning his back to Zheng Tan, so Zheng Tan couldn't see what he was doing with his hands. About a minute later, he lifted his head toward where Zheng Tan was, speaking softly, almost to himself: "What exactly are you?" As he moved the wooden ceiling panels, he noticed they were fragile, unable to support an adult human's weight, and yet he could move about freely up there—truly not something a person could do.

After finding what he wanted, the person didn't linger and went downstairs.

Zheng Tan waited a moment, heard nothing below, lifted the wooden ceiling panels and went down, then descended the stairs carefully.

Although he hadn't heard any sound earlier, after going downstairs Zheng Tan saw a person lying at the stairwell, still breathing but with hands bound—the same rope used earlier to tie up the red-haired person.

He poked his head around, then went to check each room. On the first floor, aside from a few bedrooms, kitchen, and toilet, there was the monitoring room. A person lay in a bedroom, also bound there, having lost consciousness. In the monitoring room, a person in a gray overcoat lay on the floor. These three shared one thing: their faces had been beaten badly. As for whether other parts had been badly beaten, Zheng Tan couldn't tell yet.

The red-haired person was fiddling with a USB drive in the monitoring room. Soon he pulled out the USB, stood up, and walked out, pulling out an earphone from somewhere, listening to something, then frowned and looked up the mountain, his steps quickening.

The person had now put his leather jacket back on, ready to leave.

But after just a few steps, he suddenly stopped, drew a dagger—something he had picked up casually inside the house earlier.

Zheng Tan had been looking outside from a first-floor window; realizing something was wrong, he immediately bolted out.

A figure lunged from the side at the red-haired person, who also readied his knife, but another black shadow shot out and intercepted in the middle.

Heijin, charging midway, was forced to stop, looking puzzled at Zheng Tan, not quite understanding why this cat was blocking him.

The red-haired person stared at the black cat blocking his way, maintaining his earlier stance; after a few seconds, he sheathed the dagger, raised an eyebrow slightly, and said, "Is it you up on the wooden boards?"

Zheng Tan flicked his ears, eyes locked on the opponent, having no doubt that if Heijin really lunged, he would already have been struck down by the blade. Yet Heijin kept growling from behind, seemingly unwilling to give up and wanting to lunge again.

Zheng Tan wanted to turn and slap Heijin to make him behave, but he couldn't dare shift his gaze from the person opposite, seeing how those few people inside had been silently taken down showed this person's skill—he hadn't killed anyone. Perhaps he didn't want to invite more legal trouble, but not killing people doesn't mean he won't kill dogs or cats.

Just now this person certainly had killing intent toward Heijin, but Zheng Tan, from the way the person stared at him, felt no killing intent—more like scrutiny and curiosity.

The person stared at Zheng Tan for a while, then played with the dagger in his hand, put it away, turned and left.

After watching the person leave, Zheng Tan finally exhaled.

He perked up his ears, listened around, sensed no one approaching, and headed back into the house.

Heijin hesitated on the spot, then followed. For him, obedience was more common; it was rare for this black cat to do as he pleased, but now Heijin had no better option. He might as well follow.

When Zheng Tan came out of the house, he had already checked: the cameras could be turned off. As for the people inside, he didn't know when they'd wake up; if they did now it would be troublesome, so he needed to do something.

He examined each one. Zheng Tan grabbed the pant leg of the person collapsed at the stairwell and dragged him toward the room—a bedroom where another person lay. Zheng Tan decided to dump them both there, then bar the door so that even if they woke up they wouldn't be able to get out for a while.

Seeing this, Heijin also bit onto the pant leg of the other person collapsed in the monitoring room and followed Zheng Tan, dragging him over.

Noticing signs that someone was about to wake up, Zheng Tan grabbed a nearby wooden chair and swung it at that person.

Thud!

The person who was barely opening his eyes in a daze passed out again.

Zheng Tan searched the three, took out a bunch of keys, felt the lock, and locked the door.

Heijin crouched nearby, watching the black cat leap up and down, unable to fully grasp the cat's behavior, but feeling that what the cat was doing was probably right.

Heijin twitched his ears, looked in a direction, and after the door was locked, Zheng Tan also looked toward the doorway.

They hadn't closed the house's main gate when they came in; now Heijin was a bit closer to the gate and noticed outside movements before Zheng Tan did.

A wind blew in, and Heijin also caught the scent of the person outside.

"Woof!" Heijin barked.

Seeing Heijin wag his tail, Zheng Tan felt his tension ease a little.

Indeed.

After Heijin's bark, a head poked in at the doorway—it was Er Mao.

"Holy shit! What are you two doing here?!"

Er Mao had come down the mountain via another route, not passing the spot where he'd told Heijin to wait, so he didn't know Heijin and Zheng Tan were no longer there. He had heard the commotion outside earlier and was wondering how many people were inside, especially when he heard that "thud," thinking they might be interrogating some poor soul—little did he expect it to be these two losers.

Seeing Er Mao, Heijin was in good spirits, his tail wagging vigorously; he glanced behind Er Mao but didn't see the person he was looking for.

"Senior brother is still up the mountain; we still have an operation, we just wait here—reinforcements will arrive soon." Er Mao rubbed Heijin's head; this time Heijin unusually didn't dodge.

Hearing Er Mao say that, Zheng Tan stretched, his nerves which had been tense all along finally relaxed.

Er Mao pried open the lock and looked at the three people Zheng Tan had just locked inside; the ropes were tied professionally, and looking at their injuries, it was impossible for a cat and a dog to have caused this.

"Anyone else?" Er Mao asked.

Heijin looked toward the door, then toward Er Mao.

"They left? Then forget it." Er Mao checked the surrounding monitors, reopened them, and closed the main gate.

The reinforcements Er Mao mentioned arrived quickly, each fully armed, giving off a tense vibe just by looking at them. Zheng Tan saw only part of them; the rest were cooperating with the mountain people's operation.

Since specialists were handling it, Er Mao didn't stay in one place either; he went upstairs and downstairs to have a look.

When Zheng Tan saw Er Mao rummaging through that batch of inferior food and pulling out several bags, he knew his guess was right. These people were indeed producing certain contraband drugs on the mountain, while also manufacturing a batch of inferior food, packing the drugs in similar food packaging bags, then shipping them out together with the food to sell to buyers.

The bags looked almost identical; the only difference was the barcode. Without close inspection, you really couldn't tell.

In a room, those worms were also discovered, each kept in a sturdy large box.

No wonder, when I looked up there earlier, the red-haired person didn't even touch those boxes; apparently he knew what kind of worms were inside. Zheng Tan thought.

Er Mao said it was a kind of beetle smuggled in from abroad, likely artificially mutated; they have no reproductive function but a huge appetite—such a box of worms could gnaw an adult down to a skeleton in just half a day.

However, I heard this isn't the final successful product; it's just a little trinket the other side gave this gang during the transaction.

Zheng Tan listened to the gunfire coming from the mountain, found a concealed spot to lie down; since things weren't over yet, he didn't want any mishaps. Heijin, on the other hand, looked excited—it was familiar with gunfire, and hearing it reminded it of past missions when it felt eager to act.

By the time things ended, it was already approaching evening; Hetaoshixiong had a wound on his arm, looking somewhat fatigued, but his eyes were bright, and he was in the mood to joke a few words with Er Mao.

Listening to their conversation, Zheng Tan knew that the boss with a dark background involved in drugs and responsible for who-knows-how-many murder cases had also been caught; the follow-up investigation and arrests were still ongoing, but catching this big fish already satisfied Hetaoshixiong, though there was one thing he wasn't happy about.

"The rich second-generation they mentioned who went up the mountain in deep winter to catch squirrels hasn't shown up. I reckon this is another deeply hidden group; I don't know which side they're on. If they're enemies of this gang, that'd be fine too—after all, this gang's legitimate business as well as its underhanded dealings have annoyed some people." Hetaoshixiong said.

This gang's legitimate company went bankrupt after losing a business war, but the bulk of their operations were still the underground trade; as long as that trade existed, they had a chance to make a comeback. However, many people don't want them to rise again. Perhaps that person pretending to be a rich second-generation belongs to this group?

"I think this person isn't necessarily an enemy or ally of that gang; if he were an enemy, the three people in the room would probably already be dead, not left alive." Er Mao said.

At the same time, inside a luxury car on a certain highway.

A person with wine-red hair was wearing a communication earpiece and talking to someone. When the mountain people searched the vehicle, they didn't find the other mobile phone hidden inside the car.

"You got the data, right? But you don't need to bother now—they're probably already in police custody, with basically no chance of bouncing back… Of course, even though you don't have to lift a finger, the money you promised me has to be paid. I nearly got disfigured gathering evidence this time… Well, getting beaten up is better than being fed to those worms. As for the worms' lethality, just imagine the fate of that business spy we sent out who's already been gnawed down to a skeleton… Hehe, pleasant cooperation—remember to patronize me next time if you need anything."

After hanging up, a moment later a transfer notification appeared on his phone; he glanced at it, smiled faintly, listening to the blues music playing in the car, one hand on the steering wheel, the other hand's fingers tapping to the beat.

"Black cat… really a strange creature." He sighed. (To be continued…)

ps: (4.24) During the crackdown period, some things weren't written in detail—please bear with us.