Chapter 2999: Taming the Stubborn 16

Inside the long-abandoned chemical plant warehouse somewhere in Yucheng's East District, the atmosphere had already reached the critical point of swords drawn and bows bent.

Chenshu had already spent nearly two hours here.

Things had not developed as he had expected from the very beginning.

Chenshu brought here a USB drive containing copied East Port information, to exchange the USB drive for information; the information was about the whereabouts of those few people.

But the deal fell through.

Chenshu leaned against a rusted metal container, breathing lightly; his light blue shirt was stained with bloody grime, revealing torn flesh underneath, his face bore several abrasions, the corner of his mouth split and oozed blood, his eyes filled with icy ferocity and anger, chilling to behold.

Two people lay motionless at his feet; one had his throat cleanly slit, blood soaking the dust beneath him.

Before Chenshu, ten or so people surrounded him, looking terrified yet vicious, wielding steel pipes and machetes, even two homemade guns, forming a loose encirclement.

"Yucheng is a big cake," Old Qin spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, laughing harshly, "Screwing over a partner is totally normal."

"You're still too young, really thinking you can trade scraps for the lives of those you want."

Brother Qin spoke in a weird tone, "To be honest, those guys were already killed ages ago! Not even bone scraps left! We're just doing a job for money, wiping the higher-ups' asses—why bother fighting us…"

Fuck your mother!

Before Brother Qin finished speaking, Chenshu, enraged by his words, lunged at him again!

Inside the USB drive was what he had risked sneaking into Jin Chen's study to steal, thinking it could be traded for the lives of those who knew the truth of that year's tragedy.

But now these people told him, those persons were already dead; the whole thing was a scam from start to finish.

Anger and the despair of being deceived burned Chenshu's reason; his strikes were ruthless, utterly a fight to the death.

Brother Qin hadn't expected him, even exhausted, to burst forth with such speed; in his haste he raised a hand to block, but Chenshu's heavy punch smashed his nose bridge, blood gushing, stars flashing before his eyes, and the USB drive in his hand nearly slipped away.

"Stop him! Beat this little bastard to death!" Brother Qin yelled, clutching his face.

The surrounding lackeys finally reacted, swarming forward; Chenshu knocked down two more, but took a heavy blow to the back, a sweet metallic taste rising in his throat.

Although his skill far surpassed theirs, he was ultimately outnumbered, and his strength drained rapidly.

Bang! Bang!

At that moment, two sharp gunshots rang out from outside the warehouse.

Old Qin instinctively looked toward the warehouse's broken iron door.

In the dimness of the pouring rain, beams of headlights pierced the curtain and rapidly approached, the engines' roars even overwhelming the rain.

More than twenty black off-road vehicles, like steel beasts, exuding an imposing, terrifying aura, screeched to a halt in unison, sealing off the abandoned warehouse completely.

"We're screwed! We've been discovered!"

Brother Qin couldn't believe it—how could Jin Chen's people arrive so fast!

He glared at Chenshu, eyes hardening; taking advantage of the moment Chenshu was startled by the outside commotion, he yanked a sharp machete from behind, dragged the exhausted Chenshu over, and held the blade to his neck, shouting, "Damn you! Get over here, old man!"

Brother Qin roared, locking Chenshu tightly in front of him as a hostage, dragging him toward a relatively concealed corner inside the warehouse.

Chenshu was utterly exhausted, exhaling bloody-tinged white vapor, unable to muster any strength to struggle; Brother Qin roughly hauled him, he stumbled a few steps, and the blade pressed a line of blood into his neck skin.

Outside the warehouse, the rain poured relentlessly.

The rear door of the middle vehicle opened; Jin Chen stepped out, propping a black long-handled umbrella, his thin-soled leather shoes splashing in the murky puddles, the hem of his coat flaring in the gale, the black umbrella tilted to shield half his face, revealing only his sharply defined jaw and thin lips.

Even though only one person had entered, the warehouse's band of desperadoes dared not relax their vigilance; instead, they felt the pressure double.

Jin Chen lowered the umbrella, planting its tip on the ground, lifted his gaze into the factory's dim light, the shadow of his brow falling into his eye sockets as he stared straight into the shadowed corner.

Old Qin pressed the blade again against Chenshu's neck, his voice coming from behind Chenshu: "President Jin, I've long admired your name."

Jin Chen's gaze remained fixed on Chenshu, scanning him from head to toe, then he shifted his look to Old Qin.

Old Qin felt a chill down his spine from that look, but with things as they were, he couldn't possibly let him go.

"President Jin, we're just here to do some business, no other intentions; now that the deal's fallen through, we don't want trouble either. As long as you let us go, this person,"

He pointed the knife at Chenshu, "We'll return him to you exactly as we got him."

Old Qin used Chenshu's life as leverage against Jin Chen, attempting to negotiate.

"Return him to me?" Jin Chen's voice was languid, a sneer seeping into his bones, thin and cold.

"What use is a traitor to me?"

Chenshu's head buzzed; the last shred of his forced composure was pierced.

Even before sneaking into the study to copy documents, he had imagined countless times the consequences of being discovered by Jin Chen—Jin Chen would not let him off, would not show mercy just because he was entrusted by Ninth Uncle, would not soften because they'd lived under the same roof for months; he had braced himself for being expelled, punished, or even treated more harshly.

But to exchange for the lives of those who knew the truth of the tragedy, he had no choice but to do so.

Yet when he actually heard those words, Chenshu's heart clenched painfully; his eyes swollen with sorrow, it felt as if a chunk had been scooped out of his chest, empty, filled with icy rain and wind.

Old Qin couldn't tell whether Jin Chen truly didn't care or was feigning indifference, or deliberately deceiving him.

Yet desperate outlaws, when pushed to the brink, still retain a shred of hot-blooded resolve and a sliver of hope.

He gritted his teeth, a flash of cruelty in his eyes, and violently slammed Chenshu to the ground! At the same time he raised his machete high, poised to chop down, shouting loudly, "Jin Chen! Don't push me! If it comes to it, we'll all die—I'll kill…"

Just as Old Qin slammed Chenshu to the ground, exposing himself fully from that semi-hidden spot, a bloody dot blossomed on his forehead, and he pitched forward, collapsing face-first into the dust-covered floor.

Jin Chen glanced down, then his bodyguards rushed in behind him in single file.

Within a few dozen seconds, the remaining twenty or so were all subdued and pressed to the ground.

Chenshu also took a hard fall from Brother Qin's throw, his vision darkening as he coughed up a mouthful of bloody sputum.

He strained to prop himself up on his elbow, but first came into view a pair of black leather shoes specked with mud; his swollen, sore eyelids slowly lifted, tracing up the straight trousers to see the man standing before him, eyes downcast—Jin Chen, whose deep gaze was like a sullen sea, roiling with icy depths that made his heart pound.

Sharper than Brother Qin's machete, it pierced deep into Chenshu's numb, aching heart.

It hurts so much.

Endless grievance and hollow emptiness surged over him, drowning despair and those tangled calculations.

Chenshu's mind was no longer clear; blood loss and fatigue blurred his vision, everything doubled, and relying on instinct, he weakly clutched Jin Chen's pant leg with his blood‑smeared, dirt‑caked fingers scraping the ground.

Jin Chen coolly swept his gaze over him from head to toe.

After a moment of silence, he sighed softly, bent down, and hoisted the filthy lump of a person into his arms.

The sudden weightlessness and the feeling of falling into a warm embrace caused the dazed Chenshu to snap back to awareness.

He realized he had been lifted up, a sour feeling rose in his nose, the tears he had been holding back for a long time finally spilled, flooding his eye sockets, and he instinctively turned his head, burying his dust- and blood-streaked cheek into the crook of Jin Chen's neck, where a familiar scent lingered.

Jin Chen held him, turned, and strode out of the warehouse with long steps.

That black USB drive was also pried from Qin Ge's gradually stiffening fingers and handed into Chen Gai's hand.

Chen Gai took out a palm-sized device from the bag he carried, inserted the USB drive, and quickly operated it a few times, his expression turning grave.

"Jin Ge, the files inside the USB drive have been double-encrypted, and..." Chen Gai paused, "There are remote transmission records. Just about half an hour ago, the core data inside was automatically backed up and sent to an overseas encrypted server."

"Investigate to the end, everyone who participated here today will be cleaned up."

The hostility and killing intent in that voice were so intense that Chen Gai couldn't help but shudder.

He immediately straightened his face and replied, "Yes!"

Chen Gai watched Jin Chen holding Chenshu as they walked toward the rain-soaked backdrop, glanced at the troublesome USB drive in his arms, and shook his head helplessly.

What the hell is going on!