Chapter 226: Framing

I brought Xu Hongzhi to Zhang Longtao's territory that night. Zhang Longtao had already made arrangements, so no one blocked our way along the path. We walked straight to Zhang Longtao's room.

Zhang Longtao looked at the two of us and said with a smile, "You two really have guts, coming to my place so brazenly. You're quite bold, aren't you? Aren't you afraid that I'll just wipe you out right here?"

"Haha, what are you saying, Boss Zhang? I believe Boss Zhang wouldn't be the type of person to disregard honor!" Xu Hongzhi smiled, showing no concern for the current situation.

Zhang Longtao looked at Xu Hongzhi with disdain and said, "Boss Xu has been doing quite well for himself lately, his way of speaking is different now. But his character is a bit lacking, and I wonder if some people are even aware of that!"

When Zhang Longtao spoke, he deliberately looked at me. It was clear he wanted to mock me; it seems Zhang Longtao had also heard rumors about Xu Hongzhi's previous actions.

"Boss Zhang, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say whatever you want. The main reason we came today is because my brother, Fourth, has something to ask you. It's not a confrontation between the two of us, so don't make things so tense!" Xu Hongzhi shifted the focus to me in the blink of an eye.

"Fine. Yang Yun, speak up. What exactly did you come to find me for?" Zhang Longtao asked coldly.

"You surely know the reason I'm here. Besides that incident from before, what else do you think we could be talking about!" I gritted my teeth and glared at Zhang Longtao, my eyes filled with hatred.

Seeing my reaction, Zhang Longtao smiled and said indifferently, "I already told you before, is there any need to keep asking? If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do!"

"Fine, it doesn't matter if you don't admit it. Zhang Longtao, I ask you, is Su Xueyan still alive!" Previously, Xu Hongzhi said he had spotted Su Xueyan at Zhang Longtao's place. I didn't care if Xu Hongzhi was lying to me or not; I had to ask. After all, having hope is better than having none at all.

Hearing my words, Zhang Longtao was startled, then shouted at us in anger, "Are you two crazy? How could that bitch still be alive? You were the ones who brought the body back, and now you come to ask me? Are you sick?"

Seeing Zhang Longtao's unusually intense reaction, I suddenly became suspicious. Looking at this guy's reaction, there was a high chance there was something fishy about this. Could Su Xueyan really be alive? If that were the case, it would be too absurd.

"Zhang Longtao, stop pretending. I saw someone at your place two days ago. How much longer are you going to keep up this act!" Xu Hongzhi began to interrogate Zhang Longtao.

"Perhaps you saw wrong. Boss Xu has been busy lately, and with the mental pressure, it's quite normal to have hallucinations!" Zhang Longtao looked at Xu Hongzhi with a gloomy face, his expression even more sinister and terrifying than when he looked at me earlier.

"Boss Zhang is joking. I absolutely could not have seen wrong. And Boss Zhang, haven't you realized yet? We came here today to demand the person from you. You will give her up, whether you want to or not!" Xu Hongzhi's words truly surprised me. I hadn't intended to make things this tense; after all, this was someone else's territory. Even if we could fight, we wouldn't gain any advantage. I knew the principle that a strong dragon doesn't suppress the local snake. This didn't seem like something Xu Hongzhi would do—what exactly was his goal?

"Oh ho, threatening me? Do you really think I, Zhang Longtao, am a pushover? Saying such things on my turf—do you believe I can make it so you don't leave here today!" Zhang Longtao's face darkened; he had never been threatened like this before.

"Haha, do you really think you're still the same Boss Zhang from before? Calling you Boss Zhang is just to give you face; don't think too highly of yourself. Let me tell you, I've long been sick of you. Let's use today as an opportunity—go to your death!"

After saying this, Xu Hongzhi moved to attack immediately. Seeing this, I was speechless. How did it turn into a fight? We only came to ask some questions, and it ended up like this. I hurriedly tried to persuade Xu Hongzhi: "Third Brother, Third Brother, let it go. After all, this is someone else's territory, let's not be too impulsive!"

"Let it go? Why should I let it go? And didn't you, Fourth, start this whole thing? How can we just let it go now? I'm helping you. We'll just grab him and beat him up; I don't believe this guy won't talk!"

Seeing Xu Hongzhi say this, I suddenly seemed to understand something. This guy wanted to shift the blame for this incident onto me. I just didn't understand the point of him doing this; whether I took the blame or not didn't seem to have any significance.

"Damn it, you're looking for death!" Zhang Longtao rushed over to attack us directly.

Xu Hongzhi, standing to the side, didn't say a word and met Zhang Longtao head-on. To my surprise, Xu Hongzhi had become exceptionally powerful, much stronger than before. Could it be that this guy had some kind of fortuitous encounter? However, Zhang Longtao was more seasoned than us and possessed immense strength. Xu Hongzhi was no match for him and was forced into retreat before long. Xu Hongzhi looked at me irritably and said, "What are you watching for? Why aren't you attacking yet!"

Seeing this scene, I had no choice but to intervene. I hurriedly blocked Zhang Longtao's attack and then struck him with a palm in return. However, what I didn't expect was that this palm strike actually made Zhang Longtao vomit blood. First of all, I hadn't used much force, and secondly, Zhang Longtao's strength was mostly on par with mine; it was impossible for him to vomit blood from just this one strike.

Zhang Longtao's face turned pale, and he looked at us in disbelief. Unwilling to accept this, he said, "How can this be? How is this possible? When did you poison me, and who did it?"

Xu Hongzhi smiled as he looked at Zhang Longtao and said, "This is all thanks to Fourth. How about it? How does it feel to be betrayed by someone close to you?"

Zhang Longtao was so angry he shouted, "Shameless!"

"This, it wasn't me!" I hurriedly said.

Before I could finish, Zhang Longtao rushed at me in a fit of rage. I blocked him in a panic, but in Zhang Longtao's current state, he was no match for me. Zhang Longtao was struck and injured by me again.

"Brother!" A female voice from the side suddenly made me jump.

The person who shouted was none other than Zhang Yinuo. Zhang Yinuo ran in quickly, helped the fallen Zhang Longtao up, and asked anxiously, "Brother, are you okay? Brother!"

Zhang Longtao struggled to get up, feeling extremely weak. He kept vomiting blood, but smiled and said, "That's great, you finally called me brother!"

However, Xu Hongzhi's expression suddenly changed, and he shouted at me, "Fourth, how could you strike so hard!"