Chapter 3535

In the early morning Australian time, Ye Chen, Hong Wu, and Chen Zekai landed at Melbourne Airport.

Melbourne time is two hours ahead of domestic time, and it was still dark back home; Ye Chen feared disturbing Xiao Churan's sleep, so he did not send her a message.

Chen Zekai had already arranged for the staff at Melbourne's Buckingham Palace Hotel to deliver a Cadillac SUV.

After picking up the vehicle, Chen Zekai, who held an international driver's license, took the wheel, and Ye Chen instructed him to drive straight to the hospital where Tang Sihai was.

On the way, Ye Chen asked Chen Zekai: "Old Chen, are you sure Butler Tang is still at that hospital?"

Chen Zekai, being cautious, replied seriously: "Young Master, my people reported back that they scouted the place three hours ago and confirmed Butler Tang is still there."

"Good." Ye Chen nodded and sighed: "When I see Butler Tang, I'll heal his injuries, then we'll take him straight back to Buckingham Palace Hotel. After I get clear answers from him on a few matters, we'll go settle the score with those greenhorns."

Hong Wu pulled a small utility knife from his pocket, gritted his teeth, and said: "Ye Master, as long as I catch those little bastards, I will definitely carve the three words 'son of a turtle' onto their foreheads!"

Ye Chen asked in surprise: "Where did you get this knife? It couldn't have been brought on the plane, could it?"

Hong Wu chuckled: "No way, domestic airport security is too tight; I couldn't have brought this on a flight. I bought it just now at the airport convenience store when I went to buy cigarettes."

After saying that, he pulled out a pack of export-version Zhonghua cigarettes and complained: "Whether to say it or not, cigarettes in this godforsaken place are damn expensive—just this one pack of hard Zhonghua costs nearly three hundred bucks."

Ye Chen smiled and said: "You never forget your little performance art, no matter where you go."

As he spoke, he recalled something and reminded Hong Wu: "But I need to tell you in advance: when we find the person, no matter the circumstances, you must not carve 'son of a turtle' on their forehead."

Hong Wu asked, puzzled: "Why, Ye Master? If we don't give them an unforgettable lesson, it would be too lenient on these little turtle bastards!"

Ye Chen said seriously: "Why? Let me tell you: first, the local brats don't recognize Chinese characters, so even if they walk around with your carving on their foreheads, no one might be able to read it; worse, other brats might think it's some cool, trendy tattoo."

"Second, we don't want to give the local media any handle to latch onto. If you carve Chinese characters on their foreheads, the unscrupulous local media will surely seize this and blow it out of proportion. By then, who knows how they'll smear us? You know these people—they'll shoot each other dead in the streets over nothing and consider it a trivial matter, but if a foreigner, especially an Asian, casually drops a wrapper on their street, they'll blow it up to a national issue and have a crowd jump in to condemn. So we should stay low-key; even if we carve, we shouldn't carve Chinese characters."

Hong Wu chuckled: "That's easy—just carve the Japanese 'baka yarou' or the Korean 'si bal' on them."

Chen Zekai, while driving, teased: "Hong Wu, can you write Japanese 'baka yarou' or Korean 'si bal'?"

Hong Wu said sternly: "I can't, but I can learn! Learning on the spot and selling it right away is no problem!"

Chen Zekai gave a thumbs-up and praised: "Fine, still eager to learn at your age—you've got potential!"

Ye Chen, standing nearby, laughed and said: "Don't think about smearing filth on Japanese or Koreans right now—after all, these people are hostile toward all Asians, and Asians smearing filth on each other will only worsen their hostility toward Asians. In my view, carving English is more appropriate, since they already speak English."

Hong Wu hehe-laughed: "I heard this place was, over two hundred years ago, where Britain exiled its criminals?"

"There is some truth to that." Ye Chen said offhand: "This place was never much of a good spot; rumor has it there are more rabbits than people here, spiders bigger than rabbits, over seventy percent of the land can't grow crops, and more than half can't even grow grass—but the iron ore reserves are astonishingly high, with many places having iron content exceeding sixty percent."

Hong Wu smacked his lips: "No wonder the British wanted to exile criminals here back then—if they built a prison, they could smelt steel and forge iron bars right on site."

Ye Chen knew he was just griping, so he smiled and said: "Although their early history wasn't glorious, they really do have mines at home. These days, they mock poverty, not prostitution—whoever has money is a developed modern civilization."

Hong Wu's expression showed some displeasure as he muttered under his breath: "Many so-called developed nations were once invading imperialists, and now they've turned around and become, damn it, civilized societies."

Ye Chen shook his head with a smile, said nothing more—he had grown accustomed to Hong Wu's clear-cut likes and dislikes and his blunt manner.

After dozens of minutes, Chen Zekai drove the car to Melbourne's Parkville district and then arrived at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

After parking the car in the lot, Chen Zekai said to Ye Chen: "Young Master, Butler Tang is in the ICU of the emergency department. Should we go in now, or should we first send others to scout?"

Ye Chen said: "Go straight in."

Having said that, he pushed open the door and got out.

Ye Chen thought: Since Wu Yinfan has never included the Ye family in her elimination list, Butler Tang, as the Ye family's butler, would certainly not be targeted by her, so I don't need to worry that this matter will drag the Broken Qing Society into it.

Since I don't need to worry about the Broken Qing Society, there's really nothing much to worry about—just go in directly, see Butler Tang, treat his injury promptly, then ask clearly why he left without a word; that's the most important thing.

So the three of them walked into the hospital together, arrived at the emergency department, Chen Zekai inquired about the location of the ICU, and then called for Ye Chen and Hong Wu to follow him to the second floor.

At the second-floor nurse station, a duty nurse stopped them and asked in English: "Who are you looking for?"

Chen Zekai immediately replied: "We're looking for that injured Chinese male patient, about sixty years old, staying in the ICU."

The nurse said: "He has already been discharged."

"Discharged?!"

Besides Hong Wu, who couldn't understand English, Ye Chen and Chen Zekai were both stunned.

Ye Chen stepped forward immediately and pressed: "When was he discharged? Isn't his injury very serious? Why was he allowed to leave?"

The nurse said: "He was discharged three hours ago. His injury is serious, but he's no longer in mortal danger, and he insisted on leaving—we couldn't force him to stay, so we processed his discharge."

Ye Chen frowned upon hearing this and hurriedly asked: "Do you know who picked him up upon discharge?"

"No one." The nurse said: "He left on his own, leaning on a cane."

Ye Chen was utterly astonished.

Even if Butler Tang wasn't in mortal danger, from the photos Xiao Churan had shown him earlier, one could see his injury was not light—he should at least need to rest in bed for a month or two to recover. Yet less than twenty-four hours had passed, and he had already been discharged. Why such a rushed discharge? Who was he trying to avoid?

Was it to avoid those teenagers?

Or to avoid some enemy?

Or perhaps, to avoid himself?

Ye Chen couldn't sort out his thoughts for a moment, and he still didn't realize he had already fallen for Butler Tang's "lure the tiger away from the mountain" stratagem.

What he didn't know was that, at this very moment, a limping Tang Sihai, supported by several men in black, was boarding a small Honda jet at a private airfield in the suburbs of Melbourne.

This aircraft is privately owned; its owner is a small mine owner in Western Australia, not particularly wealthy, so a private jet under ten million USD is not eye-catching here—it's merely an entry-level private jet for petty rich folks.

Since it takes off from a private airfield and its filed route is from Melbourne to Port Hedland in Western Australia, not involving international routes, passengers need not undergo any inspection or registration—after driving straight onto the airfield, they can board directly at the end of the runway without going through the terminal.

The aircraft's owner resides in Melbourne with his family during non-working hours, but during work hours he goes to Western Australia. His main business is transporting the iron ore he mines to Port Hedland, then exporting it from there to his clients in China, so he basically makes a round trip to Melbourne every week. Tang Sihai flying on his plane makes it virtually impossible for outsiders to detect any clues.

The aircraft taxied and took off in the morning light, flying from southeastern Australia to northwestern Australia—equivalent to flying a diagonal across the country.

After the aircraft arrived at the airport near Port Hedland, Tang Sihai would transfer to an iron ore cargo ship, depart from Port Hedland, and head for Japan.

Meanwhile, outside the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Ye Chen gazed at the city's interconnected road network, frowned, and said: "Butler Tang has mobility issues; if he walks alone, he certainly couldn't go far."

Chen Zekai asked: "Young Master, should we mobilize local staff to try to track him down?"

Ye Chen sighed: "I just fear Butler Tang is intentionally avoiding me."

Having said that, Ye Chen suddenly recalled something and immediately told Chen Zekai: "Come on, let's go to the police station and ask the local police for help—supposedly Butler Tang only recently immigrated to Australia, so his immigration documents and procedures must be complete; maybe the police have more information."

Chen Zekai nodded, but with some concern asked: "Young Master, under what identity should we approach the police for help? If the police need to first verify our relationship with Butler Tang, we might not be able to produce any proof."

Ye Chen felt an inexplicable irritation, frowning as he said, "Let's go test our luck first. If the other party's demands are truly unreasonable, I have ways to make him tell the truth!"