Chapter 240: Mutual Feelings, Sweet Love, and Plans

Perhaps it was due to nervousness, or perhaps some other reason, but Jonny's trembling hands pulled a small glass bottle from his yellowing pocket.

He quickly used his thumb to push open the cap, took out a small pill, and popped it into his mouth.

Without water, he swallowed it directly.

In truth, the process of the pill traveling from his mouth to his stomach was too fast for the medicine to take effect, yet inexplicably, his trembling hands stopped shaking so much, and his entire person seemed to calm down a little.

A bitter smile played on his face. "Mr. Lanse..."

Lanse walked to the display cabinet, looked around, and ultimately chose a double-ham sandwich.

Jonny took the sandwich out and placed it on the counter.

Lanse picked it up and took a bite. "You are the best baker on this street, Jonny. The food at their place doesn't have this taste."

He paused as he spoke. "Today is 'Billing Day.' I hope you haven't forgotten."

Jonny's fists clenched, and Hailamu's hand, having slipped into his chest pocket, was already gripping his gun.

If Jonny made any inappropriate moves, he would let this idiot Jonny know exactly what the Lanse family's style was!

Although some prosecutors in Laizhou had analyzed from cases in New Jincheng that the Lanse family's signature was to pump a pound or more of bullets into the deceased, these things could not serve as valid evidence to prove that the deceased had any connection to them.

Because... it wasn't just them who could do this; others could imitate their methods to deal with victims, so even though they knew everything, they could do nothing.

Jonny had clearly heard of these things too, so his clenched fists loosened again.

"I still have over six hundred dollars in my hand, Mr. Lanse. Could you... grant me some more time?"

Lanse chewed the delicious ham and shook his head. "That's impossible, Jonny. You know, business is business."

"Either you give me the money, or I sue you. Of course, there is a third path to take."

He stuffed the last bit into his mouth. "Sign this storefront over to me, and the money you owe me will be wiped clean."

If it were before, Jonny might have shouted things like "That's impossible," but now, he couldn't shout it out.

What tormented him wasn't just this debt; the severe dependency he had developed on painkillers was also threatening him.

He only needed three to four painkillers a day now, and that was the result of him voluntarily lowering the dosage.

For the first two months, he had injected special-effect painkillers, but those drugs were too expensive; he couldn't afford them.

He could only turn to cheap painkillers. Although they weren't as effective, at least they could soothe his emotions.

These things had already begun to affect his baking skills and the taste of his bread, and he was filled with despair for the future!

"Mr. Lanse..."

Lanse shook his head slightly, not giving him the right to continue speaking. "You had better hire a lawyer; you will receive a court summons very soon!"

He said this while walking outside. Jonny knew that if he didn't hold him back, then everything would be too late!

He had been tossed around enough by those lawyers these past few times; not only had he spent his money, but in the end, he had gained nothing.

Jonny hurriedly lifted the counter panel, crossed the counter, and chased after him for two steps. "Mr. Lanse, are you not going to leave me even a sliver of a way to live?"

His tone was filled with begging, indignation, despair, and a tiny glimmer of longing for a hope that barely existed. He looked at Lanse.

Lanse stopped at the door and glanced sideways at Jonny. Although he looked like he was smiling, the smile was cold.

"Mr. Jonny, you didn't leave me a way to live back then, either."

"What makes you think I would leave you a way to live?"

A mocking smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "If you haven't made a decision by the time the company gets off work tonight, then you won't need to make one at all."

After saying this, Lanse didn't give him another chance to speak, leaving the bakery directly and leaving Jonny standing there in a daze.

His house, worth two thousand dollars, had been sold by the bank for one thousand three hundred fifty-five dollars and twenty-five cents, of which one thousand three hundred dollars went to Lanse.

The bank had collected a fifty-five dollar commission fee for the auction, and the remaining twenty-five cents were now in his box.

He would keep those twenty-five cents forever; he viewed those twenty-five cents as the shame of his life.

Sometimes, he would suddenly rise up in his dreams to become a super-rich man, and he would tell others that the motivation that supported his success was that twenty-five cent coin.

But... dreams, after all, will wake.

This storefront was worth about four thousand five hundred dollars, but he didn't know how much the bank would sell it for, or how much he would have left in the end.

Or perhaps... he wouldn't just fail to pay off the debt, but would continue to owe Lanse money; he didn't know.

He was very lost...

In early May, the long-lost good weather finally descended upon New Jincheng again, and there were already many young people on the beach.

The waves were like a generator of happiness, and people played to their hearts' content on the beach.

The only thing that felt regrettable was that the girls at this time didn't have the habit of going topless; most of them wore relatively conservative one-piece swimsuits, and showing an extra inch of skin to others seemed like a crime.

But even so, the tight swimsuits were enough to make many young men's blood boil.

Pang Da was on break for these two days.

The Hazardous Materials Bureau had been working around the clock during this period. Although Officer Lukaer had lost his informant in the Imperial District, the arrest work in other areas was still ongoing.

There would always be people trying to stand up.

Luo Bu's death had led many to analyze from his personal information that the ones who acted were the Lanse family, and the reason they acted was that Luo Bu had sold out the locations of two of the Lanse family's bars to the Hazardous Materials Bureau.

Then, perhaps the Lanse family had bribed certain people to get the traitor's information, ultimately resulting in Luo Bu dying on a lamppost at the entrance of the Hazardous Materials Bureau in a special "honor kill" method.

Some people who hoped to gain benefits, people from other areas, tried reporting the bars, and they succeeded.

So although the Imperial District had quieted down, the arrest work in other areas was still continuing.

Director Dai Er knew it was impossible to work around the clock forever; if everyone's nerves were kept taut, one day those nerves would snap.

So, taking advantage of the fact that it had just turned May, he gave some agents a vacation, allowing them to rest for a period of time, along with a large bonus.

Pang Da was just such an ordinary agent. He was an outsider, but also a Laizhou local. He had no family here, so the vacation actually made him feel like he had nothing to do.

He heard the beach was very lively, so he came over today to play.

It was indeed very lively here, and those young, hot, burning bodies made his hormones want to fly.

It was a pity that drinking wasn't allowed here, and no one dared to sell alcoholic beverages in public areas like the beach; otherwise, having a glass of ice-cold beer right now would definitely be the most pleasant thing.

Wearing a sun hat, he found a cold drink stand in the middle of the beach and sat down.

"Give me a tropical fruit juice." Sour and sweet, plus the unique tropical flavor—most people loved this!

In truth, whether it was really a tropical flavor, they didn't know; anyway, it was just some flavor they hadn't tasted before.

He was just about to leave to go to the beach to see the girls there when someone bumped into him.

Most of the juice in his hand spilled onto the girl in front of him. Accompanied by the girl's scream, he hurriedly apologized.

"No, it's okay, I have responsibility too." The girl looked very beautiful, and her figure was good, her personality was good, and she was still very young.

This made Pang Da's face heat up. "Regardless, it's my fault. I should have seen you just now. You are so dazzling, maybe I really am blind!"

The girl couldn't help but laugh out loud. "You seem to lack some experience."

Pang Da touched his slightly hot cheeks and took off his jacket because the girl's swimsuit had been wetted by him.

He didn't quite understand the meaning of that sentence. "What?"

"The things you said are a bit old-fashioned. Why not say what you really think?"

The girl draped Pang Da's clothes over her body, crossed her two sleeves, and blocked her chest. She stretched out her snow-white, slender-feeling hand. "Let's get to know each other, Lisha."

Pang Da hurriedly stretched out his hand and shook hers. "Hello, Lisha."

"I can see you're very nervous, but you shouldn't forget your name!"

Every smile and frown of the girl made Pang Da feel a bit spellbound, and also made him feel a trace of awkwardness and shame. "My name is Pang Da, Pang Da Green. Very happy to meet you..."

The young big boy and the young girl got to know each other just like that. They went to the seaside shower room, and then walked on the beach, chatting.

From the chat, Pang Da learned that Lisha was a girl from out of town who came to New Jincheng to work, and she lived here alone.

She hadn't been in New Jincheng long, was still adapting, and didn't have any friends. She also said Pang Da was the first opposite-sex friend she had made, which made Pang Da feel as if happiness had fallen from the sky and hit him directly on the crown of his head.

He chatted with the girl about many things—work, life, ideals, the future. They discovered they had many common topics, which bred a kind of palpitation in Pang Da's heart.

As the time grew later, Lisha also planned to go back.

Pang Da sent Lisha to the station. Looking at the bus that was about to arrive, Pang Da realized that if he didn't do something, Lisha might just be a fleeting moment in his long yet short life!

He summoned his courage. "Can I ask you out again next time?"

Lisha smiled very sweetly, sweet to the point that Pang Da wanted to take insulin. "You can call me."

"But... I don't have your number." Pang Da was a bit annoyed; he had forgotten to ask the whole time.

At this moment, the bus arrived exactly there. Lisha jumped onto the bus, and he could only watch.

Just when he was about to be completely disappointed, Lisha, who had already boarded the bus, pointed at her chest. Pang Da immediately realized something. He lowered his head to look at his clothes and touched his chest pocket; inside was a small card with a number on it.

In an instant, his frustration turned into ecstasy!

He waved his fist hard and ran for dozens of meters following the bus that had already started before stopping. He waved frantically at that bus until it was no longer visible!

In the next few days, Pang Da was always stuck together with Lisha. They watched the sunrise on the sea together, watched the incomplete beauty of the afterglow burning out together, admired the moon together, and even kissed each other's lips...

They were just like a pair of lovers!

It was even on the last day of his vacation that Lisha gave herself to him!

She told Pang Da that her hobby was dancing, and in one practice, because her movements were too large, she accidentally tore that thin membrane.

If he minded this, she could leave, even though she couldn't bear to part with Pang Da.

How could Pang Da, who was in the midst of a passionate love, mind this? And he really liked this beautiful girl. The two lay together, and amidst Pang Da's roar, he ended his career as a virgin.

All of this made him appear exceptionally spirited. He took the initiative to suggest that Lisha move in and live with him, and even talked about marriage in the future.

But for some reason, he always felt that Lisha's brows were covered by a layer of worry. He wanted to smooth out her tightly furrowed brows, but she didn't seem very willing to share her anxieties with him.

Amidst such happiness and small troubles, he returned to the Hazardous Materials Bureau and began a new round of work.

As soon as work started, Officer Lukaer called them all over. "I believe the biggest problem with our last empty-handed trip was that they recognized our people."

"You all might have gone to relax this week, but I have been thinking, thinking about what to do so they won't discover our identities."

"What we are dealing with is a group of extremely cunning and crafty criminal syndicates. Before the vacation, we discovered one of their bars, but the next day, this bar was emptied out."

"Their vigilance is among the best in the cases we have solved."

"The Lanse family is different from those long-established criminal syndicates. Their average age is under twenty, which means they are even more unscrupulous, even more sensitive, and their thinking is even more active."

"We cannot use the methods we use to deal with those criminal syndicates that have already begun to rot to deal with them. We must find a way to infiltrate them to find their fatal flaws."

"I don't mean for you to join the Lanse family, but I hope you can recommend some people you think are reliable, preferably new faces, Imperial people."

"This way, they can integrate into their group faster."

"I discussed this with Director Dai Er before. If anyone can do this, after the Lanse family is destroyed, this undercover agent will not only be directly promoted to a formal agent, but also has the possibility of becoming a team leader."

Last week, after they discovered Lanse's bar, they didn't immediately alert them, but observed a bit more.

On one hand, they weren't sure about the size and specific situation of this bar; on the other hand, they wanted to find the person delivering the goods through tailing, and then track them to their warehouse and other bars.

As a result, the next day, this bar was emptied out.

It wasn't that Officer Lukaer hadn't suspected that there was a real traitor inside the Hazardous Materials Bureau, but he knew that words unfavorable to unity couldn't be said at this time; everyone was working together to combat criminal behavior.

Suspecting colleagues without evidence at this time would definitely destroy the great situation, and they believed it was very likely that the gatekeeper had discovered the difference in the agents.

They didn't let the agents in, and they didn't know where the flaw was exposed.

So this time, he planned to change a method—undercover!

In fact, he had already found an undercover agent. The reason he still said this now was that he had his own ideas.

If there really was an undercover agent here, then Lanse would definitely know about this, and the identity information of the undercover agent he sent out would definitely be exposed.

Once this undercover agent on the surface was caught, then the undercover agent he arranged privately could successfully join the Lanse family to provide him with intelligence.

As for what would happen to the undercover agent caught on the surface?

Officer Lukaer didn't care much about these things anymore. The only thing he wanted to do now was to combat crime and combat evil!

He even wanted Lanse to know what he was doing. Only by sacrificing some people could he truly achieve his goal.

But it was a pity that Lanse's attention was not in this area right now. Mo Lisi had heard a piece of news: the Viper Gang planned to migrate over from Fides.

There were at least seventy or eighty people, and they had a large amount of weapons and equipment.

The news came from the Viper Gang. Perhaps to boost morale, Bulinton told this news to everyone, so these people could pull themselves together again.

In Fides, Shi Naike could also be said to be a "legendary figure." It only took him twenty-plus years to build a powerful gang from nothing.

Now that he had come personally to sit in command, it made many people feel a sense of relief.

It was as if as long as he came, everything would no longer be a problem.

Mo Lisi picked a few people to pretend to be consumers to consume inside the Imperial Nightclub. They heard someone say this, so they found an opportunity and tied up two people.

The Viper Gang people had hard mouths, but they were afraid of pain, so it didn't take long for them to confess.

After Lanse got this news, he immediately summoned the core members.

"... The situation is roughly like this. I think we cannot let them enter the city."

"Once they enter the city, their numbers will swell to over one hundred again. If there are others joining them, they might be able to gather two hundred people."

"We still don't know how many gunmen they have. If they play it steady and fight for territory with us bit by bit, this will keep too much of our energy on defense and offense."

"If it becomes like that, it will be a protracted war between us!"

"I don't want to fight a protracted war. Whether it's our friends or our opponents, they are developing rapidly. If we fight a protracted war, regardless of who wins or loses in the end, we have all lost."

"So, my idea is to intercept them halfway."

"They don't know our situation and won't guess that we are intercepting them on the road."

"Once we take out this part of the reinforcements, this group of Bulinton's will be like a lion with its teeth pulled, and they will have no more threats!"

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival. ===== CHAPTER 241 =====