Mick Ross immediately guessed Chen Jinzhao's identity.
Chen Jinzhao smiled and retorted, "So, you've heard my story?"
Mick Ross broke out in a cold sweat. He hadn't expected to be right, but he would have preferred to be wrong!
This was the renowned King of Lone Soldiers, the Eye of the Candle Dragon that made the international underground world tremble. He didn't dare to meet Chen Jinzhao's gaze.
Stammering for a long time, Mick Ross couldn't even form a complete sentence.
Chen Jinzhao said, "You tried to kill me. Do you think I'd let you go? Since death is at your doorstep, just tell me what you know, and I'll give you a quick end."
*Thump!*
Mick Ross immediately knelt down, begging Chen Jinzhao to spare his life.
Chen Jinzhao smiled without a word.
It wasn't that he was cruel, but that excessive kindness had no good outcome.
Mick Ross pleaded bitterly for a long time but still received no approval from Chen Jinzhao. Despair welled up in his heart. "What must I do for you not to kill me?"
"There's no room for negotiation," Chen Jinzhao stated again.
In his desperate situation, Mick Ross was on the verge of madness. He threw his head back and laughed, "Hahaha, then kill me. I do know many secrets about the Ross family, but you'll never find out."
"Come on!"
"Do it!!"
Chen Jinzhao sighed.
He had never heard such an outrageous request, so he decided to grant Mick Ross's wish.
For the next ten minutes.
Mick Ross's screams echoed across the cruise ship, making one's scalp tingle. Although they didn't witness Mick Ross's horrific state, they could imagine the torment he was enduring.
Tao Qiyue shivered.
The usually gentle and refined Chen Jinzhao's methods were surprisingly brutal.
Was this truly the same person?
Ten minutes later, Chen Jinzhao walked out of the office. He had dealt with Mick Ross and extracted some useful clues from him.
For example—
The Ross family was supporting Qin Fengwu!
They wanted to invest in Qin Fengwu before his ascension to the throne, hoping for a substantial return in the future.
"Qin Fengwu and the Black Blood Group, they are truly troublesome..." Chen Jinzhao muttered to himself.
Tao Qiyue stepped forward, sizing Chen Jinzhao up before finally saying, "You are vastly different from the Chen Jinzhao I imagined. If I had known you were this terrifying, I might have stayed far away from you."
"This is the real me," Chen Jinzhao said with a smile.
"It's still not too late for you to distance yourself from me."
Tao Qiyue naturally refused. "I walk with a clear conscience, so I have no reason to fear you acting against me."
Chen Jinzhao playfully remarked, "Officer Tao, after we return to China, you won't arrest me, will you? After all, I killed so many people right in front of you. I'm a little scared."
Tao Qiyue rolled her eyes at Chen Jinzhao and remained silent.
At this moment.
The female host walked over, batting her eyelashes, and said to Chen Jinzhao, "Young Master Chen, what they did has nothing to do with me. How about letting me stay and serve you?"
Tao Qiyue watched from the side, curious to see Chen Jinzhao's reaction.
The smile on Chen Jinzhao's face vanished instantly. He said to the female host, "I have no interest in you. Please don't appear before me again, or I might just send you to join Mick Ross."
Hearing this, the female host fled in a fright.
She had seen Chen Jinzhao dare to challenge Mick Ross and wanted to throw herself at him. However, Chen Jinzhao hadn't even spared her a glance.
Tao Qiyue chuckled, "You truly don't know how to cherish a woman."
Chen Jinzhao shrugged and said nothing.
What followed was cleaning up the mess. The cruise ship had a high death toll. Besides their own people, some audience members were also accidentally killed during the exchange of fire. These were unavoidable casualties.
This was a lawless zone, and the cruise ship's operating company did not belong to China. Therefore, these casualties would eventually be swept under the rug.
Under the cover of night.
The cruise ship had regained its tranquility, but the smell of blood permeated every corner of the vessel.
Two hours ago, the ship had been bustling with activity.
Two hours later, the ship was a scene of carnage, with only Chen Jinzhao and the other survivors moving about. As for the audience members who had miraculously survived, they had already fled back to China in speedboats.
There wasn't much to clean up, really. Qian Deshui's task was simply to carry the deceased brothers back onto the yacht and take them home.
This was Qian Deshui's promise to them.
After an hour of work, the group finally embarked on their return journey. Qian Deshui looked at the empty cruise ship and sighed, "What a pity. This cruise ship could have been sold for quite a lot of money even as scrap."
"Let's go!"
The yacht sped away from international waters and entered China's East Sea.
Qian Deshui stood at the bow of the yacht, took out Meng Xinran's ashes, and scattered them on the surface of the East Sea.
"Xinran, I've avenged you. Rest in peace now," Qian Deshui choked out.
At four in the morning.
The sky had begun to show the first hints of dawn. Tao Qiyue was resting in the cabin.
Chen Jinzhao came onto the deck. Qian Deshui put away his grief, asked his brothers to leave the deck, and then, leaning on his injured leg, knelt before Chen Jinzhao.
"Young Master Chen, thank you for letting me have my revenge. From today onwards, my life is yours." Qian Deshui had completely surrendered to Chen Jinzhao, signifying Chen Jinzhao's imminent de facto control over the underground world in the Jiangnan region.
In the past, Chen Jinzhao would have refused.
But after experiencing several storms and setbacks, Chen Jinzhao had come to understand a truth: to defeat darkness, one must plunge into it!
Know your enemy and yourself, and you shall win a hundred battles.
"With Hong Xingwen dead, Hong Kui will be even more determined to march into Jiangnan. Do you have the confidence to annihilate the Qianmen forces?" Chen Jinzhao asked, looking down. Qian Deshui replied without hesitation, "I can't say I have a hundred percent certainty, but I'm ninety-nine percent confident. However, Hong Xingwen also mentioned that the Qianmen might have the backing of a powerful figure from the Golden Triangle, that lawless and chaotic region."
Anyone who could become a magnate in that place could not be an ordinary person.
"My chances of winning against them are slim," Qian Deshui stated truthfully.
Chen Jinzhao pulled Qian Deshui up with one hand and gazed towards the eastern horizon. "You deal with Hong Kui. If those people dare to cross the border, I will ensure they never return."
Qian Deshui trembled all over, unable to contain his excitement.
He knew that he had to follow Chen Jinzhao and achieve great things, perhaps even to be recorded in history someday. He suppressed his excitement and said, "Young Master Chen, I believe your aspirations and ambitions will be realized. My brothers and I will wholeheartedly assist you!"
Chen Jinzhao stood at the bow of the ship, unmoved by the wind and waves.
Qian Deshui waited for Chen Jinzhao's response but received none. He stared blankly at Chen Jinzhao's figure, then his gaze fell upon the vast, undulating sea. A surge of heroic emotion filled his chest.
A gust of sea breeze brought him back to his senses, and he couldn't help but murmur, "The Poetic Immortal Li Bai once wrote—"
"'A roc soaring to the heavens on a day of strong winds, rising ninety thousand li into the sky!'"