Chapter 1 Beneath the Whirlpool

In the private room on the third floor of the Guangming Road Cantonese Restaurant, a faint sandalwood fragrance permeated the air. Steam rose from the tea set placed on the solid wood table. Su Tiannan and Wang Daolin sat opposite each other. The atmosphere was quiet, but their minds were filled with turmoil.

Fine beads of sweat dotted Su Tiannan's forehead as he softly added another layer of persuasion, "Uncle Wang, you and my father were old comrades-in-arms who fought side by side. As a junior, I certainly wouldn't dare to hide anything from you. There are no outsiders here, so let's be frank."

Wang Daolin held his teacup, his expression solemn, and remained silent.

"I'll hand over Lu Feng's henchmen to you. You can put some pressure on Changqing Company, pretending to investigate the case strictly, forcing them to fall into disarray. Then the Liu, Bai, and Kong families will rise up on the periphery to cooperate. I'm not asking for a miraculous comeback, just that my father can get out of prison safely." Su Tiannan said bluntly, "If this succeeds, the Su family's business will be preserved, and I'll hand over thirty percent of the company's annual profits from now on. And I believe the Liu, Bai, and Kong families will certainly be willing to pay this tribute money."

"Heh." Wang Daolin grinned, "Do you think I've only been willing to meet with you these past few days because I want to eat your family's dividends?"

"Of course not. You value the friendship you have with my father, I understand that." Su Tiannan immediately replied, "Handing over thirty percent of the profits is just our gesture of sincerity. It doesn't matter whether you think it's worth it or not, but I have to do it."

Wang Daolin quickly ran through Su Tiannan's words in his mind, slowly put down his teacup, and said, "Changqing Company's connection in the Environmental Sanitation Management Committee is Zheng Fu'an. Zheng Fu'an has an older brother-in-law named Li Xing, who is the director of the Smuggling and Criminal Investigation Division in the Longcheng Police Department, and also a member of the Fuzhou Chamber of Commerce. And my office is only a door away from this Li Xing's. Every day when the police department starts work, we run into each other. When we have time, we'll sit down for some tea and chat."

Su Tiannan was stunned to hear this.

"Little Nan, many things can't be solved with money and feelings." Wang Daolin sighed and said, "If I help you, then help me calculate, how many people will I offend?"

Su Tiannan was speechless.

"Even if we don't consider the problem of offending people, doing things within the system also requires decency and rules." Wang Daolin continued, "Changqing Company has neither offended me, nor touched the interests of our group. If I rashly help, that's an act of political provocation! And the most annoying thing in the system is a troublemaker. If I take the initiative to stir things up, and it can't be resolved, then maybe my friends won't support me either."

Su Tiannan was silent.

"My suggestion is still the same: first, soften up, hand over the business, and save your father. There are many members of the Su family. Even if you don't do the sanitation business, it won't be difficult to survive." Wang Daolin softly advised, "Adults, you have to compromise when you should compromise."

"I understand what you mean." Su Tiannan was unwilling, but Wang Daolin had already made his point very clear. If he continued to pester him, he would only increase the other's annoyance.

The conversation had reached this point, and the atmosphere in the room was a bit awkward. Su Tiannan had just thought of getting up to pour tea for the other party when the phone in his pocket rang.

"Sorry, Uncle Wang, I'll take this call." Su Tiannan said as he stood up.

Wang Daolin nodded slightly in response.

Su Tiannan left the private room and answered the phone in the corridor, "Hello?"

"How did it go, Brother?" Su Tianyu's voice rang out.

"It's impossible to negotiate. I've already offered thirty percent of the annual profits, but he still hasn't agreed to help." Su Tiannan sighed and replied.

"What about adding more?"

"I don't think it's about the money." Su Tiannan shook his head, "He has already said it clearly. Changqing Company's network of relationships is very complicated. If he rashly gets involved, that's an act of political provocation. It's both unreasonable and brainless."

"Okay, then come back and we'll talk more."

"Okay, let's talk when I get back." Su Tiannan responded and hung up the phone.

In the corridor of the Cantonese restaurant, decorated in an antique style, Su Tiannan's thoughts were very complicated, and he was even feeling a little regretful.

After so much preparation, Wang Daolin ultimately didn't take the bait and help, which meant that the Su family's current situation had become even more awkward. Without connections in the judicial system to help speak up and maneuver, in the end, they could only rely on public opinion to influence the judiciary. But doing so was undoubtedly extremely risky. Once things didn't work out, the old man would instead be sentenced even more severely. Because as far as the police department was concerned, organizing a workers' strike had already caused a lot of trouble for the leaders and made them very unhappy.

Thinking of this, Su Tiannan felt that Tianyu was still too impulsive and immature in his actions, and that he had listened to his advice, and now he was in a bit of an awkward position.

"Sigh."

Su Tiannan sighed deeply, pushed open the door and walked back into the private room, forcing a smile and said, "Uncle Wang, shall we leave then?"

"Okay." Wang Daolin was a very refined and sophisticated old fox. When facing a junior like Su Tiannan, he also gave the other party a lot of respect, and only got up when the other party said it was time to leave.

The two left the private room together, and Wang Daolin said softly with his hands behind his back, "Little Nan, I'll say it again, if your Su family is prepared to compromise and hand over the business, you can give me a heads-up in advance. I'll sit down with Li Xing later. He should still give me some face. At least your dad won't be sentenced to a heavy sentence. He'll be out in a year and a half at most."

"Yes, yes, I'll go back and discuss it with my family." Su Tiannan nodded in response.

Just as the two were talking in low voices, a man suddenly walked up the stairs. He was wearing a baseball cap and kept his head down, walking quickly towards Su Tiannan.

Wang Daolin was talking at the moment and didn't notice the man. Instead, Su Tiannan, who was absent-minded, was the first to see him.

The man was walking very quickly, and in about two breaths he had already arrived in front of them. Su Tiannan felt that his attire was a bit strange, and he had been walking with his head down, so he instinctively pulled Wang Daolin back a step.

It was fortunate that Su Tiannan had reacted in advance, because after getting very close to the two of them, the man instantly pulled out a dark pistol.

Su Tiannan was so frightened that his face turned pale. He instinctively reached out and grabbed the man's arm, shouting, "Uncle Wang, he has a gun!"

Wang Daolin was also stunned. He suddenly took a step back, and his back slammed against the wall with a bang.

Su Tiannan used all his strength at this moment, using both hands to press down on the wrist of the hand holding the gun and grappling with him.

The thug became anxious and pulled the trigger directly.

"Bang!"

A crisp gunshot rang out, and the entire restaurant was quiet for a moment, followed by screams and shouts that spread throughout the third floor.

In the corridor, Su Tiannan grabbed the thug's hand and fought him with all his might. The two men's bodies crashed against the walls of the corridor, and as they fought, they reached the stairwell.

"Bang!"

The thug raised his knee and directly hit Su Tiannan in the abdomen. The latter loosened his hands slightly in pain.

At this moment, a strange scene occurred. The thug was facing away from Wang Daolin. He clearly had an opportunity to shoot, but instead used his left hand to hold Su Tiannan's collar, intending to push him downstairs.

Su Tiannan's back was against the stair railing. He stared at the thug and suddenly paused.

The thug exerted force with his left hand, his right hand clenched the gun, as if deliberately aiming the gun away from Wang Daolin, preparing to pull the trigger.

"Pa!"

Just then, Su Tiannan suddenly grabbed the gun, turning the muzzle toward the edge of his left abdomen.

This stunned the thug, who hesitated noticeably, but his body was still facing away from Wang Daolin.

"Bang!"

The gun fired, blood splattered from Su Tiannan's abdomen, and his entire body flipped over the stair railing and fell downstairs.

The thug reacted, holding the gun and chasing after him, leaping down six or seven steps in a row. Seeing that Su Tiannan had fallen heavily at the entrance of the corridor on the second floor, he raised his arm and fired without hesitation.

Three more gunshots rang out, and the second floor was in chaos.

The thug wanted to chase again, but then he saw Wang Daolin's driver rushing into the hall with a police gun.

"Damn it!"

The thug cursed, turned around without hesitation, and ran back to the third floor.

In the corridor, Wang Daolin, who had just reacted, ran panting to the door of a private room, preparing to rush in and hide from the thug, because there was nowhere else to run nearby. But he didn't expect that the guests in the private room were very righteous and collectively blocked the door.

"Damn it, open the door!" Wang Daolin roared.

The thug rushed over and stood next to Wang Daolin. The two men looked at each other, one masked, the other covered in sweat.

"Brother, I have nothing to do with this." Wang Daolin raised his hands calmly, but his voice was trembling.

The thug looked at him, suddenly raised his arm, and pulled the trigger.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Three gunshots, Wang Daolin was scared out of his wits, and collapsed directly on the ground.

The thug fired and ran away, rushing to the end of the corridor, deftly opening the window, and jumping down. His body landed on the external employee steps on the second floor, he supported himself on the stair railing with his left hand, jumped to the first floor again, and fled along the alley, disappearing in seconds.

In the corridor, Wang Daolin was covered in sweat. While panting heavily, he kept touching his head with both hands, but found no trace of blood.

After recovering slightly, Wang Daolin looked up and saw that there were three extremely neat bullet holes in a row above where his head had been standing.

Fear, terror, anger, and other negative emotions instantly filled Wang Daolin's heart.

A division-level cadre of the Longcheng Police Department was attacked by armed thugs while having dinner with friends!

This kind of thing could not be kept secret even if they wanted to, and a storm had already landed in Longcheng.

...

About half an hour later, on a cliff by the sea, the thug skillfully disassembled the gun, and threw it and the remaining bullets into the sea at different points.

Ten minutes later, the thug arrived at his second hideout, threw his clothes, shoes, baseball cap, mask, and other items next to a reservoir, set them on fire, and after they were completely burned, he used a branch to stir the ashes into the water and wash them away.

...

At the same time, the Guangming Road Cantonese Restaurant had closed, and the building was surrounded by police cars and officers.

Wang Daolin and Su Tiannan, who had been shot in the abdomen, had been taken to the hospital.

Several mid-level leaders of the Northeast Gang of the police department came to visit Wang Daolin, and started cursing before they even entered the room.

"Damn it, Changqing Company is really tired of living! You messed with Su Tiannan, but you even dared to shoot at the Division Chief? Are they floating too high!"

"Too arrogant!"

"......!"

The men chatted and stepped into the room.

Wang Daolin, unharmed but incredibly frightened, looked at everyone and said, "Damn it, that thug didn't not recognize me. He deliberately shot three times over my head, what does this mean? This is a warning!"

...

Zhanan District.

Lu Feng made countless calls, but still couldn't find his Iron-Blooded General, Flowered Shirt.

"Where could this person have gone?" Lu Feng was going crazy, sitting on the sofa and roaring with extremely bad mood, "Are you all dead? Hurry up and continue to contact me!"

Just then, a clever minion weakly raised his hand and said, "I still think the person is in the Su family's garbage dump, otherwise Ah Mingzai wouldn't be contacting us. Brother Feng, I think why don't we just ask Director Li of the police department to come forward and ask the Su family for the person. If he's there, they definitely won't dare not to give him up."

"Bang!"

Lu Feng jumped up and kicked him, "Are you a fucking idiot?! You might as well just advise me to report the case! Is it possible for Li Xing to handle this matter for you? If he goes to ask for the person, isn't that indirectly admitting to the outside world that the people who were smashing and looting were sent by us?"

The minion was kicked and didn't dare to say anything. Lu Feng loosened his collar and was about to give a few instructions when the phone on the table rang.

"Hello?"

"...Lu Feng, what the hell are you thinking?! It's one thing that you sent a gunman to snipe Su Tiannan, but why did you hit Wang Daolin? Are you tired of living?!" Li Xing's angry voice rang out.

Lu Feng looked blank, "What are you talking about?!"

...

On a road in Zhanan District, the streetlights were dim, and the thug walked over, revealing his cheeks in the light. He was none other than Gou Liuzi of the Su family.