Qin Tianyi immediately caught up with the rolling iron barrel, intending to use his foot to stop it from rolling further, but failed several times until the barrel was blocked by the trunk of a large tree.
He chased after it again, facing the tree with his back to the warehouse, seemingly intending to knock Anan unconscious.
Cheng Ge and his subordinates, watching through the gaps in the warehouse window, were all anxious for Qin Tianyi.
One of Cheng Ge's subordinates said, "Look at A Ban, he's tall and strong, and he used to be a boxer. How can he be so clumsy at handling a person?"
Cheng Ge said irritably, "Everyone has a first time. Weren't you scared to wet your pants the first time you did something like this, you brat?"
The others couldn't help but laugh at the man, and then fell silent.
Qin Tianyi had actually untied Anan and quickly said to him, "Do you have a knife on you? Cut off a section of your finger."
At the brink of death, Anan had no choice. He took out a small knife, gritted his teeth, and cut off one of his little fingers, throwing it to him. He endured the pain and said, "Will you really let me live?"
"If I wanted you dead, I would have just poured cement on you," Qin Tianyi said, holding Anan's bloody finger. "Hide behind the tree, and when I pour the cement, crawl away from here as far as you can."
"Thank you, I owe you my life." As long as he could live, Anan was willing to let others believe he was dead, so he could escape this terrifying criminal group forever.
Regardless of whether A Ban was an undercover agent, he and A Ban didn't have deep hatred. He had bitten A Ban earlier only for self-preservation.
Qin Tianyi used his tall body to block the entire iron barrel. Anan gave him a grateful look and took the opportunity to crawl behind the tree. He pretended to exert great effort to set the iron barrel upright again.
Then he went to move the bag of cement not far from him. He found he couldn't move it, so he could only drag the cement to the side of the iron barrel, cut open the opening, and began to pour it into the barrel with effort.
It became easier as he poured more. Before long, he had filled the iron barrel with cement. Finally, he placed Anan's severed finger on the top layer of cement, burying it slightly, but it would be visible to Cheng Ge and his men later.
Cheng Ge, watching him pour the entire bag of cement from the warehouse, said to the others, "Alright, he's finally dealt with Anan. Let's go out and take a look."
Qin Tianyi could only hope that the cement in the iron barrel would solidify quickly, without revealing any flaws to Cheng Ge and his men.
Anan, hiding behind the tree, found a large abandoned rock not far away. Instead of crawling, he quickly ran behind the rock, which was safer.
Cheng Ge and the others walked towards Qin Tianyi. Qin Tianyi was sweating profusely, with cement all over his face and clothes, and bloodstains on his hands and clothes. He complained to Cheng Ge, "It would have been better to just shoot him. Who said no bloodshed? I saw blood when I knocked him out."
As he spoke, he used his clothes to vigorously wipe the bloodstains from his palms.
Cheng Ge came over and glanced into the iron barrel. He saw a finger sticking out of the cement and said with a look of disgust, "Bad luck. You guys carry the iron barrel to the car. We'll leave after the cement has completely set."
Qin Tianyi stared blankly as they carried the iron barrel onto the car, seemingly still recovering from the shock of having just killed someone.
Cheng Ge patted his back and said, "Don't think about it anymore. Go rest in the warehouse. We'll leave when it gets dark."
Qin Tianyi tried his best to calm himself from his nervous state, nodded, and returned to the warehouse with Cheng Ge. He secretly glanced at the large tree, thinking that Anan could now escape safely.
When it was dark, they all drove away from the warehouse in two cars. They first went to a deserted riverbank and threw the iron barrel filled with solidified cement into the river.
When they returned to the city, Cheng Ge and Qin Tianyi were in the same car. On a main road in the city center, Cheng Ge asked everyone else in the car to get out, leaving only Qin Tianyi to drive.
Qin Tianyi sat in the passenger seat and asked, "Brother Cheng, you don't need to take me back to Mr. Lu's mansion. I can go back by myself."
"Mr. Lu's intention is for you not to return to the mansion. He wants you to go to the dock with me in a few days to pick up the raw materials," Cheng Ge said, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.
Qin Tianyi said naturally, "Ah, it's good that Mr. Lu is still willing to give me work."
Cheng Ge smiled and said, "Don't worry. Since Mr. Lu asked us to deal with Anan, he trusts you. You won't be shortchanged in the future."
Qin Tianyi also smiled and asked, "But where are we going now?"
"To the employee dormitory I'm in charge of," Cheng Ge said. "Before the raw materials arrive, you'll help out in the restaurant's kitchen. Don't go to the front area, so as not to scare the guests."
"Understood. When will those raw materials arrive, and which dock should we go to?" Qin Tianyi asked as if casually.
Cheng Ge didn't hide anything from him and said, "Three days later, late at night, at Longwangmiao Pier. But I don't know the name of that large ship. We'll destroy it immediately after receiving the raw materials."
"Okay," Qin Tianyi asked no more questions and began to think about how to convey this information to Su Kangxi.
Late at night, he was taken by Cheng Ge to the restaurant's employee dormitory, which was actually a rented three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment in a neighborhood near the restaurant, converted into a male employee dormitory with bunk beds.
He was settled in a partitioned room with only one bunk bed, considered the best room.
He slept on the upper bunk, and the lower bunk was occupied by a chef hired from out of town by the restaurant.
Cheng Ge instructed the chef to arrange for Qin Tianyi to do odd jobs in the kitchen and to take good care of him.
The chef was very respectful to Cheng Ge and repeatedly said yes. He took a new set of toiletries for Qin Tianyi.
Cheng Ge then left with peace of mind. Qin Tianyi exchanged pleasantries with the chef named Achuan, then lay down on the upper bunk, exhausted.
He thought about how he had narrowly escaped this time, still feeling the lingering fear. He had almost never seen Susu and the children again.
Has Su Kangxi found any evidence linking the factory to Lu Yuanhong yet? When will Lu Yuanhong be brought to justice? And now that he no longer had the phone card to contact Su Kangxi, how could he do so without being discovered by others?
Su Kangxi had been sleeping only four hours a day for many consecutive days, constantly interrogating the arrested individuals with his colleagues and investigating their backgrounds.
Most of them were not locals and held passports from different Southeast Asian countries. These individuals either feigned a language barrier or refused to cooperate, saying nothing, their mouths as if filled with lead.
Su Kangxi felt that this approach was not working. Without evidence, he couldn't apply for an arrest warrant for Lu Yuanhong, and then how could he save Qin Tianyi?
He didn't know if Qin Tianyi was still alive or if he was alright. Thinking about these things made him anxious.
It was already past midnight, and he was still in his office, studying the surveillance footage from the interrogations, trying to see if he could find anyone else.