Chapter 222: Chapter 213: Layout
Due to that cold wind, Liang Feng finally couldn’t hold on. After shivering, her consciousness gradually became blurry. If she stayed outside any longer, her life might be in danger.
Xia Xue had no choice. In such a situation, it might be better to let the Poison Dragon Gang capture them; at least they could keep their lives. Besides, Xia Xue heard the people in the woodshed had already gone out, though they hadn’t left the temple yet. From their previous actions, it seemed likely that they would leave soon.
Liang Feng was already in a semi-comatose state by this time, with little consciousness left, so naturally, she didn’t sense any danger approaching, nor did she warn Xia Xue.
And since Liang Feng had little consciousness at this moment, she couldn’t move her body on her own. Xia Xue almost dragged her into the cave, making a bit more noise this time. Of course, if it weren’t for Li Nan and Cheng Fei being experts, with sharper senses compared to ordinary people, even those four core disciples of the Poison Dragon Gang wouldn’t have noticed the disturbance just outside the woodshed after checking three times without finding anything amiss.
Even Xia Xue didn’t realize that dragging Liang Feng’s body into the woodshed made any noise, given the strong wind outside and the rustling of the trees.
Yet, what Li Nan and Cheng Fei heard was different. Although they weren’t close enough to hear her breathing from such a distance, they sensed something was amiss in the woodshed.
Li Nan and Cheng Fei did not immediately alert Xia Xue inside the woodshed. Instead, they signaled the other four core members of the Poison Dragon Gang. After all, when Liang Feng was at the Poison Dragon Gang’s turf, not even the Poison Dragon could catch her, and she managed to escape wounded. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be this operation now.
Li Nan and Cheng Fei were almost a hundred percent sure that Liang Feng was in the woodshed. Given her skills and the peculiarities of the woodshed, it was no wonder the core disciples couldn’t find her. To ensure everything went smoothly and to gather more people to surround the temple and capture Liang Feng in one fell swoop, Li Nan and Cheng Fei signaled for a retreat from the temple instead of rushing into the woodshed.
This puzzled Cheng Fei, who couldn’t help but whisper, "Why not move in immediately to kill her? There’s an injured woman; can’t the six of us take her down?"
Li Nan didn’t answer, fearing to alert those inside the woodshed. He quickly signaled Cheng Fei with his eyes to speak only after leaving the temple.
Although Cheng Fei was a bit puzzled, he went along with Li Nan’s decision. As the military advisor of the Poison Dragon Gang, while he didn’t have much influence over the dozens of guards around Poison Dragon, he had considerable influence over Cheng Fei. Moreover, since Li Nan was leading this operation, Cheng Fei, despite being only second to Poison Dragon in skill within the gang, listened to Li Nan’s orders.
The other four core disciples, unaware of what happened inside the woodshed, searched around but found nothing. Returning to the courtyard of the temple, they saw Li Nan and Cheng Fei standing there. Their leader disdainfully approached Li Nan, slightly bowing, and said, "Master Li, we didn’t find the person we’re looking for inside. Should we search again?"
"No need, go search somewhere else!" Li Nan’s words were a bit loud, unusually clear, as if meant for someone to hear.
Xia Xue, inside the woodshed, kept her attention outside. Hearing someone vaguely say to search elsewhere, she immediately felt relieved. Liang Feng’s life was temporarily saved; her decision was correct. At this time, her phone vibrated; it was a message from Xiao Lin. Xia Xue checked it and was instantly overjoyed because Xiao Lin was already halfway up the mountain. In twenty minutes, he would reach the temple. She quickly replied, telling Xiao Lin how to get there.
"I told you, we checked here three times and found nothing unusual!" another member muttered.
Li Nan was angry inside but couldn’t show it at this moment. He quietly scolded in his heart: if not for the fact that over a hundred elite disciples of the Poison Dragon Gang entered the police station to cooperate with an investigation due to their criminal record a few days ago, there would be no need for Poison Dragon’s personal guards. And as for Poison Dragon’s guards, Li Nan had no authority over them; he had no power to deal with them.
Moreover, these people’s loyalty to the Poison Dragon Gang surpassed even his. Back when Poison Dragon had one hundred and eight personal guards, only forty-eight remained now, with none ever defecting. It demonstrated how important these guards were to Poison Dragon. Even as a military advisor, Li Nan had no authority to deal with these guards, not even the privilege to badmouth them in front of Poison Dragon.
Seeing these guards still so arrogant, Cheng Fei was a bit displeased, especially after he noticed the peculiarity of the woodshed. He coldly said, "Since nothing was found, let’s move somewhere else!"
Now Cheng Fei had the confidence, and his tone inevitably became a bit aggressive. However, these core disciples had considerable respect for Cheng Fei. Ever since they stopped participating in the gang’s fighting and killing, Cheng Fei rose rapidly and proved his strength with actions, so they didn’t have any resentment towards him. They followed Cheng Fei and Li Nan out of the temple courtyard.
About fifty meters outside the temple, in a grove, Li Nan and Cheng Fei simultaneously stopped, and the leader of the core disciples asked puzzled, "Master Li, Master Cheng, why aren’t we moving?"
"Move? Move to where? Don’t think that just because you’re supports, you can shirk your duties!" Li Nan’s expression changed, and he spoke coldly. Here, with Cheng Fei’s support, there was no need to fear them, and with the trace of enemies found, he spoke confidently and loudly.
The leader was displeased and took three steps back, saying coldly, "Li Nan, don’t think that just because you’re the boss’s favorite you can boss us around. I was roaming the Jianghu when you were still in diapers!"
"And you have the nerve to say that? You’ve been in the Jianghu for so many years and got played around by a woman, thinking you’re all that!" Li Nan was furious; he’d been putting up with these guards for a long time and finally had a chance to retort, and why not curse them thoroughly? "Didn’t you guys say there was no problem whatsoever inside? Didn’t you check three times? What did you check then? The night scenery? The enemy was clearly in the temple, and only you few idiots naively thought there was no suspicion."
Cheng Fei was also a bit angry and said coldly, "Alright, enough, don’t say anymore. The mission is crucial. Now, at this critical juncture, keep an eye on this place and immediately notify others to come over!"
"Cheng Fei, what do you mean?" The leader was somewhat angered, "Are you saying the woman is in the temple? What if she’s not?"
"I don’t mean anything. Want me to give the boss a call? I can do it now!" Cheng Fei pretended to take out his phone to call, but another core disciple of the Poison Dragon Gang stepped forward as a peacemaker. The two rising stars of the Poison Dragon Gang, Li Nan and Cheng Fei, both were convinced there was suspicion in the temple and were even certain the person they were pursuing was inside. Although they were the boss’s bodyguards, they couldn’t withstand a serious mistake.
Moreover, they were amongst the first batch to follow Poison Dragon, now mostly retired to the background, but in terms of strength, they were far inferior to Li Nan and Cheng Fei. They just had much more seniority than the two, which is why they didn’t want to listen to Li Nan. But now, with Cheng Fei angry and threatening to inform the boss, it was naturally not wise to confront them head-on. Besides, they also wanted to catch that woman.
"Everyone is doing this for the gang, why harm the harmony?"
"Alright, Master Li, stay here with the four of you, I’ll go gather people, don’t let that woman leave this place!" Cheng Fei, seeing someone stepping up as a peacemaker, also went along and gave the order. Though these core disciples no longer held power, they still had the ability to gossip behind the scenes, and he didn’t want to completely offend them.
When Xiao Lin’s cab reached half the mountainside, the driver stopped the car. Xiao Lin asked what was going on, but the driver simply refused to speak or continue, even after Xiao Lin offered double the fare. Xiao Lin naturally wouldn’t force him and got out of the car, then sent a text and learned that Xia Xue was at the rundown temple near the top of the mountain.
Fortunately, Xiao Lin had been there a few times. Once, under Hua Qingyi’s guidance, he visited the Beishan Pass for the night view. The night view of North Mountain can be said to be a unique scene in Yanjing, but it’s heard that in recent years, there are fewer and fewer tourists due to multiple incidents of murder and robbery. The city government had issued notices advising people not to visit North Mountain at night.
Xiao Lin knew this, and maybe there were one or two incidents of murder and robbery, but definitely not as many as rumored. The city government’s issuance of such information might be intended to protect the original forests on North Mountain, leaving a piece of pure land for Yanjing. While ordinary citizens rarely visit North Mountain, those with status would still enjoy the night scenery there frequently because safety was not an issue for them.
Relying on his memory, Xiao Lin took the mountain path heading toward the old temple on the mountaintop. Along the way, he noticed that several people seemed to be moving around. Within a hundred meters, there were five or six people, all seemingly heading in one direction.
Xiao Lin didn’t expect the situation to be more serious than he thought. The number of people on the entire North Mountain probably exceeded a hundred. He pondered a bit and picked up the phone.
Lin Zhifang was both delighted and worried every time he answered a call from Xiao Lin because none of the matters Xiao Lin was involved with were simple. Just the number of cases solved in the recent days was equivalent to a year’s worth of cases for the main bureau. It’s only because of Xiao Lin that the municipal government launched a crackdown on a batch of underworld gangs. In the past few days, the Yanjing Police Station was so crowded it even had to call in elite officers from surrounding counties and cities to assist. Not a single person in the main bureau had it easy. Given the thousands of gang members, how many cases did this amount to?
"Director Lin, I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you again!" Xiao Lin was slightly embarrassed to bring it up, speaking with a hint of awkwardness. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit to vote with recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)