Chapter 169: A Looming Threa (2/2)

When I reached the station, a police officer told me that Xiaotao had already left to investigate the case. I called her, but it didn’t get through. I thought that she must’ve been at Kong Hui’s plastic surgery clinic, so I rushed there straight away. I was about to enter the clinic when I felt someone tapping my shoulder from behind, and I heard a voice ask me, “Where are you going?”

I was shocked. I never thought that these people would dare to act in broad daylight. But then I realized that it would make no sense for them to even come near me. I’d seen how black organizations worked in the movies. All they had to do was follow me discreetly and shoot me from afar. That way, I wouldn’t even know what hit me, and there would be no witnesses too.

And so, I turned around and saw that it was just Hamster.

“Thank god, it’s you!” I cried, immensely relieved. “What are you doing here?”

“Never mind that,” replied Hamster. “You shouldn’t be here, Song-ge!”

“Aren’t you still with the Black Panthers gang?” I asked.

“That’s history now, Song-ge!” he said. “I slept with one of the boss’s women. I thought it would be safer to run now before anyone finds out.”

My cheek twitched. What a life you lead, Hamster! I thought.

“Anyway,” Hamster continued, “Officer Wang knew that you’d come, so he asked me to wait for you here. He asked me to tell you not to investigate this case for the time being. He’s working secretly with Officer Huang to check Kong Hui’s background. But seriously, Song-ge, you received the bullet letter, didn’t you? Surely you’d know it’s best to lay low for a while!”

“Did Yuanchao receive it too?” I asked.

“They all did!” Hamster nodded. “This Kong Hui guy is no small fry, Song-ge! My guess is that he’s helped the underworld people a lot.”

“Do you know him?”

“I don’t know him, but I know the underworld. Think about it, Song-ge. Many of these gangsters are fugitives. What could be more convenient for fugitives than to change their face entirely? And look at this clinic! Do you think a guy in his mid-twenties would be able to set up such a big clinic on his own without any help?”

Hamster made a lot of sense, so I decided to follow his advice and went home. Xiaotao and Yuanchao were busy investigating for the next few days, yet there was absolutely nothing that I could do to help them. I was particularly worried about Xiaotao, who didn’t answer my texts and calls at all.

One day, I received a spam text on my phone. It was an ad for an online game. I was about to delete it, but at the last minute I realized that the sender was Xiaotao. I followed the link and logged into the game. It was a decent game, though the graphic was quite poor and the animation was often glitchy, so there weren’t any other players at all.

I picked up a task in the Beginner’s Level and walked around the virtual village. Then I saw another player whose avatar’s name was Peachy and was delighted.

“What a unique way to meet!” I typed.

“What is my room number?” Peachy asked.

“503!” I answered. “What’s my roommate’s name?”

“Dali the Imbecile!” she replied.

Now that we’d confirmed each other’s identity, I quickly put on the clothes I had in the game’s package. Although we were in the virtual world, it still felt embarrassing to be naked in front of Xiaotao’s avatar.

“I’ve recently been closely followed by some people in the shadows,” typed Xiaotao. “I think my house has been bugged too. This is the safest way for us to meet.”

“Who is Kong Hui connected to?” I asked. “Is it the Black Panthers gang or the Blood Wolf gang?”

“Neither,” replied Xiaotao. “I suspect that he’s connected to a much stronger and darker force!”

1. His private photographs with various women were distributed over the .

2. Xiaotao’s name means ‘peach’ in Chinese.

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