Chapter 167 - Two Unlucky Masters

Doing stuff without leaving evidence, after all, wasn't something beyond Lin Yi's capabilities. Cihua would probably be crying in regret at his loss soon.

Two sad, unlucky golden cla.s.s masters, dead just like that…

The SUV sped up abruptly when it was twenty meters away, and Lin Yi could even see Li Yao and w.a.n.g Long with perverted smiles on their face, clearly very excited of what they were about to do to him. To Lin Yi, however, the smiles were a temporary bliss the two shared, a bliss that would end very soon…

"Ha……" Lin Yi started smiling as well, albeit a darker one than the ones the two masters had on their faces……

"What's the kid laughing for?" Li Yao asked, confused as he subconsciously applied more pressure to the gas pedal, despite it being pressed to its limit already.

"Who knows?! Just hit him!" Zhang Long said, getting a little uncomfortable with how Lin Yi was smiling at them.

Lin Yi, on the other hand, acted as if the two weren't speeding up at all, standing his ground in the middle of the road the way a brave warrior awaiting an honorable death would.

"HEH!!" Li Yao's smile grew wider- they were an instant away from splattering Lin Yi!

Lin Yi twisted his side violently to his right, throwing himself to the side Li Yao's driver seat was at before sending a kick at the left wheel…

The tire exploded instantly with a bang, and the car lost its balance as it swerved to the right, curving around Lin Yi's still figure before ramming the fence and plummeting down the hill…

The SUV spun in the air a couple times before hitting the bottom, and an orange explosion flashed…

Lin Yi took a look down the hill. He waited a while for the people inside to appear, only turning to leave when the car was burnt to sc.r.a.ps.

Naturally, he pushed in the piece of blade poking out from the front of his shoe before walking away.

He had a great deal of power behind his kicks, but even he didn't have any guarantee of bursting the tire instantly. Utilizing an outside weapon was the best course of action.

Lin Yi's shoes were always equipped with hidden blades, something he'd done on a whim after watching the Detective Conan anime a while ago. It wasn't too useful, but it had its uses under certain circ.u.mstances.

His puncturing of the tire, for example, required only him to maintain balance for the tire to be destroyed smoothly and successfully.

Naturally, only Lin Yi would attempt stunts as dangerous as that- any regular human would've probably ruined their leg if their balance wasn't good enough.

Two golden cla.s.s masters- one at the early phase and one at the late phase… They were masters among masters in Songshan, the highest pinnacle. It was truly a little too tragic for them to die just like that.

Lin Yi sighed as he looked at the burning remnants of the SUV, shaking his head. He wondered what emotions Cihua would be feeling when he found out about his masters dead in a car crash like that.

The thing that'd irritate him the most would most likely be his inability to prove Lin Yi's involvement- this must've been what Cihua was talking about when he talked about fights between members of the upper society. He'd be unable to prove that it was Lin YI without proper evidence.

Although, Lin Yi would make himself look as oblivious as possible should Cihua come looking for him- he'd give him the idea that the two dudes had died from the punctured tire, out of bad luck. That'd trouble him pretty well.

Lin Yi got in Yushu's Beetle, and started making his way to the villa.

It wasn't a very well-maintained road, and there weren't any lights lighting the area up- that resulted in a lack of cars on the road. Lin Yi hadn't even seen a single one the whole time he had been driving, and he shouldn't have to worry about any witnesses at all.

He saw the villa's lights all lit up by the time he returned. He parked the car in Mengyao's garage instead of Yushu's, thinking that Yushu wouldn't mind. He needed a car to drive around in for the time being, after all.

The villa's door opened- someone must've heard him parking the car.

It wasn't Mengyao or Yushu, but Li Fu.

"Welcome back, Mister Lin." Li Fu said with a nod.

"Uncle Fu. Still here?" Lin Yi wasn't sure why Li Fu hadn't left the villa yet- it had to be almost an hour he used for the two golden cla.s.s masters.

Li Fu would've left right after getting the girls home, under normal circ.u.mstances.

"Mister Chu's here as well. Please, come in." Li Fu said.

"Oh? Uncle Chu's here?" Lin Yi said, not expecting Chu Pengzhan to be in the villa this late.

He followed Li Fu into the house, and saw Mengyao and Yushu sitting on the sofa with lowered heads like two good little girls. Chu Pengzhan seemed to be lecturing them with a solemn face, only squeezing out a smile for Lin Yi when he noticed him. "Yi, you're here! Sit, sit!"

Mengyao glanced at Lin Yi sulkingly- Yushu was right, her father was treating Lin Yi way too nicely that it was starting to look a bit absurd! Giving Lin Yi a big smile and Mengyao an angry face plus lecture right after seeing them? What was with that?

She'd really have thought that Lin Yi was Pengzhan's son if she didn't know her father well enough.

She wouldn't have went drinking if Lin Yi hadn't put her in a bad mood in the first place! And she never even drank any!!

Her father's att.i.tude towards Lin Yi was a hundred and eighty degrees from the att.i.tude he treated Mengyao with, and Mengyao wasn't quite sure what her father was even thinking! The guy was a big playboy!! She wondered if her father would still treat Lin Yi this well if he ever found out about his hooking up with that bar woman and that beauty at school…

It was, naturally, just a thought- she wasn't in a position to be saying stuff like that, and it'd be too embarra.s.sing for her in the first place.

"Thank you for the trouble, Yi. It's a good thing you were around tonight." Pengzhan said with a smile.

"It's nothing, Uncle Chu." Lin Yi smiled. "I didn't do much."

"These two haven't been very good girls… I hadn't given Elder Chu's daughter a very proper upbringing, too, after he'd entrusted her to me……" Pengzhan said. "Who knows what might've happened if you weren't with them tonight."

"Ah, actually, Uncle Chu, what happened tonight wasn't Mengyao and Yushu's fault." Lin Yi said, thinking he'd give Pengzhan an explanation after a look at Mengyao's sulking face and Yushu's nonchalant one.

Chapter 168 - Bada.s.sery Exposed

"Oh?" Pengzhan blinked, not expecting Lin Yi to speak up for Mengyao and Yushu like that.

Even Mengyao herself raised her head curiously at Lin Yi. Her impression of Lin Yi, after all, wasn't a good one- the guy might not kick them while they were down, but speaking up for her was not something she'd expect from him. She had been treating him very, very poorly today, too.

"There's something up, Uncle Chu. Perhaps we could talk about this in my room?" Lin Yi didn't want Mengyao and Yushu too know too much about what was going on- it'd only get them worried.

Pengzhan nodded before turning to Mengyao and Yushu. "Yao Yao, Shu- you two go upstairs and rest- we're done for today. I have something to discuss with Yi."

"Okay……" Mengyao wasn't someone who couldn't read the mood- Lin Yi's tone suggested that he'd discovered something important in the bar, probably something regarding her father's enemies. The way Lin Yi acted back in the bar, too- Mengyao had understood by now that the people from earlier had Yushu and her in their sights since the very start.

Mengyao grabbed Yushu's hand and went upstairs, and Lin Yi seated himself in the sofa the girls were sitting on.

"Speak your mind, Yi." Pengzhan said with a gesture.

"Uncle Chu- have you ever heard the name Li Cihua?" Lin Yi said directly- there was no need for him to hide anything from this man.

"Li Cihua……" Pengzhan frowned. "I know him. Redflower Estates, one of the main compet.i.tors of Pengzhan Industries in Songshan."

"Ah. Well, he's the guy behind the bank robbery." Lin Yi said.

"Him?" A shocked expression appeared on Pengzhan's face. "Our companies are compet.i.tors, but we've always had a half-to-half relations.h.i.+p, in terms of the plans we get our hands on and the like. What does he have to get from the kidnapping?"

"According to him, there's someone supporting him from the shadows. He's just one of the profiteers, and there's probably more people cooperating with him." Lin Yi explained.

Pengzhan had heard of the person behind Li Cihua, but had no clear idea on who that person might be. A man fresh out of prison, rising to fame and power in just a little more than ten years, building Redflower Estates out of nothing with even multiple bars, hotels, and other entertainment outlets under him… This wasn't the result of sheer effort and will alone.

It'd make more sense if they were in the eighties, riding the tsunami of that age- it wouldn't be far fetched at all for success of that calibre. It wouldn't have been very possible otherwise, since the guy had only started his business in real estate in the year of 2000, years after he had been released from prison. It couldn't have been done without powerful support.

"How did you find out about all this?" Pengzhan asked, deep in thought and quite taken aback at Lin Yi's information. He'd originally thought of the kidnapping as something perpetrated by one of his stockholders, and had established suspects already. From what Lin Yi had said, there was more to the picture than just the stockholders.

"Cihua told me himself." Lin Yi said.

"He told you himself?" Pengzhan asked in disbelief.

"He wanted to get me to his side, even see if I'd be willing to play undercover beside Mengyao for him." Lin Yi said.

Pengzhan nodded, not bothering to ask if Lin Yi had taken up the offer or not- it was clear as day that he hadn't if he was even telling him about it.

"I wasn't expecting him to have his sights on Pengzhan Industries……" Pengzhan sighed deeply. "I'd only seen it as a conflict from within the company, and I hadn't done anything to drastic to the company in consideration of my father's reputation…… I didn't think that the outsiders these insiders brought in would have complicated the issue to this degree……"

Lin Yi could sense the helplessness and sorrow in Pengzhan's tone as he spoke.

He understood how he felt- the man had said so before: the majority of the stockholders had descendants of the people who had worked with Old Chu back in the day.

"What do you need me to do?" Lin Yi asked, raising his head at Pengzhan.

"This man, Cihua- he has a very complicated background, and he operates on both the legal and illegal planes. I'd prefer not to make him a public enemy." Pengzhan said a little helplessly. "We'll have to do this starting from the inside circle of the company, the way things are. Yi, you just focus on protecting Yao Yao and Shu- leave these affairs to me."

"Actually, Uncle Chu- I'll be able to help shoulder your problems." Lin Yi said with a smile. "Li Cihua will still cause us trouble even if we leave him alone- he sent two masters to kill me right after I declined his offer."

"What?!! Li Cihua sent men after your life?" Pengzhan said, stunned and shocked as he looked at Lin Yi, clearly not expecting Cihua to go that far at all. Cihua's image was that of a tyrant, but Pengzhan had only minimal contact with the man. After all, he was a proper businessman with almost zero involvement with the other side of the law.

"Yes, two golden cla.s.s masters." Lin Yi wasn't sure if Pengzhan knew about the division cla.s.ses, but that didn't seem to be the case judging by the expression on his face. Yet there was a slight movement on Pengzhan's face that lasted for an instant, and anyone would've missed it if he or her hadn't been paying attention.

Lin Yi was able to capture that only because he paid additional attention to Pengzhan's expressions after he'd spoken- the man had to have had some idea of the division cla.s.ses, but Lin Yi decided not to ask any questions about that.

"And you shook them off?" Pengzhan asked, a little worried.

"I lured them to the road outside the city, planned a trap, and they slipped up and fell for it. The car fell straight down the cliff." Lin Yi said with a shrug. "They deserved that bad luck, I suppose."

"Are they dead?" Pengzhan said, his eyes wide at this point. Pengzhan himself had experience in using illegal methods in the past before, due to the intensity of the fighting in the upper society, but Lin Yi's intents of killing the two masters with a trap came as a surprise regardless.

"Don't think they'll be getting out of that alive." Lin Yi said with a bitter smile. "Uncle Chu- I hope I haven't caused you any trouble."

"Trouble? No, not that." Pengzhan said as he regained his composure. After all, Lin Yi was being targeted because of his problems in the first place, not to mention that the two masters had been going at Lin Yi with the intention of murdering him. It couldn't be helped, then, that Lin Yi lured them to their deaths in self-defense. Although, he'd still have ways to get Lin Yi out of the legal mess even if Lin Yi were the one who took the initiative in murdering them. "There's no proof- no one will be able to lay a finger on you. We're in Songshan, Yi- you're under Chu Pengzhan's protection."

Pengzhan's bada.s.sery finally escaped him that moment, a side of him he'd never shown to Mengyao or Lin Yi before. After all, Pengzhan always had an air of kindness and gentleness about him- it was a first for his anger to surface like that.