Chapter 20: A Plan Comes to Nothing

The mountain path was narrow, and as Zhang Lisheng walked up the path, the villagers dodged to the side of the road to make way for him, forcing a smile as he passed by. The noise of their discussion was not as soft as they thought—Zhang Lisheng could clearly hear what they were discussing but they were all more or less the same.

It was then that Zhang Lisheng faintly understood the reason everyone in the village seemed to be nice to his father in the past, but his father still maintained a straight face without a smile every single day with his strange and introverted character.

He found out that the villagers’ politeness and respect was a result of the distance they kept from the Zhang family. Such a distance had been kept for hundreds of thousands of years, and it separated the Zhang family from the commoners as if they were in two completely different worlds.

After letting out a gloomy sigh, Zhang Lisheng put on the heavy latches and locked the door tightly.

The corpses in the courtyard had been moved away by the police officers. What was left were the four human-form sketches with white chalk that replaced them.

There were still bloodstains on the ground. Together with the human-form sketches, it was a very ghastly sight.

He had finally arrived home after a day and night of interrogation. After his anxiety faded away, Zhang Lisheng felt tired and did not have the mood to clean the courtyard anymore.

He got a bucket of water from the well, washed his face, and returned to his bedroom before falling into a deep sleep.

The moon was hanging among the starlit sky when he woke up. Zhang Lisheng rolled up from the bed and walked to his dead father’s bedroom. He picked up a couple of thick working clothes from the wooden box that was filled with clothes.

He then started to recall the last thing that Yang Zhengqi had told him in the police car. He slowly understood that the death of the ‘Third Brother’ who wanted to buy his own life with money at his hands could have dire consequences. He would have to be on alert since there might be people who would take matters into their own hands and seek revenge upon him.

Facing revenge, Zhang Lisheng would naturally have to possess the power to defend himself again as soon as possible.

As a Rank 1 Wizard, the power he talked about was no doubt a wizard worm.

Therefore, he put on the thick, heavy working clothes before sealing his folded sleeves and the bottom of his pants with black tape. He then walked with light steps out of the old house and went on his way for a worm hunting adventure in the jungle.

The time was around 4 a.m. in the middle of the night. All the villagers and tourists in the entire mountain village had fallen into their dream. It was chilly as Zhang Lisheng walked on the quiet stone roads.

Since his wizard power was almost a single-fold more powerful now, he estimated that the times where he refined the wizard worm should be able to amplify his power from two-fold to four-fold. However, without Qing Hong’s protection, he knew very well that his midnight jungle adventure this time was no doubt more dangerous than his first time there.

He definitely could not enter deep into the jungle with blind faith. It would be best if he hunted for worms between the farmland and the jungle restoration boundary. As Zhang Lisheng made up his mind and arrived at the village entrance, he suddenly saw two police cars parked in the empty space at the village entrance with the help of the moonlight.

The lights in the police car were off, so people from the outside would not be able to see what was going on in the cars. No police officer opened the car door to question why Zhang Lisheng was going out of the village so late.

However, Zhang Lisheng could faintly feel that Yang Zhengqi was looking at him through a piercing gleam at the back of the tinted window in one of the cars.

Zhang Lisheng carefully thought about it and dismissed his initial plan without any hesitation. He quickly turned around and walked home following the path that he came from.

In the lead police car, the young police officer, who was falling asleep on the driver seat, said with excitement when he saw Zhang Lisheng’s back who was getting further away, “Chief, you’re amazing. You guessed it right, this fella really has big guts. He committed such a major crime, and he is already getting back on track after being released.

“Unfortunately, the police car is parked in an empty space this time which makes us an obvious target. Otherwise, judging by his fearlessness, we’ll definitely catch some clues.”

“It’s good that we’re an obvious target. We’re not here to catch Zhang Lisheng’s weakness but to prevent any conflicts that he might have with the people from the Eastern Guangdong Yuehai Group.

“Song Lihua and Song Liguo aren’t like us where we talk about evidence. Since Song Lisheng died in Zhang Lisheng’s house, they’ll definitely take Zhang Lisheng’s life to pay for Song Lisheng’s death no matter what the reason is. Otherwise, they’d lose face in the underworld.”

“Chief, doesn’t that mean we’re protecting the suspect?” the young police officer asked in shock.

Yang Zhengqi, who was sitting on the passenger seat, wound down the window a little bit and lit a cigarette while letting the chilly wind blow at him. He then said in a deep voice, “Of course, we’re not protecting the suspect, but instead preventing a crime from happening.”

“Xiao Li, do you have any idea how many foreign tourists are there in this little mountain village before your eyes? If a major crime case happens here one more time, I’m afraid the municipal bureau and even the provincial office’s leaders would have to suffer the consequences.

“But don’t you worry, we don’t have to keep an eye on him for too long. I’ve got a friend from the provincial office, and they’ve already received the letter. According to him, the Chengdu consulate has already successfully contacted Zhang Lisheng’s mother. If everything goes as planned, he’ll be leaving China within two to three days at most.”

While Yang Zhengqi was pointing things out to his underling who he thought highly of, Zhang Lisheng returned home with a gloomy face.

At the same time, another event took place in the central zone of China’s most developed economy, Eastern Guangdong Province’s capital, Guangdong, which was close to the sea. The place was filled with bustling city noises and bright street lights.

A slightly plump middle-aged man with a kind face and a friendly expression in a black suit slowly walked out of one of the earliest landmark buildings of Guangzhou—the 79-floor Sheraton Hotel.

Not many Chinese, especially those men who were out of shape, could pull off a suit like he did.

Under the yellow lights, the doormen who were welcoming guests in the hotel bowed to him together. “Mr. Song, please come back again.”

The middle-aged man nodded with a smile on his face.

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There was a black second-hand German Passat parked at a side of the courtyard outside of the hotel. Compared to the luxury cars that were passing by, it seemed to be a little shabby. However, its GD A0001 number plate put all of its peers to shame.

The middle-aged man walked slowly to the car, opened the backseat door, and got in.

“Brother Haizi, where do you want to go?” A driver wearing a thin t-shirt ignited the car engine as he spoke with his loud and clear voice.

“Let’s go to Clear Water Park. I’m tired today, I’d love to be able to wind down.” The middle-aged man forced out a smile with tiredness and spoke.

“F*ucking hell, there was not even a rat on the street at 4 a.m. back in those days, and now there’re cars everywhere. Is there still space for us humans to live?”

“The economy is developing. Networking and entertainment naturally gets later and later. Gouya, you must be tired too.”

“I’ve slept the entire day, I’m wide awake. But you, Brother Haizi, you’re always busy throughout the day… Sigh.”

“Although the path has been opened long ago, I’ll have to keep in touch with them. I’m a businessman… Otherwise, how would I…” Suddenly, the middle-aged man felt his mobile phone vibrate in his pants pocket in the middle of talking.

He took out his phone and looked at it with his head held down—it was a message from an anonymous person which read: “Do not move in the chaos, the plan needs to be discussed further, do not tell anyone about this.”

“Do not move in the chaos, the plan needs to be discussed further, do not tell anyone about this. Heh, could it be? Song Lihai’s brother died just like this,” the middle-aged man mumbled to himself and revealed a sharp glow in his eyes like an eagle as he lifted his head. His disposition as a whole suddenly became completely different.

The driver, who was driving with his eyes on the road, grinned for a second and said softly without even turning his head back, “Brother Haizi, that’s Sun Changting’s message, am I right? That bastard must have gone insane from his eagerness to be the director.”

“Do you want me to do something about it?”

Song Lihai shook his head and said without an expression on his face, “No need, Lao’er has already sent Mountain Cat to Western Sichuan from his side.”

“To think about it, Laosan got himself to blame this time. He should’ve briefed us about it. It would be good enough if he had given us an acceptable explanation.”

Although Song Lihai spoke rather casually, the driver had a chill in him like he was having a toothache when he heard the name Mountain Cat. “I’m not sure where Sir No. 2 picked up that bastard Mountain Cat, it’s terrifying.”

“It definitely wouldn’t be a problem if he’s the one who is going to handle it.”

The danger was near, but Zhang Lisheng who knew nothing about it locked the door and lay on his bed again after walking into his bedroom.

He could not sleep after rolling in the bed for a long time. Eventually, he sat with his legs crossed and eyes closed. He chanted an incantation in his mouth and began to cultivate his witchcraft.

The chanting went on for a few hours, and it was already past 9 a.m. when Zhang Lisheng shut his dry mouth and tongue. The night of cultivation had given him gratifying progress. The increase in speed had a significant boost ever since his wizard power got stronger. Zhang Lisheng, who was initially upset, was now a little pleased with his achievement.

Just when he was calculating whether the time taken to breakthrough to Rank 2 would be brought forward any more, a sudden barrage of knocks on the door that came from outside woke him up from his sweet dream.

He did not expect that somebody would dare to knock on the Zhang family’s old house door. Zhang Lisheng was stunned, and he listened carefully again. After confirming that the knocks were not an illusion, he got off the bed, ran to the courtyard, and asked, “Who is it?”

“Err, Father Lisheng. It’s me, Lielin from the Tao family.” A familiar stammering voice came from outside the door.

Zhang Lisheng heard that and immediately ran to the courtyard door. He opened the door and said with a troubled face, “Uncle Ah Lie, even if you’re calling me that. I’m not some ‘father’. We’re living in the time of technology, why would people still call me that.”

“I-It would be great if you could call me Mountain Worm like before.”

Hearing what Zhang Lisheng said, Tao Lielin, who was standing outside of the door with a straight face, became much relieved. However, he insisted, “We Miaowei people have always believed in ‘father’ no matter what era it is. You’re the Zhang family’s descendant, you’re also…”

“Uncle Ah Lie, my father was hit to death by a taxi. How can you still believe in ‘father’?”

“I know the four persons died a strange death, perhaps it was my ancestors who really left something here to protect the house. But I’m really not a ‘father’.”

Tao Lielin’s expression softened again after forcefully accepting the explanation that made sense, “T-Th-The…”

“Why would I lie to you, Uncle Ah Lie?”

“Oh right, you’re here today to bring me to the city to deposit the money in the bank, am I right?”

“That’s right. You’ll have to deposit the checks that the insurance company compensated to you and the money gift. I’ll bring you to the city’s bank on my bike and open an account to deposit the money.”

Zhang Lisheng nodded and said, “Uncle Ah Lie, then I’ll go get the money box. You can wait in the house.” He then ran into his bedroom.

Tao Lielin stood outside of the door and shivered when he saw the bloodstains in the courtyard. However, he did not have the courage to enter Zhang family’s old house again like when he handled the funeral a few days back.

He stood still and shouted, “Uhh, I’ll just wait for you outside of the door.”