83: Has my buddy become a reclusive master?

The Huang family villa.

The room was filled with smoke, and the crystal ashtray was already stuffed with cigarette butts.

Huang Xingguo, wearing pajamas, paced back and forth in the hall, round after round.

From time to time, he glanced at the wall clock.

"It's already past two o'clock, and still no movement?"

"Just go up and fire a couple of shots, and it's done!"

"So slow!"

Huang Xingguo's heart was in his throat.

Logically speaking, those hitmen should be quite efficient.

Going with a homemade shotgun and a pistol to corner a college student without bodyguards.

Shouldn't that be as easy as killing a chicken?

"As long as Lin Chuan dies! This game of chess will come alive!"

Huang Xingguo gritted his teeth, a fierce light flashing in his eyes.

"When the time comes, I'll spend some money to grease some palms."

"This glass factory and Thermal Power Plant will eventually have to bear the surname Huang!"

Just as he was lost in his pipe dreams.

Suddenly.

"Wua— Wua—"

A piercing siren broke the afternoon silence.

And it wasn't just one; from the sound of it, at least seven or eight police cars had arrived!

They directly surrounded the villa so tightly that not a drop of water could leak through!

"Huang Xingguo! You are surrounded!!"

"Put down your weapons immediately! Come out and surrender!!"

The shouting from the megaphone shocked Huang Xingguo so much that he slumped onto the sofa, dropping his cigarette and burning a hole in the carpet.

"Oh, holy crap!!"

Huang Xingguo's face turned pale, and his whole body trembled.

Exposed!

Those useless hitmen must have failed!

They ratted him out!

"How the hell did this get exposed!"

"No! if I go in, my life is over!"

Thoughts raced through Huang Xingguo's mind.

Suddenly, his gaze turned toward a room on the second floor.

That was where his son Huang Qi, who only knew how to eat, drink, and play, lived.

Huang Xingguo gritted his teeth, his ruthlessness resurfacing.

Thump, thump, thump!

He rushed upstairs in a few strides and kicked open Huang Qi's door.

A sour smell filled the room.

Huang Qi was lying sprawled out on the bed, fast asleep.

"Get up!! Stop sleeping, damn it!!"

Huang Xingguo rushed over, whipped off the quilt, grabbed Huang Qi by the collar, and dragged him off the bed.

"Agh! What are you doing, Dad?"

Huang Qi was bleary-eyed and looked impatient.

"You beat me so hard I couldn't get out of bed, and now it's broad daylight, won't you let me sleep?"

"Sleep my ass! The police are here!!"

Huang Xingguo roared, giving Huang Qi a start.

"Police? What are the police doing at our house?"

"They're here to catch your father!"

Huang Xingguo gripped his son's shoulders tightly, his eyes wild.

"Son! Listen to me! The hitmen I found for you to assassinate Lin Chuan failed! Now the police are here for me!"

"You have to take the fall for me!"

"What?!"

Huang Qi's eyes widened, doubting his own ears.

"Take the fall for you? That's hiring a hitman! That's a death sentence!"

"It won't be a death sentence!"

Huang Xingguo said urgently:

"You're still young! And we have money; I can hire the best lawyer for you!"

"Just say you couldn't stand Lin Chuan bullying your father and you took it upon yourself to find the people!"

"At most, it'll be eight or ten years. Even if it's a twenty-year sentence!"

"I'll pull strings for you outside and get your sentence reduced! You'll be out in a few years!"

"But I can't be caught! If I go in, our family's factory and money will all be gone! You'll be a pauper out here!"

"Only if I'm outside does our Huang family have a hope of a comeback!"

Huang Xingguo's calculations were clicking away.

But although Huang Qi was a profligate son, he wasn't an idiot!

Hiring a hitman and expecting a reduced sentence?

That's a direct ticket to a bullet in the head!

"I'm not going!!"

Huang Qi shoved Huang Xingguo away, backing away in fear.

"I'm not going! You were the one who found those people! Why should I take the rap?"

"I don't want to die yet! I haven't lived enough!"

"You want me to go to my death? Are you even my real father?!"

Slap!!

Huang Xingguo delivered a backhand slap, causing blood to leak from the corner of Huang Qi's mouth.

"You bastard!!"

Huang Xingguo pulled out his belt; he was truly desperate now.

"I've provided you food and drink for so many years! What's wrong with taking the rap for me?"

"If it weren't for you, a profligate son, provoking Lin Chuan, would I have fallen to this state today?!"

"Go down and surrender right now!! Or I'll beat you to death!!"

Saying this, Huang Xingguo swung the belt, whipping Huang Qi indiscriminately.

"Agh!!"

The belt buckle hitting flesh made Huang Qi howl in pain.

The small amount of awe he originally had for his father completely vanished under the fear of death, the intense pain, and the years of accumulated resentment.

He remembered that just two days ago, his father had beaten him up over Zhang Yaoyao.

A bastard who would fight his own son over a woman—not a single word out of his mouth was believable!

"You old geezer! You want me to die! I won't let you live either!!"

Huang Qi's eyes turned red as malice rose from his heart.

He lunged forward, disregarding any sense of filial piety, and bit down hard on Huang Xingguo's wrist.

"Agh!! Let go! You animal!!"

Huang Xingguo screamed in pain, the belt falling to the floor.

The two instantly scuffled together.

Rolling on the carpet, they pulled hair, gouged eyes, and choked each other.

"Screw you! I'm not taking the rap!"

"You're going whether you like it or not! I'm your father!"

"Father my ass! Go to hell!!"

Clattering and crashing echoed in the room as vases shattered everywhere; the scene was more tragic than a gang war, with both sides dealing lethal blows!

Just as the father and son were fighting tooth and nail.

Bang!!

The door was violently kicked open.

Officer Su Qingyi rushed in with over a dozen fully armed SWAT officers, their dark muzzles pointing into the room.

Seeing the scene before them, the police were stunned for a moment.

They saw Huang Xingguo sitting on his son, choking him, while Huang Qi gripped his father's hair, slamming his head against the floor. Both were covered in blood, their clothes torn to shreds.

What kind of "filial piety" was this?

"Don't move!! Hands on your heads and squat down!!"

Officer Su Qingyi shouted.

The SWAT officers swarmed forward, pinning the father and son to the ground like pigs and snapping on silver handcuffs.

"Officer! I want to report a crime!!"

Huang Qi, pinned to the ground, screamed at the top of his lungs, performing a righteous betrayal.

"It was him! That grandson of a bitch Huang Xingguo did everything!"

"He hired hitmen! He even tried to force me to take the fall!"

Huang Xingguo, lying on the ground, felt his eyes roll back in anger upon hearing this, nearly fainting.

It was over.

It was completely over now.

He had raised a "good" son who personally sent him on his way... In the interrogation room.

The evidence was as solid as a mountain.

There were confessions from the captured hitmen, bank transfer records, and the testimony of his own son, Huang Qi.

Huang Xingguo sat in the iron chair, looking as if he had aged ten years.

His hair was a mess, and his face still bore the scratch marks from his son.

He looked at the righteous Officer Su Qingyi across from him, and his last line of psychological defense crumbled.

"I confess... I confess everything!"

"I was the one who paid for those people!"

"But I was forced! That Lin Chuan is too ruthless! He wouldn't give me a way to live! I have such a large glass factory, and he cut off my power; wasn't that forcing me to my death!"

"Enough nonsense!" Officer Su Qingyi slapped the table. "Business competition is no excuse for hiring hitmen! Sign!"

As Huang Xingguo's trembling finger pressed the red thumbprint.

Huang Bancheng, who once dominated the Harbin glass industry, became history... The next day.

The media in Harbin and even the entire country exploded.

The Ice City Daily, Great Longjiang Morning Post, and even the Legal Daily had front-page headlines about this shocking case.

[Gunfight Erupts on Harbin Streets! Well-known Entrepreneur Mr. Huang Arrested for Hiring Hitmen!]

[Unharmed by Homemade Shotgun? Supernatural Power or Golden Bell Shield?]

[Urban Legend: The Mysterious Tough Guy Who Can't Be Shot!]

In particular, a passerby had used one of those video cameras that were just becoming popular back then to capture a blurry video.

Although the video was very shaky and the image quality was full of static.

One could still vaguely see the back of a man.

Facing the blast of a homemade shotgun, he didn't retreat but advanced. The iron pellets filling the air hit him as if they were hitting an iron wall, sparks flying everywhere!

Next was the scene of the man kicking a table away and then using several iron skewers to instantly take down three armed hitmen.

Although his face couldn't be seen clearly.

That kind of dominance and combat power that transcended human limits made one's blood boil even through the screen!

For a time, this video was played repeatedly on major TV stations.

The common folk were all discussing it over their meals.

"Hey! Did you see it? That video!"

"I saw it, I saw it! It's amazing! Who is that guy? A Qigong master?"

"What Qigong! I heard he's a martial monk from Shaolin Temple!"

"He has hair! He's probably a Taoist from Mount Longhu!"

"Forget it! My second uncle's neighbor's cousin was at the scene that day! They said he's a retired Soldier King!"

"Tsk tsk, even a shotgun couldn't pierce him; is he even human?"

Although no one knew the mysterious man was named Lin Chuan.

In the underworld and among the people.

A legend about the War God of Ice City began to spread.

And as the protagonist, Lin Chuan.

At this moment, he was sitting in his newly renovated supermarket office, looking at the newspaper.

"Good grief, I've become a hidden master?"