205: Unexpected gain

Evening.

Sun Hongzhi stood outside the glittering entrance of Phoenix City Nightclub, his legs as heavy as if filled with lead.

The flashing neon lights reflected on his pale, terrified face.

Faint music and noise drifted from inside, but to him, it felt like the lair of a crouching beast, exuding an unsettling aura.

The inhuman torture of the past few days had nearly crushed him.

The omnipresent gazes, the honking horns in the middle of the night, the dead rat on his door...

His wife's swollen, tear-filled eyes, his child's fearful gaze...

All of this haunted him like a nightmare.

He knew that if this continued, he would go insane before the other party even made a real move.

The Zhou Family wouldn't help, Deputy Captain Wang was missing, and he had been pushed into a dead end.

The door before him could be hell, or it could be his only path to survival.

He took a deep breath of the cold air, suppressing the sob and fear in his throat, holding onto a sense of desperate, all-or-nothing resolve, he stumbled toward the security guard in a black suit with a cold, stern expression at the door.

"I... I'm looking for Brother Zhan... no, Boss Li..."

His voice was dry and trembling.

"My surname is Sun, Sun Hongzhi... I'm here... I'm here to beg for Boss Li's forgiveness... Please... please let him know..."

He used almost all his strength to finish these words, then lowered his head anxiously, waiting for the judgment of fate, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst from his chest.

The security guard glanced at him indifferently and spoke a few words into his headset.

Inside the top-floor office, Li Zhan was discussing the follow-up response to the Liu Family incident with Old Zhou, Shui Sheng, and others.

The atmosphere in the office was calm and focused.

At this moment, the internal phone rang.

Old Zhou picked it up, listened for a moment, frowned slightly, covered the receiver, and whispered to Li Zhan,

"A-Zhan, there's someone named Sun Hongzhi downstairs, the little Section Chief who previously instigated the fire department to cause trouble for Sister Hua; he's clamoring to see you, saying he wants to apologize in person and begs you to let him off the hook.

He looks pretty scared."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhan's lips curled into a cold arc.

"Oh? Delivering himself to my doorstep? Let him come up."

Before long, the office door was pushed open, and Sun Hongzhi practically stumbled in.

In just a few days, it was as if his backbone had been ripped out; his face was pale, his eye sockets sunken, and his suit was wrinkled, gone was the arrogance he had displayed at the venue after getting drunk.

As soon as he saw Li Zhan sitting on the sofa, his legs went weak, and he nearly knelt down.

"Li... Boss Li... Zhan... Brother Zhan..."

Sun Hongzhi's voice trembled, and he was incoherent.

Li Zhan didn't speak, just looking at him with those deep, cold eyes...

The pressure of this silence was more terrifying than any reprimand.

Sun Hongzhi could no longer hold up and begged with a crying voice,

"Brother Zhan! I was wrong! I really know I was wrong... I was blind! I was blinded by greed! I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have provoked Sister Hua... And even more, I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have let Deputy Captain Wang cause trouble... I beg you! Please show mercy! Let me go! I have a wife and children at home... If this goes on, my whole family is finished..."

By the end, he was actually streaming tears and snot, looking utterly wretched.

Li Zhan finally spoke slowly, his voice calm but carrying the weight of a thousand catties,

"Let you go?"

He leaned forward slightly, his gaze like a knife.

"Section Chief Sun, where was that official authority when you had people in uniforms and official seals come to seal my venue? At that time, why didn't you think about the consequences of moving someone you shouldn't have?"

Sun Hongzhi was left speechless, capable only of kowtowing repeatedly and begging,

"I'm a bastard! I'm not human! I deserve to die! Brother Zhan, you are a big person with a big heart, please just treat me like a fart and let me go... I beg you..."

Li Zhan leaned back on the sofa, lit a cigarette, and slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.

"The rules of the street are that if you do something, you have to own it.

If you want to beg for mercy, you have to show sincerity.

Just with these few tears and empty words, you want me to let you go?

Section Chief Sun, don't you think you're overestimating yourself?"

He paused, his tone playful,

"Tell me, why should I let you go? What... what value do you have?"

Value?

These two words hit Sun Hongzhi's heart like a heavy hammer.

What value did he have?

A small Section Chief, with no real power and no big money, in front of this person who controlled the underground order of Changan and whom even the Zhou Family had to consider carefully, he was as insignificant as an ant.

He lowered his head dejectedly, his mind blank, despair spreading like ice water.

But in this extreme despair and fear, a name flashed into his mind like lightning—Zhou Mingyuan!

Right! The Zhou Family!

He had a distant, roundabout kinship with the Zhou Family!

It was as if he had grasped the last straw; he suddenly raised his head, a sickly gleam erupting in his eyes as he said hurriedly,

"Value... I have it! I have it! Brother Zhan! I... I am the brother-in-law of the Zhou Family's eldest young master, Zhou Mingyuan! Right! Brother-in-law! My wife is his wife's first cousin! In Dongguan, the Zhou Family and the Shen Family have been political allies for years, and they are very close!"

"Oh? Mingyuan's brother-in-law?"

Li Zhan narrowed his eyes; this was unexpected information.

He only knew before that this Sun Hongzhi had some small connections, he didn't expect him to be related to the direct line of the Zhou Family.

This was truly an unintentional gain.

But his face remained calm, and instead, with a hint of subtle mockery, he asked indifferently,

"Is that so? I didn't realize Section Chief Sun had such connections.

So, you are very close with Young Master Zhou?"

Seeing that Li Zhan seemed interested, it was like being injected with a shot of adrenaline, and he hurriedly began to brag,

"Close! Of course, we're close! We often eat together! Young Master Zhou also takes good care of me... Last time... last time I even..."

Eager to prove his value, he began to exaggerate and even fabricate some details.

Li Zhan listened quietly, a faint, ambiguous smile on his face.

With his discernment, he could naturally see at a glance that Sun Hongzhi was bluffing.

If their relationship were really that solid, he wouldn't have had to beg at his door.

If Zhou Mingyuan really wanted to take care of him, he wouldn't be in this current state.

However, even a fly's leg is meat.

This bit of roundabout connection might actually come in handy at a critical moment, at the very least, it was one more channel to understand the peripheral situation of the Zhou Family.

"That's enough."

Li Zhan interrupted his bragging, his tone unquestionable.

"As for value, I'll count that as having some."

Sun Hongzhi was overjoyed and kept thanking him.

"But..."

Li Zhan changed the subject, "Empty words are no proof.

If you want me to believe in your sincerity and believe you can be useful in the future, you have to leave something behind."

He gave a look to Shui Sheng beside him.

Shui Sheng immediately understood, took out a prepared pen and paper, and placed it on the coffee table in front of Sun Hongzhi.

Li Zhan's voice was cold and clear,

"Write down exactly how you previously used your position, instigated Deputy Captain Wang of the Changan Fire Brigade to abuse his power, and target the industries under my name for no reason, in detail and from beginning to end.

Then, sign your name and press your fingerprint."

Looking at the black and white on the paper, Sun Hongzhi's face turned pale again instantly.

Once this was written, it meant handing his leverage completely over to the other party; from then on, he would be at their mercy.

But did he have a choice?

No.

He picked up the pen with trembling hands, almost with tears in his eyes, writing down his "confession" word by word, then finally signing it and pressing a red fingerprint.

Shui Sheng picked up the "confession" with wet ink and handed it to Li Zhan for review.

Li Zhan glanced at it, nodded with satisfaction, and set the paper aside.

Only then did he say to the limp Sun Hongzhi,

"Alright, from now on, I will guarantee your personal safety.

The previous matters are wiped clean.

In the future... perhaps there will be times when I need your 'help.' When that time comes, do you know what to do?"

"I know! I know! Thank you, Brother Zhan! Thank you, Brother Zhan! From now on, I will definitely follow your lead! If you tell me to go east, I will never go west..."

Sun Hongzhi felt as if he had been granted amnesty and kowtowed like he was pounding garlic.

"Go... Keep your mouth shut."

Li Zhan waved his hand, as if shooing away a fly.

Sun Hongzhi thanked him profusely and practically scrambled out of the office.

After the door closed, Old Zhou spoke up,

"A-Zhan, is such a small character worth all this trouble?"

Li Zhan picked up the "confession" and smiled,

"Small characters have the uses of small characters.

At a critical moment, an inconspicuous chess piece might be able to leverage the entire board.

Keep it; maybe one day it will give the Zhou Family a 'surprise'."

He handed it to Shui Sheng,

"Keep it safe... This nail is an unexpected gain; let's drive it in next to the Zhou Family first..."