Chapter 105: Rumors Run Wild

A nine-story building in the bustling downtown district stood out with its fashionable exterior and luxurious decor. The ground floor housed a supermarket, while the second and third floors served as the business hall leased by the largest securities firm in Neijiang. From the fourth floor to the eighth floor were the offices of the renowned Jianghua Group. The ninth floor, the highest and most exclusive, was the private domain of the chairman, Ni San.

Ni San, whose full name was Ni Jianghua, was a thirty-eight-year-old tycoon with an incredibly ordinary appearance. He stood five feet seven inches tall, with a medium-sized, long face. Beneath a pair of thin, light eyebrows were small eyes that always looked as if he had just finished crying from excessive indulgence. Below his slightly hooked nose were two thin, dark lips, and his pointed chin bore only a few sparse whiskers. Were it not for his slicked-back, neatly groomed hair and the designer clothing and accessories he wore, it would be hard to believe that this man was a figure feared by both the underworld and the establishment. At a glance, he looked more like a petty fishmonger who cheated customers on weight at the market.

Lean and prone to volatile outbursts, Ni San was a man of insatiable lust. He despised being addressed by his full name; in fact, apart from a few high-ranking officials, few dared to call him by it. As the third child in his family, he preferred his subordinates to address him as "Brother San" or "Boss Ni," though he did not object if someone called him "Master San."

As his wealth grew, so did his arrogance. A story circulated throughout the city: once, while Ni San was out in the suburbs for a spring outing, he saw an old farmer walking barefoot on a ridge, shouting "Watch out for the mud!" to a companion ahead. Offended by the perceived slight, Ni San ordered the man to be beaten. The poor farmer was left vomiting blood and unconscious, never knowing why he had been struck by such a sudden disaster.

At this moment, Ni San, having spent nearly half an hour venting his rage, was still fuming. He cursed at his crestfallen subordinates: "Damn it! I’d be better off raising pigs than you bunch of idiots! Tank is dead, Ma Gang is dead, and four charred corpses to boot. How many more of you need to die before you learn your lesson? You spend all day drinking and whoring, but not one of you bastards thinks about how to make money. The next person I catch driving while drunk, I’ll chop off your hands and feed them to the dogs! Get out! All of you, get out!"

A dozen or so underlings fled as if granted amnesty. Ni San paced the room until he felt exhausted, then sank heavily into his high-backed leather swivel chair and lit a Panda cigarette to collect his thoughts.

He found it impossible to accept these successive losses. Writing off a couple of vehicles was a minor matter, but the deaths of Tank and Ma Gang were a crushing blow. Tank was skilled in martial arts and, despite his rough exterior, was meticulous. Somehow, through a lapse in judgment, he had allowed a million yuan to be stolen right under his nose, and in the end, perhaps due to the intense pressure, he had driven into a fishpond while intoxicated. With Tank gone, recovering the protection money he had spent two months extorting became even more difficult.

Ma Gang, though his name sounded sturdy, was not as formidable a combatant as Tank. However, aside from his weakness for women, he was a rare talent both in strategy and execution. Many problems that even Tank or Ni San couldn't solve were resolved through Ma Gang’s clever schemes. Now that Ma Gang had died in such a senseless car accident, Ni San felt a sense of profound loss and frustration. Reliable successors were not easily replaced.

Just two hours earlier, an informant had delivered the final investigation report on the accident:

Based on a strict forensic analysis by traffic police, criminal investigators, and the fire department, the conclusion was twofold: First, this model of Mitsubishi SUV had a fatal design flaw; the hydraulic lines for the braking system were poorly positioned, making them prone to friction and compression during travel, which led to pipe rupture and brake failure. This was the cause of Ma Gang’s loss of control. The report even included two similar cases published in an authoritative automotive magazine.

Second, the five people in the car had been drinking heavily, and the driver was moving too fast down a slope. When the brakes failed, he was unable to steer, slamming into a utility pole by the road. The car then tumbled down a steep embankment, and the snapped pole crushed the vehicle, causing sparks from the high-voltage lines to ignite the leaking gasoline, leading to an explosion.

What pained Ni San most was that his favorite lieutenant, Ma Gang, had not been as "fortunate" as Tank. Tank’s body, though bloated, had been recovered intact. Ma Gang, however, had been reduced to a charred torso, and the other four promising subordinates were left as mangled, burnt remains.

After smoking three cigarettes, Ni San picked up the phone and dialed a string of numbers: "Boss, it’s me."

"Go ahead," a warm, familiar voice responded.

Ni San sighed. "My top man, Ma Gang, died in a car accident last night."

"Another car accident? Is there something else going on?"

Ni San quickly explained, "No, no! Our inside contact told me everything two hours ago. It really was drunk driving. Another factor was those damn Japanese cars; the Mitsubishi design has flaws, and the brakes failed."

The voice on the other end sounded irritated. "I told you long ago not to buy those Japanese cars, but you wouldn't listen. Those are toys for the nouveau riche and fools; they have no class and even less safety. You’re worth at least seventy or eighty million now; you’re a man of status and influence. How can you be so shortsighted? What am I supposed to do with you?"

"Boss, boss, I’ll listen to you. I’ll replace all the Japanese cars in the company immediately," Ni San replied helplessly.

"That’s a small matter. The priority is to keep our territory under control. Losing that million last time nearly cost you your reputation; do you know the underworld is still laughing at you? From today on, be twice as careful! The gangs at the east and west wharves will likely try to seize this opportunity. Show that grit you used to have—kill or cut when necessary, don't be soft! I’ll be back after my meeting, and I’ll contact you then."

Ni San hung up the phone to the sound of a busy signal, agonizing over his next move. He knew that ever since the million-yuan heist, criminal forces in Chongqing and Ziyang had been eyeing Neijiang. Now, rumors were rampant—some said he had offended the local triads, others that his organization was splitting apart. These rumors made the paranoid Ni San increasingly distrustful of his thousand subordinates. With the deaths of his two most capable lieutenants, his anxiety only deepened.

After hours of deliberation, Ni San made a major decision: he would hold a grand, opulent funeral for Ma Gang and the others.

Ni San wanted everyone to know the extent of his power, to show the underworld and the authorities his unwavering resolve. At the same time, he hoped to win the loyalty of his subordinates, using the event to unify them before promoting new confidants to replace Tank and Ma Gang.

However, Ni San was unaware of how wild the rumors had become. Within two days, all sorts of tales spread across Neijiang: some said Ni San had committed such atrocities that he was facing divine retribution; others claimed that masters from Mount Emei and Mount Qingcheng had descended to purge the evil; some even suggested the government was secretly cleaning up the criminal underworld. The most outlandish story of all claimed that Ni San had discovered Ma Gang was sleeping with his five mistresses, and in a fit of jealous rage, Ni San had arranged for Ma Gang’s "accident."