Chapter 147: Returning to the Tiger's Den

Under the dim streetlights, two figures stood facing each other.

The girl raised her head and said desolately, "I truly never expected the truth of the matter to turn out like this. How much longer... must you keep running before your family can help you find the evidence?"

Kang Ning shook his head. "I don't know. Perhaps a few months, perhaps two or three years. I... just now... I'm sorry." At this point, Kang Ning felt a pang of secret self-reproach; if he hadn't reined himself in at the very edge of the precipice, things truly would have spiraled out of control.

The girl smiled bitterly, looking at him with sadness in her eyes. "Don't say that. I'm so worried about your safety now. You should leave this place quickly."

"Tell me, what is your name?"

"Zhou Xiaotong, 'Tong' as in the Chinese parasol tree... I never imagined you would actually dare to escort me right to my doorstep. You are a true man." Xiaotong looked at Kang Ning with a lingering grievance, her lips parting slightly before she fell silent.

After a long while, she finally mustered the courage to ask, "Can I kiss you one more time?"

Seeing her lower her head in shyness, Kang Ning froze for a moment, then stepped forward to pull her tightly into his arms. After a fierce and passionate kiss, he said gently, "I... am not in a position to make any promises right now. I just hope that once my name is cleared, I can invite you to my home as a guest. Would you be willing?"

"Mm, I am willing... Be careful, and leave as soon as you can..."

Kang Ning gazed at her affectionately for a long time, kissing her lips once more as if trying to draw the bittersweet taste into his very soul. She responded with equal fervor. Just as her tears were about to fall, Kang Ning turned on his heel and strode toward his car, closing the door and driving off into the distance.

By the afternoon of the following day, Kang Ning, having returned to Leijiang, sat up slowly on the large bed in his rented room. After taking a shower in the bathroom, he took out his mobile phone, inserted a new SIM card, and sent a text message to Gao Qinghua: Returned home safely, do not worry!

A minute later, Gao Qinghua's call came through: "You reckless bastard, you still dare to come back at a time like this?"

Kang Ning chuckled softly. "There's been progress in my case. My brother told me last night that he estimates there will be results by the end of the year. He didn't want me to return immediately, and I didn't really have anywhere else to go, but I figured I should at least meet up with you, my old friend, to say goodbye. Otherwise, it would be terribly impolite."

"Get lost!"

Gao Qinghua cursed fiercely. "Do you think Leijiang isn't chaotic enough yet? Let me tell you, after more twenty days of effort, little Du has already figured out all the things you pulled off in Leijiang. He just hasn't found the evidence yet. I suggest you run as far away as possible so you don't cause him any more trouble."

Kang Ning laughed shamelessly. "Brother Du certainly has his talents; since he can't solve the case, he just pushes all the trouble onto me. No wonder I still have nowhere to seek justice. Haha, alright, treat me to a meal, I'm starved."

On the other end of the line, Gao Qinghua replied helplessly, "This is the last time, you hear me! Eight o'clock tonight, the old spot in the eastern suburbs."

Kang Ning asked in puzzlement, "Isn't that one of Brother Du's old haunts? You aren't going to invite him too, are you... Wait... Damn it. You actually hung up on me. Your official rank hasn't grown, but your temper sure has..."

At eight o'clock in the evening, Gao Qinghua and Du Jianwu drove their cars into the courtyard in the eastern suburbs and parked. They saw Kang Ning sitting in the innermost corner, smiling and waving at them in greeting. Exchanging a helpless look, Gao Qinghua and Du Jianwu shook their heads, got out of the car, and walked toward Kang Ning.

The two of them sat down without a word, staring fixedly at Kang Ning as if he were their sworn enemy.

Seeing the restaurant owner make several trips back and forth to serve a massive table full of dishes and two dozen bottles of beer, Du Jianwu couldn't help asking, "Fourth, why did you prepare so many dishes?"

Old Fourth replied with a smile, "Your brother has arrived, and you said you were treating an esteemed guest, so how could I dare slack off? Haha, enjoy yourselves, brothers, I still need to go back inside and stir-fry a couple more dishes."

Du Jianwu glared angrily at Kang Ning. "You're paying for this meal! You little punk..."

"It won't cost you much. So stingy? Another day come to my place and I'll treat you, absolutely a hundred times more upscale than this." Without caring what the two of them were thinking, Kang Ning picked up a beer bottle with one hand, flipped the cap off with his thumb, and poured drinks for both of them. This display of refined finger dexterity left Du Jianwu and Gao Qinghua extremely astonished.

Watching the smiling Kang Ning pour his drink, Gao Qinghua couldn't help asking out of curiosity, "I didn't know you had this trick up your sleeve, saving yourself a bottle opener. Care to teach me?"

"Sure! The secret is to let your intent guide your strength, maintaining an unbroken flow of vital energy. If you practiced qigong for as long as I have, you could probably do it too. Want to try?"

Kang Ning put down the empty bottle, pulled two bottles of beer from the crate, handed one to Gao Qinghua while holding the other, and demonstrated the technique right before their eyes, signaling for Gao Qinghua to give it a try.

Gao Qinghua followed Kang Ning's method and popped the cap off on the first attempt. Delighted, he burst into laughter, drained his glass of beer in one go, and then happily refilled it.

Looking at the astonished Du Jianwu, Kang Ning smiled and said, "If Brother Du is interested, you might as well learn from the Big Brother here. I estimate you'll master it in a year or half a year, haha! Big Brother, there's another benefit you didn't tell him about, right?"

"What benefit?" Gao Qinghua asked, puzzled.

Kang Ning looked at Gao Qinghua with disdain. "Tsk tsk, you reap the benefits and still play innocent! Do you dare claim you haven't been happy in bed lately? I remember when my old man was teaching me this set of stance exercises, he said: 'Practice the Hunyuan Ruyi Gong well, and running a marathon is a breeze.' I was too young at the time and didn't understand. The old man just chuckled and refused to explain. It wasn't until later that I figured out what it meant, haha! By now, Big Brother must be able to run a half-marathon every single night, right?"

Gao Qinghua offered an embarrassed chuckle, unable to conceal the pride and excitement in his eyes. Seeing Gao Qinghua's reaction, Du Jianwu laughed as well. "Got time to teach me another day?"

"Sure, since this kid has agreed, I'll send that little manual over to you later. With your foundation, you probably won't even need a full year, haha, it truly is good stuff!"

Gao Qinghua raised his glass to toast the two of them, then turned to Kang Ning with a serious expression. "We have a deal. After tonight, you must leave this place. Where you go is none of my business, but you cannot stay in Sichuan."

After finishing his drink, Kang Ning asked Du Jianwu, "Brother Du, the taxi driver told me just now that the old patriarch of the Fang family was taken away by the special investigation team. Is that true?"

Du Jianwu nodded and replied in a low voice, "Three days ago, he was released under the pretext of medical parole. Although it's a case of the tree falling and the monkeys scattering, we shouldn't be too optimistic either. Political matters are hard for us to predict, but I heard someone from above stood surety for the Fang family, and in return, the Fang family is willing to surrender all their industrial holdings across the entire province to the two major families in Chengdu and Chongqing, retiring from the scene entirely from now on. Furthermore, not a single document or approval slip bears Fang Limin's signature. Even though his underlings below have confessed to everything done over the years, since he stubbornly refuses to acknowledge it, there's nothing we can do. Still, the Fang family is finished this time. I heard Fang Xiong has already spent over a hundred million yuan just to barely secure his exemption from criminal prosecution. All his titles as committee member, association president, and so on have been summarily stripped away. After this blows over, I estimate there will no longer be any footing for the Fang family in Leijiang."

Kang Ning nodded in quiet understanding. "That is to say, Ni San is finished as well?"

"He has fled and is currently wanted on a warrant."

Du Jianwu put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth with a paper napkin, and asked Kang Ning, "Do you still remember those two wanted criminals from Zigong whom you beat into a vegetative state?"

"Why are you pinning things on me again? What about them?"

Du Jianwu smiled slightly, entirely unbothered. "You've got a cat's nine lives, kid. Someone came forward to take the rap for you."

Seeing Kang Ning's puzzled expression, Gao Qinghua glared at him and explained, "Not long ago, over twenty members of the Pan family from Zigong and more than fifty of Ni San's men engaged in a massive gang war. The result was eight dead, twenty-seve severely injured, and the rest scattered to the winds. Fearing the incident was too big to cover up, the newly appointed leadership in your Brother Du's bureau consulted with superiors and used those dead Pan family members as scapeghoats. They pinned the original gang warfare, stolen firearms case, drug trafficking case, and shooting case entirely on the Pan family and Ni San. Yesterday, action was taken over in Zigong as well, practically uprooting the Pan family, who had acted as local tyrants for years. Just like here in Leijiang, the ordinary people finally feel vindicated and have been setting off firecrackers all day today."

Kang Ning suddenly understood. "No wonder I saw so many people setting off fireworks in the streets. So that's what happened! Brother Du, I congratulate you on your promotion! Come, let's have a drink!"

"Promotion my foot!"

Du Jianwu looked at Kang Ning with dissatisfaction. "If it weren't for you running amok, when would I ever be worked half to death day and night?"

Kang Ning looked at Gao Qinghua and then at Du Jianwu, letting out a self-pitying sigh. "One must speak with a clear conscience! I didn't take a single cent of the informant's reward money from last time. Now you two have achieved great merits while I remain a fugitive. Instead of appreciating your junior's generosity, you keep harping on those old trifles all day long. Is that how brothers should talk?"

Neither Gao Qinghua nor Du Jianwu had expected that the usually steady and cautious Kang Ning could be so humorous. After exchanging a knowing smile, Du Jianwu said with profound meaning, "I genuinely thank you. If you hadn't blindly stumbled into beating those two wanted criminals from Zigong into a daze, the two gangs wouldn't have gone to war; if you hadn't stolen those two firearms, the two scum in our ranks might still be sitting comfortably in their old positions; and if it weren't for your intelligence and evidence, those dozen corrupt vermin would likely still be roaming free outside the law. You could say that whether intentional or not, whether you admit it or not, objectively you enabled our investigative operation to achieve a breakthrough and conclude with high quality. Therefore, I am still very grateful to you."

Kang Ning nodded, his smile fading as he asked in a low voice, "Has the murderer of Sister Meilin been caught?"

Du Jianwu's expression darkened, and he nodded with pain in his eyes. "The two men who drove the vehicle to commit the crime have been caught. They confessed fully to their crimes, though they tried to shift the primary responsibility onto Ni San. Fortunately, all the crimes committed by these two thugs combined are enough to sentence them to death ten times over."

"How is Fang Xiong now?" Kang Ning suddenly asked.

Du Jianwu looked at Kang Ning vigilantly. "He's fine, but he is forbidden from leaving Leijiang. What? You still want to avenge Uncle Wang?"

"Nothing like that, I was just asking casually." Kang Ning picked up his wine glass as if nothing were wrong.

After a brief consultation between Du Jianwu and Gao Qinghua, Gao Qinghua delivered a word of advice to Kang Ning: "Little brother, you need to leave this place quickly. Although several major criminals have yet to be apprehended, the authorities, pressed by public opinion and pressure from above, have decided to cut through the Gordian knot and end the chaos in Leijiang early. Therefore, a public trial assembly will be held the day after tomorrow, and all police forces will be deployed en masse in the coming days to maintain strict security. Furthermore, Little Du's intelligence sources indicate that Ni San likely has not yet left Leijiang; he and his cold-blooded bodyguard disappeared together, and all six dead members of the Pan family were killed by a single firearm. Our analysis suggests it was done by Ni San's bodyguard—no one else possesses such formidable skill. For your own safety and to set your Brother Du's mind at ease, you should leave quickly!"

Kang Ning nodded silently, and after exchanging a few more words, the three of them bid each other farewell.

As night fell, a figure moving like a civet cat swiftly vaulted over the wall of the Riverside Garden residential compound, approaching a luxury villa like a phantom.