The gang bosses on the second floor felt as if they had swallowed a fly, a deep sense of helplessness washing over them. Before they could even sarcastically congratulate Scarface, they saw Liu Yutong suddenly stand up and leave without a word.
Aside from the members of the Ten Thousand Dragons Society, Scarface also took a few of his subordinates from the Righteous Union and followed her out.
Zhao Tianxing and the others were puzzled.
"Why are they in such a hurry?"
"Are they afraid we’ll go back on our word and try to pull something on them?"
"Pull something? With that monster downstairs, who the hell could even try?!"
One of the bosses snorted in irritation, then made a gun gesture with his hand. "Unless one of you has one of these."
The others glanced at him and shook their heads.
Not only were such things extremely hard to come by in the country, but even if someone had one, pulling it out in a place like this would mean no future in Bright Pearl City—unless they could silence everyone present.
You could only use that kind of thing in secret. Those who flaunted it openly never ended well.
As they were still puzzling over why Liu Yutong and the others had left in such a hurry, one of the bosses suddenly caught a whiff of something.
"Do you guys smell that?"
The others shook their heads.
"No, what is it?"
Seeing that no one else noticed, the boss dismissed it. "Never mind, must be my imagination."
"So what do we do now? Just hand over the downtown project like that?"
The moment the question was asked, the room fell silent again.
After a pause, someone scoffed. "Hand it over? Just because he’s got one tough guy on his side?"
"But we set the rules—losers step aside, winner takes all!"
"Yeah, but did you see how Scarface was practically bowing to that woman earlier?"
"What’re you getting at?"
"Do I have to spell it out? The Righteous Union’s probably under her thumb now. Otherwise, why would Scarface follow her out like a damn dog the second she called?"
"Then maybe we should just… take her out," someone suggested, drawing a finger across their throat.
The room fell dead silent. No one answered.
In this situation, silence was as good as agreement.
Before the match ended, none of them would’ve openly supported such a move—at least not here. They would’ve discussed it privately first.
But now, their pride had been ground into the dirt.
And if the Righteous Union really had teamed up with the Ten Thousand Dragons Society, they couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.
Just then—
The boss who had mentioned the strange smell earlier suddenly sniffed the air again, his expression shifting to alarm.
Of everyone present, he was the only one who didn’t smoke, so his sense of smell was sharper.
"No, no—this isn’t right!"
"It’s gas! It’s getting stronger! I’m not imagining this!"
The moment he said it, the others froze.
Gas? In a dump like this?
No way.
But within seconds, their faces turned pale.
"Shit! He’s right! There’s gas! Everyone, get out—now!" Zhao Tianxing shouted.
Panicked, they all rushed for the stairs.
At the same time, people on the first floor also noticed something was wrong and began fleeing outside, instantly throwing the scene into chaos.
Just as Zhao Tianxing and his group rushed toward the exit—
Someone, in their panic, dropped a cigarette butt onto the ground, sending sparks flying.
BOOM!
A violent burst of orange-red light instantly engulfed the entire interior of the shipyard.
Zhao Tianxing and the others, who had just reached the doorway, felt an invisible force slam into their backs, sending them tumbling to the ground in disarray.
Those who had been slightly slower found their clothes catching fire, flames licking up their bodies.
"Fire! It's on fire! Help!"
"Ah! My clothes are burning! My clothes!"
"Quick! Jump into the river! Head for the water!"
"......"
The unlucky ones engulfed in flames didn’t even bother trying to pat out the fire. Reeking of scorched fabric, they scrambled desperately toward the riverbank and plunged in.
One after another, more people with burning clothes rushed toward the river.
"Move! Let me through!"
"Help me!!!"
"......"
SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH!
People kept jumping into the river like dumplings dropping into boiling water, none caring how icy the water was at this time of year.
In an instant, the old industrial district of East Harbor—once Bright Pearl City’s shipbuilding hub—was engulfed in towering flames, the blaze so intense it dyed the sky red.
Both in the river and on the shore, panicked figures darted about, their terrified screams, frantic splashing, and cries for help blending into a nightmarish cacophony.
Meanwhile, the Wanlong Hui convoy, having distanced itself from the shipyard earlier, had pulled over by the roadside, watching from afar as the inferno painted the area in a hellish glow.
At the same time, several fire trucks and police cars sped past their convoy, racing toward the scene.
This was because Liu Yutong had ordered someone to call the authorities before leaving.
The moment she had caught that faint, unusual odor on the second floor, she had immediately guessed that someone was trying to sabotage the fighting tournament—and it was almost certainly Wang Shi’s doing.
Why was she so sure?
First, her sense of smell was sharper than most people in the shipyard. Non-smokers, or those who rarely spent time in smoke-filled environments, naturally had keener noses.
The shipyard was packed with people, the vast majority of them underworld figures—hardly any of whom didn’t smoke.
On top of that, the abandoned shipyard, even after a hasty cleanup, still reeked of mildew, rust, and other lingering odors that easily masked any unusual scent.
So it made sense that those inside hadn’t noticed anything amiss right away.
Even if someone had vaguely detected something off, their first instinct would’ve been to doubt their own senses or assume any strange smell was just part of the place.
Under different circumstances, Liu Yutong might have hesitated when she caught that faint whiff of gas, opting to investigate first instead of fleeing immediately.
But this wasn’t just any place.
She had seen Zhao Weixiang—and Wang Shi, the former Righteous League hall master, sneaking around doing who-knows-what.
Already wary of the two, her mind had immediately jumped to the worst-case scenario.
So the moment she smelled that trace of gas—whether real or imagined—she didn’t hesitate. She gathered her people and left without a second thought.
The facts proved her approach was correct.
As soon as she reached the downstairs to meet Yun Cheng, she learned that Wang Shi had gone missing—no one knew where he had disappeared to. Moreover, their people had spotted someone sneaking around the docks, secretly feeding pipes into the shipyard, which completely confirmed her suspicions.
Liu Yutong was now experiencing firsthand just how ruthless and unscrupulous Zhao Weixiang could be.
