The gunshot came far too suddenly.
Before anyone had time to react—
Bang!
Another shot rang out.
The sniper’s bullet once again struck Qi Tianhu’s right shoulder with pinpoint accuracy.
The Underground Emperor who had ruled Jin River’s underworld for twenty years jerked backward. He staggered two steps and crashed into the Eight Immortals table behind him.
The copper hot pot flipped over, spilling scalding red oil all over him. White smoke hissed up from his skin.
“Ahhh!”
Qi Tianhu let out a heart-rending scream and rolled desperately across the ground.
The sniper had been ordered to wound, not kill. A living Qi Tianhu was far more valuable than a dead one. There were still countless unsolved crimes tied to him, and once he was dead, no one would be able to get anything out of him.
The hundreds of thugs at the construction site heard the three consecutive gunshots. When they saw their boss shot and knocked down, panic instantly spread through their ranks, and their morale completely collapsed.
A gun!
They had a gun!
That bunch from the Wanlong Society actually had a sniper rifle!
Damn it, how were they supposed to fight that?
Everyone in the underworld knew how strictly guns were controlled in this country.
Even a big shot like Qi Tianhu, who dominated an entire region, didn’t possess a firearm. He had merely acquired some industrial explosives through his coal-mine connections. He had originally planned to use them to take everyone down with him if he couldn’t escape.
But those thugs had never imagined that, in broad daylight and in front of nearly a thousand people, the Wanlong Society would actually shoot their boss with a sniper rifle.
A sniper rifle! That wasn’t some handgun!
Just how powerful was the backing of the Wanlong Society?
They had connections all the way to the top, didn’t they?
After a brief moment of panic, someone suddenly shouted:
“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! I surrender!”
The entire construction site immediately descended into chaos.
The thugs who were still standing threw down whatever weapons they had. Steel pipes, machetes, baseball bats—all of them clattered onto the ground.
Everyone hurriedly crouched down with their hands over their heads. Some were so terrified that they dropped to their knees, wailing and begging for mercy.
“Please spare me, boss! Please! I was only paid to stand around and make up the numbers. This has nothing to do with me!”
“Don’t kill me! I was forced into this! Tiger Qi made us come! I’ve got an eighty-year-old mother and a three-year-old kid to support!”
“I was wrong! I really was! I’ll never get involved with society again! I’ll turn over a new leaf, reform myself, and become a good person!”
“Exactly! Me too! We’ll all turn over a new leaf!”
“.........”
One of the gang leaders kneeling at the very front looked up at the black-clad man before him with tears streaming down his face. He begged sincerely, “Big brother, to be honest, I’ve had a dream since I was a kid—to join the Wanlong Society and make my way in the underworld alongside you....”
The black-clad man: “.....”
“Big brother, I’ve always wanted to find a respectable job. That job you mentioned just now—the one that provides food and lodging—is it still available?”
“I... I want a job with food and lodging too!”
“Please take me in! I don’t mind cleaning toilets!”
“Plus one!”
“Plus a thousand!”
“.....”
Liu Yutong stood where she was, the corner of her mouth twitching.
Ma Da came trotting over to her, carrying the bowl of braised-meat rice that had nearly gone cold. With a grin, he asked, “Miss, what should we do with these people?”
Liu Yutong said, “Naturally, we’ll fulfill their requests and send them somewhere with food and lodging.”
“Yes, miss!”
Ma Da set the lunch box aside, turned around, and grabbed a loudspeaker. He shouted at the group of thugs, “Quiet down, all of you! We heard your requests! The Wanlong Society always keeps its word. Since we said we’d provide you with food and lodging, then that’s exactly what we’ll do! Not a single one of you will be left out!”
The thugs were instantly moved to tears by their good fortune.
“Thank you, brothers of the Wanlong Society!”
“Long live the Wanlong Society!”
“Long live Miss!”
“.....”
Ma Da nodded in satisfaction, then turned back to Liu Yutong. “See, miss? They’re even thanking us.”
Liu Yutong: “...”
...........
At the fork in the road.
Uncle Wang hadn’t gone far. His three-wheeled cart was still parked behind the crooked tree by the roadside.
Actually, he had wanted to run just now. But when that terrifying convoy of black vehicles passed right in front of him, his legs had felt as if they’d been filled with cement. He couldn’t move at all.
After the convoy had disappeared into the distance, he crouched behind his cart for a long while before finally coming to his senses.
Run?
What was he running for? The people from the Wanlong Society hadn’t done anything to him.
Their miss had even praised his mung bean soup.
Although Uncle Wang was still somewhat shaken, his curiosity eventually overcame his fear.
He pushed his three-wheeled cart behind the crooked tree and hid it there, then crept toward the battlefield and began secretly observing from nearby.
He was too far away to make out the details, but he could see the mass of dark figures surging into the construction site. He could also hear faint cries of battle and screams drifting over.
The fight must have been spectacular—and brutal.
“My goodness, they’re really going at it.”
Uncle Wang nervously swallowed as he watched, completely absorbed. Suddenly, he heard two muffled booms.
The sounds were dull and brief, like something had exploded—or someone had set off an especially loud firecracker.
Then another one followed.
After that, the construction site fell silent.
The silence was unnaturally complete.
Uncle Wang pricked up his ears and listened for a moment. Then he suddenly realized what he had heard, and his face went deathly pale.
A gun!
Damn it, those were gunshots!
Back when Uncle Wang was young, guns hadn’t been so strictly controlled. In fact, he himself had used a gun to hunt when he was younger.
But that had been many years ago. These days, how many people in the country dared to use a gun?
Yet today, he had not only witnessed a massive battle involving thousands of people—he had also heard gunshots. And they hadn’t come from an ordinary handgun or hunting rifle.
They sounded somewhat like the sniper rifles he had heard on television.
The realization terrified him. He immediately shrank back behind a large tree and didn’t dare poke his head out again.
It wasn’t long before dozens of police cars came racing over in the distance, sirens blaring, and stopped at the entrance to the construction site.
Several military-green trucks arrived right behind them. A group of armed paramilitary police jumped out and quickly cordoned off the entire perimeter.
Uncle Wang finally dared to stick his head out again. He felt somewhat relieved as well. With the police and paramilitary officers there, at least he didn’t have to worry about his safety.
But his curiosity began stirring once more. He simply couldn’t hold it back. He quietly slipped out from behind the tree, hunched low, and followed the ditch along the roadside for more than a hundred meters. Finally, he lay down at the edge of the ditch and peered toward the construction site.
What he saw next was astonishing. By sheer coincidence, he witnessed the two most crucial scenes.
The first scene: A group of bruised and battered thugs were being marched out of the construction site by the Wanlong Society’s black-clad men. Their hands were bound with plastic zip ties, one after another, like candied hawthorn skewered on a stick. They were then handed over to the police waiting at the entrance.
As the black-clad leader handed them over to the officer in charge, the officer even nodded at him and seemed to say something.
Based on their lip movements, expressions, and the direction of the conversation, Uncle Wang made a rough guess.
Police: “You’ve worked hard. We’ll take it from here.”
Man in Black: We’re all on the same side. No need to be so formal.
The second scene: Two armed police officers carried a stretcher out of the construction site. A white sheet covered it, concealing the shape of a person beneath.
Uncle Wang lay facedown in the ditch, his head buzzing.
He was dead.
Someone had really died.
And he still hadn’t seen any sign of Qi Tianhu. Could it be that he…
“My God!”
..........
That evening, at a teahouse in Jinchuan’s old town, Uncle Wang sat surrounded by more than a dozen old buddies, spittle flying as he recounted everything he had seen that day.
His friends gasped in astonishment as they listened.
Before long, those embellished stories sprouted wings and spread through every street and alley in Jinchuan.
The Wanlong Society had opened fire. Tiger Qi and his centipede-tattooed lieutenant were both dead.
Tiger Qi and his son were all gone, and nearly every notable thug in Jinchuan’s underworld had been wiped out in one fell swoop.
The Wanlong Society had connections with the police. Of course, those who understood, understood.
But most importantly, the Wanlong Society was absolutely untouchable. They were the true Underground Emperor!
That was dark!
