Chapter 356: Chapter 308: Cooperation_2
It seemed that Yang Xiao’s fierce gaze had frightened him; Ling Yanyu was so scared that he didn’t dare to speak.
Yang Xiao left Ling Yanyu with a briefcase full of cash as his activity funds. Then, he took a walk around the teahouse and was quite satisfied with the environment. The location was relatively secluded, a good spot to settle down.
What was more exciting was that there was a van parked in the garage behind the teahouse. According to Ling Yanyu, the vehicle belonged to Sun, and it was an unlicensed taxi. Now that Sun was dead, the van naturally fell under Ling Yanyu’s control. Yang Xiao had been considering how to take a detour to leave Xiang Ma Town by taxi, but now he could have Ling Yanyu drive him to the nearest city, which saved him a lot of trouble.
In the remaining time, Ling Yanyu told Yang Xiao about many things in Xiang Ma Town. The daytime and nighttime here were like two different worlds: during the day, everyone went about their business as usual, but at night, few ventured out, especially in the late hours when the streets were almost completely empty.
Stranger still, even if there were homicides at night, by the next morning, no bodies could be seen on the streets; someone had cleaned everything up thoroughly.
"Was it the work of the people from Peace Hotel?" Yang Xiao frowned slightly. No wonder he had not seen the bodies of those dead people on his way back.
Ling Yanyu nodded, "That’s likely, but we’ve never actually seen it. Once, a bunch of us were drinking together, and under the influence of alcohol, I asked Sun about it. But who would have thought Sun would suddenly lose his temper, slap me across the face, and curse me for jinxing him, saying that if we really saw it, we wouldn’t be alive to tell the tale."
"Another group’s boss, who was also drunk, mocked Sun for being a coward, saying that those Ghost Slaves from the hotel might be frightening but not invincible. Just the night before, his guys went out to scout for some business and didn’t find any, but instead witnessed two groups fighting. The scene was like something out of a martial arts movie, making such a ruckus that it attracted three patrolling Ghost Slaves. However, the Ghost Slaves just watched and didn’t dare to interfere until a person wearing a strange mask arrived. Judging by the lantern he was carrying, he seemed to be from the hotel too. That’s when the two groups dispersed."
Ling Yanyu recalled, "Right, the person from Peace Hotel who came at the last also wore a mask, but the character on it was different from yours; it had a ’Ghost’ character on it."
Upon hearing this, Yang Xiao was startled, "A ’Ghost’ character mask? Are you sure?"
"Positive. That boss was really drunk, slurring his words. I didn’t catch it the first time and had to ask him again." Ling Yanyu nodded confidently, then lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "That’s not everything. Later, when he went out to relieve himself after drinking too much, it seemed that boss wasn’t done boasting. He leaned in and bragged about what happened afterward, claiming that not only desperate people like them came back to Peace Hotel, but those high and mighty folks would come too, only they were more secretive since everyone who comes to Peace Hotel has their unspeakable secrets."
"Do officials come here too?" Yang Xiao asked curiously.
"Absolutely. That boss told me that one of the groups involved in the fight earlier was with the officials from the Patrol Defense Bureau, from Rongcheng. They said the leader held a high position." Ling Yanyu’s voice was very low.
"No way, Rongcheng is quite far from here. And what would Patrol Defense Bureau’s people be doing here anyway?" Yang Xiao feigned composure.
"Truly, truly, that boss just happened to overhear it. Someone from the other group was calling out to some director."
"Which director?" Yang Xiao pressed.
Ling Yanyu shook his head, "I don’t know about that. That boss didn’t catch it; they were really far away. Who would dare approach when immortals are in battle?"
"Did he tell you anything else?" Something didn’t seem right to Yang Xiao. The Rongcheng Patrol Division nominally had seven directors, but the only ones who truly held the chief director rank were Nalan Shuo and Huang Guozhao. Could it be one of them?
"I... I don’t quite remember." Ling Yanyu made an expression as if he was trying hard to recall.
Yang Xiao placed his hand on Ling Yanyu’s shoulder, applying slight pressure, "Think carefully, I am very interested in this piece of information. Do you understand?"
Under the encouragement and coercion of Yang Xiao, Ling Yanyu continued to think, and after a few minutes, he finally recalled a little bit more, "The people opposite seemed to have lost something and were demanding it from the Director, but what exactly it was, I truly don’t know. The boss probably didn’t know either."
Suddenly, Ling Yanyu seemed to remember something else and quickly added, "Right, there was someone strange next to the Director, who couldn’t walk steadily, a disabled person."
Upon hearing this, Yang Xiao’s heart trembled, and he immediately thought that this disabled person must be Lu Youdao, and the Patrol Bureau Director standing next to him naturally was Nalan Shuo. And the object that was lost by the people opposite, which they were demanding from Director Nalan, must be the Resentful Eye.
Yang Xiao had a rough guess in his mind; the group that fought with Director Nalan and others were probably Evil Cultivators. Thinking deeper, the Resentful Eye of this group of Evil Cultivators was lost in Rongcheng, and eventually they found out that it was taken away by Director Nalan and Lu Youdao, which matched the information Fu Qingzhu had told him before.
According to the investigation by that information trafficker, in recent years, many high-level Resentful Eyes belonging to the Evil Cultivators had disappeared in Rongcheng, and the last clues all led to the Rongcheng Patrol Division, to be precise, the Lin’an Patrol Bureau where he worked.
This information was too important for Yang Xiao now; he also wanted to figure out what Nalan Shuo and Lu Youdao were doing behind the scenes. Could it be that they also had connections with some Evil Cultivator organizations in private? If that was the case, they might cooperate in the future. Through the information network of the Evil Cultivators, it might be easier to find out the identity of the original owner of the Drama Robe.
"Tell me where this boss is now, take me to him," Yang Xiao stood up; he couldn’t wait a moment longer, ready to tie up the man first and make him spill everything he knew. fгeewebnovёl.com
Upon hearing this, Ling Yanyu’s face turned bitter, "You can’t find him anymore, he... he’s already dead."
"Dead? How did he die?"
"Just a couple of days after that drink, he went to a nightclub to play, got too high, took too many drugs, and died," Ling Yanyu explained.
"Died from an overdose?"
"Yeah." fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
"What about his underlings?"
"Speaking of which, those guys were also fairly unlucky. With the boss gone and no one in charge, they quarreled over the little bit of inheritance, ended up fighting, and guns were even drawn, as I heard. In the end, they all died, and the bodies filled a room."
"Everybody died from infighting?" Yang Xiao, as an outsider, found that too far-fetched.
"Yeah, Big Brother Sun... Big Brother Sun told us this, and he also warned us that we must stay united, for unity is strength," Ling Yanyu honestly said to Yang Xiao.
"Director, you really have great means," Yang Xiao thought to himself, recalling what Nalan Shuo had once said to him. When a man does something, he must be ruthless when necessary, better not to do it, but if you do, do it thoroughly. Most importantly, leave no trace, no survivors, and not be found out.
Now that he could confirm that this matter was related to Nalan Shuo, Yang Xiao knew that with his current abilities he definitely wouldn’t be able to uncover any trace at all, so he temporarily gave up. After all this hassle, it began to get light outside and there was slowly some movement on the streets. This sleepy town was finally waking up, showing the faint signs of life.
It was time to go. Yang Xiao had Ling Yanyu drive him to a nearby city. On the road, he complimented Ling Yanyu on his information gathering abilities and encouraged him that if there was ever another opportunity, more of such information was always good, even if it cost a bit of money.
"If you’re willing to pay, it’s easy, Brother Jiang. I know a few little shops that specialize in buying and selling information. Just tell me what kind you need; I’ll do it for you," Ling Yanyu was very polite to Yang Xiao, and Jiang was the fake name Yang Xiao had given him.