“I have a client; I won’t be home for dinner tonight.” He hung up the phone and pulled out the line.
The office was pitch black, with the fire safety system going crazy and spraying water. It rained outside, and it also rained inside, freezing cold. The air conditioning had shut down, the power had gone out—the entire building was paralyzed. Tang Wei was trapped in this office. There used to be a VIP-only elevator leading directly to his office, but no matter how much he swiped his card now, the elevator wouldn’t respond. This office on the top floor was Tang Wei’s true base of operations, known only to a trusted few. Tang Wei had built a safe into one of the walls here, storing cash, ledgers, and important items, including that document packet. Occasionally, when he was bored in the 21st-floor office, he’d take the VIP elevator up to play games, which is why there were still many personal belongings stored here.
Now Tang Wei felt that he was going to die in this office.
Since the fierce American brutes broke into the ground floor, Tang Wei had sensed something was wrong. Then came that strange in-system message, and then someone invaded the 21st floor—Tang Wei had dozens of brothers there. It was supposed to be a heavily guarded area according to the art of war. But when he called back half a minute later, no one answered. Tang Wei wanted to escape, but it was too late.
He always knew that making money as a hunter wasn’t easy. As the saying goes, “You live by the sword, you die by the sword.” Over the years, he had done so many shady things—he had even dug up dozens of people’s ancestral graves. It would be hard to believe there would be no retribution for all that, and even Tang Wei himself didn’t believe it. The reason he wanted to go to Vietnam was in hopes that perhaps the distance was far enough that “retribution,” being somewhat directionless, wouldn’t be able to find him. He had made enough money; tonight, he was supposed to “wash his hands of it all.” Damn it—indeed, in such a risky business, “washing one’s hands clean” never comes without complications…
Now retribution had come, sweeping in like a flood. He had already called the police, hoping that the officers would come and arrest him, taking him to jail where at least he wouldn’t be killed.
He should have known that the $2.5 million came too easily; money that comes easily is always hard to keep.
At least he had already laundered the money he earned over the years, transferring it to his dad under various names. If he really kicked the bucket, his dad would suddenly find himself a rich man. An old bachelor with tens of millions—it was hard to imagine how many scheming women would try to win his father over to split the inheritance. Thinking about this made Tang Wei emotional. His mom had left him and his dad when Tang Wei was very young, heading south to make money, and she never came back. Tang Wei’s dad was a worker, scraping by on a factory salary and working night shifts as a warehouse guard to send Tang Wei to school. Later, he even retired early to let Tang Wei take over his job, and continued guarding warehouses. He never remarried, even though life without a woman was tough—not because he was deeply in love with his long-lost wife. His dad often joked that he liked women with bigger breasts… but those women wanted him to send Tang Wei to live with his grandma. His dad refused, saying, “My son can’t be raised like that. He’s a troublemaker—no one else could handle him. He has to stay by my side!”
So no woman was willing to be with his dad. Tang Wei thought his father should at least deceive a woman into staying, to cook and do laundry. He could go stay at his grandma’s place for a few months and come back later; it wouldn’t matter. But his dad was just that stubborn—he insisted on keeping Tang Wei with him.
Because his dad was stubborn, Tang Wei had to be strong. It was just the two of them—two men in one family—so at least one of them had to be formidable. Otherwise, they’d be bullied to death. After Tang Wei made his first big haul as a hunter, the first thing he did was withdraw it all in cash, stacking the bundles in front of his dad, saying, “Hey! Look at me now! Your son is successful! Spend as much as you want! Take it!” His dad, on the verge of tears, said, “If my son robbed a bank, they’ll execute you! You’d better leave quickly—I’ll stay behind to stall the cops.”
Tang Wei thought of this now, and tears poured down his face. He thought, if only he had arranged for his father to have a partner before he died, then he could pass in peace. However, the women his dad socialized with weren’t up to Tang Wei’s standards—they either had big eye bags or dark skin. As a stepmother, Tang Wei felt he couldn’t hold his head high in his social circles.
He wept bitterly for a while before suddenly realizing something: even if the enemy knew about this office, the VIP elevator was down. The shortcut here was cut off. The police wouldn’t be able to arrive before the enemy did.
He crawled out from under the desk and locked the office door, pushing the desk against it. He felt like he was now hidden in a relatively safe fortress and let out a small sigh of relief.
When he turned his head, his heart almost jumped out of his throat…
A pitch-black figure was clinging to the large floor-to-ceiling window!
They were nearly two hundred meters above the ground—who could scale a skyscraper like that in just a few minutes? Superman or Spider-Man? The torrential rain pounded against the figure, creating a faint glow around them, like they were covered in iron-blue scales.
Tang Wei let out a scream and lunged for the crossbow hanging on the wall. He had brought it back from the U.S., supposedly for shooting fish, but it was really a deadly weapon. The arrows from this pulley crossbow could pierce three meters underwater to skewer large fish, and in the air, they could easily penetrate sheet metal. Tang Wei used all his strength to draw the bowstring—he was past the point of worrying about the sanctity of life. Just the silhouette of the figure was enough to terrify anyone! Tang Wei hoped the reinforced double-layered glass of the top floor would hold the figure off for a few more seconds—just enough time.
But the glass… started to melt! A dark red aura appeared around the figure, and a transparent boundary formed, instantly evaporating the rain into steam. Where the glass met that boundary, it was like wax encountering fire.
The dark figure walked into the office. Everything near him silently ignited, with dark red currents snaking along the transparent boundary. Firelight illuminated his sinister face, with his cheekbones and the bones around his forehead protruding sharply.
It was like a demon burning with dark fire! Tang Wei had dug up countless graves and encountered plenty of cursed things, but nothing had ever been as terrifying as this. Those things were like innocent, kind-hearted girls compared to the demon standing before him.
Tang Wei finally loaded the bow and fired it, glaring with all his strength. His pupils seemed to burn, like those of a lizard or snake, or perhaps a golden gas lamp. This was Tang Wei’s biggest secret—the reason he could make a living as a hunter was because of these eyes. When he focused all his energy, his pupils would change color, and up until now, everything wicked had fled before his golden gaze.
The crossbow bolt tore through the air like scissors cutting silk. At this distance, with such a powerful shot, it was impossible to dodge.
But the figure did not dodge. He simply raised his hand and, with a gentle wave, split the arrow in two.