Chapter 260: Jiang Long

I had taught the man in the surveillance footage a lesson once before. Acting under the orders of Shi Youfu, the Jiang family's security captain, he had smashed my shop.

"So it was the Jiang family's lapdogs." I narrowed my eyes, playing the footage frame by frame. When most of the van pulled out of the camera's range, I paused the recording again.

The frame perfectly captured the van's back seat. The rear row was empty except for a single sack.

The sack bulged, stuffed with who knew what. Judging purely by its shape, it looked like an animal.

"A high-dose anesthetic Injection was found in the garbage, the tattooed man happened to pass by late at night, and the back of his van coincidentally held something shady. This can't be a coincidence."

Now that I had a general direction for my investigation, I bought a pack of cigarettes from the store, thanked the owner, and left.

"Judging by the surveillance video, the Jiang family must be the ones who stole the Underworld Live Show materials and took Bai Qi. They were equipped with tranquilizer guns and had the help of yin souls and ghostly entities. No wonder even Bai Qi fell victim to them."

I lit a cigarette and tilted my head back, watching the smoke curl upward.

Dark clouds had shrouded the sky at some point, completely hiding the setting sun. It seemed night was arriving early today.

"The Underworld Live Show is my absolute limit. Since you stole it, you're trying to kill me." Cigarette ash fell to the ground as a bloodshot fury flared wildly in my eyes.

Returning to Ting Tang Road, I called Er Gou to have him look into the tattooed man's whereabouts. Meanwhile, I gathered everything I could possibly use and kept it on me, including the Paulownia Mulberry Talisman and the Fate Ghost.

A little after 8:00 PM, Er Gou called back.

"Jian Ge, I've asked around and got the details. That tattooed guy's real name is Liu Ze, nicknamed Scorpion. He used to be a street thug in the North District. Rumor has it he recently latched onto the Jiang family and is running pretty tight with Jiang Long."

"Jiang Long?" Having worked as a private detective, I naturally knew about some of the untouchable local tyrants in Jiangcheng. This Jiang Long was Old Master Jiang's adopted son; in his early years, he had played a massive role in building the Jiangjin Group.

The market twenty years ago wasn't strictly regulated like it was today. Back then, you didn't just need legitimate connections; you needed underworld muscle. You had to have a get-out-of-jail-free card and the sheer ruthlessness to lick blood off a knife's edge. The saying that Business is a Battlefield couldn't be more true.

Jiang Long was exactly that kind of attack dog, raised by Old Master Jiang himself. He was vicious and had a lethal bite, but most importantly, he was unfailingly loyal—perfect for handling the Jiang family's dirty work.

As the Jiangjin Group grew larger over the years, Jiang Long rarely showed his face to maintain the company's positive image. But privately, anyone plugged into the scene knew he remained highly active in Jiangcheng's criminal underworld. He had simply learned to keep a lower profile and wasn't quite as extreme as he used to be.

"Jian Ge, Jiang Long used to be an underworld boss. He's got a ton of thugs under him. Don't do anything reckless—let's figure out a solid plan first."

Er Gouzi's voice filtered through the phone. I shook my head and chuckled. "Just tell me where that bastard is holed up first, and then we'll figure out a plan."

"He should be at the Longteng Villa District in Jiangbei. That's where Jiang Long lives. Plus, one of my boys saw that tattooed guy's van parked in one of the villa's spots last night."

"Alright, Er Gou. Drinks are on me next time we meet."

"Jian Ge, don't do anything stupid! Jiang Long really isn't someone we can afford to mess with. Pissing off Jiang Chen is one thing; he's just a pampered pretty boy. But Jiang Long is different. I've heard from the older guys in the scene that he actually has a body count."

"Older guys in the scene? Er Gou, take my advice. Use your free time to read a book or enroll in an adult night school. Learning literally any useful trade is better than being a street thug."

"Jian Ge, I'm not messing around! Why don't you wait for me? Let me gather the boys. Worst comes to worst, we'll take him out and then skip town, leaving Jiangcheng for good."

Hearing Er Gou speak so earnestly, I fell silent for a moment. "Alright. Gather the boys first. We'll wait four days, and then we'll pull off something massive."

"Done! Wait for my word in four days!" Er Gouzi hastily hung up the phone. I sat in my room, watching the pedestrians on the street gradually dwindle.

"In four days, if I'm still alive, I'll definitely apologize to you in person." Stuffing my phone away, I walked out the door.

Had I refused him just now, Er Gou's personality would have likely pushed him to do something drastic. Jiang Long was a dangerous man. It was exactly because I knew how risky this was that I absolutely refused to drag Er Gouzi into it.

After tonight, all pretense with the Jiang family would be completely torn away, but I had no fear. Everyone had a bottom line, and the Underworld Live Show was the one thing I absolutely refused to let outsiders touch!

Fine raindrops fell on my shoulders. The streets grew even emptier. The sky was densely packed with dark clouds, and the heavy darkness pressed down so low it felt like I could reach out and touch it.

"Going solo against an entire gang... reason tells me my odds of winning are slim, but how will I know if I don't try?"

I hopped into a taxi. By the time I arrived at the Longteng Villa District, it was already 9:00 PM. For those "friends in the scene," this hour was merely the start of their nightlife.

"Shit luck. Why did it have to start raining now?" Four burly young men walked out of the villa district. With their arms slung around each other's shoulders, they flagged down my taxi. "To Nightless Street."

"Sorry, I already have a passenger." The driver didn't seem too keen on taking their fare.

"Cut the fucking bullshit. So what if you have a passenger? We don't mind sharing." One of the guys, roughly my age, slammed his fist against the window and glared at me. "Do you mind?"

I briefly scanned them. The tattooed man wasn't among their group. I handed the driver my fare, pushed the door open, and stepped out.

"Looks like he doesn't mind. Good fucking boy."

The thugs piled into the taxi, cursing up a storm. I watched them drive off, a cold sneer playing on my lips. "You four had better hurry back. That way you might still make it in time to collect your boss's corpse."

Sticking to the shadows, I bypassed the security cameras and slipped into the villa district.

The landscaping in the complex was well-maintained, though it couldn't compare to the villa where Jiang Fei lived. That place was clearly meant for the Jiang family to host business associates and throw private parties, whereas the houses here were mostly handed out to key enforcers of the corporation.

Er Gou hadn't specified exactly which villa it was over the phone, so I scoured the neighborhood using the subtle clues he had casually dropped.

Perhaps because it was dark and drizzling, I didn't run into a single security guard. After searching through half the complex, I finally spotted the van from the surveillance footage.

"They're in this house?" The villa in front of me was significantly larger than the surrounding ones. It was brightly lit inside, figures moving about, and the occasional burst of crude swearing, clinking glasses, and raucous laughter drifted out.

"Your nightlife sure is rich and colorful." I leaned my back against the wall and tipped the Black Eyeball out of the Embroidered Cloth Bag. "Fate Ghost!"

Strands of black hair cascaded over my body before melding into my shadow. If I stepped under a streetlight right now, anyone looking closely would notice two distinct shadows trailing behind me.

I circled around to the back wall of the villa and vaulted the fence. The people inside were incredibly lax, likely assuming no one would ever dare cause trouble on their turf.

The villa had three floors in total. The top floor was Jiang Long's private residence, while the second floor was likely reserved for his most trusted brothers. The ground floor was furnished with a pool table and a custom-built bar, fully stocked with all kinds of liquor.

Standing beside the window frame, I pulled out my phone, turned on the video recorder, and began filming the scene inside.

After panning the camera across the room, I muted the volume and scrutinized the screen.

Between the men and women, there were about seven or eight people partying on the ground floor, but the tattooed man was nowhere to be seen.

"Is he on the second floor?"

The revelry indoors raged on. Not a single person realized that barely half a meter away from the window, I was scaling the exterior drainpipe.

The second-floor window had been left unlocked, making my infiltration far easier than I had anticipated.

I cracked the door open. The corridor outside was dead silent.

"The house is only so big. Where could they have hidden Bai Qi?" Just as I was about to step out, a drunken fat guy stumbled up the stairs, heavily made-up women hanging off both his arms.

I immediately stepped back into the room, pulled the curtains aside, and ducked behind them.

The man and the two women barged into the room. Kicking the door shut behind him, the man practically drooled as he eagerly grabbed one of the girls and pinned her to the bed.

His two-hundred-jin frame sank deep into the spring mattress, creating a massive crater. The girl let out a shriek of pain before a rhythmic, violent creaking echoed from the bedframe.

"What a total animal," the other woman scolded with a laugh. She sat down at the vanity. Just as she took out her colored contacts, she noticed something horribly wrong in the mirror.