The First Order

Zhou Yingxue’s guess was pretty accurate. The gunshot she heard was from Ren Xiaosu as he completed his mission at the gang’s headquarters. Moreover, this commotion had caused the stronghold’s troops to be deployed.The entire stronghold’s management was alerted as they never expected a shooting would happen in their peaceful stronghold.

Would the gunshots affect the A-rank mission?

The short answer would be “yes.”

Zhou Yingxue waited on the rooftop while Wu Tong and the others blended into the crowd on the street below. They had planned on pretending to be pedestrians to observe their surroundings. But when the gunshots rang out, all of the stronghold residents headed home. Only Wu Tong and the others were left standing in the streets as they continued to stubbornly pretend to be pedestrians.

Someone shouted at them from a window, “People, hurry on home already. Don’t be wandering around out here! It’s dangerous! Didn’t you hear the gunshots?”

Everyone else had left after they heard the gunshots. As such, the few who remained out on the streets stuck out like a sore thumb.

Quick-witted, Wu Tong gave some hand signals to the hitman beside him and pretended to be deaf and mute.

Wu Tong was embittered. He did not know what was going on. The missions he usually did would proceed quite smoothly, but why was nothing going well this time?

Zhou Yingxue was rejoicing up on the roof with the brick in hand, thinking of how fortunate she was to not be downstairs.

However, the gunshots did not only affect Wu Tong and the others. It also affected Zhou Xilong’s schedule.

The target, Zhou Xilong, was a very cautious person to begin with. He would usually take seven bodyguards with him whenever he went out in the stronghold. If that wasn’t being cautious, what was?

Of course, the most cautious person Ren Xiaosu had ever met was still Qing Zhen. He went as far as moving into the military barracks and living there.

Ren Xiaosu also did not expect the gang to possess guns. Even though the strongholds in the Southwest and Northwest were chaotic, gun control measures there were still quite strict. It would be fantastic for a small gang to own knives.

But of course, this gang only had two guns in their possession. In normal times, the deterrent of guns was much greater than their actual power. Actually, the members of the gang did not dare to fire the weapons either. At most, they would bring it out to the wilderness to feel its might. These guns were actually secretly bought from the private troops.

If it weren’t for the fact that the situation called for the guns to be used, they would probably not get to use them again in the future.

But unfortunately, the first time the mob boss fired his gun in the stronghold, nobody but him ended up dying.

At this moment, Ren Xiaosu was making his way to the meeting place. He did not know that Zhou Yingxue and the others had already headed over to Red Pine Lane.

A vehicle from the Public Order Division drove past him, but it did not notice him. From his appearance, he was just a normal young man who did not look like a hitman.

Ren Xiaosu turned around and looked into the distance. The sunset cascaded in the evening sky as the golden glow enveloped his skin like warm seawater.

He did not care how great a commotion he had caused in the stronghold. All he felt was that everything was going pretty smoothly today!

…

Wu Tong and the others did not see Zhou Xilong’s convoy returning home even late into the night. It was as if the gunshots that rang out earlier had caused their target to quickly move to another location.

Furthermore, his informant even called him on the satellite phone to inform him that someone had already picked up Zhou Xilong’s daughter an hour ahead of schedule while she was still attending class. It seemed that Zhou Xilong was already alerted.

Seeing that they could not complete the mission today, they decided to retreat. Zhou Yingxue waited until more pedestrians reappeared on the streets before leaving the rooftop with the long case slung over her back.

When they arrived back at the outside of the safe house, they saw that the lights were on. Wu Tong frowned. “Could someone have leaked the news and compromised my safe house?”

“I don’t think so.” A hitman said, “I can hear someone cooking inside….”

Everyone was at a loss for words. What kind of strange situation was this? Disregarding the fact that someone had barged into the safe house in the middle of the night, the intruder even ended up cooking inside?

They could even smell the aroma of food!

“Fuck! Let’s just go in and have a look.” Wu Tong clenched his teeth and took out a key to open the door. If the Zhou Consortium had already discovered his safe house, then it meant they had enough information on him. If he did not check out the situation right now, he would have to leave the Zhou Consortium’s territory to seek refuge elsewhere.

As soon as he entered, Wu Tong saw Zhou Yingxue’s assistant walk out of the kitchen. Her assistant greeted him, “Hey, you guys are back already? Have you eaten yet? I didn’t cook for y’all. Also, your stove’s gas tank’s almost empty. Remember to fill it up tomorrow.”

Everyone was dumbfounded. They looked at Zhou Yingxue to hear her calmly say, “I had him contact an informant, so he was late.”

“Mhm.” Ren Xiaosu nodded. “That’s right.”

Zhou Yingxue asked, “Have you gotten in touch with the informant? Did he say why there were gunshots in the stronghold today? That incident seems to have affected our mission as Zhou Xilong did not appear as planned.”

Ren Xiaosu realized something. “Oh, yes, I was told the gunshots were caused by a gang war. Someone took out an entire gang at the spa.”

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. So it was due to a black swan event like that.

The “black swan event” referred to an unexpected event that resulted in a series of severe chain reactions.

Ren Xiaosu termed this a tiny moth event. In any case, they were both sort of grayish and could also fly.

Zhou Yingxue pulled Ren Xiaosu onto the balcony and muttered, “Was it you that caused all that? Do you know how badly it would affect me if you suddenly left? They said they were going to conduct the mission today, but you ended up not being around. I nearly started panicking because of that! What if they really made a move today and you didn’t make it back on time?”

Ren Xiaosu said calmly, “Look, even though they said they were going to conduct the mission today, I made sure they couldn’t. It doesn’t matter what they say.”

Zhou Yingxue was stunned. ‘How can you be so overly confident!’

…

Outside the stronghold, a convoy of vehicles was driving in from the west. They had yet to hand over the customs documents to enter the stronghold when Luo Lan, who was sitting in the vehicle, exclaimed in admiration when he heard the gunshots, “This is so exciting! The strongholds in the Central Plains are not as safe as I would have imagined. There’s actually a shooting happening in broad daylight?”

Next to him, Zhou Qi rolled his eyes. “Aren’t you worried that you’ll get hurt in such an exciting place? You must be aware that you only answer to one person in the Qing Consortium now, and that you’re above everyone else. You’ll get to enjoy a lifetime of glory and wealth. As the saying goes, ‘The son of a wealthy family does not sit under the eaves; a gentleman does not stand under a shaky wall.'[1]”

Luo Lan chuckled. “Where’s the fun in that? What I like most are exciting places like these. In the past, the Southwest was quite an interesting place, and just thinking about it makes me so excited! Now that the Southwest has come under the control of the Qing Consortium, the matters I have to handle every day have become so trivial. Matters like a power struggle between the Public Order Division and the Audit Department or an applicant recommendation from a certain family seeking a good job position! What kinda nonsense is that!”

“But that’s a good thing. If someone asks you for help, it means there’s money to be had!” Zhou Qi’s eyes lit up.

“Am I someone who lacks that bit of money?” Luo Lan gave Zhou Qi a sidelong glance. “You have to take a long-term view of things. We’re people destined for bigger things.”

“Was that why you volunteered to Qing Zhen to come to the Central Plains? And he even agreed to it too?” Zhou Qi said in a speechless manner.

“Of course. I came to the Central Plains to stir up trouble. I wouldn’t go anywhere if there was nothing promising about the place!”

“So why have we come to Stronghold 73?” Zhou Qi asked with a frown.

“Hehe, that Zhou Xilong from the Zhou Consortium has always advocated for the research and development of nuclear weapons. Although we probably won’t get along with someone like that, we should still support him a little so the Zhou Consortium can help deflect some attention from us. That would be a good thing for us too.” Luo Lan smiled and said, “That’s why we’re meeting Zhou Xilong this time. The appointment is set for tomorrow.”

[1] People important or revered should not put themselves in a dangerous situation.