Chapter 45: Are You One of the Falcon's Men?

After leaving Dongxing Group, Lin Fan found a random restaurant, ordered some food, and began to eat. Since breakfast, when he had eaten what Zhao Ying bought for him, he had spent the whole day by Tang Rui’s side without eating a thing. No wonder he was starving.

During this time, Mo Fei called to inform him that everything had been taken care of, and that the man was now with Xu Qiang. After a bit of idle chatter, they hung up. Lin Fan trusted his brothers implicitly—if he couldn’t trust them, he truly wondered if there was anyone left in the world worthy of trust.

Hailing a cab, Lin Fan headed to Xu Qiang’s club, “Never Sets.”

“Boss, when I got there this afternoon, the guy was tailing ‘your sister.’ I thought, who dares to mess with the boss’s sister? Must have a death wish. So I just brought him over,” Mo Fei greeted Lin Fan with his usual cheeky grin.

“Where is he? And if you ever mention ‘your sister’ again, I’ll send you to see your own,” Lin Fan shot him a fierce glare.

Mo Fei chuckled and pushed open the door of the innermost room on the second floor. In the center of the room lay a man, blood stains all over the floor—clearly, Mo Fei and Xu Qiang had “taken good care” of him.

Xu Qiang grabbed the man by the hair and dragged him over like a dead dog. “Boss, what do you want to do with him? Should I kill him?”

After so many missions with the Falcons, killing was second nature to Xu Qiang. Give him another task and he might fumble, but ask him to kill and it would be over in a flash.

Lin Fan didn’t reply. He strolled leisurely to the sofa, rolled up his trouser leg, sat down, and looked at the terrified man. Smiling faintly, he asked, “Do you want to live or die?”

The man shuddered, his voice trembling. “Who… who are you people?” He clearly had no idea when he had offended such a figure. Lin Fan chuckled, glanced up at Xu Qiang.

Though it had been four years since they last worked together, Xu Qiang and Lin Fan still shared a tacit understanding from their days on missions.

With a sneer, Xu Qiang grabbed the man’s jaw, forced his mouth open, and stuffed a rag inside.

The man, panic-stricken and clueless as to what would happen next, planted his hands on the ground, trying to get up. In that instant, Xu Qiang raised his foot and stomped down hard.

His foot landed squarely on the man’s hand, the force more than a hundred pounds. With a sickening crack, several of the man’s finger bones shattered. He writhed on the floor in agony, sweat pouring from his forehead, but with his mouth blocked, the screams that would have shaken the whole bar were muffled.

After a while, drained of strength, the man lay slumped on the floor, his clothing soaked with sweat, a hoarse groan rising from his throat. Xu Qiang, his foot on the man’s back, yanked the rag out and snorted, “People never learn until they taste punishment!”

A wicked smile on his lips, eyes sharp as daggers, Lin Fan gazed down at the man and spoke gently, “Answer my questions, or you’ll only suffer more. Do you understand?”

Gasping for breath, the man summoned all his strength, looked up at Lin Fan, and when he caught sight of the phoenix eyes glinting beneath Lin Fan’s long fringe, a chill ran through his bones. Weakly, he stammered, “I… I understand…”

“Good. Self-awareness is the most important thing,” Lin Fan nodded approvingly, leaning against the sofa as he asked, “Now tell me, who are you? And why were you following that woman?”

Drawing a shuddering breath, the man answered, “I’m from the Green Gang. I was ordered to keep an eye on that woman, see who she meets. That’s all I know, I’m just a nobody in the gang.”

When Mo Fei first told him someone was tailing Feifei, Lin Fan’s mind had jumped to the Angels of Purgatory. But now, with the Green Gang suddenly in the picture, it caught him off guard.

Reading the flicker in the man’s eyes, Lin Fan knew he still hadn’t told the whole story.

“You still haven’t told me the real reason you were following her. One of your hands is already useless—do you want to lose the other?” Lin Fan’s lips curled into a cold smile.

The words sent a chill from the man’s toes to the roots of his hair. Swallowing hard, he forced himself to sound calm, “If I tell you, will you let me go?”

“It’s for the Blood Jade, isn’t it?” Lin Fan’s lip curled as he cut to the heart of the matter.

“You… how did you know… you…” The man stammered, but before he could finish, a silver needle flashed and pierced his throat. Eyes wide open, he fell over, dead.

He had only overheard, by accident, some big shots in the gang talking about the girl possibly having the Blood Jade. Even as he died, he never figured out how Lin Fan knew. But he would never have the chance to ask.

“Brother Qiang, there’s someone outside looking for you, says his name is Hu Zifeng,” a young man’s voice called through the door.

Xu Qiang frowned, puzzled—he didn’t know anyone by that name.

But Lin Fan did. He had told Hu Zifeng, back in the prison cell, to come straight to “Never Sets” after he got out, and to look for a man named Xu Qiang, saying that Lin Fan had sent him. Lin Fan knew Xu Qiang would understand. Now that Hu Zifeng had arrived, it was clear Zhao Ying had finished her investigation.

“Qiang, I’ll introduce you to someone,” Lin Fan said, leading the way out.

Outside, Hu Zifeng saw Lin Fan and respectfully greeted him, “Boss.” Not knowing what Lin Fan was like, he dared not speak freely and watched his manners closely.

“Qiang, from now on Zifeng will be with you,” Lin Fan said, patting Hu Zifeng on the shoulder. “Don’t worry—I’ll keep my promise to you.”

Hearing this, Hu Zifeng understood that revenge wouldn’t happen overnight, and he’d need patience. In fact, he was now more curious about Lin Fan’s identity than revenge itself.

He knew who his enemy was, but Lin Fan remained a mystery. Though he had a wild guess, he found it hard to believe—how could someone from the Falcons end up in the underworld?

Nodding lightly, Hu Zifeng turned to Xu Qiang, “Brother Qiang.”

Just then, an evening breeze swept by, revealing the tattoo on Xu Qiang’s arm. Hu Zifeng caught sight of it, his face instantly changing to one of shock. “You’re with the Falcons?” The question was tinged with certainty—such a tattoo wasn’t something just anyone could bear...

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