The truck driver, trembling, recalled:
"They...they exchanged a few words in slang on the way, which I couldn't understand...Later, at the last rest stop, they secretly made a phone call...When they came back, one of them even smiled at me and said they could make a fortune tonight..."
The night was deep.
In a dimly lit room, dominoes were scattered all over the floor.
Just as Dao Ge was about to lash out, a hand suddenly covered his mouth from behind.
His heart skipped a beat, and he caught a faint whiff of gunpowder and blood.
A cold voice whispered in his ear: "Come out with me."
It's Zhang Cheng.
Dao Ge froze, fear gripping his heart instantly, and he nodded frantically.
The hand released his grip and instead placed itself on his shoulder, neither too light nor too heavy, yet with an irresistible force, pushing him toward the outside.
A few dozen meters away, far from the chaos, Zhang Cheng stopped.
Dao Ge forced out a smile that looked more like a grimace, and turned to Zhang Cheng: "Master Zhang, what's wrong...?"
"Did you hire Zhang Tian's two drivers?" Zhang Cheng interrupted him.
"Yes, yes," Brother Dao nodded repeatedly. "Yesterday afternoon, Boss Zhang asked me to find two drivers, so I went to Xinglong Driving School to inquire..."
"Xinglong Driving School," Zhang Cheng repeated, his tone completely flat.
"take me."
"Oh, oh!" Brother Dao didn't dare to ask any more questions; the invisible pressure emanating from Zhang Cheng made it hard for him to breathe.
"Uncle Zhang, it's about 30 li (15 kilometers) from here to Xinglong Driving School..."
"I have a car."
Zhang Cheng's hand was still on Dao Ge's shoulder as he pushed him toward the Santana parked in the shadows.
Inside the car, Brother Dao felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. He wanted to speak several times, but then swallowed his words back.
He could sense the intense murderous aura emanating from Zhang Cheng, mixed with a faint smell of blood.
Zhang Cheng seemed to have some knowledge of Xinglong Driving School's background, confirming only a few key points from Dao Ge's intermittent supplementary information:
The owner, Zhou Long, has a criminal record and was only released last year. Behind the driving school is the "Jiaxing Gang," a group of local businessmen from Jiaxing.
The car was traveling at a very high speed, and after more than twenty minutes, the Santana stopped outside Xinglong Driving School.
Brother Dao leaned forward: "Brother Zhang, should I go knock on the door?"
"Stay put and don't move."
Zhang Cheng pushed open the door and got out of the car. In a flash, he darted out like a cheetah, using the momentum to push off the wall with both hands, and silently climbed over.
The driving school was deathly silent, with only a faint light shining from the window of a small building in the distance.
Zhang Cheng stealthily approached the Xiaopinglou building like a ghost.
Inside the office, Zhou Long, dressed in a black trench coat, stared blankly at the phone on the desk, a cigarette flickering between his fingers.
"Clang!"
The windowpane shattered with a crash, and a figure rushed in, enveloped in the wind.
Zhou Long suddenly stood up, his hand instinctively reaching for the drawer.
The next moment, his movements froze.
A cold metal tube pressed against his temple. In the drawer, a pistol lay silently.
Zhou Long's Adam's apple bobbed, and after a moment, his voice became somewhat hoarse:
"If you're after money, there are a few hundred in the drawer. If you're after revenge, give me a clear answer, don't leave me in the dark."
Zhang Cheng did not respond. He held the gun in his right hand, and with a flick of his left wrist, a military dagger appeared in his palm.
"puff!"
The dagger sank into Zhou Long's shoulder.
"Hiss!" Zhou Long groaned, cold sweat beading on his forehead. "Friend, let's settle things in the martial world. If you're going to kill or torture someone, do it quickly. Why torture them?"
A cold glint flashed again.
"ah!"
Zhou Long covered his nose as a piece of warm flesh fell to the ground, the intense pain almost causing him to faint.
Before he could react, Zhang Cheng swiftly severed the tendons in the hand that had been raised, and then…
The dagger pierced his left cheek, through his mouth, and emerged from his right cheek.
Zhou Long rolled on the ground, whimpering, with blood and foam continuously gushing from the corner of his mouth.
Zhang Cheng crouched down and expressionlessly pulled out a dagger.
Zhou Long's tendons in both hands were severed, and he could only futilely try to stop the bleeding with his forearms.
"If you have the guts... kill me!" His eyes were filled with resentment, and his voice was muffled.
"Who gave you permission to rob the treasury bonds?" Zhang Cheng's voice was devoid of any emotion.
Zhou Long's eyes flickered, then he roared, "I don't know what you're talking about!"
Zhang Cheng stopped asking questions, slowly stood up, sat down on the chair next to him, and quietly looked at Zhou Long on the ground.
Time passed by, second by second.
Zhou Long felt his body getting colder and colder, and his life force was being drained away little by little along with his blood.
The shadow of death loomed over the land, bringing with it a chilling cold and boundless despair.
He began to tremble, not from the cold, but from a deep-seated fear.
"Kill me...kill me now!" Zhou Long pleaded hoarsely, his will crumbling inch by inch under the gaze of death.
"Answer my question, and you might still have a chance to live."
"A way out?" Zhou Long laughed bitterly; he didn't believe it.
Zhang Cheng asked calmly, "You have family, right? Parents? Wife and children?"
Zhou Long's pupils constricted, and his whole body trembled violently: "No! Family members shouldn't be implicated... That's the rule! You can't..."
Zhang Cheng took out a cigarette and matches from his pocket, lit them, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled the smoke, which blurred his cold, hard features.
Zhou Long completely broke down.
The threat of death, the safety of his family, and the unfathomable ruthlessness and calmness of the man before him shattered his last psychological defenses.
"It's Jiang Jingtang! Jiang Jingtang asked me to make it!"
He shouted the name with all his might, then collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud, his eyes vacant.
Zhang Cheng stood up, raised his military dagger again, and without the slightest hesitation, slashed Zhou Long's carotid artery.
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