Chapter 47: A Restless Night

"Woo-woo-woo..."
The wail of police sirens echoed relentlessly. The entrance of the Pearl Nightclub was jammed with police cars and ambulances.
Numerous police officers rushed to the scene, pulling up yellow warning tape, while medical personnel carried out a steady stream of wounded individuals. Some victims, already placed in body bags, were loaded directly into hearses.
"What on earth happened here?" curious bystanders whispered among themselves.
"I heard it's a bloody turf war between a bunch of guys from Henan and Hunan! Many are dead or wounded, and even the owner of this nightclub was taken out!"
"Oh my god, that's terrifying. Let's get out of here."
A convoy of black Mercedes-Benz sedans pulled up in front of the nightclub. She Zhishan, the leader of the Hunan faction, stepped out, followed by a dark mass of loyal henchmen—sub-bosses who controlled various territories.
"Where is Tie Xiong? Where is Tie Xiong?" She Zhishan shoved past the police cordon, desperate to rush inside and find Tie Xiong, even if it meant only looking at a corpse.
"Boss She, you mustn't go in. The bodies have already been sent to the mortuary," a police officer blocked him. Calling him "Boss She" with a respectful tone, the officer clearly recognized him.
"Is Tie Xiong really dead?" he asked the policeman, his voice laced with uncertainty.
The officer nodded, then hesitated. "We can't be entirely sure yet, but several lives were indeed lost."
At that moment, the lobby manager hurried over. "Boss She, Brother Xiong is truly gone. It's gruesome... his face was beaten beyond recognition!"
She Zhishan closed his eyes in agony as memories of his years with Tie Xiong flooded his mind.
"Boss, my name is Yu Tie, and I want to follow you."
"Heh, little guy, do you have the guts to kill?"
"I do!"
"Boss, there are too many of them. You go, I'll hold them off!"
To outsiders, Tie Xiong was a villain—capricious and elusive.
To Cao Yang, he was a bastard who had coerced Li Yan, schemed against him, and used him as a pawn.
But to She Zhishan, Tie Xiong was an absolute brother.
He had followed him since he was in his teens, once even taking a knife for him in a street fight to save his life. He was one of She Zhishan's most trusted confidants; otherwise, he never would have handed over a lucrative cash cow like the nightclub to him. Yet, in the blink of an eye, they were separated by the veil of death.
"Liu Zhenhu! Fuck your mother!"
She Zhishan channeled all his grief into raging fury directed at Liu Zhenhu. They had an agreement that only the fighter would be handed over and Tie Xiong's involvement would be dropped.
That was why he had trusted Liu, allowing them to come and take their people. He never expected those scumbags to lack all integrity and murder Tie Xiong outright. Looking back, he bore some blame for foolishly trusting the Henan faction!
"Zengqiang, gather all the brothers. Tonight, I want every single property belonging to the Henan faction smashed to the ground! Big or small, destroy them all!"
This was no longer a dispute over interests; it was a war of honor.
You broke your promise, flouted the rules, and dared to kill my man! Did you really think I, She Zhishan of the Hunan faction, was afraid of you? Let's settle this tonight!
...
In the hospital mortuary, beside the corpse of Liu Yilong, a man and a woman stood in silence.
The man, in his forties with a fierce and hardened expression, was none other than Liu Zhenhu, leader of the Henan faction.
The woman, in her twenties, remarkably attractive and dressed in alluring clothes, was his wife.
At this moment, her eyes were swimming with tears as she sobbed uncontrollably.
"Boss, you must avenge Yilong!"
Liu Zhenhu looked down at his younger brother—once so full of life, now completely still—and tears welled up in his fierce eyes.
"Don't worry, sister-in-law. The brat who killed Yilong will be brought here shortly. When he arrives, I'll chop him into eighteen pieces and wipe out his entire family!"
Just as he finished speaking, his phone rang. He answered it, and his expression shifted drastically!
"Fuck your mother, She Zhishan! You blind fool, you dared to play me!"
Liu Zhenhu flew into a towering rage. He had originally intended to spare Tie Xiong and only take Cao Yang's life, but the Hunan faction had set a trap for him. On the surface, they acted all benevolent by releasing the captive, but when his men arrived, they were all ambushed and hacked to death!
Before his anger could subside, his phone rang continuously again. The Hunan faction had launched an offensive, raiding their establishments all across the city!
"Fuck your mothers! Gather the brothers, smash everything back!"
"If they want a war, I'll accompany them to the bitter end!"
Guanacheng was destined to be turbulent tonight. Dozens of violent incidents broke out, and every hospital in the city overflowed with the wounded.
The Public Security Bureau was stretched to its absolute limit. Police cars could be seen hauling people in everywhere on the streets; rumor had it that over two hundred people had been arrested, and the detention centers were packed to capacity.
Cao Yang knew nothing of this chaos. After leaping from the building to escape, his first instinct was to flee Guanacheng, but the gunshot wound on his back was worsening by the minute.
Tie Xiong had thought him a monster for remaining unfazed after being shot, but in reality, it was just the sudden surge of adrenaline masking the pain. Only afterward had the agony set in, and he had no idea whether his internal organs had been damaged.
Regardless, the bullet had to be extracted as soon as possible. He didn't dare go to a hospital—a gunshot wound would inevitably alert the police. His only option was to seek out Lei Yu and her younger brother, his sole friends in this city.
"Knock, knock, knock..."
"Who is it?" Lei Yu asked softly.
"It's me."
Hearing Cao Yang's voice, a wave of joy washed over her. That scoundrel hadn't come to see her for days, and she had half-feared he was going to pull his pants up and deny everything.
Opening the door, she saw that Cao Yang's face was rather pale. "What happened to you?"
"Where is Lei Dian?" Cao Yang scanned the room, failing to spot the younger brother.
"He went out to play. He's never home during the day, probably hanging out at the slot machine parlor again!"
"Call him. Tell him to come back."
"Why call him back? I don't want him knowing about us just yet," Lei Yu said with a shy blush, thinking to herself that his absence was the perfect setting for intimacy. Why summon him back to ruin the mood?
Cao Yang gave her a peculiar look. "Sister Yu, what are your thoughts running to? Is your head full of R-rated scenarios?"
Lei Yu's face instantly flared bright red, resembling a baboon's backside. "Who's the one with their head full of that stuff?! How dare you accuse me!"
"I'm injured. Hurry up and call Lei Dian, tell him to buy some medicine and bring it back so I can treat this wound."
"Ah?"
Hearing that he was hurt, Lei Yu pushed her embarrassment aside and asked with genuine concern, "Where are you injured?"
Cao Yang turned around, presenting his back to her.
"Oh god! There's so much blood!"
Cao Yang removed his shirt, asking Lei Yu if she could see the bullet.
"I can't, it's too deep. We have to go to the hospital."
Going to the hospital meant walking right into a trap; Cao Yang had no intention of doing that.
Before long, Lei Dian returned with the medical supplies.
"What's going on?" he asked anxiously.
Cao Yang didn't want to explain too much for fear of alarming them, and simply urged Lei Dian to hurry up and treat the wound.
"Holy shit! A gunshot wound!" Lei Dian was startled. He had assumed it was a slash from a machete, not a bullet.
He first sterilized the area with rubbing alcohol, then picked up a pair of tweezers and began probing the wound, attempting to fish out the bullet.
However, being clumsy with his hands, he failed to grip it after several attempts, making Lei Yu anxious as she watched from the side.
Watching the tweezers poke back and forth inside Cao Yang's flesh, Cao Yang remained silent, but the pain pierced straight through her heart.
"Step aside! You're completely useless at everything!"
She shoved Lei Dian away, snatched the tweezers from his hand, and set to extracting the bullet herself.
Women truly possessed greater dexterity. She didn't waste much effort before successfully pulling the bullet out.
The moment the bullet emerged, blood gushed freely from the wound, prompting them to quickly apply medication and wrap it tightly in gauze.
"This wound is too deep. We really need to go to the hospital."
"It's fine. As long as the bleeding stops."
Seeing his firm insistence, the siblings dropped the subject.
"Who the hell did this to you?" Lei Dian asked, unable to swallow his anger. Anyone using a gun clearly wasn't a run-of-the-mill street punk.
Cao Yang glanced at him and smiled faintly. "Tie Xiong from the Hunan faction. Know him?"
"I know him, you've mentioned him before. Weren't you two on decent terms?"
Cao Yang sneered and shook his head, offering no further explanation.
"Don't worry, once your wound heals, I'll go with you to take him down!"
"So what if he's from the Hunan faction? At the end of the day, we all carry our heads on our shoulders. Who's afraid of who?!"
Before Lei Dian could finish, a resounding slap landed on the back of his head from Lei Yu.
"I tell you both to work honestly and stay away from the underworld! I've no wish to collect either of your corpses!"
"If people don't trouble us, we won't trouble them. But if they cross us, we strike back!" Lei Dian argued loudly, spouting youthful, rebellious bravado as he bickered with his sister.