Chapter 185: No Room for Mercy
Xiao Ye spent ten minutes.
He finally found the mechanism.
As for the woman outside, the driver who had been sent over had already knocked her unconscious.
The secret door opened, revealing an entrance just wide enough for one person.
Xiao Ye quickly entered.
It wasn't very deep inside. After a short flight of stairs, he came to a second door.
A man in black stood guard before the door.
When he saw someone approaching, his first reaction wasn't to stop them, but to lower his head respectfully.
'This place must have never been infiltrated before. Anyone coming through the entrance is treated as one of their own.'
This made things much more convenient for Xiao Ye.
He nodded, his voice low. "Open the door."
"Yes!"
RUMBLE.
The secure door slowly opened.
Xiao Ye stepped inside.
Inside was a room built entirely of pitch-black metal.
It was quite spacious.
The first thing he saw was an open area, surrounded by signs of training.
A path led further in, flanked by rooms. 'This must be where the Death Warriors eat and rest.'
'There has to be another exit. Going in and out through the supermarket warehouse is too risky, even if it has a back door.'
Xiao Ye pushed open one of the doors.
The two men on the beds shot up simultaneously, their reactions incredibly fast.
They immediately got out of bed. "Sir!"
Xiao Ye nodded, stepped forward, and while their guard was down, he struck!
THUD! THUD!
The two men fell to the ground, motionless.
They weren't dead, however, just temporarily knocked out.
Xiao Ye repeated the process, going through every room and taking down all the Death Warriors inside.
Only then did he contact the Zhu Family, telling them to come pick up the men and lock them away in a secure location.
These men were loyal only to the one who held the token.
The day Xiao Ye found that token, he would be able to command them.
CRASH!
A teacup was slammed onto the floor.
The expensive porcelain shattered into pieces.
Liu Loulan's face was livid. "The Death Warriors are all gone?"
"That's right. They're all gone."
"The security footage is gone too, but the external cameras caught something."
"The car belongs to the Zhu Family. The person who got out was wearing a mask—it's the same person from last time!"
Liu Loulan trembled with rage. The Death Warriors were her trump card.
Without them, things would never have gone so smoothly for her.
But now, she had lost so many of her Death Warriors in one fell swoop.
"The Zhu Family... it was actually the Zhu Family! Why would they do this?" Liu Loulan couldn't make heads or tails of it.
She carefully racked her brain, certain that she had never provoked the Zhu Family.
'No, it's not just that I never provoked them; I've had almost no contact with them at all.'
"Don't they say the Zhu Family never meddles in outside affairs? Why would they target my Xiao Family?"
Her subordinate looked at the enraged Liu Loulan and stammered, "We... we haven't found out why either. But it's very likely connected to that person."
"Previously, didn't we receive word that Xiao Ling might have an illegitimate son, and that he's already in the Imperial City?"
"He even summoned those people from the Xiao Family for a meeting at Dragon Abyss Tower."
"So I suspect... if this illegitimate son is real, then the Zhu Family is the one who found him. If he's a fake, then the Zhu Family is planning to make a move against our Xiao Family!"
"This won't do. I need to have a talk with the Zhu Family!"
「The next morning, at ten o'clock.」
「Dragon Abyss Tower.」
This time, in addition to the ten people from yesterday, many more had arrived.
But Xiao Ye spotted the problem at a glance.
'One of them has a treacherous, cunning look on his face. He's definitely here with an ulterior motive!'
The reason Xiao Ye had them come again the next day was to test Liu Loulan's reaction.
'Last time, she didn't send anyone because she looked down on them.'
'But for her to send someone this time, she must have already uncovered something.'
With this in mind, he picked up the microphone, his voice booming through the private room.
"Someone here is being dishonest."
"One of Liu Loulan's people has infiltrated your ranks."
"Find him. And get rid of him!"
Hearing the voice, the crowd exchanged bewildered glances.
Third Master's expression turned cold. "What are you all standing around for? Find him! And find out who brought him here!"
'If they, as members of the Xiao Family, couldn't even handle this, then Xiao Ye would have to reconsider cooperating with them.'
'If he weren't trying to save time, he wouldn't have resorted to this strategy of coordinating an attack from both inside and out.'
About half an hour later.
They located the man, along with the traitor who brought him in, and seized them both.
"We've found them," Third Master announced.
Xiao Ye's voice echoed once more. "You can all go back now. Remember to take care of the traitor."
"This is no time for soft-heartedness. Show me your capability and resolve."
With that, Xiao Ye switched off the microphone and left.
'Looks like Liu Loulan is getting desperate.'
'This is clearly the best time to strike!'
Xiao Ye immediately made a call, ordering someone to post all of Liu Loulan's various misdeeds online.
The posts were well-reasoned and backed by solid evidence.
Although they weren't major crimes, they involved a powerful family. Xiao Ye also had someone pay to get the topic trending.
The story was written to be dramatic and suspenseful, and in just a few moments, the view count skyrocketed!
The more powerful the family, the more they cared about their reputation.
And this was especially true for Liu Loulan.
When she saw the news online, she nearly fainted from shock.
"You useless trash!" Her dragon-headed cane came down hard on a subordinate's back. "What do I keep you around for? Hurry up and get all of this deleted!"
"We can't... Patriarch. We can't delete it this time..."
"Can't delete it? Why not?" Liu Loulan was suddenly struck with a terrible premonition.
Ever since Xiao Ye appeared, more and more things had been slipping out of her control.
'For the past twenty years, everything had gone perfectly! She'd never experienced anything like this.'
"The Zhu Family has interfered. That's why we can't delete it."
Liu Loulan shot to her feet. She had originally planned to visit the Zhu Family tomorrow.
'Since things have come to this, she'd just have to move up her plans!'
"Get the car ready immediately! We're going to the Zhu Family!"
"I'm going to see for myself what on earth is going on!"
「Three o'clock in the afternoon.」
「At the entrance to the Zhu Family's old estate.」
Liu Loulan got out of the car and, leaning on her cane, walked step-by-step through the main gate.
The members of the Zhu Family had long known she would come. They weren't surprised and had even prepared tea.
Seeing this, Liu Loulan felt a small measure of relief. But the moment she took a sip of tea, her heart went cold.
'This is last year's tea; it's practically stale. Is my status not enough for the Zhu Family to serve me this year's finest harvest?'
Zhu Chen smiled faintly. "Ms. Liu."
"No. You should address me as Patriarch Xiao!"
"But your surname isn't Xiao," Zhu Chen said bluntly. "The Zhu Family serves its tea based on the guest."
"Those who are worthy are served accordingly."