Chapter 522 - 522: 522
Having left the Ding Family Courtyard, Ye Qing drove directly and rapidly toward the orphanage. It took him a little over an hour to get there.
Many people had gathered outside the orphanage, mainly to watch the excitement. Inside the orphanage, the building that previously stood had collapsed halfway. On top of the rubble, many people were busy trying to move the fallen bricks to see if there were any survivors.
Da Fei, with a group of people, was busy at the scene with many injured. Huang Fulin, with tears in his eyes, stood outside, silently sobbing, his mouth agape as he stared at the pile of debris, looking much older.
Seeing Ye Qing, Huang Fulin approached him, his voice trembling, "Boss Ye, what... what happened? What exactly happened here? The children were all in class inside the building. How could such a thing happen?"
Tears also welled up in Ye Qing's eyes; his heart ached more than anyone else present. Looking at the heap of debris, his heart filled with hatred once more; now, he only wanted to kill Ding Shaoyan to avenge these children!
"Big Brother!" Da Fei came over, his expression also very pained, "I've called two more construction teams, and some friends have come to help. But the rubble is buried too deep. We probably won't be able to clear it until tonight."
"What's the situation now? How many… how many…" Ye Qing's voice choked; he wanted to ask Da Fei how many bodies had been found, but he simply couldn't utter those words.
Da Fei understood what Ye Qing meant, "So far, no bodies have been found, just a few staff members were injured and have been taken to the hospital. There's no danger to their lives. The children's classrooms were mainly over there, but that area is buried under the debris, so it's hard to say what the situation inside is like!"
Although no deaths had been reported, Ye Qing still felt very heavy-hearted since the remaining half of the building had almost been completely buried by the debris after the explosion. Even if the children in those classrooms hadn't collapsed due to the explosion, being buried under the rubble, who knew how many might lose their lives!
"No matter what, we must find everyone!" Ye Qing said sternly.
"Big Brother, don't worry!" Da Fei, "I will dig down three feet to find everyone. Big Brother, you wait here; I'm going to help dig!"
Having said this, Da Fei took off his coat and ran over to join the others in moving the debris. Ye Qing wasn't idle either; he also ran over and worked even harder than Da Fei.
Before long, Li Lianshan also arrived with his people. Seeing the situation, Li Lianshan was indeed shocked.
"Ye Zi, I heard you went to the Ding Family and made a fuss. What happened?" Li Lianshan pulled Ye Qing aside and asked anxiously.
Ye Qing recounted the incident of Ding Shaoyan calling him; having heard Ye Qing out, Li Lianshan's eyes widened in anger. "Are you saying this was done by Ding Shaoyan?"
"Absolutely him!" Ye Qing said sternly. He could unmistakably recognize Ding Shaoyan's voice.
"Damn it, how could that kid be so utterly heartless?" Li Lianshan exclaimed angrily: "These are just kids; how could he possibly go through with this? Lin Tianhao isn't even as cruel as him. Putting bombs in a place where children go to school—is this the act of a human?"
Since Li Lianshan had adopted Mao Mao, he had also grown very fond of children. If Ding Shaoyan had placed bombs somewhere adults gathered, he might not have been so angry. But Ding Shaoyan had planted bombs in Ye Qing's orphanage, possibly killing many children, which Li Lianshan found most unacceptable.
"Bastard, beast, bastard!" Li Lianshan cursed a few times, "So, what happened? Did you catch him? Did you kill him?"
Ye Qing shook his head, gritting his teeth, "He ran away, but for this incident, I must make him pay with his blood!"
"It should be more than just an eye for an eye, damn it, I think burying the whole Ding Family wouldn't be enough!" Li Lianshan exclaimed angrily. "Ding Shaoyan, that bastard, being capable of such deeds, clearly shows that the Ding Family's people are supporting him. Damn his ancestors; I swear, if I ever see him, I'll tear him into pieces!"
Ye Qing didn't speak. He too wanted to tear Ding Shaoyan into pieces, but now he couldn't even find Ding Shaoyan, let alone take revenge. It seemed, only when Tie Yongwen returned tonight, could he handle this matter.
Ye Qing trusted Tie Yongwen, but in this affair, he still didn't know whether he could trust him. After all, Tie Yongwen was the old bodyguard of the Ding Family, not a Ding Family member. In the eyes of the Ding Family, he might just be a household slave; how could he be the master of the Ding Family? The last time he disabled Ding Shaoyan, it had displeased the Ding Family members. If not for Elder Master Ding stepping in to resolve the issue, even he might not have been able to settle that matter.
And this time, how should he handle the situation? Without Elder Master Ding's authorization, he couldn't touch Ding Shaoyan at all. But would Elder Master Ding authorize him to kill his own grandson? Although Elder Master Ding seemed very open-minded, last time they merely crippled Ding Shaoyan's martial arts, which wasn't a serious punishment. This time it was about killing Ding Shaoyan; he couldn't possibly agree!
Ye Qing was filled with contradictions. For this matter, he knew he couldn't rely on Tie Yongwen. But he couldn't avoid Tie Yongwen either; deciding how to seek revenge was indeed a challenging issue. It looked like he had to take it one step at a time!
Li Lianshan swore at the Ding family for a while and then joined Ye Qing in helping to move the debris, which was crucial for rescuing people. During the process, they dug out a few injured people. These individuals were fortunate; although the building had collapsed, it hadn't killed them, but they were injured and would probably need to stay in the hospital for a while.
These circumstances gave Ye Qing quite some hope; if those children could also be this lucky, that would be great. Ye Qing didn't dare to think more about it; looking at the condition of the collapsed building, if more than two hundred children could come out alive, then he would be satisfied.
The crowd on the debris worked tirelessly, even the normally lazy delinquents didn't feel tired at that moment. Everyone understood the severity of the situation, knowing that the quicker they could clear the debris, the bigger the chance of rescuing people. Thus, everyone kept their heads down and worked without thinking of anything else; no one was willing to rest for even a moment.
Ye Qing, along with others, moved bricks and shoveled dirt, busy for a long time. As the debris on top steadily decreased, his heart started beating faster. As they were about to clear all the debris, Ye Qing felt both hopeful and fearful, hoping that there would be more survivors than dead inside.
Just as Ye Qing was dumping a cart of dirt to the side, he glanced toward the crowd of onlookers and saw a man in a baseball cap looking at the debris site.
Ye Qing paused, his expression suddenly changed because he recognized the man. He was the instigator behind the Beihua Residential Area explosion. Following that, he blew up Old Five Chen and his nephew, then caused a severe explosion at the North Huanqian Bay Bar, and was even involved in the incident where He Ziqiang and several police officers were killed. Unexpectedly, he had shown up here too. Could it be that he was involved in this explosion as well?
Honestly, Ye Qing never truly understood what sort of person this man was. Logically, he should have come back to avenge that old lady. But after blowing up Old Five Chen and his nephew, what this man did couldn't be simplistically described as seeking revenge anymore. In the explosion at North Huanqian Bay Bar, he blew up Yang Wei and several others. And in the He Ziqiang incident, he also killed He Ziqiang and several police officers without a clear motive. However, Ye Qing had never considered him a bad person.
Yet, the orphanage explosion completely changed Ye Qing's view of him; a surge of rage engulfed him, and half of the anger he felt towards Ding Shaoyan was now directed at this man.
The man, sensing Ye Qing's gaze, immediately turned and walked out of the crowd.
Ye Qing immediately dropped the cart and rushed out of the orphanage, squeezing through the crowd, but he had already lost sight of the man.
The streets were desolately empty; Ye Qing couldn't find any trace of him. He ran a few street corners forward, but still couldn't see the man; eventually, he had no choice but to stand desolately at the street corner, filled with resentment. He stood silently for a long time and then fiercely punched a nearby pillar. Although his fist was skinned, Ye Qing seemed not to feel it at all, for nothing but hatred remained in his heart!
Ye Qing couldn't find the man, not because the man hid well, but because he had already left Eryao Town. The man had stopped a car outside, and seeing Ye Qing had noticed him, he immediately drove away. By the time Ye Qing squeezed out of the crowd, his car had already left the street corner, and of course, Ye Qing couldn't catch up with him.
The man drove out of Eryao Town and arrived at the North Suburb, stopping directly in front of a house.
The man entered the yard where three people were sitting playing poker. Seeing the man come in, the three didn't even pay attention and continued playing.
The man didn't interact with these three people and directly walked into the living room where two people were seated. One of them was Xu Dingjiang.
Seeing the man come in, Xu Dingjiang immediately stood up and smiled, "How did it go? Is the job done?"
"It's done," the man nodded and said, "Where's my money?"
"It's already prepared!" Xu Dingjiang handed a case to the man and smiled, "One million, you can count it yourself!"
"One million?" The man frowned and said sternly, "That's not the same as the price we agreed on!"
"I know," Xu Dingjiang smiled and said, "We agreed on two million, but I found that this job was really too easy and simply not worth two million."
The man looked up at Xu Dingjiang and said, "You mean you want to break your promise and only give me half the money?"