Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

After changing his clothes and getting ready, Zhang Dabiao stepped out of the window of his "little nest" balcony and into the village house in Agongyan Village.

The main gate of "Little Nest" connects to the small wooden house in the courtyard of No. 95; the balcony has four aluminum alloy sliding windows, the first one on the left connects to the village house of Agongyan Village, and the second one on the left connects to the small wooden house in the backyard of the teahouse in Lishuiqiao Village.

There are two windows remaining on the balcony, three in the master bedroom, two in the secondary bedroom, and one each in the kitchen and bathroom. However, some windows are too small to open and close properly, making them inconvenient to use as connection points.

In theory, Zhang Dabiao can connect to nine more locations, which should be enough for his needs.

As for whether the cabin can be unbound, we tried and it didn't work. It's possible that only by dismantling and destroying the cabin can we achieve this effect.

There is no current requirement for this, so testing is unnecessary.

After checking the village house, there were no signs of forced entry, which meant that Lou Yufan had not sent anyone to kill him here.

Are you really chickening out?

That shouldn't be the case.

------------

The night was as dark as ink. In the Shau Kei Wan Industrial District, the rusty iron gate of "Yu Fan Plastics Factory" creaked in the evening breeze, resembling a classic set from an old movie villain's hideout. Inside the workshop, the lights were dim, and the oil stains on the floor reflected a few shadowy figures, exuding an indescribable eeriness.

Zhang Yaoyang, a cigarette dangling from his lips, left hand in his pocket, right hand clutching a gleaming watermelon knife that gleamed menacingly in the dim light. He strode steadily, his sneakers clicking on the gravel as if strolling through his own backyard, and kicked open the slightly ajar iron gate.

Yes, they walked in without any attempt to conceal themselves.

They all knew he was coming, and they all knew it was them who did it, so what's the point of hiding it?

"Young Master Lou, is the money ready?"

In the center of the workshop, Lou Yufan, dressed in a black suit, sat in a chair, his face pale, smoking a cigarette. Every now and then, his brow would twitch from the stinging pain. His right hand was tightly bandaged, still oozing blood, indicating it had just been reattached.

With the technology of this era, it should be possible to reconnect blood vessels, bones, muscles, and tendons, but whether nerves can be reconnected is another matter.

Four black-clad henchmen stood in a row behind him, each with their hands in their pockets and bulging waistbands, clearly concealing weapons. In a corner on the second floor of the factory, a man wearing a baseball cap crouched; he was the assassin Lou Yufan had hired, holding a revolver, the muzzle subtly pointed at the door, his breathing extremely low. Qu Wu wasn't there; his entire arm had been severed, more seriously than Lou Yufan's, and he had just undergone surgery and was still in the hospital.

Zhang Dabiao was also taken aback by the sight of this scene—oh my god, I forgot this is Hong Kong, getting guns shouldn't be too difficult, right?

There's still a revolver in my "little nest" that I got from Lou Yufan last night.

careless...

It doesn't matter, I won't die anyway, and I'll recover from being shot in a day or two.

So Zhang Dabiao continued walking forward, one hand in his pocket, pretending to be nonchalant.

You absolutely cannot back down at this time!

Lou Yufan's eyelids twitched suddenly. He had anticipated countless scenarios: Zhang Yaoyang leading a large group to force his way in, or launching a sneak attack, or at the very least, carrying a hunting rifle. He never expected that this guy would just swagger in with a watermelon knife, as if he were carrying a fire poker!

He can't be Sister Li?

"Zhang Yaoyang, you only bring this piece of junk?" Lou Yufan tried to remain calm, but his voice was a little tense. "Ten thousand Hong Kong dollars isn't something you can just take so easily."

"What's wrong with this broken knife?" Zhang Yaoyang took two steps forward, the watermelon knife clanging against the iron rack beside him, sparks flying. "Back in the day, Xu Wenqiang didn't bring an AK47 when he stormed the Paramount! This knife is more than enough to deal with a coward like you."

"Either pay me, or I'll make sure you bleed to death right here. You choose."

The assassin's finger was on the trigger, his eyes coldly fixed on Zhang Yaoyang. He could fire immediately at Lou Yufan's command. But Zhang Yaoyang seemed oblivious, walking straight to Lou Yufan, grabbing a chair, and sitting down casually, showing no concern whatsoever for the guns.

"Zhang Yaoyang, don't do anything reckless!" Lou Yufan was a little nervous, his mind racing.

He originally wanted to take a gamble—kill Zhang Yaoyang, destroy the body with explosives, or set it on fire, or sink it in the sea with cement.

But then I thought, Zhang Yaoyang is Zhang Dabiao's older brother, and Zhang Dabiao is a favorite and a key figure in the eyes of several departments, including the Ministry of Foreign Trade. If Zhang Yaoyang were to die, Zhang Dabiao could go to the ministry and complain, directly blaming it on the Hong Kong Lou family branch, and the Lou family's businesses on the mainland would be completely ruined!

He was just worried about not having any leverage to deal with the Lou family.

Even if you kill Zhang Yaoyang and then send someone to take care of Zhang Dabiao, it won't make a difference; the mainland won't let it go easily.

The $72 in foreign exchange was owed to Zhang Dabiao by the Lou family of Hong Kong. It was to be deposited into the Ministry of Foreign Trade's account; that was a political achievement!

Even when a person dies, their debts cannot be erased.

We can't get rid of Lou Yufan, but the Lou family's headquarters are in Beijing. The son's debts are the father's responsibility, and the Lou family will be finished just the same.

Lou's Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce is on the verge of bankruptcy, relying entirely on occasional gold bars from the mainland to provide financial support. Without its mainland roots, it can only survive for a year or two at most before ultimately going bankrupt and jumping off a building.

If you lose the bet, you die, and the entire Lou family is finished; if you win the bet, you kill Zhang Yaoyang, and the Lou family is still finished.

No matter how you look at it, this deal is a loss, and Lou Yufan has no choice.

As for abandoning his Hong Kong business empire to develop in Southeast Asia...

Lou Yufan didn't know what to develop either; he was a typical example of someone who was good at defending but not good at pioneering.

Sixty years of natural and man-made disasters, coupled with Li Huanggua's commercial obstruction, left him stunned. Without the support from the mainland, he didn't know what else he could do.

If you take that little bit of money to Southeast Asia, without the support of your family or the protection of the Lou family's servants, you'll probably be eaten up in less than a few months.

This year, his confidence has truly been shattered, after all, his opponent is Li Huanggua.

Seeing Lou Yufan's face turn pale and then flushed, like someone running a dye shop, Zhang Yaoyang couldn't help but sneer, "Young Master Lou, has your brain been slammed in a door or kicked by a donkey? Stop dawdling, where's the money?"

"Either give me money, or you kill me, or I'll kill you!"

"Choose one, Young Master Lou!"

With a flick of his wrist, he slammed the watermelon knife onto the worktable between them, making a sharp cracking sound, the blade reflecting a cold, gleaming light. Lou Yufan shuddered in fright and quickly waved his hands, "Here! I'll give it to you!"

One of his henchmen rushed into the inner room, came out carrying a black leather suitcase, slammed it onto the worktable, opened it, and found HK$100,000 neatly stacked inside.

Zhang Yaoyang glanced at it, nodded in satisfaction, and pulled the box over, casually placing the watermelon knife aside: "Wouldn't it have been better to do this earlier? You had to force me to use knives and guns, which only hurts our relationship."

Lou Yufan was furious, but dared not retaliate. He gritted his teeth and asked, "Aren't you really afraid I'll just kill you?"

Zhang Dabiao chuckled and then tore open his coat.

There was a ring of detonators strapped inside!

Meanwhile, Zhang Dabiao was still fiddling with a Zippo lighter, which he had already lit.

"How could I dare to come alone without some preparation?"

Zhang Dabiao grinned slyly.

Actually—that's fake.