Becoming a god starts with one certificate becoming eternal.

Yan Quan immediately said:

"It seems someone instructed them a few days ago to cause some trouble in Sanjing Lane. According to your rules, the first time we suppressed them, the second time we made a mistake, and those people quieted down."

Ye Xiao hummed in agreement.

Yan Quan didn't leave; instead, he lowered his voice even further:

"There's one more thing... something happened to the Giant Shark Gang at the docks."

The shovel slammed against the edge of the furnace.

He paused for only half a breath, then continued flipping through the pages.

Ye Xiao's voice remained calm: "What happened?"

Yan Quan gritted his teeth:

"The Giant Shark Wharf was raided, a number of key members were killed, and the rest scattered. Everyone outside says that Tianyuan was behind it, but the information I received is that the Shangcheng branch behind Tianyuan was responsible."

The fire crackled and popped, as if it were grinding bones to powder for those words.

Tian Yuan.

Giant shark.

Ye Xiao knew better than anyone how this fire started. That robbery was originally intended to pin the score on the Giant Shark.

He just hadn't expected the fire to burn so fiercely.

They were so ruthless that the entire gang disbanded overnight.

Yan Quan's Adam's apple bobbed as he lowered his voice to add the real key point:

"Mad Shark, the leader of the Giant Shark Gang... has disappeared without a trace."

"That madman is notoriously vengeful. While the Giant Shark Gang was still around, he was somewhat wary of us. Now that the gang is gone, he's become an even bigger outlaw. If he ever feels something's wrong, he might turn on us."

Ye Xiao didn't speak.

He wasn't worried about himself.

It's the latch on the door of Qingshi Lane, Xiaoxue's smile as she clutches the candy, and the hand her mother used to stuff the meat pie into his arms.

The firelight reflected the fleeting coldness in his eyes, like cold iron turning over in the fire.

Ye Xiao suddenly asked, "How did this news get here?"

Yan Quan was taken aback.

Ye Xiao didn't explain, but instead pressed the question even more precisely: "The Mad Shark is missing, who let us hear that?"

Yan Quan's expression tightened slightly.

It's normal for news to spread quickly on the streets after the docks have been seized.

But the news of the 'gang leader's disappearance' usually doesn't spread so easily unless someone deliberately spreads it. It's either suppressed as a rumor or simply said to be dead.

Yan Quan said in a low voice:

"It was a message delivered by Shen Sheng. He said it had already spread throughout the streets."

Ye Xiao placed the iron shovel on the edge of the furnace, his hand pausing on the handle as if weighing a piece of iron.

Shen Sheng.

He had known all along that this man was aligned with more than one side. His gaze was different from Yan Quan's and Ma Wu's; it was as if he were keeping accounts.

Ye Xiao didn't expose it, but kept that thread tightly bound in his heart.

Master Huang.

Ye Xiao's tone remained calm:

"Go back as usual, and also convey the message to Shen Sheng."

Yan Quan immediately straightened up: "Yes!"

Ye Xiao spoke each word with absolute certainty:

"In Qing Shi Lane, the original covert protection will not be removed; three more layers will be added."

"Don't draw attention to anything. Just keep an eye on three things... unfamiliar footsteps, scouting glances, and people loitering at night. If you see them, remember their faces, but don't make a scene."

"Report to me immediately if you spot any trace of Mad Shark."

"Yes!" Yan Quan replied, then couldn't help but whisper, "Sir, if Mad Shark really comes knocking, do you plan to deal with him alone?"

"Although I have never met him, I have heard a lot of rumors about him. He has been a quasi-martial artist for many years, and he always fights like he doesn't care about his life, using moves that will hurt the enemy a thousand but also hurt himself eight hundred."

"Should we ask Master Huang for help? After all, he was the one who gave us the last mission."

"Master Huang won't intervene." Ye Xiao shook his head, his voice low but firm: "This is up to us."

He turned the iron shovel in his hand, the heat hitting his face, but his tone remained calm:

"If Mad Shark really comes knocking on my door, I'll make him regret it."

……

The dampness felt like a wet cloth, clinging to the skin.

In a dilapidated warehouse in the alley of the lower town, only an oil lamp was lit. The flame was so thin and weak that it could not illuminate the four corners, but only the dark shadow by the wall.

The crazy shark leaned against there.

His upper body was wrapped in cloth, and blood was still seeping through it. Drops of blood fell into the cracks in the wooden planks, as if someone was counting his lives in the dark. His breathing was heavy, like a wild beast panting, but with each inhale, his chest tightened slightly... the wound went deep into his bones.

He held a blackened bone needle in his hand, its tip glowing red from being heated over the lamp.

The next instant, the bone needle pierced the wound.

The smell of blood immediately intensified. A vein throbbed on Mad Shark's forehead, but he didn't even flinch; instead, he let out a low, hoarse laugh:

"The dogs uptown...they really know how to bite."

On the night the flag was changed at the dock, he realized that all he could do now was survive.

Only by surviving can we have a chance to bite back.

A very faint rubbing sound suddenly came from outside the door.

Not footsteps.

Like a cloth wiping a wall.

Mad Shark's eyes turned cold, like a blade against the darkness:

"Get out here."

No one answered from outside.

Only a small cloth bag slid in through the crack in the door, landing almost silently, about three inches from the threshold, slightly to the left.

Mad Shark's eyes flickered slightly.

This is the usual practice.

When the Giant Shark Gang was still around, the people running the route used this angle... close to the ground, silent, and for transmitting messages.

He chuckled softly, a laugh devoid of any warmth.

"They discovered I was here, but instead of killing me, they sent me a message... What are they trying to do?"

Mad Shark didn't rush to open it; he first sniffed it. The outer layer of the cloth bag had a faint smell of oil and salt, like the smell he often picked up from oil and salt shops and wells.

He used a bone needle to pry open the cloth bundle.

There was only one piece of paper folded very small inside.

There was no name on the paper, yet the handwriting was steady, as steady as bookkeeping, with every stroke precise and not superfluous.

The mastermind behind shifting the blame eastward was Ye Xiao.

The Ye family of Qingshi Lane often visited the North Furnace.

Green owl and gray sleeves, a new scheme begins.

After reading the contents of the paper, Mad Shark's knuckles clenched tighter and tighter.

The paper was crumpled and wrinkled, as if it had been gnawed by teeth.

"Ye Xiao..."

The two words were squeezed out from between his teeth, tinged with the taste of blood.

He is not a fool.

When the Tianyuan Escort Agency came to cause trouble, he had seen the shark knot from that night. The knot looked similar, yet so unlike it. But at the time, there were no other clues, and without clues, he could only suffer in silence.

Now that he knows the mastermind from the paper, his heart is filled with murderous intent.

However, he also understood that this piece of paper knew too much. It knew too accurately, so accurately that it didn't seem like a guess.

Mad Shark stared at the light and chuckled softly, the laughter growing colder and colder.

"You want to use me, this mad dog, to bite people?"

He knew in his heart that not many people would know about this.

Now that someone is putting the answer in his mouth, it's clearly not to help him get revenge, but to make him bite someone.

Whom to bite?

Bite Ye Xiao!

Mad Shark licked his chapped lips, which were still tinged with the taste of blood, and said with excitement, "Okay."

"I'll bite him first."

"Take another look, and bite the hand that wrote this paper."

He held the paper up to the light.

With a flick of the flame, the writing curled up, quickly turning into black ash, which fell into the blood between his fingers, like a silent sacrifice.

Mad Shark slowly got up, leaning against the wall. As his shoulder blade moved, the wound immediately tightened in his chest, and his vision even went black for a moment.

He didn't go out; going out now would be suicide.

But he didn't sit back down.

He raised his hand to his chest, took a couple of breaths, and forcefully pushed back the blood that had risen to his head.

The oil lamp flame flickered, illuminating the drop of blood between his fingers, as if reminding him... there was no time to rush.

Mad Shark looked down at the clump of paper ash in his palm.

The paper burned, but the words remained.

"Qingshi Lane... Beilu... Ye Xiao..."