Reborn a day later, I emptied my enemy's possessions beforehand.

Zhou Haibing sat in the driver's seat, threw the bag of cell phones into the back seat, took out his own phone from his pocket, and found the name "Hailong" in his contacts.

Zhou Hailong.

His younger brother.

Zhou Haibing looked at the name, hovered his finger above the screen for two seconds, and then pressed it.

The phone rang several times, and just as it was about to hang up automatically, it was answered.

A gust of wind and a hollow echo came from the other end of the phone, along with faint voices in the distance, as if in an open space.

Zhou Hailong's voice was icy cold, devoid of any warmth: "Big brother, what is it?"

"Second brother, where are you?" Zhou Haibing's voice was as indifferent as ever.

"Playing golf with some friends," Zhou Hailong said, his tone as if he were talking to a complete stranger, even colder than when speaking to a complete stranger.

"Is there something you need?"

Zhou Haibing didn't beat around the bush; he directly threw out the bait:

"Second brother, about that money laundering thing you mentioned to me before, I've thought about it and want to discuss it with you again."

There was a sudden silence on the other end of the phone.

The wind was still blowing, and the laughter and conversation in the distance were still there, but Zhou Hailong's breathing had clearly changed, becoming heavy and labored, as if someone had suddenly grabbed his throat and then released him.

After a full three seconds of silence, Zhou Hailong's voice rang out again, this time completely different in tone. It was no longer cold and icy, but carried an irrepressible excitement and urgency:

"Brother, what do you mean by that? Do you agree?"

Zhou Haibing did not answer directly, saying:

"I'd like to understand the specific procedures for money laundering over there. There are some details I'm not clear about, and I'd like to ask you in person."

"Okay, okay, no problem, no problem!" Zhou Hailong said "no problem" several times, his excitement almost overflowing.

"Brother, where are you now? I'm coming over to find you right now, and we can talk face-to-face. I'll tell you anything you want to know!"

"Let's go to your place," Zhou Haibing said. "It'll be easier to talk there; there are too many people around outside."

"Okay, okay, come to my house! I'll head back now. When will you be there, big brother?"

"I'll be there in about half an hour."

"Then I'll wait for you! Drive carefully, brother, no rush, I'll go back and make some tea first!"

The phone hangs up.

Zhou Haibing put his phone aside, started the car, and drove onto the main road.

A cold smile played on his lips, a smile as sharp as an ice dagger in winter.

Money laundering.

That bastard Zhou Hailong actually asked his own older brother to help him launder money.

He wanted to launder the dirty money he made from running casinos, money that couldn't be brought to light, through his Haibing Pharmaceutical Company.

When Zhou Hailong brought this up with him last time, he refused on the spot, saying, "Forget about it."

Zhou Hailong's face turned ashen. He slammed the door and left, leaving behind a parting remark:

"Brother, if you won't help me, plenty of others will."

This time, Zhou Haibing took the initiative to call and say he wanted to "discuss" the matter. Zhou Hailong must have thought that his older brother's attitude had softened and that he had finally persuaded his stubborn older brother. He must have been overjoyed.

Zhou Haibing certainly wasn't trying to help him launder money; rather, he was using this excuse to lure his second brother home and then hypnotize him.

Then, he was going to take everything away from his bastard brother, leaving him not a single penny.

Zhou Hailong has been a menace since childhood.

He is three years younger than Zhou Haibing and is the second child in his family.

The father, Zhou Fuxiang, held a deeply ingrained preference for sons over daughters. He had two sons and one daughter. His eldest son, Zhou Haibing, was honest and dutiful, while his second son, Zhou Hailong, was clever from a young age. Zhou Fuxiang favored the younger son more.

In Zhou Fuxiang's eyes, everything Zhou Hailong did was right, and even if it was wrong, it was because others provoked him first.

It was precisely because of this boundless indulgence and pampering that Zhou Hailong's personality became increasingly arrogant and domineering.

Zhou Haibing remembers clearly that Zhou Hailong started fighting when he was thirteen or fourteen years old.

This wasn't just children's roughhousing; it was a real fight.

Zhou Hailong had a minor argument with a child of similar age in the village over a trivial matter.

That very night, he found the child with a fruit knife, cornered him in the alley, and stabbed him in the shoulder, causing him to bleed profusely.

The child's parents made a scene at the police station. Zhou Haibing was just over twenty years old at the time, and had only recently graduated from school.

When I arrived at the police station after receiving the call, Zhou Hailong was sitting on a bench outside the interrogation room with his legs crossed, looking completely indifferent, as if he wasn't the one who had stabbed someone.

The father, Zhou Fuxiang, stood by, wiping away tears, repeatedly muttering the same sentence:

"He's just a child, he doesn't know any better, please don't take it to heart."

Zhou Haibing paid the other party 100,000 yuan, wrote a guarantee, and used a lot of connections to finally get Zhou Hailong out of the police station.

That was the first time he had to clean up Zhou Hailong's mess, but not the last.

Over the next twenty years, he cleaned up Zhou Hailong's messes so many times that he himself lost count.

Zhou Hailong dropped out of school before finishing junior high.

His reason for not studying is simple—he thinks studying is useless and it's better to go out and make his way in the world.

After dropping out of school, he quickly gathered a group of young people from the streets, spending his days roaming the streets, fighting, extorting protection money, blackmailing, and doing all sorts of bad things.

Zhou Haibing had advised him more than once, saying, "Second brother, you can't do this. If you continue like this, something bad will happen sooner or later."

Zhou Hailong would impatiently wave his hand each time, saying, "Brother, don't meddle in my business. You're in business, I'm in the underworld. Let's keep to ourselves."

Well water does not interfere with river water.

When Zhou Hailong said this, he probably forgot that every time he got into trouble, the first person he thought of was his older brother.

Zhou Haibing's phone often rang late at night. The caller was either a police officer from the local police station or one of Zhou Hailong's cronies, saying, "Brother Long is in trouble, you need to come over right away."

Zhou Haibing went every time.

It wasn't because he wanted to, but because that was his own younger brother. If he didn't go, his father, Zhou Fuxiang, would make a huge scene.

But the biggest mistake Zhou Haibing made wasn't cleaning up Zhou Hailong's mess, but rather failing to push his younger brother away completely from the very beginning.

On that occasion, Zhou Hailong offended a particularly powerful gang in his attempt to seize territory.

That gang had been operating locally for many years and wielded considerable power, with dozens of people under their command and several nightclubs and casinos.

Zhou Hailong, oblivious to his own limitations, broke into someone else's business and even beat up their underlings, completely enraging them.

The gang leader threatened to cripple Zhou Hailong.

Hearing the news, Zhou Hailong slipped away.

He ran away to another place and hid, and even Zhou Haibing didn't know where he went.

Unable to find Zhou Hailong, the gang turned their attention to Zhou Haibing.

That evening, Zhou Haibing was having dinner at home when his phone rang.

The person on the other end of the phone was the factory manager of the pharmaceutical company; his voice was trembling.

"Mr. Zhou, something terrible has happened! Dozens of people have come and smashed up the factory!"