There was a pure white computer desk, which had a metallic feel to it, in the center of the room, and a transparent LCD screen was placed on it.
Sitting at the computer desk, Qiu Hong pressed a hidden b.u.t.ton on the desk. The computer monitor lighted up, and the video call was on.
A man"s dignified face appeared on the monitor, and in a quiet voice, asked "Qianying No. 3, did you manage to collect any information?"
Ignoring the fact that part of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s was exposed, Qiu Hong said expressionlessly, "h.e.l.lo, chief, I am reporting the information I have collected recently. Nine-Finger is but a chessman on the overt side, but he is not the real boss behind the scene. This group is very mysterious and cautious, when it comes to doing their business. They have successfully lobbied some key departments and built up a secret smuggling channel. To cover it up, they poach for animals in different parts of the world, and smuggle the hunted animals to our country, and sell them to earn money. They have formed an industrial chain which looks as if it was used for smuggling protected and rare animals. But the truth is, they use this channel to disguise citizens, whom they have abducted, as smugglers, and then transport them overseas."
His eyes twitched and he seemed very angry, but he softened his tone and said, "Thanks for your hard work, Qianying No.3. You"ve done a good job. I will send people to take a closer look at the departments, which run their smuggling channels so smoothly, and we will try to uproot them. Do you have any other information?"
"Dafei was forced to help them. He wants to resign but does not have the courage. I hope the Organization can show him mercy."
Finally, Qiu Hong"s expression changed a little, and she said this in an imploring tone.
The man looked at her seriously, his eyes filled with pity, and asked, "You"ve fallen in love with him?"
"Chief, I…I did not He is my brother-in-law after all, and my sister is now pregnant. What will my sister and their child do, if something terrible should happen to him?"
Qiu Hong bit her lower lip and her eyes flickered, but she firmly denied the man"s speculation and used her sister"s situation, to try and beg for mercy for him.
The man sighed deeply and his face became serious, "Qianying No. 3, I hope you remain true to your original aspiration, and remember your ident.i.ty and mission. I know you have sacrificed a lot to accomplish this mission, but I want to remind you that your life is not your own anymore, since you vowed to join our department. When performing missions, you are forbidden to have any personal feelings. You must have a reasonable and clear mind to carry out your missions. If you can"t do this, I will ask our leaders to replace you. You should know that although Dafei is your brother-in-law, forced or not, he has committed too many crimes. It would not be enough, even if we were to shoot him to death, ten times over."
Seeing Qiu Hong"s eyes closed in pain, the man softened his tone, saying, "If you can get him on our side, and he is able to make great contributions, I can promise you, I will try to beg for mercy for him, before our leaders. We will try not to kill him, and at the same time, will make sure your sister and her child are taken care of. After all, she has no hand in what Dafei did."
"Thank you, chief, I will do my best to persuade him to change his att.i.tude, and get him to redeem his crimes by making contributions. He is increasingly tired of living such a life, and the reason why he has not resigned, is only because he is afraid of the power behind Nine-Finger."
Having said that, Qiu Hong became quite happy and quickly clarified her position.
"Remember, you belong to the Qianying Organization, and you must never forget our mission. If you cannot ensure that Dafei will repent for his crimes, you must not disclose your ident.i.ty. Otherwise, your life will be threatened."
The man warned her, solemnly.
"Yes, chief, I understand!" Qiu Hong replied in a serious tone, and dutifully promised.
Ending the video call, Qiu Hong took a deep breath, joy oozing from her eyes.
She knew that falling in love with Dafei was seriously against the rules, but she could not control her feelings.
This mission was brutal torture for her, but there was no way for her to avoid it, for Dafei was her brother-in-law after all. It seemed only natural and advantageous for her to be the undercover agent, beside him.
Dafei was not a bad man, but he had taken the wrong route. He had been forced by Nine-Finger to commit crimes and now, there was no turning back for him.
Their circ.u.mstance had forbidden them to fall in love or get married, but, in addition to her mission, all she wanted to do, was to go all out to save the life of the only man she loved, in her lifetime.
After gingerly closing the metal gate, she sprawled on the bed, feeling as if all her bones had disintegrated.
"Report finished?"
A man"s voice suddenly came out from nowhere. Qiu Hong sprung up like a leopard, and felt terrified.
Pale-faced, she stared at the middle-aged man, who had a cigar between his lips, sitting with his legs crossed. Her pupils narrowed quickly, and she addressed the man, while her lips trembled, "Nine-Finger?"
With his hair combed back, Nine-Finger dressed like the G.o.d of the Gamblers, even in such hot weather; a white suit, a tie with a white shirt, and a black windbreaker on top of the suit.
One had to admit that Deng Nine-Finger came across as a very charismatic, middle-aged man, although he was one of the underground gang leaders, who had the lowest profile in Ninghai.
He looked elegant because of his handsome face, tall figure, extremely neat hairstyle, wide forehead, distant eyes, tall and straight nose, and a calm temperament that never seemed to panic.
The missing finger on his right hand only served to add an unruly air of roughness, to his elegance.
What made Qiu Hong desperate was that Fire Phoenix, the lady in red, and Violent Dragon, the one-eyed muscular tall man, were standing behind him.
Rumors from the complicated human world claimed that Deng Nine-Finger came from the Northeast, and had been born in a family of scholars. His father, a professor at Northeast University, gave him the name Deng Junyu, which meant a modest, well-disciplined gentleman, with the character of a beautiful piece of jade.
His father never thought that he would prefer the rough, complicated human world, although he loved academic learning. When he was a teenager, he made his living by wandering from place to place, fooling around with people from all walks of life, and committing all sorts of crimes such as stealing, robbing and so on. His father, who had high expectations of him, was so angry that he published an announcement in the newspaper, stating that he had disowned his son.
It was said that when he first began his career as a gangster, his loyal subordinates, Fire Phoenix and Violent Dragon, had offended the most powerful underground gang leader in the Northeast—Haolian Heaven, nicknamed Dark Heaven.
The two offenders were left to hang upside down, with their wrists slit open, for he wanted them to bleed to death. This served as an example, to frighten those who were thinking of offending him.
It was very cold in the Northeastern. Their wounds froze, but Haolian Heaven was a brutal man. Whenever their wounds froze, he cut them again; each time their wounds froze, he continued cutting…
For more than two hours, the man and woman never made a sound, because of their strong will. Haolian Heaven admired their tenacity, and wanted to make them his subordinates.
Unfortunately, the two people sneered at him repet.i.tively, claiming that they only had one boss and he was Deng Junyu, and there was no way for him to lure them to his side.
This made Haolian Heaven curious about the boss they spoke of, and he sent people to tell the once nameless Deng Junyu this, " If Nine-Finger could go through the Haolian Family"s Sickle Matrix, comprising of 30 warriors who were willing to die fighting, come over to the Family"s Burning Camp, and also cut off one finger, he would release Fire Phoenix and Violent Dragon."
When he received this information, Deng Junyu, alone, immediately took a Chinese hay cutter to the Matrix, and successfully went through it, even though he was left with dozens of scars. When he appeared before Haolian Heaven, with blood all over himself, he could not even stand upright, but he still cut off his one of his fingers, without even blinking.
Fire Phoenix and Violent Dragon, who had not made any sounds while being tortured, shed tears at the scene, and then supporting Deng Junyu, who was slowly dying due to too much blood loss, left the place.
Before lapsing into a coma, Deng Junyu said, "My parents gave me life and everything else. I have dumped filial piety, and today I also mutilated my body. I will never forget this enmity, and I will get my revenge, in a much more brutal way, in the future. There will not be a Deng Junyu anymore from today, and there will only be Deng Nine-Finger."
These words made Haolian Heaven come up with the idea of killing him, but he was a formidable person, and cherished his reputation.
He knew releasing the three of them would result in serious trouble for him in the future. However he kept his promise, and gave the order to let them go.
Deng Nine-Finger rose to fame overnight, after only one fight. Being the first person to walk out of Burning Camp alive, the gangsters in the Northeast, never dared to belittle him, from then on.
A few people wanted to finish him off, because they feared he would become powerful, but unexpectedly, Haolian Heaven threatened that anyone who dared to hurt him, before he fully recovered, would be killed. These people had to give up the idea and did not dare to do anything.
After being hospitalized for half a year, Deng Nine-Finger was discharged. When everyone thought he would surely go to Burning Camp to seek his revenge and were eagerly waiting to standby as witnesses, Deng Nine-Finger, along with Fire Phoenix and Violent Dragon, avoided the complicated situation and vanished totally. They became the laughing stock among the gangsters, over each meal.
But Haolian Heaven sincerely praised him, saying "A man should be able to adapt to different environments. He is aware that one needs to know the trend, look before he leaps, and never take any risks that will endanger himself. He can be compared to Han Xin of ancient times, and he is bound to be great, in the future."
Three years later, based in a small area in the Northeast, Deng Nine-Finger, who had been resting and rebuilding his strength, rose to power like a tornado, sweeping an irresistible force across the world of gangs, in the three provinces of the Northeast. He destroyed anyone who dared to stand in his way, and completely defeated the Haolian Family.
The myth of the Haolian Family as emperor of the underground, was shattered, and thus the ruling period of Haolian Heaven ended. In the end, he didn"t kill Haolian Heaven, who had been waiting for death, and instead, spared his life, to let him spend the rest of his years, happily.
Defeating Haolian Heaven was only to avenge his broken finger, and sparing Mr. Haolian"s life was his way of thanking him for not killing him, years ago.
Men seek to avenge and also pay off any debts of grat.i.tude. Since the ruling power in the Northeast changed, gangsters made Master Nine-Finger the top leader.
Unexpectedly, during Nine-Finger"s most successful time, he gave up all his achievements in the Northeast, and led his loyal subordinates to the Central Plains. In a short time, he had a firm foothold in Ninghai, where all kinds of gangs and people congregated, and outsiders were thoroughly detested.
Many people did not understand why he gave up his successful business in Northeast, and started his career in the Central Plains. His followers, however, knew that his ambition was to conquer the world, not to stay safe in a small area.
But no one knew why Deng Nine-Finger suddenly left the underworld, when he and the Qin Family engaged in a "war" to fight for the t.i.tle of the underground top leader in Ninghai. Friction between them occurred constantly. He began to rest and strengthen his power and did his business, keeping a lower profile.
It ostensibly looked like the Qin Family had finally won the "war", but no one dared to look down upon Nine-Finger, whenever his name was mentioned. Even the Seventh Mansion, which had just risen to power, was also, somewhat afraid of him.
If it was not due to fear of Deng Nine-Finger and that he would take away their achievements after a fight, the Seventh Mansion, whose power was increasing at a crazy rate, would have launched the "war" against the Qin Family, a long time before.
Fire Phoenix and Violent Dragon were talented people, with extremely brilliant kung fu skills, while Deng Nine-Finger, who had been resting and building up his power all these years, had never been seen fighting. Some said he didn"t have any kung fu skills at all, but others said his kung fu skill was unfathomable. Different people held different views, but there had never been a definite conclusion.
That was also why Qiu Hong wanted to resist and fight, when she suddenly saw Deng Nine-Finger. She felt completely hopeless, however, when she saw that Fire Phoenix and Violent Dragon were also with him.
The saddest thing for her was that Dafei was there too, staring at her in disbelief, and shouting as he trembled, "Why? Why?"
"If you want to kill me, just do it. There is no why. You are robbers and I am a soldier. That"s it."
Qiu Hong knew that if she revealed even the slightest emotion, Dafei would die. She closed her eyes as if she had accepted her fate, expressionless, waiting for death. She did not know where and how her ident.i.ty had been disclosed, on earth.
"Dafei, I have long told you that your wife"s younger sister is not just any ordinary woman, but you don"t believe me. She looks like an ordinary woman, but her walking posture and some habitual behavior, shows that she is obviously a soldier, who has undergone rigorous training."
Deng Nine-Finger seemed to have seen through her disguise, and explained this to Dafei, with a carefree att.i.tude. It was also for her benefit, as she was also confused.