"Second Young Master, Guangxi, I would have to apologize for disturbing your rest but there is something urgent that has happened tonight." Butler Lee informed Guangxi who was groggy from the unwelcome interruption in the form of a phone call in the middle of the night. He had already been asleep inside his room in the Xue mansion.
"What is it, Butler Lee? It"s two in the morning. I have to get up at half past four. This better be worth all the trouble or else you will have to face the corresponding consequence for it regardless even if it"s you, Butler Lee."
"Understood, Second Young Master. I"ll go straight to the point, then." Butler Lee reported in a monotone. "Our men found w.a.n.g Xi Fu in an abandoned establishment all beaten up and almost at the brink of death."
"Good thing our men came in time or else the poor man would have already left this world last night."
Instantly, all the sleep that was previously in Xue Guangxi"s system was wiped out completely. He stood upright from his originally lying position and became more alert as the situation deemed necessary. His eyes turned darker with interest and abhorrence of the man in topic. "Continue, Butler Lee. I"m listening."
Somehow, the mouse would be cornered and the cat could finally execute its sweet revenge. Only…
"Butler Lee?" Xue Guangxi tried to call the butler"s attention. "Make sure our team will have him ALIVE. Or else, he will no longer serve its purpose. He has the intelligence that we need. More importantly, he still needs to answer to ME for everything that he had done to me."
"Understood, Sir." Butler Lee would know best, among all people in the world, how much loathing the second young master must have been harboring towards the man. Despite that fact, Butler Lee noted how he could still keep calm and give sound advice. Definitely, it"s Xue Gunagxi"s first time to be leading an operation such as this one. It"s a cat-and-mouse capture game, only it can be a matter of life and death.
"Tell me honestly, Butler Lee, did our men do that? Did they beat him up?"
"How is he? Vital stats? Is he still alive? Breathing?" The second young master pressed forth.
"I remember I told you clearly to seize him without hurting him. How come it ended up like this? Is there a lack of security? Where"s the gap?"
Butler Lee cleared his throat first. *Ahem* *Ahem* It looked like it would be one long h.e.l.l of a report. Guangxi braced himself.
"There was a commotion at first. Our people who were a.s.signed to monitor w.a.n.g Xi Fu alerted the team that he was on the move stealthily. It seemed he had plans of evacuating his hideout. However, he was found out by another group who seemed to be at his tails, too."
"There had been a dragging chase. Our men did not interfere. They stayed beneath the shadows and maintained incognito, but they followed suit and never lost sight of w.a.n.g Xi Fu."
"In the end, the group cornered w.a.n.g Xi Fu at a dead end of a skimpy dark alleyway. They beat him and kicked him. Another man appeared. He must have been the leader. They discussed in hushed voices but our men could make out phrases out of it. They heard the man said, "You brought this fate upon yourself." And "You"ve been warned but you still did it." But we could not fathom what it meant. We will further have a deeper look into it and revert for developments."Butler Lee paused to catch his breath. "Are you still there, Second Young Master?"
"Yes, yes. Continue." Xue Guangxi gasped at the severity of the situation. The notion of exposing the people behind w.a.n.g Xi Fu that night quite moved him to feel the excitement yet laced with apprehension. This world was worlds apart from the peaceful one he"s been raised in. His palms turned sweaty from everything that had happened while he was peacefully enjoying his slumber in the comfort of his cozy home. "I"m just lucky I don"t have to get myself involved first-hand. Yet, hearing the report could still induce gooseb.u.mps." He noted while noticing the standing hair on his forearm.
"w.a.n.g Xi Fu had been hit at several places in his body, but as the climax, the mysterious man ordered his gang for the "highlight of the night" as they called it.
"They dragged w.a.n.g Xi Fu away. Unable to stand, his legs scratched the ground while getting dragged, further incurring more damages – wounds, and lacerations. It was a b.l.o.o.d.y sight."
"They exited the alleyway and boarded a black sedan. Our team followed at a safe distance."
"Actually, our team was able to plant a GPS device on not just one of the gang members, but also below their car, and in w.a.n.g Xi Fu"s shoes" sole. As a precaution, while he was being tailed by our team before, one of our men slipped in and inserted a flat monitoring device at the inner sole of his shoes. It"s a pretty st.u.r.dy, durable device, and quite reliable too, so we didn"t have to hurry and follow their car and risk being seen by them."
"After a while, our men arrived at the site. However, we were almost too late."
"w.a.n.g Xi Fu was tortured further. He bathed in his own blood."
"But our men were just in time for the "highlight" as they called it."
"Two of our men – both lean and stealthy – managed to sneak into the place and took this video of the "highlight". I"ve sent it to you."
"Alright, hang on. I"ll put you on loudspeaker mode and then I"ll check the video that you sent." Said Guangxi who was already doing the action items he just enumerated.
The video revealed a blood-spattered body devoid of recognition.
"AHHH!!!!" Ah-Ah!! Aah!!!" Screams both long and short emanated from the video. Butler Lee who was at the other end of the line could hear the video playing.
"No! No, no, no!!!"
"Spare me! Have mercy on me!!! Let me live! I"ll do better next time!!" w.a.n.g Xi Fu begged and cried, in spite of knowing that it"s useless, and of the minute detail that if he indeed lived and survived this feat, his life could no longer return to normal.
The mysterious man whose face was obscured in the shadows nodded to his gang. Two of his men approached w.a.n.g Xi Fu with a large steel steaming pot. One man pinned w.a.n.g Xi Fu down on the floor using a metal bat, while the other man operated the cart. Soon after, the cart lifted the steaming pot which was tilted in almost thirty degrees. A steaming clear liquid flowed through it and hit w.a.n.g Xi Fu on his head, his torso and on his limbs. He squirmed and wriggled while screaming incessantly as the hot liquid touched and scalded him alive.
"By the way, it"s just water. It"s boiling water!!! Hahahahahaha!!"
"Serves you right, Mister. Told you don"t mess with the girl!! You still did!!"
As the man operating the cart and the pot emptied the contents fully, the mysterious leader instructed the gang to depart, leaving the quivering w.a.n.g Xi Fu behind. His exposed skin was red and swollen all over and his drenched clothing stuck to it. Even with the dim yellow lighting, the scalding effect was prevalent.
That"s where the video stopped.
Butler Lee resumed his report. "We"ve secured w.a.n.g Xi Fu. He"s in a local hospital. Our men are guarding him heavily, but he"s still unconscious and he"s suffering from serious burns.
Xue Guangxi sat silently on his bed, mouth gaping uncontrollably and eyes wide as if it could fall off any moment. Face aghast, he could not utter a single word without stuttering. Therefore, he remained silent for the time being while he calmed his senses down.
Although he"s an heir, being the youngest, he was left out of the cruel side of running a business, one which involves how dirty people could play in their field.
In that sense, the video was the very first instance he actually witnessed a person he knows got tortured for real, and it had left some sort of traumatic smear in his brain.
"Second Young Master? Are you still there? Are you alright, sir?" Butler Lee felt uneasy with the boy"s smothering stillness at the other end of the line.
Butler Lee sighed in exasperation as he felt partially guilty and responsible for the boy. "I should have reported to the Big Miss or the elders first."
"N-No! No! This is my thing. Don"t tell them!"
"But Second Young Master, it"s getting bigger. An issue of this magnitude requires a high level of sensitivities and strategy. We need to inform someone older in the family. It"s dangerous getting involved with those people. If anything happens to you, I will be responsible." Butler Lee"s voice was grim and taut.
"Then, please inform Brother-in-law. Just him. Let"s leave it to him to decide if he"ll inform Xu-jie as well."
"Understood, Second Young Master." Butler Lee ended the call after that.
"Oh, so messed up! s.h.i.+t!" Xue Guangxi cradled his head on both hands, elbows resting on his thighs as he sat limply on the bed. "How did it turn out like this?!"