Thump!Huang He thought he heard the sound of his heart sinking.
His whole body was tense and a chilly sensation was at his back. However, he knew that An Ying"s eyes were fixated on him, he mustn"t reveal any of his actual emotion.
Even though his mind was in turmoil, he stayed calm.
Calm down.
Calm down.
He nodded his head with a smile.
"No problem!"
Huang He then sat on the sofa comfortably.
As though nothing had happened.
Tian Danyue took a glance at him and let out a chuckle in an attempt to relieve the stagnant atmosphere. "So Brother Ying, are we staying here? It might be dangerous…"
An Ying crossed his legs slowly. "What"s the hurry? No rush."
As he leaned against the sofa, he turned and waved at a henchman, who came over holding an electronic device in his hand. After he adjusted it, he showed it before An Ying. "Brother Ying!"
An Ying looked up, grunted a laugh and motioned him to place it on the coffee table. At the same time, he also raised the volume.
There was deafening music coming from the device.
Huang He gave a nonchalant glance at it.
The device showed the current scene of what was happening in Grand Orchid Pavilion. They could hear the DJ"s voice who was maintaining the atmosphere; men and women in groups were drinking happily, chatting or dancing away. They danced to the beat, wiggling their bodies heartily, enjoying the break they had from the festive season. The light from the device also reflected the image of the scene on the dark gla.s.s panel in the room. The scene appeared to be wild, hot and spontaneous…
It was a world lost in alcohol and music.
Reality seemed far away from them.
They wouldn"t know that their fates had been taken control of by a group of people.
"Good, very good." An Ying stroked his chin as he watched with some interest. "There"s so many of them going to h.e.l.l together. They can keep each other company and wouldn"t feel lonely. They need not worry about getting bullied by the guards of h.e.l.l as well…"
He suddenly looked towards Huang He. "Do you think they will be grateful to me?"
Huang He"s heart sank as he looked at these people who had been chosen as "sacrifices" that night and were totally ignorant while they partied away. He was careful and just showed an indifferent expression on his face. "All humans will die one day. But, I don"t think they would be grateful… you expect too much!"
An Ying was surprised by his remark.
Half a second later, he suddenly guffawed.
"Very good. I like straightforward people like you. Hahaha!"
Hardly anyone would talk to him in that manner.
Huang He was definitely a unique presence to him.
Perhaps it was because of the mentality that he wanted to take chances with luck as well as the desire to explore the unknown. Although he obviously suspected Huang He of being the mole, he was unwilling to cut him out completely. Outlaws like An Ying loved to take gambles, they also loved the feeling of making others submit to them so they would feel good about themselves. For An Ying, Huang He was someone that he wanted to take a gamble on and subdue, to become one of his loyal henchmen.
He was now guarded and wary towards Huang He with a score of nine out of ten.
As for the remaining one mark, he still wanted to wait and see…
"Brother Ying!"
At this moment, one of his men came upstairs.
There was another person with him - it was the driver, Little Zeng.
He looked at Huang He and stood respectfully aside.
Huang He also glanced at him before drinking his water.
"Brother Ying, I"ve made all the necessary arrangements. The moment we leave this place, they will make their move." The henchman then glanced at the projector on the coffee table before finis.h.i.+ng his sentence. "The car is waiting downstairs now."
"Mm." An Ying tapped on his thigh a few times and got up slowly.
"Well, let"s go then!"
As he said so, he looked at everyone in the room.
"In order to ensure the safety of everyone and prevent the cops from locating us via GPS, everyone"s phones must be switched off."
…
The moment something happened in Grand Orchid Pavilion, the police would come over in no time.
They must leave before their men made their moves.
An Ying walked in front. When they went downstairs, he even turned especially to smile at Huang He.
That smile, was somewhat chilly.
Huang He"s eyebrows furrowed slightly as he followed him closely downstairs.
The street at the backdoor was quiet and dark. In the shadowed night, several cars were parked there una.s.sumingly.
He knew that a crime was about to happen.
The people inside Grand Orchid Pavilion were ignorant of what was about to happen to them.
Huang He looked at the night sky.
At this moment, what could he do?
What should he do?
Was there anything he could do?
…
The colorful lights of the nightclub shone on the faces of the partygoers that night. In another part of the city, Quan Shaoteng was sitting inside a car and he yawned for maybe the 108th time.
"Why aren"t we moving out yet?"
Bai Muchuan only looked at him, then lowered his head and raised his wrist a little to look at the time. For all those times that Quan Shaoteng asked him when they could move, Bai Muchuan would take a look at the time. After that, he would tap on his knees lightly, as though he was pondering over the problem yet it also seemed as if he was simply enjoying the beat.
"Little Bai? I"m talking to you."
Quan Shaoteng was clearly dissatisfied with his lack of a response.
Moreover, he had been waiting for so long that his patience was about to run out.
"Tell me, what are you waiting for?"
Quan Shaoteng drew closer and scrutinized him seriously. Finally, he felt that he couldn"t stand hearing the tapping sounds anymore and caught that hand to make him stop. "Now the police nationwide are looking up all the partic.i.p.ants in the name list, arresting them and interrogating them. Qi Canghai also got hold of the name list and are already busy arresting these people. I just want to know, why am I… No, why are we, why are we sitting here? What are we supposed to do?"
Quan Shaoteng was itching for action.
That night was really hectic for the police all over the nation.
When the Intelligence Team finished verifying the information of the partic.i.p.ants, they disseminated the information to the police stations-in-charge according to the partic.i.p.ant"s household register address. Police officers everywhere were taking action to look for and arrest these partic.i.p.ants. In the end, Quan Shaoteng and his three teammates, who were on standby the earliest, ended up not doing anything.
He was anxious.
He wanted to be part of the action.
He wished he could dash right in front and arrest all those people.
On the other hand, Bai Muchuan was totally calm about it.
He took a sidelong glance at Quan Shaoteng. "You have nothing to do?"
"Can"t you see that with your eyes?"
"Then help ma.s.sage my shoulders!"
"D*rn!" Quan Shaoteng"s pair of fox eyes stared at him in displeasure.
Bai Muchuan chuckled but he didn"t look comfortable. Quan Shaoteng saw that, puffed a sigh and pointed at his hand. After letting out the ~109th yawn, he put his hands on the back of his head and leaned back down slowly.
"Fine, fine, I"ll wait for the major operation you speak of!"
Bai Muchuan grunted a laugh. Before he said anything, Xiang Wan called him on the mobile.
He took the call. "Why are you still up? It"s so late already!"
Xiang Wan paused for a moment—she sounded really awake. "I haven"t gotten any news from you, there"s no way I can fall asleep."
"Aye, little silly thing! Why are you so disobedient?"
Calling her a silly thing was perhaps the only thing he could do now.
Xiang Wan giggled a little. She knew that he was powerless against her and would let her be.
After snickering, she went back to talk about the case. "Still nothing so far?"
"Mm."
"Did we make the wrong guess?"
"Impossible."
Bai Muchuan was very confident in his judgment, just like how Quan Shaoteng was confident in his looks. He wouldn"t let anyone doubt that.
Why was he so confident?
Xiang Wan smiled. "If you"re free now, I would like to tell you my a.n.a.lysis."
"What is it?"
"The criminal purpose of Operation Heaven"s Wrath is obviously to throw society into a state of panic… The supposed upholding of justice and punis.h.i.+ng evildoers is simply an excuse to brainwash all those who partic.i.p.ated in this… In short, this operation is designed to affect social stability from the very beginning…"
If their operation pulled through, everyone would feel that their lives were in danger, and would be in a constant state of anxiety.
How much effort would the country need, in order to calm down its people?
The thought of zombie-like people going around to bite others to their deaths were too terrifying!
Xiang Wan told her thoughts on Operation Heaven"s Wrath in one go.
As Bai Muchuan listened on, he couldn"t stop nodding his head at times.
"Little Xiang Wan is getting smarter and smarter."
"…"
Why are you praising me? she thought.
Since when did he become a fanatic in dis.h.i.+ng out praises for his wifey?