Chapter 972: The Underground Market
“I’ll send you a name list later. I want you to send your men over.” Gu Mang b.u.t.toned up all the b.u.t.tons on her coat and paused a little before saying, “Keep them safe.”
“Got it,” answered Yun Ling.
After ending the call, Gu Mang crafted a name list and only sent it to Yun Ling after making sure that she had not missed out on anyone. The names included Meng Jinyang, Jiang Shenyuan and his family, Ji Heng and his family, Jiangsui and his family, the Song family, the Lei family, and a few others who had connections with her.
She slowly turned around and leaned against the lab table with a leg bent for support. She pushed her phone against the edge of the table as she stared blankly at the ground. The last memory of her mother surfaced in her mind.
‘Don’t expect the Gu family, the Head Elder, and the rest of the Elders’ a.s.sociation to be humane. They will do anything for money and status.’
Her mother was hugging her when she said this. In Gu Mang’s memory, it was the first time that her mother had ever hugged her. The latter then left her with a few instructions and warnings about how she and Gu Si were forbidden to return to Jijing Island even if her mother and father died.
It turned out that the Gu family and the Head Elder were indeed capable of doing anything, for Gu Mang received a call from the police station the next day while playing games in an Internet cafe.
Her parents had been killed in a tragic car accident that left them with disfigured bodies. Their deaths were so horrible that the trainee police officers threw up nonstop. She had knelt down on the ground to put their bodies back together piece by piece, st.i.tch by st.i.tch.
At that time, she really wanted to kill the culprits of her parents’ deaths and was unafraid of dying in the process. She figured that n.o.body on Jijing Island should live well since they refused to make things easy for her.
It was Yu Zhongjing and Yu Mufeng who managed to stop her back then.
This time, they’d better not push me to that point.
…
Meanwhile, at the tarmac of Mingyu Island.
The weather was bad with snow lightly fluttering down and dark clouds hanging heavily overhead. The ground was wet as well.
Lu Chengzhou left his private plane. He looked tall and das.h.i.+ng dressed in a black face mask and long black coat while standing in the wind and snow. He got into the car that Lu Jiu had parked on the side.
“Brother Cheng,” greeted He Yidu and Qin Fang.
Lu Chengzhou nodded. “How is the plan to enter Base 102 going?”
Sitting in the driver’s seat, Lu Jiu turned the car key to start the engine and drove toward the airport exit.
“The interior layout is about 85% complete. The remaining 15% is forbidden ground, so we can’t figure out what it’s like inside.” He Yidu inclined his head slightly. “Those places are strictly forbidden, so I guess only the Head Elder, Leng Xuan, and her elite team have access to them.”
Lu Chengzhou had expected as much. As long as we can enter Base 102, we can cross that bridge when we get to it.
“There’s one problem, though.”
Lu Chengzhou turned to look at He Yidu.
“The Dark Web found out that Lin Shuang’s second set of keys can hack into their internal system to obtain information, so they blacklisted us. Now, the entire Dark Web refuses to take any order that’s related to Base 102.” He Yidu scratched his nose in embarra.s.sment.
The Dark Web had a huge information network as well as a forum that was like a gray area where all sorts of gossip and information were exchanged. The senior management knew about the existence of Base 102. In fact, He Yidu nearly reached an agreement to work with them when this problem suddenly cropped up.
Lu Chengzhou narrowed his eyes and the temperature in the car dropped by several degrees.
“Brother Cheng, you can’t blame us though. Shortcuts may be fast and convenient, but they’re also riskier. Look, karma has bitten us in the *ss,” said Qin Fang as he shrunk back into his seat. n.o.body would be happy to know that they had been hacked and that someone could freely access their system. They already showed us face by blacklisting us.
Honestly speaking, not even they themselves remembered how many people they had offended over the years. While the Dark Web was influential, it was just an underground electronic trading platform—nothing too huge to be taken as a threat by Red Flame. They could spend some effort to take it down and make it become Red Flame’s territory, but the thing was that it was too time-consuming.
Lu Chengzhou’s eyes gleamed and his voice sounded cold and sharp when he spoke. “So the Dark Web refuses to work with us?”
Qin Fang, who was leaning against the back of the pa.s.senger seat, gasped when he saw the look on Lu Chengzhou’s face. He instinctively s.h.i.+fted backward to widen the distance between them. “Y-yeah…”
He Yidu sighed in helplessness and vexation. “You really can’t blame us for this, Brother Cheng. The underground market has a pretty powerful team of hackers.”
The atmosphere was extraordinarily heavy as he and Qin Fang looked at Lu Chengzhou, who remained quiet.
Finally, Lu Chengzhou broke the silence. “Is there anything going on at the underground market lately?
“That place has a lot going on every day. After all, it’s based at the international trading center.” Qin Fang paused before saying, “There’s an annual auction going on now and it’s organized by Lan Sha himself.”
Lan Sha was the right-hand man of the underground trading guild, the current person-in-charge of the underground market as well as the head of the Dark Web. There was a president in the guild, but n.o.body had ever seen them before—even the very existence of that person was questioned. In any case, Lan Sha was the one managing all affairs of the underground market.
Lu Chengzhou nodded. “Go buy tickets. I’ll make a trip to the auction to meet Lan Sha.”
“Okay,” responded He Yidu and Qin Fang.
Only then did Lu Jiu ask, “Young Master Lu, are we going back to Red Flame?”
“No, to the Intercontinental Bank.”
“What for, Brother Cheng?” Qin Fang was surprised to hear that. Why the sudden decision when he hasn’t been there in years?
Lu Chengzhou checked Jijing Island’s weather forecast on his phone and realized that it was also snowing there. While texting Gu Mang, he said, “I’m going there to collect something.”