Chapter 323: Absolute Terror!

Chapter 323: Absolute Terror!

This made no damn sense.

A gun discharged and blew apart, a man died, and Wu Chen had predicted
it?

Thinking it through, the claim that the gun had “gone off” was most
likely a cover story hiding what had really happened. Ding Ruilong’s
hand was injured, which meant the gun had been in his hand when it
failed. So Ding Ruilong had probably fired it deliberately.

But a catastrophic failure was purely accidental. Beyond anyone’s
control, and the odds vanishingly small.

That Wu Chen had predicted it inevitably raised the suspicion that he
had tampered with Ding Ruilong’s gun.

But was that possible?

How could Wu Chen know where Ding Ruilong’s gun was? How could he know
which gun Ding Ruilong would use? And how could he possibly foresee that
Ding Ruilong would use a gun tonight?

Ding Ruilong was surrounded by experts, too. A tampered weapon could
very well be found out in an inspection afterward.

More to the point, Ding Ruilong had reached Donghai at noon today.
Barely ten hours had passed. The window was too narrow. If all of it was
a scheme against him, the difficulty would have been nearly impossible.
And if it was not a scheme, then surely Wu Chen could not literally know
the future.

Tang Jingbin’s mind was full of doubt and alarm. So was everyone else’s.
They all looked at Wu Chen, somewhat stunned.

“A-Tai, what are you standing there for? Hurry!” Sun Yongzhang urged
him.

“I’ve already got a mountain of my own problems, and now I have to clean
up his mess too,” Li Ruotai snapped irritably as he came back to
himself. Still, he took out his phone.

He had to obey his uncle.

And the surface cooperation between the Li and Ding families had to be
maintained.

Li Ruotai still had no idea what exactly his brother-in-law Wu Chen and
his father were up to, but he was not stupid. He could tell that his
family and the Ding family were already united in appearance but divided
at heart, and that things were happening behind the curtain.

His uncle’s attitude toward his brother-in-law since arriving in
Donghai, and the performance he had put on together with Wu Chen, made
that plain enough.

They were planning something enormous.

So Ding Ruilong’s problem had to be smoothed over. Ding could not be
allowed to sense that anything was wrong on the Li family’s side.

The four-star Heyi Grand Hotel was reasonably well known in Donghai. Li
Ruotai recognized the name at once as a property wholly owned by Donghai
Hehe Hotel Group. He scrolled his contacts and called the group’s
chairman, Yu Hai.

The call connected quickly.

“Young Master Li! I hear your club caught fire. Is it serious? Is there
anything I can do?” Yu Hai said at once. He had already heard.

News of the fire at Crown Entertainment had spread almost immediately.

Because the guests, once they escaped, had started making calls.

And Li Ruotai was one of Donghai’s foremost figures. When something this
large happened to him, word always traveled extraordinarily fast.

“They’re fighting it now,” Li Ruotai said, and turned the subject at
once. “Here’s the thing, Boss Yu. I need a favor.”

“A favor? Name it.”

“Something happened at Heyi Grand Hotel. Have you heard?”

“Someone reported it to me just now. They said something
exploded—possibly gunshots? We don’t know yet. They’re still checking.”

“That idiot Ding Ruilong did it. He’d just finished drinking with me,
went back, and somehow his gun went off…”

“Ding Ruilong? You mean the Ding family’s—”

“Yeah, yeah, him.”

“So what would you like me to—”

“Arrange things on your end. Don’t let the other guests near it, and
don’t inspect the room. If anyone called the police, I’ll speak to the
right people and have them arrive a little later. Then I’ll send some
men over…”

While Li Ruotai was on the phone—

“You’re quite something, my dear Mr. Wu.” Li Ruobing had her arm through
Wu Chen’s and murmured to him.

“What?” He smiled and glanced at her.

“How did you do it?” she asked quietly, straight out.

“It’s complicated.” He smiled, making no attempt to deny it was his
work.

“Just how much have you been hiding from me?” She stared at him.

“Far too much.” Wu Chen laughed.

She was left speechless on the spot.

Infuriating. That answer was genuinely infuriating.

“Then…” She took a moment before whispering in his ear again. “Why did
you choose today to burn the club? Are you planning some other…
conspiracy?”

“Why call it a conspiracy? That sounds so ugly.” Wu Chen laughed again.

“You know what I mean.” Her eyes stayed fixed on him.

“You’ll find out. We’ll talk when we get back. Why be in such a hurry?”
He smiled and reached up to pinch her cheek.

To anyone watching, the two of them beside the car a few steps away
looked unbearably wrapped up in each other.

Li Ruotai made several calls in succession and at last had Ding
Ruilong’s business arranged.

“All right, Third Uncle. There won’t be any trouble at the hotel,” he
told Sun Yongzhang.

“Good.” Sun Yongzhang nodded. “Here’s what we’ll do, A-Tai. You stay and
keep an eye on the club. I’m going to the hospital to see Ding Ruilong.”
Then he turned directly to Tang Jingbin, stepped forward, and clasped
Tang’s hands in both of his.

“Brother Tang, I’m truly sorry about today. We didn’t host you as we
should have.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. No one could have expected so many things in one
night…”

They traded a few more courtesies and said their goodbyes.

Sun Yongzhang got into a car with several bodyguards and left for the
hospital.

Tang Jingbin said his goodbyes to Li Ruobing, Wu Chen, Li Ruotai and the
rest, then got into his own car as well. There was nothing left for him
to do, and the hour was late, so naturally he went to find somewhere to
sleep.

Wu Chen watched the cars pull away for a while, then looked at Li Ruotai
and beckoned.

“Brother-in-law.”

“A-Tai, here’s what you do…”

Wu Chen started to draw him aside for a private word, but Li Ruobing
followed. It was one thing for Wu Chen to keep things from her. Her own
younger brother secretly working with him and keeping things from her
too? Unacceptable. She was going to listen.

Wu Chen only paused for a beat, then went on.

“Have Ma Yuan take some men to Heyi Grand Hotel. If they see Jiang
Hongguang, tell him face-to-face. If they don’t, he should be with Ding
Ruilong, so send him a text. Understood?”

“I understand, Brother-in-law. Don’t worry.” Li Ruotai nodded crisply.

He had heard the instructions.

He did not understand a word of them.

What did that mean?

Tell him what?

Who was Jiang Hongguang?

“A-Tai, you and your brother-in-law have been—” Li Ruobing began.

“Sis, I’ve still got things to arrange. Ask Brother-in-law. Ask him. I’m
going, Sis…” All at once Li Ruotai looked enormously pressed for time,
and strode away.

He fled.

He had joined forces with Wu Chen to make trouble and kept it from his
older sister. He was afraid she would beat him.

Li Ruobing watched him go with narrowed eyes, then turned back to Wu
Chen and said darkly, “My dear Mr. Wu, can you tell me now?”

“Come on. Get in the car. We’ll talk when we get back.” Wu Chen smiled
and waved a hand.

One hour later.

Donghai University First Affiliated Hospital, Central District, Donghai.

In the second-floor corridor outside the operating room, a large group
of bodyguards paced. Some were Ding Ruilong’s; some were Sun
Yongzhang’s.

Sun Yongzhang himself was not in the corridor. He had gone inside. Ding
Ruilong’s surgery had finished a few minutes earlier. He had been given
a local anesthetic and remained conscious, so Sun Yongzhang had gone in
to speak with him and learn what had happened.

“What the hell happened tonight?”

“Who knows. The club burns, Young Master Ding gets hurt, all at once.
Kind of eerie.”

“Wonder if they’ve put it out yet.”

“Young Master Li’s losses are going to be huge. Several hundred million,
maybe?”

“Who knows.”

Several of Sun Yongzhang’s bodyguards had been talking quietly for a
while. Even some of Ding Ruilong’s men had joined in and asked a few
questions. The fire at Crown Entertainment had shocked all of them.

Jiang Hongguang was in the corridor too, listening throughout. He kept
feeling that something was wrong, and could not immediately place it.

Bzzzt.

His phone vibrated. He had silenced it earlier and never changed it
back.

He felt it, drew it out, and looked.

A text message.

From the same unknown number that had threatened him that afternoon and
toyed with him twice.

Jiang Hongguang tensed at once.

He instinctively moved a few steps aside. Only once he was sure no one
was paying attention did he open it.

—Room 1029 is on fire. Good luck!

He froze. At first he did not understand.

Then his eyes went wide, and the hand holding the phone shook.

Absolute terror engulfed him in an instant.

He remembered.

He understood.