"Get lost, you filthy rogue, don’t touch me!"
Lin Qianru slapped away Lu Tianxing’s hand. This guy was too terrifying; even now she felt as if she had no strength in her body. At this rate, she might not even have the strength to stand up today.
"Someone once told me that dating without the intention of marriage is rogue behavior. But I am making moves with marriage in mind, so it doesn’t count as rogue behavior."
Lu Tianxing chuckled, seized the opportunity, and spread his fingers, instantly transforming into a Five-finger Mountain, capturing a mountain peak within it.
Lin Qianru’s pretty face instantly turned as ripe as a juicy peach, her eyes also becoming misty. A strange feeling rose from the bottom of her heart, and from her mouth came a faint noise.
"Lu Tianxing, you jerk, let me go, someone will notice."
Lin Qianru bit her lip hard, trying to keep herself awake, her arms tightly grabbing Lu Tianxing’s hand to keep it from moving recklessly.
As if Lu Tianxing hadn’t heard Lin Qianru’s pleading, he reached out and scooped her up, sat down in a chair, and placed Lin Qianru on his lap before leaning in to kiss her red lips...
Meanwhile, Lu Tianxing was at ease in the sales department of Bai’s Group in Modu, in the Zhang Group skyscraper’s top-floor general manager office.
Zhang Tianfeng sat on the couch with a sullen face, expressionless, his entire body emitting a chilling aura. In front of him stood his personal bodyguard Cang Hu, also wearing a stern expression.
"Cang Hu, what’s the urgent matter that you had to contact me? Has there been a result from the Xiangjiang matter?" Zhang Tianfeng slowly said, his tone somewhat irritable.
Although Zhang Group was quite famous in Modu, with strong influence, it was struggling in Xiangjiang, largely ineffective because strong dragons cannot suppress local snakes. The stakes in Xiangjiang were only so big, with the pie already divided among local powers, and no one wanted to willingly hand over their share to others.
This made Zhang Tianfeng feel both annoyed and frustrated. When was it that Zhang Group needed to rely on others to get news?
"Young Master, there has been a message, but..."
Cang Hu hesitated, unsure if this was something he should tell Zhang Tianfeng.
Seeing Cang Hu’s expression, Zhang Tianfeng furrowed his brows, his face showing impatience: "Cang Hu, just speak up, don’t mumble, say it."
Cang Hu took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Young Master, according to the news from Xiangjiang, our plan to use others to eliminate our target has failed. The mercenaries we secretly hired to eliminate the elder young master have all been taken care of, not one survived."
"What about Lu Tianxing? Is he dead?" Zhang Tianfeng abruptly stood up, pressing for answers.
Cang Hu shook his head and said, "Lu Tianxing is not dead. He flew back to Modu yesterday."
Zhang Tianfeng furrowed his brows, feeling waves of displeasure at the news that Lu Tianxing was still alive, and asked in a heavy tone, "Do you know how those mercenaries died? Was it Lu Tianxing who took action?"
Cang Hu shook his head and quickly replied, "No matter what I did, whether offering bribes or whatever, the Xiangjiang police were always unwilling to answer this question. They officially claimed that the Flying Tiger Team had killed those several bandits. Later, I bribed a junior police officer involved in the rescue, and only from his account did we learn about the situation of those bandits. According to his description, the group of bandits died before the police stormed the shopping mall. According to the description of the corpses, they seemed to have all died at the hands of a Martial Artist. However, it’s unknown if Lu Tianxing was involved as all the mall’s surveillance footage was deleted, and no backups were kept. It’s impossible to know who actually took action."
"By the way, Cang Hu, what about that useless Zhang Tianci? Logically, if he had failed, he should have come running to me to complain. Why haven’t I seen him?" Zhang Tianfeng said.
"If I’m not mistaken, the elder young master is likely already dead," Cang Hu slowly stated, indifferent to the death of Zhang Tianci.
"What did you say? Zhang Tianci is dead?"
Zhang Tianfeng was slightly stunned, not as saddened as expected but extremely shocked.
Cang Hu nodded and explained, "I investigated Zhang Tianci’s whereabouts. On the night the mercenaries were killed, Zhang Tianci took two young models to the well-known Golden Pavilion in Xiangjiang. Since entering, no one has seen Zhang Tianci come out again, and those two young models have also disappeared without a trace. Despite my efforts to inquire within Golden Pavilion, where Zhang Tianci was a known regular, the staff, who should have been familiar with him, immediately walked away when asked about Zhang Tianci, their expressions carrying a hint of fear. From these abnormal reactions, it can be deduced that Zhang Tianci was likely killed at the Golden Pavilion. To protect their reputation, Golden Pavilion ordered this incident to be hushed. That’s why the staff hurriedly walked away when questioned, and Golden Pavilion secretly disposed of Zhang Tianci’s body. The two models accompanying him were either silenced or sent out of the country. Young Master, you know the background of Golden Pavilion—if their backers intend to conceal something, trying to find even a trace of evidence would be like finding a needle in a haystack."
Zhang Tianfeng didn’t speak, only walking over to the floor-to-ceiling window, his expression grave as he looked in the direction of Bai’s Group. He wasn’t a fool; from Zhang Tianci’s death, he could derive a multitude of problems. The group of mercenaries had just failed to assassinate Lu Tianxing and were killed, and Zhang Tianci died on the very same night—these two incidents were too much of a coincidence, and he absolutely didn’t believe them to be unrelated.
What Zhang Tianfeng hadn’t anticipated from the evidence he had gathered was that Lu Tianxing was merely an ordinary person who had served a few years in the military, but that was hardly useful. After being discharged, he had gone abroad to work and had only returned to China more than a year ago, leading a lackluster life since—hardly the type to have any significant backing. So who could have wanted Zhang Tianci dead? Aside from Lu Tianxing, who else would want Zhang Tianci dead? Was it someone who held a grudge against Zhang Tianci, or against the Zhang Family?
Zhang Tianfeng sifted through his mind, considering each entity that held a grudge against the Zhang Family, eventually shook his head, and asked again, "Aside from these, is there any other news?"
"Oh, right, Young Master, there is another piece of news,"
Cang Hu suddenly seemed to remember something and said, "This time Lu Tianxing’s trip to Xiangjiang was for a business trip, reportedly because Bai’s Group planned to establish a new security company and was considering partnering with Lin Hua Security Company. However, something happened, and the collaboration fell through. Eventually, they chose to partner with Black Panther Security Company, which is no less reputable than Lin Hua Security Company. According to our people, Lu Tianxing seems to be very familiar with Cheng Bao, the chairman of Black Panther Security Company."