1010 Perfect Scene
The train station in the Sihuan district of Di Capital was still busy late into the night. People from the south who were traveling towards the north were passing through endlessly, heading towards their destination.
Hong Kangquan was wearing his baseball cap pulled low and a rather worn out leather jacket as he hastily exited the train. He walked among the crowd and carefully avoided the cameras around the station. For the ones that he was unable to avoid, he waited until there was a crowd before moving forward as he was cramped in between. It only took five minutes to walk from the train station to the online author’s home, but Hong Kangquan took a full 30 minutes before he arrived at that author’s doorstep.
The doorbell rang for a long while before the author opened the door, looking sleepy and annoyed. “Who the hell is it? Do you even know what time it is already? Don’t you know that I have to sleep?!” He had not been able to get a good night’s sleep for a few days now.
He had finally managed to settle his air tickets today and wanted to leave the country tomorrow to lie low for a bit. That was why he was finally able to sleep well. However, he was woken up half an hour into his sleep.
“You’re Lu Dayong?” Hong Kangquan raised his head to look at this online author and said his real name.
Lu Dayong did not exactly look young. He was slightly above 30 years old with oily hair and a big face. He was short and overweight. One look and you could tell that he was a couch potato, and his abnormally pale face showed it as well.
He leaned against the door and looked at this tall guy standing in front of him in shock. The man was wearing shades, even in the middle of the night. “Who are you? Why are you looking for me?” This man was very tall, indeed. Lu Dayong felt that he only reached the man’s shoulders.
Hong Kangquan nodded. “Can we talk inside please? I have something to discuss with you about the loans you have taken out online.”
“Loans? What loans online?! Are you crazy?!” Lu Dayong’s expression changed in an instant, and he wanted to slam the door shut as he moved backwards.
“Did you not want to return the money you borrowed?!” Hong Kangquan raised his voice slightly. He had used a voice-changing device intentionally so even the people who knew him would not be able to recognize his voice.
Of course, Lu Dayong would not know if this was Hong Kangquan’s real voice or not. He was merely in shock, because he did intend to leave the country and not return the money.
“What… What are you talking about? I don’t understand…” Lu Dayong stammered as he wanted to close the door more than ever.
“Pay up if you owe money! Don’t even think about running away!” Hong Kangquan roared. With that volume, Hong Kangquan managed to wake some neighbors who were already asleep. Doors opened, and heads stuck out from them out of curiosity.
In a state of panic, Lu Dayong pulled Hong Kangquan into his house in one swift motion and closed the door. “What on earth do you think you’re doing?! That was so loud. You might not care about your pride anymore, but I still do,” Lu Dayong whispered.
“You’re talking about pride with me?” Hong Kangquan chuckled as he leaned against the door. Looking Lu Dayong over one more time, he asked, “You’re the online author of, ‘The Garden of Churchill?'”
Lu Dayong was at a loss for words. Wasn’t he someone from the online money lending company who was here to collect the debts that Lu Dayong owed? How was it linked to Weibo now? Lu Dayong became wary. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about. I think you have the wrong person.”
“Have the wrong person?” Hong Kangquan took one step forward, sticking out his long arm. He was holding onto a gun! He pointed the gun at Lu Dayong’s forehead. “You’re good. You can even get your hands on the video of the Prime Minister. Spill. Who gave you the resources? Also, who told you about the information on the Prime Minister’s daughter when she was overseas?”
Lu Dayong finally understood that this person was someone who was with the Prime Minister. In an instant, he knelt down and wailed, “I don’t know! I really don’t know! I was only doing things upon accepting money! I also don’t know why it became a video! I’m innocent! I am so maligned!”
As Lu Dayong wailed, he took the opportunity when Hong Kangquan wasn’t paying attention and head-butted him with all his might, knocking Hong Kangquan down to the ground. Lu Dayong stood up and opened the door, intending to escape.
Hong Kangquan snickered. “You’re thinking of escaping?!” He moved forward in a swift motion and strangled Lu Dayong from behind. Hong Kangquan used an adequate amount of strength to cause Lu Dayong to black out, though he was still alive. Hong Kangquan then placed Lu Dayong on the ground as he put on some rubber gloves. Next, he began rummaging around Lu Dayong’s apartment.
The apartment that Lu Dayong had rented was a small studio apartment on the fifteenth floor. Based on Hong Kangquan’s searching capabilities, it only took him ten minutes before realizing that there was nothing that he would require in this place. As for Lu Dayong’s computer, Hong Kangquan used a flash drive that he brought and copied everything from the computer onto that flash drive in no time. This was to make it more convenient for him to bring it back to look for more evidence.
Looking back at Lu Dayong lying on the ground, Hong Kangquan saw that he seemed to have moved a little. Hong Kangquan made up his mind to finish this up quickly. He put the flash drive back into his jacket and dragged Lu Dayong over. Then, he opened the window and took out a specially made paper bag. He wrapped the paper bag around Lu Dayong’s chest and hung him at the edge of the balcony window. After that, he created a scene to indicate that there had been a fight in the apartment. He messed the living room up before lighting a book on fire and throwing it on the floor in the living room beside the window.
Upon finishing doing all these things, Hong Kangquan left Lu Dayong’s apartment quickly and went down to the ground level using the elevator. He had already disabled the CCTV in the elevator before he had gone up to find Lu Dayong. Therefore, he was not at all worried about being caught on camera.
Moreover, even if he was caught on the CCTV, he was not at all worried that anyone would be able to recognize him. This was because he had already put on a thorough disguise. He had covered his shoes with plastic bags so that he wouldn’t leave any footprints behind. His shoes were also specially made with inner soles that had a height of seven to eight centimeters, giving him an increase in height.
On top of that, he had also disguised himself as a buffed up man, looking just like a fighter who had been hired by the money lending company to collect debts. In actual fact, Hong Kangquan was extremely skinny. He only had lean muscles all over.
Upon exiting the elevator, Hong Kangquan turned around and took another look. He could already see flames through the window of Lu Dayong’s apartment. The fire had begun burning.
He walked into the crowd in the night and boarded the train with everyone else. Then, he found a public washroom that had no CCTV and removed his disguise before calling for a privately hired vehicle and returning home.
…
A gust of wind blew, bringing along with it heat and the smell of smoke. Lu Dayong slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes. It was the night sky! He looked down and realized that he was dangling from something like 1,000 meters up! He screamed and began struggling instinctively.
The moment he struggled, the paper bag that was tied around his chest snapped! “Ah!” Lu Dayong did not even have time to scream for help before falling 15 stories down. He landed on the pedestrian walkway in front of his apartment building with a thud!
The fire engulfed Lu Dayong’s entire living room shortly after he had fallen to his death. The blazing flames spread quickly and lit the paper bag that Hong Kangquan had used to tie Lu Dayong up. In just a blink of an eye, this only piece of evidence was burned to ashes.
“Fire!”
“Fire!”
Passersby had finally noticed what was going on on the fifteenth floor and began calling the emergency hotline for help.
Lu Dayong, who had fallen to his death, was also discovered at that moment. All of a sudden, the blaring of sirens from the police cars, fire engines, and ambulance could be heard in the neighborhood…
The quiet and peaceful night now seemed extremely noisy and chaotic.
…
The two soldiers from the Special Forces who were following Hong Kangquan had turned the gay bar upside down, but they could no longer find him. Eventually, there was nothing else they could do. They interrogated the man who had been wearing Hong Kangquan’s winter jacket for a long time and could only discover that the winter jacket was a gift from a stranger, all in exchange for his used leather jacket.
Hong Kangquan’s winter jacket was a luxury brand, and the leather jacket from that man was an unknown brand. Of course, the man traded his jacket for a branded one without a second thought.
Upon learning that Hong Kangquan had slipped away 30 minutes ago, the two soldiers were fuming, but there was nothing they could do. They knew that there were too many places that one could go upon exiting the bar. They didn’t even know which direction Hong Kangquan had headed. Finally, they had no other option but to make a call to the headquarters to inform them that they had failed in their mission.
Yin Shixiong reported the information to Huo Shaoheng immediately upon receiving the call. Huo Shaoheng was still in the temporary control room with them making the final adjustments to the system.
Upon hearing the news, Huo Shaoheng chuckled like he had expected it. With a nod, he replied, “Okay. Get them to come back. Get them to do a write-up and reflect on the reasons for their failure. Be as detailed as possible. Hong Kangquan was my superior. If he couldn’t even get away from soldiers, I would’ve been surprised.”
Yin Shixiong understood where Huo Shaoheng was coming from and replied, “What do we do, then? Must we begin a 24-hour watch on him? Senior Speaker Long hasn’t signed the document yet.”
Huo Shaoheng looked at his watch. It was already one o’clock in the morning. Another day had passed. “Give Senior Speaker Long a call right now. Make sure to get the call connected directly to Senior Speaker Long himself. Just say that I need to speak to him, as I have something important to report.” With that, he said with a slight smirk, “I really want to see who is trying to be my obstacle this time ’round.”