Chapter 376 — The Death of Li Dianchi

"Hm?" The fat man was briefly taken aback, not having expected Yang Ce to be so confident. True, he had no particular gifts of his own, but he was a core liaison officer of the Bureau of Mysterious Investigations, and naturally knew a few of its secrets. If Yang Ce was this sure of himself, he must have his own methods.

So the fat man asked no more questions and slowly brought the car up to speed. He too was worried about Li Dianchi's safety—after all, if someone could plant a bomb in front of the car earlier, then things on Li Dianchi's end were probably no better.

By now Yang Ce had given up all hope that Li Dianchi was still alive. Going to look was nothing more than a confirmation. Even so, his attention remained fixed on the road and on whatever danger might lie ahead.

Fortunately, whoever had set the ambush was either overconfident or simply lacked the time and energy to lay more traps and obstacles, for the rest of the way proved smooth and uneventful.

The car stopped before a small door. Looking around, Yang Ce saw that this dark space held at least a dozen more doors like it. What lay behind them he had no interest in checking one by one with his ability—they were presumably used to hold important prisoners.

Yang Ce took one glance through the door ahead of the car and was certain that Li Dianchi had already been killed to silence him.

"Heh. The man's most likely dead already. Whether we go in or not makes no difference." Yang Ce said, watching the fat man unlock the door.

"This... ah!" The fat man gave a bitter laugh too, unsure what to say. In his heart he understood perfectly well that under such circumstances, Li Dianchi's chances of being alive were terribly slim.

The door swung open, and the fat man saw Li Dianchi lying motionless on the bed. His heart sank again—the guess had become reality. Li Dianchi really was finished.

"This... Mr. Yang, Little Ye, this is my failure in management... I will report to my superiors and accept punishment for this..." The fat man's face was ashen. He knew how important a man Li Dianchi was, and he knew full well how much effort his own people had spent capturing him...

Liu Yu and this Mr. Yang Ce, whom he had only just met, were the very men who had captured Li Dianchi with their own hands—and now Li Dianchi had died on his own turf. How were Yang Ce and Liu Yu supposed to feel about that?

To have spent such effort capturing a man only for him to die like this—whose mood would that not sour?

"Forget it. Dead is dead." Yang Lin'yue said flatly. His original intention had merely been to confirm the identity of the man who was to receive the goods, to see whether he was connected to that mysterious "Center" and to a certain Dr. Ban Lin. But since he was dead, there was no point in asking.

In any case, whether he asked or not made little difference to Yang Juehuan. Even if he learned that the recipient was—or was not—one of the Center's people, Yang Ce would still move against him. There was no distinction.

"This..." The fat man assumed Yang Ce was angry. After all, according to Liu Yu, Yang Ce had contributed enormously to the operation to capture Li Dianchi. "Mr. Yang, I'm sorry! I've failed the country's trust..."

"All right, I'm not blaming you..." Yang Hengye smiled. "I truly don't mind. Dead is dead—what has it to do with me? His value was never great anyway. Whoever he gave the thing to, we'll just take it back. Don't blame yourself so much. What system doesn't have its worms? But this particular worm is yours to dig out. I'll stay out of it."

"Rest assured, Mr. Yang, I won't let this bastard off easy! Before tonight, I'll give you and Little Ye a proper accounting!" The fat man gritted his teeth and spoke with venom. "This is a slap in my face!"

"Heh. Then we'll go find that foreigner who took the goods." Yang Yu nodded. "By the way, this fellow still has money in his bank account..."

"That—we haven't asked about it yet. His money is all to be handed over, so when it comes to private matters like bank accounts, it isn't our place to inquire. We were waiting to transfer him back to the country and let the people there question him—who would have thought he'd die first..." The fat man sounded rather regretful at this. "The bastard must have skimmed quite a sum. Cheap for his family!"

"Oh, not so cheap, I'd say." Yang Lin'yue smiled faintly and said nothing more. Since they didn't want the money, Yang Ce had no intention of letting it go. When Li Dianchi had transferred funds to him earlier, though the man had tapped the phone keypad out of his sight, Yang Ce had read the account number and password he entered with his ability as clear as day. He had thought at the time to skim a little more off the top, but later reasoned that once Liu Yu got back he would surely ask about it, and then it would be awkward to transfer the money away. Who would have guessed that before they could act, the man would be dead!

So what reason did Yang Ce have to decline? Never refuse a free gift. In a moment he would casually transfer it to his own account. These days Yang Ce never turned up his nose at more money—at the very least, before he left for Yunnan, he had to leave his parents and Chen Shutang and the others a substantial fortune...

"True enough—the man's dead, so what use is money!" The fat man hadn't caught Yang Juehuan's meaning and sighed. "Mr. Yang, Little Ye, shall I drive you back?"

"I told you, just call me Yang Ce. My friends call me Da Ming—you can call me Da Ming too, just as I don't stand on ceremony and call you Fatty." Yang Minlan said to the fat man.

"This... I'm just a little embarrassed... after such a serious thing happened..." The fat man explained awkwardly.

"All right, don't think about it so much. Once Little Ye and I get the goods back, Li Dianchi's death won't matter anymore. I doubt the higher-ups will pursue it, and even if they do, I'll put in a word for you—it won't be any big deal." Yang Ce patted the fat man's shoulder to comfort him.

What a good man! Hearing Yang Juehuan's words, the fat man was nearly moved to tears. What did it mean to be a good man? Yang Ce was the very model of one! Not only did he not hold it against him that the man he had worked so hard to capture had been killed on his watch, but fearing he would be taken to task by the higher-ups, he had even offered to speak up for him. This... this... left the fat man speechless.

"Da Ming, you're my friend now—from now on, your business is my business!" The fat man was so agitated that the flesh on his face kept trembling. "A great kindness needs no thanks!"

"Heh, who knows—perhaps in the future my family's affairs will still need Fatty's help..." Yang Hengye smiled. "I won't hide it from you: Little Ye and I have a rather dangerous mission in a few days. So when I speak, the higher-ups will listen, and they'll take my feelings into account. So Fatty, if you're fine this time, then you're definitely fine..."

"Hm?" The fat man was briefly startled, then his expression turned grave. He knew very well what kind of organization their own was. Since Yang Ce called it a dangerous operation, then this operation must be truly extraordinary...