Chapter 433 — An Liwen Comes Calling Again

"An early-stage Yellow Rank expert isn't formidable? For ordinary people like us, that's a height we could never reach in a lifetime—not to mention early-stage Yellow Rank, we couldn't even reach late-stage Body Refining or Qi Cultivation!" An Liwen clearly knew a great deal about ancient martial arts; he knew there were two paths to the Yellow Rank: Qi Cultivation and Body Refining.

"Heh, that's true enough. But Wei Zhao is no ordinary man," Li Cihua said faintly. "If he were merely an ordinary man, would I have kept him around?"

Now that he and An Liwen had established a cooperative relationship and their initial collaboration had gone smoothly—Li Cihua had even pocketed a hefty windfall he had never expected; who would have thought trafficking in human organs could be so lucrative! No wonder the An family, once so obscure, had vaulted into the ranks of the newly wealthy. So Li Cihua did not want any rift to open between himself and An Liwen at this juncture, and thus he told the truth about Wei Zhao.

"Not an ordinary man? What do you mean?" An Liwen was taken aback. "Isn't he just Gu Mengyao's imperial guard?"

"You think anyone can serve as an imperial guard? If he had no real skill, would Gu Pengzhan have brought him in and placed him at Gu Mengyao's side?" Li Cihua shook his head. "What sort of man is Gu Pengzhan? Even the shareholders of his company have experts guarding them; Uncle Qing at his own side must certainly be a Yellow Rank expert or above. Would he find a worthless piece of trash to put beside his most beloved daughter?"

For all that Li Cihua's analysis now sounded thoroughly reasoned, he too had once underestimated Wei Zhao! Many people were like that—until they truly suffered a loss, they could never see the reality before their eyes.

An Liwen's expression changed. "Wei Zhao is a Yellow Rank expert too?"

"Hmph—one early-stage Yellow Rank, one late-stage Yellow Rank, and he killed them both!" Li Cihua roared, his face savage. "Do I hate him? Do I want him dead? Of course I hate him, of course I want him dead! But there's nothing I can do—I have no way to deal with him!"

"What? What did you say? Brother Cihua, you're saying an early-stage Yellow Rank and a late-stage Yellow Rank—both of those experts were killed by Wei Zhao?" An Liwen's eyes went wide, and he stared at Li Cihua in horror. In that instant he felt his scalp about to burst open, a chill crawling all over it.

"Whether he killed them, I can't say for certain—it looked like a car accident!" Li Cihua sighed and steadied his emotions. "But I don't believe two Yellow Rank experts would die in a car accident. Besides, I had that early-stage Yellow Rank expert test Wei Zhao before, and he came away with nothing to show for it!"

"This..." An Liwen was utterly dumbfounded this time. He had assumed Wei Zhao was just a small fry with a bit of fighting skill, but now it seemed that was not the case at all! Wei Zhao was not merely formidable—he was terrifyingly formidable!

"So if he poses no threat to you, then for now, let him be—it benefits us both." Li Cihua smiled bitterly. "I, Cihua, have roamed Songshan City for five years, yet I'm helpless against a greenhorn who just arrived. Do I feel wronged? Of course I do! But this, I can endure!"

An Liwen knew Li Cihua could not be lying to him; there was no need to lie about such a thing, especially now that they were partners—Li Cihua certainly would not want anything to happen to him and upset their cooperation.

"As for threats, there really aren't any..." An Liwen shook his head. "He's only Gu Mengyao's imperial guard, not her boyfriend. And from what I've investigated, he has a girlfriend named Tang Zhi, one of the school belles of Songshan City No. 1 High School. Her looks are no inferior to Gu Mengyao's, so he and Gu Mengyao shouldn't have any relationship... It's just that I can't swallow this humiliation!"

"And what good would refusing to swallow it do? People need to endure—endure and endure, and you get used to it." Li Cihua waved his hand.

"I had thought of making a move on Tang Zhi, but now it seems that's out of the question," An Liwen said.

"Don't—absolutely don't! If you touch his woman, he'll never let you off, and even if he's only late-stage Yellow Rank, you'll never know a moment's peace in this life!" Li Cihua said hurriedly. "Unless you have an expert of an even higher tier guarding your side!"

"Right! You're right. I should change how I deal with Wei Zhao. Since we can't be enemies, then let's be friends. With him at Gu Mengyao's side, it's like having an extra informant—I can keep track of Gu Mengyao's movements at any time!" An Liwen quickly came around.

"Now you're thinking straight." Li Cihua raised his glass. "Come, let's drink to our cooperation!"

"To cooperation!" Now that An Liwen had found a temporary solution, he was no longer glum. "Brother Cihua, the people you've rounded up lately are noticeably fewer than in the first couple of days... the Fire Wolf Gang is facing a bit of a shortage!"

"Young Master An, you know as well as I do—there are only so many beggars and vagrants in Songshan City. We've already caught most of them, and those who heard the news have mostly run off. It's not easy for us to catch them either!" Li Cihua said.

"What about the disabled? There should be plenty of disabled people, right? They're a vulnerable group too—no one would care if they went missing, would they?" These past few days An Liwen had been seeing red over money; he had never seen so much of it, and the funds in his bank account were skyrocketing, driving him half mad.

"The disabled aren't so easy to catch either. Some of them are quite well-off and have formidable relatives—we can't just touch them at will. Our people can only stake out the shantytowns and the outskirts every day and snatch whatever disabled people they see!" Li Cihua said. "No matter—I know some underground bosses in other cities in the province. We can seek their cooperation!"

"Good, then I'll leave these matters to you, Brother Cihua!" An Liwen nodded. Though he was well aware that going directly to those underground leaders in other cities and cutting Li Cihua out of the deal would earn him more, An Liwen was a stranger there. The An family's roots were in Songshan City; if he suddenly overstepped into another's territory, he would likely be fleeced. Better to leave it to Li Cihua.

"Mm, rest assured, that's no problem at all." Li Cihua waved his hand...

What surprised Wei Zhao was that An Liwen actually had the nerve to show his face at the door again! When he heard Shen Yushu calling his name from the doorway of his room, Wei Zhao thought he must have misheard.

"Arrow Brand Bro, An Liwen's here again—he's come to take you out for dinner!" Shen Yushu shouted from the doorway of Wei Zhao's room.

"Oh? Why's he back again? Did he have fun with that inflatable doll last time?" Wei Zhao rose and walked out of his room, and there was An Liwen sitting on the living room sofa, his face wreathed in smiles, as though no conflict had ever occurred between him and Wei Zhao at all.