Chapter 88

When the darkness enveloped the earth, the streets and alleys of Hanghu were illuminated with the warm, egg-yolk-like lights. The entrances of various nightclubs were adorned with colorful lights, welcoming those who enjoyed nightlife to come and spend their evenings.

As one of the top nightclubs in Hanghu, CC Bar was bustling with business—just as the sky had turned dark, one car after another arrived at the parking lot in front of the bar. Well-dressed men and women, either alone or in groups, entered the bar.

The hostesses at the entrance, dressed in cheongsams, greeted the guests with smiles, bowing deeply, which revealed parts of their snowy chests, drawing the attention of the guests.

The men couldn't help but dilate their pupils slightly, while the women generally looked at them with disdain, their mouths almost curling up to the sky.

"Manager Feng, is Sister Liu not coming today?"

In the workroom on the third floor, a man wearing an earphone saw that the occupancy rate of the bar had exceeded half. Checking the time, he found it was already past eight o'clock and couldn't help but ask the man beside him.

"I don't know; she didn't call to notify me."

Feng Kai, whose surname was Feng, shook his head. He was the manager of CC Bar and usually took charge of the business if Liu Qin was unavailable.

"I heard that a murder case happened at Lingyin Temple today, with eight people dead, all elite members of the Donghai Gang. Moreover, the little princess of the Donghai Gang, Situ Ruoshui, was kidnapped."

The man hesitated for a moment and asked tentatively, "It looks like this was done by our Eighth Master. Sister Liu must be dealing with this matter with Eighth Master, right?"

"Brother Li, these are not things we should be concerned about," Feng Kai reminded the man, who had a background as a reconnaissance soldier. "We just need to do our jobs well."

"You're right."

The man laughed self-deprecatingly. Although he had honed his skills in the military, he had offended his superiors and, after being discharged, found it difficult to find a job due to lack of connections. He ended up working as a security guard at CC Bar.

"Brother Li, take your team to patrol the premises."

Feng Kai thought for a moment and added, as the manager of CC Bar, he was not one of Eighth Master Qiao's closest confidants, but he was someone Qiao could call by name and was a significant figure in the Hanghu branch of the Nanqing Gang. His information channels were much broader than those of the security chief. He knew the inside story of Lingyin Temple well.

In such a situation, although he didn't know that Qiao and Liu Qin had been sent to the underworld by Ye Fan, his intuition and reason told him that the Donghai Gang would not let the kidnapping of their princess go unpunished.

It must be said that Feng Kai's ability to serve as the manager of CC Bar was not undeserved; his foresight was strong.

When Li Pei, whose surname was Li, was instructed by Feng Kai to patrol, Feng Kai suddenly saw three minivans speeding towards the bar through the surveillance cameras. They did not stop in the parking lot as directed by the security guards but almost ran them over, parking directly in front of the bar.

Hmm?

Seeing this, Feng Kai's brows furrowed, and his unease grew stronger.

Shortly after, before Feng Kai could warn Li Pei about the abnormal situation at the entrance, the three minivans opened simultaneously, and a group of black-clad men wearing baseball caps, wielding knives and wooden sticks, jumped out and charged towards the bar aggressively.

"Brother... Brother Li, there's a situation at the entrance; take your team there immediately!" After a brief moment of shock, Feng Kai suddenly came to his senses and grabbed the walkie-talkie, shouting at Li Pei.

As Feng Kai spoke, Li Pei saw four security guards at the entrance being overwhelmed by the group of men, who quickly knocked them to the ground with knives and sticks.

At the same time, inside the bar, Li Pei, hearing Feng Kai's words, did not take it seriously and led six of his subordinates towards the entrance without urgency.

The reason for his lack of urgency was not that he didn't respect Feng Kai, but that he believed no one in Hanghu or even the entire Jiangnan region would dare to cause trouble at CC Bar.

In the past, even if there were disturbances, they were usually due to drunkenness, arguments, or attempts to show off in front of women, and they were quickly resolved.

"Ah—"

Just as Li Pei, with a relaxed attitude, led his six subordinates to check what was happening, the four hostesses at the entrance saw the bloody scene outside and screamed, running into the bar, one of them slipping and falling due to panic.

Swish!

Since it was still early, the bar was playing light music. Both the security guards and the guests were drawn to the entrance by the hostesses' screams and saw a group of black-clad men, wielding knives and sticks, rush into the bar like Japanese soldiers invading a village.

"What do you want?" Seeing this, although Li Pei was shocked, he still shouted and moved forward.

"Give it to the bastards of the Nanqing Gang!"

The leading man was a fierce warrior under Liu Tianjun, with multiple murders on his hands. Seeing Li Pei, a former reconnaissance soldier, leading his team, he did not show any fear but shouted orders.

With the leader's command, the men behind him, wielding knives and sticks, charged forward like wild beasts.

"Ah—"

In an instant, the bar was in chaos. Guests either screamed and fled or crouched down, covering their heads, while the Donghai Gang and the Nanqing Gang quickly engaged in a fight.

For a moment, the sounds of furniture colliding, glasses shattering, and weapons clashing mixed together, drowning out the light music in the bar.

Due to their numerical disadvantage and being caught off guard, Li Pei and his team were quickly overwhelmed, with Li Pei himself being stabbed several times and turning into a blood-soaked figure.

"Divide into two teams according to the plan. One team goes upstairs to search for any stragglers, and the other team starts smashing things!"

The leading man gave another order, his tone extremely excited—Donghai Gang had been suppressed by the Hanghu Gang for two years, and they had accumulated too much anger and resentment!

"Whoa~"

On the third floor, Feng Kai, the bar manager, saw this and was so frightened that he drew in a sharp breath. Without hesitation, he turned and ran, trying to avoid the disaster.

While fleeing, he did not forget to take out his phone and call someone.

Normally, according to the hierarchical responsibility system, he would report to Liu Qin, but the situation was urgent, so he bypassed Liu Qin and called Qiao Baizhi directly.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is temporarily unavailable."

Soon, the polite voice of the automated operator sounded, making Feng Kai pause, almost tripping and falling.

Unable to contact Qiao Baizhi, Feng Kai could only try calling Liu Qin, but her phone was also unreachable.

What's going on?

Could... could Eighth Master...?

Seeing that he couldn't reach either Qiao Baizhi or Liu Qin, Feng Kai had a bad feeling, shuddering with fear. Without a word, he ran towards the second floor.

At the same time, similar scenes were unfolding at several large nightclubs, a casino, and an underground racing venue in Hanghu. The Nanqing Gang was caught off guard and was in disarray.

Each venue's manager frantically tried to contact Qiao Baizhi, but none of their calls went through.

Meanwhile, the Hanghu police department's phones were ringing off the hook. Police cars screamed out from police stations and precincts, heading to the incident sites, their sirens piercing the night sky, causing the citizens to be on edge.

To prevent the situation from escalating, the head of the Jiangnan police force immediately instructed his secretary to call the police chiefs and convene an emergency meeting.

On a main road in Hanghu, a police-licensed Audi A6L was speeding.

In the car, a slightly bald, pot-bellied middle-aged man repeatedly dialed Qiao Baizhi's number, but it remained unanswered.

Zhou Hong, one of the police chiefs and a protector of the Nanqing Gang in Jiangnan, was also a member of the black gold empire of the Nanqing Gang. He was aware of Qiao Baizhi's kidnapping of Situ Ruoshui and was responsible for passing police information to Qiao.

Because the police had not yet uncovered the truth about the Lingyin Temple incident, he had not contacted Qiao Baizhi for safety. However, after receiving a call from the head of the Jiangnan police force, informing him of the Donghai Gang's attack on the Nanqing Gang, he decided to call Qiao.

"Could... could something have happened to Qiao Baizhi?"

Seeing that he couldn't reach Qiao Baizhi, he had a bad feeling.

After careful consideration, Zhou Hong believed this was highly likely; otherwise, Qiao Baizhi would have no reason not to answer his call.

Thinking about this, Zhou Hong hesitated, unsure whether to call Lin Tianyi, the leader of the Nanqing Gang.

Although he was a member of the black gold empire, his status and position were not at the top, and he had no right to contact Lin Tianyi directly.

However... the situation today was too special!

On one hand, he couldn't contact Qiao Baizhi and was worried that Lin Tianyi's plan to force Situ Chen through the kidnapping of Situ Ruoshui would fail. More importantly, he had learned through special channels that the new deputy head of Jiangnan was extremely dissatisfied with the Lingyin Temple incident and had ordered the police to solve the case as soon as possible.

Now, with the Lingyin Temple case unsolved and the Donghai Gang clashing with the Nanqing Gang...

He couldn't imagine what the senior official would do!

But... he had a thousand reasons to believe that if the Nanqing Gang launched a counterattack against the Donghai Gang at this critical moment, the new senior official would be furious!

And the anger of that senior official, not to mention Qiao Baizhi, even Lin Tianyi, the leader of the Nanqing Gang and the ruler of the underground world in South China, could not bear!

Because...

That senior official's surname was Ye, and he came from the capital!