Era of Mist

Chapter 222: Chapter 221: The Peculiar Guards

The Hongshun Society’s motorcade quickly pulled up downstairs. Scores of men in black suits climbed out of the Mercedes-Benzes in the front and back. Someone respectfully opened the suicide doors of a Rolls-Royce. Two men, also in suits but with a clearly more high-end air about them, got out. Flanked by the men in black, they then walked into the hotel.

The distance was too great to make out their faces, so it was uncertain if the two were the Ouyang brothers. But that swagger, the kind that says you don’t give a damn about anyone, the kind of walk that makes a four-lane road seem too narrow for one person—most people wouldn’t dare to walk like that.

Shi Tiexin silently counted them—forty-two bodyguards.

Although a Squad Leader was mediating and had even brought in a third party to broker the meeting, there was no way the Ouyang brothers would come alone. Forty-two men wasn’t a huge number; it was within the plan’s projections. The only unknowns were whether they were armed, and if so, with what level of weaponry.

Before long, the sound of heavy footsteps rolled in from outside the main hall. With a loud CLANG, someone shoved the main doors open. The men in black swarmed into the hall, followed by two middle-aged men who swaggered in.

Up close, the two middle-aged men looked very similar, with only subtle differences between them. One of them bore a striking resemblance to the Ouyang Hong that Shi Tiexin had seen before.

”You’re finally here. Any later and this old man would’ve been six feet under.” Old Man Sun, the mediator, spoke up. His expression was hardly fitting for a proper mediator, his long face pulled into a scowl for no one in particular. ”Alright, since both sides have arrived, let’s all sit down and talk.”

The two Ouyang brothers swaggered forward, followed by a somewhat familiar-looking young man. The two sides then officially began their talks. The conversation was anything but friendly. One side accused the other of striking first, while the other accused the first of breaking the rules. For a while, the discussion went nowhere.

Shi Tiexin wasn’t paying attention to the bickering. Instead, he carefully observed the men in black who had followed them in. Of course, not all of them could enter the main hall. Only about ten or so actually came inside, while the other thirty-plus men remained outside, guarding against a possible, indefensible surprise attack.

’Could there really be an attack they couldn’t possibly defend against?’

’Of... course... there... is!’

Wang Dafu’s plan was very simple. He would leverage the Squad Leader’s desire to smooth things over, having him find a mediator to bring the two Ouyang brothers in for a negotiation. As soon as the brothers appeared, men lying in ambush would seize the opportunity to swarm them and take complete control.

These two brothers were the highest authorities in the Hongshun Society, its ultimate pillars. If they were killed or captured, it would shake the Hongshun Society to its very core. The subsequent takeover would then be a matter of course, and any resistance encountered would be negligible.

A very simple plan, wasn’t it?

But the simpler the plan, the higher its chance of success. Xiang Yu inviting Liu Bang, Lu Su inviting Guan Yu, and Lai Junchen inviting Zhou Xing—the origin of the idiom ”please step into the urn”—were all the same kind of ploy.

But while the ploy was simple, its execution involved several difficulties. Aside from whether the target would actually fall for the trap, there were three major hurdles.

First was the initiator’s own hesitation. Once a ”feast and assassinate” tactic like this was used, it would have a major impact on the host’s reputation. Some people hesitated because of this concern, delaying until they missed their chance.

On this point, Wang Dafu himself had no such reservations. That was a non-issue.

Second was the initiator’s personal safety. If you wanted to lure someone into a fatal trap, you had to put up sufficient bait. When Lu Su invited Guan Yu, five hundred axemen were already in ambush. Why did they hesitate to act? Because Lu Su himself was within three feet of Guan Yu. Once the cup was smashed as the signal, there was no telling whose head would be sent flying by the Cyan Dragon Saber.

In this regard, Wang Dafu was truly willing to stake everything and had more than enough of an appetite for risk. It was precisely because he had dragged the Squad Leader into it, and placed everyone—including himself—inside the circle of danger, that the Ouyang brothers let their guard down and walked right into the trap.

Aside from the two points above, there was one more, most important question: could they actually win the fight?

The five hundred axemen were already in position. Shi Tiexin didn’t know who was leading them, but he figured it must be Wang Dafu’s other trusted subordinates. However, the ten or so men in black inside the hall made Shi Tiexin frown slightly.

These men—some tall, some short, some white, some black—all shared a uniform, strange quality.

’These men... are a little too rigid.’

Of course, you couldn’t expect every bodyguard to be a walking emoji, as that wouldn’t be dignified and would make their boss lose face. But after observing them closely a couple of times, Shi Tiexin felt that something was definitely off about these men.

There was no expression on their faces—not a single trace of one, as if their faces were fake. They also had a strange, wooden stupor about them. Although they were assigned to watch different areas, once they locked their gaze on a direction, they almost never looked anywhere else.

One minute, two minutes, five minutes. Shi Tiexin watched and noticed that these men hadn’t blinked. Not even once.

’Don’t their eyes get dry?’

Looking closer, he saw that their eyes were completely bloodshot, yet they still didn’t blink. Their eyeballs barely moved, as if they felt nothing.

If he couldn’t clearly see them breathing, and even see the major blood vessels in their necks pulsing faintly, Shi Tiexin would have thought these guys weren’t real people, but fakes—some kind of... walking dead.

’How strange...’

”A truce? Fine, we can talk, but you have to compensate us for our losses. You beat my men and seized my goods. You didn’t think we’d just let it slide, did you?”

”Come on, now. You’re the ones who made the first move. If you hadn’t attacked our drivers, why would we have retaliated?”

”Attacked? Are you kidding me? Who attacked? Who saw it? Who has proof? Just because you say it was an attack, does that make it one? I could just as well say your drivers intentionally murdered my men! Cut the crap. Give us back our goods, every last bit of it, and then pay us twenty million in compensation. Then we’ll call it even. Otherwise, this game continues!”

Ouyang Hong’s attitude was arrogant; he seemed to be acting with complete impunity. His brother, Ouyang Shun, didn’t say much, possessing the quietness of a tech nerd, but his expression was just as nonchalant.

’What on earth gives these two brothers the confidence to be so overbearing?’

”That’s not a reasonable way to put it. You clearly made the first move. You’re big shots now; you should take responsibility for your actions. Everyone knows what caused this. Making excuses and denying it is just undignified.” Wang Dafu stood up. ”The goods, I can return them to you. But the matter of you attacking our drivers can’t just be ignored without any explanation.”

Wang Dafu was bickering, but he wasn’t just bickering. He was acting as if he genuinely wanted to get to the bottom of things, all to stall for enough time. Time enough to—confirm whether these two brothers were the real deal, to confirm if the men before him were body doubles.

Seemingly unintentionally, Wang Dafu suddenly glanced back and gave Shi Tiexin a subtle hand signal.

A glint flashed in Shi Tiexin’s eyes.

’They’re confirmed. It’s them, not doubles.’

’Then it’s time to make a move.’

”Hey, you big oaf over there, have I seen you before?” The young man who had been following the Ouyang brothers suddenly started shouting, pointing at Shi Tiexin. ”Yeah, it’s you! It’s you! You’re the bastard who stole my car!”