Chapter 28: Intense Point
Chen Nuo dragged School Belle Sun away from the crowd. Others didn't notice, but Luo Qing followed them.
Only when the playground was almost empty did Chen Nuo finally let go of Sun Keke.
The girl broke free from Chen Nuo's grasp, ran wildly towards her father, threw herself around his waist, and burst into loud sobs.
"Dad! Dad! What on earth is going on? What's happened to you, Daddy?"
The girl wailed.
Old Sun, Sun Shengli, a middle-aged man whose spine seemed somewhat bent at this moment, exhaled. He patted his daughter's hair and said gently, "It's okay, it's all right. Dad will take care of it. This will pass soon; it'll all be over. Very soon, very soon..."
With that, Old Sun let go of his daughter's hand and started to walk away.
"Dad, where are you going?"
"Dad's going home... to deal with some things."
Chen Nuo and Luo Qing had caught up by then. Chen Nuo said softly, "Old Sun, let Keke go home with you."
Old Sun was startled.
"She can't stay at school today if she goes back to the classroom," Chen Nuo said sternly.
Old Sun seemed a bit slow to react and only then did he appear to understand.
He sighed and began to lead his daughter towards the school gate.
"Luo Qing, could you do me two favors?"
Luo Qing nodded. "Hmm, tell me!"
"Could you find out who those debt collectors are? Even for loan sharks, they're causing too much of a scene. Your father's men should be familiar with the people in this line of work in Jiangning. Find out which group did this, can you?" Chen Nuo asked calmly.
Luo Qing thought for a moment. "That's not difficult. I'll call Brother Hulu in a bit; I should be able to find out." He paused, then looked at Chen Nuo with some concern. "Why do you want to know this? You... are you planning to help Old Sun? But how can you help?"
Chen Nuo took a breath, a strange smile appearing on his face. "I... I'm going to help him repay the money."
Though Luo Qing was a kind person, he wasn't foolish. Seeing that Chen Nuo didn't intend to tell the truth, he thought about it and didn't press further.
"Hmm, okay, what's the second favor?"
Chen Nuo shook his head. "Help me ask the teachers for a leave of absence. I have to leave for a bit."
"Ask for leave? Uh... what reason should I give?"
"Just say I skipped class."
Luo Qing was speechless.
Chen Nuo patted Luo Qing on the shoulder and grinned. "Text me when you find out anything."
With that, the young man turned and walked away.
After he turned around, there was a fire in his eyes!
「Luo Qing was efficient.」
It only took half an hour for a text message to arrive on Chen Nuo's phone.
Chen Nuo was already back home.
He had taken off his school uniform and changed into a black leather jacket, jeans, sneakers, and leather gloves. He picked up a backpack that was usually kept in the back of his wardrobe, carried it with one hand, and went downstairs.
He mounted his motorcycle, put on his helmet, and sped away.
「Twenty minutes later, the motorcycle stopped on a quiet street beside a somewhat run-down office building, an old-fashioned structure with rusting metal stairs at the back.」
Chen Nuo parked the motorcycle, checked his reflection in its rearview mirror, and straightened his helmet.
This old-style commercial building naturally wouldn't have an elevator.
Even the stairs were open-air.
Walking up the stairs to the third floor, he saw a copper-colored sign hanging on the wall in front of him: XX Financial Company.
Yes, this is the place.
Chen Nuo stepped forward into the hallway.
He glanced through the window of the first room; no one was there. He looked into the second room; it was filled with clutter.
At the third room, Chen Nuo paused outside the window. He saw several young men inside playing cards.
The room was quite spacious, with a high-powered heater. Several men were around a table playing cards, while others smoked and watched TV on the sofa.
Mm-hmm, the ones from school this morning are all here. Plus, two or three unfamiliar faces.
Chen Nuo continued forward, checking every room on the floor before turning back.
Just as he approached the occupied room, the door was pushed open. One of the men he had seen at school that morning came out. Seeing someone in a leather jacket and helmet in the corridor, he was startled at first, then barked aggressively, "What are you doing here?!"
Chen Nuo strolled closer. "Looking for someone."
The man sized up Chen Nuo. "Looking for who?"
By then, Chen Nuo had already approached him.
Through his helmet's reflective visor, Chen Nuo scrutinized the man in front of him, carefully confirming. Yes, I haven't mistaken him; it's him.
"Looking for you."
"...What?"
BOOM!
Chen Nuo kicked the man in the abdomen. The man flew backward, soaring through the air like a cannonball before crashing into the room!
The man flew directly into the room where several people were playing cards. With a loud BANG, he landed on the table, sending poker cards, cigarette packs, ashtrays, glasses, and beer bottles flying everywhere!
After a moment of shock, everyone in the room jumped to their feet.
Chen Nuo stood at the door.
"Those with knives, grab your knives. Those with guns... forget it, I reckon none of you have guns." Chen Nuo's voice came slowly through his helmet. "Do me a favor: resist as fiercely as possible. I'm not in a great mood right now. The fiercer your resistance, the better I can vent this anger."
The man closest to the door glared and charged. Before he could take a step, Chen Nuo grabbed his neck. His body was abruptly suspended in mid-air, then swung around and smashed heavily against a filing cabinet by the wall near the entrance!
With a loud CRASH, the metal filing cabinet caved in, completely deformed. The man's upper body was firmly wedged inside the cabinet.
Chen Nuo casually picked up a thermos flask from the ground, unscrewed the lid, and flung half a flask of boiling water onto the man's body and face.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" The man screamed frantically, struggling, but his body was stuck in the cabinet. He couldn't move at all, thrashing like a dying fish.
Amidst the series of screams, Chen Nuo faced the others left in the room, slowly shaking his head.
"Not fierce enough. Put some more effort into it."
After a second of silence, the people inside scrambled chaotically, rummaging through cabinets and grabbing weapons: sharpened steel pipes, daggers. One even produced a two-foot-long machete.
Hmm, this is getting interesting.
「Five minutes later.」
The once reasonably spacious room, about ten square meters, now had bodies lying helter-skelter. Some had limbs twisted at unnatural angles. Broken glass littered the floor. One man lay on his back, his face and hands covered in shards.
Chen Nuo stood in the middle of the room.
CLANG.
A bloodied chain dropped from his hand to the ground.
Bending over, he grabbed the hair of the man who had led the group at school that morning. He dragged him across the floor to the wall, then pulled over a folding chair and sat down.
"If I'm not mistaken, you're the one in charge here," Chen Nuo said.
"I, I, I..."
"I know you're not the big boss," Chen Nuo shook his head. "Now, listen carefully. For each question, you'd better give me a serious answer. I particularly hate liars. If someone lies to me, I get very angry. Understand?"
The man was already weak. "Understood... AAH!!!!!!"
His originally weak voice suddenly turned into a piercing scream!
Chen Nuo had already grabbed his left hand, seized the little finger, and with a SNAP, broke it clean off!
"That was the first question, and I'm not satisfied with your answer. Your voice was too quiet."
"AH AH AH AH AH AH! AH AH AH AH!!"
The man screamed loudly.
"Hmm, much better. Your voice is much louder now," Chen Nuo nodded approvingly. "Now, I'll continue. What's your name?"
"Cui, Cui Dapeng!!!!!!"
"Age?"
"Twenty-nine!!"
"Ever been in trouble?"
Cui Dapeng hesitated slightly...
SNAP!
The ring finger on his left hand was broken!
"AAH! I have, I have! I've done time! Three years in prison!!!!"
"For what crime?"
"Assault! Assault!!!!"
Chen Nuo nodded in satisfaction. "Very good. You see, we're starting to establish a preliminary understanding. So, I'll continue."
Cui Dapeng's screaming turned into groaning.
"Do you have a safe here?"
"Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!!!!"
Chen Nuo nodded, took the backpack from behind him, dropped it to the ground, and unzipped it.
It was empty.
"Fill it with money," Chen Nuo said indifferently. "If it isn't full, I'll use pieces of you to make up the difference."
Cui Dapeng's body trembled.
Half from the pain!
Half from the unstoppable cold fear that kept surging within!
This guy... he's ruthless!
In the end, the money did fill up the backpack.
Chen Nuo picked it up with one hand to weigh it and then slung it over his back.
"Last question. Where are your customer records and contracts?"
"Boss, spare me! Please spare me!!! I can't touch those!!! The big boss will kill me!!!" Cui Dapeng wet his pants.
Chen Nuo looked at the man through his reflective visor. Without speaking, he bent down and reached for his left hand.
Cui Dapeng screamed, struggling desperately. "I'll talk! I'll talk! They're in the second drawer of the filing cabinet!!"
Chen Nuo walked over, pulled open the drawer, and saw it crammed with seven or eight thick manila envelopes.
He casually opened one. It was stuffed with stacks of various "customer files."
Loan agreements, copies of ID cards, work permits, and copies of vehicle registrations and property deeds used as collateral, among other things.
Chen Nuo flipped through them quickly and found Old Sun's file in the second envelope.
He didn't have time to examine it closely, so he immediately rolled it up and stuffed it into his zipped jacket pocket.
Turning around, he picked up a basin that had fallen to the ground during the fight and placed it in the center of the room.
All seven or eight manila envelopes were tossed into the basin.
Chen Nuo turned around and picked up a lighter from the ground.
It was a Zippo.
He lit it and threw it into the basin.
Soon, the files caught fire. In the blaze, sheets of paper turned to ash.
Chen Nuo sat there, quietly waiting.
"Doing this... aren't you cutting off all your escape routes?"
A man on the ground suddenly looked up, his voice trembling. "Do you know who our boss is?!"
"Our boss is Xiao Guohua!" The man gritted his teeth. "Do you have any idea what the consequences of your actions will be?"
Chen Nuo turned to face the man. "Then do you know who I am?"
The few conscious men in the room stared at Chen Nuo.
A black motorcycle helmet with a mirrored visor, a leather jacket that concealed him completely, and even gloves on his hands.
Who the hell could recognize you?!
Chen Nuo snorted. He searched them one by one, found four cell phones, and threw them straight out the window.
Then he adjusted the backpack on his back, picked up the iron chain from the ground, and walked out the door.
As the door shut, Chen Nuo secured the door handle with the chain, then headed downstairs.
Chen Nuo had just descended the stairs when the people inside began frantically battering the door.
But with a roar, the motorcycle downstairs had already sped away...