Ye Fengwu didn't use the five hundred bucks Qin Qinghan had given him to buy clothes. Instead, he went to meet Colonels Lin Qiang, Yang Lu, and Liu Peng.
The three of them were certainly living it up, staying together in a five-star hotel.
When Ye Fengwu stepped into their presidential suite, he couldn't help but feel a pang of envy. The room was overflowing with luxury furniture, and the massive bed could easily fit six people—hard to imagine compared to the narrow couch he had been curled up on for the past two days.
He lit a cigarette and sank into the soft sofa, his face serious. "You guys sure know how to live."
Lin Qiang, Yang Lu, and Liu Peng snapped to attention, Lin Qiang letting out a laugh. "Instructor, you could've joined us, too."
Ye Fengwu shot him a look. "I'm sleeping every night with a beautiful wife on a soft bed. Why the hell would I want to cram in with you guys?"
The three men's eyes glimmered with envy. They didn't personally know Qin Qinghan, but everyone had seen her—they knew she was impossibly beautiful. As the saying goes, even a soldier who's been away for three years would find a piglet charming—but these three were single men who had never held a woman like Qinghan.
Ye Fengwu smirked at their envy, but only he knew the bitter truth behind it.
"Go buy me two outfits. Casual. Oh, and loan me a hundred thousand for now," he said, flicking ash from his cigarette.
The three of them exchanged looks, none of them moving.
Ye Fengwu frowned. "What are you staring at?"
Lin Qiang pouted. "Instructor… we can buy the clothes, but a hundred thousand? We just don't have it."
Liu Peng's eyes darted away. "Same here."
Yang Lu shrank back. "Instructor, among us, you earn the most. Everyone knows you don't need money. Ten million? You could pull it out of your account without a second thought."
Ye Fengwu's face darkened. "If my paycheck card hadn't been stolen, do you think I'd be asking you for money?"
The three froze, expressions twisting. Lin Qiang forced a laugh. "Instructor, why not just call? Tens of millions could be in your account in seconds."
"Shut up," Ye Fengwu growled, and the three shrank back.
The men couldn't understand why someone with billions would bother stealing a measly paycheck card. That woman—he never even dared call her—was like a demon, the one person who unsettled him utterly.
Then Ye Fengwu asked, "What about the funding? Still not approved?"
The three men looked grim. They'd chosen a five-star hotel expecting the funds to arrive, but they had been in Haihua City for a month and still hadn't seen a dime. The presidential suite cost thousands a day; at this rate, they'd soon have to move to a budget motel.
Lin Qiang sighed. "Instructor, the funds need you to request approval from the top brass. You'll need to go quickly."
Ye Fengwu's scowl deepened. "That old bastard… a mission this important, and he won't release the funds? I'll have to make a trip to the capital."
Yang Lu quickly added, "Instructor, you should know, the top brass has already arrived in Haihua. He's staying at the Chen family villa."
Ye Fengwu's eyes widened. "The old man came personally? This mission must be serious."
The man he referred to was the supreme commander of the Blood Wolf Special Forces—nearly eighty, yet still a deadly weapon of China's elite.
Lin Qiang continued, "He said you need to visit the Chen villa today. There's something important to discuss."
Ye Fengwu nodded, then asked, "How's the investigation on the Luo Huang Group?"
Lin Qiang replied, "Their economic power in Haihua is top-tier, even nationally among the top 500. They cover energy, real estate, fashion, advertising, even entertainment."
Yang Lu added, "The chairman is a young woman named Luo Yihuang. Her assets are over ten billion, and her connections are extensive."
Ye Fengwu's face remained calm. "Connections? Yeah. She's Old Luo's niece."
"Old Luo's niece…"
The three men's eyes went wide. Old Luo was the captain of the Blood Wolf Special Forces—the only person ranking above Ye Fengwu in the unit. Not much was publicly known about his family, which was based in Beijing.
Ye Fengwu's expression hardened. "Keep monitoring Luo Yihuang. Protect her. I'll meet the top brass today to receive the next mission."
Lin Qiang nodded gravely. "In the past month, she's been attacked three times. Her bodyguards—three dead, five injured. If we hadn't intervened, she wouldn't have survived the second attack."
Ye Fengwu furrowed his brow. "Who's behind these attacks? Can we trace any organization?"
The three shook their heads. Liu Peng added, "Instructor, they're not ordinary. World-class assassins, and they leave no trace."
They remembered capturing two assassins once—they bit down on poison hidden in their teeth before interrogation could even start.
Lin Qiang pulled out his phone and handed it to Ye Fengwu. "They have matching tattoos. You might recognize them."
Ye Fengwu looked. The screen showed a forearm inked with a purple-black scythe engulfed in black flames—like a weapon of death itself.
Ye Fengwu's brows tightened. "It's them."
The three men exchanged grim looks. Their instructor—like a god in their eyes—had rarely looked this serious.
Ye Fengwu slipped the phone into his pocket. "Request any weapons you need. This mission is far more dangerous than you think."
The three men paled further. Ye Fengwu didn't explain—he had crossed paths with this organization before, but knew little. Maybe the top brass could provide more information.
After leaving the hotel, Ye Fengwu bought clothes for himself. Lin Qiang, Yang Lu, and Liu Peng were dispatched to protect the target—Luo Yihuang, whom none of them had met. He still couldn't figure out why this organization was targeting her.
Though he hadn't borrowed the hundred thousand, he'd scraped together over a thousand—enough to buy a few outfits.
An hour later, as Ye Fengwu reached his apartment complex carrying two sets of clothes, he spotted two police cars parked outside.
"Figures," he muttered. Unbothered, he dialed a number.
Five or six uniformed officers stepped out, approaching him aggressively.
"Freeze! Hands on your head!" a young officer barked.
Two more grabbed at his arms, trying to twist them behind his back. Despite using all their strength, they couldn't budge his massive arms.
Shocked and furious, one officer growled, "Stay put. You're under suspicion for murder. Come with us."
Ye Fengwu's voice was calm. "Murder? Hardly. I just gave three people a slap each. Not once more."