Reborn as his Shadow

It didn’t take long for them to catch up with Xiong Wu’s van, and the two vehicles followed far behind the other’s car.

“Boss, we’ve arrived at the mixing station, should we head in and ambush them?” Zi Bo, who was in charge of driving, reported the situation.

“No, let’s take a more direct approach this time.” Xiao Ying said.

Zi Bo nodded and shifted to the highest gear as he pressed the accelerator to the ground. Passing the car easily, he jerked the steering wheel and blocked the middle of the road.

“Squeak—!” The piercing sound of brakes followed.

Xiong Wu also followed suit and moved his van to block the way behind the stopped car.

The car sat quietly in place for a while, but after a few minutes, a man climbed out of the co-pilot seat with an ugly look on his face. He was middle-aged with dark skin, a short stature, and a square face that hardened as he spat out to the side and cursed, “Damn it! Don’t drive so blindly! Stay home if you don’t know how to drive, I almost died!!”

As he spoke, two burly middle-aged men exited from the cab and back seat, walking up to the car in front of them menacingly. Knocking on the windshield, they called, “Hey! Get out of the car! If you don’t give us an explanation today, don’t even think about fucking leaving!”

“Heh–” Mo Jingxuan sneered.

“Let’s go.” Xiao Ying opened the door to leave first.

Seeing the car door open, the first man walked up to face it directly, “You scared my brothers and I so badly, tell me, just how do you plan to compensate us for–” Before he finished speaking, he cut himself off as Xiao Ying’s covered face was illuminated. He took a few steps back as he stared at him, “What are you doing?” Continuing to retreat, he tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground.

Stepping forward to hold him down, Zi Bo and Xia Qifan tacitly took one side each, and Ren Yue swiftly tied him up and sealed his mouth. Finally, Liang Liang came forward and chopped him unconscious with the butt of his knife.

Seeing that the situation wasn’t good, the other two people were in the midst of running away, but were quickly thrown down by Xiong Wu before they could take three steps. Fainting, they lay on the ground waiting patiently to be tied up.

Giving Mo Jingxuan a thumbs up, Xia Qifan and Ren Yue went up to tie them together and threw them into the car along with their equally unconscious friend.

Taking care of the people, the group divided up into their two cars and headed to the abandoned factory that Zi Bo had prepared.

It took more than half an hour to arrive at their destination. After having carried the three men out of the car, Xia Qifan took the gauze from their mouths and kicked them harshly, “Wake up! Wake up!”

“Water.” Mo Jingxuan stretched out his hand expectantly as Ren Yue unscrewed the lid of a bottle and handed it to him.

Taking the water, he poured it directly on their faces, watching with a smile as they sputtered, “Ugh–cough–cough–” It took them each a few minutes, but they eventually calmed down and recovered from their rude awakening.

The short man was the first to wake up. Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings and the masked people in front of him, he struggled on the ground in horror. Managing to push himself to the corner of the wall with much effort, he leaned against it as he asked, “Who are you?! WHat do you want?! Why are you kidnapping us?!”

His friends also fought to raise themselves upright, adding, “We don’t have any money, you won’t get any benefits from kidnapping us!”

Mo Jingxuan raised his eyebrows as he glanced around at each of them and didn’t speak.

“You–you don’t want our organs, do you?”

Following Mo Jingxuan’s lead, the rest of the group ignored the questions and pleadings that the three men voiced and watched as Xia Qifan took out a syringe and prepared it with the hallucinogens he had gathered earlier.

Seeing the needle, the faces of the three paled, and their imaginations lept into hyperdrive.

“I can help you catch more people! It’ll definitely be more profitable than just us!” The short man tried to negotiate, “As long as you let us go, we will definitely help you find more people with better organs!!”

His eyes flashing, Mo Jingxuan patted his shoulder and leaned down next to his ear, “We don’t want you organs. Just your lives.”

Restraining himself, Xiao Ying watched as his Xuan stuck close to another.

“Why?!”

He curled his lips grimly and laughed, “Ha, you don’t even remember what you did wrong!”

Zi Bo and the rest looked at Mo Jingxuan, who had changed the script inexplicably…

Thinking of their activities in the past two days, the eyes of the three of them wandered a little, “What did we do wrong?”

Tapping his restless fingers, Mo Jingxuan improvised, “Our young lady didn’t want any trouble and asked you to act alone, but you went ahead and brought in more people…She hates anyone who goes against her words.”

That woman? Listening to Mo Jingxuan’s words, the short man grabbed the keywords, “She wants to kill me just because I brought in some helpers?!” He gritted his teeth, “No extra trouble? Then what are you?!”

Mo Jingxuan shook his finger, “Tsk. We are not the same as you gutter rats. Our existence is more like the personal guards for the Zhao family, we are always responsible for public affairs. Of course she is not willing to order us to do something as dirty as murder. Dirty things should be done by dirty people, but unfortunately, it seems that you cannot even handle something as simple as that. It’s a pity, but you need to be cleaned up.” Taking out a handkerchief and wiping his hands, Mo Jingxuan stared at the short man and said, “You claimed that you want to be obedient, if you can deal with your friends and do your job correctly I might consider letting you go. So long as I don’t have to dirty my hands with such pigs like you.”

The other two men were listening to their conversation and were trying their best to justify their lives, “It has nothing to do with us! We don’t know anything, if you let us go, we won’t tell anyone about what happened today!!”

Seeing this scene, Zi Bo and the others were beginning to understand what Mo Jingxuan was thinking. By inciting them like this, they would be falling over themselves to come clean of their sins.

Xia Qifan spoke up, “Wait. I think you are too naive. We’ve already caught all of them, there’s no reason to let them go now.” He raised the syringe in his hand and addressed the captured men, “Actually, none of you need to be afraid. I will inject you with this and you might feel uncomfortable for a while, but it won’t be too painful and then you will die!”

“No–no–no!!” The group shook their heads desperately, crying one after another like infants, “I don’t want to die! I still have a wife and children at home, please let me go! I can also do the job for you, please!”

The short man sneered at his subordinate, “You want to kill me?” He started to show his cards, “I’m of more use! I have a video of your young lady having sex, along with a separate recording of her father asking us to kill another woman. I kept it for so many years in fear of her one day burning down the bridge, I didn’t expect to have to use it today.” His face was full of regret, “All the evidence has been placed in one place, if I don’t go back within the month, someone will post it online for everyone to see.”

“Where is it?” Xia Qifan asked harshly.

“As long as you let me go, I will tell you the address.”

“Give him an injection.” Xiao Ying ordered coldly.

The short man’s eyes widened in surprise, “You’re not worried about the Zhao family!? I’m not lying to you, they really will go to jail!! You’ll regret this!”

Xia Qifan chuckled and stuck the needle into the man’s artery.

After a while, the short man stopped struggling and gradually fell limp as his eyes fogged over.

Seeing this, the other two were sure he was about to die. They cried in terror as they desperately tried to escape, but no matter their effort, they were stuck waiting for fate.

Xiao Ying gestured with his chin, and Xiong Wu knowingly stepped forward to gag their mouths.

It was finally quiet… Xiao Ying closed his eyes in satisfaction.

Noticing that the short man was slowly accustoming to the hallucinogens, Xia Qifan leaned over next to him to whisper some questions, asking over and over again where he hid his things.

The confused man voiced his thoughts, reading out the address from his mind obediently.

Xia Qifan snorted; it turned out that this person hadn’t handed those items over to anyone at all. He had kept them hidden at home and was just calling their bluff earlier.

Getting the information they wanted, Xiao Ying nodded to Xiong Wu and had him go fetch the evidence.

Driving away quickly, Xiong Wu returned within the half-hour, holding a kraft paper bag in his left hand and a tape recorder in his right. Reaching back for the laptop he had in a bag, he handed the things to Xiao Ying, “Take a look!”

Xiao Ying took the items, listening to their contents quietly as he hugged Mo Jingxuan. The recordings were very clear; both the people and things said could be identified without trouble.

Packing everything up again, Xiao Ying said, “Call the police and report a murder case.”

“Yes.” Zi Bo acted immediately and took out the burner phone he had prepared in advance.

Everything was ready, and they left the bags of evidence along with the three men in a conspicuous area after confirming that none of them would wake up any time soon. Leading everyone away, Xiao Ying’s steps were far lighter than when they had entered.

Not long after they left, a siren could be heard approaching the abandoned factory, and the three unconscious people were brought to the hospital. The police confiscated all the evidence to be taken back for testing at the police station.

Tests showed that one of the three men had been injected with hallucinogens, and the other two had merely fainted from fear.

They all recovered quickly, the shorter man being the only one who truly needed medical care, and the police interrogated them harshly.

In the beginning, the three refused to admit anything, but after a day of fighting with the police, they could no longer stand the abuse and confessed one after another.

Two days later, the Zhao father and daughter were arrested on suspicions of intentional homicide. The short man was convicted of intentional homicide and sentenced to death, and the other two men were given ten years each in prison. Zhao Qingyun and Zhao Lingjun were sentenced to life imprisonment.

A murder case that had been left in the dust for so many years finally saw the light, the only mystery left unsolved being the true identity of the group of people who tied up the men and injected them with drugs.

The scandal of the Zhao family became known to everyone in the imperial capital. Xiao Yao came back from the Ancient Tribe early after hearing the news. He hesitated a long time, trying to decide whether or not to tell him, but eventually, even Xiao Yixiu learned of the unfortunate fate of his mother and grandfather.

Having years of trust collapse in an instant, Xiao Yixiu couldn’t accept the truth. How could his father just stand by and watch as his mother and grandfather were punished like this? Choosing to sever his father-son relationship with Xiao Yao, Xiao Yixiu returned to the imperial capital alone and took over the Zhao family, vowing to stand on the opposite side of the Xiao family in every aspect in the future.

 

Only one update this week and probably for next week as well…I have some important exams coming up and need a bit more time to study. I hope you enjoy this chapter anyways though!