Taking a full detour around the perimeter, Ji Xun wound his way to the rear of the target bungalow. Just as he was wondering whether he should scale the wall to check on the situation since Huo Ranyin hadn’t given a signal yet, he suddenly heard a booming, full-throated interrogation:
“Who are you?!”
The voice came from the front. Huo Ranyin’s trouble had arrived.
Ji Xun looked left and right. Seeing no one, he pulled down his jacket sleeves to wrap his palms, took two steps back, aimed for a spot shielded by the branches of a jujube tree, took a running start, leapt, and deftly caught the edge of the wall. Not rushing into action, he poked half his head out first, peering into the courtyard through the freshly budded branches of the tree.
The first thing he saw was Huo Ranyin.
Standing three steps ahead of Huo Ranyin, near the left side of the bungalow, was an elderly woman.
Judging strictly by her appearance, it was hard to imagine that the booming, middle-aged-sounding shout from a moment ago had actually come from her throat. The old woman had completely white hair, a short, stout stature, and skin baked by the sun and wind to a light soy-sauce tint. At first glance, she looked like a shriveled orange that had endured far too much frost and elements.
But where freshness had its perks, age and toughness had their advantages.
After her initial challenge, the old woman didn’t let up. Without giving Huo Ranyin a single chance to speak, she fired off a barrage of questions like a rapid-fire cannon:
“I know everyone in this village, but I’ve never seen you. An outsider? What are you doing here? Loitering around here for so long—do you know the owner of this house? What’s the owner’s name? What do you want with them?”
Forget Huo Ranyin, who was facing her directly—even Ji Xun, perched on top of the wall, clicked his tongue in amazement.
This old lady truly carries the formidable aura of a neighborhood committee director.
This kind of elderly person was actually far more troublesome than thugs who only knew violence. In a physical fight, it was practically impossible for him and Huo Ranyin to lose. But this kind of relentless, roots-and-stems interrogation—as if she wanted to dig up the names of your ancestors back eighteen generations—was tricky. If you didn’t answer, her questions were technically reasonable; if you did, obviously, you couldn’t tell her the truth.
Especially since… she might very well be a scout sent by the villagers to nose around.
Under these circumstances, perhaps the best move would be to flash a police badge.
In reality, now that they had arrived and confirmed the location of the gambling den, Huo Ranyin could have directly produced his badge, knocked on the door, and ordered the owner to open up. However, the potential backlash and attitude of the villagers had given them pause, leading the two of them to hold back and observe the situation first.
A police badge was an ace in the hole. An ace didn’t need to be played so early—only by revealing it at the perfect moment would it achieve a truly unexpected effect.
Thoughts flow slow but turn fast.
While Huo Ranyin drew the enemy’s fire at the front, Ji Xun nimbly scaled the wall. Using the dense foliage of the jujube tree as cover, he dropped lightly into the courtyard.
A faint pasha sound echoed—incredibly soft, barely indistinguishable from the rustle of grass blades brushing against legs in the wind.
Ji Xun doubted the old woman heard it, but he was certain Huo Ranyin did.
Because the exact moment his feet hit the ground, Huo Ranyin spoke up, his tone laced with impatience, though it sounded more like a guilty attempt at evasion: “What does my being here have to do with you? Who are you to this family?”
“You’re acting all sneaky, how does it not have to do with me?” The old woman grew animated. “I’m their neighbor, I’m the auntie of this house! Whether they’re home or not, I can come and go as I please. This is practically my second home. You tell me, shouldn’t I find out exactly what you’re up to?”
Huo Ranyin seemed taken aback by her interrogation: “Well… since you’re so familiar with them, you should know…”
“Know what?” the old woman pressed aggressively.
Ji Xun noticed that while the old woman and Huo Ranyin were talking, other people had gathered nearby. First, a man and a woman stood by the roadside. The woman was the one who had been trailing them in the courier van earlier, and the man had a tiger-head tattoo on his neck.
Sure enough, they were all in on it.
“This is a gambling den, isn’t it?!” Huo Ranyin suddenly yelled, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.
There was no need to state their unspoken chemistry aloud. Ji Xun darted out from behind the jujube tree, sprinting to the rear of the bungalow. There were windows back here too, similarly covered with dark blue floral curtains that were nailed shut.
“Don’t bother hiding it! My friend came here to gamble and lost everything until he was ruined, to the point of wanting to jump off a building and commit suicide! You guys are running a rigged game—otherwise, how could someone lose every single game in one night, throwing away seven or eight million, losing his factory, his house, and all his business capital?!” Huo Ranyin bellowed with righteous fury.
It was an old-fashioned window with a latch mechanism.
Ji Xun pulled a piece of wire from his pocket, twisted it into a loop, and slid it into the gap between the two window panes to hook the latch.
From the front, voices drifted over. This time, it wasn’t just the old woman; a new female voice and a male voice joined in—presumably the two individuals who had just arrived.
“Hey little brother, are you looking in the wrong place? Our village is tiny, everyone knows everyone, we don’t have any gambling dens here.”
A police superintendent probably hasn’t been called ‘little brother’ in a very long time, Ji Xun chuckled to himself.
“Who’s your little brother?” Huo Ranyin snapped back, perfectly playing the part of a stubborn, hot-headed youth. “You’re that eager to be someone’s big sister? Adopting little brothers on the street now?”
“Ha, how are you talking to her?” A gruff male voice rang out—the man with the tiger tattoo. “Big sister talking to you nicely is giving you face. What, an outsider dares to come into our village and bully people?”
The old woman and the younger woman seemed to have some cunning to them. But this man, judging by his words, had massive arms and a tiny brain. He was the perfect breakthrough point.
Sure enough, Huo Ranyin immediately shifted his target, ignoring the two women to provoke the man directly: “What do you mean bully? How did I bully anyone, and what if I did? What kind of big shot do you think you are, sticking your neck out to show off?”
“Hey—” the man growled, “I think you came here looking for a fight! Fine, let’s fight, let’s see whose fists are bigger!”
Ji Xun had zero doubt that the tiger-tattooed man had already raised his fists.
Excellent. Huo Ranyin moved fast, and his efficiency was top-tier.
The wire Ji Xun had snaked into the window finally hooked onto the latch. With a sharp upward tug, he popped the lock open.
The window swung open!
Ji Xun exhaled, pulled the window wide, and ripped down the curtains.
The dark blue fabric fell away like a theater curtain being lightly stripped back, and Ji Xun threw his weight forward, vaulting inside—
The cracked, peeling old wallpaper; the stifling, stagnant air from being sealed tight; a few gaudy, eye-catching posters of the God of Gamblers; and, of course, prominently positioned in the center of the room, the gambling tables. On the tables lay shiny chips polished smooth by countless hands, and a green iron safe sat squarely in the corner.
Everything, down to the last detail, proved that this was a well-established, heavily frequented gambling den.
It was exactly the place they were looking for.
Ji Xun pulled out his law enforcement recorder, snapping photos along the way to secure undeniable evidence. Finally, he strode right through the bungalow and authoritatively threw open the front door.
The exact moment the main door swung open, the tiger-tattooed man was in mid-swing, hurling a fist toward Huo Ranyin.
Unflustered, Huo Ranyin heard the door open behind him and glanced back first.
Their eyes met.
But they weren’t the only ones. The old woman, Dayan, and Tiger-head all turned their gazes toward Ji Xun, who had suddenly emerged from the doorway.
Ji Xun took in every single shift in their expressions.
Huo Ranyin’s eyebrows arched slightly, a look of “perfect timing” flashing across his face.
The man mid-punch froze in utter bewilderment.
The younger woman shifted from brief confusion to a tense, panicked realization that a major disaster had struck.
The elderly woman was unexpectedly the fastest to react out of everyone; she was already preparing to grease her palms and slip away…
But no matter how fast her reaction was, it couldn’t match Huo Ranyin.
Turning back, Huo Ranyin executed a slight, fluid dodge to the side. His palm swept past his waist, and with lightning speed, he clamped down hard on the punching man’s wrist.
With a crisp, metallic clack, a pair of silver handcuffs locked tightly around the man’s wrist.
Huo Ranyin’s voice instantly shed its impatient, arrogant facade, returning to its usual steady, commanding gravity:
“Police! Nobody move!”
