SES Chapter 193 Part 1

 Chapter 193

When Huo Zihong woke up that morning, she had a vague feeling that something was going to happen.

Sure enough, before she even made it downstairs, she heard Uncle Zhang complaining loudly, “Every single one of them is gone—vanished without a trace! They didn’t even leave the chicken behind! These days, the hired help are the real bosses—just like Huang Shiren reborn!”

All gone?

Huo Zihong froze for a moment, then frowned. Privately, she had already felt that Wan Sanshi and the others had been acting strangely lately—running out every few days. If it were just young people being playful, she could understand that, but it wasn’t like they were going anywhere normal.

When she reached the ground floor, she realized Uncle Zhang wasn’t entirely right. The “Mr. Divine” that Wan Sanshi and the others talked about was still there, in the courtyard, doing his morning exercises. He was in the middle of torso twists, chanting, “One, two, three, four—two, two, three, four…”

Outside, things were noisy—much livelier than usual. From a distance, she even spotted two people in police uniforms.

Huo Zihong asked Uncle Zhang, “What happened?”

Aside from the occasional tourist getting pickpocketed, the ancient city usually had excellent public order. A scene like this was rare.

Uncle Zhang glanced outside. “I heard a car was stolen in the middle of the night.”

Really? Huo Zihong clicked her tongue and reminded him, “Be careful these next few days. Lock the doors and windows at night.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than there was a sudden uproar outside, accompanied by a screech of brakes. A small van with a crumpled front end, swerving crookedly, stopped right at the bar’s courtyard gate.

After a brief silence, someone screamed.

“My car! That’s my car!”

Huo Zihong stared at the vehicle in shock. The thief had some nerve—driving a stolen car around in broad daylight? Or had they suddenly grown a conscience and come to return it?

A crowd gathered. The police moved in. Huo Zihong and Uncle Zhang couldn’t help but push the door open and step outside. Only the fortune-teller remained focused, still bending down seriously.

“Three, two, three, four—four, two, three, four…”

In full view of everyone, the car door opened.

The first to jump out was a lively, energetic pheasant, fluttering its little wings before darting straight toward the bar.

Uncle Zhang sucked in a sharp breath. “Cao Jiefang?”

The second to get out was Wan Sanshi—his face bruised and swollen, hair and face caked with dirt and ash, clothes torn, one arm wrapped in bandages, a large bloodstain on his sleeve. He was carrying a plastic bag full of water.

The third was Cao Yanhua from the driver’s seat. He didn’t look much better—one eye ringed with a dark bruise, like a panda.

After getting out, Cao Yanhua made a phone call, said a couple of sentences, then handed the phone to a police officer.

The officer took it, listened for a bit, nodded repeatedly, then hung up. He didn’t make things difficult for Cao Yanhua and the others. After pulling the car owner aside and giving a few instructions, they all got into the car and left.

The onlookers were baffled but gradually dispersed. Wan Sanshi and Cao Yanhua stood there awkwardly, hesitating over whether to step forward. Cao Jiefang, bathed in the morning sunlight, ran happily around the courtyard.

Uncle Zhang hesitated, then asked, “Did you two… get into a group fight last night?”

Wan Sanshi had no idea where to begin. Early that morning, he had walked the line between life and death. What followed had been so frantic and chaotic that he still hadn’t fully processed it.

First, Cao Yanhua had called, cursing him out nonstop. Wan Sanshi caught the main point: they needed a car—immediately. Luo Ren was in bad shape.

Wan Sanshi couldn’t drive. He told Qingmu, who panicked as well. The two of them worked together to load Leopard’s body into the van and sped back along the same route.

They regrouped with Cao Yanhua and the others at the factory. Everyone looked miserable. When they saw how badly Luo Ren was injured, even Qingmu was stunned. At the critical moment, Zheng Mingshan stepped in to take charge.

—An emergency call had already been made, and the route for the ambulance was confirmed. Qingmu and the others would drive Luo Ren over and meet it halfway, saving every possible second.

—Leopard’s body was left behind. Zheng Mingshan stayed at the factory, contacting every connection he had. Unlike Luo Ren and the others, he had been a special forces soldier in China. Even after retiring, his former comrades were scattered across key systems. His earlier contact in Interpol was one example.

Zheng Mingshan took responsibility for cleaning up all the mess from the night before: the car theft, beating someone nearly to death and leaving them on the main road, and the gunfight with casualties at the abandoned factory.

As he sent Cao Yanhua and the others off, he told him first, “Anything related to this—if the police come to you, whether you did it or not, push it all onto me. I’ll handle it. Understand?”

Then he pointed at Qingmu. “You’ve been to war. You know first aid. Until the ambulance arrives, you’re responsible for keeping him alive. Got it?”

Qingmu nodded instinctively.

As the car sped away, Cao Yanhua thought, My grand-uncle is really something.

Then he thought again: in their lineage, starting from Granny Meihua down, there weren’t many people, but every single one could stand on their own. The pressure suddenly felt enormous. I have to work hard and not disgrace our grandmaster’s name. Otherwise, people will say: such an impressive master, such a useless great-grand-disciple.

Everything went smoothly—except that the ambulance couldn’t take too many people along, especially Cao Jiefang. The medical staff were unhappy. “Do you have any common sense? Chickens carry so many bacteria and viruses. How can it ride with the patient?”

In the end, Qingmu and Mu Dai went with the ambulance. Wan Sanshi felt Mu Dai was too close to Luo Ren and worried she wouldn’t be able to handle it if something went wrong, so he signaled Yan Hongsha to go too. Having another girl there would help.

That was why the first to return were the two men and one chicken that Huo Zihong saw. One, someone had to come back to report what happened. Two, the stolen car needed to be returned to its owner. And three—

Most importantly, the sixth murder slip needed to be secured first, for peace of mind.

After hearing Wan Sanshi’s “processed” version of events, Huo Zihong felt dizzy and nearly lost her balance.

So Granny Mei had already passed away.