The car drove toward Shekou.

Chen Feng sat in the back. The window was halfway down.

Sea air rushed in.

Three years since he'd smelled this.

When he was delivering food, he specifically avoided the Shekou area.

Afraid of running into someone who knew him.

---

The Audi stopped at the entrance to an old industrial park. No sign, no street number. Just a security booth with an old man on his phone inside.

The old man looked up at the license plate.

Didn't stop them.

The car drove in, past three abandoned factory buildings, and stopped in front of a six-story structure at the very back.

Dead vines crawled up the outside wall.

It looked like a building that had been abandoned for ten years.

But the moment the door opened, the inside was a different story.

Cold air hit him in the face.

The marble floor was polished to a mirror shine. A short-haired woman stood at the reception desk. When she saw Chen Feng enter, she bowed slightly.

"Master."

Chen Feng nodded and walked straight to the elevator.

There were no floor buttons inside.

Old Zhou the driver pulled out a black card and swiped it in an inconspicuous slot on the wall.

The floor indicator lit up.

Not a number.

Three characters —

"War God Hall."

The elevator went down.

Three levels underground.

The door opened onto a command hall roughly three hundred square meters. Ring screens scrolled with data, maps, and surveillance feeds. Seven or eight people sat at workstations. When they heard the elevator, they all stood up.

"Master."

No one said an extra word.

Chen Feng walked to the center position. Didn't sit. He leaned against the edge of the table, arms crossed.

"Talk."

Old Zhou placed a stack of files on the table.

"Dingsheng's been checked. On the surface, it's an investment company — real estate and distressed asset acquisition. Actually controls seventeen gambling parlors across the Pearl River Delta. Su Chengzhi's loss — he was set up."

"Who set him up."

"Guy named Ma San. Manager at one of Dingsheng's parlors. Old hand at rigging tables. Preys on rich second-gen kids."

Chen Feng opened the file.

The first page was Ma San's photo — bald head, thick gold chain around his neck, a smug grin.

Same guy sitting next to Su Chengzhi in the photo from before.

"Who's behind Ma San."

"Ma San answers to Dingsheng's Shenzhen regional head. A man named Han Jiang."

Old Zhou flipped another page.

"Han Jiang, forty-three years old, Chaoshan native. Made his fortune smuggling in the early years, later laundered it through investments. Three companies in Shenzhen, two luxury properties. Connected with overseas —"

Old Zhou paused.

"— connected with the overseas line."

Chen Feng's finger stopped on the file.

"Explain."

"Three years ago, the target you eliminated in Southeast Asia — his deputy got away."

"We know."

"That deputy later changed his name to Ruan Wenfeng. Took Cambodian citizenship. Now carries the title of Dingsheng Overseas Division Advisor."

Chen Feng didn't speak.

He closed the file.

"So Dingsheng going after the Su family isn't about Su Chengzhi's collateral."

"Right."

"It's to draw me out."

"Right."

Chen Feng smiled.

The same smile as before he got in the car.

Something he'd been waiting three years for had finally come knocking on its own.

"Where's Han Jiang now."

"Dinner tonight in Nanshan. Shenzhen Bay No. 1's Chinese restaurant. Dining with some real estate developers."

"And Ruan Wenfeng."

Old Zhou hesitated.

"Still overseas. Haven't pinned down his exact location. We know he comes to Shenzhen once a month — timing varies."

Chen Feng stood up.

Walked to the ring screen.

On the screen was a map of the Pearl River Delta. Dingsheng's seventeen parlors were marked as red dots scattered across the region.

"Seventeen parlors. How long to sweep them all."

Old Zhou thought for a moment.

"If we just hit the gambling floors — tonight. But if we want to dig up the roots —"

"Then take it slow."

Chen Feng turned around.

"Han Jiang's dinner tonight. I'll go myself."

"Master —"

"He came to Shenzhen to mess with the Su family. He didn't do it so I'd send my men. He wants to see me."

Chen Feng picked up the car keys from the table.

"Then I'll go see him."

He walked toward the elevator.

Took two steps. Stopped.

"What's the situation with the Su family right now."

"Su Chengzhi and his father are trapped in the office. Dingsheng's people haven't laid a hand on them — they just sit there and won't leave. Applying pressure."

"Anyone hurt?"

"No. Just scared out of their minds."

Chen Feng thought for a moment.

"Send A Qi. Don't reveal his identity. Just say... say someone will pay what Su Chengzhi owes. Tell Dingsheng's people to pull back."

"Understood."

Chen Feng stepped into the elevator.

Old Zhou followed and swiped the card.

The elevator went up.

Chen Feng spoke suddenly.

"That jasmine pot. Still at the Su family's front door."

Old Zhou didn't respond.

"It's been dead a month."

The elevator arrived.

The door opened. Facing them was that wall covered in dead vines.

Evening light fell on the withered vines, coating them in a thin layer of gold.

Chen Feng walked out.

"Seven p.m., Shenzhen Bay No. 1. I'll go alone."

"No car arranged?"

"No."

He pulled out his phone. Swiped twice.

On the screen was a text from an unknown number.

No contact name.

A single line:

"Han Jiang, seven p.m., Shenzhen Bay No. 1, Peony Hall. — An Old Friend."

Chen Feng stared at the message for a long time.

Then he put the phone away.

"They know I'm out."

"Faster than I expected."

He paused.

"Interesting."

---

5:30 PM.

Outside the Su Group office building, a crowd had gathered.

Su Chengzhi crouched in the hallway, hands on his head.

Inside the office, Su Mingyuan sat behind his desk. Across from him sat three men in black T-shirts.

No one spoke.

They'd been sitting like this for nearly three hours.

Su Chengzhi's phone rang.

He picked up. His voice trembled.

"Sis... did you find someone... they're still here..."

On the other end, Su Wan's voice was hoarse too.

"I've called everyone. Young Master Zhao won't pick up. The company lawyer says there's nothing he can do... Bro, who exactly did you mess with..."

"I don't know!"

Su Chengzhi was on the verge of tears.

"I just played a couple hands, lost some money, and they said sign a document to clear the debt..."

"What did you sign?"

"I don't know... they told me to sign, so I signed..."

Su Wan was silent for a few seconds.

"Where's Mom?"

"She's in the office crying, begging those guys — it's useless!"

Su Chengzhi gritted his teeth.

"Sis, what about Chen Feng? Doesn't he know someone?"

The line went quiet.

"Sis?"

"He left."

"Left?!"

"Left."

Su Wan's voice was very soft.

"He left. Got into that black Audi and left."

Su Chengzhi opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

Just then — footsteps from the end of the hallway.

A young man in a gray hoodie walked over. His hood was pulled low. Face hard to make out.

He reached the office door.

Pushed it open.

The three black T-shirt men looked up at the same time.

The gray hoodie didn't speak. He pulled a business card from his pocket and placed it on the table.

Only three words on the card —

"War God Hall."

The leader picked up the card. His face changed.

He looked at the gray hoodie.

The gray hoodie pushed his hood back, revealing a young face. He smiled.

"The money will be paid."

"You can leave now?"

The leader was silent for a few seconds.

Stood up.

"Let's go."

The three men filed out.

The gray hoodie turned. Nodded at Su Chengzhi, still crouching in the hallway.

Then he left.

As quietly as he came.

Su Chengzhi was frozen in place.

Su Wan's voice came through the phone: "Bro? Bro?! What happened?!"

Su Chengzhi swallowed.

"...Someone came."

"And then?"

"Then those three left."

"Who?"

Su Chengzhi looked down the hallway.

The gray hoodie was gone.

"I don't know... a young man in a gray hoodie..."

"What did he say?"

Su Chengzhi thought back.

"He said — the money will be paid."

The line went quiet.

A long moment.

Then Su Wan's voice came through.

"...It's him."

"Who?"

"Chen Feng."

Su Chengzhi froze.

"Where did he get that kind of money..."

Su Wan didn't answer.

She was standing in the Su family living room. The two piles of broken porcelain were still on the floor.

Unswept.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, landing on the white shards.

On one piece, you could still see half a little blue fish.

She bent down.

Picked up that shard.

Held it in her hand.

Very light.

Light like something she'd never truly picked up in three years.

She remembered that day three years ago at the supermarket.

Chen Feng standing in front of the shelf. Picking the bowl with the fish.

At the time, she thought it was funny — a grown man, why pick the one with a little fish.

Now she knew.

He wasn't picking a bowl.

He was picking a home.

She didn't give it to him.

---

At the same moment.

An intersection heading from Shekou toward Nanshan. Red light.

Chen Feng sat in the back of a taxi.

He'd changed clothes. Dark gray shirt, black pants.

No suit. No tie.

He didn't look like someone going to a big shot's dinner.

He looked more like someone going to meet an old friend he'd been waiting years to see.

Outside the window, Shenzhen Bay's coastline turned into a thin gold line against the dusk.

His phone buzzed.

Same unknown number.

A second text message:

"Been waiting a long time. — Han Jiang"

Chen Feng read it.

Deleted it.

The car drove toward Shenzhen Bay No. 1.

End of Chapter 2: War God Hall