Chapter 148 124: The Sky... Has Fallen

Cheng Yang fell silent.

No one spoke for a long moment. Then, he shot his lawyer a few meaningful glances. The man understood instantly and quietly withdrew.

At this, Xu Huo gave a slight shake of his hand. Beside him, Li Jianye's brow furrowed. Though his face was still etched with resentment, he led his men out of the room.

Now, only Xu Huo and Cheng Yang were left in the office.

And a body cam.

Cheng Yang's expression hardened. He opened his thermos, poured himself a cup of tea, and ignored the body cam.

"Young man, it's normal to be hot-headed at your age. I get it."

"But it's time you started developing some foresight."

"The case is closed."

"It's only ten lives... Just let it go."

"After the case is closed, I'll throw in an extra…"

Before he could finish, Xu Huo's eyes snapped open, and he stared straight at him.

"'Only'?"

"Mr. Cheng, Cheng Yu was among them. She shares your surname."

"She's paying for her own mistake."

Cheng Yang replied, his tea-drinking hand perfectly steady.

"Besides, I have other sons. And I'm still young. I can always have more children."

Xu Huo stared at him for a long time, then a smile of sudden understanding spread across his face.

"You're a real monster."

"Young man, there are plenty of monsters in this world. One more or one less of me makes no difference," Cheng Yang said.

As he spoke, Cheng Yang rose and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

This was the highest point in Zhaozhou City.

From here, you could look out over the entire city!

Right now, the hundreds of thousands of people in Zhaozhou City, the countless cars, the ceaseless thrum of life—in his eyes, they were all ant-sized, living right beneath his feet.

"There's no need to blow this out of proportion."

"This entire city depends on me to survive!"

"Infrastructure, highways, construction sites, land development—even the most basic factories rely on my Group's power. Just in construction, the Group has seven subsidiaries, four of which are in Zhaozhou City. Between those four in the city's districts, we handle over a hundred projects a year, employing tens of thousands of people!"

"See that mall over there?"

"I built that. It's in the heart of Zhaozhou City's commercial district, the most prosperous part of town. That one mall alone created ten thousand jobs, provided a platform for the economy to function, revitalized local business, and brought the hope of development to Zhaozhou City."

"So…"

"There's no need to blow this out of proportion."

He concluded.

Xu Huo just smiled, saying nothing.

Instead, he casually tossed a USB drive onto the desk, right next to the other man's laptop.

"Mr. Cheng, before you give that speech, maybe you should watch these little videos first."

Cheng Yang froze. He stared silently at the USB drive, his thoughts unreadable. After a long moment, he returned to his seat and plugged it in.

A second later, a video appeared on the laptop screen.

It was security footage from a KTV. The scene was depraved. A girl was crying while several people laughed jeeringly and tore at her clothes. Before long, things escalated.

A much younger Cheng Yang was in the video.

A moment later, the video vanished, replaced by images of countless legal complaints—records of elderly people accusing him of causing deaths during forced demolitions.

The screen went black, and an audio file began to play from the speakers. It was the sound of him murdering a business rival.

The competitor was being hanged, and the tragic, desperate cries of the man's wife and daughter rang out.

After a long silence, Cheng Yang snapped the laptop shut, not bothering to see the rest of the damning evidence.

His face was expressionless, his eyes dark and cold as he stared at Xu Huo.

"Where did you get these?"

"Heh. Take a guess."

Xu Huo smirked. "Take a guess. Who do you think is investigating you?"

'I have to guess...'

'Does that mean the investigation isn't coming from Zhaozhou City?!'

'An investigation this thorough couldn't be from the municipal level that oversees Zhaozhou...'

'The province, then?'

'No, that can't be right. That means it's coming from even higher up…'

'Wait, that's not right. I haven't provoked anyone at that level…'

Cheng Yang's brow suddenly furrowed. He looked at Xu Huo, his eyes flashing with a dark, complex emotion.

"Who are you?"

'Who am I?'

'A very good question.'

Xu Huo smiled and tossed a phone to him.

"Once, a man tried to make a phone call in front of me. I gave him the chance, but the call didn't connect."

"Now I'm giving you the same chance."

Hearing this non-answer, Cheng Yang's mind raced. After a long moment, he took out his own phone.

Right in front of Xu Huo, he began to dial.

"Hello? This is Cheng Yang. Yes, that's right, we've met a few times… It's nothing important, I just wanted to ask about someone."

Cheng Yang let out a hearty laugh, his emotional control superb.

"Tell him my name is Xu Huo,"

Xu Huo said with a smile.

"He's a young fellow, full of spirit."

"His name is Xu Huo. Could you check if you have…"

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

He hadn't even finished his sentence before the line went dead. Cheng Yang's smile froze, then slowly vanished.

He tried calling again, but it wouldn't connect.

He tried several other contacts in quick succession. Every one of them hung up the moment he said the name.

Watching Xu Huo's amused smirk, Cheng Yang's heart sank into an abyss.

"Now, Mr. Cheng, are you ready to come with me?"

'Go with him?'

'If this were just the Zhaozhou authorities, I could have found a way out.'

'Going one level higher would cost me a pound of flesh; those people are no pushovers.'

'And if it was higher than that…'

'Then it would be more than just a pound of flesh.'

'Go with him… certain death!'

'Stay here… certain death!'

Cheng Yang knew the things he'd done were nothing new. Many others who had gone legitimate like him weren't saints either, but they all shared a common weakness.

'None of them had clean hands!'

Staying here meant death. He couldn't shake them. There was no way; the power those people wielded was far beyond what the police could handle.

At that moment, Cheng Yang's mind was racing.