Chapter 363: Burst of Opportunities! Nightwalker

Chapter 363 -196: Burst of Opportunities! Nightwalker

He nodded. “From start to finish, he didn’t take a single thing. Mr. Wang visited Qu Shuixuan, Baorui Pavilion, and Treasure House… He handled three hundred and seventeen items, but in the end, he took nothing. Dong Hui mentioned Boss Zhao’s name, said he could put it on his tab, but Mr. Wang still refused.”

Uncle Dou’s finger tapped lightly on the wine glass, which let out a crisp PING.

The old man raised an eyebrow, then let out a short, sudden laugh. “He didn’t take anything because he was afraid of bankrupting this old man, did he?”

There was an unreadable quality to Uncle Dou’s words.

He turned and placed the wine glass on his desk.

The person in the shadows didn’t respond, just stood there quietly, awaiting further instructions.

Uncle Dou walked behind the desk and sat down in the expensive leather swivel chair.

The chair gave a low creak, then fell silent.

He leaned back, hands crossed over his stomach, his gaze fixed on a corner of the ceiling. He was silent for a few seconds.

Then he slowly spoke, “Let it be. This matter ends here. We’re done following Mr. Wang.”

He paused, his gaze shifting from the ceiling to the person in the shadows. “As for Supervisor Zheng… teach him a lesson. Cut off one of his fingers and tell him to watch his mouth. If he doesn’t learn his lesson, next time, we’ll cut out his tongue.”

“Understood.” The person in the shadows gave a slight nod and turned to leave.

His footsteps were almost inaudible. The door opened a crack, he slipped out sideways, and the door closed silently behind him.

Uncle Dou was left alone in the room.

He picked up the wine glass again, raising it to his eyes to watch the lamplight filter through the deep red liquid.

The light, filtered by the wine, became a liquid crimson.

Uncle Dou swirled the wine in his glass, the liquid shimmering in the light.

He was still thinking about what Wan Ze had done.

‘That young man… browsed for over an hour, handled over three hundred items, and took nothing.’

‘It wasn’t that he was picky or that he looked down on the items. It seemed he had no intention of taking anything from the very start.’

‘It was as if he came just to look around.’

Uncle Dou didn’t understand.

‘What was this “Mr. Wang,” introduced by Boss Zhao, truly after?’

‘He didn’t want any items, he didn’t fish for information, he didn’t try to network… he didn’t even accept the olive branch I personally extended to him.’

‘Did he just… not care at all?’

“Boss Zhao’s friend… is certainly interesting,”

Uncle Dou murmured, then tilted his head back and downed the wine.

He set the empty glass on the desk.

Outside the window, the lights of the black market still blazed.

…

「Property Plaza.」

The night wind swept across the open plaza, carrying the bitter scent of shrubs from the greenbelts. The lights were harsh and bright, dazzling the eye. They illuminated every passerby in sharp detail, leaving them exposed with nowhere to hide.

On the west side of the plaza was a row of warehouses.

They were old buildings with red brick walls and corrugated iron roofs. The paint on the walls had mostly peeled away, revealing the red brick beneath.

The warehouse doors were the roll-up kind. Their silver-grey sheet metal was covered in graffiti and phone numbers for various ads. Some of the doors were pulled halfway down, revealing pitch-black interiors.

But this strip of warehouses on the west side lay in a zone untouched by the lights.

A square concrete pillar, about half a meter wide, was just wide enough to hide a person.

Someone was standing in the darkness.

Zhao Henian stood behind the pillar, his jacket zipper pulled all the way up. His collar was popped, hiding the lower half of his neck. He held a communicator to his ear with one hand while the other was stuffed in his pocket. If it weren’t for the faint glow of the communicator’s screen reflecting on his face, it would have been nearly impossible to spot him.

A voice, devoid of any emotion, came through the communicator: “…Mr. Wang didn’t take anything… Uncle Dou said to drop the matter. As for Supervisor Zheng, they’re going to cut off a finger to make him watch what he says.”

Zhao Henian fell silent.

His eyes narrowed, as if gazing at something in the far distance.

The person on the other end waited a few seconds. When he didn’t respond, they asked tentatively, “Boss Zhao?”

“…I understand,” Zhao Henian finally said.

His voice was level, yet something was off.

Those who knew him understood that the more level his voice became, the more his mind was in turmoil.

The call ended.

The communicator screen went dark, plunging his face back into shadow.

Zhao Henian shoved the communicator back into his pocket. He left his hand in there, clenching it into a fist.

He lowered his head, brow furrowed slightly, and stared at the patch of concrete at his feet being swallowed by the darkness. After several seconds, an expression of utter bewilderment took over his face.

‘He could rack his brain and still not understand how Wan Ze could… ‘

“He didn’t take any of it?” Zhao Henian muttered to himself. “Why is he trying to save me money? Since when is he so kind?”

To Zhao Henian, Wan Ze refusing to take anything was far more unsettling than if he had demanded a million with the greed of a lion.

‘If he had made an outrageous demand, it would at least prove that Wan Ze had desires.’

‘A man with desires can be tied down with benefits, managed through transactions, and pulled onto your ship with a common goal.’

‘But a man who wants nothing… what do you have to hold over him?’

Zhao Henian couldn’t wrap his head around it.

‘He had always seen Wan Ze as a bad actor. To put it plainly, Wan Ze was a shrewd, calculating young man who would never allow himself to get the short end of the stick.’

‘In Zhao Henian’s experience, those were the easiest people to deal with. Their desires were clear, and as long as you could afford their price, you were set.’

‘But this time, after going to all that trouble, Wan Ze had taken absolutely nothing.’