As the police secretly exerted force, Zhang Shouji was pushed to the forefront, and the power balance within Goldmoon Group began to tilt dramatically.
Although Lee Joong-ku was released from prison, his Tiger Faction core members suffered heavy losses in the parking lot and subsequent chaos, severely depleting their strength. The remaining forces were in a state of panic, unable to form effective cohesion.
Coupled with Lee Joong-ku's own stubborn, tyrannical, and suspicious nature, many elders and fence-sitters who had originally relied on him felt uneasy and secretly pledged allegiance to the rising Zhang Shouji.
On the other side, the real Ding Qing was not idle.
Although he was recuperating in a safe house, through the secret intelligence network established by Ah Jin and others, every move in the outside world was clearly presented before him.
The name of every traitor who sided with Zhang Shouji or Lee Joong-ku was coldly recorded by him.
An encrypted list was sent to Johnny's dedicated device.
"Cleanup begins."
Ding Qing's order was brief and cruel.
The night was deep, like a thick, dark velvet cloth, enveloping Lishui City.
Johnny's figure appeared outside a high-end residential complex.
He was wearing an inconspicuous dark tracksuit and carrying a common backpack, looking like a late-returning office worker or a fitness enthusiast.
His target was clear: the first on the list, Cui Chengwan, one of Goldmoon Group's veteran directors.
This person was a typical opportunist; in his early years, he relied on Seok Dong, later flattering Ding Qing to the extreme. Now, seeing which way the wind blew, he had become one of Zhang Shouji's most active supporters, providing a large amount of connections and resource intelligence that originally belonged to Ding Qing's faction, attempting to earn credit with his new master.
Johnny looked up, his gaze accurately locking onto a lit floor in one of the buildings in the complex. Cui Chengwan's home was there.
He walked steadily into the lobby, ignoring the night shift security guard, and headed straight for the elevator area.
The elevator slowly descended, its metal doors reflecting his expressionless face.
Ding.
The elevator reached the first floor, the doors opened, and it was empty.
Johnny stepped into the car and pressed the target floor.
The elevator doors slowly closed, and the car began to ascend smoothly.
In this confined, quiet, and enclosed space, time seemed to stretch.
Johnny's movements were without the slightest delay; he unzipped his backpack and took out a pair of thin, almost transparent, milky-white rubber gloves, putting them on unhurriedly.
The thin rubber film isolated any possible fingerprints and micro-traces, and also isolated the last direct tactile sensation with the target world.
The lights in the elevator reflected faint points of light in his calm pupils, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
Ding.
The elevator reached the target floor.
The doors silently slid open to both sides.
The hallway was covered with thick carpet, which had excellent sound absorption, and it was completely silent, with only the faint sound of a TV coming from a distant apartment.
Johnny stepped out of the elevator, his footsteps light and silent. He arrived at Cui Chengwan's doorstep, a luxurious double anti-theft door.
He did not choose technical lock picking or violent forced entry.
Instead, he took out a small electronic device resembling a stethoscope from his backpack's side pocket, placing one end near the door lock and wearing the other end on his ear.
He was listening for movement inside the door and ensuring that opening it would not produce any abnormal sounds.
After a few seconds, he confirmed there was no unusual movement approaching the door. He put away the device, pulled out a special, seemingly ordinary key card from his pocket. This was a temporary access card copied from a universal apartment card, obtained by Ah Jin through internal channels. He swiped it lightly on the induction lock.
Click.
An extremely faint sound of the lock cylinder turning, almost imperceptible thanks to lubrication.
Johnny's hand steadily gripped the doorknob, pressing it down at a uniform and slow speed, then gently pushing the door open a crack. The entire process produced no harsh friction or impact sounds.
Inside the door was a spacious entrance hall, brightly lit. The sound of TV news and a man humming a tune could be heard from the living room, seemingly Cui Chengwan himself, who appeared to be in a good mood.
Johnny slipped in, and with the same slow and gentle motion, he closed and locked the door behind him.
"You're back so early?"
Cui Chengwan didn't even turn his head, asking directly. He thought it was his wife, who liked to play cards, returning home.
Johnny said nothing.
He took off his shoes, and his sock-clad feet trod silently on the cold, smooth marble floor.
His gaze quickly swept over the layout of the entrance hall, confirming there were no other people or pets.
In the direction of the living room, the humming and TV sounds mingled.
Johnny pulled a glock 34 with a silencer from his back and walked calmly towards the source of the sound.
"Hmm? What's wrong? How much did you lose again today? Why aren't you speaking?"
Cui Chengwan was a little puzzled and turned to look behind him, then his body stiffened.
Behind him, there was no wife of his, only a killer dressed in black, holding a glock, standing right behind him, the gun pointed at his head.
"Who are you?"
The fact that the other party didn't speak immediately indicated there was still room for negotiation, so he intended to struggle a bit. "Who sent you? How much is the price? I'm willing to pay double."
Seeing Cui Chengwan's seemingly open-to-negotiation demeanor, Johnny grinned. "Want to haggle? How interesting. But the person who sent me is Ding Qing."
The moment the name Ding Qing left his lips, Cui Chengwan's pupils widened. He had thought of everyone but the supposedly dead Ding Qing.
"Impossible! Didn't he die?"
Cui Chengwan's face changed drastically, but Johnny smiled at him, revealing his two large front teeth. "How can you be sure Ding Qing is dead?"
Upon hearing Johnny's words, Cui Chengwan's face instantly turned ashen, and his body went limp, even trembling slightly.
He knew that he had ultimately been deceived by that hateful fellow; he wasn't dead, but instead was coldly watching all of this unfold from behind. It was truly terrifying.
"Heh! Ding Qing, Ding Qing, I never thought you would be so insidious. I always thought you were just a businessman, but I forgot, you climbed up from the bottom, one cut at a time!"
After saying this, Cui Chengwan turned around and slumped onto the sofa.
"Go ahead. There's 1 million usd in the safe in the room. I hope you can spare my family."
Knowing his fate was irreversible, he still wanted to struggle for his family's safety.
"Don't worry, you go and make arrangements. They'll be right behind you."
After saying this, Johnny pulled the trigger.
Puff!
Cui Chengwan's head instantly had a large hole, and red and white matter slowly flowed from the opening.
As for Johnny, of course, it was impossible for him to spare his family. After all, to cut weeds, one must remove the roots. Even if no one saw him do it, it was better to be safe than sorry, just in case.
Immediately after, Johnny sat on the sofa, looking towards the door. After waiting for about 3 hours, the door finally made a sound and slowly opened. A woman dressed in luxurious clothes walked in from outside.
She put on her slippers, came in, closed the door, and staggered in, reeking of alcohol.
She glanced at Johnny sitting on the sofa, muttering, "Wan Cheng, why are you still here talking business with friends so late? Didn't I say not to bring outsiders into the house..."
As she walked into the living room, she saw Cui Chengwan with his head blown open, and smelled the scent of blood, even suppressed by the low temperature of the air conditioning. Her pupils instantly constricted to pinpricks, and just as she opened her mouth to scream.
Puff!
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