Chapter 594: This Villa Is Unusually Warm
Chapter 594: This Villa Is Unusually Warm
To Chen Chaofa, Yaoyang Base was nothing more than a stage where he sat as a spectator, so most of the time he treated it with indifference.
But when he decided to take something seriously—no one could afford to ignore him.
“Go find them!” Chen Chaofa ordered his subordinates. “Don’t bother bringing them back alive. Kill them outright and bring back the corpses!”
He could tolerate Jiang Peng concealing his identity with an alias to approach him. He could even tolerate Jiang Peng using him to recruit more power. As for Tang Siluo—she was no true love, just a passing novelty, something amusing for a time.
But betrayal—that was absolutely intolerable.
Betrayal was the most unforgivable sin in the world.
And Zhou Zheng and his people, who had deceived him and hidden the truth—their despicable actions made them all the more impossible to spare.
Inside the Grand Fortune, Chen Chaofa had sworn: between himself and Tang Siluo, Jiang Peng, and Zhou Zheng, only one side could survive.
“Tell me—where could they go in this deadly cold?” Wu Simiao lounged nearby, the corners of his mouth curved in a careless smile, as if delighting in the chaos. “They don’t show up anywhere on surveillance. The last twenty-four hours of footage have been wiped clean. None of the cars in the garage are missing either. So—did Tang Siluo, Jiang Peng, and Zhou Zheng’s lot even leave Yaoyang Base?”
If they hadn’t left, then where could they be hiding?
Chen Chaofa and Wu Simiao thought of the same place at once—Hexi.
And indeed, in Hexi, the missing Zhou Zheng now stood inside An Ran’s villa, along with several of the wall-guard captains.
This villa was unusually warm. From a distance, one could see the glass greenhouse on the second floor roof, where small, unfamiliar white flowers bloomed brightly against the windowpanes.
Zhou Zheng and the others’ faces were rough and wind-burned, flushed red as though ready to crack like dry stone. Their hands fidgeted awkwardly before them as they waited anxiously for Luo Feifan to call the hosts.
They had been escorted overnight by Luo Feifan, bringing their entire families, secretly moved from the city wall into the Hexi neighborhood. Their families and a few subordinates had already gone with Fatty to choose villas. Only Zhou Zheng and a few of his officers remained behind here, waiting.
To be honest, it all felt too rushed, leaving them a little dazed. The wall had been secure—so why had Luo Feifan suddenly and urgently spirited them away into Hexi? Could it be that their concealment of Hexi’s affairs from the Grand Fortune had finally been exposed?
If so, Zhou Zheng and the others had long been mentally prepared. Fatty in Hexi had been brazen lately, his name spreading wildly among the lower classes in Hedong. More and more people were migrating from Hedong to Hexi.
Thanks to their friendship with Luo Feifan, Zhou Zheng and his men had hidden countless matters for Hexi: Fatty’s sale of firewood and charcoal, the widespread use of firewood-powered generators in every Hexi household.
They had enabled Fatty’s arrogance to flourish unchecked for so long without attracting the Grand Fortune’s notice. Their role in that was far from small.
So of course it would be exposed sooner or later. Zhou Zheng and the others knew this. That was why, when Luo Feifan told them it was time to move, although they were startled, they didn’t hesitate.
They rushed home, gave the order, and had their families grab the luggage that had long since been packed and ready. Then they fled to Hexi.
While Zhou Zheng and his officers stood waiting uneasily, Zhan Lian appeared, a map in hand, Luo Feifan and Yun Tao following behind him as they came around from the back courtyard.
Zhou Zheng studied Zhan Lian closely, and the captains at his side stole glances as well.
It was said Luo Feifan had once belonged to a mysterious pre-apocalypse military unit. And this Zhan Lian—he had been his teammate.
Men from such a unit—those chosen were all kings among soldiers.