Chapter 95: Heaven and Earth

Since the first phone call jolted Song Tianming awake at half past five in the morning, he had not known a single peaceful moment all day. He had been on the verge of going berserk the entire time.

Calls kept pouring in from every possible connection. The friends he knew from the underworld, and his business partners, were bad enough: all of them demanded to know, in a panic, exactly what had happened. But those with pull and those in power were even worse; the moment they opened their mouths, it was only to rain curses on him.

“Chief Li, listen to me, I really do not know what is going on...”

“So it is already all over the internet? Damn it, how would people online know anything?”

“Old Zhao, I have been in this line of work for so many years. Do you think I do not understand this? How could I possibly drag so many people into it?”

“Of course it was not me. Even if I wanted to set someone up, I would never leak all that stuff. That would be suicide!”

“What? Several departments have received实名举报 material? Ren Jifu reported it? Who the hell is Ren Jifu? I have never even heard of him!”

...

In recent years, Song Tianming had built his name both in the underworld and in business by being ruthless and merciless. It was because of that that he had carved out his own kingdom in Yijiang City. But it was also because of that that he had made far too many enemies. There were more than enough people who wanted him dead to count on two hands.

Just the gambling dens and loan-sharking alone had ruined God knew how many lives, shattered how many families. Every one of those victims had every reason and motive to fight him to the death. And that recently exposed Zejian Company was suspicious as well.

But how had the other side obtained those pieces of evidence? Could there have been an inside traitor?

For a while, Song Tianming could not make sense of any of it, nor could he determine who was behind it.

Still, years of surviving the roughest currents had given him a beastlike instinct. He sensed at once that this time the situation had exploded beyond control, and that no amount of smoothing things over through connections was going to save him.

Nothing else mattered. Just the leaked list of gifts alone had already made every name on it turn from his allies into people who wished he would die as quickly as possible.

After hesitating for a long time, he grit his teeth and dialed a number with trembling hands.

When the call connected, a calm male voice on the other end said only, “Hello,” and then said nothing more.

“Old Yang, it is me, Little Song...” Song Tianming said ingratiatingly.

Before he could continue, the man on the other end cut him off, still calm and flat: “I do not know any Little Song. You have the wrong number. Where did you get this phone number? And do not call again.”

With that, the call ended with a sharp click.

Holding the phone and listening to the steady, lifeless droning of the disconnected line, Song Tianming felt as though he had plunged into an ice cavern.

It was over. This time, it was completely over.

The question was no longer how much he would have to pay to keep surviving in Yijiang City. The question was whether he could even stay alive.

The only way out now was to run.

His breathing turned rough, veins bulged at his temples, and he slammed a heavy fist down on the solid wood desk.

He was unwilling. After all these years, starting as a little thug guarding a coal mine and clawing his way up step by step through who knew how many bloody fights, he had reached his present status and wealth. And now, because of some rotten affair whose cause he did not even know, he was supposed to abandon everything and start over from nothing.

Emotionally, he could not accept it. Rationally, he had no choice but to suppress that unwillingness. His life came first. As long as he stayed alive, once the storm from this incident had passed, he could change his identity and still have a chance to rise again.

Thinking that far, he opened the safe, hurriedly stuffed the cash from inside into a backpack, and called his mistress, Xu Yanping.

He could leave everyone else behind, but Xu Yanping had to go with him. She handled his accounts and knew too many of his secrets.

There was also another thought he could not say out loud. When a man fled, nothing was better to bring along than a woman with some looks. She could keep him company when he was idle, and if he ran short of money, she could still help him earn the road fare. If he ran into an impassable wall, a beautiful woman was not a bad bargaining chip either. She had many uses.

He called several times, but Xu Yanping’s phone remained switched off.

“Damn it! What are you doing, why are you not answering!”

In his urgency, Song Tianming could not wait for Xu Yanping any longer. He hurriedly sent a text: Something has happened. Meet at the old place. Bring the money.

At the end, he checked the Black Star pistol in the safe, chambered a round, opened the door, and headed out.

The moment he stepped out of the office, he heard a burst of crisp gunfire from downstairs.

Right after that came the shrill screams of the dancer on the DJ platform, the shouts of his men, and chaos everywhere.

Looking down from the second floor, the man known as Black Brother, who had once abducted Jiang Xuan, lay with his eyes wide open, staring up at the sky in a pool of blood. A five-shot shotgun lay on the floor not far from him.

Without the slightest hesitation, Song Tianming turned and fled, trying to jump out through the second-floor window.

Before he could even get through it, a squad of armed special police stormed up the spiral staircase. Using the corridor as cover, they trained the dark muzzles of their submachine guns on Song Tianming and the large bag in his hands.

“Song Tianming, you are suspected of running gambling dens, illegal possession of firearms, extortion, causing grievous bodily harm resulting in death, tax evasion...”

Grinding his teeth, Song Tianming threw himself forward with all his strength, leaping from the second floor. He hit the ground, rolled several times, and the bag followed with him.

Police had already been waiting downstairs with full force. The instant he landed, a ring of officers raised their guns and surrounded him.

“Careful, he has a gun!” someone shouted sharply after spotting the pistol in Song Tianming’s hand.

“Do not shoot!” Song Tianming cried in terror, instinctively trying to throw down the gun and raise his hands to surrender.

But the moment his hand moved, one officer, perhaps too tense and thinking he was about to resist to the end, suddenly pulled the trigger.

At once, as if by chain reaction, a stream of fire erupted.

Ratatatat...

The submachine gun rounds tore straight into Song Tianming’s chest, sending up bursts of blood.

His body remained in the slightly raised pose of surrender, swaying once. Without a sound, he toppled backward, striking the concrete with a heavy thud.

An officer rushed up like lightning, quickly placing two fingers against the carotid artery in Song Tianming’s neck.

“Report, report. The suspect was armed and resisted arrest. We opened fire and neutralized him. Repeat, the suspect has been neutralized!”

With that, using a tactical glove, he gently smoothed Song Tianming’s wide-open eyes shut.

...

A storm that had risen with shocking suddenness, stirring up monstrous waves, came to an end in the most violent manner no one had foreseen, with Song Tianming’s death, and then settled again into calm.

With the suicide note posted online, the on-site investigation, and the information provided by He Dapeng after he made it back alive, all the evidence from every side came together and the truth stood clear at last.

The matter was simple. Ren Jifu, who had run up loan-shark debts at the gambling den and despaired of life, chose to die together with Song Tianming. To widen the impact, Ren Jifu used He Dapeng, whose home was being demolished, to stage a suicide by gas-cylinder explosion and then made the evidence public. Before killing himself, he knocked He Dapeng unconscious and sent him away so as not to implicate him.

Xu Yanping, the accountant at Song Tianming’s company, voluntarily surrendered and confessed to a great deal of evidence against Song Tianming’s crimes, making the case solid and unassailable. In addition, it was later proven that the other man shot dead on the spot was a Class A fugitive wanted by the Ministry of Public Security, with two murders on his hands.

Song Tianming himself resisted arrest with a weapon and was shot dead on the spot. The main figures under him were quickly arrested as well and would await trial in accordance with the law.

In addition, the city authorities moved decisively against a number of people whose names appeared on Song Tianming’s gift list. The two directors of the demolition office, though not directly responsible, had management lapses and failed to detect or prevent the trouble in advance, indirectly standing by as the accident happened, and were removed from their posts.

On closer inspection, there were indeed some gaps in the story. For example, since Ren Jifu had evidence, why would he rather die than call the police? And those who knew him all felt that this method did not fit his usual style.

But no one was willing to stand up for a scoundrel. Even Ren Jifu’s cousin, Ren Bida, thought it was simply Ren Jifu getting what he deserved.

Everyone was very satisfied with the conclusion. It was the best conclusion, and the only conclusion.

The stubborn holdouts no longer existed, so the demolition could proceed smoothly; one black-and-evil gang had been taken down, and public order was restored; a batch of officials who had broken the law and violated discipline had been dealt with, winning praise from the people far and wide...

With Song Tianming dead, he took many secrets with him. The dead could not testify against the living. Relying only on those so-called pieces of evidence, no one could pose any real threat.

On the ruins of Gaogang Village, Zhao Zejun and Jiang Xuan sat on a large stone and smoked.

Zhao Zejun asked, “You all right?”

Jiang Xuan shook his head. “I was never really one of Old Song’s inner circle anyway. On the surface, I was just an ordinary employee of his construction company. Besides, everyone on the street knows he nearly had me killed.”

“Can you swallow that anger now?” Zhao Zejun asked again.

Jiang Xuan gave a strange look and nodded. Looking toward the distant demolition site, he curled one corner of his mouth into a faintly mocking smile. “I did not expect them to shoot Old Song dead outright. Do you think this is...”

“I am not guessing, and I do not want to know.” Zhao Zejun cut him off before he could finish.

“Fine. Let’s not talk about it now that it is over. Still, for all his life, he did make the most of it,” Jiang Xuan said.

Zhao Zejun stood up, brushed the dust from his pants, looked at Jiang Xuan, and said with calm composure, “Xiao Xuan, I will give you one piece of advice. Remember it well.”

“Go ahead.”

“No matter how clever a person is, he is never cleverer than Heaven. No matter how great his power, it can never be greater than the earth. Fight with anyone you like, but never fight against Heaven and earth. At any time, never walk the old road that Song Tianming walked.”