Liu Hui drove at breakneck speed, blowing through several red lights. Luckily, it was late, and the absence of patrolling police meant he avoided a lot of trouble.

Yiwanshui was located in the northern suburbs of Ba City, an area with open terrain and beautiful scenery, perfect for residence, though quite far from the city center. Astute developers built villas there for sale; despite the exorbitant prices, they all sold out. Old Second Ma, as a high-ranking member of the Raging Dragon Gang, also owned a villa here. Thanks to his excellent coordination skills, Liu Hui reached the location Brother Qiang mentioned in a remarkably short time. It was a solitary villa, surrounded by several large trucks whose headlights were all blazing, illuminating the house with stark clarity. People were occasionally shouting loudly in front of the trucks.

Liu Hui stopped his car a good distance from the villa, then retracted it into his storage space. He donned his signature black cloak and black head covering, instantly transforming into a different person. His eyesight was excellent; he spotted Boss Liu among the crowd in front of the trucks from far away. Boss Liu was speaking with a middle-aged man, but the distance was too great for Liu Hui to overhear anything. Connecting Boss Liu's presence with the grand scene of trucks surrounding the villa, Liu Hui immediately deduced this had to be Old Second Ma’s residence.

Liu Hui felt a strange sense of bewilderment. Why create such a large, noisy spectacle, as if eager for everyone to know they were causing trouble, yet no police officers were present? Had the Raging Dragon Gang and the Lu family pulled strings to have the police turn a blind eye, facilitating their actions?

He couldn't see Old Second Ma among the group, so he presumed the man was inside the villa, perhaps in Zhou Tengyun's hands. He wondered about Third Brother's current condition.

Liu Hui quietly took out his phone and dialed Zhou Tengyun’s number. As expected, the phone was switched off. Unable to reach Zhou Tengyun, Liu Hui had no insight into the situation and felt helpless, deciding to observe first.

Liu Hui stealthily crept forward, hugging the ground. The Raging Dragon Gang's cordon was divided into two layers. The outer perimeter was guarded by several gang members, but they were all low-level thugs with mediocre strength, whom Liu Hui easily bypassed to enter the inner ring.

Penetrating the inner perimeter, Liu Hui discovered several ambushes positioned with large caches of weapons. Some locations even housed heavy machine guns—the type he’d seen on military channels, rumored to be the domestic Type 89 12.7mm heavy machine guns. Their firepower was terrifying; getting hit by one round would almost certainly mean death, and a shot to the waist would cleave a man in two. These were standard equipment for the Huaxia military, and his shield absolutely could not withstand their sustained fire.

Liu Hui didn't know how the Raging Dragon Gang and the Lu family had acquired Huaxia standard issue equipment, nor why the operators looked relatively professional. But he knew that unless these firing points were completely eliminated, once they opened fire, in such open terrain, neither he nor Zhou Tengyun could entirely evade those lethal bullets. He might very well perish here tonight. Liu Hui had considered calling for backup, but after a careful calculation, he genuinely had no recourse for reinforcements. The hospital security guards would be little more than targets in the face of such overwhelming firepower; any number sent would only be fodder.

Liu Hui calmed himself, realizing success or failure hinged on this single action. He first circled the inner cordon cautiously. He counted carefully: there were four heavy machine gun nests in total, all equipped with the Type 89 12.7mm heavy machine gun. The other ambushes held only handguns and similar sidearms. As for the crowd gathered by the trucks, he detected no heavy weaponry among them.

Liu Hui’s immediate priority was neutralizing the heavy machine guns that posed the greatest threat. He meticulously recalled the locations of the machine gunners, then began moving slowly toward the first one.

Just then, the group in front of the trucks seemed to reach a consensus. They began shouting through a loudspeaker toward the villa: "Listen up inside! You are surrounded. Come out and surrender immediately. If you let Master Ma the Second go, we will grant you a whole corpse and promise not to implicate your family. If you refuse to surrender, we can eliminate you right now, and after you die, we won't spare your family either; they will suffer an incomparably gruesome death. We are giving you three minutes to consider. After three minutes, we will begin our assault. You cannot escape."

Liu Hui grew anxious and immediately quickened his pace. He reached the first firing point, manned by three individuals: one machine gunner and two guards. Perhaps overconfident in their outer security, they paid no attention to their rear, all lying prone and observing the villa. Liu Hui crept up silently behind them, rapidly firing three steel ball bearings. The three projectiles accurately entered the back of the men's heads, followed by a dull thud, instantly blowing out their brains. The three men died without making a sound, and the muffled explosion of their skulls was masked by the general clamor outside; no one noticed the problem here. Liu Hui swiftly gathered the heavy machine gun and the handguns of the two guards into his storage space, then rapidly advanced toward the next target.

While moving, Liu Hui also spotted several ordinary gang members hidden in ambush, armed with handguns. He dispatched them without hesitation, striking each with a single steel ball bearing, killing them instantly. He proceeded this way, killing his way through, yet somehow remaining undetected.

Liu Hui’s luck was extraordinary. The heavy machine gunners had their focus entirely fixed on the villa inside, and the outer guards were too weak to spot his approach. As a result, Liu Hui effortlessly neutralized two more heavy firepower positions, collecting both machine guns into his storage space. Liu Hui pressed for time, rapidly advancing toward the final firing point.

By now, the mandated three minutes had elapsed, and there was still no movement from inside the villa. The men conferred and decided to initiate a full assault on the villa, accepting the risk of their drugs being destroyed. As for Old Second Ma, they had selectively forgotten him. A man who appeared to be the commander began issuing orders, coordinating the various forces deployed outside to forcibly attack the villa. While making contact, however, the commander discovered that most of the external personnel were unreachable. He realized something was wrong and panicked instantly. He immediately dispatched the personnel gathered by the trucks toward the three remaining firing points and called upon the last operational heavy weapon to commence firing.

Liu Hui had just reached the location of the final firing point; the heavy machine gun there was already sweeping the villa. The terrifying 12.7mm rounds impacted the villa walls, which crumbled in less than five seconds.

Liu Hui was extremely anxious and lunged directly at the machine gunner. While still airborne, he fired three steel ball bearings from his hand. However, the heavy machine gunner, having just received a warning from the commander that his men were being hunted outside, had reserved some concentration for his immediate surroundings. As a machine gunner, his gaze was incredibly sharp, and he actually spotted the incoming steel bearings in the darkness. He performed a forward roll, dodging the projectile. His two comrades were not so lucky; both were struck in the head.

The machine gunner was extremely quick-witted. He rolled past the heavy machine gun to the other side and rapidly swung the weapon around, repositioning its barrel. Liu Hui had momentarily let his guard down when the gunner evaded the steel bearings and prepared to point the weapon at him. Liu Hui fired another steel bearing, but this gunner proved formidable, managing to dodge the shot while shouldering the heavy machine gun, whose muzzle now began turning toward Liu Hui. Sweating profusely, Liu Hui unleashed five steel bearings with all his might. This time, the machine gunner could not evade; he was struck squarely in the face and died. As he died, his finger reflexively squeezed the trigger, and the heavy machine gun spat out several rounds before crashing to the ground.

Liu Hui cried out in alarm and immediately dropped to the ground to take cover. The bullets whizzed over his head, striking a large tree behind him. A single bullet severed the tree trunk at waist height, while the others flew off to unknown locations. Liu Hui quickly scrambled forward, collected the heavy machine gun and the handguns of the two nearby men into his storage space, then wiped the cold sweat from his brow, inwardly breathing a prayer of luck. His skill was still insufficient; he was terribly vulnerable against such deadly weapons. He wondered if there was any reliable solution.

As soon as the heavy machine gun in that sector ceased firing, the commander directing the operation noticed the anomaly and immediately dispatched a group of men running toward that direction. Liu Hui dared not hesitate, speeding into the villa along the path recently cleared by the machine gun fire through the collapsed wall.

The moment Liu Hui entered the villa, he sensed an icy wave of killing intent permeating the air, causing goosebumps to rise all over his body. Before he could utter a word, he heard Zhou Tengyun's voice.

"Boss, is that you?"

"Third, it’s me. Where are you? What's the situation?"

"Boss, I'm here!" A head suddenly emerged from a corner of the room. It was Zhou Tengyun.

Liu Hui tore off his black head covering and quickly rushed to the corner where Zhou Tengyun was hiding. Zhou Tengyun grabbed Liu Hui and pulled him downward, pushing open a heavy iron door to reveal the villa's basement.

The enemies had long since cut the villa's power, plunging the entire structure into darkness. However, the basement housed an independent generator, which was currently running, keeping the basement lights on. Entering the basement, Liu Hui found two dead bodies lying on the floor, accompanied by a pool of blood. One was Old Second Ma; the other was a young man.

"Third, who is this young man?" Liu Hui asked.

"Probably Old Second Ma’s son. I didn't pay attention to him initially, and he almost ambushed me, so I took care of him too," Zhou Tengyun replied flatly.

"Are you alright? Are you injured?" Liu Hui asked.

"I'm fine. I didn't expect them to find me and specifically set a trap for me. But my great vengeance is achieved; I have no regrets, even if I die. When they first rushed the villa, I killed a few of them in the darkness before they retreated. I was confronting them just before you arrived. But Boss, why did you come? This place is extremely dangerous." Zhou Tengyun remarked.

"I learned by chance that they were setting an ambush here. I feared you had walked into a trap, so I rushed over, though it seems I was still too late," Liu Hui sighed. Suddenly, another question struck him: "They have such overwhelming firepower outside, capable of storming in at any moment. How could they be stalemated with you? One Old Second Ma shouldn't be able to stop them, right?"

"Boss, look!" Zhou Tengyun lifted a canvas covering the center of the basement floor, revealing several large crates. He picked up one crate, opened it, and pushed it toward Liu Hui.

"This is..." Liu Hui picked up the white powdery substance, tore open the packaging, brought it close to his nose to smell it carefully, then even pinched some to taste. He exclaimed in surprise, "Is this... drugs?"

Qian Yu Chu Hai sincerely thanks Book Friend (Zhen Ma Chao) for the update votes. From the continuous voting, it is clear this friend genuinely cares for Qian Yu Chu Hai's progress, casting a total of 12 update votes, all specifically for a 9000-character update. He clearly hoped I could complete this release.

However, Qian Yu Chu Hai feels deeply ashamed, as heavy work commitments have severely limited my writing time. Today, I can only manage two updates, the second expected between 7 PM and 8 PM. The 9000-character goal cannot be met. Qian Yu Chu Hai can only express his apologies to Book Friend (Zhen Ma Chao)!