Five minutes later, the door opened and Ye Fei dragged Qiangzai out.
"Whoah!" Murong and Xiaoyu gasped.
Qiangzai’s face was bruised and swollen like a steamed bun. Even his mother wouldn’t recognize him. Somehow, he was still conscious.
He crawled toward Murong and wheezed through lips swollen like sausages, “Officer... I was bad, just send me to jail. I know I was bad."
"Ye Fei, you're ruthless!" Murong shot him a glare and fulfilled Qiangzai’s wish.
She made a phone call and five minutes later Qiangzai was taken away in a police cruiser, straight to a small, dark interrogation room in the police station.
"Ye Fei, what happened? Did he have Sister Qingwan's videos?" Murong softly asked, watching the police cruiser disappear in the distance.
"There’s good news and bad news. Which do you want first?" Ye Fei went and found a towel and wiped the blood from his knuckles.
Murong was restless like an ant on a hot plate, "You’re still in the mood to joke?"
"Alright, bad news first," Ye Fei's expression darkened. "Qiangzai is just a nobody. Someone else made him do it.”
"There had to be someone else,” Murong nodded. “Qiangzai is just a security guard with no higher education or special training. He wouldn’t know how to install a pinhole camera. Besides, he couldn’t have gotten his hands on such advanced German-made gear."
"Right. Qiangzai was extremely uncooperative at first, but he told me everything after I rearranged his face a bit. His boss is known as ‘Fire Dragon’. Does that ring a bell?"
Murong was astonished. "Fire Dragon? The Fire Dragon of the Burning Bar. God, that guy? Really?"
"What, does he have a history of this kind of stuff?"
Murong thought for a while and said, "Hmm... How shall I put it?" She bit her lip, "Simply put, Fire Dragon owns a nightclub. He is forthright and likes to keep his friends close, and has 36 sworn brothers. He also gets into fights practically every day. He’s very difficult to deal with; a real scoundrel.
"In short, Fire Dragon is an aggressive bastard. He and his buddies all know how to fight. If this has something to do with him, I suggest we report to my superiors first."
Ye Fei understood why she was hesitant.
Even if Fire Dragon was strong and had a lot of friends, he was just a nightclub owner. To make Murong so scared of him meant he had some powerful backers. Going after Fire Dragon meant offending whoever was behind him.
Cops like Murong had too many scruples and restrictions, so criminals like him committed their crimes boldly with no fear of repercussions, casting doubt on the credibility of the police in the eyes of the common people. Things were like that nation-wide, and there was little that could be done about it.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
But Ye Fei didn't have any reservations about getting his hands dirty, and he was fearless.
"Is Fire dragon that powerful?” he scoffed. “Well then, go ahead and report to your superiors. But be careful; don't let word of this reach him. If Fire Dragon feels threatened, he might put Lin Qingwan's videos online and all our efforts will have been for nothing."
"I know. Don’t fret, my channel is absolutely secure."
Murong took out her phone and dialed a number.
After the call, Murong remembered something. "Ye Fei, you only told me the bad news. What’s the good news?"
"The good news is that Qiangzai is a really unreliable guy. He took Lin Qingwan’s videos out of the villa three days ago but he only sent them to Fire Dragon today," Ye Fei sneered.
"If he only sent them to Fire Dragon today, Sister Qingwan's videos may not have been exposed to anyone yet. That's great! I'll make another call."
Murong dialed again.
Ye Fei looked at Murong helplessly. What was the point? Even if she passed on the news, they were already too late. By now, these videos were in the hands of someone who could use them to blackmail Lin Qingwan.
If they wanted to get the footage back before it did any harm, they had to do it tonight.
When they returned to the villa, Lin Qingwan was still unconscious, so Murong went to the kitchen to cook her a bowl of hangover soup. After pouring it into Lin Qingwan’s mouth, she felt a little better and opened her eyes, but was still in a daze.
"Murong, take Manager Lin back to the apartment. I do not think she can live in this villa anymore."
Ye Fei stood in front of a window and looked outside. The villa was built on disadvantageous terrain and the security personnel were unreliable. It would be very easy to attack it. For the sake of security, Murong had to take Lin Qingwan back to Purple Apartments.
"All right." Murong called for a taxi.
When the cab pulled up to the villa, she helped Lin Qingwan into the back seat. Murong sat beside her, supporting her. "Ye Fei, why aren’t you getting in the car?"
"I want to go visit a friend tonight. You go on ahead," he waved his hand.
"OK."
Murong was not in charge of him and she had no right to interfere with his private affairs, so she said nothing more and left.
Ye Fei went back to Lin Qingwan's car. He activated the built-in GPS and drove straight to the Burning Bar.
Shanghai was a city that never slept. All the high-end bars and clubs would be packed throughout the night, and the Burning Bar was no exception.
Ye Fei parked outside the club and walked straight to the door.
He was there for Fire Dragon.