Two days after Xu Lan left, his old man passed away. The official report stated that his cancer got the better of him, but other members of the Xu family insisted that it was because Xu Lan infuriated him.

It all felt inconsequential to Xu Lan. He was neither happy nor sad. More than anything, he was indifferent.

Members of the Xu family came to Xu Lan’s doorstep repeatedly to the point where his doorsill was heavily worn out from their visits. They all tried convincing him to inherit the old man’s assets. However, Xu Lan had no money to pay taxes. The rest of them were unwilling to fork out that much money for tax since they had yet to obtain the assets.

The issue came to a standstill and they were visibly flustered, as one would expect. No longer able to afford to live life extravagantly, they took it out on Xu Lan. Every single time they did that, Bai Wu used all his might to shoo them off. It reached a point where they would first check if Bai Wu was home before deciding to start cursing him.

Although Xu Lan told Bai Wu not to call him ‘Papa’, he never asked Bai Wu to leave because he knew that Bai Wu had nowhere else to go.

Time and again, Bai Wu pestered and begged Xu Lan, asking to be brought to Whitehorse Hotel. He harassed Xu Lan, then Xiao Feng, then eventually Wang Meng.

Wang Meng threw his cards toward him and scolded, “Motherf*cker! You still have the decency to ask for my help when you’re saying all that bullsh*t? What does it have to do with me? You’re not even allowed to go in the first place! F*cking hell! You’re pissing me off!”

Xiao Feng had cards in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Wafts of cigarette smoke circulated him. Upon hearing Wang Meng’s words, he took a deep puff, pulled Wang Meng closer and nodded. Then he turned to Bai Wu and said, “You see, there’s nothing I can do.”

Embarrassed, Bai Wu went back to Xu Lan’s side. Coincidentally, he bumped into Meng Chengjun, who brought his team to look for Xiao Feng. They wanted to deliver the news that there was a new breakthrough.

Everyone sat together and discussed the case, which meant that they had no time to deal with Bai Wu. In order to make sure that Wang Hao and the rest do not worry about him, Xu Lan did his best to force a smile. Bai Wu saw it and felt heartbroken.

“Sergeant Xu, do you have any thoughts on the case in light of the progress we made?” Meng Chengjun asked Xu Lan with a smile.

“Someone was killed as a result of the public security bureau impersonation incident. In the midst of the ruckus, the eldest son of one of the nail house owners was squashed to death amongst the pushing and shoving of the crowd. After that, the developers left Whitehorse City. In the information that Team Leader Meng just handed over, was that particular nail house owner one of the nine people who were sent back from the mine?” Xu Lan responded, quick-witted as usual.

“Yes.”

“In that case, the recent events center around the collapsed mine in Chengdu thirteen years ago. It’s likely that things didn’t go as well as the news reports say, since there were people who died. In order to cover up the truth, the mine owner dismissed those who were part of that team and gave them a considerable amount of hush money. For the next five years, or rather, thirteen years, they seemed to live peacefully.

Until today that is. The criminals finally engineered a plot to carry out their revenge. The public security bureau impersonation incident was merely one of many incidents, but in that case, there was a confirmed death. If we add the involvement of the other nine people, then the criminal would be able to take advantage of the crisis for their personal gain, and everything would fall into place. Of course, I’m only guessing and trying to understand the case a bit better at the same time,” Xu Lan remarked while looking at Meng Chengjun.

“Damn! Xiao Xu, when did you string it all together? You never told me! And here I thought I could offer you help,” Wang Meng exclaimed, somewhat upset.

“So, our task now is to determine who the criminals are. Are they the nail house owners from eight years ago or are they the people from the collapsed mine thirteen years ago?” Xiao Feng asked as he twirled his pen.