The Same Fate Awaits All Sins Chapter 12

Malice – 12

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The boss of this Cnclub was said to be called "Old Knife," but the man who had just entered made it impossible to associate him with such a name.

He looked exactly like a smiling Buddha.

Old Knife was plump, round, and cute. Anyone unaware of his identity would assume he was a chef at some restaurant rather than the city's biggest drug middleman, and certainly not someone with such a fearsome name as "Old Knife"!

Lu Zheng gestured to his subordinates, and the fat man led the group of burly men out in single file, waiting by the door of the private room.

The man with the tattooed arm whispered something in Old Knife's ear. Old Knife nodded repeatedly, his face still wearing that "amiable" smile, and gave Gu Yanta and Lu Zheng a slight nod.

Gu Yanta was awkwardly pulling his trousers on at that moment. Taking advantage of the pause as Old Knife and the tattooed man talked, he leaned close to Lu Zheng and whispered, "What's going on? Why are you here?"

"Just act, we'll talk later." Lu Zheng replied, squeezing the words out through gritted teeth. Then, in an instant, his expression changed, and he swung a slap at Gu Yanta!

Gu Yanta was blind sided by the slap, cursing internally, this kid is really ruthless! He adjusted his expression and put on a fake smile, grabbing Lu Zheng's arm. "Darling, Babe, I'll explain everything to you when we get home..."

"Explain what? If I hadn't sent someone to follow you all the way from Lingzhou, you'd have fucking disappeared without a trace by now!" Lu Zheng threw his arm to break free of Gu Yanta's grasp and snapped harshly, "Let go!"

Old Knife murmured something to the tattooed man. Both he and the bald man tactfully left the room. Niu Bo glanced at Gu Yanta, feeling extremely anxious, then turned to look at Old Knife. In the end, he held his breath and retreated as well.

Inside the room, the two men continued their charade of a caught-in-the-act affair. Gu Yanta couldn't help but admire Lu Zheng's flawless performance, every expression and action flowed seamlessly. He thought to himself, this kid has clearly chosen the wrong career, with acting skills like this, coupled with such good looks, he'd be a superstar!

Meanwhile, Old Knife waddled over, his plump body jiggling, and sat across from them.

"Gentlemen, let's calm down." Old Knife said with a face full of smiles. "I've long heard of the great Mr. Yang from Lingzhou. I had no idea you'd come to our Yuchuan area, please forgive the lack of hospitality, my apologies, my apologies... And this gentleman is...?"

"My surname is Chen," Lu Zheng leaned back into the sofa and crossed his arms in front of his chest. His gaze was lazy yet disdainful, exuding an air of dominance. He gestured toward Gu Yanta. "I'm Yang Zhou's husband."

What the hell, Lu Zheng! Gu Yanta suppressed the fury rising in his chest. I am the captain of the criminal investigation team, but I became your wife today? No! I won't accept this! You just wait, you bastard, one day I'll take control again! A real man knows when to bend and when to rise. To hide his slightly weaker acting skills, Gu Yanta quickly lowered his head.

"I... I see, I see, you can't judge a man by his appearance" Old Knife said knowingly, wearing an expression that said: I understand completely. He continued, "Mr. Chen, you see, Mr. Yang came here to discuss business with us today. This little scene you've caused isn't ideal for either of us, don't you agree?"

"I'll take responsibility for what I've done, whatever compensation you want, just name it, but I'm taking Yang Zhou with me today," Lu Zheng said, his tone as arrogant as ever, his expression begging to be punched.

Old Knife cursed internally, ignorant brat! I was running the streets while you were still wetting your bed! Outwardly, however, he remained all smiles. "Mr. Chen, how about this, why don't you have some tea in our VIP lounge first, and once we've finished discussing business with Mr. Yang, we'll notify you immediately. How does that sound?"

"No," Lu Zheng cast a sidelong glance at Old Knife. "Discuss business? Do you think I don't know what Yang Zhou is up to? He's here to buy supplies, isn't he? He ran off from Lingzhou without much on him and can't go back for the time being. He must be desperate by now."

"Yes... yes… Babe, you know me so well!" Gu Yanta chimed in quickly, thinking to himself that he needed to polish his acting skills before appearing on camera again.

As soon as Old Knife saw Gu Yanta's appearance, now utterly subdued and a shadow of his earlier haughty self, he immediately concluded that Lu Zheng was the one in charge.

Lu Zheng pulled out a thick wad of cash from his bag and slapped it onto the table. "How much product do you have right now? I'll take it all. If it's not enough, I'll have my men fetch more. Fatty!"

"Big Brother!" The fat man by the door responded instantly.

"Bring another half million in cash, buy some recreational stuff for your Brother Yang!"

Old Knife couldn't help but think, isn't this Yang guy supposed to be well-off? Why does he look like he's being kept? He quickly waved his hands. "Mr. Chen, there's no need for that much, we don't have that large a supply on hand. Even if you wanted it, we couldn't meet the demand!"

It was moments like these where having money had its perks, Lu Zheng thought, secretly rescinding the words he said when he told Gu Yanta to stop calling him a rich kid.

Old Knife leaned in close to whisper something into Lu Zheng's ear, and Lu Zheng nodded with a feigned air of seriousness.

Old Knife had his men, the tattooed man and the fat man, bring out a package, which he presented with a wide grin. "Mr. Yang, Mr. Chen, does this meet your satisfaction? Do you need to try the goods?"

At this moment, the evidence was practically in their hands, Lu Zheng discreetly captured the transaction with his miniature camera.

"Well then, for the rest, you can come to the police station to explain it." Lu Zheng suddenly smiled, his tone light.

"Ah?!!!"

Before Old Knife could react to the meaning of those words, chaos erupted outside the room.

Ear-piercing police sirens cut through the night. Jiang Ziyu, leading action teams one and two, had stormed the ground floor of the Cnclub.

The commanding voice from a police megaphone reverberated through the space. "Nobody move! Police! We've received reports of drug dealing and illegal drug use on these premises. Everyone, put your hands on your heads and squat down where you are!"

The tattooed man, the bald man, and a few enforcers who had rushed to the scene were now brawling with Lu Zheng's team at the entrance. Old Knife's face turned from red to white in an instant, cold sweat streaming down his forehead.

Suddenly, like a startled rabbit, Old Knife bolted. No one could have predicted that such a rotund middle-aged man could move with such agility. Before Lu Zheng could react, Gu Yanta had already sprinted after him.

Old Knife dashed through the chaos, grabbing a chair as he went, and smashing it against the wall at the end of the corridor. A large hole appeared in the wall, and his bulky frame slipped through it, disappearing into the darkness.

"There's a hidden room!" Gu Yanta no longer cared about anything else and followed Old Knife into the darkness.

Lu Zheng was a step too late. By the time he reached the corridor, the entrance to the hidden passage had been buried under a pile of broken bricks as tall as a man.

"Captain Gu! Be careful! They might be armed! Fatty! Get to the first floor and call for backup immediately!" Lu Zheng shouted in a panic.

Gu Yanta, hot on Old Knife's trail, had just entered the hidden passage when there was a loud boom. The ceiling at the entrance collapsed, sealing it off completely. With the sudden loss of light, Gu Yanta's eyes struggled to adjust as he was plunged into pitch darkness. Forced to slow his pace, he cautiously tried to discern the surrounding sounds. Distant noises of chaos and Lu Zheng's muffled shouts reached his ears, it was like watching a movie through a veil, hazy yet undeniably real.

Suddenly, Gu Yanta heard rapid breathing from behind him. Instinctively, he leaned to the left, and with a loud crash, a chair shattered beside him. Before he could react, a fleshy mass collided with him, knocking him firmly to the ground. A glint of cold steel flashed as Old Knife, gripping a dagger, lunged towards Gu Yanta.

Gu Yanta arched his back forcefully, causing Old Knife to lose his balance slightly. Clang! The dagger plunged into the ground, vibrating violently before flying out of Old Knife's grasp. Gu Yanta delivered a solid kick to Old Knife's stomach, causing him to grunt and double over. But before Gu Yanta could get up, Old Knife, ignoring the pain, quickly straightened and launched his hefty frame forward.

Despite Gu Yanta's exceptional skills in grappling and combat, he couldn't resist this brutish and shameless fighting style. Old Knife was no pushover, he clawed, bit, and scratched relentlessly, and the two were entangled in a chaotic scuffle on the ground. For several moments, Gu Yanta struggled to gain the upper hand.

After several rounds, Gu Yanta finally managed to pin Old Knife down. He delivered a heavy punch squarely to Old Knife's face, instantly causing a torrent of blood to gush from his nose. Just as Gu Yanta was about to throw another punch, a sudden blow to the back of his head sent a deafening buzz through his mind, and everything went black.

Holding a broken aluminium chair leg, Old Knife climbed up from the ground, panting heavily. Wiping the blood off his face, he gave the unconscious Gu Yanta a disdainful kick and sneered. "Kid, looks like I underestimated you this time and got caught, but if you think you can take me down, you're still too green."

At the far end of the secret room, an exit led to the second floor of an abandoned warehouse. Old Knife quickly ran to a corner and pulled out a climbing rope, but his feet were caught by something!

Gu Yanta, whose adrenaline had jolted him back to consciousness after a brief blackout, had silently crawled towards Old Knife. Timing his move perfectly, he swept Old Knife's legs out from under him. Old Knife fell hard, and before he could recover, Gu Yanta locked him in an arm bar, using every ounce of strength to subdue him.

Suddenly, a thunderous boom echoed from the entrance. Lu Zheng, leading Ma Qin and the rest of the action squad, burst through the brick wall. Though it had only been three to five minutes, to Gu Yanta, it felt like an eternity.

"Captain Gu!"

"Boss!"

After Ma Qin and the others swiftly restrained Old Knife, Gu Yanta finally ran out of strength and passed out.

When Gu Yanta regained consciousness, he found himself lying in an ambulance. Sitting beside him was... Lu Zheng.

"Ah, Hubby..." Ignoring the pain from his injuries, Gu Yanta couldn't resist cracking a joke. "Hubby is the best, taking me straight to the hospital."

"Stop talking, Captain Gu," Lu Zheng growled through gritted teeth. "Are you trying to make that head wound worse?"

Gu Yanta attempted to sit up, but Lu Zheng firmly pushed him back down.

"Didn't think you were this strong, given how skinny you are."

"Didn't you claim to want to beat me up? How about trying it now?"

"Forget it, I'm too old to keep up with you youngsters, just thinking about it gives me a headache." Gu Yanta pretended to massage his temples and frowned.

"It's probably a concussion. If you don't get a skull fracture from that chair leg, then you must be hard-headed, Team Gu!."

"It's okay, I've got the 'Black Jade Bone Renewal Paste' my Hubby gave me, don't I?" Gu Yanta smiled playfully again.

"Next time, can you please not be so reckless? What if Old Knife had a gun?"

"Aiya, my Hubby's worried about me."

"......"

Lu Zheng was speechless. All the way to the hospital, Gu Yanta said "hubby" this and "hubby" that hundreds of times, every sentence would include this word. Even with his usual composure, the incessant teasing overwhelmed him.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: November 20, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 12, 2024 by Angel