The First Order

It was too late to turn back. It was no longer up to Luo Lan to decide on whether they were leaving. At the very least, Ren Xiaosu would have to complete his quest first.

Honestly, not even Ren Xiaosu himself would have expected he would sabotage Luo Lan twice in one day.

But right now, he could not care about that. As Ren Xiaosu ran outside carrying Luo Lan, Zhou Qi and the others looked at one another in dismay. The subordinates who had pledged to protect Luo Lan with their lives were suddenly at a loss of what to do. If it were an enemy that took Luo Lan away, they could at least shoot him. But this was Ren Xiaosu they were talking about. They would often even hear Luo Lan mention this person!

When they ran outside, the subordinates saw that many of the Zhou Consortium’s soldiers were unconscious on the ground. But why had they not heard anything at all just now?

By the time they reached the entrance of the neighborhood of Houguan Lake, Zhou Yingxue was already waiting there with a stolen van. Although it was a seven-seater van, they ended up cramming 14 people into it. In an orderly fashion, they started heading off according to the planned escape route.

Without any sacrifices or intensive combat, Ren Xiaosu had rescued Luo Lan just like that.

This was because of the Zhou Consortium’s bad supervisory control. And Zhou Shiji did not feel that Luo Lan needed to flee.

In the back row of the van, Luo Lan asked, “Xiaosu, what’s with all the drama? And what’re you doing at Stronghold 73?”

“Oh, I was just passing by,” Ren Xiaosu said nonchalantly.

Luo Lan was a bold but careful person. He suddenly felt that something was off. “How did you know I was placed under house arrest? Wait a minute, were you the one who fired that shot during the day?”

“Hahahaha, how’s that possible?” Ren Xiaosu laughed in embarrassment and said, “Would I possibly do something that would get my friend into trouble?”

Luo Lan said skeptically, “Really?”

Ren Xiaosu quickly changed the subject and asked, “What are you doing at Stronghold 73? Doesn’t the Qing Consortium need people in their own territory at the moment?”

“Oh, I’m just here on vacation, as well as make some friends along the way.” Luo Lan did not hide it from Ren Xiaosu. “We feel that the Wang Consortium has become rather ambitious these days, so we’re taking some precautions.”

“Then what are your next plans?”

“We’ll stay in the Zhou Consortium for a while before heading to the Kong Consortium, then our last stop will be the Wang Consortium.”

Ren Xiaosu was surprised to hear that. “Didn’t you say that they’re getting ambitious? Then why are you walking into their trap?”

Luo Lan said with a smile, “You have to take some risks in order to gain something. Also, the Wang Consortium won’t do anything to me for now. I’m just going there to walk around and see if the Wang Consortium is as united as the rest of the world claims.”

As a matter of fact, Ren Xiaosu really admired Luo Lan. The guy was truly a brave person who would venture wherever it was dangerous. Everything he did was for the sake of the Qing Consortium.

At some point in time, Ren Xiaosu felt that after Qing Zhen rose to become the Qing Consortium’s leader, Luo Lan had started replacing him as the Shadow of the organization.

Luo Lan would help do all the dirty work Qing Zhen could no longer handle.

Ten minutes after they left the neighborhood of Houguan Lake, the voice from the palace said, “Quest complete. Awarded 1.0 Dexterity.”

Ren Xiaosu was overjoyed. The quest was completed just like that? He was now another step closer to surpassing 20 points in both the Strength and Dexterity attributes. He wondered what skill the palace would activate for him when he surpassed that level.

As of now, Ren Xiaosu’s Strength was 13.5 while his Dexterity was 13.1!

“Stop the van,” Ren Xiaosu said.

Zhou Yingxue was surprised. However, she did not question anything and stepped on the brakes.

Ren Xiaosu said to Luo Lan with a smile, “Since y’all don’t wish to flee, you can just go back.”

Luo Lan was confused.

Everyone in the van was stunned. What the hell was this?

Ren Xiaosu handed Luo Lan a flash drive. “There’s an audio recording on this. I interrogated someone named Wu Tong who was an A-rank hitman hired by the Anjing House. Their team of five came here to Stronghold 73 and colluded with the director of the Public Order Division to assassinate Zhou Xilong. The audio recording on there is the evidence you can use to clear your name.”

Luo Lan froze. “The Anjing House hitmen? How did you manage to find them?”

“There’s also three people who got sniped outside the park. They should be carrying cell phones that are unique to each A-rank hitman from the Anjing House.” Ren Xiaosu said, “Wu Tong’s body is in a house at 67 Lüshun Road. You can tell the Zhou Consortium the truth about all this.”

With the evidence in hand, the Zhou Consortium would have no reason to keep Luo Lan under house arrest. In fact, this had been Ren Xiaosu’s original plan. If the palace had not assigned him the quest, he would have handed the flash drive over to Luo Lan, and the matter would have ended just like that.

Luo Lan held the flash drive in his hand and said in shock, “If you had this, why didn’t you take it out earlier? Wouldn’t it have been better to just give it to me then?”

Ren Xiaosu said in seriousness, “If I didn’t save you from there, how’d you have known that I’m a good friend!”

Luo Lan quietly uttered, “Those A-rank hitmen usually work in a group of five. You said that there’s three people dead outside the park and another body in a house at Lüshun Road. Then, you must be the fifth?”

“It’s not me.” Ren Xiaosu shook his head.

Luo Lan was so angry he laughed. He stared at Ren Xiaosu and said, “Swear to me!”

Ren Xiaosu said in seriousness again, “The fifth hitman is a loser!”

In the driver’s seat, Zhou Yingxue said unhappily, “Master, how can you say that about me!”

Immediately, everyone’s eyes turned to Zhou Yingxue.

Luo Lan gave a hollow chuckle. “Alright. I was wondering why the sniper didn’t shoot when Zhou Xilong was sitting on the bench. It would’ve been easier to hit him while he was sitting still, yet the sniper waited for Zhou Xilong to get up and start moving before opening fire. So it actually turned out that I was too close to the target and you were worried I might accidentally get injured.”

Ren Xiaosu praised, “Fatty Luo, your intelligence is truly extraordinary!”

“Extraordinary? My ass!” Luo Lan snappily opened the door and got out of the van. “If I want to look for you, where should I go?”

“The black market outside of the Qinghe Group.” Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment. “I should be there waiting for new missions most of the time.”

“Alright, I’ll go there to find you.” Luo Lan gave a wave of his hand and walked off towards the villa at Houguan Lake with his men.

Both parties did not say anything further, and Luo Lan did not blame Ren Xiaosu either. He knew Ren Xiaosu was also unaware that he was here to look for Zhou Xilong to work together before he had accepted the mission. It was already good enough that he had a friend in this world who worried about accidentally injuring him while pulling the trigger.

This was an era where personal interest came first, and men were accustomed to people cutting off friendship, love, family ties, and dispensing with dignity and justice.

Luo Lan suddenly turned around and said with a smile, “If you see my name appear in a mission assignment someday, what will you do?”

Ren Xiaosu raised his eyebrows. “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely be there.”

“Hehe,” Luo Lan laughed. “That’s all I need to hear. I’ll see you again in the black market!”

Luo Lan knew full well that when Ren Xiaosu would come to look for him, it would definitely not be to carry out the mission.

Then he led his men back to the villa at Houguan Lake. However, the place was already completely sealed off at this moment. Luo Lan looked at the middle-aged man in front of him and said with a smile, “You must be Zhou Shiji, right? How rare for the Zhou Consortium’s leader to personally come out to welcome me back. If I say I was just out for a stroll, I wonder if you’d believe me or not…”