After midnight

Zhou Chen opened the window. Under the bright day, the sky was far away and the land was vast. It was rare that there was no wind today. He quickly packed himself up and blended into the streets of Beizhong. He walked quickly. He wanted to go to a place quickly. That place was the residence of Li Sheng's father, Li Yanyi. An Yan told him that if Song Yu appeared in Beizhong, he would only appear there first.

Li's mansion is extremely grand, a graceful Western-style building. This is what makes him different. Others imitate the more traditional ancestral houses of the three major families of Lu, Lin and Song, but he does not. He is cautious and bold in his conduct and work, yet tactful. The same is true for the three-story small Western-style building. The bright white round platform on the roof is brightly illuminated by the sunlight, allowing Zhou Chen to see it at a glance.

This small western-style building is located in a plain and simple street, which is very inconsistent. But sometimes inconsistency means excellence. Zhou Chen took a look calmly and walked into the bookstore opposite.

The bookstore is diagonally opposite the Western-style building, and the second floor has an excellent view. From there, you can see everything going on in front of the small Western-style building at a glance.

If Song Yu came here, he could only enter through the main gate, because thanks to Li Yanyi's bold style, there was only one way to enter the small western-style building. But would Song Yu really come here? Would he really enter through the main gate?

Zhou Chen ordered a pot of tea and sat down. He could only choose to trust An Yan.

At 11 o'clock in the evening, all the street lights on Beizhong Street had been turned off. Lin Changxing stood on the city wall and looked into the distance. The crisscrossing black rivers cut through the lights. Soon, even those scattered lights would disappear one by one, and the whole city would be submerged in darkness.

Lin Changxing stood on the wall of the West Gate, waiting for the nobleman who was about to come to Beizhong. The reason why he did not choose the North Gate, which was closest to the North City, was because Li Yanyi's residence was near the West Gate. There was a road between the East and West Gates of Beizhong, called the Second Avenue. From the West Gate, you can walk along the Second Avenue straight to the East Gate and to the village where An Yan and his friends were temporarily staying in Beizhong.

At 12:05 in the morning, the thick gate of the west gate opened a little.

Lin Changxing put down the cigarette he had been playing with for a long time, stood up, and stared at the person who had just come in thinking he was unnoticed.

Lin Changxing was half-hidden by the city wall, and it was pitch black around him, so he didn't worry about exposing himself. Two minutes later, he squatted under the city wall with his back to the man and lit the cigarette in his hand. Two days ago, he had issued a strict order in the police station that the four city gates in Beizhong should not be opened after the lights were turned off at night for any reason.

Now it was obvious that someone had violated it. He calmly exhaled a puff of smoke and could take this opportunity to start investigating. From now on, he would be responsible for eradicating the political power of the Song family in Beizhong bit by bit. This was the little he could do for the Lin family at present.

Five minutes later, Zhou Chen received a letter. The letter was blank, with no content on it. Credibility itself is a signal, indicating that the target is about to be reached.

Zhou Chen lay on the roof of the bookstore, waiting patiently. After receiving the letter, he consciously slowed down his breathing and stared at the dark little white building in front of him without blinking.

Song Yu's style of doing things has always been self-centered, so An Yan guessed that he would not reveal the news in advance. If it is true as An Yan said, then this small white building will soon be lit up with dazzling lights, and Li Yan will wake up from his dream and welcome this uninvited Buddha.

Zhou Chen lay there, and half an hour later, he felt someone coming. Then, within five minutes, a window in the small white building quickly lit up and then dimmed. Zhou Chen still waited patiently, and another three minutes passed. He heard a low sound and the door was opened. He guessed that Song Yu was respectfully invited in.

After the night returned to silence, Zhou Chen slowly jumped off the roof. If he hadn't witnessed it all, no one would know what happened that night. He walked to the other end of the street to wait for his real target, Mr. Li, who was rushing home because of Song Yu's arrival.

"Why hasn't Mr. Li arrived yet? Go out and look for him."

Half an hour later, Li Yanyi said angrily to the housekeeper standing at the end of the corridor.

"Yes, sir." Seeing the butler coming down the spiral staircase in the hall, Li Yanyi's burly figure walked back to the reception room. "Mr. Song, my son is naughty, why don't you take a rest first. When he arrives, I will ask him to come and invite you in person."

"If I had time to wait, I wouldn't visit you in the middle of the night." Song Yu leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes.

Song Yu's meaning was very clear, so he would wait here. Li Yanyi didn't dare to say anything else, as he hadn't figured out Song Yu's temper yet, so he looked at Song Yu and then opened the door and left.

The reception room was at the end of the corridor on the second floor. Several small table lamps were lit on both sides of the corridor. Li Yanyi followed the light of the table lamps and walked back to the stairs and went down to the empty hall.

When he opened the door and wanted to go out into the yard, a beam of white light broke the darkness outside the door, and he saw the butler running back in a panic, holding something in his hands.

"Master, Master..."

"Tell me, what's wrong with him?"

Li Yanyi grabbed the coat from the butler's arms, which he had bought for his son. But the butler seemed frightened, trembling and unable to speak at the critical moment. Li Yanyi grabbed the flashlight and ran out the door.

A large pool of fresh blood was seen on the ground, which made Li Yan gasp. He trembled as he shone the flashlight around. Where was the person? Where was the person?

"Mr. Li! Mr. Li!" Unable to find anyone, Li Yan staggered and squatted. He stretched out his hands, and immediately withdrew them when he felt the blood. The blood was still warm, and his four fingers were all covered with red blood, which made him panic.

"Master, shoes! Young Master's shoes!" The housekeeper called out as he picked up a brand new pair of shoes from somewhere. Unlike clothes, these shoes were bought by Li Yanyi for his son three days ago. Perhaps he heard that Song Yu was coming, so Li Sheng wore them specially.

"Go and find it quickly! Go and see if there is anything else!" Li Yanyi almost lost his balance and tightly grasped his shoe with the hand stained with his son's blood.

Li Yanyi was really scared, because if his son was only injured, why didn't he run back home? Home was right before his eyes! The clothes were easy to explain, because his son always took off his coat to stretch his muscles before meeting an opponent, but how to explain the shoes? Not to mention the large pool of blood.

Li Yanyi took another look at the large pool of blood and was instantly irritated to the point of wanting to vomit. He knew that it would be difficult to find his son for a while. Who was it? After the panic, Li Yanyi was furious. Who was it? Who dared to do this?

"Master! Watch!"

Watch? Is it his son's too? No, his son is a rough man and never likes these things.

"This is……"

"Yes, it's the watch of Wang Shan, the son of Wang Mi!"

Wang Shan? Li Sheng and Wang Shan have always been at odds. Not to mention these two people, their two families have always been at odds. The Wang family is in charge of politics, and the Li family is in charge of business. Logically speaking, they should work together for the Song family, and there should be mutual benefit, win-win, and friendly harmony. But perhaps it is because the two families are born with different temperaments, and neither of them looks down on the other. What's more, in recent years, each of the two families has wanted to get involved in the other's field in an attempt to dominate.

"I should have thought of it earlier," the housekeeper suddenly realized, "a few days ago, the young master had a conflict with Wang Shan, and Wang Shan even told the young master to be careful when he went home in the middle of the night!"

"I understand. You are not allowed to tell Song Yu anything about this matter, not to mention the watch and certainly not the Wang family, no matter if it's overt or covert. Do you understand?" Li Yanyi sternly warned the housekeeper.

"I understand, sir."

"Go find him, find Li Sheng's...corpse." Li Yan gritted his teeth and spat out the last two words.

"Master? This, this..." The butler was horrified.

"Go!"

"Yes!"

Li Yan put the watch into his pocket. He understood why Song Yu came to him first, because compared with Wang Mi, he was not "one of us". Although his industry was operated by the Song family, he was not as heavily dependent on the Song family as Wang Mi. But if this was really done by Wang Mi's son Wang Shan, he would definitely take revenge!

He also knew that Wang Shan would not murder Li Sheng for a small conflict, but he was afraid that this was premeditated by Wang Mi. The current situation was unpredictable, and he couldn't help but think about it. Li Yanyi didn't dare to stand outside for too long. Even though he was upset, he returned to the mansion as soon as possible to deal with Song Yu.

"Mr. Song! Mr. Song! Something happened to my son!" Li Yanyi pushed the door open in panic and screamed, "My son was seriously injured outside the door and is missing!"

"What's going on?" Song Yu stood up in shock and walked quickly to the door. His face was gloomy, full of anger for having his plans disrupted, without a single sympathy.

Li Yanyi followed behind him, and at this moment he was unusually calm. He observed Song Yu's every move and watched with cold eyes. Song Yu arrived at the scene and couldn't wait to investigate. He walked around a few times and asked, "Did you find anything?"

Li Yan pushed the clothes and a shoe in his arms forward. "That's all."

"Is it possible to guess who did it?"

Li Yanyi shook his head in pain. At this moment, Song Yu seemed to suddenly realize that he had done something wrong. He patted Li Yanyi on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I will help you find your son's whereabouts. I will never forget the people who helped me."

"Thank you Mr. Song."

Song Yu didn't say anything more, patted his shoulder again, and turned to walk away, but his pace was too fast, making it hard to tell what he was anxious about. Li Yan stood in the darkness, his body stiff.

A night passed without any news about Li Sheng. Even when the sun set in the west, there was still no news about Li Sheng. After Li Sheng disappeared, Li Yanyi never slept. That evening, he simply packed up and went out.

The Willow Alley in Beizhong is a well-known alley for eating, drinking and having fun. It is named after the willow trees that line the entire alley. If you go there at 6pm, you can definitely find Wang Shan in a shop, and tonight is no exception.

"Hey, isn't this Uncle Li? How come he has time to have fun today?" Wang Shan looked carefully and saw that the person blocking his way was Li Yanyi. Without waiting for Li Yanyi to speak, Wang Shan continued, "Oh, I forgot. How could Uncle Li have time to have fun when Li Sheng had such a big incident? Could he be here to look for your son?"

Wang Shan laughed loudly. "I say, could your son have disappeared into some girl's bed? No, no, no, how could that donkey Li Sheng understand romance? Could he have been thrown into some ditch by his enemies?"

"Is this watch yours?" Li Yanyi completely ignored those dirty words and took out the watch directly from his pocket.

Wang Shan took it and looked at it carefully. His expression changed in an instant but he quickly pretended nothing had happened.

"It's not mine, how can it be mine?"

"Oh, that's all right. I picked it up from the ground and came to find you when I heard someone said it was yours."

"Who told you that? This watch is not mine."

"Okay, I'll ask again." Li Yan was surprisingly calm.

After Li Yanyi left, Wang Shan lost interest in playing. The watch was a so-called gift he received without his father's knowledge. He put it away after wearing it a few times. How did Li Yanyi know it was his? How did the watch end up in Li Yanyi's possession? That didn't make sense. Li Sheng's whereabouts were unknown, so how could Li Yanyi have time to look for the owner of a watch?

Wang Shan felt something was wrong, but how could he understand what was going on here? After thinking it over, he put down his wine glass and hurried home, planning to have a quiet two days. At this time, he had long forgotten what nonsense he had just said and who would hear it.

One day and one night after Li Sheng's accident, Song Yu quietly entered Li Yanyi's home again in the dead of night.

"I'm sorry about your son's matter. I've asked someone to look for him, but there's no news yet. Uncle Li, you must have extraordinary strategies, wisdom and calmness to have come this far. So..."

"Mr. Song, I know what you are going to say. I still need you to remind me that I shouldn't have done that. Just say what you want to say."

"Then I'll say it straight. I think we should all understand who our common enemy is, and we will never give up Beizhong and Beicheng again!"

"This is natural, don't worry, Mr. Song."

"Well, you may not understand that An Yan, Zhou Chen, and Su Ziling, who just awakened to become a 'Guardian', are not people who can win simply by relying on force. Therefore, in order to defeat them, Beizhong must turn the world upside down. We must let the 'Son of God' understand how ridiculous his self-proclaimed powerful abilities are in the face of power!"

Li Yanyi knew that Song Yu was planning to join forces with Wang Mi, so he listened without changing his expression. But Song Yu's methods were still not good enough compared to Song Hongtian's.

"I plan to assassinate Lin Changxing first. You and Wang Mi should do this together."

"Yes, Mr. Song."

"Uncle Li, you may not know me yet, but I won't say anything without evidence. The person who persecuted Mr. Li this time is very likely Lin Changxing."

Li Yanyi's eyes suddenly widened. After Song Yu left, the housekeeper of the Li Mansion pushed the door open and waited quietly by the side.

"What benefits did Song Yu give to Wang Mi?"

"Why do you need any benefits, sir?"

"Yes, I am getting old and confused. Wang Mi doesn't need to make any demands. If he can overthrow the Lin family, Wang Mi will be able to cover the sky with one hand. After all, I am not as good as a politician in business."

"Master...did Mr. Song bring any news about the young master?"

"He said that this matter was related to Lin Changxing."

"Do you believe it?" the butler asked cautiously.

Li Yan raised his head and glanced at him vaguely without saying anything. The housekeeper probably had an idea in his mind.

With Song Yu's help, Li Yanyi and Wang Mi met on the same day. After discussing all the details of the operation, Li Yanyi suddenly asked, "Mr. Wang, why didn't I see the young master?"

"He doesn't need to show up, he just needs to be responsible for execution. For such a big matter, the fewer people involved in the meeting, the better. What do you think?"

"Yes, then I hope to hear good news from your Excellency next." Li Yan nodded seriously.

"We will not neglect the task assigned by Mr. Song. Thank you for your cooperation." Wang Mi said as he extended his hand in a friendly manner. Li Yan shook it gently and left first.

Their plan went smoothly, but on the day they were scheduled to attack Lin Changxing, a male corpse suddenly emerged from a wild lake in Beizhong.