Big Data Cultivation

Chapter 503: Chapter 503: The Black Hand

Xinchao Investment Company’s Vice President Tang Laodi died on a rainy day when he jumped from the rooftop of the seventeenth floor.

At the same moment Tang Laodi jumped, Feng Jun also jumped from the window, into an open window on the third floor — that was the bathroom.

Then he walked out of the bathroom, straightened his collar, and casually left the place.

After unlocking the security door and stepping out, he opened his umbrella and then heard a chorus of screams.

As a qualified extra, he too turned his head in feigned surprise, took a couple of steps in that direction, then looked at his wristwatch as if he remembered something important and turned to leave.

Everything seemed so normal; no one would have suspected him.

But as he left, Feng Jun’s heart wasn’t calm: had he really accumulated so much hatred?

Tang Laodi received this job from a person from Min Yue, who was a major client back when he had worked at an iron factory, someone he hadn’t contacted in years. This time, the person approached him to find someone to steal from Luohua Manor.

In fact, most of the information about Luohua Manor had come from that Min Yue person; Tang Laodi didn’t know much himself.

The Min Yue person pointed out that there was a wondrous valley in Luohua Manor where, on rainy days, white mist would enshroud it, making it seem like a fairyland.

He also indicated that this phenomenon didn’t exist before, appearing only after Li Ning sold the manor to Feng Jun.

He was very certain that Feng Jun had made some modifications, and that there must be something inside that benefitted one’s health.

The Min Yue person hoped to obtain something from the Bamboo Forest, and he even showed some photos.

The photos were taken covertly, and the quality wasn’t great. Some objects were faintly visible but obscured by the mist.

Tang Laodi assigned the mission to his younger brother armed with this information.

His younger brother had friends in Baixing Town, found out the situation of the manor, and even secured an inside man.

Indeed, the younger brother had mentioned to Tang Laodi that the owner of the manor was said to have supernatural abilities. Tang Laodi brushed it off, thinking the guy was just trying to up the price, and retorted that if he lacked the guts, someone else would be sent to do the job.

He clearly underestimated his younger brother’s obsession with money. Nothing was too sacred as long as there was money to be made, whether it was severing the head of a Buddha statue or desecrating ancient tombs.

Today, his younger brother had stolen the object, got into a car accident on the way back, and Tang Laodi, who also didn’t believe in bad omens, had his driver take him to pick up the item, leading to this incident.

As for the mysterious black metal, it was indeed taken by someone who left mid-way. That person even stole a motorcycle, but he was contacted by Xiao Han, and no one else knew how to find him.

In the end, they all believed that the unusually heavy chunk of iron might be a core component, the key secret of the Bamboo Forest. By holding onto it, they hoped to negotiate a better deal.

Feng Jun kept questioning until he was certain they had nothing more to say, then threw the man down the building and left.

Since Tang Laodi was now of no use, the person in the hospital was naturally useless as well. Feng Jun arrived at the emergency center and found it crowded. Using his “nearby people” app, he located the guy, made a simple transfer with his mobile phone, then turned around and left.

The man’s family was right beside him, yet failed to notice his actions. Only after Feng had walked for over twenty meters did he hear exclamations from behind.

At that moment, the person who had taken the Spirit Stone had reached a villa. If Luohua Manor’s guards had been present, they would have recognized the man sitting in the villa’s living room as Mr. Park, the advocate of the “Eastern Medical Treasury.”

Mr. Park found the stone puzzling; although he could see it had been carved and the top was unusually smooth, which might indicate something, who could tell if it wasn’t faked?

So, he made a call to a compatriot who owned a Shinra BBQ restaurant not far from Xinyuan Investment Company.

Coincidentally, this person knew the Tang Family Three Brothers because the brothers considered themselves celebrities and had visited the BBQ restaurant several times, making a point of visiting the owner upon learning he was from Shinra.

The compatriot answered the call and spoke at length in the Shinra language.

Mr. Park turned to the visitor, his face already ashen, “Tang Laodi has just committed suicide… I’m very puzzled, how could you possibly make a deal with a dead man?”

“That’s impossible!” the visitor exclaimed, “The man I dealt with was definitely Tang Laodi… Yes, ask them how long ago he committed suicide. It took me almost forty minutes to get here because the rain caused a traffic jam.”

Mr. Park frowned, made another call chattering in Shinra, then his expression softened considerably, “Oh, he just killed himself, about ten minutes ago, I misunderstood you… Why do you look so pale?”

The visitor’s face was more than just pale; he was trembling in fear, and after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke in a daze, “It’s over… This must be Luohua Manor’s people coming after us, I knew it, I just knew it… I knew they had supernatural powers.”

Luohua Manor was rumored to be the site of supernatural occurrences, which he’d heard about long before. Tang Laodi had mentioned it to him, hoping to negotiate a higher commission.

Yet, when money came into question, the supernatural rumors suddenly became irrelevant. He believed the other party was using the supernatural as a pretext to extort more money from him; this actually diminished his own sense of awe quite a bit.

Until now, Tang Laodi, having just completed part of the transaction and not yet received the final payment, unexpectedly leapt to his death from a building. This damn thing… was it Feng Jun’s doing?

“Supernatural phenomena?” Mr. Park glanced at him disdainfully before shaking his head.

He had also heard such rumors, but he genuinely didn’t believe in them. He scoffed and said, “They say you Huaxia citizens are faithless—it’s true after all. You fabricate supernatural occurrences at will… my Lord above, there is only one true God in this world. All others, begone.”

Shinra of Zhengyang might be steeped in the traditional Confucian culture, but in recent years, there had been no shortage of fanatical followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church or other sects, with some even daring to travel to the Middle East to proselytize and attempt to convert heretics.

The man from Min Yue looked at him and sighed deeply, his voice low and somber as he spoke, “What if I told you that this morning, after they smuggled out these objects, there was a bizarre car accident resulting in two deaths and one injury… I wonder what you would think of that.”

Watt? Mr. Park could hardly believe his ears. “What are you saying? A car accident with two deaths and one injury… couldn’t it just be a coincidence?”

“I thought it was a coincidence too,” said the man, lighting a cigarette and speaking in a muffled, dejected tone, looking very downcast, “Car accidents can be coincidental, but the issue is… someone else has jumped to their death again!”

Mr. Park furrowed his brow and finally started to take the matter more seriously.

He wasn’t a fanatical follower of any faith, merely a believer. He still harbored a sense of reverence for the unknown and mysterious, “Well then, you should go back and take another look, find out… how he jumped to his death.”

“I refuse!” The man was adamant, shouting with a tremulous voice, “Mr. Park, I’m going home now, immediately… right away! This has surpassed my capabilities!”

“There’s no need to panic,” Mr. Park said gravely, his voice even higher, “You can’t be certain that these events are their doing, can you? Don’t let the devil in your mind scare you!”

“How about this, I have a suggestion; you could have your people drive around Zhengyang with this stone to see if any more supernatural forces occur.”

The man refused again, “That’s not one of my men, that’s my nephew… Since you, Mr. Park, don’t believe it, why use my nephew for a test? You have your own men!”

Mr. Park paused, then nodded and replied loudly, “Alright, then I’ll send someone. Could I ask that your person follow along?”

The man hesitated, then nodded slightly, “Okay, but I suggest that your person, with the stone in tow, should stop somewhere for a while… if you truly aren’t afraid.”

“Of course that’s no problem,” Mr. Park agreed briskly, “I think he should stay near a church.”

“That’s a good suggestion,” the man nodded too. As far as he was concerned, if anything could combat the supernatural, it was the supernatural itself. It didn’t matter whether it was a local god or a foreign one—as long as it worked, what difference did it make?

What they didn’t know was that, during their argument, Feng Jun had already locked in on their location and had hailed a taxi to come over.

There were quite a few Shinra people from Zhengyang. Mr. Park had hired two compatriots familiar with the local area through the local chamber of commerce. At this moment, they set out in the car, unlikely to get lost.

In the rainy weather of Zhengyang, the roads were terribly congested. Fifteen minutes after Mr. Park’s men left with the stone, the nephew of the man from Min Yue called with barely concealed panic, “Dead… Mr. Park’s assistant is dead!”

The assistant died in a very strange way. He was waiting for the green light in a long queue, and when the light turned green, other cars started moving, but his car just didn’t budge, remaining there.

The traffic policeman got angry, walked up to knock on the window, and from outside the car saw the driver slumped over the steering wheel.

The policeman hurriedly opened the car door and reached in to check, only to find that the driver had stopped breathing.

The nephew of the man from Min Yue, following right behind in another car, was terrified to hear the officer say “he isn’t breathing,” panickedly turned the steering wheel, and drove around the stationary vehicle ahead.

Upon hearing this, Mr. Park snatched the phone, “After stopping at the red light… what happened?”

“Nothing happened,” said the scared man, his tone highly unstable, “What can happen stopped in the middle of the road? I have no idea now whether I should keep driving or pull over…”

“Stay calm,” Mr. Park shouted, “Think carefully, did nothing at all happen after you stopped?”

“Indeed, nothing,” the man exclaimed, “At most, some people took advantage of the traffic jam to hand out flyers.”

“Handing out flyers in the heavy rain?” Mr. Park felt he might be onto something.

The voice on the phone was perplexed, “It’s normal to hand out flyers wearing a raincoat, isn’t it?”

(End of update, summoning monthly ticket.)