Chapter 54: Lei’s Memories

Page (1/3)

[Name: Thunder]
[Heart Rate: 90 (nervous, fearful)]
[Stamina: 65 (medium)]
[Affection Level: 40 (average)]
[Purity Value: -10086 (heh)]

Chen Yu stared at the numbers flickering above Brother Lei’s head, secretly astonished.
This underground emperor of River City was actually afraid!
A heart rate of 90—that was a sign of extreme anxiety.
Clearly, this matter had touched Brother Lei’s Achilles’ heel.

"Brother Lei, is there something you can’t say?"
Chen Yu lowered his voice, his gaze probing.
"With your status in River City, who could possibly make you so wary?"

Brother Lei’s face twisted into a bitter, self-mocking smile at this.
"Heh!"
He lifted his glass and drained it in one gulp.
"Don’t be fooled by how I command the winds and clouds in River City, with hundreds of men under me."
"But in the eyes of certain people, I’m not even worth a dog!"

A flicker of venom flashed in Brother Lei’s eyes—a rage at being trampled upon, laced with helpless despair.
Chen Yu remained silent, simply listening.
All the while, his gaze never left the changing numbers above Brother Lei’s head.
As long as the heart rate stayed steady, it meant Brother Lei was telling the truth.

"Some old, rotten stories—there’s no harm in telling you."
Brother Lei glanced about, ensuring no one was eavesdropping, then continued.
"But you’d better keep this under wraps. If word gets out, my reputation will be utterly ruined."

Chen Yu nodded, making a sealing gesture across his lips.
Brother Lei hesitated for a moment, his eyes distant with memory.

"Fifteen years ago, I wasn’t any underground emperor."
"Back then, I was nothing but a pimp!"
His voice carried a trace of shame.
It was clear that recalling those days made even this hardened man feel mortified.

"At that time, Luo Xiangdong’s Xiangdong Group was just starting out."
"Honestly, it was a shabby little company, with no money, no connections."
"That old fox Dong Zhan somehow brought in a financier."
"A foreign investor named 'Mr. Jin.'"

Brother Lei’s expression turned scornful.
"Heh, what foreign investor? He was just a lecherous old man!"
"Dong Zhan had my subordinate Zeng Chen find me."
"They wanted me to find some high-quality beauties to entertain Mr. Jin."

Chen Yu frowned slightly at this.
This plot sounded eerily familiar.

Brother Lei continued, "That sort of thing was my specialty, and I was desperate for cash at the time."
"So I agreed."
"Who would have thought that saying yes would dig such a deep pit for myself!"

Chen Yu noted that Brother Lei’s heart rate hovered around 80.
That meant he wasn’t lying, but recalling the events truthfully.

"A few months slipped by."

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"Mr. Jin was very pleased with the women I introduced to him."
"The tips he gave me were astonishing!"
"Only then did I understand what the happiness of the wealthy meant."
"Because of my connections, Dong Zhan and Zhang Fu both got close to Mr. Jin."
"Xiangdong Group received its very first investment capital."

Chen Yu’s mind was already guessing the direction of the story.
Sure enough, Brother Lei’s expression darkened.

"You can probably guess—just when things seemed routine, something unexpected happened!"

At that moment, Brother Lei’s heart rate shot up to 95.
A sign of intense fear and anger.

"One of the women I introduced to Mr. Jin got pregnant!"
"And the child was Mr. Jin’s!"

His voice began to tremble, clearly this incident left a deep psychological scar.

"I was just a small fry back then—how could I offend someone like Mr. Jin?"
"The woman with his child, I treated her like an ancestor!"
"Gave her the best food and care, terrified anything might go wrong!"
"Mr. Jin, both openly and secretly, gave me money to make sure she was looked after."
"He wanted her to give birth safely."

Chen Yu could picture Brother Lei’s anxiety back then, walking on eggshells.
In that era, a foreigner who could freely invest in companies was not someone ordinary people could provoke.

"But..."

Brother Lei’s voice suddenly rasped.

"When the woman was three months pregnant, she was murdered!"
"And it was a brutal, disembowelment!"
"The worst part—she died on my turf!"

With a sudden slap, Brother Lei struck the table.
The thud echoed above the bar’s music.

"The dumbest thing I ever did was, upon finding her dead, I immediately contacted Dong Zhan and Zhang Fu, those bastards!"

Regret filled Brother Lei’s eyes.

"I thought they’d help me deal with it."
"But those bastards comforted me on the surface, then went straight to Mr. Jin and pinned the murder on me!"

"From that point on, everyone believed I killed her!"

Chen Yu finally understood the root of Brother Lei’s fear.
Fifteen years ago, Brother Lei had already been made the scapegoat for a disembowelment murder.
Now, with Zhang Fu’s daughter dead in the same manner, those powerful men naturally saw Brother Lei as the prime suspect.

"In the end, under Dong Zhan and Zhang Fu’s 'persuasion,' I paid a terrible price to suppress the matter."

"What price?"
Chen Yu pressed.

Brother Lei didn’t answer. He stood up slowly, checked his surroundings, then lifted his shirt.

"Hiss—"
Chen Yu sucked in a cold breath.

Brother Lei’s chest was covered with nine fierce scars.
They were irregular circles, clearly left by sharp weapons piercing through.
Each scar was shocking, evoking images of the brutality of the past.

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"Underworld rules—family punishment!"

Brother Lei put his clothes back on, his voice dangerously low.

"Nine blades, eighteen wounds—life or death doesn’t matter!"
"I stabbed myself nine times, each blade passing through my body."
"But I was tough—I survived."

He finished speaking, grabbed a bottle, and took a long drink.
The bar’s music kept playing, but the atmosphere between the two men had grown heavy.

Now Chen Yu understood.
Brother Lei might be the underground emperor of River City, but in front of business giants like Dong Zhan and Zhang Fu, he was just a disposable pawn.

"So, you’re afraid Zhang Fu will blame his daughter’s death on you?"
Chen Yu’s voice was soft, but every word struck home.

"Exactly!"
Brother Lei nodded vigorously.

"In their eyes, I’m the true culprit behind the disembowelment case fifteen years ago."
"Now Zhang Fu’s daughter has died the same way. Who else will take the blame if not me?"

"Brother, I don’t ask you to solve the case."
"I just want you to find evidence proving Zhang Fu’s daughter wasn’t killed by me!"

There was a plea in Brother Lei’s tone.
The ruthless underground emperor now seemed helpless.

"If you can’t find the evidence, Zhang Fu will definitely come for me."
"I don’t care if I die, but the order of River City mustn’t be disrupted."
"All these years, it’s been because of me that the underground world has stayed balanced."
"If I die, no one will keep the small fry in line."
"Then all of River City will descend into chaos!"

Chen Yu caught the deeper meaning behind Brother Lei’s words.
Perhaps this was why Captain Yan hadn’t moved against Brother Lei.
Sometimes, maintaining order was more important than pursuing justice.

"Brother Lei, after that woman was killed back then, did you ever investigate privately?"
Chen Yu shifted the topic.

"And do you have an alibi for the time of Zhang Fu’s daughter’s death?"

Brother Lei responded with a bitter laugh.

"Evidence? Alibi?"
"Brother, you’re still too young."
"Fifteen years ago, did those big shots ever care about evidence?"
"In the underworld, whoever has the hardest fists is the truth!"

"But..."

A glint of sharpness flashed in Brother Lei’s eyes.

"After that woman was killed, I did investigate."
"And I really found a few clues."

Chen Yu perked up immediately.

"What did you find?"

Brother Lei glanced around, then leaned close to Chen Yu’s ear, lowering his voice:

"I had a subordinate—he might have seen the real murderer back then!"