Chapter 254: Chapter 212: Emerging from the Water (Please Subscribe!)_1 Various plans abroad were proceeding methodically. The mastermind behind these events was diligently attending class and hitting the books in the classroom, acting like a ’good student’ who enjoyed skipping class. After school in the afternoon. As soon as he stepped out of the classroom, Tang Qing promptly moved next to Li Kai and curiously asked, "Spill it, how did it go? Did she agree?" Gossip is a part of human nature, and Tang Qing was no exception. He accompanied Li Kai to buy gifts at noon. After picking and choosing, they still couldn’t find anything suitable, as they both fell victim to decision-making paralysis. Tang Qing would look at anything and say, "This can work; it’s not bad." Li Kai was the same, except that Tang Qing was content with anything while Li Kai insisted on only the best. Seeing that they were almost late for class, Li Kai made a hasty decision and bought a necklace through process of elimination. This way, he wouldn’t have to make a choice. His actions led to Tang Qing’s complaint all the way: how good it would be if you had thought of this sooner, why did you even drag me along? To this, Li Kai shrugged and said, "You blame me, huh." "Don’t expect immediate results. She ignored me all afternoon, we spent all afternoon pushing the gift back and forth to each other." Li Kai rolled his eyes at Tang Qing and said jokingly. "So, what exactly are you happy about? Did you manage to touch her hand while pushing away? Pssh." Tang Qing commented with disdain. Upon hearing this, Li Kai said with a big grin, "You, the innocent boy, won’t understand. This is just the beginning. More importantly, I’ve taken the first step. Even if she doesn’t agree now, at least I’ve secured a place in her heart. Going forward, things will be easier. In love, it’s crucial to be the first to win the heart. Those who follow can only get leftovers, and those who come next... they can only be backups or rebound options." "When did you, this beast, become the love guru?" Tang Qing laughed. Li Kai replied with an inscrutable expression, "A wise man has shown me the way." "Do you know her well? Aren’t you afraid you won’t get along?" Tang Qing asked again. "Why should I be afraid? If we get along well in the future, that’s great. If we don’t, we can just break up. I’ve done what I should do and leave the rest to fate. At least I’ve tried. Besides, there’s no such thing as compatibility in love, unless there is a serious disagreement in basic values. Any other reasons for incompatibilities are just excuses for wanting to break up. People simply find a polite way to comfort themselves," Li Kai replied nonchalantly. "..." Tang Qing didn’t know how to respond. He suddenly realized that this guy seemed to have an incredibly advanced understanding of relationships. In his previous life, Li Kai was the epitome of a Casanova who could deceive people’s feelings and bodies. He employed various tactics. At least, Tang Qing knew he could never compete with that. He had very little romantic experience himself. His relationship with Lin Jiaxue started when they were children so there was no need for any strategizing. In his previous life, Wang Yan was the one who took the initiative to pursue him. He understood human nature, but he truly lacked this sort of ’experience’. Never mind, whether it’s right or not. I don’t need it since I’m always the one being pursued. ... At 10 o’clock in the evening. While having dinner, Tang Qing received a message from Tang Yi about the person behind the car accident that took their family in his previous life. Although Tang Qing had given Tang Yi an extra two days, there was no way Tang Yi would actually wait until two days later to complete the task. That would certainly be a dereliction of duty. So he managed to capture Lei Yang’s ’strategist’ this afternoon, and after some ’friendly’ interaction, he had gotten the lead on the person behind the scenes. Tang Qing immediately entered the command room upon hearing the news. He couldn’t keep his emotions in check. His hatred for this person who caused him so much regret ran deep. "Who is it?" Tang Qing asked with a grim expression. "To answer Commander, it’s the chairman of Fuke Group in Province City." Tang Yi replied. "Fuke Group?" Tang Qing muttered. Although the group name was definitely not these two characters, it sounded villainous. What an inappropriate name for a company. "Yes, Commander, this group is a Japan-based enterprise. The chairman is Tomohisa Ide, who controls 60% of the group’s shares. The other shareholders are currently unknown. The group mainly operates in electronics, real estate, precision equipment, travel, pharmaceuticals, etc., and its market value ranks in the top 20 companies in the province. After interrogating Lei Yang’s strategist, he confessed that Tomohisa Ide approached him to get close to Lei Yang and pass on information. The motive is currently unknown." Tang Yi explained. Upon hearing that it was a Japanese person, Tang Qing was infuriated, "damn it, to think my miserable past life was manipulated by a Japanese man, how humiliating. Tang Yi, forget about eavesdropping, just arrest him and interrogate him directly. We need to figure out his motive quickly, whether it’s for personal gain or something else." Although Tang Qing was eager to order the death of Tomohisa Ide, he still wanted to know why the latter had acted as he did. "Yes, Commander, our men are already following him, I will immediately order them to take action. Now that the puppet master and executor are in our hands, how should we handle them?" Tang Yi asked. After some thought, Tang Qing replied with a sinister smile, "Let him live, he might still be useful." Of course, he had no intention of letting such a person live, but needed him to exhaust his usefulness first. Afterwards, Tang Qing didn’t go back to sleep, because the operation Tang Yi spoke of had already begun. He was eager to understand the reasons, so he stayed in the command room, watching the action unfold. ... Province City. On the city-ring expressway. A Mercedes-Benz car was slowly traveling on the road. This was Tomohisa Ide’s habit; he liked to leisurely take in the scenery outside the car window. Although he would have preferred to sit in a car made in his own country, he understood the saying ’when in Rome, do as the Romans do’. After many years of living in this country, he had deeply felt that there was a different connotation when sitting in a Mercedes-Benz as compared to a Nissan. His status was not yet high enough to completely disregard it. Seeing this, his scheme to destroy the Pengyun Group was nearing completion, and he couldn’t help feeling elated. As for the innocent people who died, what did it matter to him? After all, it wasn’t him who was dying. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚 However, at this moment, a second-hand Honda accelerated and positioned itself in front of the Mercedes-Benz, abruptly braking. Tomohisa Ide’s driver was unable to stop in time. "Bang..." Their car’s front end collided with the Honda’s rear. The three inside the car were startled, luckily they were moving at low speed, otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable. "Go outside and check," Tomohisa Ide instructed his two bodyguards. He felt relatively safe in this country, even safer than in his own, after so many years without encountering a robber, he had let his guard down. "Yes." The two bodyguards in the front seats got out of the car. They then saw a young man alighting from the car in front. This man walked steadily and had a calm expression. This was not the look a common person would have after crashing into a luxury car. It wasn’t that these robots enjoyed having a deadpan expression, but that the command room deemed it unnecessary for this operation. Normally, they would need to act for special infiltration missions, but this operation was straightforward with virtually no variables, so there was no need to even wear a different facial expression. "Who are you, stop," one of the bodyguards shouted as the young man approached. He could sense something was off and took a defensive stance, the driver also halted, watching the young man. At this moment, another man emerged from the other car. There was less car traffic in this area, and even fewer pedestrians. So, other passing cars assumed this was a routine car accident and didn’t stop. There was also no one to take pictures or any dashcam to record, hence the soldiers executing the mission didn’t need to wear masks or any form of disguise. The two soldiers ignored Tomohisa Ide’s bodyguards. Just as Ide’s bodyguards prepared to shout out a warning, the soldiers moved swiftly and without any warning. One soldier knocked out each bodyguard in an instant with a punch so fast it was visible only as a blur. Seeing this, Tomohisa Ide was stunned. He was half a martial-artist himself, yet he wasn’t able to discern the movements of the two soldiers. His highly trained bodyguards were taken down without offering any resistance, lying on the ground unconscious. It was as if he was living a nightmare. By the time he snapped back to his senses and tried to lock the car door, it was too late. The bulletproof Mercedes-Benz’s front door was flung open, and a hand reached in. All he could see was a faint afterimage before he was knocked unconscious. The whole process lasted no more than three seconds. The mission was completed. The soldiers quickly loaded the two unconscious bodyguards onto the car, one in each vehicle, and drove off towards the distance. PS: The second Chapter has arrived. I will try to control these types of ’filler’ scenes in the future. Although, sometimes I genuinely enjoy them, hehe.