To everyone's surprise, Yang Lianting had long bribed the driver of the offshore medical ship. He had hidden himself in the car's trunk with a bag of money, waiting for us fools to get caught during our escape.
Thinking back, I remembered that when I went to his place last night, he was just about to leave with a suitcase.
So, when Li Jianguo stormed into his place in a fit of rage, he couldn't find Yang Lianting and ended up killing his brother instead. This left Li Jianguo's revenge unfulfilled and made Liu Shiyi mistakenly believe that Yang Lianting had been killed.
This whole situation was incredibly dramatic and utterly inhumane. Yang Lianting had fled to Myanmar to avoid capture, bringing along his family and friends as tools for his own rise to power. Among them was his younger brother, who looked quite similar to him. After smuggling him into Myanmar, he kept him locked up in a room, ultimately using him as a decoy.
Yang Lianting was incredibly meticulous and ruthless in his pursuit of self-interest, having even planned his final escape route. It was terrifying.
I was lucky to have survived my encounters with him, partly because Liu Shiyi was suppressing him and partly because of sheer luck. Otherwise, I wouldn't have lasted three days in Myanmar with my naivety.
After Li Jianguo stormed in and saw "Yang Lianting" sleeping, he lost his temper and stabbed him to death, only to realize that it wasn't Yang Lianting. This nearly drove Li Jianguo insane and explained the anguished scream I heard in the dormitory.
When Mr. Ning learned the truth, he was shocked and immediately sent Tang Tian and his team to track Yang Lianting down. In his rage, Liu Shiyi took his anger out on the men Yang Lianting had tricked.
Reflecting on this, I felt a chill run down my spine. We were incredibly lucky to have survived. Despite escaping this ordeal, I couldn't feel happy. My mood was so low that I didn't make a single sale all morning, which greatly displeased Er Pang, the newly promoted supervisor.
Er Pang kept pacing around us, looking for an excuse to scold us and assert his new authority. However, we kept up appearances, seriously typing away at our keyboards, leaving him no room to find fault.
Unfortunately, Jade Sister became one of Er Pang's first victims. After she gagged reflexively upon returning to the workspace, Er Pang dragged her to the small dark room and tortured her with bamboo shoots. Ever since, she developed an aversion to anything related to bamboo.
Everyone in the park was working feverishly at their keyboards, terrified by the scene they had witnessed earlier, leaving no opportunity for Er Pang to assert his dominance.
"Little Bottle, you really didn't go out last night?" Er Pang, unable to vent his anger, turned to me with a sinister tone.
I looked up, confused, and asked, "Where?"
Er Pang's face darkened, and he barked, "Don't play dumb with me. Someone saw you go out late at night when Li Jianguo lost it."
I smirked and continued typing, ignoring him. Inside, I was anxious, worried that someone might have seen us go to the basement. If they had, Liu Shiyi would have already confronted us instead of allowing us to work peacefully.
I also realized that no matter who came into power, the result would be the same—more bloodthirsty and brutal behavior. Er Pang was no exception. Just yesterday, he was trying to ally with me to take down Yang Lianting. Today, he was already acting arrogantly after his promotion.
Thankfully, I hadn't trusted his words; otherwise, I would have ended up like those other victims.
I wanted Chen Weiqiang to unlock the Huawei phone Yang Lianting gave me and the iPhone I had taken from the deceased general's house. Unfortunately, I couldn't turn them on because they might have trackers. I had to wait until I could safely unlock them to see what secrets they held.
Mr. Ning had already asked me about the phone last night, saying that the commander's men found one missing during the cleanup. I denied having it, claiming I fled right after the killing without time to search for anything else.
With no evidence, the matter was left unresolved.
According to Tang Tian, the villa was a place where the dead general used to entertain women. He wasn't usually there, which allowed me to take advantage of the situation. I believed half of what Tang Tian said, sensing his ambition. He was cozying up to Yanzi and outwardly polite to me, but I knew he had his own agenda.
I wondered about the fate of the crazed Li Jianguo.
"Er Pang, here are the new female recruits. Please take care of their training," Wrench suddenly entered with five or six girls, addressing Er Pang by his full name, which irritated him.
Despite his displeasure, Er Pang didn't dare show it. He had just become a supervisor and didn't want to offend Wrench, a seasoned enforcer.
Er Pang smiled and inspected the trembling girls, "Alright, we need more people anyway. It will keep the men motivated."
The arrival of newcomers lightened the atmosphere, especially among the men who were eager to check out the new girls.
I immediately recognized them as the ones I had risked my life to rescue the other night. Those who were pretty were kept by Old Fox Ais as maids, and the rest were sent to Victory Park to type at the keyboards. They had clearly been mistreated, with injuries on their faces and hands, and their clothes tattered.
Jade Sister, seeing Er Pang busy with the new recruits, turned to me and said, "Little Bottle, I need to talk to you after work."
She now lived cautiously, having lost her previous arrogance and prominence from Guogan Park.
Additionally, Liu Shiyi appointed trusted employees as team leaders, removing all of Yang Lianting's former supervisors and managers and even using the crackdown on escapees as an excuse to sell them to the offshore medical ship.
"What are you up to now?" I frowned, finding it hard to trust anyone, especially someone as tricky as her.
Jade Sister, on the verge of tears, hesitated before saying, "Meet me in the woods near the dormitory after work."
"Um..."
I didn't respond but kept thinking about whether she might be the one who saw us entering the basement last night.