LRAB Chapter 348 A Single Net Sweep
Chapter 348 A Single Net Sweep
Lin Er walked briskly into the study, his face showing barely suppressed excitement.
"Young Master, good news!" He lowered his voice, but spoke faster than usual. "Last night, those 14K gang really went to their wits' end! They actually tried to use explosives to blow up our dock warehouses in Kowloon and Yau Ma Tei! Our men were watching them the whole time, and they caught them red-handed; not a single one escaped!"
He braced his hands on the desk, leaning forward, his eyes flashing sharply: "Now we have all the evidence and witnesses, the reason to act couldn't be more compelling! Young Master, isn't it time to close the net? Let's seize this opportunity to uproot this cancerous tumor, 14K!"
Lin Yan was leaning back in a recliner by the window, toying with a warm, smooth piece of ancient jade in his hand, and spoke softly:
"What's the rush?"
"Let the bullets fly a little longer."
Three days later, on the top floor of the Lin Group headquarters in Hong Kong.
Stanley Ho appeared in Lin Yi's office with barely concealed dark circles under his eyes. Upon seeing him enter, he merely nodded slightly. Before he could speak, Lin Yi picked up the internal phone and ordered, "Prepare the car. We're going to Deep Water Bay."
Without any further pleasantries, Stanley Ho silently followed Lin Yi into the black sedan. The atmosphere inside the car was tense. In the past month or so, the Lan family's subtle attacks had almost suffocated him, troubles at the Lisboa Hotel were endless, and what terrified him even more was the subtle, yet unsettling, sense of being watched by his family.
In the study of the Deep Water Bay villa, Lin Yan was leisurely pruning the leaves of an orchid on the windowsill. Hearing footsteps, he turned around, his gaze sweeping over Stanley Ho's face, a knowing smile playing on his lips.
"It's been over a month since I last saw you, Mr. He, you look quite haggard!" He put down the silver scissors and teased.
Stanley Ho could no longer maintain his usual composure and stammered, "Mr. Lin, please don't laugh at me. You surely know the situation at Lisboa right now." He took a deep breath, as if making a firm decision, "If you can lend me a hand, I'm willing... I'm willing to give half of Lisboa's shares to the Lin family!"
This is the greatest sincerity he can offer.
However, Lin Yan just chuckled, walked to the sofa, sat down, and lazily leaned into the soft cushions.
"Shares in the Lisboa Casino?" He shook his head. "Mr. He, I'm not interested."
Stanley Ho's heart sank, and his face instantly turned ashen. He couldn't even sway the other party with half a share; he didn't know what else he could offer.
Just when he was almost in despair, Lin Yan changed the subject.
"But are you really sure you want me to help you?" Lin Yan leaned forward slightly, his tone calm yet weighty. "If I help you, you'll have to answer one question for me."
At this moment, Stanley Ho was like a drowning man grasping at the last piece of driftwood. He no longer cared about what the question was. He immediately bowed and said in a resolute tone, "Young Master Lin, as long as you can help me get through this crisis, whatever the Lin family says will go. I, Stanley Ho, will have no objections!"
"Alright then." Lin Yan seemed satisfied with the answer, leaned back, and resumed his nonchalant demeanor. "Then you can rest here for a bit, and I'll come pick you up tonight... to give you a good show."
Hong Kong Island was ablaze with lights at night, but 12 Pak Kin Road in Mid-Levels was eerily quiet except for the sound of the wind. Two dark figures silently ascended along the villa's exterior wall. In the master bedroom on the second floor, 14K heir Ge Zhixiong had just closed his eyes when he suddenly heard a faint thud from the balcony.
He opened his eyes abruptly, and as soon as he reached under the pillow, a sharp pain shot through his neck. The last thing he saw were two black figures who, like ghosts, shoved him into a specially made carrying bag. Three minutes later, the villa returned to silence.
Block B, 13th Floor, Po Fung Building, Rua de Ferreira do Amaral, Macau.
Chen Qinghua paced anxiously in the safe house, a midnight program playing on the television. Suddenly, a faint cutting sound came from the bulletproof glass window, and he instinctively reached for his waist. But it was too late—two dark figures pounced like cheetahs, and with a heavy blow to the back of his neck, he collapsed limply. The figures stuffed him into a suitcase and slid him down a rope to the waiting car downstairs.
The lights were on at the Lan family villa at No. 8 Liwan District. Lan Huaying paced back and forth in the living room, Lan Qiongying sat restlessly in her second-floor bedroom, and Lan Jianyi kept making phone calls in the study. Suddenly, all the lights in the villa went out at once. Three dark figures broke into the villa one after another, and almost simultaneously, the three members of the Lan family were injected with anesthetic and dragged out of the villa. When the servants woke up, they thought it was just a power outage in the middle of the night and had no idea that a kidnapping had taken place right under their noses.
Such arrests were staged in Hong Kong and Macau tonight. Even two other Hong Kong gangs, Heung Wah-yim and Chan Yiu-hing of the Sun Yee On triad, and Yan Kwok-lung, the "boss" of the Wo Shing Wo triad, were quietly invited to a cargo ship as guests.
Just after the clock struck midnight, Lin Yi appeared silently at the door of Stanley Ho's temporary guest room.
"Mr. He, the time has come." His voice was calm and even. "The young master invites you to see a good show."
Stanley Ho's heart tightened, and he silently followed. The convoy headed towards Kowloon Pier; the night was deep, and only the sound of waves crashing against the shore could be heard.
A massive cargo ship lay quietly at its berth, and Lin Yan was already standing at the gangway. He nodded slightly to Stanley Ho, then turned and boarded the ship. Stanley Ho took a deep breath and followed Lin Yan up the gangway.
The cargo ship sounded its horn and slowly sailed away from Victoria Harbour. Two hours later, the surrounding sea was pitch black, with only the cold moonlight casting its glow.
"Turn on the lights."
Lin Yi spoke calmly.
In an instant, the masthead lights and sidelights blazed on, illuminating the entire deck as if it were daytime. Stanley Ho was so startled by the sight before him that he took a step back—
The deck was densely packed with nearly 1000 people, all unconscious. Upon closer inspection, one could see that Ge Zhixiong, Chen Qinghua, the Lan family father and son, Xiang Huayan... all the missing gang leaders from Hong Kong and Macau were there.
"Splash it to wake me up."
Lin gave the order.
Groups of sailors lifted buckets and splashed the icy seawater onto the people. Coughs and groans rose and fell as the people gradually awoke, looking around blankly. When they saw their surroundings and Lin Yan standing on the high place, they were immediately filled with uproar.
"Where...where am I?"
"Stanley Ho! What do you want to do!"
Lin Yi stood with his hands behind his back, the moonlight casting a long shadow behind him. He scanned the entire room, his gaze finally settling on Stanley Ho, whose face was deathly pale.
He nodded slightly, and several crew members immediately brought over some sturdy wooden chairs and helped the three men, Zhen Guolong, Xiang Huayan, and Chen Yaoxing, who had been called out, to sit down. Their hands and feet were not bound, but on this cargo ship, isolated and helpless in the vast international sea, such "courtesy" only made them feel more uneasy.
Lin Yi then smiled and looked at the pale-faced Stanley Ho: "Mr. Ho, let me formally introduce you. These two are Mr. Heung Wah-yan and Mr. Chan Yiu-hing from the Sun Yee On triad, and this is Mr. Yen Kwok-lung from the Wo Shing Wo triad." His gaze swept over the disheveled others on the deck, "The rest, I'm sure you've met them all, are all core members of the 14K. Oh, right, that includes your good father-in-law, brother-in-law, and second wife's concubine."
Upon hearing this, Lan Huaying and Lan Jianyi lowered their heads in shame and fear, not daring to meet Stanley Ho's gaze. Lan Qiongying was trembling all over.
Zhen Guolong suppressed the turmoil in his heart and forced a relatively calm smile, but his voice trembled involuntarily: "This... sir, may I ask... may I ask what you mean by 'inviting' us here in this way?"
Lin Yi stepped forward, a polite smile on his face, his voice carrying clearly across the deck: "Hehe, Mr. Zhen, no need to be nervous. We mean no harm." He looked around at everyone and slowly said, "Let me introduce myself first. I am Lin Yi, Chairman of the Lin Group."
"As you've all probably heard, the 14K has falsely accused our group of selling substandard food and even went so far as to try to blow up all our warehouses in Kowloon." Lin Yi's voice remained calm, but the coldness in his words sent a chill down everyone's spine. "You are all well-known figures in the underworld, and you should know that our Lin family has been in Hong Kong for ten years, always doing business peacefully and never making enemies."
His gaze suddenly became extremely oppressive as he slowly swept over Chen Qinghua, Ge Zhixiong, and other core members of the 14K.
"However!" he emphasized, "If anyone thinks the Lin family is easy to bully and dares to mess with us, we have our own set of rules, and we mean what we say!"
The deck was completely silent, save for the sound of waves crashing against the hull.
Lin Yi's tone softened again as he looked at Zhen Guolong, Xiang Huayan, and the others: "I've invited you all here today for no other reason than to ask you to be my witnesses."
Zhen Guolong felt a chill run down his spine under his gaze, and nodded hurriedly, his voice trembling even more violently than before: "That's good, that's good... It's my duty to bear witness, it's my duty..."
The sea breeze carried a salty, fishy smell, but it couldn't dispel the fear and despair that permeated the deck. Everyone understood that this was far more than just a simple "witnessing." The Lin Group was establishing its authority, and they were the chosen audience, forced to watch a trial against the 14K triad. And Stanley Ho was a special guest, specially invited to this trial.