At eight o'clock in the evening, a line of concrete tankers punctually rolled into the brightly lit construction site, stopping at a designated location under the command of the dispatcher. Following this, one of the tankers adjusted its direction and slowly backed up toward the concrete pump truck. After a moment, the concrete gushed out in a stream and was sent up by the pump truck to the 5th floor for concreting.
At the same time, on the fifth floor of the construction site, a group of carpenters who just completed their final checks, were chatting and laughing as they came down the stairs.
Bringing up the rear was Xia Tian, who held a flashlight in one hand and supported his glasses with the other. Out of breath, he stumbled forward in the web of steel pipes and scaffolds, surrounded by pitch darkness and deafening noise. This disoriented him completely, yet he grit his teeth and stubbornly continued to feel his way forward alone.
Just when he managed to descend to the second floor, Xia Tian suddenly heard a familiar deep voice speaking mawkishly from behind the stairwell wall.
"Red Baby, why did you call me over in such a hurry? Do you miss your big brother?"
"Biao, stop... I think my husband has found out about us. He suddenly asked me this morning whether I went to Lan Kwai Fong the other night. It scared the hell out of me."
"He just got back from a work trip, and we've been discreet about our meetings. How could he possibly know about us? Did you unwittingly give something away?"
"It's not me, it may be a whistleblower. If that person saw me, he must have seen you, too... Biao, I'm scared."
At this point, the deep voice fell silent.
Xia Tian dared not even breathe heavily. He quietly switched off his flashlight, tiptoed forward through the darkness. Damn! He unintentionally stumbled upon other people's dirty laundry. This kind of luck, amazing! He decides to buy a lottery ticket later on.
Suddenly, he heard the deep voice mutter, "Damn it, we'll have to move forward the plan, let's get rid of this old bugger. We've already got the poison ready."
Upon hearing this, Xia Tian's hand trembled instantly, dropping the flashlight which clinked loudly off a steel pipe.
"Who’s there?" The deep voice immediately came chasing from behind the wall, rapidly followed by the sound of high heels.
Shocked, Xia Tian's heart nearly shot out of his mouth. He rushed forward in a panic, disregarding the path ahead. As a result, he stumbled a few steps and ran into a pole, instantly shattering his glasses and painfully stabbing his eyes.
"Ah..." Xia Tian issued a shrill scream, trembling as he covered his eyes.
With a loud "bang," a wooden stick whacked Xia Tian's head from behind, and the screams immediately ceased.
In the moment he lost consciousness, Xia Tian suddenly remembered, that duck-like voice was his boss, Li Dabiao.
It is said that twenty years ago, Li Dabiao had been one of the ten best thugs in the city. Later, he established Shunfa Construction Installation Company to launder his past. Now, he is one of the largest private construction companies in Tiandu City, and the once top-notch thug has transformed into a respected city councilor and a big shot.
In short, Li Dabiao is a classic underworld businessman, a person that Xia Tian, a small worker, can't afford to offend. Indeed, the plot hatched by that woman and him to murder her husband was also something Xia Tian couldn't meddle in. In a twist of fate though, Xia Tian became involved in this dirty business.
"What a disaster, why am I so unlucky? And my eyes... Am I going blind?"
No one answered Xia Tian's question.
After what seemed like an eternity, Xia Tian suddenly regained consciousness. He realized that his eyes no longer felt sharp pain but rather a cooling sensation that was quite comforting.
Xia Tian was overjoyed and instinctively reached out to touch his eyes. Then he snapped back into reality, finding himself still in the pitch-dark construction site. There was no one around, only the incessant noise. Someone was pouring concrete upstairs, it seemed not much time had passed. But Li Dabiao who had attacked him and that woman called "Hong Baobao" were nowhere to be seen.
Xia Tian reached out to touch the back of his head, the pain instantly bringing him back to his senses. He looked at his hand and it was wet with blood...Wait, how can I see the blood in this dark?
"I can worry about that later, I need to escape, otherwise Li Dabiao will kill me to silence me." Xia Tian struggled to stand up quickly. As he glanced outside, he noticed that he could see through the 240mm thick brick wall with no hindrance, directly seeing Li Dabiao and his driver carrying ropes and bags heading this way.
"My eyes..." Xia Tian was so shocked that he was petrified on the spot, thinking, could this be the legendary X-ray vision? Wait, I need to run first or else I'll be silenced by Boss Li.
Xia Tian ran back to the dormitory immediately. He could abandon everything else, but without his ID card and wallet, penniless Xia Tian wouldn't be able to flee Tiandu.
As for calling the police, Xia Tian was not that naive. He had no evidence, how could he bring down a councilor? Be it a councilor or an underworld businessman, any of these identities could run over him. Moreover, he didn't even know who Hong Baobao was. He had no choice but to run.
Xia Tian had always been a decisive person, like when he decided to give up the college entrance examination to work this year. But this time he was a step behind. He had just left the dormitory when he was intercepted by two burly men with scowling faces.
"Little brother, no hurry to leave. Brother Biao wants to meet you," one of the menacingly built men with dyed golden hair said ominously.
Summer walked along quietly without resistance, as if resigned to his fate.
Soon, Summer was taken back to the dimly lit second floor of the construction site, where he was blinded by two intense flashlights. He only heard Li Da Biao's gravel-throated voice questioned, "Keen on running, huh? Weren’t you quite the runner?”
Jin Mao slapped the back of Summer's head and roared, "Messing with our Biao bro, you'd better brace yourself.”
Summer let out a hiss of pain, feeling his scalp bleeding again. But he kept his cool, raising both his hands and said, “Counselor Li, Boss Li, Brother Biao, can I say a word? Just one."
Upon hearing Summer call out his three titles, a gleaming dagger appeared in Li Da Biao's hand, with the blade pointed at Summer's eyes. In a nonchalant tone, he said, “Consider it your last words. Speak.”
Summer stared at the point of the blade and biting his teeth, he said, “I already called my schoolmate back home, if anything happens to me, he would inform my parents, and they will seek justice in Beijing.”
Suddenly, Li Da Biao’s hand froze in place. His eyes, like a venomous snake, were fixed on Summer. It seemed like at any second, he could plunge the sharp point of the dagger into Summer's eye socket.