"Where is he?" Lin Chuan stood up and asked.

"Locked up in the tool warehouse of the transport market." Zhou Kai replied, adding, "This kid refuses to confess no matter what, he won't admit that he did it."

"Is that so?" Lin Chuan frowned and said, "Seems like this kid still isn't ready to give up."

"What should we do?" Zhou Kai asked anxiously.

"Zhao, you're an expert in this area," Lin Chuan said with a smile, looking at Zhao Zhonghai.

Zhao Zhonghai, with a cigarette hanging from his lips, smiled and said, "Then I'll give it a try."

Subsequently, they hurried to the tool warehouse at the transport market. Zhou Kai and his people didn't have something like an interrogation room, so they decided to lock up the defiant captive in a tool warehouse and find a way to make him confess. But after more than an hour of pressing, the defiant captive still refused to admit anything. He wouldn't answer any questions and would start cursing if pushed too hard. Whether you beat him or swore at him, the kid just wouldn't talk.

Thus, Zhou Kai could only go back to Haiqing Pool to seek Lin Chuan's help.

By the time Lin Chuan and the others arrived, the defiant captive had already been hoisted up. This kid maintained an air of nonchalance because he knew Zhou Kai and his people couldn't really do anything to him, let alone take his life. Therefore, he continuously refused to confess and was instead waiting for Feng Taibao's rescue. He believed that his underlings would definitely inform Feng Taibao. Once Feng Taibao got the news, he would surely send someone to save him.

"Let him down." Zhao Zhonghai waved his hand.

A few underlings quickly pulled on the ropes and let him down. The defiant captive had some superficial injuries, and he spoke, "What now? You're done asking? Planning to let me go?"

"You wish," Zhao Zhonghai smiled and said, "I plan to use other methods to make you confess."

After speaking, Zhou Kai and Lu Dapao immediately locked the defiant captive up with chains and secured him into a chair. Not only that, but an iron collar was also placed around his neck, forcing his neck tightly against the back of the chair, and a metal hoop was wrapped around his forehead, completely immobilizing his head.

At that moment, Zhao Zhonghai took out several small hooks from his pocket, his mouth curving into a smile as he said, "Do you know what these are?"

"Let me go, let me go now!" the defiant captive roared.

"Heh, wanting to leave isn't that easy!" Zhao Zhonghai said with a cold laugh.

"What are you going to do?" The defiant captive's face turned pale with terror, suddenly filled with an ominous premonition that was growing stronger and more ominous by the second.

"Now, I'll give you a chance to come clean about who really started the fire at Haiqing Pool," Zhao Zhonghai's face was fierce as he spoke coldly, "If you tell the truth, you can avoid the physical pain, but if you don't, hmm, I'll make you beg for death."

"I... I know nothing," the defiant captive stubbornly refused to speak.

"Then how come you told others at Night Color Bar that you were the one who did it?" Lin Chuan, with a cigarette in his mouth, asked curiously, "You can't fool me!"

Hiss...

The defiant captive took a deep breath.

He stuttered and didn't dare to utter a word. Little did he expect that an offhand remark at Night Color Bar would be overheard; no wonder people say a bar is a place with many eyes and ears—it's indeed true.

"I... I was talking nonsense at that time!" the defiant captive gritted his teeth.

"Humph, you might fool others, but not me!" Lin Chuan dismissed with a laugh, "By saying that, you're basically insulting my intelligence."

"F*ck your grandfather." The defiant captive burst into curses, "I'm a man of Boss Feng's, you dare to touch me and see!"

"Do it," Lin Chuan ordered with a wave of his hand.

Zhao Zhonghai smiled and took a deep drag from his cigarette, then tossed the cigarette butt on the ground and stamped it out with his leather boot. With a sinister smile curling on his lips and a flush to his cheeks, Zhao Zhonghai said coldly, "You're going to suffer now."

Afterward, he slowly walked over, threading the fishing line through the hook, tying one end to the chair, and hooking the other end onto the upper eyelid of the defiant captive.

"Ah!" The defiant captive was about to close his eyes, but the fishing hook had firmly caught his upper eyelid. The moment he tried to shut his eyes, blood immediately oozed out. He screamed in agony, "Stop it, just stop!"

Zhao Zhonghai didn't stop at all; he took another hook and hooked onto the captive's lower eyelid using the same method. Now, the defiant captive couldn't close his eyes at all, and only after both eyes were hooked did Zhao Zhonghai clap his hands and chuckle, "Heh heh... will you confess now?"

"Is it done?" Zhou Kai asked with a terrified look.

This tactic was indeed frightening, especially when the blood streamed down from the eyelids, resembling the bloodthirsty zombies from a horror movie. Combined with the shrill screams of the defiant captive, it was utterly terrifying.

"There's one last step!" Zhao Zhonghai said with a twisted grin.

"More...there's more?" Zhou Kai was shocked.

Zhao Zhonghai pulled out a bottle of mineral water he had prepared earlier from his back pocket, then hung it with a string, suspending it in mid-air. The mouth of the bottle faced downwards with a small hole punched in the cap, and water dripped out slowly, falling drop by drop!

"Ah!!"

The precise drops fell into Fan Gu's eyes, but he could not dodge; his head was firmly locked onto the chair by an iron hoop, and his neck was similarly bound by ropes, restricting any movement. Moreover, his eyelids had been subjected to a brutal ordeal, with fish hooks firmly hooked onto both the upper and lower lids.

As the water dropped, Fan Gu almost reflexively tried to close his eyes. But as he attempted to shut them, the sharp fish hooks immediately pierced through the eyelids. The cycle repeated, and Fan Gu felt like he was enduring the most brutal, most tragic, and most painful punishment in the world.

"Tsk, tsk, brilliant, this trick is simply too brilliant," Lu Dapao watched with relish.

Zhou Kai and the others watched with fear and trembling, their hairs standing on end, but only Lu Dapao was not at all afraid. Instead, he observed with great interest, a smile on his face, hands clasped behind his back, circling around Fan Gu a few times, seemingly eager to learn this set of skills. It looked as though this was not a torture method but rather a form of artistic performance.

"I'll confess, I'll confess, I'll tell you everything," Fan Gu couldn't bear Zhao Zhonghai's tactics.

"Hmph," Zhao Zhonghai snorted coldly, and then said, "If you had confessed earlier, wouldn't that have been better? You really waited for me to coerce a confession through torture before you'd confess."

"Speak quickly," Lin Chuan said, holding a cigarette in his mouth.

"It was me, I set the fire," Fan Gu hurriedly said: "But…it's all ordered by Feng Taibao, it has…has nothing to do with me, I…I didn't want to oppose you guys, but I…I had to follow Feng Taibao's orders."

"That's why I told you to confess earlier," Zhao Zhonghai said disdainfully.

"Alright, enough," Lin Chuan interjected, saying: "Next, we should go ask Feng Taibao for an explanation."

......

Eight Horses Tea House.

Inside Feng Taibao's tea room, a group of people were gathered together. Long Wu was noticeably present, and several subordinates in black suits sat by his side. These were men with assets recognized in Jiangbei City, engaging either in the trading business or real estate… in short, under a strong leader, there are no weak soldiers. Each of Feng Taibao's subordinates owned their own substantial wealth, and of course, all of it was thanks to the benevolence of Feng Taibao.

"Boss, Fan Gu has been caught, what should we do now?" asked one of the subordinates in a suit.

"With Fan Gu caught, that means Lin Chuan and his team have secured concrete evidence of this arson," Feng Taibao pondered for a moment, speaking with worry: "How could this be? I thought this plan was flawless, how did it…"

"Boss, we need to prepare for what follows," Long Wu urged: "Once Lin Chuan knows we're behind this, he will definitely come knocking for trouble."

"Mhm!" Feng Taibao nodded, then said, "Indeed, we have to be ready for what follows."

"Then let's gather our brothers and rally the troops," Long Wu said through gritted teeth: "Damn it, sooner or later we were bound to come to blows; better now than later, been sick of this damn thing for a long time."

"No!" Feng Taibao shook his head, saying: "Now is not the time to bare our fangs."

"Boss, you're not thinking of negotiating with him, are you?" Long Wu said awkwardly.

"Exactly," Feng Taibao nodded, adding: "The situation is not like before. If we start a war with Lin Chuan now, the Northeastern Tiger would certainly take the opportunity to benefit from our struggle. So, I think we must not act rashly and need to take it easy."

"So, what shall we do?" everyone asked.

"We'll overcome inaction with stillness," Feng Taibao said with a smile: "Lin Chuan wants to come? Let him come."

At that moment, a subordinate rushed in hurriedly from outside, panting heavily.

"Boss, something bad, Lin Chuan has arrived with a crowd," the subordinate exclaimed breathlessly.

"What was destined to come, has come," Feng Taibao sneered.

"Hmph!" A man in a black suit beside him snorted coldly, saying: "Let them come, I want to see how they plan to deal with us."

"Boss, should we…should we go down, or stay right here?" Long Wu quickly asked: "I'll make a call right now to get reinforcements."

"No need," Feng Taibao shook his head and said: "We will carry on as usual, have tea. If Lin Chuan wants to come, let him come."

Downstairs at Eight Horses Tea House, two Jinbei vans loaded with more than thirty people hurriedly arrived at the scene.

Lin Chuan jumped out of the van, took a look at this quaintly decorated teahouse in the city center, and couldn't help but think that Feng Taibao really knew how to live it up, securing such a beautifully traditional building in the busiest area of the eastern district. It was truly surprising.

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