While they were talking in Ling Ruonan’s office, Wuyue came to report.
Luo Ziling didn’t let Wuyue speak in front of the others. Instead, he called Lin Lan out, and the three of them went outside to talk.
"We’ve had a breakthrough," Wuyue said coldly. "We’ve found a large fund transfer on one of the Chen Family accounts. It happens to be the fifteen million US dollars the killer mentioned."
When Luo Ziling heard that, he immediately grinned. "Fifteen million US dollars, that’s around a hundred million yuan. Why am I getting cheaper and cheaper? I remember last time someone wanted to hunt me down, it was way more than that. Has the Chen Family run out of money, or do they just hate to spend more?"
Lin Lan looked at Luo Ziling with open disdain and snapped, "Top-tier assassins in the world charge somewhere between a hundred million and five hundred million. If someone could actually hire that level of killer, I don’t think you’d ever escape their hunt. Even if all of us circled around you, it’d be the same. Let me put it this way: if someone is dead set on spending a fortune to have you killed, it’ll be very hard for you to get out alive. The killers they hired this time were just second- or third-rate, that’s why they failed. If they’d hired first-rate ones, you’d be done for."
"Can you stop scaring me like that?" Luo Ziling glared at Lin Lan irritably. "Is it fun to scare me so badly I can’t sleep?"
"I’m just telling you things you don’t know." Lin Lan didn’t get mad. She continued unhurriedly, "Those top-level assassins take jobs based on their own interest. Ordinary people simply can’t afford them, and probably can’t even get in touch with them. But if they do make a move, you’d better hurry up and pick a nice grave. Even if they were targeting someone like your father, they’d have a good chance of success."
"Can you stop saying such jinxing crap?" Luo Ziling was a bit exasperated. "I almost died last night, and you’re still talking like that?"
Lin Lan fell silent for a while, then said softly, "Good thing your sense of danger is strong. Otherwise, our warnings wouldn’t have helped. From now on, there might be more and more people wanting to kill you."
"At the critical moment, he still didn’t forget to protect his girlfriend!" Wuyue said sourly.
Luo Ziling completely ignored Wuyue’s sour tone and said very seriously, "Let’s just say my life is hard to snuff out. I sensed the danger in some mysterious way. Otherwise, I’d already be separated from you by life and death."
As he said this, a thick killing intent rose on Luo Ziling’s face. "They want to kill people? Then we’ll pay them back in the same coin and let a few of them die as well. The warning we gave them last time wasn’t enough. This time we’ll be harsher, keep hitting them until they can’t afford the losses."
As he spoke, Luo Ziling gave Lin Lan and Wuyue several names, telling them to focus on these people.
If conditions allowed, they were to move at any time and make these people disappear for good.
On the list Luo Ziling provided were Chen Jiahu, Chen Yijing’s son, as well as two key heads in charge of security and protection for the Chen Family. Several important subordinates of Chen Yijing and Chen Yining were also on it.
Besides people from the Chen Family, there were five names from the Yang Family and three from the Fang Family.
With so many people Luo Ziling wanted dead, both Lin Lan and Wuyue’s expressions shifted a little.
What surprised them was that there were no Ling Family members on the list.
Luo Ziling noticed their doubt and gave a brief explanation. "Ling Zhengping has been relatively quiet lately, hasn’t done anything too excessive. My Great Grandfather and my grandfather have also shown goodwill and, for now, won’t go head-to-head with the Ling Family."
After hearing this, Lin Lan and Wuyue nodded slightly, indicating they understood what Luo Ziling meant.
"This incident was orchestrated by the Chen Family—that’s basically confirmed. But the Yang Family and the Fang Family haven’t been behaving either. They’ve done more than enough bad things. If we don’t teach them a lesson, they won’t rein themselves in." Luo Ziling told Lin Lan and Wuyue calmly, "What we need to do now is lay things out as carefully as possible and make these key figures I just mentioned disappear one by one. Remember, we can’t leave any traces."
Lin Lan and Wuyue nodded, agreeing with what Luo Ziling said.
Luo Ziling then instructed Wuyue not to report these new pieces of evidence to the police for the time being, and to let the police and security system people investigate on their own. It was very likely they’d find clues their own side couldn’t, since they could mobilize more channels and resources.
If their investigation went off in the wrong direction, they would give them a nudge when necessary.
If necessary, they could also wipe certain leaks and put huge pressure on the Chen Family.
When appropriate, they could also create some pressure for the Yang Family and the Fang Family.
Lin Lan and Wuyue understood what Luo Ziling meant. They didn’t ask much more; after he finished speaking, they both nodded in agreement.
Luo Ziling asked Wuyue how the interrogation of the people who’d attacked Yang Qingye was going.
Wuyue replied calmly that they had all been interrogated, and it was easy to reach a conclusion: they were just people hired by someone to frame Luo Ziling.
"Young Master, it’s really easy to clear your name in this case. If necessary, we can reveal the results anytime, or hand those people over to the Yang Family or the police."
"Hold back the news for now. We’ll talk about it tomorrow." Luo Ziling wasn’t in a hurry to prove his innocence. Letting things drag out a bit and making the police run around for a while was also a good thing.
At the very least, it would stir up a bigger commotion and put more pressure on the real culprit.
After the three of them went over a few more matters, Wuyue left.
After Wuyue left, Lin Lan was also about to go.
She spoke with Luo Ziling alone for a bit, saying she had already submitted her application for retirement from service, but was still worried it might get blocked by the higher-ups, and asked Luo Ziling to keep an eye on it when he had time. She said the reason she’d gone to see Luo Ziling yesterday was actually to have him treat her, and to talk about her retirement and arrangements after she left the service.
She also blamed Luo Ziling, saying that if he hadn’t played tricks and had just gone to see her directly, none of the later mess would have happened.
"It’s actually better this blew up early. Otherwise, one day I might have just dropped dead without a sound!" Luo Ziling said with a tone of relief. "With you top experts all present, the killers had no chance of getting away intact. So tell me, under what circumstances could that have happened?"
That earned him a massive eye-roll from Lin Lan.
She then put forward her own request: "After I stay by your mom’s side for a year or two, I want to come over and work by your side. From then on, I want to handle your affairs for you. You can send Wuyue back to your mom then, okay?"
Lin Lan had tossed him a tough question, and Luo Ziling felt a bit awkward.
But in the end, he still didn’t reject her request and shyly agreed. "Let’s see how things look in a couple of years. If there’s a chance, you can come to my side. I’m sure you’ll be able to handle things well and take care of everything for me!"
"And scare off those women who have their eyes on you!"
"..."