181: No more pretending, let's get down to business

When Pan Han saw Uncle Cheng’s reaction, he knew that he must be aware of the organization’s affairs.

It seems this surprise move will surely extract a lot of information.

“I got it from the tracker’s mouth.” Since he decided to let Uncle Cheng see it, Pan Han naturally wouldn’t conceal too much.

“So, the tracker was… handled by you?” Uncle Cheng asked, even more incredulously.

“Hey, how can you call it ‘handled’? I just made them behave.”

“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!” Uncle Cheng shook his head repeatedly, his tone firm.

Upon hearing this, Pan Han narrowed his eyes, scrutinized Uncle Cheng, then scanned the room to confirm there was no danger before slowly replying, “Why is it impossible?”

“This is a suicide pill; it would never be used until the last moment, and it’s impossible for anyone to snatch it away. How exactly did you get it?” Uncle Cheng leaned forward slightly, as if ready to pounce at any moment.

“Just a few rats. If they want to commit suicide in front of me, they need my permission.” Pan Han blew out a smoke ring, forming a smoky barrier in front of him.

Through the smoke ring, the two men stared at each other.

“How many people were there?” After a long stare, Uncle Cheng’s emotions stabilized slightly before he asked.

“Four.”

“Were they all taken care of by you?”

“You could say that.”

...

The scene was silent for a full three minutes.

“Kid, you’ve gotten yourself into big trouble!” Uncle Cheng sighed, then picked up his phone and gave a few more instructions to the person on the other end.

“I’ll increase your manpower to 200 people. But there’s a precondition: if the situation is urgent, we can’t worry about exposure. They might even all need to be transferred to the Capital.” Hanging up the phone, Uncle Cheng looked at Pan Han with a heavy expression.

“Is it that serious?” Pan Han frowned. He didn’t want to be distracted by his family during the Trial.

Although his family didn’t make him rich, they at least gave him a happy childhood and a life free from worries about food and clothing.

If anyone truly dared to harm his family, he wouldn’t mind going on a killing spree!

At worst, he’d find the organization’s lair, put on his mecha, and wipe them all out!

The person who gave the order must be cut into a thousand pieces.

If that person also had a family, Pan Han wouldn’t mind having their entire family die, then neatly arranged!

“It’s even more serious than you think. This time, it’s truly troublesome.” Uncle Cheng began rubbing his hands, his nervousness fully exposed.

“Uncle Cheng, you wouldn’t happen to be from the organization, would you?” Pan Han suddenly unleashed his pressure, his eyes electric, staring intently at Uncle Cheng.

A cold gleam pierced straight into Uncle Cheng’s glabella.

Uncle Cheng instantly felt dizzy, as if the world was spinning, like he had drunk ten catties of baijiu. This was accompanied by severe headaches and nausea.

His hands sweated, his legs trembled like sieves, his heart felt like it had fallen into an ice cellar, and his brain crashed.

The most terrifying memories of his life instantly flashed before his eyes like slides.

Even though Uncle Cheng had roamed the jianghu for decades, he couldn’t help but groan in discomfort.

In just 0.5 seconds, Pan Han withdrew his pressure. He merely wanted to use this move to make Uncle Cheng abandon any thoughts of lying.

Uncle Cheng hung his head, breathing heavily, unable to look up for a long time.

How could he not know that Pan Han was applying pressure?

This feeling was too strange, something he had never experienced in his life. Although it only lasted for a brief half-second, this pain was like a steel imprint, carved into his memory. So much so that his brain activated a defense mechanism, building a high wall around this memory.

Any thought approaching that high wall would cause Uncle Cheng discomfort all over.

It was like someone with trypophobia; they didn’t even need to think about images of honeycomb patterns; just trying to think about it would give them goosebumps all over.

“Good kid!” Finally, Uncle Cheng recovered, slowly raised his head, his gaze burning as he stared at Pan Han.

In that brief half-second, Uncle Cheng seemed to have aged a year!

All his past experiences came back to him; he re-entered the mental high wall he had built before.

“Uncle Cheng, you wouldn’t happen to be from the organization, would you?” Pan Han blew out another smoke ring, repeating his question unhurriedly.

“It seems you haven’t joined the organization.”

“That’s right! I have no interest in them.”

“Then you’d better not push this old man. If I tell you, I might die.” Uncle Cheng said with a bitter smile.

“I understand.” With the conversation at this point, there was no need for more words; Pan Han roughly understood the situation.

“But rest assured, the previous task will proceed as usual. I will ensure your family’s safety.” Uncle Cheng said with a firm tone.

“I might need to leave for a while. Let’s be clear upfront. If anything happens to my family during this period, I will annihilate that organization. As for you, Uncle Cheng, I’m afraid we’ll have to separate our personal relationship from this matter!” Pan Han didn’t speak in absolutes, but his meaning was clear.

He was currently collaborating with Wang Doudou’s family, and Uncle Cheng had just accepted gold and been stared down by him. Under this combination of favor and intimidation, he shouldn’t make any mistakes.

“Xiao Pan, you truly are a young man!”

“What do you mean?”

“The young are to be feared! But don’t worry, Uncle Cheng has never failed to accomplish what he promised. You can go with peace of mind.” Uncle Cheng refilled Pan Han’s tea cup.

The two drank it all.

Seeing this, Pan Han finally felt relieved.

“Then thank you, Uncle Cheng. Please forgive my impertinence just now; after all, it’s a matter of great importance, so please be understanding.” Pan Han stood up and bowed with cupped hands.

“Kid! Work well with the Wang family! Otherwise, you’ll be in deep trouble later!” Uncle Cheng also stood up and helped Pan Han up.

The two exchanged smiles.

Men are sometimes so strange; they know the other person is not to be trifled with, yet they still want to test them.

Perhaps, this is what ‘heroes cherish heroes’ means.

Pan Han marveled at Uncle Cheng’s organizational abilities, while Uncle Cheng was shocked by Pan Han’s power of intimidation.

However, Pan Han won this round.

200 people protecting 10 people, Pan Han wanted to see how the organization would make a move.

“Then I’ll take my leave. Uncle Cheng doesn’t need to see me out.” Seeing that the matter was settled, Pan Han stood up, ready to go.

Uncle Cheng waved his hand, indicating there was no need to see him out, as if to say, ‘Look at you, so capable.’

“The cigarettes are good. I’ll take two more packs.” After the confrontation, Pan Han felt less guarded towards Uncle Cheng, which reminded him of the old man in the cave from Jin Yong’s novels.

With his guard down, his youthful nature couldn’t be suppressed, and he reverted to the mindset of a 23-year-old.

He grabbed the cigarettes and ran.

“You little brat!” Watching Pan Han run faster than a dog, Uncle Cheng laughed and cursed.

Only after Pan Han was completely out of sight did Uncle Cheng plop down onto the sofa.

His eyes were vacant as he smoked absentmindedly.

He roughly understood what had happened.

He went to the organization to investigate Pan Han, and the organization was very interested in why he was investigating. So, they also sent people to investigate Pan Han.

A perfect logical closed loop, a grand cycle of cause and effect!

If he didn’t investigate, he wouldn’t be at ease; the organization wasn’t at ease with Uncle Cheng, so they sent people to investigate Pan Han; now Pan Han was investigating Uncle Cheng, and although it wasn’t explicitly stated, the result was self-evident.

Good gracious! After going in a circle, he lost a gold coin and exposed his identity to Pan Han!

Was the clown himself?

“Hahaha! Wonderful! Wonderful! This world is truly amazing!” After figuring it out, Uncle Cheng couldn’t help but burst into laughter, tears streaming down his face, trickling down the corners of his mouth, pattering down.

“It seems I’m truly old! Well, after this job, I’ll completely retire. Then I’ll find a small place, get a small courtyard, grow some flowers, and walk the dog. That wouldn’t be bad.” Uncle Cheng sighed at the constant changes in reality, and couldn’t help but fantasize about his future life.