After careful consideration, Ren Xiaosu still felt that it was much safer to demolish the stronghold before proceeding with the rescue mission.
As for how to demolish it, he had not thought of it yet. For some reason, he felt it was easier to destroy an entire stronghold than tearing down a prison. Who knew where his confidence came from?
At the moment, Yang Xiaojin was driving with the convoy as they headed to the conference venue prepared by the Kong Consortium’s medical institution. That was where the medical exchange would be held.
This time, Meng Nan and Liang Ce were sitting with them in their car. Ren Xiaosu sat in the passenger seat while those two sat in the backseat.
Honestly, Ren Xiaosu felt Meng Nan might be a little interested in Liang Ce now. Despite the fact that Liang Ce had already undone the “steel cord” used by Yue Lao to bring them together several times, Meng Nan was still willing to hang out with Liang Ce. This clearly meant something.
Along the way, Ren Xiaosu looked at the roadside and asked in confusion, “Why’s there so many lights and decorations on the streets? Isn’t the New Year over already? Does the Kong Consortium have other special holidays they’re celebrating?”
“It’s Valentine’s Day.” Liang Ce said curiously, “Ren Xiaosu, you’re also a stronghold resident, so how do you not know about Valentine’s Day? February 14th will be here soon.”
Ren Xiaosu was stunned for a moment. He was indeed aware of the holiday. He had even heard about it from Wang Fugui, but he just forgot about it.
As he was not a stronghold resident, and the townspeople never celebrated this holiday, Ren Xiaosu did not have any concept of it at all.
To him, or maybe to all refugees, there were only two holidays that were celebrated in a year. One of them was the New Year, and the other was the Qingming Festival.
The former was to give the living a chance to have a new beginning, while the latter was to mourn for the dead.
Apart from these two holidays, everyone was too busy making a living to care about romance.
Ren Xiaosu was looking at the decorations on the streets and thinking about the war between the Kong Consortium and the Pyro Company. The ceasefire had only started a few days ago, and no one knew when the fighting would break out again. Were these people not aware that danger was near? How could they still be in the mood to celebrate the holiday?
However, Ren Xiaosu figured it out. Celebrating a holiday like this did not prove the stronghold residents did not have a sense of danger, nor that they were living too comfortably. It did not prove anything at all.
Just as he had said, why did he still buy new clothes and make dumplings for Yan Liuyuan every New Year even though they were so poor?
Wasn’t it precisely because life was too tough that he wanted to create some happiness so there would be some hope in life?
Besides, whatever holidays the stronghold residents celebrated did not really concern him much.
Ren Xiaosu glanced at Yang Xiaojin. “Have you celebrated Valentine’s Day before?”
Yang Xiaojin gave him a look. “What are you trying to ask?”
“Ahem, I was just asking,” Ren Xiaosu said in embarrassment.
“I didn’t have a chance to celebrate the holiday before.” Although Yang Xiaojin was concentrating on driving, she still answered Ren Xiaosu’s question.
Actually, Ren Xiaosu was only trying to ask Yang Xiaojin if she had any other relationships before him. It did not really matter if she did since he would not care about something like that. But it would be better if she did not have any, of course…
Ren Xiaosu quickly added, “Me neither!”
The convoy came to a stop at a building. As the representative of the Kong Consortium’s medical field, Yang Shiruo was already waiting downstairs with a group of people to welcome them. This was to show their respect for Wang Jing.
Ren Xiaosu looked at Wang Jing’s towering stature and thought this was the stage for Wang Jing and the others.
A medical exchange was actually a very boring event. It was so boring Ren Xiaosu almost dozed off. During the meeting, they would each make a statement of their breakthrough progress and share their cases, with nothing exceptional happening throughout the conference.
The meeting lasted until evening. Ren Xiaosu quietly left the villa again when everyone was asleep.
But this time, he was not going to meet with the Great Hoodwinker’s agent. Instead, Ren Xiaosu was looking for Wang Run, the person from the Wang Consortium responsible for assisting him in assassinating Kong Erdong.
Ren Xiaosu should have gone to look for Wang Run yesterday. They had agreed to split up and enter the stronghold separately before immediately meeting up to exchange information. However, Ren Xiaosu had forgotten about it…
After all, he had even nearly forgotten about who Wang Yun and the Great Hoodwinker were, so it was not unusual that he would forget about Kong Erdong.
Ren Xiaosu stopped on the roof of a low-rise. It was obvious the garrison troops were patrolling even more intensely tonight. He realized there were people lying in ambush on the roofs of several buildings. It looked like the enemy already knew he would be getting around by moving from roof to roof. So they stepped up their defenses on many of the rooftops.
It looked like Zhong Zhen’s death had left some impact.
This put Ren Xiaosu in a tight spot. He could still remember exactly how he nearly got shot by a sniper. It would be bad if he ended up dying here.
Wang Run was currently hiding at Nanxinzhuang West Road. It would take Ren Xiaosu another 17 kilometers to get there, and he could still encounter a lot of hidden lookout posts on the roofs of buildings as he made his way there.
Ren Xiaosu noticed there were at least two people manning each of the hidden lookout posts, and the lookout posts were even in communication with one another. As the lookouts were basically arranged in the shape of a plum blossom, it would be very difficult for him to leave quietly if he tried to take some of them out.
He might poke the hornet’s nest after taking out one of the hidden lookout posts.
Should he just not look for Wang Run? He was not planning on assassinating Kong Erdong right now anyway.
Thinking of this, Ren Xiaosu decisively turned around and returned to the villa to sleep.
At this moment, Wang Run was sitting solemnly in a hardware shop on Nanxinzhuang West Road with nine of his men as they waited for Ren Xiaosu to link up with them.
These people were sitting motionlessly in a triangular formation in the shop like ten statues. They were each holding a pistol and wearing a thick black poncho.
Suddenly, someone asked, “Sir, why isn’t that Ren Xiaosu here yet?”
Wang Run looked calmly at the shut roller shutter door of the hardware shop and said, “He could have been delayed by something. Since the medical exchange group arrived yesterday, at least that means their journey went smoothly. There was a huge commotion in the stronghold last night, so it’s likely he was discovered while coming here to look for us.”
“But according to the map, the commotion yesterday happened in the east. Since we’re on the west side, the directions don’t match up.” One of his men wondered, “Sir, could he have gone to the wrong place?”
Off to the side, one of them whispered, “Why do I get the feeling he’s forgotten about us?”
“I don’t think he’d forget such an important matter, but I do doubt his ability. It’s not like he can do a job that would require the ten of us. Sir, why don’t we just go and assassinate Kong Erdong?” someone asked.
Wang Run replied firmly, “The boss told me personally that we must cooperate fully with him during the mission. We’ll only make a move if he fails the mission. This shows the boss trusts his ability very much. Everyone, please remember that the boss’s main objective for us is to provide support. Besides, the 10 of us alone won’t be enough to kill Kong Erdong.”
“Then what do we do now?” a soldier asked.
Wang Run remained seated in the chair. “We continue waiting. He’ll definitely be here!”
Suddenly, the crack of gunfire rang out in the stronghold. Wang Run immediately stood up.
At this moment, Ren Xiaosu was standing on a tall building with no one around. He was surprised to see several hundred shadows leaping and scuttling across the roofs. They were heading towards the center of the stronghold!
And they even got involved in a battle with one of the Kong Consortium’s hidden lookout posts!
