Chapter 14: People die for wealth

  Zhou Hao felt a sharp pain and sucked in a cold breath, his entire left arm numb. But he had no time to dwell on it, instead turning back to look at the bald man, who was indeed preparing to fire a second shot. Zhou Hao wouldn't let him get away with it, using both feet to push off the ground and charge backwards, heavily colliding with the bald man and pinning him against the wall behind.

  "Little thief, let me go!" The bald man shouted angrily, but Zhou Hao didn't pay attention to him. He bent his right arm and used his elbow to heavily strike the bald man's stomach. In pain, the bald man squatted down, and Zhou Hao took advantage of the opportunity to turn around, lift his foot and kick the gun out of the bald man's hand.

  "Harm me with bullets? I'll beat you to death!" Zhou Hao raised his knee and struck the bald man's face, a massive force that immediately left him dazed.

  Behind him, Situ Jianying was confused by this series of changes, and it took a while to realize that he hadn't died. He remembered that Zhou Hao had protected himself in front of him, blocking the fatal bullet. She looked up at Zhou Hao, who was still punching Baldy, and saw that there was an injury on his left shoulder blade, with fresh blood gushing out, staining his clothes red.

  "He... how did he help me block the bullet?" The words kept repeating in Situ Jianying's mind.

  At this time, Zhou Hao turned his head to look at Situ Jianying, seeing her expression dazed and confused, he loudly shouted: "What are you still stunned for, quickly hand over that pistol to me!"

  Xīu Jiàn Yīng was called by Zhōu Hào and immediately came to, subconsciously very obedient to Zhōu's words, hastily picking up the pistol that had been kicked away earlier and handing it over to him. Looking at the shocking wound on his left shoulder, Xīu Jiàn Yīng asked timidly: "Y...you're okay, right? Does it hurt?"

  "Isn't this nonsense? Try it and see if it hurts?" Zhou Hao said with a bad tone, then held the gun to the bald man's temple with his right hand and asked, "Tell me, are you a drug dealer?"

  Tuotou had already been beaten by Zhou Hao until his nose was blue and his face was swollen, he hated Zhou Hao extremely, and vaguely said: "Your mother is the drug dealer!"

  Zhou Hao kicked him again, "Get up, stand up for me!" Then, he walked over to the corpse of a foreigner named Peter, and took another look inside the open red, white, and blue bag. To his surprise, it was filled with stacks of cash, all in $100 bills, totaling over 10 stacks, estimated to be worth over $1 million. This must have been the money Peter used to buy drugs.

  Seeing the US dollars worth over a million RMB, Zhou Hao suddenly had an idea. He glanced at Peter's body and said to Baldy, "Originally I didn't want to kill you, but now I can only say sorry."

  Tu immediately guessed that Zhou Hao wanted to kill him and swallow the more than $100,000. He was about to fight to the death, but suddenly felt a loud explosion in his head, then lost consciousness and fell softly to the ground.

  Looking at the bullet holes on the bald man's forehead that kept bleeding, Zhou Hao was a bit dazed. This was his first time killing someone, and it was for money. The feeling was strange, with guilt, fear, and a hint of inexplicable excitement.

  However, this bald head is a ruthless killer and drug dealer. Just now, he and Situ Jianying almost died under his gun, so the sense of guilt in Zhou Hao's heart did not last long. He threw away his pistol, picked up the red, white, and blue bag containing US dollars, looked around, then walked to the trash can, put the bag inside, and covered it with garbage.

  Situ Jianying witnessed Zhou Hao's series of actions and guessed that Zhou Hao was going to swallow the money. But she didn't speak out, nor did she stop Zhou Hao. Moreover, she firmly believed that Zhou Hao wouldn't kill her to silence her, thinking in her heart, "Since he can take a bullet for me, he definitely won't harm me."

  After Zhou Hao had done all this, he said to Situ Jianying, "You won't tell others about it, will you?"

  Xī Tù Jiàn Yīng nodded solemnly, "I won't tell anyone else, even if I die!"

  Looking at Situ Jianying's sincere eyes, Zhou Hao nodded slightly. Originally, he thought that since he had been so rude to Situ Jianying before, Situ Jianying should not have helped him, but intuitively, he felt that Situ Jianying would not tell others.

  After relaxing, the gunshot wound on his shoulder started to hurt again. Situ Jianying immediately took out a white handkerchief from her pocket and pressed it against Zhou Hao's wound, asking softly: "Are you okay?" Her tone was surprisingly gentle.

  "He's not going to die." Zhou Hao gritted his teeth and said, "You quickly go call your dad and tell him we stumbled upon a drug deal." He turned around and glanced at the bodies of Baldy and Peter, "We'll say those two had a dispute over the transaction, and Peter was killed by Baldy first. Then, Baldy found out about us and wanted to silence us, but I stopped him and killed him in the struggle." He emphasized to Sutou Jianying, "Whatever you do, don't mention that money."

  Xī Shū Jiàn Yīng nodded, "I know what to say now. But you're injured, I'll take you to the hospital first."

  "Don't worry, you go call your dad first." Zhou Hao waved his hand, "Those drugs are probably two or three catties heavy, cracking this drug trafficking case will be very beneficial for your dad, go ahead."

  Seeing Zhou Hao say that, Situ Jianying had no choice but to put down the phone and walk outside. Zhou Hao leaned against the wall and sat down, at this time, the wound on his back didn't hurt as much anymore, he looked at the bald head and Peter's corpse, but in his heart, he was thinking about how to use that money.

  Over 10 million US dollars, equivalent to over 100 million RMB, was already a huge sum of money at that time. Zhou Hao decided to invest all of it in the stock market, trying to make a big profit before the stock market plummeted in December. The 8,000 yuan he had invested earlier was insignificant, and even if the few stocks he had invested in had increased several times, his gains would still be limited. Now that he had over 100 million, his returns would be much greater.

  Smelling the bloody smell spreading in the air, Zhou Hao smiled and said, "People die for wealth."

  Before long, Zhou Hao heard the ear-piercing sound of police sirens outside, and Sutu Jianying and more than a dozen policemen in uniform or plainclothes walked in. Zhou Hao also noticed that following closely behind Sutu Jianying was a man under forty with an air of elegance, who must be Sutu Jianying's father, the bureau chief.

  "Situ Jianying rushed quietly to Zhou Hao's side, 'Zhou Hao, hurry up, I've also called an ambulance, we're going to the hospital now.'"

  His father, Situ Li, also came over and said to Zhou Hao with a grateful face: "Comrade, Jianying has already told me everything. Thank you so much, if it wasn't for you, Jianying would have been in danger. And you are very brave, our public security bureau will reward you." As he spoke, he patted Zhou Hao's shoulder.

  Being patted by Situ Li, Zhou Hao immediately twisted his face in pain. Situ Jianying also glared at Situ Li with a scolding expression, "Dad, he's injured, how can you pat him like that?" She then helped Zhou Hao up.

  Situ Li smiled with a hint of indulgence, it was clear that he doted on this daughter. Just then, the civilian police officer in charge of inspection on the other side shouted to Situ Li: "Director, they're all heroin, probably over three kilograms!"

  Situ Liyi was also very excited, this is already a big case of drug trafficking, and this time he couldn't help but receive praise from above, so he was even more grateful to Zhou Hao, and quickly had someone help Zhou Hao onto the ambulance outside the alley, Situ Xiangying naturally followed along.

  As Zhou Hao was about to leave, he glanced at the trash can and hoped that the police wouldn't check it.

  Upon arriving at the military hospital in Xiangcheng, an old military doctor removed the bullet from Zhou Hao's body. As he did so, he said to Zhou Hao, who was lying on the operating table: "Young comrade, your bones are very hard! The power of this bullet is great, it can usually penetrate a person's body, but this time it got stuck in your scapula, without even damaging your lung tissue. You'll be fine after a few days of rest. And how did you train to have such strong muscles at such a young age?" The old military doctor looked at Zhou Hao's bare upper body and marveled at the firm lines of his muscles.

  Zhou Hao hummed twice as a response, he knew his body was getting stronger and stronger.

  After bandaging the wound, Zhou Hao was sent to the intensive care unit, where Si Tu Li and Si Tu Jianying were already waiting. There were also two middle-aged men with prominent bellies, who looked like city leaders at a glance.

  "Xiao Zhou, these two are the Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and the Mayor of Xiangcheng City." Sito Li introduced to Zhou Hao.

  Zhou Hao was slightly startled and didn't expect that this time he would actually invite the municipal party secretary and mayor, so he hastily said: "Good day, Secretary. Good day, Mayor."

  "Comrade Xiao Zhou, you've done a great job this time, helping our Fragrant City crack down on a major drug trafficking case." The municipal party secretary said to Zhou Hao: "The city plans to publicize your story and set up a positive image for the people."

  The mayor also said: "That's right, that bald head has been wanted domestically for a long time as a drug trafficker, and the foreigner belongs to a foreign drug trafficking group. This time they came to China just to buy drugs through the bald head. Comrade Little Zhou, you've helped us a great deal this time."

  "The mayor has spoken, as citizens of Xiangcheng, we naturally need to maintain the peace and stability of Xiangcheng. Even if someone from another city encountered this situation, I believe they would do the same as me." Zhou Hao had dealt with government officials before when he was at Huangshi Group, so these official phrases came easily to him.

  In the eyes of Situ Li and others, a 14-year-old boy was so mature that his future achievements would definitely be extraordinary, and they all cast admiring glances at him. Seeing Zhou Hao gain the favor of Situ Li and the municipal leaders, Situ Jianying was also very pleased, and her gaze towards Zhou Hao was full of admiration.

  "Comrade Xiao Zhou, you can rest assured and recover here. The medical expenses will be covered by the city, so don't worry about it." Before leaving, the municipal party secretary said: "Also, we have already informed your family."

  As soon as the words fell, several figures hurried in, who were Yan Tong, Wang Xijun and Lu Shihping.