Chapter 3: Substitute for Father

  A meal, Zhang Jun got drunk and was unusually generous and enthusiastic. The specially provided Maotai made him feel good, even Kong Mei, who disliked the smell of smoke, thought it smelled good. His son had done well, and as parents, they were overjoyed. His mother showed all her emotions on her face, while his father suppressed his deep love until it burst out. Drunken Zhang Jun burst out once, finally being carried by Zhang Shidong to the room, hearing his father shouting: "My son has done well, I'm not afraid of you guys anymore, come on..." Zhang Shidong made a decision in secret and helped his mother clean up the bowls and chopsticks before returning to their room.

  Sitting cross-legged, with both hands placed on the lower abdomen, a warm current flowed through his body. After a while, his eyes suddenly opened wide, and he felt an overwhelming joy. He lifted up his clothes and pressed down on a specific acupoint near his belly button with both hands. A golden light burst out from his body, and with his right thumb and index finger rubbing together, a three-inch-long golden needle was pulled out from his body. The imagined "qi" rushing upwards phenomenon did not occur. Zhang Shidong, who had been struggling with intense negative emotions for two years, felt an unusual excitement and suddenly punched the air with his fist. To his surprise, the oppressive emotional state that had plagued him for two years dissipated after he returned home and experienced family affection.

  Since his strength reached a bottleneck two years ago, he chose to venture out alone. For the past two years, although his mysterious skills have been constantly improving, they cannot erase the killing intent that has accumulated in his heart due to numerous killings. He has been using golden needles to suppress his violent negative emotions. After being evaluated by multiple experts, it is a severe upgrade of combat veteran syndrome. If one day he can no longer suppress it, the harm will be determined based on the patient's strength.

  Zhang Shidong still remembers that when he was seeing a doctor, there were more than 100 of China's top special forces soldiers nearby, and if it weren't for the gold needle suppressing him, he even suspected someone would give an order.

  Choosing to go home, initially it was to control the world I came into contact with. After returning, I was truly moved by that strong family bond and decided to really stay at home, enjoying the warmth of home. I didn't expect the power of family ties to be so great, it could even dissolve my body's biggest hidden problem.

  Clutching his fist tightly, Zhang Shidong finally dared to say that he was the strongest now. Thinking of the gloom between his father's eyebrows, a hint of murderous intent flashed in Zhang Shidong's eyes: "No one can destroy this family, no one is allowed."

  She flipped her wrist and the needle disappeared from her hand. She stood up, walked out of the room, and knocked on her sister Zhang Yiqing's door while fiddling with her phone.

  When facing Zhang Shidong alone, Zhang Yiqing still felt a little unaccustomed and couldn't find the joyful and harmonious feeling of being together as a family: "Brother."

  Zhang Shidong sat down in a very cartoonish chair in front of the computer desk: "Can you tell me, what difficulties has Dad encountered at work? I heard from Li Dong that Dad is suspected of informing the criminal suspect about the arrest action?"

  Mentioning this, Zhang Yiqing's face was filled with discontent: "Who doesn't know that Li Dong's dad has close relationships with people in society? The boss of the Emperor Bath Center became rich relying on Li Dong's dad's connections. At the time, the suspect was hiding inside the bath center, and my dad received the news to go catch him, but unexpectedly, the person was gone when he arrived. Some people questioned whether my dad accepted bribes and privately released the suspect, although it's just a rumor with no evidence now. However, I heard someone say that the deputy captain who is in charge of this case wants to frame my dad, which would be difficult... My dad has worked hard for so many years, solving many big cases, but there's no one above him to support him? Li Dong's dad has even risen above my dad..."

  Zhang Jun is also a not-so-big-or-small official, with considerable real power in his hands. In the eyes of ordinary people, the Zhang family is high above, one has power in the Public Security Bureau and the other has both power and fame in the hospital. Otherwise, Zhang Shidong would not have been so arrogant and domineering at first. The daughter of such a family, although not mainstream, also knows a thing or two about the ways of officialdom. Concerned about her father's future, Zhang Yiqing used her own small channels to learn more, and when she saw her father eating, she took her big brother's opinion seriously, so at this time, she didn't hide anything and told him everything she knew.

  I thought my brother would be outraged and at least say a few harsh words to vent, but Zhang Shidong left Zhang Yiqing's room without much reaction, leaving her to struggle to vent on her new phone. As she played with it, she discovered that this phone not only had full functionality, good signal, and large capacity, but also didn't have the battery life problem that was often criticized. From afternoon till now, almost not putting it down, surfing the internet, the battery level hadn't decreased at all. Shaking her head, she thought of this as a new achievement of Apple's research and development, happily playing with it under the desk lamp in her bed, but little did she know that on this bright and lit up night in the neighborhood, her brother, who she thought was useless, jumped out of the window.

  Zhang's family was on the third floor, standing by the window Zhang Shidong observed all areas that could lock onto his window, and even the world-class assassin team's sniping observation hands were inferior to him. So when he jumped down from the third floor, no one noticed.

  He pressed his finger on the screen of the mobile phone, then handed it to his eyes for iris recognition, and said in a low voice: "Map of Pingjiang City, Beihai Province."

  Whoa! On an iPhone without any additional downloaded functions, a map of Pingjiang City appeared on the interface. This map was much more detailed than the one released to the public. The registered home addresses of some high-ranking officials were listed, and some hotels, shopping malls, and restaurants had detailed information about their corporate legal persons. As long as Zhang Shidong wanted, he could obtain any information classified as a state secret at the fastest speed.

  On a September evening at 9 o'clock, Pingjiang City, which is located on the transportation hub with mountains and rivers, has a thriving heavy industry and tourism industry, and the city is brightly lit. The commercial street is bustling with people coming and going, and the shops on both sides of each main road are also brightly lit. Li Jianguo's home is in the same community.

  Fourth floor, a room emitted a faint glow, Zhang Shidong looked around, five minutes later, he sprinted two steps and climbed up the wall, using his hands and feet, borrowing force from the gaps between the windowsill, guardrail, downspout, and even the bricks. In just a few seconds, he climbed to the fourth floor and stopped in front of the dark kitchen window without lights. A silver light flashed in his hand, and the window opened. When he jumped into the room, there was no sign of footprints on the windowsill where he had stepped before.

  The living room, master bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and guest room were all empty, but the room that was supposed to be Li Dong's had someone in it. As I approached the door, I heard a low sobbing sound and Li Dong's loud voice.

  "What are you crying about? Are you still going to lose out if you follow me? Aren't you just a useless waste of space in front of the station? You can directly report my name, I won't be able to protect you and neither will your dad. Do you know who Hao Ge is? He's my uncle. Alright, stop crying, damn it, this medicine really has an effect. Come here, let me spoil you a bit. Screw it, don't give me that look, believe it or not, I can have someone take care of you tomorrow and your little white-faced boyfriend will be killed, do you believe it? Come here!"

  With a voice that was both resistant and fearful, Zhang Shidong couldn't withstand Li Dong's arrogant and domineering attitude, as well as his bravery after taking medicine. A glint of light flashed in Zhang Shidong's eyes - this father-son duo had already offended him to the point of deserving death. Just looking at Li Dong's appearance made one think of his father's always gloomy face. Six years ago, Zhang Shidong still thought that Uncle Li was much stronger than his own dad, and could handle anything. Now it seemed...

  The door opened, and the woman didn't understand what was happening before she fainted. Li Dong was also directly knocked unconscious, and a silver light flashed on Zhang Shidong's fingertips, with thin silver needles inserted into Li Dong's neck and back of his head.

  One minute later, Zhang Shidong patted Li Dong awake, his dazed and unfocused eyes staring straight ahead.

  "Where are your parents?" Zhang Shidong asked directly without beating around the bush.

  "Dad went to discuss something with Uncle Hao, and Mom is playing mahjong at the mahjong hall downstairs." The voice was a bit slower, the words were clear and logical, but her eyes still looked lost.

  A few minutes later, Zhang Shidong took out a silver needle and inserted it into Li Dong's navel. The entire needle entered his body, and after a drop of blood dripped from the eye of the needle, Zhang Shidong tapped his lower back, and the silver needle came out.

  "Your dad should die, your mom is shameless, and you, just don't be a man."

  He pulled out the silver needles from Li Dong's neck and back of his head, and pressed his body half onto the heavily made-up girl. Zhang Shidong turned around and left the room. Soon after, under Li Dong's secret information and his own means, he searched for something in the safe box behind the photo of Li Jianguo's couple, and found some property certificates, bank deposit slips, and cash in various currencies from under the foam mattress. After putting back what he didn't take, Zhang Shidong left the Li's house with a small notebook similar to a diary belonging to Li Jianguo.