Chapter 38: Death Notice

However, there was still one more trouble.

Qin Zhengtian was a man of wealth and power.

A figure like him could easily summon numerous experts.

But even more troublesome were the government officials.

Gong Zhian represented the power of the state—a colossal force that was impossible to resist.

Shen Ye had no intention of confronting them head-on.

Yet, the death notices had to be delivered!

What to do?

Ah, there was a solution!

He could send death notices to ten wealthy merchants, thereby dispersing the government’s protective attention away from any single merchant.

This way, Shen Ye could kill Qin Zhengtian with ease.

Of course, these ten merchants had to have sufficiently high evil scores.

Over the next several days, Shen Ye patrolled all over Yang City. From the top of tall buildings, he used a telescope capable of seeing through walls to assess people’s evil scores. After more than ten days, he finally gathered ten merchants with significant evil values. Naturally, he also measured Qin Zhengtian’s evil score through his Justice Eye telescope.

Good heavens.

“Qin Zhengtian, merchant. Has killed before. Fond of abusing underage girls. Uses the ‘Oil Addition’ dark ritual to absorb their essence and maintain youth. Ruthless in business, employing various illegal means to ruin competitors’ families. His methods are brutal. Evil score: 36.”

His evil score wasn’t low, but still fell short compared to the likes of Lu the Beggar or the Thunder King Yang Feikuang.

In simple terms, his main dealings were in business.

Compared to those in the underworld, his evil score was naturally lower.

Then, Shen Ye began distributing the death notices.

***

Wande Group was one of the top real estate developers in all of Yang City.

Their headquarters occupied a thirty-story skyscraper in the heart of Zhujiang New Town CBD.

Employees at Wande Group earned far above the city’s average income.

Of course, the company was extremely busy.

Every night, legions of workers stayed late until nine or ten o’clock.

In this era, working late in central commercial buildings was common—busy work, fast pace, and relatively high pay.

***

One day, around ten in the morning, the sun blazed high.

Crowds poured out of the Wande Group building.

Not far from the building was a street lined with eateries, where many gathered with friends for a meal to soothe their hungry stomachs and weary minds.

When some of them returned, they suddenly noticed a large piece of paper floating in the sky.

Black ink on white paper.

Not printed, but handwritten.

The handwriting was far from elegant.

In truth, if they had gone to a print shop, they would have been spotted immediately.

So, Shen Ye wrote it himself, deliberately using his left hand to disguise the handwriting and making it crooked and uneven.

Back to the matter at hand: a crowd of white-collar workers stared at the paper.

One muttered aloud, “Qin Zhengtian, chairman of Wande Group, has killed a man, repeatedly used cruel methods to ruin business rivals’ families, and abused multiple girls under sixteen. Such crimes deserve death.”

“On the night three days from now, at the stroke of midnight, when Tayu comes to take your head, Qin Zhengtian, may you not cause me to make a fruitless journey.”

At the bottom was the signature: Chopstick Hero.

The white-collar worker froze.

“Chopstick Hero wants to take our chairman’s head? No way!” he exclaimed, startled.

“Could it be a joke?”

“I’ve never heard of anyone impersonating Chopstick Hero. Besides, what benefit would it bring? The police want him arrested; the underworld wants him dead,” another said.

“But has the chairman really done so many bad things? He seems capable, not like someone who would do such evil,” a female employee asked curiously. She loved stories about domineering CEOs and innocent heroines. She imagined herself as the innocent flower, Qin Zhengtian as the domineering CEO. Unfortunately, Qin Zhengtian had a wife.

“You can never tell a person by their face. Such super-rich men often do terrible things in private. Nothing surprising,” another said.

“Xiao Liu, don’t lose your job by speaking ill of the chairman,” a middle-aged man wearing glasses scolded.

“Yes, yes, team leader, I was wrong,” Xiao Liu stammered, but inwardly he sneered. Chopstick Hero had declared he would take the chairman’s life in three days. Now, even speaking a word was risky.

“This handwriting is awful. But Chopstick Hero’s approach is bold—giving advance notice. I wonder how many officials will come to protect the chairman then.”

“Chopstick Hero will probably fail this time.”

“By the way, what should we do with this notice?”

“Of course, give it to the chairman. If he doesn’t see it and something happens, who’s responsible?” the team leader said.

The team leader then took the death notice to the top floor of Mingde Tower, where Qin Zhengtian worked.

The thirty-third floor was the epitome of luxury and spaciousness, a thousand square meters of office space, featuring an eight-meter-long grand desk.

Qin Zhengtian, with his square face, sat upright, handling recent affairs. Running a large company meant many matters to attend to.

At that moment, Qin’s secretary entered with the team leader holding the death notice.

The secretary whispered something in Qin’s ear.

Qin was momentarily stunned, then took the notice. He looked at it and let out an angry chuckle.

“Good, good, good. Chopstick Hero, you killed my son and the Thunder King Yang Feikuang, a general I paid handsomely. I have been recruiting heroes from the Three Mountains and Five Peaks to deal with you. Then, three days from now, we shall settle the score.”

His eyes narrowed. He had already decided to recruit more experts.

No matter what, between him and Chopstick Demon, only one would survive.

His secretary asked, “Should we contact the officials? Based on Chopstick Hero’s past actions, he avoids confronting them. With officials involved, your safety would improve.”

“Normally, yes. But Deputy Magistrate Wang was recently transferred,” Qin sighed. “The new Deputy Magistrate Li has his own favored merchants—also surnamed Li and also in real estate. If I fall, that merchant Li will thrive. They’d probably be happy to see me killed by Chopstick Hero.”

“So contacting them won’t help much.”

“We can try, but don’t expect much.”

“Yes,” the secretary nodded.

Of course, Qin Zhengtian wasn’t the only one to receive a death notice that day.

In Yang City, nine others also received them.

Among them:

The first was Lang Feilang, head of a food company and founder of a roast duck brand.

The second was Li Fuyi, a merchant owning a clothing company.

The third was a big shot, Fang Jianjun, with many enforcers under him.

The fourth was another local boss, nicknamed Old Scar, also commanding numerous thugs.

The fifth was Wang Defu, a businessman who made his start in bottled water.

The sixth was a Vietnamese named Hu Zhuoma, who had made his way here.

The seventh was Wang Zhengfu, head of a pharmaceutical company.

The eighth was the CEO of an educational support website, whose shady dealings were well known. He didn’t currently live in Yang City but had a base there.

The ninth was a big shot nicknamed River Dragon.

(The second update ends here; the next will be posted after midnight.)