บท 12: Chapter 7: Take the Initiative
That night, Yan Fei received a strange call on his mobile phone. He was about to hang up but decided to answer after a second thought. Zhang Baocheng's voice came through.
"Mr. Yan, this is Zhang Baocheng. How have you been recently?"
Yan Fei responded coldly, "You're too kind to worry, I'm very well!"
Zhang Baocheng laughed, "That's good to hear. I'm just worried someone might disturb you, and that would be unfortunate. As you know, the world isn't all that peaceful. There might be accidents from time to time, like a house catching fire or getting hit by a car while walking down the street. By the way, if you need help with anything, feel free to ask me. Don't be polite; I'd be more than happy to solve your problems."
Yan Fei said, "Thanks for your generous offer, Mr. Zhang, but I haven't had any accidents, nor do I need your help with anything. Your call today couldn't have been just to check on me, right?"
Zhang Baocheng chuckled, "Mr. Yan, we've met once, which makes us friends, and I'm always kind to friends. So, you should consider the proposal I made earlier. If I buy your house, your trouble becomes my trouble, and I can resolve it quickly without leaving a trace."
Yan Fei said, "Mr. Zhang, I wasn't aware that real estate companies also had the ability to solve other people's troubles. And from the sound of it, you seem to have a lot of clout. Could it be that you moonlight as a policeman?"
Zhang Baocheng laughed heartily, "Mr. Yan is joking. I'm just a small businessman engaged in legitimate business, nowhere near as capable as a policeman. Don't be fooled; our company may be in real estate, but we have connections in various places, especially when it comes to dealing with troublemakers. It's something we have a lot of experience in. Just think, there's a large crowd gathered around your house, and their demands are not being met, which could trigger their emotions. Once emotions are provoked, people might act irrationally, and then, unfortunately, bad things can happen. If someone starts leading the charge, it's possible that there could be a mob event with vandalism, looting, and arson. If things escalate, there might even be casualties, and even if not, it's still bad to, let's say, get a broken hand or leg..."
Yan Fei didn't let Zhang Baocheng finish; he hung up the phone, fully aware that Zhang Baocheng was officially starting to exert pressure on him. The incident with Wang Xiaohong was just an appetizer, barely enough to ruffle Yan Fei's feathers, at most causing him a bit of annoyance. After all, his house's paperwork was all in order, and even if there were lawsuits, no one would genuinely support Wang Xiaohong's claims. Therefore, her making a fuss was nothing more than a futile effort, a complete waste of energy.
Zhang Baocheng making a personal call that day meant that things had moved to the second phase. If Yan Fei's calculations were correct, he would soon have to face physical violence, likely executed by those tattooed brutes. The pretext would surely be helping the pitiful granny and grandkid outside, with everyone becoming righteously indignant, losing control of their emotions in a spur of the moment, and trashing Yan Fei's house—perhaps even breaking his limbs and setting a fire. With their large numbers and seemingly legitimate excuse, the police would at most detain the rioters for a while, and the ringleader might end up in jail, but Zhang Baocheng would remain untouched. It seemed that Zhang Baocheng had done this many times and was quite experienced.
If someone else were in this situation, those who were timid might choose to keep the peace, while the bold might negotiate a better price before taking the money and leaving. But Yan Fei would not react that way. He was a man who preferred to deal with problems head-on rather than take a more indirect approach, especially since he had just gained immense power. Naturally, he would choose to confront his adversary directly and release the pent-up fury in his chest.
Yan Fei didn't take the drama unfolding downstairs too seriously; he knew it was just a facade. The core of the entire issue was Zhang Baocheng. Without his orders, the charade wouldn't end. Solving the problem with Zhang Baocheng meant all other issues would be resolved easily.
Yan Fei had held back from acting until now, which may have seemed like helplessness, but it didn't mean he had no way to counter the opponent's offense. He had been pondering his countermeasures while getting accustomed to his power, collecting various items, and storing them in the Universal Space. Now that everything was ready and Zhang Baocheng had made his threatening move, it was time for Yan Fei to strike back.
Yan Fei's method of retaliation was simple—launch an offensive and disrupt Zhang Baocheng's operations. Remaining passively defensive and waiting for the enemy's attack would never solve any problems.
Before, Yan Fei had intended to monitor Wang Xiaohong and those tattooed brutes, hoping to capture some behind-the-scenes footage of the incident with a drone and post it online to turn the unfavorable situation around. However, Wang Xiaohong and the tattooed thugs always left before six o'clock in the evening, when it was still daylight. It was impossible for Yan Fei to deploy the drone for surveillance at that time since the police were still investigating a drone-related injury, and a drone seen in daylight would be very likely to be exposed. And once the drone was exposed, the consequences would be endless. But by the time night fell and the drone could be deployed, Yan Fei had no idea where they lived, so he had been unable to monitor them or capture any explosive behind-the-scenes footage.
Lately, Yan Fei adjusted his investigative approach and set his sights on Zhang Baocheng. He first located Zhang Baocheng's company's address online, and after nightfall, he launched the drone for reconnaissance. Fortunately, Zhang Baocheng's company was less than 10 kilometers from Yan Fei's home, meaning that Yan Fei could observe Zhang Baocheng's every move from the comfort of his house through the drone.
Through recent experiments, Yan Fei had come to understand the endurance capabilities of the drone. Due to an increase in size, the drone consumed 5 energy points per minute of high-speed flight, so its endurance was reduced to about 1-2 hours. Although it still did not meet Yan Fei's expectations, compared to the previous version, the upgraded drone was already powerful enough to help him with many tasks.
Zhang Baocheng's real estate company was indeed busy with frequent overtime, so it was common to see Zhang Baocheng at the company even at night. When the drone discovered Zhang Baocheng, it would hide in the darkness and record his actions. However, Zhang Baocheng was extremely cautious inside the company and never discussed illegal matters there. He discussed everything at home with his confidants, so during this time, Yan Fei didn't collect any useful information. On the surface, Honglou Real Estate Company appeared to be a law-abiding enterprise, and Zhang Baocheng himself seemed like a squeaky-clean, legitimate businessman, at most involved in some ambiguous relationships with a few secretaries. No wonder the relevant departments couldn't pin anything on him all these years, allowing him to remain at large.
However, through conversations between Zhang Baocheng and his subordinates, Yan Fei learned of Zhang Baocheng's home address. Zhang's home was more than ten kilometers away from Yan Fei's location, beyond the maximum control range of the Drone Avatar. Since Yan Fei had been keeping a low profile and rarely left his home lately, he hadn't sent the drone to keep watch.
But when Yan Fei determined to resolve the issue with Zhang Baocheng once and for all, he decided to take the initiative. He planned to control the drone to Zhang Baocheng's home for surveillance, hoping to find conclusive evidence of Zhang Baocheng's illegal activities there, which he would then hand over to the police. Once the police had evidence of Zhang Baocheng's crimes, they would be able to make an arrest, and once Zhang was in custody, it was unlikely he would be released. In this way, Yan Fei would eliminate the threat posed by Zhang Baocheng, achieve a decisive blow, and ensure his own safety.
At ten o'clock in the evening, Yan Fei left his home driving his minivan, which also contained a large box housing the Drone Avatar. He entered Zhang Baocheng's residential address into his mobile phone, then followed the map navigation as he drove. The minivan quickly left the urban area. This was Shanghai, where even the rural highways were busy with traffic. Only after more than half an hour did the vehicles on the highway start to thin out, and following the navigation, Yan Fei arrived at a place surrounded by mountains and water, with a solo villa, secluded from any other houses. The map showed that this detached villa was Zhang Baocheng's home. The villa's Feng Shui seemed favorable, nestled against a mountain, backed by a forest, facing a large lake.
By eleven o'clock at night, Zhang Baocheng should have finished work and gone home. Yan Fei double-checked the address and then parked his minivan by the side of the road at the foot of the mountain. He opened the box and released the Drone Avatar within.
The Drone Avatar took to the air lightly, flew through the car window, and soared into the sky, heading toward Zhang Baocheng's villa. The upgraded Drone Avatar, although larger in size, was much more agile and faster than before. Yan Fei sat in the driver's seat, switching his view to the Drone Avatar, controlling the drone to fly over the lake and toward the distant villa.
As he approached the villa, Yan Fei realized how vast its grounds were. Although it was only three stories high, the villa had a large number of rooms and a spacious parking area, with a tall wall encircling its perimeter, clearly indicating its high value.
The villa had stringent security, with two guard posts set up around it, each with personnel on duty, as well as security patrols with guard dogs making regular rounds. In the dark corners, there was a multitude of surveillance cameras installed. Even more exaggerated was the fact that searchlights had been mounted on the villa's top, sweeping around occasionally. The whole villa looked as impregnable as a large bunker.
Yan Fei was thankful in his heart. Without the Drone Avatar, it would be truly challenging for an ordinary person to infiltrate such a place. The drone kept flying at an altitude of 200 meters, its all-black body carefully avoiding the searchlight beams, so it remained undetected by the villa's guards.
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