Chapter 1126 — Guaranteed to Be Handled

"An Jianwen, you're not lying to me and shirking the blame, are you?" The Vice Helmsman frowned. He still found it rather hard to swallow that a single punch could kill Master Li, an external stylist at the peak of the mid-Xuan stage.

"Vice Helmsman, how would I dare lie to you? I have surveillance footage of the whole thing—I can send it straight to you for review!" An Jianwen said hastily.

"All right, send it over then!" Hearing An Jianwen sound so confident, the Vice Helmsman supposed he was probably not lying. He had no idea that An Jianwen had larded the tale with embellishments, but none of that showed on the tape either—after all, Master Li was already dead, and the dead cannot testify.

"Done!" An Jianwen said. "Vice Helmsman, what about my fighting arena? I can't be without a man to hold the fort. What if some opponent turns up that we can't handle?"

"Don't you worry about that. I'll report this to the Helmsman, have it looked into, and dispatch another expert to reinforce you as soon as possible," the Vice Helmsman said. "But do your best to investigate the man who killed Master Li—find out who he is and what strength he has."

"Vice Helmsman, if you send someone else, won't he be as overbearing and unruly as Master Li? If he starts trouble again, I shan't be able to do a thing about it!" A faint smile crossed An Jianwen's lips. "You may not know it, but Songshan City is a place where hidden dragons and crouching tigers lie in wait—experts everywhere. If he goes looking for trouble, it will be easy enough for him to get himself killed."

"Mm... I'll take that into consideration. I will order the new expert to obey your commands and not run wild," the Vice Helmsman said.

"Then I'll be able to keep them in check!" An Jianwen was overjoyed inwardly; this was precisely the effect he wanted. It was deeply unsatisfying to have capable men at your side who would not take your orders. Now, riding on Master Li's death, An Jianwen had seized back the initiative. He went on: "Vice Helmsman, as for the man who killed Master Li, my advice is to drop the investigation. A man who can kill someone of Master Li's standing—one blow, at the peak of the mid-Xuan stage—his own strength goes without saying. Better not to make an enemy of such a person. Since he only came to settle accounts with Master Li, and Master Li is dead, he shouldn't come troubling the arena again. Why go out of our way to provoke him?"

"What you say has merit. If he truly did kill Master Li with a single blow, then he is at least at the late Xuan stage—perhaps even the peak of the late Xuan stage, or the Di stage... With that sort of man, unless there is some deep blood feud, it is best not to make an enemy of him. It's just a pity that Master Li died for nothing..." The Vice Helmsman turned it over and saw that An Jianwen had a point.

"He brought it on himself. There's no need for us to avenge him! My main purpose is to make money. If we pick up a nuisance like that, how am I supposed to keep running this arena?" An Jianwen did not care in the least about Master Li's death, nor had the thought of avenging him ever crossed his mind.

If anything, An Jianwen felt it would be best if the affair never touched the arena at all.

"Let me discuss this with the Helmsman first," the Vice Helmsman said after a moment's thought. "After all, he was a brother of our Fire Wolf Gang. If he died for nothing, wouldn't it make us look as though we had grown afraid of the man? If word got out, it would do serious harm to the Fire Wolf Gang's reputation—and chill the hearts of the brothers who bleed for us."

"Mm... if you're going to investigate, Vice Helmsman, you had best send several experts to do it. I certainly wouldn't dare! As you know, I'm an ordinary man—I have no part in struggles between fighters of that caliber." An Jianwen had no desire whatsoever to make some enemy over a mere Master Li.

He was living rather handsomely now. He had both kidneys, which made him, in a manner of speaking, a whole man; every day he ran a business that poured in gold by the dipper. Apart from not yet having won over Gu Mengyao, An Jianwen wanted nothing else.

So An Jianwen had no intention whatsoever of going up against those experts.

"Very well. You concentrate on running the underground arena; the Helmsman and I will see to the investigation," the Vice Helmsman said.

Hanging up, An Jianwen finally let out a breath of relief. It seemed he had successfully shifted the blame off himself. The dead couldn't testify, anyway—he might as well pin every fault on Master Li. True, An Jianwen had not objected when Master Li wanted to take Yu Yuanyuan as a concubine, but whose fault was it that Master Li had never troubled himself to look into Yu Yuanyuan's background first?

An Jianwen made a phone call and had Little Mule brought in.

"Young Master Wen, you wanted me?" Little Mule asked respectfully.

"Yes. Listen—I've already told the Vice Helmsman about Master Li. Now I want us to get our story straight." An Jianwen repeated everything he had said before, then asked: "Got it? If the superiors come asking questions, that is exactly what you say."

"Rest easy, Young Master Wen, I've got it all down," Little Mule said, nodding. Then, with genuine admiration: "You really are something, Young Master Wen! Now whatever expert they send down will be at your command."

"Heh. Of course. How could anyone work my floor without being under my control?" An Jianwen thought himself rather clever, too: not only had the superiors let the Master Li business pass, the expert sent next would fall under his control. "Oh, one more thing—go smooth things over on Yu Yuanyuan's side. Tell her and that fellow Goudan that everything before was Master Li's doing alone, and had nothing to do with our underground arena. Master Li is dead; we hope she won't take her anger out on us anymore. You know how to handle it?"

"I understand, Young Master Wen. If need be, I'll throw her some money—it'll certainly get the matter settled." Little Mule knew exactly what An Jianwen was after. That Ergoudan was simply too formidable—one punch and Master Li was dead. Men like that could not be crossed. If he came back in a foul mood and picked a quarrel at the arena, how was the underground arena supposed to keep running?

"Good... go see to it." An Jianwen waved his hand, signaling that Little Mule could leave.

With all of this settled, An Jianwen left the underground arena. Today he planned to pay a call on Gu Pengzhan. Since the last business was over, he had not yet paid him a formal visit. Whatever else was true, the shadow of Gu Mengyao still lingered in his heart.