180 Degrees

Suspicion

A luxurious foreign car drove through the main road of the city. It was still early in the morning. Even though society had woken up from their slumber, most had yet to leave their homes, allowing the car to enjoy smooth traffic for the time being.

"A crossfire took place In S district last night. The police confirmed the incident to be a territorial fight between two opposing gangs, both of which were equipped with illegally obtained firearms. Among the 50 casualties resulting from this incident, 38 came from the gangsters' side with 15 fatalities. The rest are civilians who were unfortunately dragged into the crossfire."

The radio continued to broadcast the coverage of last night's bloody street fight, reciting the list of all similar incidents that had taken place in recent months. While the host proceeded to provide more statistical data in a flat tone, the air in the car was no different from how it was if one were to walk outside during a windy winter night: cold and freezing. There was unspeakable pressure in the atmosphere. Aside from the radio broadcast and the soft noise of the car's air conditioning, there was no other sound inside the moving metal box that one could probably hear a pin drop.

In the front passenger seat, Xiao Yu exchanged a silent glance with his subordinate behind the wheel. Even without communicating verbally, they knew exactly what — or who — was the cause of this disquieting feeling in the car.

Behind them, an individual who was none other than their supreme leading was sitting cross-legged, cross-armed, with a deep frown on his face. Under his eyes, there were faint traces of dark color, typical of someone who lacked sleep the night before.

"...Boss?"

"What?"

His attempt to strike a normal conversation was instantly shot down by a glare. Although he could be considered to be Zhang Zhehan's childhood friend, Xiao Yu could still feel his courage withering slightly at this hostile response.

"I was just going to suggest... What if we drive you back home so you can have a little rest?" despite treading on thin ice, Xiao Yu decided to keep pushing little by little, "You only have this one meeting before lunch. We could postpone it to 10:30 while you take a two-hour nap."

"No need for that," the Omega refused straight away, "I won't be able to sleep before I bash that bastard Hu in the face with my own hand. To think that he dares set me up like that with the police just because I've been going easy on him all this time..."

"To continue with our news program, the police raided two renowned bars in M and N districts last night after receiving reports of drug transactions taking place in the aforementioned locations. They caught the dealers red-handed alongside the customers who were about to purchase drugs from them. Although the police have not released any more information at this moment, many speculated that these transactions were arranged by a notorious mafia whose group has been overseeing business in the two districts for decades."

As though connected to them via telepathic communication, the radio host immediately presented the related news coverage; her flat, unenthusiastic tone filling the car's interior through the excellent sound system.

All three men inside the car fell quiet at once; the two people who sat at the front could almost feel the third's silent anger bubbling from the back seat.

"...He wants me to get into trouble and seek his help to get out of it," Zhang Zhehan eventually said, "We all know that the White Tiger group is the most prominent controller of drug transactions in this city. He even blatantly sent people bearing those tiger tattoos to be caught by the authorities."

"The police should've been familiar with characteristics of members from prominent groups like us and the White Tiger. Why did they still launch their investigation on us instead of focusing on that Lao Hu and his men?"