The afternoon meeting started on time. Shi Jin and Gua Nine stood in the same place they did that morning, but this time, instead of watching the sea, they watched Nine Eagles’ ship.

They didn’t attract much attention because most of the people on the deck were also staring at it, curious if Zuo Yang would skip the meeting again.

To everyone’s disappointment, however, at 1:50 p.m. Zuo Yang emerged from his cabin and sauntered up the gangway to the government ship.

Everyone looked away, bored—it seemed this time they wouldn’t see a confrontation between a top-tier organization and the officials, what a pity.

Three minutes later, Zuo Yang jumped onto the government ship. His eyes locked on Lian Jun towards the middle of the deck. He grinned and waved. “Yo, Lian Jun, long time no see. You’re prettier than last year—this ‘sick beauty’ look is truly tempting.”

Shi Jin’s face darkened, and he wanted to thrash the guy—he mocked the appearance of an organization’s leader, which was a really cheap shot. Sure enough, Zuo Yang was a bastard.

However, Lian Jun obviously wouldn’t put up with being ridiculed. He reached behind him and took the gun Gua One tacitly set in his hand. He reloaded it in one practiced move then, without an ounce of hesitation, aimed at Zuo Yang and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

It was a tricky shot, targeting the place three inches under Zuo Yang’s navel. It wasn’t hard to dodge, but the evasive action tended to look quite ungainly.

Of course, to make Zuo Yang look foolish was Lian Jun’s real intention. As a result, Nine Eagles’ leader chose an extreme way to save face—he grabbed one of his subordinates and pulled him in front to block the shot.

This subordinate was relatively tall; the bullet hit the middle of his thigh. In an instant, his legs buckled, and he staggered, blood rushing from the wound.

The onlookers’ expressions became extremely ugly.

Starting a gunfight because of disagreement was nothing, but an organization’s leader making a subordinate take a bullet for him even though he could’ve easily avoided it himself, just because he didn’t want to look inelegant—this was spine-chilling.

“Zuo Yang, the way you hide from bullets is also pretty,” Lian Jun coldly threw the man’s words back at him. He returned the gun to Gua One, then looked at Zhang Zhuoyuan standing next to him. “Sorry, my hand slipped.”

The official replied in a reassuring voice, “It’s fine. As long as they don’t happen inside the conference room, we don’t care about private conflicts.”

It was plain he stood on Lian Jun’s side in this matter.

Lian Jun thanked him, then looked at Zuo Yang and offered kindly, “The doctors following me are all top-notch. Your subordinate’s situation seems to be bad—would you like some help?”

Zuo Yang was obviously annoyed but forced himself to keep a smile on his face. “No need. Take him back to the ship.” The latter sentence was addressed to the subordinates behind him.

They confirmed, lifted the injured man, whose complexion was dreadfully pale, and dragged him away, almost carelessly.

Everyone’s expressions grew even more ugly. Zuo Yang’s attitude clearly showed he didn’t treat his subordinates as human beings.

Lian Jun stopped paying attention to Nine Eagles’ leader and turned to Zhang Zhuoyuan: “Director Zhang, it’s almost time.”

The official nodded. He called the leaders still on the deck and urged them to enter the conference room. Gua One also pushed Lian Jun’s wheelchair in that direction.

After the bloody interlude, the air on the deck became somewhat dreary. People no longer chatted and, intentionally or unintentionally, kept a distance from Nine Eagles’ members.

This time Shi Jin didn’t dare distract himself with the scenery. He kept his eyes fixed on Lian Jun, worried that Zuo Yang opposite him would talk trash again.

The atmosphere of the afternoon meeting was less relaxed than that morning’s. Zhang Zhuoyuan held a document in his hand and said something; it seemed he was calling out the names of some organizations. The expressions of the leaders of every organization named turned unsightly. Some even tried to argue.

Lu Shan was the one who reacted most violently—she slammed a fist on the table and jumped to her feet, pointing at Zhang Zhuoyuan and shouting. But, though Zhang Zhuoyuan looked like a spineless middle-aged uncle, his attitude was surprisingly tough. No matter what Lu Shan said, his expression never changed. In the end, it was Lu Shan who yielded. She cursed and sat, forcing herself to calm down.

With the obvious tension in the conference room, the people on the deck were growing edgy. Shi Jin, for whom this was his first attendance, was a bit affected, and his nerves were stretched to the limit.

About two hours into the meeting, a tall figure suddenly stood in front of Shi Jin, blocking his view of the conference room—clearly on purpose.

Without hesitation, Shi Jin pushed the man to the side and said, “Don’t stand in the way, thank you.”

Only then did he notice the intruder was his brother. Frowning, he asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk,” Fei Yujing answered, patting the sleeve Shi Jin just pulled.

Shi Jin noticed his action and secretly rolled his eyes, fed up. He moved his gaze back to Lian Jun and said bluntly, “I have nothing to say to you. I won’t encourage Jun-shao to give your employer a hard time, nor will I ask him to help you because you act like a good brother again. You wanted us to be strangers who have nothing to do with each other? Great, because I happen to feel the same way—I hope we have a tacit understanding about this. Now I’m ‘Gua Four’ and you’re somebody else’s hired lawyer. We have no personal relationship, get it?”

Fei Yujing leaned on the railing beside him and said, “No, I don’t get it. Shi Jin, you’ve changed too much.”

Shi Jin ignored him.

He’d already said everything he wanted to say. He had no intention of listening to any more nonsense from Fei Yujing.

Because of his position, Fei Yujing faced Shi Jin’s side. He looked at the teenager’s profile, and his eyes narrowed slightly. He said, “Shi Jin, I don’t like your current attitude.”

This actually got a rise out of Shi Jin. He gave the man a sideways glance and asked coldly, “Did you ever ask me if I liked it when you played a good brother in front of me for the sake of benefits? Fei Yujing, don’t be such a hypocrite, I don’t like it.”

Fei Yujing didn’t avoid his eyes and was unperturbed by his accusation. “Hypocrisy is in the nature of people like me. Shi Jin, I don’t like how you are now. You’re smarter and not so easy to fool.”

“Tch.” Shi Jin clicked his tongue. He really disliked Fei Yujing, this “intellectual villain.” If you blamed him, then whether he was in the wrong, he would neither be ashamed nor try to refute—he would calmly accept all accusations and be completely unaffected by them. You could try to reason with him, but he wouldn’t listen—he acted according to his own code of conduct and wouldn’t be easily shaken. Then maybe you would play emotional cards? Sorry, he had no emotions. Oh, and by the way, congratulations—you just fell into his trap.

Fei Yujing, as if he couldn’t see the look of dislike on Shi Jin’s face, continued, “You’re quite good at finding backers, Shi Jin. It used to be Shi Xingrui, now it’s Lian Jun. Maybe I don’t know you as well as I imagined.”

“No maybe about it—you don’t know me at all.” Shi Jin turned to face him, took out his gun, and aimed it at Fei Yujing’s heart. His voice was icy: “Either leave immediately and don’t bother me again, or I’ll shoot you right now since you’re so desperate to use me again. Fei Yujing, I hate being used, and I hate when people try to deceive me by pretending to treat me with affection. Don’t make me waste my breath again, my patience isn’t good right now.”

Fei Yujing’s expression did not change. He said, “You won’t shoot.”

Shi Jin was equally calm. “I will certainly try not to, in order not to cause trouble for my boss. However, if you keep bothering me, then even if I don’t use my gun today, I may use it in the future. For example, on your mother.”

Fei Yujing’s expression finally changed. He reached out and grabbed Shi Jin’s hand holding the gun, his voice sinking: “You dare.”

“I dare. Do you dare to try me? Fei Yujing, let me warn you—so long as you have a weakness, you should stop hurting others so casually. Otherwise, sooner or later, the pain you caused will be repaid by the people you care about.” Shi Jin tapped Fei Yujing on the chest with the muzzle of his gun, then broke away from his grip. He gave his brother a sneer and turned away, no longer paying attention to him.

Gua Nine, who had been watching silently, moved at this moment, stepping between the two of them.

Fei Yujing’s eyes were dark. He touched the place hit by the gun, took a look at Shi Jin, partially blocked by Gua Nine, and finally walked away.

In the conference room, Lian Jun stopped looking in their direction and turned his attention back to the documents in front of him.

Zuo Yang, sitting across the table, noticed his actions and asked the same question Lu Shan asked in the morning, but in much more vulgar tone: “Is that your new subordinate, Lian Jun?”

The underworld leaders were reviewing the new documents distributed by Zhang Zhuoyuan, and no one spoke. In this silence, Zuo Yang’s voice immediately attracted everyone’s attention, and many people looked outside in the direction he indicated.

Expressionless, Lian Jun set down the file and looked at Zuo Yang. He didn’t answer the question but said instead, “Zuo Yang, you and Pegasus’ leader snatched a subordinate from me last year. I haven’t yet settled the score with you, and you’re already eyeing another one? Why, are all your Eagles useless?”