Venerable Demon King & The Doting Immortal (QT)-Chapter 168: Pink Cherry nightclub

Han Xin stared at the sketch with a lost expression, his mind struggling to piece together the puzzle. Why would Xiang Yu, who had successfully left the triads, come after the Die clan?

The question gnawed at him, vexing and relentless. Were those two girls worth provoking the organisation, and how did he know them? It didn’t make any sense.

Han Zhan’s phone buzzed, breaking the silence. He pulled it out, glancing at the notification before forwarding the documents to Han Xin. Han Xin unlocked his phone, his thumb occasionally scrolling the screen.

One of the documents contained vehicle registration information for a black sedan spotted on the night of the incident at the port.

There had been plenty of cars around that area that night, so how did they know this one belonged to the vigilante? The answer lay in the details.

The car registration spotted in the surveillance footage did not match the traffic department database. The black sedan’s registration number was actually assigned to a yellow Corolla registered to an old lady. This disparity made it suspicious.

Moreover, a red Mustang had been caught running through red lights that night, as if there was an urgent emergency. That car definitely belonged to Xiang Yu. It had driven in the direction of the industrial part of the city but hadn’t been caught on camera in that district. Only after that did the black car appear on camera. It made sense that Xiang Yu had changed vehicles.

"Where was the red Mustang parked before?" Han Xin asked, breaking the silence.

Han Zhan looked up from his phone and his brow arched. "It was parked at Pink Cherry nightclub."

Han Xin thought for a moment. "Isn’t that the place with the private rooms on the lower level?"

"Yes, they offer extra services for those who are particularly impatient. It’s like a two-in-one package. There is a different kind of party upstairs and downstairs," Han Zhan confirmed.

Han Xin took a sip from the glass in his hand the liquid burning down his throat. His Adam’s apple bobbed before he asked, " Who did he meet there?"

Han Zhan scrolled through looking for a video file before saying, "The only people he met with that night were two women. He spent some time with them in the VIP section then he booked a room for the entire night, but from the surveillance footage, he just up and left without warning."

Han Zhan pressed play on his phone, and the video began. It showed Xiang Yu in a blindingly patterned shirt, staggering into a private room with two women wearing heavy makeup and sexy dresses that barely left anything to the imagination.

At a glance, he seemed intoxicated. Soon, a waiter arrived with bottle service. One of the women opened the door topless and let the waiter in. Moments later, the waiter exited, tucking a wad of bills into his pocket.

Less than an hour later, Xiang Yu stepped out of the room, looking more in pain than drunk. His shirt was half-buttoned, and he used the wall for support. Something had clearly happened within that short time. The footage showed Xiang Yu entering the elevator, leaning against the wall with a pained expression. The next clip was from outside the nightclub, where the red car drove off.

Han Zhan smirked. "He didn’t last long in that room, did he? I heard those girls sometimes drug clients and then rob them of their money. When they wake up, they think they had a good time after taking some party favours, but they actually passed out the entire night."

Han Xin stared at his cousin, who was laughing amusedly and said nothing. "In the past, he used to look so cold and aloof whenever we saw him," Han Zhan continued. "Who would have thought he had grown up to be a ferocious man with a large appetite for wine and women? Every two to three nights per week, he comes to Pink Cherry and stays overnight. He is a regular."

Han Xin didn’t care about these messy details. "Where is he now?" he asked.

Han Zhan scrolled down and showed Han Xin a picture of the storefront of the Jade House tattoo parlour. "He owns this place and stays on the third floor. He is pretty good at what he does. Some of our guys go there."

"What about the military? Didn’t he go back?" Han Xin inquired.

Han Zhan clicked his tongue. "Dishonourable discharge."

Han Xin’s brow furrowed. "Why? What did he do?"

Han Zhan pulled up a document on his phone and handed it to Han Xin. "They found out about his ties to the triads and kicked him out while he was still in the hospital."

Han Xin’s mind raced as he processed the information. The pieces of the puzzle were slowly coming together, but the picture they formed was still unclear. The waves crashed against the shore outside reflecting his thoughts at the moment.

***

Xiang Yu sat in his dimly lit office. He appeared to be meticulously going through the business expenses, his brow furrowed in concentration. But in reality, his mind was far from the mundane numbers on the screen. He was unravelling the intricate plot of this world, a task far more complex than balancing the books.

Yesterday he had taken the chance to relax and forget the reason he was here. He had taken the girls shopping, their laughter echoing through the bustling streets as they tried on clothes and shoes. He had bought stuff for Little Bai as well, but he was quite stubborn at first, refusing his gifts.

It took Xiang Yu telling him that it was for the image of the business that Little Bai agreed. He hadn’t even realised that they wore black t-shirts with the logo as their uniform at the shop, so Xiang Yu’s reason for it being about the business image was a lie.

They had ended the day with a meal at a quaint little restaurant, the kind with red lanterns hanging outside and the aroma of sizzling dishes wafting through the air. It had been a day of simple joys, a fleeting moment of normalcy before shit hit the fan.