This Assassin Is a Son-in-Law
[Original/Author — Rainy Night Trekker]
[TL — Spades]
[PR — Blitz]
[QC — Lumi]
Chapter 4 — The Dark Web 'Black Butterfly'
——————
In a high-end clubhouse in Wuling City, inside a private room.
"Three days from now, Zhiming and Yiyun are set to be engaged, and now you're telling me you want to keep Yiyun at home and take in a live-in son-in-law? Are you joking?"
Wan Guofeng slammed the table, his eyes blazing as he glared at Feng Wanming.
"I hope you can understand my predicament, Brother Wan. A promise was made, and surely you wouldn't want me to be a faithless man without integrity," Feng Wanming said, his face troubled.
"Even if what you say is true, why didn't you mention this before the engagement? The news of our families' alliance has spread across Wuling City. Now you come to tell me you're calling off the marriage? Are you mocking my Wan family, turning us into the laughingstock of the city?"
Wan Guofeng's anger grew with every word.
"Brother Wan, things have come to this. To express my apologies, Feng Corporation will withdraw from bidding on the Anxin District's old city redevelopment project."
"That's your apology?" Wan Guofeng sneered, looking at Feng Wanming with contempt. "Do you take my Wan family for three-year-olds, thinking a slap followed by a rotten date will pacify us?" With that, he stood abruptly, flicked his sleeve, and stormed out.
"My Wan family won't let this go. We'll make your Feng family pay."
His icy words echoed as his figure disappeared through the private room's door.
"Looks like I'll have to face whatever comes," Feng Wanming sighed, shaking his head.
He had anticipated Wan Guofeng's fury before coming.
The Anxin District project was the greatest concession Feng Corporation could offer. If he further compromised the company's interests to appease the Wans, even if he agreed, the shareholders would not.
...
Upon returning home, Wan Guofeng immediately called a family meeting to address the Feng family's actions.
Learning of the Fengs' withdrawal from the engagement, Wan Zhiming was shocked, his face soon consumed by rage.
"No, I won't accept this," Wan Zhiming growled.
"What can you do? Feng Yiyun's childhood betrothed has shown up, and the Fengs have made it clear they're canceling the engagement," Wan Guofeng said, trying to console his son.
Wan Zhiming's face darkened, silent but seething with anger and unwillingness.
He had been dating Feng Yiyun for six months, their intimacy limited to holding hands. Anything further was out of the question—not because he was a perfect gentleman, but because Feng Yiyun was traditional, wanting to save her first time for their wedding night.
On the surface, Wan Zhiming was a refined and gentle man, but deep down, he was obsessive and domineering. Anything he desired, he had to possess. If he couldn't have it, he'd rather destroy it than let someone else take it.
A beauty like Feng Yiyun, radiant and captivating, how could he let her slip into another's hands?
"Zhiming, don't be upset. I'll make the Fengs pay for this insult tenfold," Wan Guofeng said gently, seeing his son's pain.
"There are plenty of fish in the sea. Why fixate on Feng Yiyun? Don't worry, I'll find you a woman ten times prettier and more accomplished than her," Wan's mother added.
Wan Zhiming nodded, but after his parents left, a murderous glint flashed in his eyes. "Let's see who dares to steal my woman. I'll make you pay with blood and your life!" He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Qiangzi, I need you to investigate..."
...
Night fell. After dinner, Jiang Hao left the Feng residence alone and entered an internet café.
He booked a computer in a private booth and sat down.
After typing a complex and lengthy URL into the browser, he pressed enter.
The page loaded, displaying a login prompt for a member account and password.
Jiang Hao's fingers danced across the keyboard, swiftly entering a complicated account and password before hitting enter again.
The login succeeded, and the page opened to a dark red interface. At the top was a massive black butterfly.
Below it were several menu options: News, Information Releases, Hiring, Transactions...
This was the dark web, operated by the most authoritative organization in the underworld, 'Black Butterfly.'
The website was public but accessible only to members.
Membership came in three tiers: regular, premium, and gold.
Regular membership cost $150,000 annually, premium $300,000, and the top-tier gold membership $800,000 per year.
Different tiers granted varying levels of access on the site.
While Black Butterfly wasn't the largest dark web network, it was the most authoritative and secure.
Human trafficking, organ trade, arms deals, contract killings—everything could be found on Black Butterfly.
It served as both a media outlet and an intermediary for the dark world.
...
Jiang Hao was a gold member of Black Butterfly.
In addition to the $800,000 membership fee, he had paid an extra $1 million for privacy protection.
This privacy fee ensured that his activities on the site left no trace, safeguarding his member identity from exposure.
While recovering in the mountain village, he hadn't logged into Black Butterfly for over a year.
Fortunately, he had prepaid three years of membership fees, so his account remained active.
Jiang Hao clicked on the News section.
The page loaded, displaying a list of the latest headlines.
Southeast Asian arms dealer Gurs was assassinated at home yesterday.
A Black Hawk Society shipment of slaves bound for Europe mutinied mid-journey, resulting in dozens of casualties.
...
As he scrolled through the news, Jiang Hao paused at one headline: Chinese martial arts master, Southern Fist expert, and 'Eastern Dragon' Zhuo Qiubai had been issued a global kill order by the Coles family.
He knew Zhuo Qiubai, the 'Eastern Dragon.'
When Jiang Hao was still training under his master, his master had taken him to visit Zhuo Qiubai.
Zhuo Qiubai was a close friend of his master, a disciple of Liu Tianfeng, one of the three great Southern Fist masters.
In Jiang Hao's memory, Zhuo Qiubai was refined, courteous, and had personally guided his martial arts, acting as a half-master and leaving a deep impression.
Using his gold member privileges, Jiang Hao accessed the detailed report to learn why Zhuo Qiubai was being hunted by the Coles family.
The Coles family was a prominent European clan with immense wealth and influence. For them to issue a global kill order, something must have truly enraged them.
The report revealed that a direct descendant of the Coles family, studying at a Chinese university, had committed heinous acts, raping and murdering a female student.
Due to insufficient evidence, the judicial system released the Coles heir.
Instead of showing restraint, the heir sent men to assassinate the victim's mother, who had been tirelessly seeking justice.
When this reached Zhuo Qiubai's ears, the justice-driven master took matters into his own hands, killing the Coles heir along with over a dozen family bodyguards.
The assassination of a direct descendant was a direct affront to the Coles family's pride.
In their fury, the Coles family used their vast intelligence network to track down Zhuo Qiubai and issued the global kill order.
Reward for killing Chinese martial arts master Zhuo Qiubai: $200 million USD.
In Chinese martial arts, 'Grandmaster' was a title reserved for those who reached S-rank strength.
$200 million to kill an unaffiliated S-rank martial artist was an astronomical sum.
In the past, 'Wolf' had charged a maximum of $100 million to eliminate an S-rank target.
$200 million was typically the price for assassinating small-country leaders, terrorist masterminds, or rebel commanders.
For a lone S-rank martial artist like Zhuo Qiubai, the ceiling was usually $100 million.
The $200 million bounty showed just how furious the Coles family was.
I hope Zhuo Qiubai survives the Coles family's hunt, Jiang Hao thought, not wanting his master's close friend to fall to assassins.
He continued scrolling through the news.
As a gold member, he could access articles from the past three years.
Having been in seclusion for a year, he was eager to catch up on major events in the dark world, especially regarding his organization, 'Wolf.'
After sifting through the headlines, he found a piece about 'Wolf.'
The news was from eight months ago, four months after Black Butterfly had declared him dead.
The report stated: Following the death of 'Wolf' leader 'Wolf King,' the organization's fourth-ranking member, 'Sky Wolf,' became the new leader.
Reading this, Jiang Hao froze. He had assumed the second-in-command, Lone Wolf, would take his place, not Sky Wolf, the fourth.
Whether by seniority or individual strength, Lone Wolf was the obvious choice.
What was going on?
Jiang Hao was filled with questions.
On a personal level, he had hoped Lone Wolf would succeed him.
His feelings toward Sky Wolf were mixed.
Sky Wolf was always smiling, but his thoughts were inscrutable. Jiang Hao prided himself on reading people, yet he could never see past Sky Wolf's cheerful facade.
He wanted to know the reason, but as a 'dead' man in this world, contacting the organization would risk exposing that he was alive.
When you're no longer in charge, you don't meddle in its affairs. For now, besides breaking through to Huajing, Jiang Hao had other priorities.
Like visiting his master. Since joining 'Wolf,' he hadn't seen his master once.
It wasn't that he didn't want to—he simply didn't want his identity to bring trouble to his master or let him know he'd become an assassin.
He also had to visit and care for Red Wolf's family.
It was Red Wolf's dying request.
Red Wolf had sacrificed himself to save Jiang Hao, allowing him to escape. Jiang Hao was duty-bound to honor his final wish.