Chapter 425

Chapter 425 I Am Alive, Someone Has Died

In fact, Zhang Ziwei was wearing underwear, but her dress had been torn apart, and she couldn’t exactly walk out in just a bikini, could she?

Even if Su Rui had no shame looking, she still had her own dignity to consider. She may have feelings for him, but she had no intention of seducing him!

Catching the scent of shower gel drifting through the gap in the bathroom door, and catching a glimpse of Zhang Ziwei’s snow-white shoulders, Su Rui couldn’t help but feel his mind wandering.

One room, a man and a woman alone together, with this kind of intimate atmosphere — it was hard not to let his thoughts run wild.

He was a normal man after all, so it was no surprise that such thoughts crossed his mind. Still, Su Rui smiled and said, “Come out wrapped in a bath towel first. I’ll figure something out about the clothes.”

Zhang Ziwei gave a gentle nod, her pretty face flushed red. “Okay.”

But Su Rui’s next words made her face turn even redder: “Besides, it’s really not a big deal. It’s not like you were fully exposed anyway — just think of it as being at a swimming pool.”

When Zhang Ziwei stepped out of the bathroom, Su Rui’s eyes lit up.

The bath towel barely covered Zhang Ziwei past her hips. Looking at her long, smooth, snow-white legs and her delicate skin, Su Rui gave a teasing thumbs-up and said, “You really are a top-tier beauty.”

“Of course I am.”

Zhang Ziwei shot back unexpectedly, though her pretty face was still flushed red. She sat on the edge of the bed with her legs pressed together, looking every bit like a lotus flower rising from the water.

“Wait here, I’ll go find you something to wear.”

Su Rui didn’t linger his gaze on Zhang Ziwei’s legs, and he certainly wasn’t going to let her walk out in front of people wrapped in just a bath towel. He was back within a few minutes, holding a brand-new women’s summer dress — the tags hadn’t even been removed yet.

Zhang Ziwei couldn’t hide the shock on her face. “Where did you get a new dress?”

“Lifted it.” Su Rui grinned. “There are so many female passengers on this ship — swiping a dress was the easiest thing in the world for me.”

“You… stole it?”

Zhang Ziwei seemed to struggle getting the words out, and her expression was priceless. No matter how hard she tried, she never could have imagined that Su Rui would steal women’s clothing for her sake.

In that moment, she felt both touched and amused.

“But what if someone finds out?” Zhang Ziwei seemed a little uneasy — the word “steal” was still something quite foreign to her.

“Just deny everything.” Su Rui said casually. “Try it on and see if it fits. If it doesn’t, I’ll go swap it for another one.”

Hearing that, Zhang Ziwei nearly burst out laughing.

He stole a dress, and if it doesn’t fit, he’ll go exchange it?

“Actually, don’t worry about it.” Su Rui seemed to be in genuinely good spirits, completely unaffected by the earlier killing. “Go ahead and wear it without a second thought — I left double the money in her suitcase.”

Hearing that, Zhang Ziwei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The journey was short. Over the next few hours, while the passengers on the ship buzzed with talk about the killing, not a single person dared to come to Su Rui’s cabin looking for trouble. The captain, upon learning what had happened, had already called the police.

As long as Su Rui didn’t run, the police would come for him the moment the ship docked.

Su Rui stayed in the cabin with Zhang Ziwei, chatting and laughing, perfectly at ease — seemingly oblivious to the tension spreading throughout the ship.

It wasn’t until two hours before docking that Su Rui finally called Luo Feiliang.

When Luo Feiliang saw who was calling, a wave of complicated emotions washed over him.

Deep down, he absolutely did not want Su Rui to die. From the very beginning until now, he had been firmly in Su Rui’s corner.

Or rather, it wasn’t that he stood on Su Rui’s side — he stood on the side of justice.

But if Su Rui didn’t die, the mysterious kidnapper would not release Luo Feiliang’s wife and daughter, and they would remain in danger.

“You’re still alive?” He picked up the call, and hearing Su Rui’s voice, Luo Feiliang truly couldn’t describe what he was feeling right now.

“I’m alive. But someone else isn’t.” Su Rui said.

“What happened?”

“I was on the passenger ferry from Dongdu back to Ninghai. Ran into a few pieces of trash on board and tossed them into the sea to feed the sharks.” Su Rui said flatly, as if he were describing something completely trivial.

Luo Feiliang felt a tightness in his chest. He knew that if Su Rui put it that way, it was anything but a small matter. The people he’d thrown into the sea were almost certainly not ordinary individuals.

“Who were they?”

“I don’t remember their names. Five of them in total. One seemed to be from the Bai family in the capital, one from the Jiang family, one from the Zhang family, and the other two I couldn’t identify.”

Every single sentence Su Rui said made Luo Feiliang’s heart pound wildly.

The Bai family, the Jiang family, and the Zhang family?

Any one of those three families alone would be more than enough to overwhelm him.

And Su Rui had thrown all of them into the sea at once?

This was recklessness without any limit whatsoever.

Luo Feiliang felt his throat go dry, and he could barely get any words out.

He downed a full glass of water before managing to say with great difficulty, “Are they… all dead?”

“I already told you — all fed to the sharks.” Su Rui said. “I’m really not joking.”

“This is an extremely serious matter. I can only try and see if there’s any way to handle it.” Luo Feiliang thought for a moment and said in a low voice. Su Rui had truly handed him an incredibly difficult problem this time.

“Alright.” Su Rui paused, a faint smile at the corner of his eyes. “Honestly, even if you can’t handle it, I won’t blame you. It’s a thorny situation. Those guys deserved to die, but dying this way is going to cause a certain amount of trouble.”

“I’ll do my best.” Seeing that Su Rui was so understanding, Luo Feiliang let out a sigh and hung up.

Staring at his desk, this man who had always been swift and decisive as head of the national security serious crimes unit truly didn’t know what to do.

He desperately wanted to help Su Rui, but doing so would put his wife and daughter in danger.

“Can someone tell me what I’m supposed to do?”

Luo Feiliang grabbed his hair and buried his face on the desk, his eyes filled with anguish.

On one side was family, on the other was justice — he truly didn’t know how to handle this anymore.

The grudge between Su Rui and the five great families had been forged five years ago. The fact that he had escaped unscathed back then didn’t mean he could do the same this time.

After all, times had changed, and many figures and forces were no longer around. They had long since become dust in the pages of history.

Killing five people at once — and members of powerful families at that — this had truly blown up into something big.

After thinking for several minutes, Luo Feiliang finally grabbed his phone.

“Get me the locations of all direct-line descendants of the Bai, Jiang, and Zhang families right now. Yes, I only want information on direct-line descendants. I need results within half an hour.”

Luo Feiliang said it cleanly and hung up.

He could only hope that the mysterious figure controlling his wife and daughter wouldn’t notice what he was doing.

When all was said and done, he still wanted to stand on Su Rui’s side.

Luo Feiliang quickly identified the crux of the matter. If the victims were collateral-line members of these families, there was still room to maneuver. But if the ones Su Rui had thrown into the sea to feed the sharks were direct-line descendants or even primary heirs, then the storm this incident would unleash would be no less devastating than the night of slaughter five years ago.

“Let’s hope they weren’t direct-line descendants.”

Luo Feiliang closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, as if he had begun to pray.

This kind of mental state was something that would never have appeared in him before.

Fortunately, half an hour later, the news Luo Feiliang had been waiting for arrived — all direct-line descendants of the major families had been accounted for. None were missing.

As for the unlucky individuals Su Rui had thrown into the sea to feed the sharks, they could only be considered fringe members of these families.

Upon receiving this news, Luo Feiliang let out a long, deep breath, and only then did he realize his clothes were soaked through with sweat.

But then another very real possibility occurred to him. Even though everyone Su Rui had killed deserved it, and none of them were direct-line descendants of the five great families, that wouldn’t stop certain people from using this incident to stir up trouble.

Everyone in the five great families harbored bone-deep hatred for Su Rui, and now the Bai family had been added to that list. How could they possibly let this go?

They had failed to bring Su Rui down five years ago — would they really continue to swallow their anger five years later?

The more he thought about it, the more at a loss Luo Feiliang became. So he called Su Rui back.

“You mentioned earlier that someone on the ship called the police, but Ninghai’s city bureau and all its branch stations have received no corresponding report. That means this situation may have already moved beyond my control. You need to watch out for retaliation from those families — they may already know what happened.” Luo Feiliang said in a low voice.

“Got it, thanks.” Su Rui seemed largely unconcerned, and gave a light laugh. “I said I’d buy you a drink last time, and I still haven’t made good on that.”

“There’s plenty of time, no rush.” A complicated, bitter smile tugged at the corner of Luo Feiliang’s mouth.

“Who knows if I’ll make it through this one.” Su Rui let out a rare soft sigh, then laughed. “If everything turns out fine, we’ll drink until we drop.”

“I’ll be waiting for that drink.” Luo Feiliang’s voice was heavy.

Truth be told, if he really put his mind to it, he wasn’t completely powerless in this situation. At the very least, he could take some preparatory action before the five great families had a chance to react.

Su Rui was no fool — he could naturally sense as much.

Of course, he didn’t say it out loud. If those families made their move, a national security serious crimes unit chief like Luo Feiliang wouldn’t pose much of an obstacle to them — he might not even be able to do the bare minimum.

Listening to the words Su Rui had spoken during the call, Zhang Ziwei’s eyes shimmered, her heart filled with guilt.

“It’s all my fault that you’re in this situation.”

Zhang Ziwei said quietly. If Su Rui came to any harm because of this, she would carry the guilt and regret for the rest of her life.