Upon hearing the news about Hou Da, Hou San, who had been on the verge of losing consciousness, suddenly jolted awake and struggled to lift his head, urgently asking, "Where's my big brother? Where's my big brother?"

"Don't worry, you'll be reunited with him very soon!" He Biao said with a cold laugh, then turned to a subordinate standing by him and said angrily, "Are you fucking waiting to die here? I told you to bring him in, what are you waiting for, me to do it myself?"

The subordinate said in a low voice, "No, Biao, I'm afraid... I'm afraid you'll have to see for yourself..."

"Fuck, can't even handle this little thing, were you all raised on shit?" He Biao cursed, stood up, and went upstairs. As soon as he entered the hall, he heard Hou Da's voice, strained to the breaking point, "Give me back my brother, or I'll blow this place up and go down with you all!"

He Biao's expression changed at once, and he fixed his gaze to see Hou Da standing next to a large oil drum, holding a lighter in his hand. A crowd had formed around him, yet no one dared move a step closer. Smelling the odor, the drum was filled with gasoline, and if it were lit, anyone nearby would be done for.

"Bastard, you've started playing with gasoline now!" He Biao exploded with anger, pointed at Hou Da, and said, "You motherfucker, go ahead and light it, see what happens. Your brother's down there too, if you dare to light it, he'll die with you!"

Hou Da froze for a moment, then said furiously, "If we die, we die together, I'm fucking ready for it. My son is gone, my son is gone, I want to die with you all!"

The more Hou Da spoke, the more agitated he became, and he actually lit the lighter in his hand. Even He Biao got scared and hurriedly stepped back, saying urgently, "You... be fucking careful, if you burn down my teahouse, your whole family won't have enough to pay for it!"

"Send my brother up!" Hou Da roared, his voice ragged, and he moved the lit lighter closer to the oil drum, shouting, "Send up my brother now, or let's all die together!"

"You..." He Biao was furious yet afraid that Hou Da really would light the fire and they would all die.

He Biao said sternly, "Put down the lighter first, we can talk this out!"

Hou Da roared, "Send up my brother!"

"Fine, fine, I'll send your brother up, just calm down!" He Biao gestured and several subordinates immediately went downstairs to bring up Hou San, who was covered in blood.

Seeing the state Hou San was in, Hou Da's eyes turned red, and he asked urgently, "Third Brother, Third Brother, how are you? Are you okay?"

Hou San barely opened his eyes, saw Hou Da in that state, and said, "Big brother, you're... you're still the toughest..."

Seeing that Hou San could still speak, Hou Da breathed a sigh of relief but just as he was about to speak, a man sneaked up behind him.

"Big brother, be careful!" Hou San shouted in a hurry, but it was too late, as Hou Da was tackled to the ground, and the lighter was snatched from his hand.

"Fuck!" He Biao breathed a sigh of relief, walked up to Hou Da, kicked him in the chest, and cursed, "Bastard, trying to scare me, looks like you're tired of living. Damn it, take these two down, today I'm sending the brothers on a reunion in the Underworld!"

A few men came and carried Hou Da and Hou San down to the basement, hoisting them up with ropes. He Biao, holding a whip, walked down and circled in front of them for a while, and said, "Bastard, the Hou family's got guts. Trying to play games with me? Are you motherfuckers even worthy?"

As he spoke, He Biao unfurled his whip and lashed it against Hou Da, who cried out in pain as if he were a ghost wailing and a wolf howling.

"Don't hit him, hit me if you have the guts! Hit me!" Hou San yelled furiously.

"Don't you motherfuckers rush, I'll get to you in a moment," He Biao said as he whipped Hou Da a few more times, still feeling unsatisfied. He then turned and waved his hand, saying, "Damn it, hang up that teacher and his son too. Talking about brotherhood? Tonight, I want to see just how far you can take it!"

A few men went to grab Gu Yunzhi while Gu Xianping rushed to embrace him, pleading, "Let him go, he's just a child, please, let him go..."

"Get out of the way!" One of the men kicked Gu Xianping in the face, flipping him to the ground.

Gu Yunzhi's eyes filled with blood as he suddenly bent down, grabbed the man's leg, and bit down fiercely.

"Ah!" The man screamed in agony, and despite several struggles, he couldn't break free, trembling with pain. He reached for a bottle nearby and smashed it down on Gu Yunzhi's head.

"I'll teach you to bite!" Despite the fact that Gu Yunzhi was a child, the man showed no mercy. If the bottle had hit its mark, it would have cracked open Gu Yunzhi's skull.

But at that critical moment, a bottle suddenly flew in from the direction of the doorway, hitting the man on the head. The man swayed, and finally collapsed to the ground, the bottle in his hands also shattering on the floor.

Everyone was stunned, no one had seen who threw the bottle.

"Who the fuck did that?" He Biao yelled furiously.

"Picking on a child, you really have the heart for it!" Along with a taunting voice, everyone turned to look, only to see Ye Qing leisurely walking in from the doorway.

"Ye Qing!?" Gu Xianping and Hou Da exclaimed in unison, while Hou San could hardly contain his joy, knowing full well the capabilities of Ye Qing.

"Mr. Ye, I thought you turned into a shrinking turtle, but surprisingly you've got guts, daring to show up in front of me!" He Biao laughed brazenly, "I was just looking for you. We didn't have enough fun fighting today, and I want another one-on-one battle with you. Damn it, dare you not run away this time?"

"Sorry, I'm afraid I don't have time today!" Ye Qing strolled into the underground room, completely ignoring everyone there as if they were nothing, and walked over to help Gu Xianping up, saying, "Teacher Gu, are you alright?"

"Ye... Ye Qing, how did you get here?" Gu Xianping's face was full of surprise, "You should leave quickly, these people are no good."

"I know, I'm here to get you out," Ye Qing replied with a light smile.

"Get them out? Who the hell are you to do that?" He Biao laughed boisterously, "In terms of fighting, you can't beat me. In terms of numbers, look at how many brothers I have here. On what basis can you..."

He Biao's laughter stopped abruptly when he saw a group of soldiers burst in, immediately pinning down several men near the door to the ground.

The one leading the team was Wang Qian'an, who commanded his men as they stormed in, bellowing, "Catch them all!"

A group of well-trained, armed soldiers against a ragtag mob—the outcome of the battle was clear. In less than a minute, everyone in the room was compliantly squatting on the ground, heads in hands.

Ye Qing also released Hou Da and Hou San, who still had no idea what was happening. Hou Da, clutching his wound, stared in astonishment at the soldiers and asked, "What... what's going on here?"

At that moment, Wang Qian'an came over, saluted Ye Qing, and reported, "Mr. Ye, everyone has been captured, but He Biao is missing!"

"He Biao is missing?" Ye Qing was taken aback for a moment. In this underground room, where could He Biao have run to?

Hou San whispered, "There are two passages in this underground room, He Biao has probably escaped already."

Ye Qing frowned, He Biao was indeed cunning. He must have seen the soldiers coming and instantly fled through that passage. A minute had already passed; chasing him now would surely be difficult.

Ye Qing instructed, "Take all these people back, and prepare a vehicle for me, to take them to the hospital."

"No problem!" Wang Qian'an immediately went to handle these matters.

Watching the busy soldiers around them, Hou Da, Hou San, and Gu Xianping all wore faces of shock. Hou Da couldn't help but ask, "Ye Qing, what... what's the deal with these people?"

Ye Qing smiled, "Oh, these are troops I temporarily borrowed from Jiuchuan County's garrison to help out."

"Temporarily borrowed?" The three men's eyes widened in disbelief. What did he mean by 'temporarily borrowed'? Could troops just be borrowed like that? What kind of a person was Ye Qing to be able to borrow so many men? Even Old Fifth Yang, who had a good relationship with Ye Qing, would have to walk on eggshells around the military district and certainly couldn't have soldiers doing his bidding. So how did Ye Qing manage to borrow them from the army?

These questions remained unanswered by Ye Qing for the time being. Wang Qian'an had arranged for a vehicle to specifically take them to the hospital.

With the military insignia on the vehicle, no one at the hospital dared to stop it; the vehicle went straight in. Although the hospital staff had never dealt with the military district, having a military vehicle bring in patients was a first. No one dared neglect them, several doctors hurried over, and a few hospital beds were promptly wheeled out, their response even swifter than that of an ambulance.

Hou Da, Hou San, Gu Xianping, and Gu Yunzhi were admitted to the hospital, along with Hou San's brothers who were also brought in. With the military vehicle parked outside, issues like deposits weren't even raised; the doctors immediately began to treat the patients.

Ye Qing followed closely behind Gu Xianping but fortunately, the injuries of Gu Xianping and Gu Yunzhi weren't severe, mainly requiring some bandaging.

"Ye Qing, could you... could you do me a favor..." Gu Xianping lay weakly on the hospital bed, "Chen Jun... Chen Jun is badly injured, could you... could you find someone to save him? He's almost... almost dead..."

"Where's Chen Jun?" Ye Qing was shocked, "Isn't he in the hospital?"

Gu Xianping replied, "He was... He was originally in the hospital, but we had no money for the deposit, and the... the nurses threw him out..."

"Damn, are these nurses even human?" Ye Qing couldn't help but curse, urgently asking, "Where is Chen Jun now?"

Gu Xianping shook his head, "I don't know, you... you should ask the nurses, they are the ones... who threw him out... Ye Qing, you must find him quickly, I'm afraid... I'm afraid he won't last long..."

Ye Qing nodded gravely, "Teacher Gu, don't worry, leave it to me!"