bodyguards to protect his grandparents, and of course he also knew there was an element of surveillance in it. But that did not matter. Wang Renping knew the work he did was of great importance, and it was understandable that Tian Long would send people to watch his grandparents. Besides, it put Wang Renping more at ease, so why not? Yet every day Wang Renping would see those two bodyguards there, chat with them a few words, and only after confirming his grandparents were safe would he leave. He wanted to go inside, but he was afraid his grandparents might ask him questions, and Wang Renping had never once lied to them. So if they really did ask about the Sun family, his betrayal of Sun Jie and all he had done would at once become known to them, and then even if they did not beat him to death, they would be angered to death. But today, as usual, Wang Renping came to his grandparents' residence after work, except that, unlike usual, he did not see the two bodyguards Tian Long had sent! Had they gone to eat? Wang Renping was slightly taken aback, but on second thought it seemed unlikely, because when Tian Long had sent them, he had already given orders that they were to take turns eating while on duty, or have one man buy boxed meals and bring them back, so that one man would always remain at his post and there would never be a moment when no one was guarding and something went wrong. Yet as it happened, when Wang Renping arrived, there was not a single person there. Wang Renping searched around and found no trace of the two nearby, and immediately grew anxious. He could not care about much else and hurried upstairs, arriving at his grandparents' door. He knocked, but there was no answer from inside. Wang Renping's heart tightened instinctively, and he hurriedly took out his key and opened the door! Wang Renping walked quickly into his grandparents' old house, the place where he had grown up, every inch of it achingly familiar. He made a quick circuit of the rooms and found no sign of his grandparents, then turned into the kitchen and found half-made dumplings sitting on the cutting board, beside them the filling and unused dumpling wrappers, clearly a dinner in the making that had not yet been eaten. At the sight before him, Wang Renping nearly lost his footing! What did this mean? It went without saying! His grandparents had been making dinner when something had unexpectedly drawn them from the house... and the two bodyguards Tian Long had sent to protect his grandparents had vanished as well... What on earth was going on? Had loyalists of the Sun family come to his door for revenge? At the thought, Wang Renping broke out in a sweat. But could it be that Tian Long had ordered those two bodyguards to move his grandparents somewhere else? Wang Renping sank into thought again. These past few days were crucial to Tian Long's great undertaking, and he himself was one of the key figures in it. Could Tian Long have done this to coerce him? At the thought, Wang Renping felt it was quite possible, and so he wanted to call Tian Long and ask... But then he feared that if Tian Long had not done it, his asking would make it seem as though he harbored suspicions about Tian Long... At this thought, Wang Renping hesitated.

Just as Wang Renping wavered, a sudden shout came from the doorway: "Wang Renping!" Wang Renping started and jerked his head up toward the door, where he saw a man of about twenty-odd standing in the entrance, staring fixedly at him! When Yang Ce saw that Wang Renping was indeed in the old couple's home, he raced up the stairs at full tilt, summoning the fastest speed of his life and pushing a killer's explosive power to its limit, and by the hardest effort he finally shouted Wang Renping down just before the man could take out his phone and make the call! But this too owed something to Wang Renping's hesitation; had he been decisive, Yang Ce would have lost the initiative—it was truly a victory snatched from the brink of danger! "Who are you!" Wang Renping instantly became wary! His grandparents and the two bodyguards Tian Long had sent had all vanished, and now a young man who knew him—and whom he did not know—had suddenly appeared here. How could Wang Renping not be suspicious? "Are you looking for someone?" Seeing that he had caught up, Yang Ce was no longer anxious; the situation was now firmly in his grasp, so he recovered his usual calm expression and asked mildly. Yang Ce of course knew Wang Renping—Xiao Ma's files contained Wang Renping's photograph—which was how Yang Ce could be certain the man before him was none other than Wang Renping. "Who exactly are you? Why are you here?" Hearing these words, Wang Renping's heart gave a jolt. "How do you know me?" "Don't ask so many pointless questions." Yang Ce frowned. "My patience is limited. I'll ask you one last time: are you looking for someone?" Wang Renping's hand trembled, hovering for a moment at his waist before darting away. He wanted to draw his gun, but did not dare. From the tone of Yang Ce's words, his grandparents seemed to be in this man's hands; if he drew his gun and actually wounded him, would his grandparents not be in danger? At this thought, Wang Renping abandoned the idea of drawing his gun. What he had to do now was first ascertain his grandparents' whereabouts and the identity of the man before him, and then decide. Wang Renping's movement had not escaped Yang Ce's eyes in the slightest, but Yang Ce was not afraid of him drawing his gun, because the flying needle was already pinched in his hand; should Wang Renping make any reckless move, the needle would fly out at the first instant. "Yes. Did you take my grandparents?" Wang Renping asked bluntly. Since the other man disliked beating around the bush, he might as well not waste words either; at present nothing mattered more than his grandparents' safety, and circling about would do him no good at all—clearly Wang Renping understood this well. "I thought you had stopped caring about them. Take the gun from your waist and throw it to me," Yang Ce said with a smile. Although Yang Ce feared Wang Renping might be armed, he did not want to be overconfident; disarming an opponent was the most natural thing in the world. Sometimes it was not that one feared the other side would resist, but that only by doing so could one display one's own strength. Wang Renping's gun was tucked at his waist, and now that winter had set in everyone wore thick winter clothing, so the gun at his waist was completely invisible from the outside. That Yang Ce told him to throw the gun at his waist to him was precisely what astonished Wang Renping—how had Yang Ce discovered he was carrying a gun at his waist? Yang Ce saw Wang Renping's astonishment, but of course he would not tell him about his ability. Yang Ce merely smiled and said, "Your hand just hovered at your waist, as if you wanted to pull something out, but then you stopped. At that distance, a weapon you would draw to attack me—what else could it be but a gun? Or are you in the habit of throwing flying knives?" At these words Wang Renping realized with a start that this was how Yang Ce had deduced he was carrying a pistol at his waist. Now that Wang Renping had confirmed that the man before him was the one who had taken his grandparents, he also knew that resistance was pointless and would only make things worse for them. So Wang Renping, with hardly any hesitation, drew the gun from his waist and tossed it directly to Yang Ce. Yang Ce was not afraid he might fire at him while throwing the gun: first, at the slightest suspicious movement the flying needle in his hand would be loosed; second, Yang Ce had already sized Wang Renping up and knew him to be a devoted son—since he had learned his grandparents were in Yang Ce's hands, he would certainly not entertain any reckless ideas, or else he would not have thought of drawing his gun and then abandoned the notion at once. Catching the pistol