At this moment, Ye Fan's pride as a man of the upper class was utterly shattered. He had always held an unshakable faith in brotherhood, but Xu Ke had just slapped him ruthlessly across the face. A slap that plunged him straight into hell.

"I wasn't trying to deliver a psychological deathblow," Xu Ke sneered. "I just wanted to show you how filthy your circle really is."

Ye Fan laughed maniacally, his eyes blood-red, but he said nothing more. He had no grounds to say anything to Xu Ke anymore.

Xu Ke stood up, looking down at Ye Fan. "Alright, let me send you on your way. Go meet your fourth brother."

At that moment, Ye Fan no longer had his usual spirited and ambitious air. A pool of his own blood was forming beneath him, a wretched sight.

Ye Fan looked up at Xu Ke. "Tell me, when did he decide to move against me?"

"A long time ago," Xu Ke said coolly.

Ye Fan gave a miserable smile. "Xu Ke, you've won... hahaha."

"I should've just killed you earlier!" Grief and rage dripped from Ye Fan's words.

Xu Ke remained silent. There was no point in arguing with a dead man.

The next moment, Ye Fan's head snapped up. With a ripping sound, the skin on his hands tore as he grabbed Xu Ke's flying knife and plunged it directly into his own heart.

THUMP!

Ye Fan's eyes went vacant as he collapsed, his body going limp until all life had faded. In the final instant before his pupils dilated and the light in his eyes vanished, a flicker of regret flashed through them.

And so, less than an hour after the ship had left the harbor, Ye Fan was dead.

***

Xu Ke's expression was unreadable. He didn't know what Ye Fan regretted, nor did he care. All he knew was that he had eliminated a major threat.

"Uncle Wu, let's head back," Xu Ke said, taking out a pill. "Take this. I'm worried you might have been poisoned, too."

"Yes!"

Wang Wu took the pill and swallowed it, then immediately turned and headed for the cockpit.

Xu Ke snapped the colorless, odorless poison incense he had hidden. His gaze fell upon the bodies of Uncle Qiu and Ye Fan. After a moment of thought, he stepped forward and searched them.

A smile touched Xu Ke's lips. There really is a surprise.

It was a Gold Note, the paper smooth to the touch, with "100KG" printed on it. This was a note that could be exchanged for a large quantity of gold at certain overseas institutions. The face value was one hundred kilograms of gold. At the current market price, that was at least forty million.

Satisfaction glinted in Xu Ke's eyes. It seemed this venture had been quite profitable. With this forty million, his net worth skyrocketed. He had spent most of his miscellaneous funds and was down to his last nine hundred thousand. Forty million gave him the capital he needed to buy medicinal herbs and advance his martial arts training.

But then, another important issue occurred to him.

"I wonder if forty million is enough to buy the Dragon Ring..." Xu Ke murmured.

He dismissed the thought and put the note away safely. In China, this note couldn't be exchanged; he would have to ask Duan Chongfeng to handle it for him later.

Besides the Gold Note, Ye Fan only had a cell phone and his necessary identification. It seemed Ye Yunfeng had only given him the note to let him travel light.

While Ye Fan had the Gold Note, Uncle Qiu only had a bank card on him and nothing else. The card was useless without a password. He figured he'd just hand it over to the Martial Alliance later.

***

A short while later, Wang Wu and Xu Ke returned to the harbor.

Yuan Shang and Mai Qing were already standing on the shore, a large contingent of their people behind them.

"Good work!" Yuan Shang came forward but paused when he saw only Wang Wu and Xu Ke disembarking. "Where are Ye Fan and Qiu Changyang?"

He had assumed Xu Ke would bring the two men out.

"Down below," Xu Ke said, pointing downward.

Yuan Shang's pupils contracted. "Dead?"

Xu Ke nodded.

Yuan Shang gasped. After a long silence, he said, "...Damn impressive."

What Xu Ke did didn't violate the Martial Alliance's rules, but Yuan Shang truly hadn't expected him to seize the first opportunity to slaughter Ye Fan. Anyone from the Six Great Families, when faced with such a situation, would have considered leaving some room for maneuver. Times were different now; people weren't so quick to engage in brutal, life-or-death struggles anymore.

Only Xu Ke would be so thorough in eradicating his enemies.

But Yuan Shang also knew why Xu Ke had killed him on the ship. It was because the chances of killing Ye Fan once he returned would have been incredibly low. If Xu Ke hadn't seized this opportunity, he might never have gotten another.

"Go clean it up," Yuan Shang gestured for his men to board.

His subordinates nodded in unison. As they passed Xu Ke, their eyes showed a mixture of surprise and awe.

Xu Ke turned to Mai Qing. "Auntie Mai, what are you doing here?" he asked, a little surprised.

"The Young Miss is occupied at the moment, so she sent me to check on things," Mai Qing replied with a gentle smile.

"Alright. Thank you for the trouble, Auntie Mai."

"It's no trouble."

Xu Ke then walked over to another man and slowly squatted down. It was Xiao Deng, Deng Mingjie.

At this moment, Deng Mingjie and the men who had brought Ye Fan and Uncle Qiu aboard had been restrained.

Seeing Xu Ke walk off the ship, Deng Mingjie's face filled with terror.

How is this possible? When did Xu Ke get on the ship?! I didn't know anything!

"Why?" Xu Ke asked slowly.

Deng Mingjie was undoubtedly a core member of the Wang Family Clan. His attendance at the meeting two days ago was proof enough. Yet he had cooperated with the Ye Family to smuggle someone out of the country. If it weren't for him and Wong Qifu being well-prepared, Ye Fan might already be on foreign shores by now.

But Deng Mingjie didn't answer. He stared at Xu Ke, panicked and frantic. "You... how could a piece of trash like you know?!"

He couldn't fathom how Xu Ke had learned he was transporting someone, much less how he had known precisely which ship Ye Fan was boarding. He had been watching the entire time, from the moment Ye Fan got out of the car until he boarded the ship, and he hadn't seen Xu Ke at all. That was enough to prove Xu Ke had boarded the ship beforehand to set up an ambush!

"Does it matter? Tell me, what did the Ye Family give Wang Tianlu?" Xu Ke's eyes narrowed slightly.

It was child's play for him to find out Ye Fan's escape route. After all, he had his own people inside the Ye Family. Furthermore, his plan was a series of interconnected steps. For one thing, the inspector at the gate had been arranged by Xu Ke to let Deng Mingjie pass. If the inspector had actually given Deng Mingjie trouble and prevented Ye Fan from getting through, Xu Ke wouldn't have been able to ensure Ye Fan left Tianhai, and thus wouldn't have been able to kill him with his own hands.

"Wang Tianlu? What does this have to do with Master Lu? Stop making baseless accusations! The Ye Family asked me to do this," Deng Mingjie said defiantly, though his eyes betrayed his terror.

Xu Ke raised an eyebrow. He wasn't surprised that Deng Mingjie refused to betray Wang Tianlu. After all, knowing the old fox's personality, Wang Tianlu would never have left any loose ends before starting something like this.

"Fine. Since you're taking full responsibility for this, you can go back and accept your punishment."

Since he couldn't get an answer, Xu Ke stood up and turned to leave.

Deng Mingjie's face turned utterly ashen.

I'm doomed!

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