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The Li Family, a towering tree, fell suddenly, something that almost no one had anticipated, and before which not a single anomaly had occurred.

There were even many who thought that a major figure from the Li Family might ascend to the top leadership position within a year or two.

But who could have anticipated that everything would change almost overnight, and even such a significant figure would be taken down directly by those above...

When the bigwig fell, it dragged down a bunch of unlucky ones; some were beheaded, others imprisoned, and for a while, the whole Ninghai seemed to be filled with tension and paranoia.

Underworld forces were also undergoing rapid changes; Li Rui, who once held absolute dominance in Ninghai, suddenly disappeared as if he had withdrawn long before the incident occurred.

No one knew where he went, or even if he was still alive...

With the loss of Li Rui, the dragon head command, his lieutenants were instantly headless dragons, many were harshly arrested by the police, and the rest were living in constant fear.

An incredibly powerful force was completely dismantled within just half a month.

In all of Ninghai, except for Li Rui, the strongest was now Tiger, with the back support of the Tang Family, someone even Li Rui used to fear.

Now that the threat of Li Rui was gone, Tiger immediately started to counterattack the city aggressively, occupying the entertainment venues that were once the most important money-making tools under Li Rui's control.

The only one not targeted was Bihai Pavilion...

It seems that Tiger also heard some news, quickly taking over the entertainment venues under Li Rui, but he did not touch Bihai Pavilion, despite it being the second-most luxurious club in Ninghai after Elite Salon.

In half a month, Tiger had occupied most of Li Rui's turf, becoming the new underground ruler of Ninghai.

As for the other less significant territories, Tiger didn't bother with them.

He knew well the kind of life he had before; having already eaten the meat and gnawed the biggest bones, it was only fair to let others have a sip of the soup.

Otherwise, even if those small forces wouldn't dare to say anything, who knows what they might do behind the scenes!

Not to mention, Tiger had just taken over those territories, and the number of his subordinates had also quickly expanded, it was a time when the good and bad were intermixed, and he hadn't even stabilized his own backyard yet, so he had no mind to deal with these insignificant matters.

In the past, Tiger only dominated the southern part of the city, and his territory wasn't large, with fewer subordinates, which made them easier to manage.

But now, with a larger territory and more subordinates, many of whom were directly taken over from Li Rui's ranks, these people were not as easy to control as his own.

Nobody could guarantee that among these people there were none who were extremely loyal to Li Rui, and by carelessly allowing such persons close, Tiger might very well be assassinated.

With the police still cracking down hard, to avoid hitting the wrong target and injuring friendly forces, the first thing Tiger did was to purge internally, quickly establishing the framework and backbone of this newly formed force.

By then, even if Li Rui made a comeback, it would be useless; trying to seek revenge or turn the tides would be impossible.

Li Rui had disappeared, no one knew his whereabouts, and even Qin Fang was slightly shocked when he heard this news, becoming even more concerned about his own safety and that of the several women around him.

Li Rui was a formidable man, having built such a powerful force within just a few years, his methods were undoubtedly exceptional.

This time, if not for Qin Fang stealing his safe and extracting such crucial, solid evidence from it, it would have been impossible to bring down that major figure of the Li Family, and of course, Li Rui could not have been defeated either.

But this could only be attributed to Li Rui's complete unexpectedness of Qin Fang's perversion, which led to his downfall—a situation that would have been unavoidable anyhow for anyone else.

But Li Rui was indeed formidable; as soon as the bigwig fell, his men disappeared. Whether they went into hiding or fled the country entirely remained unknown to Qin Fang.

However, Qin Fang had a vague feeling that Li Rui might not have left yet and was very likely hiding in some dark corner, waiting for the person behind the scenes responsible for his downfall to step forward, and then he would immediately strike a fatal blow.

Although Qin Fang only met Li Rui once, they had clashed several times, and Qin Fang felt he understood Li Rui's personality very well, so this feeling was not completely unfounded.

Moreover, it was very likely that Li Rui had already guessed that Qin Fang, his archenemy, was the mastermind behind this.

After all, to take down a top figure of the Li Family, even if the evidence was sufficient and conclusive, it still required exceptionally strong connections to achieve this.

Li Rui had many enemies, but not many had such capabilities—only Tang Cheng and Qin Fang. Ning Weiqiang barely had the ability, but they had no direct conflicts serious enough to warrant such drastic measures.

Tang Cheng and Qin Fang relied on their connections with the Tang Family; if Tang Cheng truly had a way, he would have already taken down Li Rui, and wouldn't be stuck, unable to move in the south of the city like a trapped tiger.

After much consideration, Qin Fang remained the prime suspect…

Qin Fang himself was not too worried; he was very strong and had a natural instinct for danger, making it very difficult to kill him. However, the safety of the several women around him was another story.

Tang Feifei, Xiao Muxue, Wen Yan, Chu Yunxuan, Su Xiaoxiao, and still overseas, Fan Ning—their safety, for someone like Li Rui, was not too much of a challenge at all, practically defenseless…

At this thought, Qin Fang's face showed a hint of worry, his mind rapidly working to figure out how to solve this problem.

...

Perhaps it was as the saying goes: "A couple are birds from the same forest, who fly separately when disaster strikes," under the double blow of a major figure being taken down and Li Rui's disappearance, along with the many relationships involved, this once flourishing and giant Li Family in Ninghai almost disintegrated overnight.

In such times of family ruin, it was everyone for themselves, and the people of the Li Family quickly stripped the involved industries clean.

If company accounts had money, they emptied them immediately and moved it into unrelated, secure accounts, thereby appropriating it for themselves.

Accounts with no money, but with considerable stealth assets, were dealt with by destroying any documents related to these stealth assets and cutting off their linkage to the company, likewise hiding away these assets.

Ultimately, the people of the Li Family realized that their decline was irreversible, and they grabbed whatever they could before total bankruptcy and liquidation.

With this money at hand, even without the major backing of the Li Family, they could still live quite comfortably.

The key was to act quickly and ruthlessly; any later, and the banks might freeze the accounts, leaving them with nothing, not even a little soup to sip.

The Li Family's roots were vast, owning countless properties that were difficult to keep track of; if not for Qin Fang getting hold of detailed accounts and documents, it would have been impossible to know just how deep the Li Family's foundations were.

But even a vast foundation was useless when the support from above collapsed and former protectors were implicated; the time for reckoning had come.

Managing such a massive array of industries, the Li Family had definitely made plenty of enemies, who formerly feared the might of the top figure and had to swallow their grievances; now, things were completely different, they emerged one by one to hit when down and exact revenge…

This was indeed beating a dog when it's down, and now the Li Family was that beaten dog, with everyone ready to land a fierce blow.

After all, the Li Family had been entrenched in Ninghai for nearly twenty years, having infiltrated all sectors and naturally making countless enemies, who had long wanted to deal with them but lacked the courage.

Especially after Li Rui rose to dominate the underground forces, this made these enemies live submissively and breathe cautiously; otherwise, their wealth counted for nothing—any night, they could have been disposed of in the river in their sleep.

Now, everything had changed: the top player was down, and Li Rui had vanished, instantly removing the twin mountains of the underworld and legitimate world off their shoulders.

With their own channels of information, knowing that this incident had had a huge impact and the Li Family had no chance of coming back, they had fewer scruples and immediately joined in on beating the drowning dog, pushing the already crumbling Li Family into an unfathomable abyss…

Especially upon learning through some special channels that the people of the Li Family were already dividing the last of the assets, they began to make their moves.

The industries occupied by the Li Family were actually many very healthy businesses, but unfortunately, managed by unscrupulous people, they ended up in deficit and deep in debt. However, these assets, in the hands of some people, had the potential to quickly restore their true nature.

With the Li Family tree fallen, the people of the Li Family dispersed like monkeys fleeing a falling tree… The once-called number one illustrious Family of Ninghai literally vanished within a fortnight.

Pitifully, though this affair caused uproar in the official circles outside, it was calm among the public, with very few aware of the upheaval at the top levels…

Included among the unaware was a certain young Mr. Li "recuperating" in a hospital! (To be continued. If you like this work, come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it, your support is my greatest motivation.)

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