Chapter 65

The leader’s eyes grew moist as he weakly said, “Xiao Qi, I’m sorry to you. But… but they forced me. Yesterday at noon, when I came back from the cafeteria, five or six of them grabbed me and said they would kill me if I didn’t tell them where you were. I was so scared that I told them about the side door you often used to come back through. I really didn’t expect them to kill you. I… can you forgive me?”
Xie Wendong took a deep breath. Seeing the leader’s guilty and weak expression, he remembered himself in middle school—what was the difference between him and the leader now? Both were just as cowardly and weak. What could he do to the leader? Hit him? Scold him? Or kill him? Xie Wendong smiled bitterly and said gloomily, “When I came back, I made up my mind silently—no matter who betrayed me, they wouldn’t end up well!”
The leader shuddered at these words, recalling Xie Wendong’s vicious appearance during the fight in front of the disco. He was too scared to speak. Xie Wendong sighed, “I’ll treat this as if it never happened. I hope there won’t be a next time. If you don’t want to be bullied, you have to be stronger than others! Think about it carefully!”
After saying that, he left the leader standing there in shock. Xie Wendong returned to the dormitory, his hatred for the Soul-Reclaiming Gang growing deeper. He didn’t mention this incident to the others in the dormitory. If they found out, the leader wouldn’t be able to stay there anymore. Xie Wendong still felt some pity for him—of course, it was also because he saw his own past self in the leader.
The next day, Xie Wendong and Wang Guohua went to the DL area to check out that disco. The location was okay, but there were two other ones not far away, making competition fierce. Wang Guohua wasn’t very focused on this place either, as business was sluggish.
After examining it for a while, Xie Wendong shook his head, showing dissatisfaction. Wang Guohua apologized, “Brother, business here is a bit slow. I can always lower the price a bit.” In fact, Wang Guohua already considered this disco a burden. It would be best to sell it to Xie Wendong without incurring losses.
Xie Wendong asked indifferently, “Brother Wang, then how much do you think?”
Wang Guohua thought for a moment before gritting his teeth and saying, “What do you think of 600,000?”
Jiang Sen, who was listening nearby, thought it was fair—this price was roughly equal to the cost. Xie Wendong looked around and shook his head, saying, “Business here isn’t good. Even if I buy it, I might not be able to make a profit.”
“Alright, we’re brothers. I won’t say more. How about 550,000?”

Xie Wendong smiled inwardly. How could he miss those fifty thousand yuan? Bargaining was just for show, to make Wang Guohua think he was a suitable buyer for this nightclub. Six hundred thousand yuan was already very satisfactory. After much thought, Xie Wendong reluctantly agreed, “Alright. Fifty-five thousand. I’ll buy it!”
Wang Guohua asked, “Brother, when do you think we should go through the formalities?”
“It’s not urgent. Whenever you’re free, Brother Wang, we’ll do it then!”
“Hehe, I think it’s better to hurry up. Let’s do it this afternoon!”
This suited Xie Wendong’s plans exactly. He nodded in agreement and then said, “By the way, my friend is coming from City J tomorrow, bringing some goods. Let Brother Wang check out the quality of our products!”
“Oh! That’s great! Brother, tomorrow… no matter what time, just come to Xin Qingnian when the goods arrive! Haha!” Wang Guohua had only heard Xie Wendong say the purity was high but still wasn’t fully convinced without seeing it in person. Seeing the samples would surely make him happy.
The two talked for a while before parting. On the way back to school, Jiang Sen asked, “Brother Dong, when are we going to take action against him?”
Xie Wendong replied with a smile, “It’s not urgent. I’m waiting for the right opportunity.”
In the afternoon, Xie Wendong and Wang Guohua completed all the contracts, transfer procedures, and notarizations. Wang Guohua was very happy after receiving the money. He seemed to regard Xie Wendong as one of his own and tried to pull him for a meal, but Xie Wendong politely declined.
Late at night, in the eastern part of District N in City H, Brother Wu had a cast on his arm, bandages on his nose, and his injuries had just started to heal when he went to a nightclub to cause trouble. He brought four or five underlings and invited five or six girls to drink together. Since being injured by Xie Wendong, his superiors were very disappointed in him. Even he felt his status in the gang was plummeting. The usual minor gang leaders used to be polite to him, but now they ignored him completely.
The more Brother Wu thought about it, the angrier he became, his eyes bulging and his nose snorting. The girl pouring him wine was startled and accidentally spilled it on his pants. With all his anger nowhere to vent, he saw this as an opportunity. He slapped the girl and cursed, “Damn it! Are you blind? Spilling wine on my legs—are you trying to get killed?”
The girl was knocked to the ground by Brother Wu and cried, covering her face. The other girls quickly stepped in to stop him, pushing him away and kicking the girl on the ground several times. “Damn you, bitch! Bitch! …”
The chaos attracted the attention of others, who turned to look. The nightclub manager came over, followed by six or seven burly men, and shouted, “Stop it!”

Bro Wu turned to look at the manager and snapped, “You’re the boss here? Damn it, your girl is an idiot—she poured wine all over my pants! What do you suggest I do?”
The manager was about to get angry when someone behind him, underestimating Bro Wu’s appearance, whispered in his ear, “Brother, this guy is the leader of the Soul Reclamation Group. There’s no need to offend them over a girl!”
Hearing this, the manager nodded and smiled, “Heh, it’s our fault. Sir, we’ve already hurt your guy—please give us some face and let it go!”
Bro Wu shook his head, glanced at the girl groaning on the ground, and felt his anger subside. He told his men, “Let’s go! Damn it, coming to this shitty place—what bad luck!” He then said to the manager, “I’ll give you a break this time! Be more careful next time!” With that, he and his men left. The manager stood there, fuming, wanting to beat him up but fearing unnecessary trouble for his gang, so he had to hold back.
Bro Wu cursed as he led his men out of the nightclub. Not far away, several men with their mouths covered by black cloth and knives in their hands rushed out of a dark alley. Without warning, they started slashing. Bro Wu reacted fastest; despite being injured, he managed to dodge one of the attacks. His men weren’t so lucky and were quickly killed.
A man with a student-style haircut charged at Bro Wu, slashing swiftly. Bro Wu screamed in fear and rolled far away to avoid the attack. Before he could get up, the man was already in front of him, stabbing at him. Bro Wu tried to dodge but was too slow. The knife pierced just below his collarbone.
“Ah!” Bro Wu cried in pain as cold sweat poured down his forehead. He stared at the masked man and said shakily, “Who… who are you? If you’ve got guts, show your face!”
The man pulled down the black cloth from his mouth and said calmly, “I told you, you don’t need to know!”
Bro Wu’s mouth fell open as he pointed at him, “It’s… it’s you!” Realizing who it was, he groaned inwardly—today was going to be tough.
It was Xie Wendong. He shook the knife still embedded in Bro Wu’s body and sneered, “I’m glad you still recognize me, but your mistakes are unforgivable!” With a strong pull, he pulled the knife out. Bro Wu groaned in pain, nearly passing out. Seeing Xie Wendong raise the knife to stab again, he instinctively rolled aside. Drawing on some unknown strength, he quickly got up and ran toward the nearby nightclub.
Xie Wendong cursed himself for being careless and chased after him with his knife.

Desperate to survive, Wu Ge unleashed all his strength and ran at full speed, keeping a five-step distance from Xie Wendong. Upon reaching the entrance of the nightclub, he was overjoyed—entering meant his life would be saved, as the other party wouldn’t dare commit violence in front of so many people. Just as he was about to go in, a woman appeared out of nowhere at the entrance and collided head-on with him. Wu Ge was knocked back a step, his body swaying. Seizing the opportunity, Xie Wendong stepped forward without hesitation and stabbed him in the back. Wu Ge’s eyes widened as he stared at the woman who had collided with him, filled with resentment. Ironically, it was the same woman he had just beaten. Xie Wendong grasped the handle of the knife and pulled it out; Wu Ge’s body slowly collapsed. Xie Wendong’s men arrived shortly after and whispered to him, “It’s all taken care of!” Xie Wendong nodded, looked at the dazed woman on the ground, and smiled, “I hope you didn’t see anything!” The woman didn’t understand what Xie Wendong meant. Seeing him smile at her, she screamed involuntarily. Xie Wendong shook his head helplessly, gave a signal to his men, and strode away. Someone said gloomily, “Blame yourself! You died because of your stupidity!” As he spoke, he raised his knife and walked toward the woman… In just one night, several leaders of the Soul-Reaping Gang were killed. The gang couldn’t find any clues about who was behind it. Rumors in the underworld grew louder—some said various things, but one view was widely accepted: a new gang had invaded H City’s underworld! Yet for some reason, it was the Soul-Reaping Gang that got targeted by this mysterious gang. Some smaller gangs that were often bullied by them even cheered at the idea. That night was undoubtedly the hardest for the Soul-Reaping Gang ever. While they searched the entire city for the mysterious gang, Xie Wendong and Jiang Sen were sitting in a standard room at the Academy Hotel, happily drinking wine and chatting leisurely about the situation in H City’s underworld! Near noon the next day, Jiang Sen brought the smiling Three-Eyes to the Academy Hotel. Xie Wendong had been waiting in the room for a long time. When Three-Eyes entered, he stood up, and the two embraced each other without saying a word, their friendship evident. After a while, Xie Wendong pulled Three-Eyes to sit down. Three-Eyes was one of the earliest “veterans” who had followed Xie Wendong in his struggles, so their bond was deep, needless to say. Though they hadn’t seen each other for just over ten days, they missed each other greatly. The same went for Xie Wendong. Yet the two sat on the sofa in silence for a long time. Sometimes, a glance between close friends conveys more than a thousand words.