Chapter 76

With Sanyan’s words, everyone fell silent. Longtang had the strongest strength within the Wendong Gang. Although Sanyan, the gang leader, wasn’t a cruel person, his methods were still ruthless. Like Xie Wendong, his words were final and never changed. Everyone had seen his strength, and even those from other gangs respected Sanyan to some extent but feared him greatly.

Just as Sanyan was showing his authority, Xie Wendong walked in. Seeing this, he laughed and said, “Hehe, what special day is it today that everyone is here? Do you all have nothing to do?” Though Xie Wendong spoke jokingly, everyone still shuddered at his words.

Sanyan quickly stepped forward, glanced at Xie Wendong from head to toe, and asked concerningly, “Brother Dong, have you recovered? Who was looking for you?”

Xie Wendong replied nonchalantly, “I’m much better! As for the person who was looking for me…” He thought for a moment before saying, “I’ll tell you later. First, let me introduce a new friend to everyone!” With that, Xie Wendong pulled over Dong Xinlei, who was two meters tall, and said to everyone, “This is our new brother. His name is Dong Xinlei, and he’s my bodyguard!”

Jiang Sen’s face turned red. He felt guilty for not being there when Brother Dong was attacked, as it could be considered his own negligence. Although no one had said anything, their expressions clearly showed they blamed him. The fact that Brother Dong had hired a new bodyguard only emphasized this. Jiang Sen felt sad and lowered his head silently. Xie Wendong saw this and, understanding his thoughts, comforted him, “Lao Sen, don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault. I was too careless. To be honest, I should be the one to apologize to you! As for the new bodyguard, I’ll explain it to you later.”

Jiang Sen was moved and couldn’t speak for a while. Xie Wendong saying this might also be a way to win people’s hearts, showing them he wasn’t a petty person. Even in the Three Kingdoms era, Liu Bei would throw his own son to the ground to win Zhao Yun’s loyalty—so a few polite words meant nothing to Xie Wendong.

Dong Xinlei secretly admired him—the person chosen by the old master was indeed reliable. Xie Wendong told the brothers from various gangs to go back and rest, as there was nothing to do today. Then he led the key members upstairs for a meeting. The windows in the meeting room had just been repaired. Touching them, Xie Wendong recalled the dangerous incident and joked with everyone, “These windows can’t be made too strong. There might be more attempts to break them in the future!”

Jiang Sen quickly said, “Brother Dong, don’t worry! Such things won’t happen again!”

Xie Wendong smiled at Jiang Sen, told everyone to sit down, and first said to Sanyan, “The police haven’t questioned us about that incident again, have they?”

Sanyan shook his head and said, “How could that be? Even with Liu Dexin pressing down on things, this is still a major issue. The police came to both sides to investigate later. Liu Dexin seemed to say he found iron plates engraved with the character ‘soul’ on those killers. If I’m not mistaken, they must belong to the Soul Group!”
Xie Wendong nodded and said, “That’s right. They indeed belong to the Soul Group, and they intended to kill me!”
Sanyan slammed the table and shouted angrily, “These Japanese devils are too arrogant! They dare to kill openly in China. Six of our brothers died, and Brother Dong was also injured. We must avenge this!”
“Mm!” Xie Wendong pondered.
He thought it made sense. Whether to avenge or not was a minor issue; the main thing was that he felt his life was under threat. As long as the Soul Group existed, he wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully. He had to deal with them as soon as possible! Now, the Soul Group had replaced the Tiger Gang as his number one enemy. Letting out a sigh of relief, he said to Jiang Sen, “Lao Sen, how far have you gotten with investigating the Soul Group?”
Jiang Sen perked up and said urgently, “The Soul Group is very hidden. Ordinary people don’t even know such an organization exists. But I’ve captured what seems to be a high-ranking member of the Soul Group—a Japanese man. Maybe we can get some information from him!”
“Oh?” Xie Wendong raised his eyebrows. “Where is he?”
Jiang Sen smiled and said, “He’s at New Century. I’ve locked him in a warehouse. That guy is extremely cowardly. He thought we were going to kill him and was so scared he wet himself!” Everyone laughed at that.
Xie Wendong said, “Then bring him here. Let’s see if we can get something out of him!”
Jiang Sen nodded and left the meeting room. After a while, he returned, followed by two brothers who dragged in a middle-aged, obese man with glasses. Xie Wendong glanced at him. If this man grew a ‘neat beard,’ he would definitely look like a ‘Ta Army’ member.
After being brought in, the man was kicked to the ground, letting out a pained groan as he frantically looked around. Xie Wendong smiled slightly and said, “Are you Japanese? Can you understand me?”
The man glanced at Xie Wendong and kept his head down, staying silent. Seeing him act dumb, someone behind him kicked him hard in the back. “Damn it, Brother Dong is talking to you—why act dead?!”
The kick was so strong that the man fell forward, his obese face hitting the ground hard, blood flowing from his mouth and nose. But it worked— the man lay on the ground screaming, “I… I can understand! Stop hitting me!”
Xie Wendong was surprised by the man’s accent. There was no stiffness in his Chinese, and it was a genuine Northeastern accent. Xie Wendong stepped closer and sneered, “Are you Chinese or Japanese?”

The man realized he must be the boss here, Xie Wendong, the one targeted by the Soul Group, and secretly worried about his own safety. Cowardly, he said, “I’m… I’m Japanese! But I grew up in China. I still like China. It’s none of my business that the Soul Group is trying to assassinate you. Please let me go!”
After Japan’s defeat, many of its descendants remained in China, especially in the Northeast. These people grew up there, and thousands of years later, when their relatives in Japan came to China to look for them, most of them returned to Japan. This man was one of them, only to end up as the leader of the Soul Group’s network. San Yan despised such people the most, calling them China’s vermin—those who had eaten China’s food for so many years only to leave without a trace. Annoyed, San Yan stepped forward and asked, “Is it great to be Japanese?”
The man didn’t understand San Yan’s meaning and nodded blankly, saying dullly, “Japan is rich! Much stronger than China. If you let me go, I can help you go to Japan and act as your guarantor!”
“Ah!!” San Yan nodded with a smile. Thinking San Yan was considering his offer, the man hurriedly added, “I’m serious. As long as you let me go, I’ll definitely help you…”
Before he could finish, San Yan swatted him in the face and cursed, “What the hell are you? How dare you say such things!” Grabbing him by the collar, San Yan leaned close to his face and said harshly, “If you weren’t useful, I would have shot you long ago to avenge my dead brothers!”
Frightened by San Yan’s fierce expression, the man was too terrified to speak. Xie Wendong waved his hand for San Yan to release him, then bent down and asked, “Tell me about the Soul Group. Don’t hide anything. If I’m satisfied, I might let you go! If I find out you’re lying, hehe, even one of these guys here could turn you into meat paste!”
The man swallowed hard and looked at Xie Wendong, asking, “You really won’t kill me if I tell you?”
“Haha!” Xie Wendong laughed loudly. “I don’t kill dogs. Go on, talk!”
Though Xie Wendong was insulting him, to the man, it sounded sweeter than music. He quickly said, “I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you everything!” After taking a breath, he continued, “I grew up in China, raised by kind old people. But later, my grandfather in Japan happened to hear about me, and so I…” Seeing Xie Wendong’s murderous gaze, the man couldn’t continue. Suppressing his anger, Xie Wendong gritted his teeth and said, “I told you to talk about the Soul Group, not your life story!”

The man hurriedly said, “Yes, yes, that’s right! I’m talking about the Soul Group! As far as I know, the Soul Group is supported by the left-leaning young forces within the Japanese military, and it was established in collaboration with the Yamaguchi Gang in Japan and several large multinational corporations. I’m not quite sure about its specific goals in China. Later, the Soul Group secretly took control of some smaller gangs to use as its tools—namely, the Soul Reclamation Gang, the Soul Refinement Gang, and the Hidden Soul Gang! Among them, the Soul Reclamation Gang has the largest membership, but most of its members are Chinese; only a few leaders are Japanese!”
Xie Wendong interrupted, “You must be one of those leaders, right?”
The man was shocked and said urgently, “Although I am, the people who tried to assassinate you have nothing to do with me! It was the Hidden Soul Gang!”
Hidden Soul Gang? Xie Wendong thought to himself: He had already been aware of the Soul Refinement Gang, and now another one—the Hidden Soul Gang—had emerged. The power of the Soul Group was truly enormous, with such strong backing. How could he possibly compete with them? Feeling troubled, Xie Wendong asked the man, “Why does the Soul Group want to kill me? Is it because I killed a few key members of the Soul Reclamation Gang?”
“That’s just one reason. The main reason is what Pang Jian said! You must know Pang Jian too—he knows you well. The Soul Group believes you’re too ambitious and cunning. Keeping someone like you around is a huge risk, so they decided to get rid of you. This has nothing to do with me from start to finish! You wouldn’t kill innocents, right?!”
Xie Wendong nodded and asked, “What’s your name? What’s your position in the Soul Reclamation Gang?”
The man cautiously asked, “Should I use my Chinese name or my Japanese name?”
Xie Wendong smiled and said, “Just give me your Chinese name.”
Seeing this, the man smiled, feeling a bit relieved. “My Chinese name is Xu Dageng!”