Chapter 79

“Nothing, I was just talking out of boredom!” Dong Xinlei understood the old man’s intention—to train him as the next successor of the Hongmen. He thought Xie Wendong should learn more about the world of martial arts first. Especially given his personality, his actions wouldn’t be well-received in that world.

Xie Wendong chuckled and didn’t take it to heart. When they arrived at the classroom, Dong Xinlei followed him in. Although everyone knew he wasn’t from their class, no one asked questions. The class advisor was old and senile; he couldn’t even remember all his own students, let alone deal with other matters. His job was simply to take attendance before class and relay any announcements from the school. The advisor, surnamed Fu, was in his sixties and should have retired long ago, but he came to the adult education program to spend his days there, earning over 2,000 yuan per month.

The class was “Marxist Principles,” the most notorious course, known for its dull, boring, and useless content. Coupled with the teacher’s “fantastic” lectures and his uniquely “charming” voice, the students fell asleep one after another, snoring loudly. The teacher had once said, “I know this course is boring. You can sleep in class, but no snoring!”

Xie Wendong thought that if he recorded part of the teacher’s lecture and played it when the dorm lights went out, it would surely help fix everyone’s problem of not wanting to sleep at night.

By the end of the second class, Dong Xinlei could no longer hold back. He said to Xie Wendong, “Bro Dong, I only had a piece of bread for lunch. Let’s go out and eat something now!”

Wen Zi opened her sleepy eyes upon hearing their voices and asked, “Is school over?! Let’s go quickly then!”

Xie Wendong shook his head. Even he found the class boring, let alone Dong Xinlei and Wen Zi. He took out a meal card and generously said, “Sure, you two go eat. I’ll use my card! Haha!”

The three went to H University’s cafeteria. Xie Wendong bought a Coke and handed the meal card to Dong Xinlei, then went to watch TV. It was showing a video of China’s newly appointed prime minister, Zhu Rongji, answering reporters’ questions. As Xie Wendong watched, snickering sounds came from beside him. He turned to see a handsome young man sitting about three meters away, his eyes flashing with disdain from time to time. When the young man noticed Xie Wendong looking at him, he nodded and smiled at him.

Xie Wendong found this person interesting and asked, “It seems you really look down on this new prime minister?!”

“Haha!” the man laughed. “Those in power are all the same!”
Xie Wendong was taken aback, not because of what he said, but because of his stiff pronunciation. He asked, “Aren’t you Chinese?”
The man replied, “You’re right. I’m Japanese!”
“Oh!” Xie Wendong nodded. Japanese people don’t look much different from Chinese people, and his appearance was quite Chinese. If it weren’t for his stiff pronunciation, it would be hard to tell he was Japanese. Although Xie Wendong didn’t have a good impression of Japan, it wasn’t to the point of wanting to kill someone. Talking to a native Japanese person for the first time was somewhat novel. He smiled and said, “Your Chinese is quite good. Are you here to study in China?”
“Mm! My Chinese name is Wu Ming. It’s great to meet you!” The man extended his hand.
“I’m Xie Wendong!” The two shook hands. Xie Wendong asked, “What are you studying in China?”
“I’m studying Chinese history! I’m very interested in ancient peasant uprisings in China!” Wu Ming said, somewhat absorbed. “As long as there are classes, there will be no equality. Inequality naturally leads to resistance.”
“Oh!” Xie Wendong wasn’t interested in this. He asked, “I saw you looking down on China’s leaders just now. What do you think of Japan’s leaders?”
Wu Ming sneered, “They’re all the same—old fossils. Look at Japan’s parliament; its members are all old men in their fifties. The same is true in China! Those in power are old men who are almost dead. They’re conservative in thinking, unable to act decisively, lacking the courage of the young. They should have stepped down for the young long ago! A perfect society shouldn’t have a government…” Wu Ming stopped and exclaimed in surprise, “We must be meeting for the first time, right?!”
Xie Wendong didn’t understand why he asked that. He nodded and said, “That’s right!”
“Damn it! I don’t know why I’m telling you this. Besides, you won’t understand anyway. Hehe, one day I’ll change this situation. Emperors, prime ministers, countries—everything is garbage!” After saying that, Wu Ming stood up and left. After walking a bit, he turned back and said, “Mr. Xie, don’t think I’m crazy. I’m perfectly normal! Although it’s our first meeting, you give me a familiar feeling. Actually, you and I are the same kind of person!” With that, he threw a small red card at Xie Wendong and left the cafeteria.
The card landed on the table in front of Xie Wendong. Earlier, Xie Wendong had indeed thought he was mentally unstable. A normal person suddenly turned into a delusional one. Sighing, Xie Wendong picked up the red card and examined it closely, but found nothing special about it.

At that moment, Dong Xinlei came over and asked, “Brother Dong, who was the person who was talking to you just now?”
“A Japanese! Seems to be a Japanese with some mental issues, hehe!” Xie Wendong shook his head and laughed. He handed the red card to Dong Xinlei and said, “This was given to me by him before he left. Have you seen something like this before?”
Dong Xinlei took the red card and examined it carefully. His expression turned serious as he said, “If I’m not mistaken, this card is… Brother Dong, what did he say to you?”
Xie Wendong repeated the unnamed man’s words and laughed, “What else do you think it is if not delusion?”
Dong Xinlei paused for a moment before saying, “That’s right! That man isn’t delusional. This card comes from a terrorist organization! That man must be a member of Japan’s biggest terrorist organization—the Red Army!”
“Pfft!” Xie Wendong spat out the cola he had just taken a sip of in surprise. “What? Japan’s biggest terrorist organization?” He had never heard of the Red Army, but he knew about terrorist organizations—they were always associated with assassinations, sabotage, and bombings.
“That’s correct!” Dong Xinlei waved the card in his hand. “Only the Red Army has things like this; no one dares to imitate them! I just don’t know what the Red Army is doing in China. Are they tired of causing trouble in Japan and planning to do the same here? And what’s the purpose of giving you this card? I don’t know much about the Red Army either.”
Xie Wendong chuckled, took the red card back from Dong Xinlei, and asked, “Is the Red Army an organization that causes destruction?”
Dong Xinlei nodded. “You could say that, but it’s not absolute. Anyway, it’s an anti-government organization that believes in anarchism! The Red Army has orchestrated many bombings in Japan. I don’t know how many people have died at their hands!”
After hearing this, Xie Wendong smirked and muttered to himself, “Terrorist organizations! Interesting. Maybe I can use them to deal with the Soul Group in the future! Working with them might bring many benefits…”
Seeing this, Dong Xinlei shook his head, feeling that Xie Wendong seemed to know nothing about fear. The Red Army wasn’t an ordinary terrorist group. Since its establishment in the 1960s and 1970s, it had been resisting the Japanese government without being eliminated—not by chance, but because it truly had strength. Working with them would undoubtedly be like associating with tigers.
In fact, Xie Wendong was just thinking it through. He wasn’t arrogant enough to think he had the strength to cooperate with the Red Army, nor did he consider himself a terrorist.

In the evening, Xie Wendong received a call from the elder, asking him to come over for dinner. Xie Wendong had originally planned to gather with Li Shuang and other brothers at a restaurant that night, but he didn’t want to refuse the elder’s kind invitation. After all, the elder acted as his mentor, and he felt an indescribable respect for him.

Dong Xinlei drove Xie Wendong there. During his previous visit, he hadn’t had a chance to properly observe the villa due to his injuries. This time, he specifically asked Dong Xinlei to drive around the villa, and his impression was one word—huge! A villa of such size must have cost a fortune. Xie Wendong couldn’t help but wonder, “Elder Lei, the Hongmen don’t seem to have much influence in City H! How come they own such a large villa?”

Dong Xinlei laughed and said, “What’s this? It was bought for just over two million. The old master can’t stay in hotels when he comes to City H—they’re unsafe and the service is poor. So he specially bought this villa to stay in temporarily!”

Temporarily?! Xie Wendong thought to himself, How can they exaggerate like this?! A villa worth over two million is just for temporary use?! Dong Xinlei noticed Xie Wendong’s expression and laughed loudly, “I’m not exaggerating. Not only here, but wherever the old master goes to a new place, he first buys a villa. It’s the same in City J. After all, his safety comes first. This amount of money is nothing to the Hongmen.”

Xie Wendong was shocked. He had never asked the elder how the Hongmen made their money. He asked, “What kind of business does the Hongmen do?”

“There are tons. You’ll have to ask the old master himself. I can’t even remember exactly how many types there are.” Dong Xinlei was telling the truth. The Hongmen were involved in all sorts of businesses, both legitimate and illegal, even doing business with several countries.

Xie Wendong nodded, thinking he must ask the elder clearly later. This was valuable information. He didn’t want to spend his life dealing in drugs and remaining in the shadows. The longer he stayed in the underworld, the more he wanted to emerge into the light. Legitimate business was the best cover for their criminal nature.

As soon as the car entered the villa’s compound, Xie Wendong saw the elder standing downstairs, smiling. He quickly got out of the car and went over, saying respectfully, “Elder, I’m sorry for making you wait!”

“Hehe, it’s good that young people know how to be polite, but don’t be too formal—lose your spirit!” The elder took Xie Wendong inside. Xie Wendong felt something was missing and suddenly remembered that Jin Rong wasn’t there. He asked, “Elder, where’s Rongrong?”