Chapter 82

He didn’t expect the “a while” mentioned by Xie Wendong to stretch on for a whole month before he returned. During that month, he practiced sword skills and breathing techniques with the old man every day, with hardly any free time. Since he was right-handed, he wore the wrist guard on his left wrist. His palms and backs were covered with cuts of varying sizes from the silver wires, but he never complained. He would just apply some medicine and then continue practicing. Jin Peng, watching this, secretly admired him—he had gone through the same training and knew well the pain involved. At the same time, he also saw another side of Xie Wendong: his resilience!
As long as Xie Wendong set his mind to doing something, he would definitely accomplish it, no matter what the difficulties might be.
The only time Xie Wendong felt relaxed was at night. Jin Peng usually went to bed early, so Xie Wendong would always accompany Jin Rong out of the villa for a walk in the vicinity. The growing closeness between the two scared Xie Wendong. From Gao Huiyu’s perspective, Jin Peng’s perspective, or even his own, he believed it was impossible for him and Jin Rong to become lovers. Reason told him it couldn’t happen, but his heart wasn’t governed by reason. Every time he was with Jin Rong, he felt uplifted—perhaps that was love!
Xie Wendong often lay in bed thinking about these things—about Gao Huiyu and her sisters far away in DL, about the innocent and lovely Jin Rong, and about Peng Ling, who was righteous and valiant. Each of them had their own unique qualities; they seemed so close yet also out of reach. Xie Wendong felt despicable for having feelings for all of them at once. He asked himself more than once whether he really liked them all. Couldn’t one person in the world only have one person they loved the most!?
When faced with things he couldn’t figure out, Xie Wendong usually stopped thinking about them. His motto was, “Pull your head under your wings and be a complete ostrich!” A month could be long or short. Although Xie Wendong felt he had made great progress in sword skills during this time, he was still far behind the old man. He wanted to learn more for a few days, but a call from Jiang Sen forced him to leave and return to the gang.
After being away for over a month, Xie Wendong finally returned to New Century. Everyone heard that Brother Dong had come back and arrived early, knowing that the gang was about to embark on another major operation. After meeting Jiang Sen, Xie Wendong asked directly, “How’s it going? Have you figured everything out?”
Jiang Sen replied in a low voice, “We’ve almost got it all figured out. The five people sent by Old Lei really helped a lot—they’re all excellent talents!” Jiang Sen rarely praised people or used polite words, so if he said so, those five must have their merits.

Xie Wendong nodded and shouted, “Go upstairs for a meeting!”
In the conference room were all the key members of Wendong’s group in City H. Jiang Sen was the first to report the information he had gathered: “The Fire Red Nightclub is located on the west side of the DL district. There are no police stations nearby, and the nearest one is five li away. I think this is also related to the fact that their activities are secret. The Fire Red building has three floors—the first floor is the dance hall, while the second and third floors are likely where the members of the Soul Group hide. There are about fifteen to sixteen rooms on each floor, and the exact number of people is unknown, but it’s likely to be no less than thirty. The top leader is a middle-aged Japanese man in his forties. Here’s his photo!” Saying this, Jiang Sen handed over several secretly taken photos to Xie Wendong.
Xie Wendong took them and examined them closely. The man indeed seemed to be in his forties, wearing glasses. He wasn’t fat, but his face was quite large. He was short in stature and dressed in a gray suit. Xie Wendong put down the photos and asked, “What is his status in the Soul Group?”
Jiang Sen shook his head helplessly. “We don’t know yet. They’re extremely vigilant. Several attempts at secret investigation were detected by them. We wanted to capture someone to ask questions, but we were afraid it might alert them. We’ve already eliminated one of the leaders of the Soul Group Gang; capturing this man would only raise more suspicion! But from his attitude when talking to others and the way others show respect to him, I’m sure he must be the highest-ranking person at Fire Red!”
Xie Wendong nodded and murmured to himself, “Are there only thirty of them?”
Jiang Sen quickly replied, “I think the Soul Group has no more than thirty members. But there are also over a dozen thugs in the dance hall on the first floor. None of them are experts; they’re easy targets!”
Xie Wendong tapped his head thoughtfully and remained silent. Jiang Sen asked, “Brother Dong, although their numbers aren’t large, many of them are experts. And they’re extremely vigilant. We might only have a chance of success if we launch a full-scale attack!”
Xie Wendong didn’t say anything else. Instead, he asked Sanyan, “Has our gang been attacked by other gangs recently? Or have they caused any trouble?”
Sanyan didn’t understand why Xie Wendong asked this and shook his head inexplicably. “No! Things have been calm this whole month. Brother Dong, is something wrong?”
Xie Wendong said, “Logically, the Mighty Tiger Gang should already be aware of our activities in City H. We’ve been old enemies; there’s no reason for them not to retaliate!”
Li Shuang laughed and said, “Brother Dong, you’re being too cautious! Maybe they know we’re extremely strong and don’t dare to provoke us easily!”

“What kind of talk is that?!” Xie Wendong said, “Do you think the Tiger Gang are amateurs? They have the support of the powerful Russian gang Battle Axe. In their eyes, we’re nothing but children! I wonder if they’re plotting something!”
Zhang Yanjiang replied, “Brother Dong, I don’t think so! Both the Tiger Gang and the Soul Reclaiming Gang are supported by foreign forces and both have ambitions to dominate City H. There must be competition there, and the conflicts between them are likely severe. Right now we’re in a tense standoff with the Soul Reclaiming Gang, and the Tiger Gang might want to take advantage of the situation. Once both sides are exhausted, they can eliminate us in one fell swoop. Even if we lose and get wiped out by the Soul Reclaiming Gang, the Tiger Gang can take revenge without risking a single soldier or drawing police attention. If we win against the Soul Reclaiming Gang, they’ll still be severely weakened, and the Tiger Gang will be even happier—losing a strong rival and being able to eliminate us effortlessly. So in any case, it’s in their interest to stay inactive!”
Zhang Yanjiang spoke so much at once, essentially analyzing the Tiger Gang thoroughly. Xie Wendong praised him, saying Zhang Yanjiang’s mind was no less sharp than his own. Nodding, he said, “Yanjiang is right. The Tiger Gang isn’t stupid. Attacking us would cost them too, and it would only benefit the Soul Reclaiming Gang. That’s something they won’t want. This is good news—let’s take the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on the Soul Reclaiming Gang and then deal with those cunning Russians slowly!”
Three-Eyes asked, “Brother Dong, do you have a plan?”
Xie Wendong pondered for a moment before standing up. “Except for the covert team, everyone else, including me, is returning to City J!”
“What?” Everyone in the room was shocked. Return to City J? Were they giving up on City H?
Li Shuang shouted, “Brother Dong, why are we going back to City J? We’ve worked hard to establish two bases in City H—why give them up like this? I’m not afraid of the Soul Reclaiming Gang or the Tiger Gang! I’m willing to take the first strike!”
Three-Eyes complained, “You don’t know anything. Wait until Brother Dong finishes speaking!”
Xie Wendong smiled. “It’s not that I’m afraid of them. The Soul Reclaiming Gang and we are currently in a tense period, so they’re highly vigilant, making a surprise attack difficult. Only if we withdraw from City H might they relax! To make them fully trust us, I’ll go back to City J with everyone else. Only Lao Sen and Lao Lei will select fifty elite members to secretly stay in City H and strike a fatal blow at the right moment! Now do you understand what I mean?”

“Oh!” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that Xie Wendong planned to feign weakness to make his opponent relax, then scheme something else. Zhang Yanjiang said with a smile, “Brother Dong, that’s a good tactic, but if the Soul Group discovers our intentions, not only will we lose these two places, but everyone who stays will be in danger too!”
“That’s why our public withdrawal must be grand, to attract the Soul Group’s secret spies and give Lao Sen some time to hide!”
Jiang Sen said, “There’s no problem. With H City being so big, it’s hard to spot fifty people scattered around!”
Xie Wendong laughed, “Lao Sen, we’ve used surprise attacks too many times. I think I don’t need to say more. You and Lao Lei should discuss carefully how to minimize our own losses. Our goal is one: kill the leader of the Soul Group at the Fire Red Nightclub and make them realize that our Wendong Club isn’t easy to mess with! Understood?”
“Don’t worry, Brother Dong! I’ll definitely ensure a one-shot kill!”
“Haha! Good. I’ll wait for good news from you in J City!” With that, Xie Wendong turned to Sanyan and said, “Call our old acquaintance Ma Wu. Tell him I’ve invited him to J City for a fun time!”
Sanyan had been in frequent contact with Ma Wu, always taking care of Ma Wu’s deliveries with money, but he never had a good impression of him. He had invited Ma Wu to nightclubs before, only to find him to be a pervert who wanted to sleep with any pretty woman, which made Sanyan look down on him. Moreover, although Ma Wu seemed generous and smooth on the surface, he turned out to be cunning and untrustworthy after prolonged contact.
“Brother Dong, why bring him to J City? We don’t need him anymore. There’s no need to deal with such a person!”
Xie Wendong’s eyes turned cold. “I’ll take this chance to return to J City to settle an old score with him!”
Li Shuang was surprised. “Brother Dong, does Ma Wu still owe us money?”
“Hehe, what he owes me is a promise I made a long time ago!”