Chapter 120

After more than ten minutes, the lamb kebabs the three of them ordered were served. Sitting by the road, drinking wine and eating barbecue gave them a unique experience.
Xie Wendong told Dong Xinlei about his plan to go to City T. Dong Xinlei was very happy and said with a smile, “Great! It’s just right—I haven’t been home for a while. Hehe! I haven’t seen the old man in months either; I really miss him!”
Dong Xinlei could be said to have been trained by Jin Peng, so their deep bond goes without saying. Xie Wendong felt a bit guilty—Old Lei had originally been with Master Jin, but after meeting him, he was suddenly sent here to help. Whether in terms of conditions or loyalty, it couldn’t compare to the Hongmen. With a sigh, he stayed silent.
At that moment, the door of the van was opened again, and a new face stepped out, walking toward the restaurant where Xie Wendong was. The person walked over to a table not far from Xie Wendong and the others and shouted loudly, “Boss, give me four bottles of beer!”
The accent of the man sounded somewhat southern, which made Dong Xinlei curious. He turned to look. The man happened to be looking around and their eyes met. Both were stunned and their expressions changed drastically. But neither spoke; instead, they both reached into their coats simultaneously.
Xie Wendong noticed Dong Xinlei’s unusual behavior, but his quick wits kept him from acting immediately. He tilted his head slightly to see the person reaching into their coat beside him. The man’s eyes showed murderous intent mixed with surprise. Instinct told Xie Wendong this was an enemy. He gave Xiang Wenzi a warning glance and suddenly grabbed a beer bottle from the table to throw at the stranger.
The man’s attention was focused on Dong Xinlei, so when he saw a shadow flash before him, he reflexively dodged to the side. Xie Wendong’s thrown bottle didn’t hit the man’s head but instead struck the shoulder of the arm he had inserted into his coat.
“Crash!” The beer bottle shattered, and the man jolted violently. His hand, which had been holding the gun handle, loosely released it, and a black pistol fell to the ground. Taking advantage of the man’s dizziness, Dong Xinlei stepped forward and kicked him hard in the abdomen. At the same time, he pulled out a pistol from his coat and pressed it against the man’s head, saying coldly, “Wang Wei, long time no see!”
“Damn you!” The man gritted his teeth, knocked over a nearby table at Dong Xinlei and Xie Wendong, and took the chance to dash toward the van by the road as the two dodged.

Wang Wei had a good idea by avoiding Xie Wendong and Dong Xinlei, but he forgot about Wen Zi, who was not far away. Seeing him try to run, Wen Zi, though not knowing who he was, realized that someone who could draw a gun in such a busy place must be someone special. Reacting quickly, she stood up as soon as Wang Wei passed by her and grabbed a chair behind her to swing at his face. Wang Wei never expected the seemingly fragile girl to be so fierce; he let out a scream and rolled to the side.

Wen Zi’s surprise attack bought precious time. Before Wang Wei could get up, Dong Xinlei stepped over the table he had pushed aside and fired two shots in quick succession.

“Bang! Bang!” Two gunshots left two blood holes in Wang Wei’s head, and he collapsed to the ground without even making a sound. Everything happened so fast that even Xie Wendong was confused. He helplessly watched as Dong Xinlei killed the man. The gunshots attracted the attention of the people around, who gathered to look. Seeing a bloodied man lying on the ground, they scattered in all directions.

Staring at Wang Wei’s body, Xie Wendong was stunned. Before he could react, Dong Xinlei pushed him under the table. Then came a series of deafening gunshots. At some point, the door of the van by the road was opened, and several guns of different types were fired at Xie Wendong. Dong Xinlei reacted quickly and pulled Xie Wendong down. Wen Zi was also fast; she darted behind a flower bed and quickly drew her pistol to fight back.

Hiding under the table, Xie Wendong dared not show his head and urgently asked, “Lao Lei, who are these people? Why kill them?”

Dong Xinlei replied coldly, “They’re from the Nan Hongmen. They probably came here for no good. The man I killed is Wang Wei, a gunner from the Nan Hongmen. I’ve seen him before…”

Xie Wendong interrupted him, understanding immediately. “I get it! Since they’re from the Nan Hongmen, they must be here for Rongrong!” With that, he drew the silver gun from his waist, filled with anger. He hated threatening others with his loved ones, even though he often did it himself. He snapped, “Let them never return today!”

Hiding under the table wasn’t a solution! Xie Wendong signaled to Dong Xinlei, who nodded in understanding. Together, they shouted and pushed the table above them outward. The flying table blocked the view of the people in the van. Before the table hit the ground, the two of them fired several shots in the direction of the van. When the table was about to land, they rushed to the flower bed and joined Wen Zi.

As soon as the two of them darted behind the flower bed, gunshots rang out again. Bullets flew overhead, hitting the concrete around the flower bed, and the splashing soil got on their heads. Xie Wendong said with a bitter smile, “I don’t think there’s a worse situation than this right now!”
Dong Xinlei looked troubled and said, “Brother Dong, I’m sorry! I was a bit too impulsive just now.”
By seeing how Dong Xinlei and that Wang Wei met, Xie Wendong could imagine how badly the relationship between the Southern and Northern Hongmen had deteriorated. Moreover, this time the other side intended to kidnap Jin Rong to threaten the old man. Xie Wendong pulled out his pistol to check the bullets inside and shook his head. “No need to apologize. I would have done the same. What we need to think about now is how to get out of here without letting them succeed!” He turned to Wen Zi and said, “Call the police. It will help us if the police arrive.”
Wen Zi was momentarily stunned—calling the police against the mafia?? She shook her head secretly but quickly picked up the phone and dialed 110.
The people in the van didn’t intend to let Xie Wendong and the others go easily. Seeing that they couldn’t reach them, four burly men jumped out of the van and headed toward the flower bed where Xie Wendong and the others were. Xie Wendong heard footsteps approaching but was too constrained to lift his head and see how many people were coming. He whispered, “They’re coming this way. This won’t end well. I’ll draw their attention while Brother Lei takes care of those in the van, and Wen Zi takes care of those who got out!” Without waiting for the others to respond, he took a deep breath, suddenly exerted force with his legs, and launched himself sideways. In mid-air, he saw that there were four of them.
Xie Wendong’s sudden move surprised several members of the Southern Hongmen, who almost simultaneously fired at him as he landed. Using the momentum, Xie Wendong rolled forward, leaving craters in the ground behind him. Taking advantage of this rare opening, Dong Xinlei and Wen Zi stood up. Dong Xinlei held two guns, with sparks flying from their barrels as more than a dozen bullets were fired into the van. Cries of pain immediately came from inside, and the gunshots stopped.
Wen Zi fought off the four men who got out with just one gun. Those four were extremely quick-witted. Seeing Dong Xinlei and Wen Zi stand up, they realized something was wrong and quickly dodged to the side. This left two of them facing off against Wen Zi, while the other two rushed toward Xie Wendong, continuing to fire their guns.

Xie Wendong had just stopped when he suddenly felt as if someone had hit his left abdomen with a hammer. The intense force sent his body flying backward, followed by unbearable severe pain in his stomach. Letting out a groan, Xie Wendong realized he had been shot and raised the gun in his hand to fire back at the two men approaching. Seven of the eight remaining bullets in his gun hit the man at the front, while the other man, being a step slower, managed to dodge Xie Wendong’s wild shots by stepping aside.

Clutching his lower abdomen, Xie Wendong stood up and swung the silver gun at the burly man who was about to shoot him. The gun was extremely heavy, and with all his strength, it flew forward like a silver streak, hitting the man right on the forehead. The man cried out in pain as he was forced backward; the bullet fired by him scraped past Xie Wendong’s scalp, knocking off a few strands of hair. Xie Wendong thought to himself how lucky he was. Without time to deal with the wound in his abdomen, he rushed forward, grabbed the man’s wrist holding the gun, and punched him repeatedly.

The man kept retreating under the onslaught, his head covered in blood from the hit by the silver gun. Not giving him a chance to recover, Xie Wendong held onto his wrist tightly while using his other hand to keep punching him on the head.

Dong Xinlei had already forced the people in the van to stay hidden, while Wen Zi and the other two men continued to fire at each other. The sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance. After all, this wasn’t the territory of the South Hongmen. Though reluctant, they had no choice but to retreat. The two men facing Wen Zi, unwilling to continue fighting, fired several shots and rushed toward the van. Keeping a close eye on everything, Xie Wendong saw they were trying to escape and refused to give up. Letting go of the dazed man, he shouted, “Don’t let them get away!”

The North and South Hongmen were sworn enemies. Although Dong Xinlei was now with Xie Wendong, the ingrained concepts from years past were still deeply rooted in his mind—he couldn’t just let these people leave so easily.

With his long legs, he caught up to the man running toward the van in a few steps, grabbed him by the back of the neck, pulled him back forcefully, and shouted, “If you want to run, come back here!”

The man was quite strong, but he was nowhere near as tall as the two-meter-tall Dong Xinlei. He was flung three meters away and landed heavily on the ground. Wen Zi took advantage of the situation, stepped on the man’s chest, pointed her pistol at his head, and ordered, “Don’t move!”

After shoving that big man away, Dong Xinlei saw that the van had already started moving and didn’t stop. He raised his gun and shot a tire, causing the van to veer and crash into the curb. By then, the police car had arrived nearby, and their shouts could be heard clearly. Three people jumped out of the van, didn’t look back, and scattered in different directions, hiding in two alleys. Xie Wendong turned to look at the approaching police car. Though he didn’t care about the police, dealing with them was still troublesome. He said urgently, “Lao Lei, take that guy back to New Century. Wenzi and I will chase the others!” Then he pointed at the alley where one of them had run into and said, “That one’s yours!” Without waiting to persuade Dong Xinlei, he rushed into the other alley. Xie Wendong was anxious for a reason—unless he dealt a severe blow to the arrogance of Nan Hongmen this time, they might come back again. He couldn’t stay on guard all the time. If Nan Hongmen succeeded by accident, he would first fail Jin Rong and secondly not be able to face Old Master Jin. The alley was pitch black, and faint figures could be seen moving ahead. Xie Wendong rubbed his lower abdomen; the pain was still intense. Gritting his teeth secretly, he snapped his wrist, and the golden knife appeared in his hand as he silently chased after them.