Chapter 71

That night, Xie Wendong and Sanyan Jiang Sen discussed matters on the second floor of New Century. Xie Wendong asked first, “Lao Sen, some of our brothers from home will be able to come tomorrow. You go ahead and arrange a place for them! Also, we can’t focus only on the Soul-Reaping Gang right now; the Tiger Gang might attack us at any time. Send people to keep a close eye!”
Jiang Sen, unaware of what had happened during the day, asked in confusion, “How could the Tiger Gang know we’re in City H?”
Sanyan briefly recounted what had happened during the day. Jiang Sen stomped his foot and said, “Pang Jian is really a scourge. We should have taken the risk and gotten rid of him when he was in the hospital. I think most of those assassins in that car were from the Tiger Gang!”
Xie Wendong pondered, “That’s possible too. So we need to be vigilant against a surprise attack by the Tiger Gang! These two dance clubs are our foundation and foothold in City H. If we lose them, it won’t be easy to find replacements. Especially New Century—we must not let the Tiger Gang ruin it!” Xie Wendong intended to use New Century as the gang’s base.
Sanyan and Jiang Sen nodded repeatedly.
Jiang Sen looked at Xie Wendong hesitantly and said, “Brother Dong, I’ve figured out the address and situation of that place belonging to the Soul-Reaping Gang. Do you think we should still attack them?”
Xie Wendong tapped his head, thought for a moment, and said, “We’ll have to deal with the Soul-Reaping Gang sooner or later, but now we have a bigger enemy. Let’s wait and see how things go before making a decision!” Xie Wendong was a man who held grudges, but right now he had no time to deal with the Soul-Reaping Gang. In his eyes, the threat from the Tiger Gang was much greater.
Xie Wendong checked his watch and said to the two, “Alright, that’s enough for today. We’ll make plans once our brothers arrive tomorrow!” He stood up and left.
Walking on the school path, Xie Wendong asked Wen Zi, “Are you used to living on campus these days?”
Wen Zi was momentarily stunned. She had been around Xie Wendong for some time now and thought he was young, but his scheming was unmatched, and he would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. She didn’t expect him to say such caring words to her. Muttering, she replied, “It’s okay! It’s just that I don’t get along well with the people in my dorm.”
Xie Wendong nodded understandingly and smiled, saying, “It doesn’t matter. Things will get better as you spend more time together!”
The two chatted along the way and parted downstairs from Xie Wendong’s dormitory. Just as he was about to turn around and go upstairs after Wen Zi walked away, he suddenly heard someone calling his name.
“Xie Wendong!”
Hearing the call, Xie Wendong knew who it was and muttered, “Trouble!” He turned with a smile to see Huang Lei coming over from the side.
“Did you go out with your girlfriend?” Huang Lei asked curiously.

Xie Wendong was about to say that Wenzi wasn’t his girlfriend, but then he thought better of it and nodded, saying, “Yes! Is there something?”
Huang Lei’s expression looked troubled, but she forced a smile and said, “I saw you didn’t come to class today, so I brought the lecture notes for you to review.”
Xie Wendong was touched. Taking the notes from Huang Lei, he said, “Thank you. How can I repay you?” In truth, it didn’t matter to him whether he read Huang Lei’s notes or not, but seeing her upset expression, he couldn’t bear to refuse and said a few polite words.
Huang Lei thought for a moment before saying with a bright smile, “Then please treat me to some cold drinks!”
Xie Wendong hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement. “You find a place. I’m not very familiar with the area!”
“Haven’t you taken her there before?” Huang Lei asked curiously.
Xie Wendong’s face turned red. Wenzi silently shook her head, knowing there was no time for relaxing drinks with him.
Seeing this, Huang Lei was pleased, thinking that Xie Wendong and that girl hadn’t progressed too quickly. Her face also turned red.
By the time Xie Wendong returned to the dormitory, it was almost ten o’clock. As usual, everyone was busy doing their own things—playing cards, reading novels, listening to music—no one was studying. The third guy laughed when he saw Xie Wendong back and said, “I tell you, Xiao Qi, you’re almost like a hermit these days, coming and going all day long, not even attending classes! Haha!”
The fourth guy said while dealing cards, “This is what it means to be as happy as a god! Sigh, I have a ‘wife’ while the rest of us bachelors are just playing cards here all day.”
I’m just as happy as a god?! Xie Wendong thought with a bitter smile. He had been on the verge of death all day. If it weren’t for his quick reaction today, those three bullets would have pierced his heart, and he would really have become a “god”! Xie Wendong joked, “I guess you guys have also gotten in touch with the girls in our class. Especially the two who were talking just now—seems like the girls you’re dating are the prettiest!”
Upon hearing this, the third and fourth guys slumped. The third guy said dejectedly, “The one I picked ended up falling in love with someone else behind my back!”
Almost at the same time, the fourth guy said with a grim expression, “The one I picked already had a boyfriend at home!” After saying that, both of them were stunned, exchanged a look, and hugged each other, crying bitterly, saying they were both outcasts in this world! But in reality, their eyes were filled with schadenfreude: So you got dumped too!

Xie Wendong glanced at the two actors performing and thought to himself, “I’m really impressed by you two.” Shaking his head, he took off his clothes, washed up, went to bed, and fell asleep. Xie Wendong was puzzled—why did everyone in the dormitory become so energetic as soon as the lights went out? The conversation kept going, covering everything from astronomy to geography, from world wars to which girl in the class might be promiscuous. Eventually, they started telling pornographic jokes, which made Xie Wendong laugh uncontrollably as well. Finally, the fourth guy came up with a riddle for everyone to guess: something that men have but women don’t, and little boys only have a little bit of. At first, the women were scared, but later they grew to like it more and more.

Xie Wendong racked his brains for a long time. The answers he thought of had already been mentioned by others, but the fourth guy shook his head, saying no one had guessed correctly. Headache from overthinking, he couldn’t figure it out and just covered himself with the blanket, trying to meditate.

The next day, during the break between the third class, as soon as Xie Wendong reached the bathroom, he received a call from Sanyan, saying that Li Shuang and the others had arrived and were waiting for him at New Century. Coming out of the bathroom, filled with joy, Xie Wendong couldn’t deny he missed his brothers after not seeing them for days. He wanted to inform Wenzi, but decided against it and rushed over in his haste.

When he arrived at New Century, Xie Wendong went straight up to the second floor. The hallway was crowded with people, filled with smoke. Xie Wendong frowned upon seeing this. As soon as the people noticed him, they quickly stamped out their cigarettes and bowed, saying, “Hello, Brother Dong!”

Most of these people were “talents” from No. 1 Middle School. Seeing these faces he couldn’t name but was familiar with, Xie Wendong felt excited and nodded at them with a smile. The people in the meeting room heard the noise outside and immediately knew who had arrived. As soon as the door opened, Li Shuang was the first to jump out, shouting, “Brother Dong!” He rushed over to Xie Wendong in two steps and hugged him tightly.

Xie Wendong hugged Li Shuang back. After a while, Xie Wendong said with a smile, “Xiaoshuang is still the same as before!”

“Yes, Brother Dong! Apart from growing another couple of inches horizontally, he’s still the same!” Gao Qiang walked out of the room with a smile on his face.

Xie Wendong laughed heartily. Li Shuang muttered to himself, “Have I gotten fat again? I can’t even tell!” As soon as he said that, the people around him burst into laughter mercilessly. Li Shuang usually treated everyone like brothers and was very close to them, used to joking around together.

Xie Wendong and the others entered the meeting room. After being apart for so long, they finally gathered together again, and everyone was emotional. After a while, Xie Wendong clapped his hands and said, “Alright, let’s talk about anything else over dinner tonight. Now, let’s get down to business!”

The meeting room wasn’t large; it could even be called an office. All the key members of Wen Donghui were present here, except for two of them. They were San Yan, the leader of the Dragon Hall; Li Shuang, the leader of the Tiger Hall; Gao Qiang, the leader of the Flying Eagle Hall; Zhang Yanjiang, the leader of the Law Enforcement Hall; and Jiang Sen, who was in charge of the secret group. Upon hearing Xie Wen Dong’s words, their expressions turned serious, and the room fell silent.

Xie Wen Dong nodded at Jiang Sen, who cleared his throat to draw everyone’s attention before slowly explaining everything that had happened. Everyone listened with fluctuating emotions. When they heard that Xie Wen Dong had been ambushed by thirty men, although they knew he was fine, their hearts still skipped a beat. When Jiang Sen said it was the Work of Soul Recovery Gang that had done this, curses erupted everywhere. Li Shuang’s high-pitched voice was well-known, and people outside the meeting room could hear it clearly. In short, his words consisted only of curses.

After Jiang Sen finished speaking, Zhang Yanjiang asked doubtfully, “Brother Dong, I don’t think Pang Jian must have defected to the Tiger Gang!”

“Oh?” Xie Wen Dong was surprised and asked, “Yanjiang, why do you say that?”

“When the Tiger Gang and the Brotherhood Alliance were both in City J back then, they actually didn’t get along well, constantly fighting over small matters. It’s just that Pang Jian from the ‘Tiger Fighting Alliance’ didn’t participate, giving everyone the impression that he was on the side of the Brotherhood Gang. He didn’t participate because the alliance was formed by the Qing Gang, and at that time, the Brotherhood Alliance and the Qing Gang were in a fierce conflict, so it made sense for him not to join. If Pang Jian really were with the Tiger Gang, it would have been very difficult for us to drive them away back then! Besides, Pang Jian is a man who cares about his face; he would never lower himself to defect to his former enemies—that would hurt him more than death!” Zhang Yanjiang explained his analysis in detail.

After hearing this, Xie Wen Dong nodded repeatedly. What Zhang Yanjiang said made sense. He asked, “Yanjiang, then tell me who he might have teamed up with to set this trap?”

Zhang Yanjiang thought for a while before hesitantly saying, “Based on what Brother Jiang said just now, I suspect it might be the Work of Soul Recovery Gang!”

“You mean Pang Jian might have defected to the Work of Soul Recovery Gang?” Xie Wen Dong wasn’t convinced, but then he thought to himself, “Pang Jian couldn’t possibly join a small gang like the Work of Soul Recovery Gang. But if the Soul Group is backing them, it’s possible. In fact, it’s even possible that Pang Jian would join the Soul Group!”

Both Xie Wen Dong and Zhang Yanjiang were deep in thought. The others couldn’t interject and thought to themselves that they should just take action—leaving the strategic thinking to Brother Dong and Yanjiang!

After a while, Zhang Yanjiang spoke up, “What we lack now is intelligence. We know too little about the Tiger Gang and the Soul Group. Acting rashly against either of them could prove costly!”

Xie Wendong nodded; he was thinking the same as Zhang Yanjiang. Jiang Sen’s face turned red upon hearing this. He was indeed responsible for the lack of gang intelligence. He stood up and said, “Brother Dong, give me three days. I’ll start with the Soul Reclaiming Gang as a breakthrough to see if I can find out anything about the Soul Group!”
Xie Wendong asked doubtfully, “Lao Sen, what do you plan to do?”