Chapter 31: Shensheng Goes Down

That night, Hongle's Shishi, with five or six underlings in tow, had just come out of a nightclub on his own turf.

The group had been drinking and were good and drunk, staggering as they walked.

Beside them, a beat-up van with its license plates removed pulled open its doors, and five men wearing masks got out, each holding a watermelon knife.

"That's Shishi — hack him to death."

One of the knife-wielders gave a shout, and the group charged at Shishi in unison.

Shishi had already heard the noise. Seeing several men charging at him with knives, his muddled mind snapped clear in an instant, and he immediately turned and ran.

"Block them for me!"

The underlings following behind Shishi had also mostly sobered up. Hearing their boss's order, they grabbed sticks, bricks, and whatever else was lying by the roadside, and started fighting the knife-wielders.

They had just been drinking, and their weapons were makeshift at best — they were no match for the other side. Before long, they were hacked down to the ground.

The knife-wielders continued chasing after Shishi.

Though Shishi's mind had cleared up quite a bit, his body hadn't recovered as fast. Stumbling along on his own, he didn't get far at all.

In less than two minutes, he was caught up.

The men swarmed him, cornering Shishi in an alley, their watermelon knives swinging and slashing at him.

Though Shishi's name was ugly to hear, he was still Hongle's big cannon, and his fighting skills were decent.

He grabbed a stick and swung it with fierce, whistling force.

The men left several cuts on his body, but none were fatal, and they took a few stick blows themselves.

"Let go of our big brother!"

"Hurry, hurry and save Brother Shishi!"

After all, this was Shishi's turf, and quite a few of his underlings had already come running at the news.

Seeing Shishi's underlings approaching, one knife-wielder shouted, "No time — let's go, don't get surrounded!"

"No — Sheng Ge said we have to hack Shishi to death!"

Another knife-wielder struck even harder, adding another wound to Shishi's body.

The rest, seeing this, urged him on: "Pull out first, there'll be chances later — if we don't go now we really won't make it!"

With that, they dragged him backward as they retreated.

Seeing the knife-wielders stop, Shishi plopped down on the ground, panting heavily.

"Catch them!" Shishi shouted at the underlings who had rushed over.

Hearing Shishi's order, the underlings one by one waved their sticks and clubs and chased after the knife-wielders.

The knife-wielder who had insisted on hacking Shishi to death stopped struggling too, turning and running with his companions toward the van they had arrived in.

Just before Shishi's underlings could catch up, the men got into the van and sped away.

Seeing the men escape, Shishi's underlings didn't keep chasing. They turned back and gathered around Shishi.

"Brother Shishi, how are you?"

"Get me to the hospital first, damn it!" Supported by several underlings, Shishi stood up from the ground.

Sweat mixed with blood, the whole man a sorry sight.

On the other side, the knife-wielders drove at full speed and finally stopped at a scrap yard.

Gao Jin had been waiting here all along.

The knife-wielders excitedly told Gao Jin in detail about the process of hacking Shishi, especially the line "Sheng Ge said," which they specifically repeated for Gao Jin to hear.

"Well done!"

Gao Jin praised them, pulled a stack of cash from a bag, and tossed it to the knife-wielders.

"This is a hundred thousand — split it among yourselves. Get rid of the van after this, and lay low in the countryside for a while. Come back in half a month."

"Thank you, Brother Jin!"

The underlings took the money, thrilled.

A hundred thousand — two thousand each — nearly a year's wages for them.

Gao Jin returned to Yinhejiuba, where Chen Mo was still waiting in the office.

"Mo Ge, it's done!"

"How bad are Shishi's injuries? Are they serious?"

Anyone who didn't know better would think Chen Mo and Shishi were on good terms.

"The underling watching the hospital called. Shishi's injuries are all superficial — he doesn't even need to be admitted."

"Good," Chen Mo said, relieved.

"Have people keep an eye on Shishi's movements. If Shishi makes a move on Shensheng, have people watch and make sure Shishi definitely takes Shensheng out."

"Sure thing, Mo Ge — I've already arranged for underlings to watch Shensheng."

On the other side, Shishi, having just come out of the hospital, had bandages wrapped around his arm and back, but it didn't affect his movement much.

Shishi called over a close underling.

"Do you know where that bastard Shensheng is? I'm going to hack him to death!"

The underling was stunned: "Brother Shishi, Shensheng is a hall master — wouldn't it be bad to hack him?"

"What bullshit hall master!" Shishi raged. "Damn it, he sent people to hack me — you think I care if he's a hall master or not!"

"Last time he enforced family law on me, I haven't even settled that score. If I keep swallowing it this time, how am I supposed to survive on the streets!"

"My name is Shishi — do they really think I eat shit!"

"Got it, Brother Shishi — I'll have people watch Shensheng right away!"

Seeing that Shishi was serious, the underling immediately went to arrange manpower.

Shishi had many underlings, and with Chen Mo's people secretly fanning the flames, they had figured out Shensheng's whereabouts before noon.

Shishi immediately brought his men and, in broad daylight, went to cause trouble for Shensheng.

At that moment, Shensheng had only his driver AYu with him, and he was buying flowers at a flower shop.

"Big Boss, delivering flowers is more exhausting than fighting. No matter what, you just get her drunk and put her on the bed, isn't that okay?"

Driver AYu looked bewildered; a Triad Society big boss going after a hostess—it's just hilarious!

"Have you ever liked a woman?" Shensheng looked at AYu, amused.

"Yes, I do—I have a wife!"

"Then isn't your wife someone you got drunk and laid on the bed?"

"Of course not—I pursued her for three years, then another three years, and only with great difficulty did I finally win her over." AYu said proudly.

"That's exactly it!"

Having said that, Shensheng ignored AYu and carefully picked out the flowers.

Just then, a gang of thugs gathered from both ends of the road, each holding various clubs and knives.

"Chop him to death!" shouted the leader, Shishi, and his lackeys behind him all yelled as they charged at Shensheng.

"Sheng brother, run!" Driver AYu was the first to sense something wrong, he grabbed Shensheng and ran toward the car.

Before the car could even start, Shishi's lackeys had already surrounded it.

Machetes and clubs went wild, smashing and striking; within seconds, the car's windows were all shattered.

The car door was violently pulled open by Shishi's lackeys, and both Shensheng and AYu were dragged out of the vehicle.

A crowd surrounded the two and hacked at them frenziedly.

Not long after, both were hacked into serious injury.

Driver AYu threw his whole body over Shensheng to shield him from the blades.

Shishi pushed aside the surrounding lackeys, walked up to the fallen Shensheng, and kicked AYu, who was lying on top of Shensheng, away.

"Shensheng, I didn't hold a grudge last time, but this time you actually had someone try to kill me—I can't let you off."

Having said that, he swung a vicious blow at Shensheng's chest.

In an unnoticed corner, a dark-skinned young man quietly pressed the shutter of his camera, capturing the scene.

After Shishi and his men left, the young man put away his camera, approached Shensheng, and found that Shensheng was still breathing.

The young man drew a dagger and stabbed it into Shensheng's wound.

Only after Shensheng had completely stopped breathing did the young man put away his dagger, wipe the blood from his hands, and slip away.

The surrounding crowd had already scattered and fled the moment Shishi and his men appeared, so nobody witnessed this.