Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
What? One million. The students and the people in the restaurant were so angry that their noses were crooked. They had just heard the conversation between the restaurant owner and the gangster. The gangster either did it on purpose or was not good at arithmetic. Both the principle and the interest added up to 128,000 yuan. Boss Kim had 78,000 yuan on hand, which was less than the actual loan and interest of 97,000 yuan. However, this gangster asked for the sky in the blink of an eye, demanding one million to settle this. He might as well rob a bank. No matter how much the interest was calculated before, it was obviously blackmail now.
Chen Haiqing’s eyes were almost bulging. This fellow was just too much. He stood up. “Brother, if I heard correctly, I seem to recall the restaurant owner owing you 128,000, let alone his son only borrowed 50,000. I understand the rules of lend nine, return thirteen, and compound interest, but it should only be 97,000, not 128,000. No one lends money like you do.”
Even if he was a rich scion and had the money to squander, and one million was nothing to Chen Haiqing, he could not foolishly waste money like this. His face was clearly unhappy.
“You are too sinister. I know the rules of loan sharking too, but I have never seen people like you!” As a girl from Hunan, Ai Juan rolled her eyes, showcasing the temper Hunan girls were known for.
Chen Shanshan, who graduated from Hainan University, agreed. “Yeah, this is too immoral. Isn’t this basically robbing? How can you ask for one million? You’re treating money like it isn’t money and actually asking for ten times more. Borrow fifty thousand and return one million, twenty times. Even selling drugs or weapons wouldn’t reap so much profit!”
The other students looked around, and because of their large numbers, they had greater courage.
“It’s better not to burn your bridges. I said I’d give you a hundred thousand. You should be satisfied. We still want to continue our meal. Don’t stay here and be an eyesore.” This bro might have been involved with the triads before and was not polite when speaking.
“Hmph. Who asked this boss to owe us money? It’s only right that he pays back his debts. Who dares to say it isn’t right?!” The gangster leader raised his chin arrogantly and glared at the students sitting around the four round tables.
“Don’t accept means don’t accept!”
“I don’t accept it either!”
“Who are you? Quickly scram!”
“Yeah, who’s afraid of who!”
“This is daylight robbery!”
“Haha, just wait for jail!”
What the leader said infuriated the students. Many of them could not bear to continue watching and started shouting.
“So brave. I advise you to keep your nose out of our business and don’t mess around. Be careful of the knife. It’s a small matter to shed some blood. If this gets out of hand, you guys won’t be at an advantage.” The gangster leader slowly pulled out the butcher knife inserted in the table and waved it in his hands, threatening to chop them. The sharp blade was so shiny that it made people shiver. He said to one of the gangsters next to him, “Call Heizi to get a few more cars of people and come over. I don’t believe that with more people that I’ll have to be afraid.” Then he looked at the four remaining tables of people in the restaurant with ill intentions. The gangsters were outnumbered, but they were still not bothered by these forty students.
“No, please don’t!” The restaurant owner realized that the situation was getting out of hand and tried to act as a middleman to calm both sides down. They were all hot-blooded youths. If they clashed, this restaurant would have to close, and it would be a great crime.
“Get lost! Boss Kim, you better take care of yourself first and go get the money. If there’s a yuan less, I’ll chop a finger.” The gangster leader shoved the restaurant owner away harshly, clearly not planning to let the matter end like this.
Several of the students had seen such scenes before. The experienced ones discreetly picked up the empty beer bottles beside them. They were definitely sharp weapons. Even if they were not comparable to knives, they were still powerful.
“Lin Mo, take the women with you and leave first. Leave this place to us!” Chen Haiqing glanced meaningfully at Lin Mo. Although Chen Haiqing was a rich scion, he was knowledgeable and knew that the situation would not die down. Even if he took a step back, these gangsters would certainly take it out on a few of them to make their point. It concerned the prestige of the gangsters around here. Since they encountered this situation today, they could either stay away or face it bravely.
“Old Chen, can you settle it?” Lin Mo had remained silent all along, but he had been looking at these little gangsters, and it took him a few glances to know their strengths. If he still had his battle aura, he could probably crush them like killing ants with his fingers. Even though he had still not recovered much of his battle aura, the strength of his body alone was enough to deal with them.
This world was very strange, and it might have some kind of restriction. Regardless of how hard Lin Mo tried, the recovery of his battle aura was very slow. So far, he had only restored a tiny bit of precious battle aura. Wanting to restore his battle aura completely was going to take a long, long time.
“Why would we be scared of them?” Chen Haiqing did not behave like a newborn calf that was afraid of a tiger. As the head of the dormitory, he certainly understood how fierce many of the students present were. The smiling faces and weak demeanors were facades. At their former schools, they were formidable forces to be reckoned with, and it was commonplace for them to be involved in fights. They were at the same standard as these gangsters. Be it numbers or quality, they were not inferior to these gangsters. All they needed to do was have a good fight in this place and then return to school to hide for a bit. Would they be afraid of these gangsters chasing them all the way into the school?!
Chen Haiqing was confident, and he planned to take advantage of the situation to establish his prestige. Sometimes, it was insufficient to win people’s respect by merely saying things. You also needed to employ kindness and show your might when appropriate. They were all now under the influence of alcohol, so they followed Chen Haiqing’s lead and joined in on the ‘fun’.
“Okay!” Lin Mo stood up and did not say anything further. He could tell that the others were more than capable of handling these gangsters.
Although Chen Haiqing did not know what Lin Mo’s combat power was, he still chose to let him leave with the girls. However, Lin Mo responded without any hesitation, causing Chen Haiqing to take a few more glances at Lin Mo. He was still so calm under these circumstances, leaving Chen Haiqing wondering if it was him being gutsy or cool, calm logic at play.
Lin Mo and the few female students stood up and headed for the door. Two gangsters immediately stopped them, grinning and wanting to deal with these female students like how they treated young, innocent girls. A short and fat fellow smiled obscenely and went forward, wanting to grope them. “You think you can come and go as you want? It’s not that simple. Come and strip dance for me. If not, stay here obediently and wait for my brothers to arrive later. Let them accompany you and bring you joy!”
The gangster’s words enraged the female students. Under broad daylight, it was lawless to the extreme.
“Yes, I guarantee you pretty girls will be satisfied. Our services will definitely make you feel at home. Hehehe!” The other gangster ignored Lin Mo.
Hmph! Lin Mo treated the gangsters the same way they treated him, disregarding their fighting abilities and ignoring them. He thought of how those nobles liked to throw their weight around when he was in the Sland Empire, but they would all retreat when they saw a Dragon Knight, fearing they would die in vain if they let a Giant Dragon bite them.
While the two gangsters were still blabbering away, a dozen students at the four dining tables went forward, surrounded them, and pushed the two lecherous gangsters away. There were beer bottles, stools, rolling pins that came from who knew where, and all kinds of weapons. As Lin Mo walked through with the few female students without any hindrance, he glanced disdainfully at the two guys. These two were really lucky. Had they dared to reach out one more centimeter, he would have sent them flying with one punch. Even if they did not die, they would have had to lie in bed for two or three years.
During the confrontation, the gangster leader no longer spoke but kept sneering. They were merely outnumbered by these little brats and at a disadvantage for now. Their brothers were not far and would be arriving any minute now. Once they got here, he would let these brats see who had more people and teach them a lesson.
Chen Haiqing and the rest watched Lin Mo and the six female students leave under their protection and let out a sigh of relief. Just as they were preparing to intimidate the gangsters and leave, they heard the sounds of cars screeching outside the restaurant. Immediately afterward, chaotic shouts and footsteps rushed toward the restaurant.
“Brats! Don’t think you’re great because you have more people. Today, I’ll teach you a lesson you’ll never forget!” The gangster leader in the restaurant smiled insidiously while holding the butcher knife before his chest and looking at the students. “Quickly kneel in front of your grandfather and beg for mercy. And take out one million to pay respects to your brothers. Or else, don’t think about leaving safely without each of you breaking a leg.”
The faces of the other students in the restaurant changed, and even Chen Haiqing’s face looked extremely ugly. Unexpectedly, these gangsters really called for reinforcements. It seemed like this gang was not small and he would be unable to settle this cleanly today. He touched his phone and discreetly sent a preset message from his draft box. After all, he was a smart person. Although he was brash sometimes, it did not mean that he was truly so rash that he did not care about the consequences and not have a backup plan.
“Won’t Lin Mo and those female students run into these gangsters rushing here?” a student beside him quietly asked Chen Haiqing. The others had similarly worried expressions. No one had thought that the gangsters’ reinforcements would arrive so quickly. A gang fight seemed unavoidable.
Some of the students, who were well-behaved at school, started turning pale with fright, and their minds went blank!