They eventually arrived at the largest parlor in Chengbei District. Upon seeing it, Lin Huai was shocked at the fact that Thunder God owned the shares of this place. The amount of shares he held did not matter, as either way, he would be extremely wealthy.
Just based on his car alone, it was clear that he was extremely rich. His car would cost at least a million which was definitely a lot better than his henchmen that could only get by with a van.
Lin Huai and Thunder God walked into the parlor. Upon seeing Thunder God’s presence, several waiters and waitresses ran over and respectfully greeted, “Mr. Lei, you are here!”
Thunder God’s status was high in Chengbei District. People had to respectfully address him as Mr. Lei.
Thunder God nodded and a middle aged man in a suit walked over. He respectfully said, “Mr. Lei, are you here to have fun with your friend?”
“Yup, we are planning to take a bath first and you know what activity to plan for us after that.” Thunder Lei did not sound domineering at all. On the contrary, he sounded rather friendly which surprised Lin Huai.
Thunder God continued saying, “Here, let me introduce him to you. This is a brother that I just roped in, Lin Huai. He is the current leader of Yulan College. Lin Huai, this is Fan Wenhai, the general manager of the parlour. You can address him as Brother Hai.”
Lin Huai immediately greeted him. Fan Wenhai intimidatingly replied, “Oh my, there is no need for such formalities. Brother Lin Huai, although you look young, I can tell that you are a capable person. The fact that Mr. Lei personally brought you here proves how highly he thinks of you. Mr. Lei, please follow me.”
“Alright.” Thunder God took the lead and Lin Huai followed while Fan Wenhai showed them the way. They took the lift directly to the third floor and arrived at a door in front of a single room.
Fan Wenhai said, “Mr. Lei, do you need someone to scrub your back?”
Thunder God answered, “It’s okay. I will let this brother of mine do so; we will scrub each other’s back.”
Fan Wenhai stared at Lin Huai in shock. Then he smiled and said, “Sure thing. Do let me know if you need anything.”
“Go ahead and do your work. Just make sure to arrange ladies for us later. My brother is young so arrange a younger one for him.”
“Okay, Mr. Lei. Go ahead with your shower, I will not take up anymore of your time.”
Thunder God glanced at Lin Huai and said, “Follow me.”
“Alright.” Lin Huai acknowledged and followed Thunder God into the room.
The room was around sixty square feet with an area to shower and bath, as well as a bed to lie on.
Thunder God walked into the room and, without hesitation, took off his clothes. Then, he got into the shower and waved at Lin Huai. He smiled and said, “Come over and join me.”
“Alright!” Lin Huai smiled in agreement. He undressed, walked over and sat on the opposite side of Thunder God.
“Do you have any idea how much my net worth is?”
Lin Huai shook his head and said, “Nope, but I know that you are a shareholder of many places which must mean you are rather wealthy.”
Thunder God replied, “Well, my life is not too shabby. Why do you think people like us mingle around in the underworld? Do you think it’s for a sense of achievement when we’re fighting and killing people? Let me tell you that it’s not. All these violent measures are to gain wealth. Everyone in the Chengbei District who are involved in businesses have to go through me in order to survive. I would collect a little bit of protection fee from ordinary shops that are on a smaller scale. As for larger stores, you have to be able to strike a balance. If you charge them too little, you would feel unhappy. If you charge them too much, they would be unhappy. Thus, I chose to take a small percentage of their shares instead. That way, they will feel nothing but as a matter of fact, I am still able to earn quite a lot every month. Most importantly, it is a stable and long-lasting income. Even if the shared profit is not enough on its own, it is still a rather sizable amount when several businesses are combined together.”
Lin Huai nodded his head and said, “Makes sense.”
He had not expected Thunder God who looked like a rough thug to have such business acumen.
Thunder God smiled. “However, I am not earning as much as you think. After all, I could not ask them for too much of their shares despite being a gangster. The only reason I own fifty percent of the shares in the restaurant we went to earlier was because I invested money in it as a partner. The protection fees and profit shared from other businesses still have to be split among my henchmen at the end of every month after receiving the money. Otherwise, who would want to work for me?”
Lin Huai nodded and said, “Big Boss Lei, you’re right.”
Thunder God smiled and said, “Do you know why I think so highly of you?”
Lin Huai shook his head.
Thunder God smiled and said, “That’s because you have guts. You are a very, very brave person. The last time when you rejected me was the very first time somebody turned me down.”
Lin Huai asked, “What if I really turned you down?”
“You would not be able to bear such consequences,” Thunder God casually said with confidence of a person with authority. “In Chengbei District, nobody is able to bear the brunt of my anger; not even the other two forces of power. Soon the entire Chengbei District would be left with only one gang—the Thunder Gang.”
Lin Huai asked, “Are you planning to lay hands on the other forces?”
“Yup, eventually I would.” Thunder God smiled and looked at Lin Huai. He asked, “If I choose to do so, would you charge into the battle for me?”
Lin Huai smiled. “Big Boss Lei, what are you talking about? I am already your henchman so of course I would adhere to your orders.”
Thunder God nodded and said, “Okay that was the answer I have been waiting for. Don’t worry, I know that you want to maintain the order in Yulan College and prevent utter chaos thus I will not interfere with matters within Yulan College.”
Lin Huai did not expect Thunder God to be so compromising. After all, Yulan College was like their breeding ground. Without them, it would be a huge loss to the underworld. However, Lin Huai could tell that Thunder God was serious about laying hands on the two forces. Otherwise, he would not compromise on such matters. The main reason he was willing to take a step back and lose control over Yulan College was because of Lin Huai. He knew that losing Yulan College meant losing a portion of control over his future, and as such, he wanted to make it up with decisions that would help his current situation. Thus, temporarily roping Lin Huai to work for him provided him with extra certainty to capitalize on the advantage when going up against the other forces.
Thunder God was definitely someone capable. He is a big shot that is able to accept losing out on certain things.
Thunder God stood up from the bathtub and walked over to lie face down on the massage table. Then, he turned towards Lin Huai and said, “Lin Huai, come over and scrub my back.”
Lin Huai smiled and agreed. He stood up, picked up the towel used for scrubbing and started to scrub Thunder God’s back vigorously. Thunder God’s body was extremely fit and there were no excess fats at all. It was clear that he had not slacked off in training despite being the big boss all these years. He must have trained to gain such a muscular body.
Not only that, Thunder God had a few scars on his back. When Lin Huai was taking a bath with Thunder God, he noticed that there were even more scars on Thunder God’s chest. Actually Lin Huai had a few scars on him too, which was why in the tub just now, Thunder God looked a little surprised.
It was close to impossible to remain unscathed after years of being a bodyguard and in charge of protecting all the important people.
Thunder God enjoyed Lin Huai scrubbing his back and asked at the same time, “Lin Huai, what were you up to before entering college?”
Lin Huai said, “Nothing much. I am still a student.”
“Haha, would a normal student have so many scars on them like you do? Take a look at my back. There are two knief scars caused by other gangsters in the past when I was fleeing. Don’t have the misconception that I had always been powerful and majestic. I have also experienced being hunted down before.” Thunder God did not seem to be embarrassed about the stories, instead he proudly shared these incidents to show off. “That time, I was chased by them through multiple streets and there was blood everywhere. Haha, I almost lost my life.”
Lin Huai said, “Big Boss Lei, these are all your achievements in life.”
Thunder God said, “Achievements? Not at all. These are all my humiliating moments. That time, I barely managed to escape to my brother’s place. Then I brought my brothers and went back to seek revenge. All those perpetrators were mauled by us and not only that, I even tortured their big boss to death.”
Lin Huai was stunned. He asked, “Tortured to death?”
Thunder God casually said, “Yes, tortured to death. I made cuts onto his body and after roughly several dozens of cuts, he eventually bled out.”
Lin Huai could visualize how sadistic the situation was, and even for someone like him, he still felt a chill down his spine. Thunder God on the other hand proudly said, “Since then, I swore that whoever caused me any damage, I would return it back to him tenfold. Being in the underworld, you have to be ruthless so that others would be terrified of you. Power alone is not enough.”
Lin Huai was startled inwardly but he said, “Boss, you are so ruthless and powerful. If I was in your shoes, I would have probably peed in my pants.”
“No, you won’t. I have heard enough from people to know that you are a ruthless person as well. However, you are only ruthless to yourself but not to people around you.” Big Boss Lei was in fact narrating the truth. “For example, let’s say somebody threatened you with the people close to you, you would most likely give in under such circumstances.”
Lin Huai agreed as he was unable to deny it. Thunder God also clearly knew that, which was why he utilized Pu Yingxue’s life to threaten me. This coincides with what Captain Wang had told me. Thunder God is a scary person. Not only is he powerful, he also has many henchmen working for him. Not only that, there were also many other things that gangsters wouldn’t do that he would.
Thunder God said, “Do you feel that it’s a cowardly move to threaten people using family and friends’ lives? Actually the truth is that, for anyone that wants to get to the top, they have to use inglorious methods. Even if these methods would result in you being scorned at, history would only remember those that succeed and not those who failed.”
Thunder God sat up right and said, “Okay, let me help you scrub your back now.”
Lin Huai did not expect Thunder God to make such an offer. He quickly said, “It’s okay, there’s no need for that. How could I trouble my boss to scrub the back of a mere henchman?”
“Haha, I am able to get along with you, so hurry up and lie down.”
Lin Huai hesitated for a while and said, “Alright then. I will gladly take up the offer.”
Lin Huai lied down and Thunder God started scrubbing his back. Without a doubt, if it happened to anyone else, they would probably be so touched they would be on the brink of tears. However for Lin Huai who had seen far too many schemes occurring in this society, he could immediately tell right away that Thunder God was trying to rope him in and make him feel appreciative and grateful.
Thunder God scrubbed Lin Huai’s back while saying, “You have to remember that in our line of work, the winner gets everything and the loser gets nothing. If you are not ruthless, everything in the future would be out of your control.”
“Big Boss Lei, I understand.”
“Alright, we are done. Go and take a quick shower and change into your sleeping gown. There would be girls waiting for us in the room next door.
“Alright!” Lin Huai pretended to be excited but deep down he was thinking of a way to deal with the situation.
Lin Huai and Thunder God finished their shower and wore their sleeping gown before walking out of the room together. There were two henchmen outside responsible for protecting Thunder God’s safety. Not only that, there was a waiter outside as well.
The waiter respectfully said, “The beautiful girls are right next door. Come, I will lead the way.”
“Alright!”
Lin Huai and Thunder God walked over to the next room together. They walked in and saw two beautiful girls inside the room in their bikinis. Not only that, they were also twins.