After this trip, Lin Huai had temporarily resolved the potential danger that could arise from West Heavenly King. No matter how much hatred Liang Jingyu had towards Lin Huai, Liang Jingyu had no choice but to be wary of his father’s promise and would not be able to take any action.
After dinner, Lin Huai took a ride back with Thunder God. On the way, Thunder God casually asked, “How many people can you gather to work under you?”
Lin Huai bitterly smiled and said, “I have no idea. Although I am the big boss of the college, I can’t possibly ask all of them to drop out of school just to work for me.”
Thunder God nodded his head and said, “Of course. Although there are numerous students that drop out and join the underworld every year to inject fresh blood into the Chengbei Underworld, those were a certain minority. Most of the students would still go on and look for a job upon their graduation despite not having stellar results. After all, they still had responsibilities within their family.”
“Exactly.”
Thunder God smiled and reassured, “No worries. Just bring as many of them as you can. As the number of your henchmen increases, your power and authority would increase as well. I am sure you understand that. Although I do think highly of you and I do have the intention of helping you to develop, it is inevitable that there are people within the Thunder Gang that will be keeping a sharp eye on you. If you have too few henchmen, you would not be able to convince the masses and they would pick a fight with you instead.”
Lin Huai thought to himself, Pu Chengji was right. He is really an excellent White Paper Fan. Thunder God did want me to bring more men over to the gang.
Lin Huai asked, “Big Boss Lei, what will me and my men be in charge of in the future? Would we be collecting protection fees together with you?”
Thunder God smiled and said, “The largest arcade in Chengbei District. I own a hundred percent of the shares. You could bring your men and take over the arcade. That place would then be your base of operations and I would give you fifty percent of the shares. What do you think?”
Lin Huai’s expression stayed the same but deep down he was cursing. Is there even anyone that plays games at the arcade anymore? Furthermore why would I bring my whole group of men to stay guard at an arcade? However, Thunder God had already made such a proposition thus Lin Huai eventually chose to accept the offer as it’s ultimately a free gift. Despite being unhappy, Lin Huai put a smile on his face and said, “Alright sure. Thank you Big Boss Lei.”
Thunder God acknowledged and said, “I still think very highly of you so don’t let me down.”
“Big Boss Lei, don’t worry. I won’t let you down.”
Thunder God said, “Alright then, I hope you will be able to manage the arcade well. Nowadays, there are lesser people going to arcades to play games so ultimately the result of the place would solely be dependent on your capabilities.”
Damn! So you knew that fewer people were going to arcades and playing games? No matter how capable I am, how could I possibly change the evolving trend of this society? Lin Huai had no idea how to respond so he just agreed with Thunder God.
Eventually, they arrived at the entrance of Lin Huai’s apartment. Lin Huai then said, “Big Boss, I will be making a move first.”
“Oh right, is Li Liner still living together with you?”
Lin Huai had not expected Thunder God to bring up Li Liner all of a sudden. His heart skipped a beat but ultimately he smiled and said, “Yes. I am sure Big Boss Lei has no intentions of finding trouble with her after providing consent for me to bring her away from the parlor.”
Thunder God casually said, “Of course. I allowed you to bring her along because I believed that you will not be instigated to pit yourself against me. If you are not, then of course I wouldn’t do anything to her. However… I would not leave any potential danger lurking around, wouldn’t you agree? Alright, go have a good rest and take good care of her. After all, her sister has just passed away so her experience is rather pitiful.
Lin Huai felt a chill down his spine as Thunder God had a hidden message behind his words. He meant to warn Lin Huai that if Lin Huai had any second thoughts about being loyal, he would believe that it was instigated by Li Liner and would take action against her. Her sister would be a great example of the consequences she had to bear with.
Lin Huai smiled and said, “Alright, I will make a move first.”
“Okay.”
After Lin Huai got down from the car, Thunder God asked, “Luo Xing, what do you think of Lin Huai?”
In a cold voice, Luo Xing replied, “It is difficult to see through him as I am also unable to gauge how powerful he is. If he is able to easily defeat three people in an open area, his skills would be roughly around the level of a Red Cane. However, it was inconvenient for the three guys to pick a fight in such a narrow area thus Lin Huai benefited from that just now. I could still tell that his skills were not too shabby.”
Thunder God nodded and said, “Alright. I believe he is rather powerful as he managed to escape from the trap set up by Zhou Minghu in the past. I think he is already at the level of a Red Cane or at least extremely close to their level. Let’s go. I shall see how many people he can bring out of Yulan College and I hope he will be able to surprise me.”
Upon reaching home, Lin Huai recalled what Thunder God said and felt a strong urge of killing Thunder right away. However, he knew that it was not a right time as Thunder God had far too many henchmen. Even if he managed to kill off Thunder God, he would not be able to escape from the insane revenge of Thunder God’s Red Canes. Loyalty is an important characteristic in the underworld. Thus, it would not be realistic to believe that a gang would no longer be united and let him escape unharmed just because their leader died.
On the contrary, even if Thunder God’s Red Canes were not loyal, they would still be interested in vying for the leader of the gang. If they wanted to attain the position as the leader, the best way would be to seek revenge for their previous big boss. Thus, Lin Huai would be going up against the entire Thunder Gang. Even if Lin Huai was not afraid, he had people around him he needed to protect. No matter how powerful he was, he could not just clone himself to protect every single person in his life.
Lin Huai tucked himself into bed and fell into deep sleep soon after. The following morning, Li Liner once again woke up early and made breakfast. Lin Huai ate the food made while speaking to Li Liner who was seated on the opposite side of the table while also having her breakfast. He said, “Liner, from tomorrow onwards unless I am not at home you don’t have to make breakfast anymore. You still have to head to work so get yourself more sleep and don’t wake up so early. I don’t have to go to college anymore so I am rather free in the day thus allowing me all the time in the world to sleep. Don’t you think so?”
Li Liner lifted her head up and with a smile on her face, she looked at Lin Huai and said, “But I want to make breakfast for you.”
Lin Huai laughed and said, “I understand that as I am attractive but I think you should take good care of your own health first.”
Li Liner said, “It’s okay, I am fine.”
Lin Huai stared solemnly at her and said, “No, I am not giving in. I am going to take good care of you so you have to listen to me.”
“Well…Alright then.” Li Liner sighed and agreed upon noticing how serious Lin Huai sounded.
Lin Huai smiled and said, “That’s more like it.”
“Then at the very least I could make dinner for you right?”
Lin Huai smiled and replied, “It’s okay. Of course if I am still busy then you can take over and make dinner. We don’t have to make it anyone’s responsibility but rather whoever is free would do so. Doesn’t that make more sense?”
Li Liner sighed and said, “But you have already sacrificed much for me, why do I still need you to pamper me like this? It should be the other way around where I take care of you. It feels like I am a burden instead of repaying your debt of gratitude.”
Lin Huai smiled and said, “You foolish person. Your way of repaying me is by accompanying me on a daily basis which makes me feel less lonely.”
“Then let me do the laundry.”
Lin Huai saw how conflicted and adamant Li Liner was on such topics and he knew that if he did not allow her to do something, she would not be able to feel at ease. The laundry is done by the washing machine and it won’t be too troublesome anyway. Thus, Lin Huai nodded his head and said, “Alright then, I hate doing the laundry the most anyway.”
As expected, Li Liner smiled. “Okay, that’s the deal and I will be in charge of all the laundry.”
“Sure, you can do the laundry if you wish to do so.”
Li Liner placed her chopsticks down, glanced at the clock and said, “I am running out of time so I am not going to clean this up. Brother Huai, I am going off to work. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.” Lin Huai looked as Li Liner left while smiling. Then, he washed up the bowls and chopsticks before taking out his phone and giving Pu Chengji a call. He asked him to gather the guys for a meal at a restaurant within the vicinity of Yulan College. Lin Huai had already made a reservation for the largest room which would be able to fit up to twenty people. Although he had no idea if there would be that many people who would be willing to follow his lead, he felt better knowing that he was well prepared.
Throughout the day, he turned on the television to watch some shows and listened to some songs. Coincidentally, he saw the advertisement about Wang Jiarui’s world tour. The final stop would be held in Tongcheng City which should already have begun. However, due to certain unforeseen circumstances, it was delayed but not for long.
Lin Huai immediately booked three front row concert tickets as he thought about how much Wei Qimian and Pu Yingxue idolised Wang Jiarui. He then glanced at the clock and saw that it was time to leave. As such, he walked out of the house and flagged down a cab in order to get to the restaurant that he had made a reservation at. He arrived early and after getting into the room that was reserved, he ordered the waiter to start serving the food.
After about ten minutes, Lin Huai heard the footsteps from the corridor as well as some chatting voices. Lin Huai deduced that it was Pu Chengji and the rest of the guys. Lin Huai felt a sense of warmth growing in his heart as it sounded like quite a lot of people made the decision to become his henchmen.
With a creaking sound, the door was opened and Pu Chengji was the first one that walked in. He smiled and said, “Brother Huai, take a look at who’s here.”
Lin Huai glanced across the room and saw numerous people walking in one by one. Lin Huai’s eyes popped out as he saw how packed the entire room was to the point where many people were squashed against the wall.
Pu Chengji smiled and said, “There are eighty-two people in total but many more expressed their intentions to come along. However, they were turned down as a portion of them did not have the skills whereas the other portion were from the sports major. They used to be Zhou Minghu’s men thus they are currently under probation. Otherwise, there would be at least two hundred people.”
Lin Huai stood up and he was overwhelmed by his emotions. He was touched as the number of people present were far beyond his expectations.
Lin Huai nodded his head and suddenly clutched his arms together and bowed. With tears in his eyes, he agitatedly said, “Thank you my brothers!”