Lin Huai had never seen a hotel with the name ‘Justice Inn’ before and it resembled the place where the heroes of Mount Liang [1] became sworn brothers.
Gong Zhenglong stood at the side and said arrogantly, “Our Faction Head owns half of the shares here.”
Lin Huai praised him in return, “Your boss must be a wealthy person; this hotel is at least a few thousand square feet.”
Gong Zhenglong had a mocking look on his face. “Isn’t it much better than the small business you students are handling?”
Lin Huai could see that Gong Zhenglong held enmity toward him and was looking down on him. Gong Zhenglong probably looked down on him because he was just a student but Lin Huai could not wrap his head around the reason behind Gong Zhenglong’s enmity toward him. However, Lin Huai did not argue with him and just cracked a smile as he followed Gong Zhenglong into the hotel. Gong Zhenglong noticed that Lin Huai did not have the courage to argue with him and thus became haughtier, disdaining Lin Huai even more.
There were quite a lot of people dining at the ground floor, and what struck him the most was that the people who dined there were mostly goons. Some of them probably did not know each other but it just seemed like none of them looked like decent people.
Lin Huai was curious but he did not want to ask Gong Zhenglong—who was looking down on him—about it. The rest of the men stayed downstairs and Gong Zhenlong brought Lin Huai to the first floor.
The two of them headed toward a private room and there were four or five thugs standing outside of it. When they saw Gong Zhenglong coming, they glanced at Lin Huai first with a curious gaze and then quickly greeted Gong Zhenglong with respect, “The Faction Head is waiting for you inside, Brother.”
“Great.” Gong Zhenglong pushed open the door gently and greeted with high regard, “I’ve brought him here, Faction Head.”
“Good, everybody come in.”
Lin Huai was wondering what kind of person their Faction Head was when a sonorous voice came from the room; there was no doubt that the Faction Head was an imposing man.
Gong Zhenglong led the way and sat down as Lin Huai followed from behind. He immediately looked at the sturdy guy in the head seat who looked like he was in his 30’s. The guy had a muscular build and reminded him of a tower. Lin Huai had met Li Tie—Wei Sihai’s bodyguard who had a brawny physique—but if Li Tie was standing beside this guy, it would make him look like a dwarf instead.
The big guy had a blazing temperament and when Lin Huai looked over, his intimidating gaze met Lin Huai’s eyes. Even Lin Huai, who was used to grand occasions, was taken aback as he looked like he was about to burn Lin Huai alive with his gaze.
Tongcheng City was truly a place with hidden talented individuals, since a person like him existed in a mere place like the Northern District. His skills were surely at an expert level and he was certainly more superior than Li Kandao and Dao Zi. He must have progressed into the Observable Energy Stage already.
“Guards, close the door,” instructed Thunder God. His voice was naturally loud, and no matter where he was, his physique and voice were always enough to make him the centre of attention.
There were three people in the room. Besides Thunder God and Gong Zhenglong, who had just sat down, there was another scrawny guy in the room who looked like a creep. He was described as a creep because his gaze gave the impression that he was a person who was constantly up to no good; a person like him would make people despise him wherever he went. However, Lin Huai put his guard up against him, because a creep like him would normally be looked down and despised upon wherever he went, but just by the fact that he was within the same room as the other two proved that he must be an exceptionally frightening person.
Other than the three people who were seated, the room was occupied with goons and there were ten of them. They were permeating with malicious intentions and if these ten people were facing the Yulan College students, it was possible that each of them could beat two students at once, even if they were against the sports majors.
One of the goons went over and shut the door, then went back to his original post docilely. Thunder God looked toward Lin Huai and nodded his head. “Have a seat, Lin Huai.”
Lin Huai was facing the Northern District’s most notorious Big Boss, so he quickly went over and took his seat.
Thunder God was gobbling down his food as he started talking. “I don’t think I need to introduce myself, you must know who I am.”
The two of them had not met before but Thunder God spoke as if Lin Huai would know who he was; Thunder God was clearly a man of confidence.
Lin Huai answered, “I’ve heard of your reputation, ‘Thunder God’ Tang Shi.”
“Hahaha, good… It’s good that you’ve heard of me before.” Thunder God set his chopsticks down and his blazing gaze shot toward Lin Huai like he was about to engulf Lin Huai. He said slowly, “Although you know who I am, you might not know about something. I take great care of my friends and I am willing to guide even a young kid like you. In the path of darkness, the seniors must guide the juniors so that our dark path continues on, generation after generation.”
Damn it, you are just a group of gangsters but you are still talking so nobly. Don’t you have any dignity? Lin Huai was cursing inside.
Thunder God squinted his eyes and had a cold look in his eyes, that even Lin Huai’s heart trembled momentarily. “However, I have never shown my enemies mercy, they will only be reduced to ashes.”
He was threatening Lin Huai right there and then, but Lin Huai suddenly thought of the possibility that he was here not because Thunder God wanted to hurt him or what not. Thunder God probably wanted to take him under his wings since Zhou Minghu was dead now and had no value; he would not have to avenge someone who had no value to him anyway. Since Lin Huai was the one who destroyed Zhou Minghu, didn’t that prove that he was more valuable and powerful than Zhou Minghu?
Thunder God did not go on and just gave the scrawny guy a glance. The scrawny guy snapped his fingers and two people immediately walked out from the washroom at the side. The two of them were grabbing onto a man in his 30s who had a terrified look on his face. The man was bound and gagged, his eyes filled with horror.
Thunder God instructed, “Untie him.”
The two goons untied the middle-aged man immediately, and as soon as the ropes became loose, the man dropped to his knees. He did not even bother to take out the rag in his mouth and started kowtowing to Thunder God.
Lin Huai started to feel depressed; how much fear would it take to make a man be this terrified?
The middle-aged man gave around ten kowtows and his head was starting to bleed. Thunder God said, “Stop kowtowing, stand up and talk.”
The man got onto his feet swiftly and as he stood up. He staggered for a moment, probably because he had banged his head too hard on the floor when he was kowtowing just now.
Tears and snots were streaming down his face when he took the rag out from his mouth. He begged tearfully, “Faction Head, I-I was wrong, please forgive me.”
Thunder God answered calmly, “Oh? You were wrong? What did you do wrong?”
“I-I… ”
Thunder God exhaled sharply and it scared the man out of his wits as he got down on his knees once again.
Thunder God interrupted, “Do you really think I didn’t know that you have been bribed since the beginning? Some people are just presumptuous and even have the courage to bribe my men. Do they really think they can dominate Tongcheng? Let me ask you a question, Zhou Quanan. How long have you been by my side?”
“S-Six years.”
“Good.” Thunder God continued, “You have been by my side for six years and even though you did not make any contributions, at least you have worked hard. I will not lay my hands on your wife and kids.”
The man wiped off his tears and slowly got back up as he thanked Thunder God profusely, “Thank you Faction Head, thank you… ”
All of a sudden, he stumbled toward the balcony and Lin Huai was puzzled at what his intentions were. Suddenly, he opened the window panes and leaped onto the balcony. Lin Huai stood up hastily but it was too late—he had jumped off the second floor.
Lin Huai took a deep breath and was stunned. At the same time, he was consoling himself, He should be fine, this is only the second floor. It’s impossible for him to plunge to his death.
There was a faint smile on Thunder God’s face. “Go to the balcony and take a look.”
Lin Huai’s heart trembled for a second as an indescribable feeling of uneasiness appeared. He quickly pushed away the chairs and charged toward the balcony. As he looked down from the window, Zhou Quanan had crawled back onto his feet just as expected. He was walking toward the road but was limping very badly. It seemed like he had hurt his ankle.
Lin Huai was puzzled as to why Thunder God was showing this to him? Could it be the punishment Thunder God had meant? If so, then the punishment was not very serious.
Suddenly, Lin Huai’s pupils constricted and his heart almost jumped out. A truck was speeding along the road and although Zhou Minghu was still limping, he picked up his pace while heading straight into the direction of the truck. The two were at such a close distance and even if the driver wanted to step on the brakes, he would not make it in time. There was a loud bang and Zhou Quanan was knocked into the air before he landed twenty plus feet away. The truck stopped immediately but it still ran over Zhou Quanan’s body.
Blood and pieces of flesh were splattered all over the ground; Zhou Quanan’s corpse was not even recognisable anymore.
Lin Huai started feeling suffocated and his hands held tightly onto the windowsill. He was groaning and his body was shivering slightly. He did not know if he was feeling enraged or upset; this was a life, a human’s life.
Thunder God was a hundred—a thousand times more heartless and scarier than Zhou Minghu. With just a few words, he had made an adult choose to end his life. Just how scary and cruel was Thunder God during normal days?
Lin Huai suddenly remembered Thunder God saying that he would not touch the man’s wife and kids and how the man was very grateful for it. Lin Huai was suddenly enlightened. Isn’t this darkness? The darkness that I wanted to wipe out? This kind of evil force should not exist.
Deep down, Lin Huai was unfazed and a thought came into his mind. If I want to eliminate these evil forces, talking some sense into them would not be enough. They are cruel so I will have to be more cruel.
Thunder God suddenly started talking. He did not need to go to the window to know what choice Zhou Quanan had made. This was just too simple for him. He saw Lin Huai’s shivering silhouette and there was a sense of cruelty and viciousness in his eyes. His voice was even more heartless as he said, “Do you understand now? In this Northern District, I will decide who lives and dies!”
[1]: Mount Liang (梁山; Liáng Shān, often referred to in Chinese as 水泊梁山; Shuǐ Pō Liáng Shān) is a mountain in Liangshan County, Shandong, China which rises to 197.9 metres above sea level. It is well known as the stronghold of the 108 Stars of Destiny in the Chinese classical novel Water Margin.