Hidden Assassin 107

“What are you guys doing?!”

The bodyguards of the Dongfang family, each and every one of them a retired People’s Armed Police officer or special forces soldier, tall and imposing, with a fierce demeanor, modeled after Sylvester Stallone, stood beside Dongfang Wan. The small group of hoodlums immediately felt frightened, the leader of the group stammering for a while before finally finding his voice, returning Dongfang Wan’s words: “Y-y-you… what are you doing?!”

“Humph.” Seeing the other party’s timid appearance, Dongfang Wan felt pleased. “Who are you? On what grounds are you grabbing people? By the way, are you… called Xu Yiting?”

To defeat an enemy, one must first understand them. Dongfang Wan had investigated the five members of Jia Ming’s gang to some degree, and she had some impression of Xu Yiting. Hearing the young lady’s question, and seeing the others shrink back, Xu Yiting nodded hastily. She ran up to Jia Ming and Dongfang Wan, sobbing as she said, “Cousin Jia Ming, and… Miss Dongfang, please help us. They are going to arrest my father…”

Even though everyone had been part of a gang these past few days, they didn’t really know each other well. Xu Yiting gave off the impression of a quiet, introverted girl. She wore a pair of unattractive glasses, didn’t speak often, and was always carrying a textbook — from martial arts to romance to culinary guides, everything imaginable. She didn’t try to be close to anyone, and Jia Ming, naturally, hadn’t made an effort to get to know her. Dongfang Wan, however, knew Xu Yiting’s name because she had asked about her at school. Since Xu Yiting knew her, she couldn’t help but think that maybe her heroic reputation had finally spread throughout the land? After a moment of inner fantasizing, she felt happy and looked up at the hoodlums, “Hey, what’s going on?!”

The four bodyguards took a step forward, creating an atmosphere of tense confrontation.

“Humph, Xu, Xu Yiting! You think you can find someone to help and you won’t have to pay? Think straight, the IOU is with our boss!”

Dongfang Wan questioned, “What kind of payment? How much could a high school student possibly owe you?”

“It’s over a hundred thousand, and the IOU is with our boss. It’s in black and white, with her own signature. How can she deny it?” Having bullied others for so long, they felt confident because they were on the side of right. The leader’s voice rose several decibels as he took a step forward. A bodyguard casually pushed him back. These people weren’t saints, they were trained bodyguards when getting paid, and they could just as easily turn into thugs. Before Dongfang Wan could speak, Xu Yiting started crying, “I-I… they forced me to sign. They said if I didn’t sign, they would… they would kill my father…”

Xu Yiting cried as she explained. The other hoodlums occasionally added fuel to the fire, occasionally accusing Xu Yiting of exaggerating. Dongfang Wan would shout at them to shut up. After a few minutes, she had more or less understood the situation. It turned out that these men were members of the Yongsheng Gang, one of the three major gangs in Jiang Hai City. They ran the city’s biggest underground casinos. Xu Yiting’s father had a gambling problem and had been gambling more and more lately. After losing a lot of money, he borrowed from loan sharks. As a result, the debt had become the daughter’s responsibility. The problem was that to pay back her father’s debts, Xu Yiting had taken on the whole amount and rewritten the IOU. Now, it was a case of “paying back debts is a natural law,” and there was no way out.

Dongfang Wan pondered how to handle this matter. Gu Jia Ming was still working at the flower shop and clearly couldn’t afford to pay off the debt. For her, over a hundred thousand was not a small amount, but it wasn’t something she couldn’t pay. The question was, how to deal with it properly.

Ultimately, Dongfang Wan had a perfect plan for her future. The underworld was part of the unspoken rules of society. Although the Dongfang family’s influence had reached a point where they no longer needed to worry about these small gangs, after graduating from university, she planned to start from a small company, which would inevitably require her to interact with this underworld. She hadn’t had any contact with this aspect of society before, and now was a good opportunity. On the one hand, it would be good training for her, and on the other, it would satisfy her compassionate nature. Most importantly, this would create an obligation for Gu Jia Ming to her — he’d owe her a favor. This would prevent him from acting cocky and superior in her presence. Of course, she couldn’t explain why this was the most important aspect.

How to make Gu Jia Ming feel obligated, how to properly handle these gangsters, ensuring they didn’t underestimate her while avoiding any animosity between them — this would certainly be a skillful operation. But Dongfang Wan was confident. To achieve both of these goals, the first step was to bring Jia Ming into the fold. She had intervened too early, leading to him standing on the sidelines watching, ready to take advantage of the situation. Now it looked like it was her problem. Having settled on her plan, Dongfang Wan spoke like a judge.

“Humph, don’t think an IOU means anything. Don’t you know what kind of people you are? You scam and cheat, you do everything. Your casinos are rigged, you deliberately give out high-interest loans to hurt people. You…”

“So what if we give out high-interest loans? If he doesn’t want to borrow, he shouldn’t borrow. The interest rate was clearly stated from the beginning. Why did he borrow? And who said our casino is rigged? If it’s rigged, don’t gamble. If you think it’s rigged, point it out!”

“It’s just what I said. So what, do you want to cause trouble? I’m telling you, this amount of money is a small matter for me, but why… should I?”

Seeing Jia Ming suddenly pat her shoulder, Dongfang Wan’s heart filled with glee. She knew this guy was inherently the type who would rather avoid trouble. Now that he knew there was no benefit in escalating things, he was finally taking the bait. Just as she thought this, Jia Ming had moved closer, whispering in her ear, “Hey, do your four bodyguard friends have guns?”

“Guns? We aren’t at war, why would we bring guns… I just came out for a walk. This is China, not another country. Carrying guns is a hassle. Why?”

“Well then.” Jia Ming shrugged helplessly. “Even though saying this sounds like a boring line from a comedy movie, but… look behind you…”

“Cut it out. You’re up to something again. Usually in the movies, the character would say, ‘I should trust you?’ I looked, and I…” She casually shook her head, and the smile on Dongfang Wan’s face froze. On the opposite side of the road, over a hundred people were walking towards them with hostile expressions. The first in line, a young man with a yellow mohawk, shouted, “Hey, who dares to touch my brothers!”

“Actually…” Jia Ming muttered beside her, “The Yongsheng Gang’s meeting point is just over there. They parked here, which means they’ve arrived at their destination. Dongfang, you’re really daring to pressure them like that. You are truly amazing. You’re my idol! Don’t worry, you’ll be recognized as a martyr. They always do the ‘rape first, kill later, then rape again, then kill again’ thing to beautiful women…”

Seeing more than a hundred people coming towards them aggressively, Dongfang Wan started to tremble, “Y-you… why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

“Oh, I thought you were so confident because your Dongfang family bodyguards always carry a few assault rifles whenever they go out, or at least handguns. I didn’t know you were relying on your fiery spirit and unwavering courage.”

Although she felt his tone was slightly sarcastic, it wasn’t the time to be concerned about that. On one hand, she forced herself to stand straight, while on the other, she trembled and whispered, “T-then… what should we do now?”

“What else? We run, of course. If you… hey, what are you doing, pulling my hand? You don’t run, I run. You think your bodyguards can take on fifty people each…? Hey, hey, hey, Dongfang Wan, I don’t know you…” Jia Ming secretly laughed in his heart. Facing a group of over a hundred in broad daylight, even if he really wanted to fight, he could only dodge them first since he didn’t have a gun.

Of course, given the current situation, it would be easy to get out of it using deception. As soon as they mentioned Dongfang Wan’s identity, these people would most likely not dare to do anything. Moreover, Yan Huang Jue Xing’s people were watching nearby. With the Dongfang family’s relationship with Yan Huang Jue Xing, plus that Fang Guolin kid’s overflowing sense of justice, anyone with half a brain would know this situation would be safe. As for Dongfang Wan, after hearing Jia Ming’s words, she could only stomp on his foot, “Y-you… are you even a man…? ” At that moment, the mohawk had arrived with his army.

“Hey, beautiful lady, you want to start a fight? Who are you with? You’re so arrogant.”

“Humph.” Dongfang Wan took a deep breath, stood tall, and calmly said, “Who I am is none of your business. Are you the boss of the Yongsheng Gang?”

As soon as she said this, the surrounding area erupted in laughter. The mohawk chuckled, “Haha, come on, Li Yongsheng is my father. I’m Li Ming. Beautiful lady, what are you here for? Tell the truth, this chick owes us over a hundred thousand, but since you’re so pretty, it’s fine if you want to stand up for her. Just sleep with me for three months.”

He opened his mouth and made a joke. Jia Ming pretended not to know her. Dongfang Wan, however, was furious and gritted her teeth because of the words “sleep for three months.” “Sleep for three months? I doubt you can even afford to sleep that long. I’m telling you, I’m…” She rolled her eyes, then raised Jia Ming’s hand, “ … you don’t need to know who I am, but this is my boyfriend. Liu Zheng, the boss of the Shazhu Gang, is his godfather. We’re here to… negotiate…”

A father-in-law as a godfather wasn’t too much of a problem. However, before she could finish, the atmosphere suddenly changed. Dongfang Wan’s last few words came out a bit nervously. She didn’t know what went wrong. But beside her, Jia Ming’s muscles suddenly tensed. The Shazhu Gang and the Yongsheng Gang were fighting secretly over territory, causing a stalemate between the two sides. This stupid woman had hit on the most sensitive topic.

After a tense silence, Li Ming suddenly waved his hand, “Go! Members of the Shazhu Gang! Brothers, grab your weapons. Get ready to… owww!”

The last scream wasn’t a call for all his comrades to transform into werewolves in broad daylight. With a burst of sword-drawing sounds, Li Ming let out a high-pitched cry, covered his groin with both hands, bowed over, his eyes rolled back, his neck stretched out like a “swan neck.” It was the moment for Jia Ming’s secret weapon…

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