Li Xiaohui arrived at the internet café, and within just ten minutes, she had already resolved the conflict.
The customers, promised free internet access, were all grinning from ear to ear, eagerly restarting their computers and diving back into their games.
It was as if the earlier blue screen incident had been completely forgotten.
Of course, for the café's safety, Xiao Bin specifically called in a few skilled students from the tech college—his most capable team members—to conduct a thorough inspection and upgrade of the café's firewall and other security measures.
Meanwhile, Li Xiaohui took the troublesome trio, the "Traffic Light Gang," into a private booth at the back of the café for interrogation.
The moment the yellow-haired and red-haired members stepped inside, they dropped to their knees, pleading desperately: "Sister Hui, we were wrong! Really wrong!"
"Please let us off this time, we’ll never dare to do it again!"
"Yeah, yeah, we were just blinded by greed, trying to scam some money… We swear we won’t do it again!"
"Just treat us like trash and let us go!"
"……"
The yellow and red-haired guys were utterly spineless.
In contrast, the skinny green-haired one seemed far more composed.
While the other two were already groveling, this guy stubbornly turned his head away, showing no trace of fear or nervousness.
Li Xiaohui couldn’t help but look at him with newfound respect.
This guy had guts!
Even with a dozen of her Black Dragon Society brothers in black suits surrounding him, he didn’t flinch.
Now that was a real man!
Just as Li Xiaohui reached out to question him—
Suddenly!
The green-haired guy dropped to his knees without warning and declared defiantly, "Go ahead, hit me! Beat me to death if you dare! But if you don’t kill me, I’ll tell you exactly who sent us!"
Li Xiaohui: "……"
Well, she’d misjudged him.
The faces of the yellow and red-haired guys instantly paled.
They had insisted they were just broke and trying to scam some cash, refusing to reveal their backer—partly out of a twisted sense of professional ethics.
Even as thugs, they had standards, right?
Besides, getting beaten up counted as an occupational hazard, and keeping their mouths shut meant they could still squeeze some compensation out of their employer.
But now…
Of course, the biggest issue was that they didn’t even know who the employer was—only the green-haired guy did.
He was the one who took the job, and they hadn’t had time to ask.
……
While Li Xiaohui was interrogating the "Traffic Light Trio" in the café booth, a student named Lin Tao from the Business Administration Class 2 of Bright Pearl University arrived outside the internet café.
Lin Tao was the studious type, rarely visiting internet cafés to game. It wasn’t that he didn’t play—he just preferred saving money by gaming in his dorm.
This was his first time coming to the café Li Xiaohui had mentioned.
When he arrived and saw the sign for "Phoenix Reign Esports," he instinctively glanced at the rival café across the street, "Yan’s Net."
His expression froze in disbelief.
"What the hell? Do I need to check in at the underworld before logging in?"
He never expected the two cafés to have such morbid names, as if warning him that excessive gaming could lead to an early trip to the afterlife.
He wasn’t the only one baffled.
Many first-time customers had been equally stunned, nearly petrified by the names.
If not for the grand opening discounts at both places, they might’ve seriously reconsidered whether it was worth risking their lives just to game.
Just as Lin Tao snapped out of his daze and prepared to enter, a black sedan pulled up to the curb.
The door opened, and out stepped a slightly chubby young man in black—Ma Da.
He’d been summoned by Liu Yutong, who was worried Li Xiaohui might’ve mishandled the café incident. The girl had a tendency to act recklessly, after all.
If things went south, Ma Da could step in to clean up the mess.
The moment Ma Da got out of the car, he spotted Lin Tao and his eyes lit up.
He remembered this kid all too well!
Back when the Black Dragon Society first arrived in Bright Pearl City and fought in the largest brawl in history, Lin Tao—Liu Yutong’s sneaky classmate—had stood out spectacularly.
His infamous "backstab special" had left countless people questioning their life choices.
"Hey, Sixth Brother! Long time no see!" Ma Da called out.
Lin Tao blinked, then pointed at himself. "You talking to me?"
Ma Da grinned. "What, don’t recognize me anymore?"
Lin Tao shook his head. "Uh… honestly, I can’t remember."
He rarely interacted with people like Ma Da, who radiated underworld vibes. Though the guy did seem vaguely familiar, Lin Tao couldn’t place him.
Ma Da wasn’t bothered. "No worries, I still remember you. Here to game?"
Lin Tao answered truthfully. "Nah, my classmate Li Xiaohui asked me to come. Said she wanted to talk about some gaming thing."
Ma Da nodded. "Ah, Xiaohui. Perfect, I’m here to see her too. Let’s go in together."
With that, he slung a friendly arm around Lin Tao’s shoulders and steered him toward the entrance.
Lin Tao let himself be led inside, still puzzling over why the guy’s outfit looked so familiar.
It wasn’t until they stepped into the café and he saw rows of men in black lining the hallway that it hit him.
"B-Black Dragon Society?!"
The men in black immediately greeted Ma Da in unison.
"Brother Ma!" x dozens.
The deafening chorus made Lin Tao flinch.
He hadn’t expected the cheerful guy beside him to be such a high-ranking figure.
"B-Brother Ma?" Lin Tao’s voice trembled.
"Now you’re getting it!" Ma Da laughed, clapping him on the back. "Relax, we’re all friends here. Come on, which booth’s Xiaohui in? Lead the way!"
One of the men in black pointed to a booth at the end of the hall. "Brother Ma, Sister Hui’s dealing with the troublemakers in there."
Ma Da nodded and guided Lin Tao forward.
Lin Tao felt like a hostage, every step filled with dread.
As someone who’d always been the model child, this was his first time rubbing shoulders with the underworld—and it was unsettling.
He knew Li Xiaohui and the class monitor were involved with these circles, but the class monitor—now Lin Lele—had never brought any of it to campus.
Even though Liu Yutong was still respectfully called "Monitor" by the class, she’d never dragged her classmates into that world. Over time, they’d almost forgotten her identity as a mafia princess.
So, his reaction to all this was perfectly understandable.
The private room door swung open.
The scene inside made Lin Tao freeze once again.
There sat Li Xiaohui, casually crossing her legs on the sofa, sipping from a cup of bubble tea with a faint look of impatience on her delicate face.
Kneeling before her were three trembling delinquents, their hair dyed in shades of red, yellow, and green.
One of them, the green-haired guy, despite being on his knees, stubbornly jutted out his chin and straightened his back, exuding an air of defiance—like a man ready to face death unflinchingly.
Of course, to Lin Tao, this so-called "defiance" seemed more like the dazed bravado of someone who’d taken one too many hits.
Did this idiot not realize the situation he was in? Acting all haughty now would only land him in deeper trouble later.
Li Xiaohui’s outfit and demeanor completely shattered Lin Tao’s previous impression of her. Dressed in a purple, edgy getup and matching the black attire of the Ten Thousand Dragons Society, she radiated an unmistakable gangster vibe.
Compared to the Li Xiaohui from school, this was like meeting an entirely different person.
Spotting Ma Da and Lin Tao, Li Xiaohui’s eyes lit up. "Brother Ma, what brings you here?"
"Lin Tao, you made it fast! Come on over—perfect timing! Watch how Sister Hui interrogates these punks! Hahaha…"
Lin Tao: "…"
So… this was Li Xiaohui’s true nature?
