"Fuck! Do you know who I am? I am the heir to the Corallo family! If you touch me, you'll be in big trouble! Huge trouble!" Jesse roared at the gang of thugs before him, his back pressed against the wall.
But the thugs opposite him couldn't understand a single word he was saying.
"What's this foreigner babbling about? What Corgi, what Mala family? Sounds like he sells hotpot."
"Who gives a damn if it's spicy hotpot or a half-and-half broth. Just grab the stuff so we can finish the job. The boss who's paying us is still waiting."
Meanwhile, not far behind them, a young blond foreigner was watching the scene with cold detachment.
He was the one who had hired these thugs. He had already bought his plane ticket, just waiting to fly out the second he got the key.
Staying in the Dragon Kingdom for too long was simply unsafe, especially since this place seemed to be the home turf of that woman who had beaten him up before.
Looking at these thugs who were on a completely different wavelength, Jesse almost spat out a mouthful of blood in frustration.
"Fuck! You muggles! Don't you understand human speech?!"
"Oh ho? You dare swear at us? Who are you calling a motherfucker?!"
Hearing this, the lead thug instantly flared up. "Boys, get him! Let's teach this loudmouth foreigner a lesson!"
Seeing the gang about to rush up and give him a brutal education of love, Jesse wailed inwardly.
"God, Buddha, Allah! Is the grand young master of the Corallo family really going to meet his end here today?!"
Just as he fell into utter despair...
Beep beep!
A bright light suddenly pierced through from the entrance of the alley.
Immediately after, a teasing voice rang out behind them.
"Yo, yo, yo, what's everyone doing here?"
A black sedan was parked at the alleyway. A chubby figure with a lollipop in his mouth walked toward them, leading a group of young men in black.
The thugs were momentarily stunned by the sight.
So much black! All black suits!
"W-who are you guys? Mind your own business!"
Ma Da slowly took the lollipop out of his mouth and pointed at Jesse. "This foreigner is under my protection. Do me a favor, go back to your own homes and find your own mothers, alright?"
"Who the hell do you think you are! You think we'll just leave because you say so?!" the thug leader retorted, feeling his pride was on the line.
Just then, a sharp-eyed underling beside him tugged at his sleeve. "Boss, stop talking, just shut up!"
"Shut up? Shut what up? Why are you being such a coward?!"
The thug leader shook off his subordinate's hand in displeasure. "Damn it, don't tell anyone you run with me when we get out of here. It's embarrassing!"
The underling was so anxious he was about to cry. "Boss, look closely at the logo on their clothes! Those are men from the Ten Thousand Dragons Society!"
"So what if it's the Ten Thousand Dragons Society? Does that mean they can just throw their weight around?" the thug leader retorted instinctively. But halfway through his sentence, his entire body stiffened, and all the color drained from his face.
"I-is it that Ten... Ten Thousand Dragons Society?"
"Yeah, black suits with a dragon crest embroidered on the chest. That's them!"
The next second, under the astonished gazes of Jesse and all the underlings, the previously aggressive thug leader dropped straight to his knees, sliding forward.
"Boss, I was wrong! I have a foul mouth! We'll get lost right now! Immediately! Right this second! Please let us off the hook!"
This was the Ten Thousand Dragons Society! Everyone on the streets knew how ruthless their methods were and how terrifyingly solid their background was.
Many of them had heard about how the East Sea Alliance was wiped out back in the day.
They had also heard that the boss of the East Sea Alliance, Zhao Tianxing, was taken out by the Ten Thousand Dragons Society right in front of the cops.
When that news spread, everyone in the underworld trembled in fear.
That was why the thug leader knelt so fast after confirming these were men from the Ten Thousand Dragons Society. If he had been even a second slower, he feared he would become the next Zhao Tianxing.
No, he wasn't even worthy of being compared to Zhao Tianxing. At least Zhao Tianxing was the boss of a major syndicate; he was just a small-time nobody.
Ma Da seemed completely used to this kind of scene. He sucked on his lollipop and drawled lazily, "Yo! Now you know you're wrong? Weren't you acting pretty tough just a second ago?"
The thug leader was on the verge of tears. "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare! Boss, you are the sky! You are the earth! You are the only myth!"
"I'm just a rotten scallion, no... I'm not even a scallion, I'm just a clove of garlic! Please just let me go like a fart!"
The others also quickly followed suit, kneeling and begging for mercy.
"Boss, we were wrong!"
"Boss, I have an eighty-year-old mother to support at home and three kids to feed. If something happens to me, my family will collapse!"
"My wife just gave birth and is still in confinement! Spare my life, boss!"
"Huh? Wait, aren't you single? Where did you get a wife and kids?"
"Piss off!"
"............"
"Alright, alright, get up, all of you. Stop wailing like ghosts," Ma Da waved his hand impatiently.
"Thank you, boss! Thank you, boss!" The thug leader felt as if he had been granted a general amnesty. He was just about to flee with his underlings when a group of men in black blocked their path.
"B-boss, are you still not going to let us go?"
Ma Da replied, "No, it's just that I need you guys to be witnesses."
"Witnesses?" The thug leader looked confused.
"You'll find out in a bit," Ma Da said, offering no further explanation.
Meanwhile.
The young blond foreigner who had been peeking from the back saw that things were going south and prepared to slip away quietly.
But just as he was about to turn around, he found that his body couldn't move.
Two young men in black, who had somehow slipped behind him unnoticed, grabbed his arms from the left and right, restraining him.
"Let me go! Do you know who I am? I am Hawke! My boss is the leader of the Mafia!"
"I'm warning you, I'm a foreigner! If anything happens to me, the embassy will definitely intervene, and it will cause a serious diplomatic dispute! You can't bear the consequences!"
Ma Da slowly walked over and laughed. "Oh ho, a diplomatic dispute? Do you even know you broke the law? You dare hit people on our turf. Never mind just using the embassy's name, even if you carried the consul over here yourself, you're still going to be locked up today!"
With that, he gave a pointed look to the two subordinates holding Hawke.
The two men in black immediately nodded and dragged Hawke deeper into the alley.
Soon after, bloodcurdling screams that sent shivers down the spine echoed from within.
"Ah! Stop... Please! Stop! Hahaha... I was wrong! I was really wrong! Help...!"
The voice was intermittent, a mix of manic laughter and broken screams. Just hearing it was enough to make one imagine a scene of horrific, inhumane torture.
The gang of thugs all shivered in absolute terror, screaming internally.
"Holy shit! I've always heard the Ten Thousand Dragons Society loves to torture people, and they really live up to their reputation! Damn, this foreigner sounds like he's begging for death! Thank god we knelt fast, otherwise we'd end up exactly like that!"
What they didn't know was that the men in black were actually just tickling Hawke.
Jesse, who had just escaped danger, now felt a chill shoot straight from the soles of his feet to the top of his skull, making every hair on his body stand on end.
After all, he was someone who had run with foreign gangs. He had seen plenty of gunfights, turf wars, and even his fair share of gory scenes.
Where he came from, resolving conflicts was usually simple and brutal. With a loud bang, all grudges were settled. It was cruel, but at least it was quick, clean, and painless.
But this group of people in front of him—what the hell kind of playbook were they using?!
They actually used torture? And the kind of cruel torture that made your blood run cold just hearing about it!
Sure enough, the underworld syndicates in Dragon Country were much more ruthless than their foreign gangs. There was absolutely no humanity to speak of!
Devils! These guys were absolute devils!
The more Jesse thought about it, the more terrified he became. He stole a glance at Ma Da beside him, who was casually sucking on a lollipop with a breezy expression, and for the first time, true fear welled up in his heart.
From now on, if anyone dared to tell him that Dragon Country was the safest country in the world, he would fight them!
Had you ever seen torture that tormented a person until they were crying through their laughter, begging for a death they couldn't have?
He was witnessing it right now!
It was simply too dark, too utterly ruthless!
