Cheng Gang's heart began to beat a little faster. Even though this wasn't his first time seeing the Young Lady, a surge of instinctive excitement still welled up in his heart.
Footsteps echoed through the area.
Everyone's gaze simultaneously turned toward the gate of the construction site.
Immediately after, a beautiful silhouette dressed in a long black trench coat entered their sight. A dark-gold dragon-shaped badge was pinned to her left chest, and golden pendants dangled from her earlobes.
Behind her, a cold and stern young man held up a black umbrella, shielding her from the falling snow.
As she walked to the front of the stage.
Standing in the first row, Ma Da suddenly raised his right hand, making a fist and pressing it against his left chest over his heart. This was the highest salute among the core members of the Ten Thousand Dragons Society.
Almost at the exact same moment, Cheng Gang quickly performed the same gesture.
The nearly two thousand other people at the scene also simultaneously raised their hands, made fists, and pressed them to their chests, producing a deep, resonant thump.
These were all the core members currently in Pearl City, 1,998 of them in total. Members from other cities had not received this summons.
Greetings, the Young Lady!
Following Ma Da's lead, the very next second.
Greetings, the Young Lady!
Thousands of voices exploded across the scene, their imposing aura soaring straight into the clouds.
Cheng Gang felt the hairs on his arms stand up. The sheer shock of the sound waves slamming into his chest made his blood boil with adrenaline.
Liu Yutong swept her gaze across the crowd and slowly spoke.
Everyone!
Today was supposed to be a night of reunion, a day for all of you to gather with your families.
But there are some things we cannot wait for.
Someone in Huai City has issued a challenge to us, choosing New Year's Eve as the time. They think this will distract us and scatter our strength.
They are wrong!
The Ten Thousand Dragons Society has made it to where it is today by relying on our cohesion and our unstoppable momentum!
I do not like violence, but I dislike it even more when people think they can solve problems with violence, or that they can be arrogant and disregard the law just because they have numbers on their side!
So today, we are going to Huai City to tell them that times have changed!
We will use our own methods to return a clear, sunny sky to Huai City!
And similarly, this is so that our family member, Zhang Tao, can come home early!
Perhaps some might wonder if it is worth mobilizing such a massive force for just one member. My answer is this: if anything happens to any single one of you, I, along with everyone seated here, will go all out!
Never abandon, never give up. This is the Ten Thousand Dragons Society!
Hearing the Young Lady's words, some of the men in the crowd couldn't help but wipe away tears.
The Young Lady had treated everyone incredibly well ever since the beginning of her business ventures. Even now, with a net worth in the billions and being the youngest tycoon in the country, she still treated them all as family, truly sharing in both their joys and their hardships.
If possible, they were willing to follow her for the rest of their lives.
No, it would be for the rest of their lives!
Ten Thousand Dragons Society! someone shouted.
Soon after, the crowd chanted in unison once again.
Ten Thousand Dragons Society!
Ten Thousand Dragons Society!
...
One second, two seconds, ten seconds passed.
Only when the cheering gradually subsided did Liu Yutong speak again, uttering just a few words.
Then, let's move out!
She turned around and walked toward the Maybach parked at the very front.
Yun Cheng stepped forward briskly and opened the car door for her.
After she got into the car.
The next second, Ma Da grabbed his battlefield megaphone and yelled out a command.
Everyone, board the vehicles!
The sea of people in black began to line up and board the vehicles in an orderly fashion.
Cheng Gang sat in a bus. The reason they didn't use all sedans was mainly out of concern for traffic jams during the New Year period. Even so, the entire convoy still consisted of dozens of vehicles.
When the convoy merged onto the main road of Pearl City, it immediately drew sidelong glances and exclamations from pedestrians.
Holy crap! Holy crap! Look!
This convoy is insane!
They saw one, two, three... fifteen black Mercedes-Benz vehicles driving by, led by a Maybach worth tens of millions, forming an ultra-luxurious motorcade.
But that was only the beginning.
Behind the Mercedes fleet followed an even larger fleet of buses, nearly thirty of them. All the vehicles maintained almost the exact same speed, looking like a giant, black steel dragon.
What's going on?
Those are the Ten Thousand Dragons Society's cars. Look at the logo. Who in Pearl City doesn't recognize it by now?
Where are so many of them going?
I don't know, but I seriously doubt they're going on a field trip on New Year's Eve.
A pedestrian absentmindedly counted the passing vehicles.
If each bus held fifty people, that was one thousand five hundred people, plus the people in the Mercedes up front... When he reached this calculation, he couldn't help but gasp.
Something huge must have happened!
On the highway, other drivers were also stunned by the massive convoy.
A child saw the convoy, pressed his face against the car window, and shouted excitedly, Daddy, look! So many black cars! It's so long and cool!
Honey, what kind of cars are those?
They belong to the Ten Thousand Dragons Society, the biggest corporate faction in our Pearl City. Either way, they're not to be messed with.
Then we'd better stay far away from them.
...
Along the way, many other cars and passengers heading in the same direction toward Huai City couldn't help but discuss it when they saw the convoy.
Those are the Ten Thousand Dragons Society's cars, right? I recognize that logo.
What happened? Why such a massive display?
The convoy's destination seems to be Huai City. I'm shivering just thinking about it.
Did someone in Huai City pick a fight with the Ten Thousand Dragons Society? Isn't that just a death wish?
How many people are there? A thousand? Two thousand?
More than that, just look at the length of this convoy.
I have a feeling someone is about to get really unlucky.
...
...
Huai City, East District Development Zone, inside a warehouse that had just had its steel-framed roof put up.
This was a newly built logistics warehouse under Liu Shui's name in the new development zone. Spanning over three thousand square meters, it had now become their gathering spot.
In the open space in the middle of the warehouse sat a long table, pieced together from several desks brought over from the office.
Liu Shui sat at the head of the table. On either side of him were Big Lei, Xiucai, Lin Hong, Fatty Du, and two other local bosses, Brother Qiang and Nine Fingers.
The surrounding area of the warehouse was densely packed with people.
At a rough estimate, there were at least six to seven hundred of them.
The makeup of this crowd was rather complex. There were thugs working under various bosses, street toughs temporarily hired with cash, petty hooligans who showed up to support the scene out of so-called loyalty, and troublemakers who had heard about a big event and wanted to join the fun.
In the corner of the warehouse lay a pile of weapons, such as steel pipes, baseball bats, and machetes.
Looking at the sea of heads moving around them, the bosses all showed smug expressions on their faces.
How about it, Boss Liu? I brought one hundred and twenty men, plus eighty more just to pad the numbers. That's two hundred in total. Pretty awesome, right?
I have fewer people on my end, eighty, but every single one is a skilled fighter.
I pulled sixty enforcers from my venues.
...
The final count came out: Big Lei with 200 men, Xiucai with 80, Lin Hong with 60, Fatty Du with 100, Brother Qiang with 100, Nine Fingers with 90, plus the 100 enforcers Liu Shui had prepared himself.
A total of 730 people.
He originally only hoped to gather 500, but unexpectedly exceeded the goal.
It seems the Wanlong Gang's actions from the past few days really sparked public outrage!
"Good!"
Liu Shui slammed the table and stood up, saying excitedly, "We've gathered over seven hundred brothers. How many did the Wanlong Gang bring? Two hundred at most. Three against one, we can crush them with sheer numbers!"
"Victory!"
Excited cheers echoed through the warehouse as everyone chanted the slogan for victory together.
A subordinate walked over carrying a tray with several poured glasses of red wine.
Liu Shui picked up a glass and raised it high. "Bosses, brothers, tonight's battle is for the pride of us Huaicheng people! After this is over, I, Liu Shui, guarantee that Elder Jiang will double the compensation for all your losses, and from now on, all the business in Huaicheng will be divided equally among us!"
"Cheers!" Big Lei was the first to raise his glass.
"Cheers!" The crowd raised their glasses one after another, downing the blood-red wine in one gulp.
After drinking, Liu Shui secretly whispered to the gang bosses, "I had someone hide two shotguns in advance, just in case."
Big Lei was taken aback. "Homemade shotguns? Is that really necessary? Our lineup is already big enough."
"Better to have them and not need them."
A hint of ruthlessness flashed in Liu Shui's eyes. "If those Wanlong Gang guys are really good at fighting, we can't just sit and wait to die. Don't worry, if something really happens, Elder Jiang will arrange a few fall guys."
Hearing this, the crowd finally nodded, feeling a bit more at ease.
Everyone knew that in the Dragon Kingdom, anyone who dared to use a gun, even a homemade one with average power, would face severe consequences.
Since Elder Jiang had already made arrangements, they had nothing more to say.
However, Lin Hong felt a vague sense of unease. As a woman, she believed her sixth sense was much stronger than that of the big men present.
Could something really go wrong?
