The southern outskirts of the city, in an urban village.
Inside an old residential building, Wumao was sprawled on a worn-out sofa. An old-fashioned television sat on the coffee table in front of him, broadcasting the midday news.
To his right lay a cellphone. To his left was an opened bottle of beer, still fizzing.
The room was small, and the curtains had been drawn tightly shut. The only light came from the television, flickering across his gloomy face.
After watching the news for a while, Wumao picked up the beer and took a long gulp. He wiped the foam from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and muttered to himself, “That idiot Jia Dan should’ve been caught by Young Master Cheng’s men by now.”
Jia Dan had smashed so many of Qi Licheng’s establishments and beaten Leopard’s trusted lieutenants into cripples. No matter how stupid Qi Licheng was, it wouldn’t take him long to figure things out. And once he did, there was no way he would let Jia Dan off.
After Jia Dan was caught, with that spineless coward’s personality, he would definitely sell Wumao out.
But Wumao wasn’t worried in the slightest.
He had prepared a way out for himself long ago.
When the people from the Wanlong Association first approached him, they gave him two choices.
The first was to continue being Qi Licheng’s dog and wait for the day Young Master Cheng was in a bad mood and cut off his other ear as well. Once both ears were gone, he would be worse off than a dog.
The second was to work for the Wanlong Association. Once the job was done, they promised to send him somewhere safe to lie low for a few years, along with enough money to settle down and live a peaceful life.
He had chosen the second option without the slightest hesitation.
As for whether that idiot Jia Dan lived or died, Wumao had never cared.
Someone who would help count the money after being sold was nothing but a waste of food, even if he stayed alive.
Wumao picked up the remote and was just about to change the channel when his thumb pressed the button. Suddenly, he heard a rush of hurried footsteps outside the door.
His expression changed. He shot up from the sofa, grabbed the cellphone from the coffee table, quickly dialed a number, and stuffed the phone into the inner pocket of his clothes.
The instant he finished, a tremendous bang rang out. The door was violently kicked open from outside.
“Wumao! We finally found you!”
Wumao’s body stiffened. He slowly turned around and saw A Jiu leading seven or eight men into the room.
Behind A Jiu stood a familiar figure.
Jia Dan.
“Wumao, you son of a bitch!”
The moment Jia Dan saw him, his eyes turned bloodshot.
After questioning him, Jia Dan now knew that he had been used by Wumao from beginning to end—and that this bastard had ruined his life.
“What are you getting so worked up about?” A Jiu shot him a cold look.
Jia Dan forced down his rage and glared at Wumao through clenched teeth.
Seeing the murderous look on Jia Dan’s face actually calmed Wumao down. He slowly raised both hands and smiled.
“Well, Brother Jiu, what brings you here? And Brother Jia, you don’t look so good. Didn’t sleep well last night?”
“How dare you laugh!” Jia Dan pointed at him and began cursing. “You bastard! You’ve ruined me! I treated you like a brother, but you used me as a weapon. Are you even human?!”
Wumao tilted his head and looked at him as though he were an idiot.
“Brother Jia, I have no idea what you’re talking about. When did I ever use you as a weapon? You were the one who insisted on taking men to smash those places last night. I even kindly lent you more than thirty of my men. How can you turn around and blame me?”
“You still dare to deny it?”
“You said those establishments had been taken by the Wanlong Association! You said Leopard and the others were traitors! It was all made-up nonsense! You lied to me and played me for a fool. Now Young Master Cheng has put a price on my head! I hope you die a horrible death!”
Wumao sighed and said in an utterly sincere tone, “Brother Jia, I was deceived too. I only repeated what I heard from someone else. Who knew the information was fake? I’m a victim too.”
He paused, then changed tack.
“And don’t blame me. You kept preaching about brotherhood, but didn’t you sell me out too?”
Jia Dan’s face stiffened.
“I…I only did that because you forced me into it.”
A Jiu couldn’t be bothered to watch them tear into each other. He waved his hand.
“Enough nonsense. Take them away!”
Two of his men immediately stepped forward and restrained Wumao from either side.
Wumao didn’t resist. He cooperated fully as they escorted him outside. But when he passed Jia Dan, he suddenly stopped and whispered something into his ear.
“Brother Jia, did you know that the reason I lost one of my ears was actually because of you?”
“We’re even now.”
The anger gradually faded from Jia Dan’s face.
What did he mean?
Why was Wumao saying he had lost his ear because of him?
What the hell was this bastard talking about? He couldn’t understand a word of it!
Before he could ask, A Jiu’s men roughly dragged him away.
…
On the outskirts of Jinchuan City stood a warehouse that had long since been abandoned.
Qi Licheng had specifically chosen it as the perfect place to settle things privately. He intended to deal with these two traitors here.
After Jia Dan and Wumao were brought in, they were each tied to a chair, unable to move.
In front of them, Qi Licheng sat in an old leather chair that had seemingly been dragged in from somewhere. He had one leg crossed over the other, a folding knife glinting coldly in his hand.
It was the same knife he had used to cut off Jia Dan’s ear that day.
“Well, well. Long time no see.”
Qi Licheng wore a smile, but there was something chilling about it that made their spines prickle.
When Jia Dan saw the knife in his hand, he was terrified. He cried out, “Young…Young Master Cheng, I’m innocent! I was really tricked by that bastard Wumao! My loyalty to you is as clear as the heavens and earth!”
“Hahaha…Loyalty?”
Qi Licheng laughed. He rose and walked over to Jia Dan, tapping his face with the back of the knife.
“You smashed seven or eight of my establishments and injured dozens of my brothers, and now you’re talking to me about loyalty? Jia Dan, do you really think I’m that easy to fool?!”
“No, no! Young Master Cheng, I really…”
“That’s enough.”
Qi Licheng cut him off and turned his attention to Wumao.
Compared with that idiotic dog Jia Dan, he was far more interested in Wumao.
This was the useless wretch whose ear Qi Licheng had personally cut off, and whom Leopard had publicly humiliated and forced to crawl like a dog. Yet somehow, he had managed to lay out such an elaborate scheme to retaliate against him.
To be honest, if they weren’t on opposing sides now, Qi Licheng might even have admired him a little.
“Wumao, you really are something.”
Qi Licheng walked over and crouched in front of him. He used the tip of the knife to lift Wumao’s chin, forcing him to look up.
“I cut off one of your ears, and you set up such a massive scheme to come after me? Not bad. You’ve got guts!”
“Do you hate me that much?”
With the knife tip pressed against his chin, Wumao showed no trace of fear. He smiled.
“You flatter me, Young Master Cheng. When you cut off my ear, that was a reward from you. How could I possibly resent you?”
“Then what was the point of all this?”
“To find a way to survive.”
Wumao looked at him calmly. “Young Master Cheng, I’ve worked under you for years, paying you hundreds of thousands every month. I may not have made great contributions, but I’ve certainly put in the effort. And yet what did you do? You let Leopard force me to crawl like a dog in front of all those people and steal my woman from me. You sat there watching the show without saying a single word on my behalf.”
“That was when I realized that, in your eyes, I’m nothing but a dog. When you’re pleased, you toss me a bone. When you’re displeased, you can butcher me whenever you want.”
“I don’t want to be a dog anymore. I want to be a man.”
The smile gradually faded from Qi Licheng’s face.
“Fine. You want to be a man, do you? I’ll make that happen.”
He turned and ordered A Jiu, “Hold him down.”
A Jiu immediately led his men forward. They pulled Wumao out of the chair and pinned him firmly to the floor.
Qi Licheng crouched down and pressed the folding knife against Wumao’s other ear. The cold blade rested against his skin, and Wumao could feel its bone-chilling edge.
“Wumao, you set a trap for me. By the rules of the underworld, I’d be justified in slicing you into a thousand pieces and dumping you in the river to feed the fish. But I’m in a good mood today. I only want your other ear.”
“You want to be a man, don’t you? Let’s see how you’ll manage that without either ear!”
Pinned to the floor, Wumao’s forehead broke out in a fine sheen of sweat, but he clenched his teeth and refused to make a sound.
Jia Dan watched from the side, his heart pounding with terror. His legs trembled nonstop beneath the chair.
Just as Qi Licheng tightened his grip on the knife and was about to press down—
BANG!!!
The warehouse door was violently blasted open from outside and crashed to the ground, sending clouds of dust billowing through the air.
A black-clad figure strode in through the dust. Backlit by the sunlight, his face was impossible to make out, but the dragon-shaped insignia on his chest stood out sharply.
Nearly a hundred men dressed in black rushed in behind him, instantly surrounding the entire warehouse.
“Well, well, well. What’s going on here? Carrying out private punishment in broad daylight? That’s a crime, you know. Not a good idea!”
