Chapter 89: A Frightened Heart and Trembling Limbs

As soon as those words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room tightened at once.

It was as if, with Madam Liu's words, the temperature had plunged straight to freezing.

Dong Xiaowu pointed at her in anger. “Little Lei...”

Gu Xiaolei was also slightly taken aback. He had not expected Madam Liu to be so direct. But let alone him, even ten more Azure Dragon Gangs would still be no match for the woman before him. He hurriedly slapped Dong Xiaowu's hand aside and barked, “What are you pointing at?”

“But...” Dong Xiaowu still wanted to say something.

Gu Xiaolei cut him off again. “Do whatever Madam Liu tells you. Do you want to rebel?” As he spoke, he kept signaling with his eyes.

Xiaojian, Xiaowen, and the others were also indignant, all turning to Shi Hailong. But the answer they got was Shi Hailong slowly shaking his head, clearly assenting to Madam Liu's decision.

Dong Xiaowu ground his teeth in fury. He wanted nothing more than to turn and leave, but he knew that unless he was done with life on Shanghai's streets, he had no choice but to listen to Gu Xiaolei. His fists clenched with a cracking sound, his resentment plain.

Hearing that he was to strike Dong Xiaowu and the others, Wang Qiang felt no burden at all. These people had cost him his entire game parlor business, and if he hadn't called Boss Wang, he might have been hacked down by Dong Xiaowu just now. To say he held no grudge would have been a lie.

Besides, he could tell Madam Liu could cow the entire room. As for whether Dong Xiaowu and the others would seek revenge later, Wang Qiang no longer had the luxury to care. He had already prepared himself to fight for his life; what was there to fear about revenge afterward?

Madam Liu glanced at Dong Xiaowu and asked softly, “Oh? You seem unconvinced?”

Gu Xiaolei quickly waved his hands on Dong Xiaowu's behalf. “No, no, he's not unconvinced.”

Madam Liu looked at Hailong as well. “And you?”

Hailong immediately stated, “Convinced.”

Madam Liu tipped her pointed chin at Wang Qiang. “Go ahead.”

Wang Qiang had long been burning with rage. He did not hesitate in the least. Rising to his feet, he rolled up his sleeves and strode first toward Dong Xiaowu.

Dong Xiaowu glared viciously at Wang Qiang, as though warning him: if you dare go too hard, just wait and see.

Wang Qiang ignored him and swung a heavy slap across his face.

Crack!

Four red streaks instantly bloomed on Dong Xiaowu's cheek.

Xiaojian, Xiaowen, and the others watching nearby all felt a chill run through them. Unable to stop themselves, they touched their own faces, as though trying to imagine what it would feel like to have that slap land on them.

What would it feel like?

The man himself knew all too well.

Dong Xiaowu's ears rang. The left side of his face, struck dizzy, seemed to flash with stars. Covering his cheek, he looked at Wang Qiang with clenched teeth.

Since he struck out in hatred, Wang Qiang had used full force. Even so, his own right hand had gone numb.

Yet Madam Liu seemed displeased. “Xiao Wang, did you skip lunch?”

Wang Qiang froze. “I haven't had a chance to eat yet.”

“...” A look of speechless exasperation crossed Madam Liu's frosty face. She said nothing further, simply stood up, patted Wang Qiang on the shoulder to have him step aside, then turned her head and said, “I'll show you. Watch closely.”

Wang Qiang could see it now: she was deliberately making things difficult for Dong Xiaowu, clearly retaliating for his earlier challenge to her decision.

Dong Xiaowu's vision went dark. He still had to be hit again?

Madam Liu raised her slender arm high. Her fingers spread open, revealing three silver rings glittering on her hand, then she lashed down with force.

Another thunderous crack rang out. No one knew where Madam Liu found such strength, but that single palm strike sent Dong Xiaowu out with a miserable cry. He fell flat on the floor, spitting out mouthfuls of bloody froth, his eyes full of venom as he glared at Madam Liu and Wang Qiang.

Xiaojian shrank his neck in terror and looked pleadingly at Hailong.

Wang Qiang stared blankly, never imagining that this woman would be so ruthless. But what left him even more stunned was still to come.

Madam Liu seemed to bear grudges with remarkable tenacity. Because Dong Xiaowu had shouted just now, even after knocking him down she did not stop. Instead, she shook out her hand, crouched down, seized Dong Xiaowu by the hair, and said, “Smile.”

Dong Xiaowu's anger surged.

Madam Liu lifted her hand and slapped him again, expressionless. “Smile.”

Dong Xiaowu cried out and collapsed face-down on the floor once more.

Wang Qiang drew a sharp breath. After beating someone, she was still forcing them to smile? That was an impossible request for anyone to comply with.

“Madam Liu, stop hitting him,” Gu Xiaolei said anxiously. “Dong Xiaowu, at least smile a little.”

He knew this woman too well. If Dong Xiaowu still refused to cooperate, he might really be beaten to death.

But Dong Xiaowu was clearly enraged. He suddenly sprang up from the floor and threw a fist straight at Madam Liu's face.

“Madam Liu!” Wang Qiang cried out, his heart leaping into his throat. Madam Liu had stepped forward on his behalf; if she were hit, he would feel terrible.

What happened next came as a shock.

Madam Liu was exceptionally agile. She tilted her head slightly and avoided the blow. Beneath the veil, the tattooed lines on her shoulders seemed to shift. In the same motion, she caught Dong Xiaowu's arm, twisted hard, and with a sharp crack, the sound of bone breaking rang out!

Wang Qiang had just been trying to make out the tattoo behind her shoulders, feeling it looked somewhat like a golden-red peony. At the sound, he could not help sucking in a cold breath.

Dong Xiaowu howled in agony, thrashing on the floor. But Madam Liu pressed one hand onto his head and said in the same calm voice, “I told you to smile.”

With the pain nearly making him faint, how could Dong Xiaowu smile?

Xiaowen was already so frightened his legs had gone weak. He had never expected the slender, delicate-looking woman before him to be so vicious.

Everyone looked involuntarily at Wang Qiang, fear rising in their hearts. They thought: where did you bring this female executioner from?

Gu Xiaolei's face turned red, then blue, as he pleaded, “Madam Liu... Madam Liu, do me a favor and let him off this once.”

Madam Liu ignored him completely. Grabbing Dong Xiaowu by the head, she smashed it against the concrete floor, her voice still calm and unruffled. “I told you to smile.”

Bang!

Bang!

Once, twice, three times.

Wang Qiang was scared now. He was afraid she might kill someone if this went on. Seeing Gu Xiaolei's desperate, pleading look, he hurriedly said, “Sister, that's enough, that's enough.”

“Since you say it's enough, I'll spare him once.” Madam Liu gave Gu Xiaolei no face at all, but she gave Wang Qiang plenty. She shoved Dong Xiaowu to the floor, stood up, dusted off her hands, then lightly nudged Dong Xiaowu's bloodied face with the tip of her high heel. “I'll say it one last time. Smile for me.”

Gu Xiaolei was nearly frantic. He shouted, “Dong Xiaowu! She told you to smile, so smile, damn it! Do you really want to die? You don't know who she is, but how could I not?”

The nearly dying Dong Xiaowu finally understood that might made right. Enduring the searing pain, he forced out a grin uglier than crying.

“Not sincere enough,” Madam Liu said from above.

Dong Xiaowu almost burst into tears. Who could smile sincerely while in such agony? But even his boss's boss did not dare step forward to help. He knew this woman's background had to be enormous, so he could only contort the corners of his mouth as best he could.

“Mm, that's about right now,” Madam Liu said, sitting back down on her little chair. “Xiao Wang, who else was involved in the trouble?”

She spoke as lightly as if discussing the weather.

If Dong Xiaowu had not still been writhing and crying on the floor, Wang Qiang would never have connected her current calm with the vicious hand she had shown moments ago. In truth, by this point he no longer wanted to continue. He had been thoroughly shaken by Madam Liu's ferocity.

Shi Hailong and Gu Xiaolei hurriedly signaled to their own men.

Seeing this, the yellow-haired Xiaojian and the others had no choice but to step forward one by one.

“I was.”

“And me.”

“I'll do it myself.”

Seven or eight people stood there, slapping themselves left and right. The game room filled with crackling blows.

Wang Qiang even saw Zhu Xiaofeng not far away trembling with fright. In truth, how could he himself be any less unnerved than Zhu Xiaofeng?

After everyone had slapped themselves many times over, they finally stopped.

Madam Liu looked at Wang Qiang. “Are you satisfied?”

Xiaojian and the others had slapped their own faces so hard they were swollen. Afraid of going too easy on themselves and ending up with Dong Xiaowu's fate, they all looked eagerly at Wang Qiang now, knowing their lives rested in the hands of this young game room owner.

Wang Qiang did not know what to say. After a moment of silence, he looked over the faces of the seven or eight men. In truth, his impression of Xiaojian and the others was not entirely bad. Although they had taken a hundred yuan from him, they had actually done the job. Even if they had ended up helping the wrong side, it proved they were men of some honor. Taking money to do a job for someone—Wang Qiang admired people like that.

It was the yellow-haired one he disliked most. If not for him bringing the men over, none of this would have happened. And just now, without distinguishing right from wrong, he had told Dong Xiaowu to hack Wang Qiang along with him. Wang Qiang had never been so angry.

Seeing that he remained silent, the yellow-haired man, Xiaojian, Xiaowen, and the others were ready to kneel and beg for mercy. Men who ran in those circles sometimes valued face above all, but at other times they cared nothing for it—especially when their lives might be on the line.

Wang Qiang narrowed his eyes and beckoned to the yellow-haired man. “You, come here.”

Xiaojian and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

The yellow-haired man walked over slowly, on the verge of tears, head bowed like a defeated rooster.

Wang Qiang hated him even more than he hated Dong Xiaowu. He grabbed the man's hair and forced his head down, then drove a kick into him.

He did not keep going. He was an honest man: one strike for one, two for two. He was not as vindictive as Madam Liu. Once the anger was out, he felt much better.

The yellow-haired man gave a dull grunt and collapsed onto the floor, both hands covering his nose. Blood streamed through his fingers in great gushes.

“This started because of you. If I don't hit you, I won't be able to swallow this in my lifetime,” Wang Qiang said, clenching his fist and looking at him. “If you want revenge, come at me.”

“Revenge?” Madam Liu said with interest. She toyed with her left hand, where red nail polish gleamed, and looked at Gu Xiaolei. “I'll lay down a hard truth right here. No matter what happens, even if it's just a stumble or a scrape, if Xiao Wang loses even a single hair, none of you will leave Shanghai alive.”

Gu Xiaolei quickly declared, “Never, never.”

Hailong nodded frantically like a pecking chick. “Right, right. Whoever makes an enemy of Brother Qiang, I'll protect him with my life.”

Madam Liu sighed. “Originally, I didn't want to explain anything to you, but for Xiao Wang's safety, I'll tell you the truth.”

Everyone looked at her, whether Wang Qiang or Dong Xiaowu trembling on the floor, all seeming to want to know what truth she would reveal.

“In fact, Xiao Wang and I do not know each other,” Madam Liu said.

Dong Xiaowu truly cried then, tears streaming down his face. If you don't know him, why stand up for him? Why beat me so badly?

But with Madam Liu's next sentence, the others felt little, while Gu Xiaolei nearly leapt up and strangled Dong Xiaowu on the spot.

She said, “Gu Xiaolei, you should know my boss is the Crown Prince, right?” Seeing him nod, she went on, “This matter was ordered by the boss of the Crown Prince's father. Originally, the old man wanted to handle it himself. I was afraid he might strike too hard and kill you, so I volunteered. After all, Gu Xiaolei, your father once worked under mine, so I ought to leave you a little room.”

Was there someone even more ruthless than you?

To be honest, Wang Qiang did not quite believe it, but he roughly understood why Madam Liu had been so brutal. Her vengeful nature may have played a part, but more importantly, in the underworld, when a superior gave an order, the subordinates ran themselves to exhaustion carrying it out. Wang Qiang had it figured out now: perhaps Boss Wang's intent had only been to send someone to mediate, and yet after a few layers of instructions, things had turned into this.

The Crown Prince?

The Crown Prince's father?

The boss of the Crown Prince's father?

Aside from Hailong, who had heard of the Crown Prince and knew his power was astonishing, though only by reputation, no one else had any idea. All they understood was that Madam Liu was a major figure in some ancient and mysterious organization, and the Crown Prince must be the same.

As for the others, they had never even heard the name. They were completely lost.

Wang Qiang was the same. He only knew he had called Boss Wang on the phone. From Madam Liu's tone, the boss of the Crown Prince's father should be Boss Wang. That made his unease even greater. If Madam Liu alone could make Gu Xiaolei this afraid, then just how immense was the power of her boss, the Crown Prince? And what kind of great figure would the Crown Prince's father have to be? As the boss of the Crown Prince's father, what sort of giant was Boss Wang?

He faintly sensed that Boss Wang was probably no ordinary man, far more distinguished than he had imagined, so distinguished that Wang Qiang could not even picture the extent of it. Even as a man reborn with a second life, he had never touched the upper circles. He only knew that hidden dragons and crouching tigers abounded in China, and that there were countless great figures. If he had to describe his present impression of Boss Wang, he could only call him a giant among giants.

Only Gu Xiaolei knew exactly what kind of existence the Crown Prince was, and even more clearly understood what kind of great figure the old man was. Now, hearing that the backer behind Wang Qiang was actually the old man's boss, Gu Xiaolei was truly terrified. His first reaction was to bow to Wang Qiang and say something bizarre: “Thank you, Brother Xiao Wang.”

Dong Xiaowu stared blankly at the brother of the boss's boss. Though he did not know why Little Lei was acting this way, he already understood that revenge was hopeless in this lifetime. His heart turned ice-cold.