Special District 9

Brother Xiao was seated before a dining table, feasting on exquisite dishes and enjoying a bottle of strong white wine.

He ate for around twenty minutes before the door suddenly opened from the outside. A young man in his twenties, together with a brawny middle-aged man, walked into the second floor living room.

The two of them were core members of Jiangzhou’s Li Family. The young man was the son of the second-in-command in the Li Family, Li Tong, and the middle-aged man following him was his uncle, Dong Cheng.

The Li Family first came to prominence through the resale of Special District 7’s permanent residency rights before establishing themselves as a trading company. But behind the scenes, they were engaging in market speculation in goods that were in high demand, be it guns, rations, cotton, or crude oil. Over the past eight years, they had developed swiftly to become a successful capitalist.

However, their actions ended causing the misery of the ordinary populace living in the region. When prices were driven up, there was bound to be someone who had to foot the price. The Li Family’s intention had been clear all this while too. They wanted to earn the money of the poorer families.

But in the recent few years, as the political situation in Special District 7 began to settle down, all sorts of government policies to ensure societal welfare were gradually being put in place. On top of that, the growth in population in the region had also slowed down significantly. As a result of these changes, resources such as cotton and the sort weren’t in urgent need anymore.

Realizing that they were in a bad position, the Li Family immediately set their eyes toward the pharmaceutical industry. This, in turn, placed them at odds with Kang-ge’s company, and competition over the distribution channels in the medicine market swiftly resulted in bad blood between them.

Walking into the living room, Li Tong turned to Brother Xiao and asked with an amicable smile, “Is the food to your liking?”

“It’s all the same to me. It doesn’t matter as long as I can fill my stomach.” Brother Xiao raised his head to glance at Li Tong, but he didn’t show any indication of standing up to greet the latter.

“Brother Xiao sure is a humble person,” Li Tong chuckled. He sat down beside Brother Xiao and complimented, “A capable person like you surely wouldn’t have any trouble making a living anywhere in the world!”

“You’re flattering me.” Brother Xiao put his chopsticks down and picked up a box of cigarettes from the table.

On the other hand, Li Tong poured himself a cup of white wine as he asked smilingly, “Brother Xiao, I hold you with high esteem. Why don’t you stay here and work for me? We can strike it rich together.”

“Thanks for your invitation.” Brother Xiao lit up a cigarette before turning his eyes to Li Tong. “But my heart isn’t here. Let’s just keep our relationship as it is.”

Dong Cheng chirped in as well, “Brother Xiao, why don’t you give it some thought? Rather than wandering all over the place for work, wouldn’t it be preferable to settle down somewhere and live a stable life? If you choose to stay here, I’ll talk to my brother-in-law on your behalf. I reckon that someone of your capabilities should be able to receive at least 300,000 dollars in dividends every year.”

“It’s not about the money. I’m planning on heading to Special District 9,” Brother Xiao said with a wave of his hand.

“That’s really regrettable,” Li Tong sighed deeply. He raised his wine cup and said, “Since you have already made up your mind, I won’t keep you here then. Feel free to contact me if you need any help in the future. You also know what kind of person I am.”

“Will do,” Brother Xiao raised his wine cup and clinked it against Li Tong’s before gulping down the wine heartily.

“Uncle, give Brother Xiao his money,” Li Tong put the cup down on the table and said.

Dong Cheng nodded before walking into one of the rooms in the house. In less than three minutes, he returned with ten bundles of notes, which he placed them on the table.

Brother Xiao was slightly taken aback. “Didn’t we agree on 50,000?”

“The other 50,000 is my gift to you. Treat it as a parting fee,” Li Tong replied with a smile. “There’s no need to stand on ceremony with me.”

“I feel uneasy receiving so much from you,” Brother Xiao replied smilingly. He took five bundles of notes from the table and fiddled with it in his hand as he said, “I appreciate your goodwill, but I’ll just take the portion that I deserve. The extra amount is a debt. I’m used to living a free life, so I don’t like owing anything to anyone. I’ll treat you to dinner the next time we meet.”

Li Tong sighed deeply and said, “Brother Xiao, you are being too distant with me.”

“It’s my personality,” Brother Xiao replied as he habitually placed his hands into his sleeves. “I’ll be leaving now.”

“I’ll walk you out.”

“Don’t trouble yourself, I remember the way back down,” Brother Xiao chuckled as he left heartily.

Li Tong and Dong Cheng looked at one another before shaking their heads helplessly.

“If we could bring that man over to our side, he would have been a great asset to our Li Family,” Li Tong remarked in disappointment.

“Those fixers are used to living a carefree life. It won’t be easy to bring them under our wing,” Dong Cheng said. “Besides, they tend to do as they please without any regard for the rules. If we were to suddenly put them in a restrained environment, it might end up backfiring on us. This works fine too.”

“Have you gotten anything out of Kang yet?” Li Tong changed the topic and asked.

“He’s tight-lipped. He adamantly refuses to spit out the intermediary distributing their goods over at Fengbei,” Dong Cheng said with a smile. “However, our luck is not too bad. I found some information in his phone that we could use, and I’ll bring it over to Fengbei to verify the details later on.”

“That bastard dared to steal our business at Fengbei,” Li Tong uttered with a cold look in his eyes. “Since we have the information we need now, I’ll leave him to you.”

“Un, I understand,” Dong Cheng replied as he stood up. “You should eat first. I’ll head down to take a look.”

“Alright.” Li Tong nodded.

…

Around seven minutes later.

In the underground chamber beneath the house, Dong Cheng, together with two other subordinates, gazed coldly at Kang-ge as he sneered, “Look at how things turned out in the end. We offered our hand to you nicely, but you just had to repay our kindness with enmity, huh? In the end, you only brought about your own death.”

The groggy-headed Kang-ge raised his head feebly and spat coldly, “I might have lost… but you picked the wrong target… You’ll have to face the wrath… of my boss.”

“Your boss? Who? The young lass called Coco?” Dong Cheng snickered. “Hahaha! Since you have said so, I’ll make sure to remember her and compensate her generously in bed.”

“Fuck you!” Kang-ge roared with widened eyes.

Dong Cheng tilted his neck to the side and gestured to the two subordinates, “Do it.”

The two of them took out their knives and walked toward Kang-ge.

Di ling ling!

All of a sudden, a phone rang.

Dong Cheng picked up the phone and said, “Hello?”

“Is it Brother Cheng? I am Little Wen from Platinum Castle.”

“Which Little Wen?”

“I’m the one who gave the tipoff to Brother Xiao when you were capturing Kang-ge,” the black jacket man reminded with a slightly anxious voice through the phone.

“Ah, I remember you.” Dong Cheng signaled for the two subordinates not to make a move on Kang-ge first before walking out of the underground chamber to have a private conversation. “What happened? Why did you suddenly call me?”

“There was an uproar amongst the top brass of Platinum Castle after Kang-ge went missing. They seem to know that you’re the culprit. I don’t know where that woman got her information from, but she has already dispatched some men over to the north of Ji’an,” the black jacket man warned. “They have a lot of people with them, and they have gone red-eyed over this matter. I think that it would be best if you take cover for a while.”

“Is the information reliable?” Dong Cheng asked.

“I overheard it with my own ears.”

“Alright, I got it.” Dong Cheng nodded. “Thanks, Little Wen.”

“No probs, Brother Cheng.”

“If that’s all, I’ll be hanging up.”

The two of them ended their call there.

…

Across the street, directly opposite to the house where Li Tong, Dong Cheng, and Kang-ge were, was an empty residence. Qin Yu was currently inside this residence, keeping a close eye on the opposite house. At the same time, he licked his lips nervously as he said, “Prepare yourself. We’ll have to put our life on the line for this.”

Qi Lin asked with a frown, “Will your plan work?”