444 Caged Beast
“They are so arrogant, I really want to teach them a lesson!” Lee Hu gritted his teeth, he was burning up inside. When the group of ruffians passed them, they showed zero respect to the brothers, one of them even spat on the ground before them.
“We have already moved away from the western city, so we better not get mixed in again.” Lee Long said rationally but his eyes were glinting dangerously.
“Who are those people? They don’t look so old.” Han Fei who hid at the back asked. Based on his innocent face, you wouldn’t be able to guess his thoughts.
“This place used to be Brother Snake’s territory but the mall boss planned to build a mall here because the land here was very cheap. He gathered a group of people, in the day, they spread out flyers but at night, they used violence to chase us locals away. Brother Snake was very angry after he found out. The boss had violated the local rules. The mall boss and Brother Snake got into a fight. In the end, Brother Snake lost a few of his best disciples but the boss also stopped the project at the western city.” Brother Long thought back to the past. “The incident had a huge impact on western city. This place was never so poor, at least on the surface, it looked passable. The boss moved to another spot to build the mall but the ruffians whom he gathered stayed. They have no principles and will do anything to earn money.” Lee Long sighed. “Honestly, I quite miss the days working under Brother Snake. At the time, I was quite young but now I’m in my 30s already.”
“Have you met the leading man before? The one who threatened us earlier.” Han Fei interrupted Lee Long’s memory.
“Looks familiar but I can’t remember any details about him.” Lee Long waved. “Come on, let’s go meet up with Brother Snake first.” Lee Long walked ahead and Lee Hu sidled up to Han Fei. “Why do you care about that man so much? Do you plan to take him down?” Lee Hu was only joking, he didn’t think Han Fei would really do that.
“Not really, I just noticed there are a lot of kids following him, they look not older than 17.” Han Fei shook his head. “Their future is still bright open, it shouldn’t be stained black by bad influence.”
“What do you mean?” Lee Hu was startled.
“I wish to lead those underage kids onto the right path.” Han Fei tapped Lee Hu on his shoulders. “When we meet Brother Snake, help me persuade him to chase those bastards out from the western city.”
“That’s too difficult, they won’t leave so easily.”
“In that case, we’ll just make them stay here forever.” Han Fei said under his breath. The western city was the most chaotic city zone. Making a move here wouldn’t attract too much attention. ‘9 of the Ten Fingers have entered the memory world, I wonder how many can leave.’
They walked through complicated alleys before the lane widened. Lee Long led Han Fei down a relatively busy street. “Follow me.” Lee Long and Lee Hu entered a tea shop. The male waiter was very friendly when he saw them. He led them to the 2nd floor. “Brother Snake is listening to music. Would you like to have some tea and wait or would you like to see him now?”
Lee Long glanced at Han Fei and answered, “We need to see him now, it’s quite urgent.” The door of the private booth was opened. The trio entered. This was Han Fei’s first time meeting Brother Snake. Different from the image of a gang mafia he had in mind, Brother Snake was a very old man. He was casually dressed. He listened to Chinese opera, drank tea and read philosophy books.
“Haven’t I told you two to never come back to western city again?” The old man said without lifting his head. There was a natural presence about him that silenced Lee Long and Lee Hu.
“Brother Snake, we came back this time to find a person.” Lee Long hesitated before he admitted, “This kid’s mother is sick. His family has secured hospital funding but the money has been stolen by his father.” The old man still didn’t lift his head. “So he came to us to loan money. As long as we can find his father, he should be able to return our money.” Lee Long admitted to everything.
“You’re done?” The old man put down the tea cup, “You really think his father would still have the money after he’s entered western city?”
“We have to give it a try…”
“Western city is no longer the same place as it was before.” Brother Snake flipped over the book. “My words have no power anymore.”
Lee Long and Lee Hu were stunned. In the end, it was the male waiter who explained, “Not too long ago, 2 madmen arrived at western city. One was called 7th finger, the other 8th finger. They gathered the local ruffians and started to create a mess everywhere, ignoring the local rules. A few of our businesses have already fallen thanks to them.”
“What? What is their goal?” Lee Long was shocked.
“Those two madmen do not fear pain and they are incredibly strong. Even with a knife stuck in their body, it doesn’t hinder their speed. They do not show any concrete goal either. They mainly go around torturing people. Should our people get captured, even if they managed to survive, they would rather be dead.” The waiter sighed, “You shouldn’t have come back.”
Brother Snake didn’t intend to help find the altar owner’s father. Just as Han Fei planned to give up, chaos came from outside the tea shop. The waiter went out to look but he soon rushed back and ushered Han Fei’s group to the room next door. Footsteps came from the corridor and about 5 people entered Brother Snake’s room. The soundproofing at the tea shop was very good, so Han Fei couldn’t hear what they discussed.
About 5 minutes later, the system suddenly said, “Notifications for Player 0000! You’ve triggered a random mission—Caged Beast.
“Caged Beast: A man enclosed in a cage will eventually become a beast.
“Mission Requirement: Do not get caged in the lightless basement.”
The sudden system notification alerted Han Fei. He hadn’t done anything but the mission was triggered. This could only mean that something bad was happening near him. “Be careful.” Han Fei reminded Lee Long and Lee Hu. Then the door opened. The waiter entered the room. He glanced at Han Fei with pity before asking them to return to Brother Snake’s room.
The fragrance of tea filled up the room, the tea on Brother Snake’s table was splattered all over but no one in the room cared.
“He’s the one we’re looking for?” A middle-aged man about 50 looked at Han Fei as he scratched his pockmarked face. “So he’s right here, good. Save me the trouble of looking for him. Hand the man and the thing over to me.”
“What thing?” Lee Long and Lee Hu were confused. Brother Snake explained, “This young man owes you money right?”
“Yes.”
“Give his loan contract to Wang Quan, from now on, the young man has nothing to do with you anymore.” Brother Snake appeared to have come to some kind of trade with the pockmarked face. The man would take away Han Fei and the contract, while Brother Snake would have some compensation. Lee Long hesitated, he felt something was wrong. “There is no loan contract, we only had a verbal contract.”
“A verbal contract?” Not only Brother Snake, the others also raised their brows. Since when did the loansharks become so civilized?
“So be it. We’re taking the kid regardless.” The man looked at Han Fei with greed. It was like after he brought Han Fei back, he would get a lot of money.
“That doesn’t sound right.” Lee Hu was the only one who stood up for Han Fei. He was quite a good friend. “He owed us money so he should stay with us.”
“Stop wasting my time!” The pockmarked face stood up with impatience. He ignored Lee Long and Lee Hu as he walked towards Han Fei. “Come with us.”
“I didn’t owe you money, why should I go with you?”
“I’d advise you to listen to us.” Wang Quan warned. The male waiter whispered a warning, “They are those 2 madmen’s people. You better go with them. The more you resist, the worse you’ll end up.”
‘Wang Quan is with those 2 Fingers?’ Many things clicked in Han Fei’s mind. First he suspected that he had been exposed but he soon vetoed that idea. Ten Fingers didn’t know he had already infiltrated into the altar or else they would have fought in the alley earlier. Han Fei thought back to the mission requirement. It was the mall boss who told him to come to western city. There were not many people who knew Han Fei was with Lee Long and Lee Hu, the mall boss was one of them. Han Fei hadn’t even gotten to know the people at the western city and Wang Quan already came to find him. Han Fei refused to believe this had nothing to do with the mall boss. ‘The mission’s name is Caged Beast, and it requires me not to enter the basement. If this is one of the owner’s regrets, it meant that he was caged underground before. Just how much torture a man has to go through to become a beast?’
The mall boss appeared kind on the surface but the moment he turned around, he had people come after Han Fei. The old man’s heart was probably black.
“Relax, we’re only going to bring you to another place.” Wang Quan and his two followers approached Han Fei. When one of them tried to grab Han Fei, Lee Long moved to block him. “We are his creditors, we haven’t agreed to this.”
“You sure? You better think about this.” Wang Quan was too lazy to deal with Lee Long, he turned towards Brother Snake. The frowning Brother Snake shook his head at Lee Long, telling him to back down.
“Get out of the way!” The two ruffians pushed Lee Long and Lee Hu away. They reached for Han Fei. Han Fei spoke. “How come no one has asked for my opinion when I’m the one you want?”
“Is your opinion important?” Wang Quan looked at Han Fei like he was a stack of money. “Let me tell you a story. There was a kid who ran away from home and came to western city. He was pampered at home and so he was prone to run his mouth. He took things that he shouldn’t so we broke his fingers one by one. He is now an invalid and has to beg for food. Of course, we would take all the money he begged. You remind me of him, do you want me to bring you to meet him?” Wang Quan and his men laughed. Seeing them so happy, Han Fei smiled as well. He took half a step back and bent down his waist. He gathered his energy at his shoulder and then charged at one of the ruffian’s chest!
The ribs shattered. The man tumbled backwards. Before the others could react, Han Fei already closed the distance. Thanks to his training with his neighbours, Han Fei’s close-quarter combat ability was deadly, they all aimed to kill. His stamina of 30 overshadowed most normal people. Combine that with his wealth of fighting experience, fighting close quarters with Han Fei only had one result, it was to fall, the difference was how long it would take. No one expected Han Fei to counter. They also didn’t expect Han Fei to take down the 3 in 10 seconds.
Technically he used 3 moves to incapacitate 3 people, he used the last few seconds to smooth down his employee’s outfit. Han Fei had completely renewed the impression of everyone present.
“If you plan to learn from me, I can teach you.” Han Fei dragged Wang Quan and sat down across from Brother Snake, he placed Wang Quan’s hand on the table.
“What do you want?” Brother Snake couldn’t read the young man before him. He had seen many people but he couldn’t tell anything from Han Fei’s facial expression.
“I heard from Lee Long and Lee Hu that you ruled this place when you were young.” Han Fei suddenly applied force and broke Wang Quan’s pinkie. Wang Quan screamed. “Now you know pain? When you broke that young man’s fingers, why didn’t you feel the same pain?”
“Damn you, ah!!!” Han Fei kicked Wang Quan and then continued to converse with Brother Snake. “You were forced to agree to these people’s demands because you are worried about those 2 new madmen. If I have a way to deal with them, would you consider helping me?”
“You can deal with them?” 7th and 8th fingers were indeed a problem for Brother Snake.
“Of course.” Han Fei broke another one of Wang Quan’s fingers. “Your words will mean something again at western city. If you disagree, then you will not only face endless revenge from those two, I will also do my best to take you down as well. After all, you did plan to sell me for money.”
Brother Snake’s eyes twitched and then glanced at Lee Long and Lee Hu. ‘What kind of demon have they brought with them?’
“I have no reason to disagree.” Brother Snake tapped on the wooden table. A few people walked out. “I’ll give you until dusk to find this boy’s father and bring him to the tea shop.”
