Chapter 031: You Made Me Do This

Hearing this, those people all turned their heads to glare at us, their eyes filled with malice.

I pulled Little Monkey behind me and said to Brother Hei, "Brother Hei, these people have become Zhao Xiangbo's lackeys; they are no longer our friends. San Ye’s situation inside is uncertain, so we must charge in! We’ll be responsible for clearing the way, and Little Monkey, you find an opportunity to slip inside. If you find that things are wrong with San Ye, call the police. Do you both understand?"

"Understood!" Brother Hei and Little Monkey replied in unison.

I took a deep breath and shouted, "Charge!"

The children living in the scrap yard were all practitioners of Qi; those who could not sense Qi had already left to beg or work. Therefore, we were facing opponents with strength similar to our own, and they were numerous, armed with weapons, and had us completely surrounded.

I knocked two men down but took several blows to my back. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I charged toward Zhao Xiangbo and roared, "Zhao Xiangbo, you son of a bitch!"

Zhao Xiangbo didn't seem to expect me to focus entirely on him, and he recoiled in fear. Another man rushed over, tackled me, and we both crashed to the ground. I used every ounce of my strength to flip over, pinned him down, and rained punches on his head, shouting, "Six-Fingers, San Ye treated you well! Why did you do this?"

Panic flickered across Cai Lei’s face. He shielded his head with both hands, screaming, "Brother Bo, help me!"

"Useless trash!" Zhao Xiangbo cursed. He charged over and kicked me hard in the chest, sending me sprawling. He shouted at his men, "What are you idiots doing? So many of you and you can't handle these three?"

I tried to scramble up, but a group of them swarmed over and pinned me firmly to the ground. Others surrounded Brother Hei and Little Monkey, preventing them from coming to my rescue.

Zhao Xiangbo looked down at me with a cruel grin, cursing through gritted teeth, "Stone, I told you—don't ever fall into my hands, or I’ll make you wish you were dead!" He snatched a club from one of his lackeys and walked toward me, unhurried and menacing.

"You and that bitch poisoned my master with those mushrooms, returning kindness with enmity, and colluded with these lowlifes to seize my master's wealth! Handing people like you over to the police is too good for you! So, I’m here on behalf of my master to punish you. According to his rules, I’ll break your limbs and throw you onto the streets to beg to compensate for your betrayal! As for your sister... heh, she’s going to end up a whore anyway. Let our brothers have a taste first, and when they’re bored of her, we'll sell her to the street corners of Taohong Lane. How does that sound?"

I struggled violently, but the men pinned me down tight. I could only curse Zhao Xiangbo at the top of my lungs. That dizzy, blurred feeling from last night returned; I had no strength left, and my body wouldn't obey me. But I could still curse—if I couldn't hit him, I would at least insult him. There was no way I was going to submit!

Zhao Xiangbo’s face darkened. He rushed over and kicked me in the face, bellowing, "I’ll show you how to curse!"

The kick landed on my sunglasses. I heard the lenses shatter and instinctively closed my eyes. A sharp pain pierced my face, and everything went dark. Then, a heavy blow struck my head. My entire body felt as if it had been struck by a massive bell; my mind and ears were filled with a deafening roar, and then, suddenly, I heard nothing at all! My consciousness faded away.

In that instant, I thought I had died.

I don’t know how much time passed before I regained consciousness. My head felt like it was about to explode, and hot liquid trickled down my forehead and across my cheeks, dripping onto my chest. My eyes were still closed, and I couldn't see, but I heard the roars and screams of Brother Hei and Little Monkey.

The arms pinning me down had been released; it seemed they realized that even without them holding me, I had no strength left to cause trouble for Zhao Xiangbo. I raised my hands, fumbled for my face, felt the glass shards embedded in my cheek, gritted my teeth, and pulled them out before opening my eyes.

My left eye saw nothing but a golden haze. I could only open my right eye, peering through a veil of blood at the surroundings. Little Monkey was being held down on the ground, but he looked toward me, shouting loudly. Brother Hei had gone berserk; he roared as he charged toward me, and those who stood in his way were sent flying as if they had been struck by a mad bull. Others, seeing this, scattered in fear, not daring to block him.

Brother Hei reached me, his face filled with self-reproach. He pulled me up and hoisted me onto his back.

Zhao Xiangbo shouted through gritted teeth, "What are you doing? They ruined your San Ye, and you’re just going to let them go? Hit them! If you kill them, I’ll take the blame!"

"You’re lying!" A loud shout came from the staircase. Wen Liang held a file folder high in the air, staring at Cai Lei as he yelled, "Master wasn't sent to the hospital because of poisonous mushrooms! He was poisoned by you, you animal, with wood-ear mushrooms that had been soaked for days! You knew perfectly well that long-soaked wood-ear mushrooms produce bongkrekic acid, which is highly toxic, yet you prepared them as a dish for Master! You are the one who poisoned him, not Stone!"

The crowd was shocked, looking at Cai Lei with disbelief.

"You’re lying! This is a frame-up!" Panic washed over Cai Lei’s face as he shouted to the crowd, "Don't listen to his nonsense! How could I do such a thing? Master treated me with such kindness; how could I ever harm him?"

Wen Liang cursed through his teeth, "You still won't admit it? You beast! Look at this!" He walked over, threw the file folder at Cai Lei, and pointed at him, shouting, "This is the analysis we had done on the food waste from the scrap yard over the last two days! It clearly states the results: a massive amount of bongkrekic acid toxin was extracted from those mushrooms—a lethal dose! If it weren't for San Ye’s luck, he would have been poisoned to death by you already!"

Cai Lei turned pale and took two steps back, grabbing Zhao Xiangbo’s arm. "Brother Bo, save me! You’re the one who told me to do it; you can’t just abandon me now!"

"What an utter moron!" Zhao Xiangbo hadn't expected Cai Lei to break so easily and implicate him in the process. Furious, he kicked Cai Lei in the stomach. He turned back, his face filled with malevolence, and sneered at Wen Liang, "So what? That old man should have died long ago! How he treated us all these years—don't you know? We served as his dogs, earned money for him, and what did we get in return? How much did that Stone and his sister do for him that they could leave so easily and even split a multi-million dollar building? If you treasure them so much, what do you need us for? You want us to earn money for you, but you give our hard-earned cash to others, treating us like cattle, horses, and slaves. Who among you is willing to accept that? I’m certainly not! That’s why I rebelled against that old man!"

Wen Liang shouted, "Zhao Xiangbo, you animal! You’ve betrayed your master and cast aside all morals—you will come to a bad end!"

Zhao Xiangbo let out a cold laugh, spat on the ground, and cursed, "What century do you think this is, still playing that card with me? Listen, now that you know who my godfather is, follow me and you’ll live like kings! Those who still want to be cattle and horses for that old man, leave now—I won't stop you! By the way, given the state that old fool is in now, it’s not even certain he’ll have a future!"