5: revenge

Qin Yang also saw the fly in the rice at a glance, but the fly was on the surface and very intact. Cooking requires stir-frying, so it was simply unrealistic for a whole fly to be mixed into the rice. Besides, the boxed lunches Song Wu made were all heavy on oil; if a fly were wrapped in the food, it would definitely be covered in grease. But this fly was very clean, which meant that the people in front of him had simply placed a fly on the rice to cause trouble.

Seeing this, Qin Yang felt an unusual surge of anger. As the saying goes, cutting off someone's path to wealth is like killing their parents. Once these little brats ruined his reputation, Qin Yang's boxed lunch business would be finished.

At this time, several Death Warriors who were busy in the back also came forward.

Qin Yang gave the Death Warriors a look, which they understood instantly. They grabbed each of the 'traffic lights' and pinned them down.

The traffic lights tried to shout, but the Death Warriors gave them no chance, covering their mouths with their other hands.

Only then did Qin Yang take the boxed lunch from Red Hair's hand. He casually picked out the fly and held it up, shouting loudly, "Students, don't listen to the nonsense of these thugs! Look at this fly—it's completely intact. Our chef has to stir-fry the food, right? With all that stir-frying, how could a fly stay whole? Also, our boxed lunches are very oily. If a fly had fallen in during cooking, it would be covered in oil. But look, this fly is very clean. This is clearly a frame-up by these thugs. If you don't believe me, come up and take a look for yourselves!"

Initially, the students watching the commotion were somewhat dissatisfied with Qin Yang's subordinates subduing the traffic lights. However, after hearing Qin Yang's explanation, they felt it made sense. Then, a few curious students came forward to examine the fly. It was exactly as Qin Yang described, and they immediately clarified the situation for him. College students have a strong sense of justice, and soon all the surrounding students began to condemn the little thugs.

Seeing this, Qin Yang breathed a sigh of relief; the brief crisis had passed.

Next, Qin Yang had the thugs escorted into the restaurant, telling the students they were being sent to the Police station as an excuse.

While leaving Zhang Ya and the others to continue selling meals, Qin Yang had the Death Warriors bring the traffic lights to a private room on the second floor.

After entering the room, Qin Yang went up and rewarded each of them with a heavy slap. Don't call Qin Yang impulsive; even if he killed them, he had plenty of people to take the fall. Qin Yang was still willing to abide by the law, which was related to his years of education and personal bottom line.

Blood immediately flowed from the corners of the traffic lights' mouths.

"Talk! Who sent you!" Qin Yang asked with a cold expression.

At first, the traffic lights wanted to use foul language to save some face, but the Death Warriors weren't going to indulge them. After a round of 'Great Memory Restoration Techniques,' the group was beaten into repeatedly begging for mercy.

"Can you talk now?" Qin Yang continued to ask, looking at the traffic lights who had been beaten into pig heads.

"Brother Erhu sent us."

"Brother Erhu? Who is that? An owner nearby?" Qin Yang was puzzled by the name. If he were to talk about people he had offended recently, it would be Zhao Jian, or perhaps the owners of nearby stalls. There was no helping it; Qin Yang's boxed lunch business was too good. Although there were many people at the construction site and the university town, the number of people eating out was limited. If Qin Yang's business was good, it would naturally squeeze others' businesses, and it was normal for that to cause dissatisfaction. Initially, Qin Yang thought these people were tripping him up.

Commercial warfare in society is never as high-end as depicted in movies. Struggles at the bottom are actually more direct and savage. The only reason Qin Yang's stall hadn't been attacked yet was because he had a large number of people on his side.

But what Red Hair said next made Qin Yang's face turn even gloomier.

"It's not a local vendor. It's Gao Erhu, the general manager of the Di Hao Club."

"Di Hao Club!" Qin Yang murmured. He wasn't stupid; hearing the name Di Hao Club, he naturally associated it with that Sister Sun and formed a judgment on the beginning and end of the matter. It was nothing more than Sister Sun having a thing with Gao Erhu; she had lost face after being rejected by Qin Yang and complained to Gao Erhu, who then used underhanded tactics to stand up for her.

Then Qin Yang took out his phone and called Xie Yu.

"Hello, Brother Qin!" Xie Yu said with his usual reverence. Xie Yu knew quite a bit about the conflict between Qin Yang and the Zhao family, but the fact that Qin Yang was perfectly fine even now was enough for Xie Yu to give him respect. If such a thing had happened to him, he would have probably fled H City that very night.

"Brother Xie, don't be so polite. Anyway, I wanted to ask about the background of Gao Erhu from the Di Hao Club," Qin Yang asked straightforwardly. Xie Yu was an agent and was very well-informed about all walks of life, making him the perfect person to ask for information.

"Ah? Gao Erhu! Brother Qin, did you have another conflict with him?" Xie Yu asked in surprise, thinking to himself that Qin Yang's ability to cause trouble was really not small.

"It's not that I had a conflict with him, it's that he came to mess with me, and I caught him red-handed," Qin Yang explained.

"Oh, Brother Qin, is the loss serious? If it's not serious, just let it go."

"What do you mean?"

Xie Yu then explained, "Brother Qin, Gao Erhu is from the Gao family in the west of the city. There are two brothers; the older one is Gao Big Tiger, and the younger one is him. These two brothers are different from the two Zhao brothers. The Zhao brothers have already washed their hands of the underworld, but The Gao Brothers are still active. Gao Big Tiger is the biggest figure in the west of the city. Their main business is some gray industries in the west, and they have many lackeys. Moreover, they use any dirty trick to achieve their goals. We are doing legitimate business; if we have a conflict with them, we'll be the ones losing out in the end."

Let it go? How could Qin Yang just let it go? His business had just started to take off, and the other party wanted to destroy him. Honestly, Gao Erhu's methods were even more hateful than Zhao Dong's.

Qin Yang didn't mention the Gao family again, but instead asked about the various social gangs in H City.

Xie Yu told him everything he knew, informing Qin Yang about several famous gangs in H City.

They were The Gao Brothers in the west, Qian Laoliu in the north, Yu Zhanfeng in the south, and Wang Dingfei in the east.

The Gao Brothers' main income was from protection fees for various entertainment venues, the Di Hao Club being one of them. Qian Laoliu led a group of 'Buddhas,' which to put it plainly, were pickpockets. Yu Zhanfeng opened many game rooms and mahjong halls in the south—there was no need to elaborate on the trickery inside. Wang Dingfei in the east had the strongest power, and his group's main business was demolition.

After getting this information, Qin Yang hung up the phone. He didn't have any specific purpose for learning about these people, but he had a feeling that as more Death Warriors entered various industries, he would encounter them sooner or later. There was no harm in knowing about them beforehand.

Since he knew it was Gao Erhu who caused the trouble, and Qin Yang was no coward, he would naturally retaliate. Moreover, this time he wanted to settle it once and for all, thoroughly establishing his reputation so that no random nobody would dare to mess with him.

Gao Erhu and Sister Sun had been sitting in a car watching the events at the boxed lunch stall. After Qin Yang temporarily resolved it, Gao Erhu smiled and said, "This kid has some quick wit. Well, are you satisfied now? Just watch, this matter won't end so easily. Maybe in a couple of days, this little brat will be packing his bags and going home."

"Didn't he resolve it?" Sister Sun asked in confusion.

"Heh, as they say, gossip is a fearful thing. I've observed that on this food street, only his boxed lunches are decent. This time Red Hair threw dirty water on him, and I think other vendors will also kick him while he's down. When the time comes, word will spread, and his reputation will stink. Once a catering business's reputation is ruined, it's finished," Gao Erhu laughed.

"Oh, so that's how it is. Brother Erhu, you're really smart." Sister Sun suddenly realized, then twisted her snake-like waist and kept praising Gao Erhu, who naturally enjoyed it.

In the evening, Qin Yang brought his people back to the rented house, and Tie Niu also returned with his team.

Gathering the Death Warriors in one room, Qin Yang said directly, "I have a task that needs one brother to complete. Although the task is not risky, it carries the risk of imprisonment. Are any brothers willing to go voluntarily?"

As soon as Qin Yang finished speaking, Tie Niu raised his thick, branch-like arm in the room and said, "Boss, you don't need to discuss things with us. Every one of us was brought into this world by you. In this world, you are our only object of loyalty. Even if you ordered us to commit suicide right here and now, we wouldn't hesitate. So, just tell us what to do."

Qin Yang nodded upon hearing this. In fact, he already knew what Tie Niu said was true, but what he planned to do tonight would involve a loss of freedom. Qin Yang had wanted to give these Death Warriors a choice, but now it seemed that was a complete waste of time.

Subsequently, Qin Yang randomly selected a First-level Death Warrior to stay behind and dismissed the rest.

When only Qin Yang and that Death Warrior were left in the room, Qin Yang finally revealed the task.

At two o'clock in the morning, the bosses who had come to play at the Di Hao Club were leaving one after another. Just then, a sturdy man wearing camouflage fatigues walked through the club's main entrance.

Seeing someone enter, a waiter approached and said, "Sir, we are about to close. If you want to play, please come back earlier tomorrow."

The man glanced at the waiter and asked, "Is your manager, Gao Erhu, here? I have some business with him."

"You mean Manager Gao? I'm not sure about that. Please wait a moment while I go and ask," the waiter replied, looking at the man with hesitation.

The man replied, "No need. His office is on the top floor, right? I'll find him myself."

After saying this, the man walked toward the elevator doors.

But the waiter wasn't about to let him do that and immediately tried to step forward to stop him.

The man turned back and glanced at the waiter, saying coldly, "Don't meddle in things that don't concern you; it's for your own good."

That icy gaze made the waiter shiver, and his body involuntarily backed away to the side.

Only after the man entered the elevator did the waiter snap out of it. He immediately shouted into his walkie-talkie, "Someone is making trouble and heading to the top floor! Security personnel, please go and intercept him!"

The so-called security personnel of the Di Hao Club were actually thugs gathered by The Gao Brothers. Soon, security personnel on every floor heard the news and quickly converged on the top floor.

Ding!

The elevator doors opened. The sturdy man looked at the twenty-odd security personnel surrounding the elevator entrance. His expression remained unchanged. He pulled an expandable baton from his trouser pocket and flicked it hard; a refined steel rod appeared before everyone's eyes.

Seeing this, the security guards immediately lunged forward, trying to subdue the man. Instantly, sounds of fighting, cursing, and miserable wailing began to echo continuously from the top floor!

Two minutes later, the man wiped the blood from his face, glanced at the crowd lying on the floor, and continued walking further inside.

In the General Manager's office, Gao Big Tiger and Gao Erhu were smoking cigars and talking grandiosely.

"The person outside seeking revenge must be a fool. Daring to come alone, he really thinks he's Superman!" Gao Erhu didn't show the slightest bit of tension after learning someone was making trouble. There had been many such people over the years, and none had ever managed to harm him.

"Don't lower your guard. Crackdowns have been tight these last few years. Don't be too loud about our business," Gao Big Tiger warned.

"I know, brother. I haven't done anything excessive lately. Who knows where this reckless brat popped up from," Gao Erhu muttered.

As the two were talking, the office door was pushed open.

Gao Erhu was just about to ask if the person had been caught when he saw a sturdy man, looking like a bloody gourd, walk inside.

The man asked directly, "Which one of you is Gao Erhu?"

"Holy crap!" Seeing that the person who entered was actually the one causing trouble, Gao Erhu blurted out an expletive in shock. One had to know that he had mobilized nearly twenty people to catch the guy. Reality wasn't a movie; even a world boxing champion wouldn't dare say he could fight ten people, let alone twenty.

Seeing that no one answered, the man began walking toward the office desk, scaring Gao Erhu and Gao Big Tiger into hurriedly standing up.

Gao Big Tiger quickly steadied his mind and said, "Brother, is there some misunderstanding between us?"

"Are you Gao Erhu?" the man asked.

"No, I am Gao Big Tiger. Brother, if there's something, you can say it. We don't need to resort to violence. If you have any demands, we can talk it out."

"Oh?! You're Gao Big Tiger! Heh, perfect. I won't have to go looking for you anymore." Hearing this, the man's eyes lit up. Qin Yang's task for him was originally to deal with The Gao Brothers. He had planned to finish off Gao Erhu and then go find Gao Big Tiger, but he hadn't expected to find them both in one place.

With his target now clear, the man said no more. Before long, heart-wrenching screams of agony rang out from within the office.

Half an hour later, when the Police arrived, they witnessed a horrific scene on the top floor. In the hallway, there were security guards with broken arms and legs everywhere. Inside the office, The Gao Brothers were slumped on the floor like two piles of limp mud, their cries weak and powerless.

The Police surrounded the man, who did not resist and allowed himself to be taken, confessing fully to his actions. However, when asked about anything else, he remained silent no matter what. Furthermore, the Police discovered a large amount of sex trafficking in other rooms of the Di Hao Club, and some of the girls were there against their will.

Early the next morning, news that The Gao Brothers had fallen spread throughout H City. The specific details also leaked out: both Gao brothers had suffered comminuted fractures in all four limbs and broken lumbar spines, becoming severely disabled. Rumors spread that this was a deliberate act of revenge.

For a time, an atmosphere of tense apprehension settled over H City.

That very night, various underworld bosses each received a letter. The content was simple: if they didn't want to end up like The Gao Brothers, they should stay away from the west side of the city and keep their hands to themselves. The signature was the character 'Qin'.

The various bosses had mixed reactions upon seeing the letter. Some mocked the sender for overestimating themselves, some were dismissive, and others were cautious. However, they all took the same action: investigating who this 'Qin' was!

Qin Yang didn't intentionally hide his identity; otherwise, the effort would have been for nothing. He allowed these people to follow the clues and find him. When everyone learned that the one who took down The Gao Brothers was a man who sold boxed lunches, they found it somewhat unbelievable. But the results of the investigation were what they were, and they had to believe it even if they didn't want to.

If anyone knew the situation best, it was Sister Sun. She hadn't been there when the Death Warrior struck that night, allowing her to escape the ordeal. But when she learned of The Gao Brothers' downfall, she was terrified and fled H City overnight. She never expected that trying to deal with a lunch box seller would lead to such massive consequences.

In contrast to the astonishment of others, Qin Yang was quite happy. First, he had made a name for himself, and second, a new Death Warrior had arrived last night—another Second-level Death Soldier with culinary skills.

Second-level Death Soldier: Zheng Kai

Skill: Proficient-level Culinary Arts; increases the deliciousness of dishes by 10%.

Currently, Hongbin Tower had remained closed, mainly because Song Wu alone couldn't handle it as a chef; after all, the daily boxed lunches were enough to keep him busy. Now with Zheng Kai, Hongbin Tower could fully open for business, giving Qin Yang another source of income.

That same day, Qin Yang brought Zheng Kai to the shop. He removed the 'Temporarily Closed' sign that had been hanging on Hongbin Tower, and the restaurant officially opened for business.

To drum up excitement, Qin Yang set off a long string of firecrackers with great fanfare at noon. Consequently, customers soon began to arrive. Qin Yue and the other two girls living in the shop also found a purpose and began their roles as waitresses.

Hongbin Tower's business had been good before, and the previous chef's skills were nowhere near those of Song Wu and the other. Therefore, the resurgence of Hongbin Tower was inevitable.

While Qin Yang was busy with things here, he didn't let go of the territory left vacant by The Gao Brothers. After all, these places were earned by his subordinate Death Warrior at the cost of his freedom; he certainly couldn't let others benefit for free.

However, Qin Yang wouldn't use The Gao Brothers' model of keeping thugs to maintain order in various entertainment venues. Such methods from decades ago were long outdated. Times were progressing, and one's thinking had to keep up.

Qin Yang's plan was to establish a Security Company. This way, he could collect money just like The Gao Brothers but in a legal manner. This was the only way to ensure long-term success.