Chapter 84: Ready to Be Devoured

TL: LittlePeach

The sudden commotion in one corner of the banquet hall put the Chongqing Society's men on high alert.

"Boss, it's not safe. We'll move you back."

They rushed to the scene of the brawl first, throwing up a barricade with their own bodies.

Soon after, riot men gripping reinforced plastic batons came crowding in behind them.

"We'll drag them outside at once."

"Leave it. No need to throw them out."

"Sir?"

"I said leave them. It's not every day the young folks put on such a good show for me."

Jin Yao waved his hand, calling off his subordinates.

He was the guest of honor of this party, and yet, far from taking offense, he smacked his lips with an impish look on his face.

He planted his cane and rose to his feet on his own.

"Now that is a blood-stirring sight. It's been a long time."

Jin Yao walked slowly across the floor and settled at his leisure into the prime spot with the best view of the mayhem.

A few bodyguards naturally fanned out around him, but when he narrowed his eyes as if they were blocking the view, they widened their distance.

"But what are those two outfits doing, coming to another man's feast to brawl like that?"

"They appear to be Shanyuan Society and Hongmen Society men... I'll find out right away."

"Yes, yes. Look into it, and let them keep fighting for a while."

"Understood."

Far from breaking up the fight, Jin Yao settled in to watch with open interest.

At that, the banquet guests, flustered only a moment before, began gathering one by one to watch the brawl themselves.

It was a scene made possible by an underlying faith that the Chongqing Society, overlord of the Triads, could keep even this kind of pandemonium fully under control.

"Just croak already, you bastards!"

"Gyaaaargh! You fucking bastard!"

"Aaaaargh!"

A savage war of blood spray and flying teeth.

It was in the middle of that pandemonium, now everyone's grand entertainment, that someone quietly approached Jin Yao's side.

Clang!

In that instant, a shard of glass flung out of the melee came flying straight at Jin Yao.

Tink.

"Oh."

"That was a close one, Boss."

But the shard struck an obstacle and dropped to the floor before it ever reached its target.

Someone had strode up beside him and raised a silver tray from the table like a shield to block it.

Jin Yao glanced at him sideways and broke into a grin.

"Your sharp eye is the same now as it was when we were young."

"Honestly, it's gotten a bit hazy these days."

"Heh heh heh. Such theatrics. Me, these days I look at whatever's in my hand and forget what it is. A real problem, I tell you."

Snow-white hair and a broad, sturdy frame.

Thanks to the weighty presence of Boss Ruixing standing right at Jin Yao's side, the bodyguards who had come rushing from elsewhere faltered and turned their steps in another direction.

"Every day of our lives used to be exactly that, one brawl after another."

"Indeed. How fiercely we fought to claim the overlord's seat in Taiwan..."

The two men's gazes shared the same scene at their leisure.

Meanwhile, as time passed, the blood-spattering brawl grew ever more vicious.

"Brings back the old days. This is good."

"So it does. Watching those young men, I suddenly found myself thinking of those times too."

"Once the business all came up into the daylight, we never got to see fighting with that much hot blood in it."

"Do you miss those days?"

"Don't you?"

"I think I'll pass. Every time I recall them, my old bones start to rattle."

"Heh heh. Such theatrics... You and I were fearless back then, and young."

"What can I say? In those days our fists were far sharper than theirs."

The two of them chatted away with the blood-boiling pandemonium right under their noses.

They were savoring together the brilliant moments of a distant past, like connoisseurs of an old black-and-white film.

"Hm? Over already? What a shame."

Watching the brawl finally lose its steam, Jin Yao smacked his lips, his interest gone.

Just as a man's youth fades away, for no flower blooms for ten days, even the fiercest fight must in the end come to a fleeting close.

"Still, they gave me a fine show... Load those boys gently into ambulances and see them off."

"I'll see to it."

Boss Ruixing gave a flick of his hand.

At once the Chongqing Society enforcement crew members, who had been waiting with grim faces, moved in.

"Hold still if you don't want to croak!"

"You sons of bitches, you dare pull this shit in front of a feast table!"

The uproar gradually settled down.

The Chongqing Society men grabbed those sprawled across the floor in the brawl's wake and began hauling them out of the mansion one by one, like so much cargo.

While they roughly pried apart the two outfits, beaten to a bloody pulp and tangled into a mess, the spectators who had gathered so eagerly also scattered back to their places one by one.

As Boss Jin Yao watched it all, his eyes sank into something deep and unreadable.

"What a shame..."

*****

"Why are you hiding back here?"

Yang Mi-ryeong had finally hunted me down in my corner of the banquet hall.

She stared in disbelief at the sight of me crouched down, picking at the food on my plate.

"Is this about the Shanyuan Society and the Hongmen Society, by any chance?"

"Well, I mean..."

When I only smiled and said nothing, Yang Mi-ryeong let out a snort of laughter.

She reached out, took hold of my wrist, and pulled me straight up onto my feet.

"The fight's been over for ages... Let's go. I'm starting to get tired."

"Where are we going?"

"I told you, didn't I? We're staying at Boss Ruixing's house."

Led along by Yang Mi-ryeong's hand toward the outside of the mansion, I found a space like a private parking lot tucked along the edge of the garden.

An elderly man stood there, gazing leisurely at the sunset.

"Boss Ruixing. I've brought my companion, so I think we're ready to leave."

"Mm! I was wondering who your companion might be... Ah, it's you, sir"

He recognized me at once, though we'd crossed paths exactly once before.

I bowed my head politely at his welcome.

"It's been a while, Boss Ruixing."

"Welcome. Have you exchanged greetings with the boss?"

"Yes. Such a warm welcome, I hardly knew what to do with myself."

"You are a man who well deserves that kind of welcome, sir."

Just as when we'd met at the casino, Boss Ruixing still addressed me with courteous, deferential speech.

I didn't want this much deference from an old man of his standing.

"Boss, being treated with this much courtesy every time we meet is too much for a man of my temperament. Please, speak comfortably with me."

They say even a mongrel starts a fight halfway to winning in its own yard.

And if anyone deserved that much, surely it was Boss Ruixing, the man tipped as the Chongqing Society's next in line?

Perhaps he caught my intent, for he gave a faint smile.

"Very well. I shall. Thank you for the consideration."

Even so, his speech remained close to formal courtesy.

Anyway.

Leaving behind the meeting with Jin Weiliang, which had passed far more uneventfully than all our bracing warranted, we climbed into the limousine.

Maybe five minutes after we set off?

We arrived at Boss Ruixing's mansion in no time.

"While you stay in my home, I hope you will make yourselves entirely comfortable."

Astonishingly, Boss Ruixing's mansion stood on its own plot within the grounds of Boss Jin Yao's estate.

The mere sight of the two mansions standing shoulder to shoulder seemed to lay bare exactly how much standing Boss Ruixing held within the Chongqing Society these days.

"Father. You're back?"

"Yes, Yangyang. Have you been resting well?"

The moment we entered the mansion, someone came running out to meet us.

Boss Ruixing's only daughter and Jin Hao's fiancée, Lu Yangyang.

It seemed Boss Ruixing, like Boss Jin Yao with his two sons, had been blessed with his daughter late in life; she looked remarkably young.

Lu Yangyang gave a little twirl, showing off a one-piece dress as gauzy and floaty as her own hair.

"I'm going to wear this tomorrow when we go pay our respects to Uncle Jin Yao. It came all the way from France. What do you think?"

"You've dressed up very prettily. But first, greet our guests."

"Guests?"

"To begin with, this here is Boss Yang Mi-ryeong of the Kowloon Society."

Lu Yangyang looked us up and down as we filed in behind her father.

Studying her closely, only one thought came to mind.

'Jin Hao, you thief.'

Long curls cascading in rich waves, a face as lovable as a little doll.

She was an adorable young lady far too good for the likes of Jin Hao.

"...Are you, by any chance, that Dandong branch chief of the Kowloon Society?"

Then, out of nowhere, she turned a pair of sharp, glaring eyes on Yang Mi-ryeong.

At that naked hostility, Boss Ruixing stepped smoothly between us with an awkward look on his face.

"Yangyang. Do not be so rude to a guest."

"Before she's your guest, Father, she's the ruffian who's been holding my fiancé hostage as she pleases, isn't she? Who knows what's being done to my fiancé inside that woman's hotel."

"Good grief..."

Resolute eyes, a face that made no secret of her opinions.

Ruixing couldn't muster a single stern word for his daughter and only glanced sheepishly at us; one look was enough to tell she'd been raised like a treasure.

Yang Mi-ryeong nodded with an easy smile.

"A pleasure to meet you at last, Miss Lu Yangyang. I'm Yang Mi-ryeong, Kowloon Society Dandong branch chief. Young Master Jin Hao is doing quite well, I assure you. Well. Apart from spending every single day in and out of the casino, shaking out his wallet and offering the contents up to me."

Apparently that boy was still hard at work bleeding the Chongqing Society's fortune dry at the Kowloon Hotel casino.

At that, as if she simply couldn't believe it, Lu Yangyang bit down on her lip.

"You have designs on my fiancé. That's why you're keeping him tied down. Am I wrong?"

"...."

With Jin Hao's little excursion dragging on, his fiancée was clearly getting anxious.

Yang Mi-ryeong snorted at Lu Yangyang's interrogation for a moment, then, seized by some idea, stole a glance at me.

Squeeze.

"Whoa."

I'd had a bad feeling, and sure enough, without a word she burrowed in tight against my side and wrapped her arms around me.

At the sudden ambush, not just I but everyone present went wide-eyed.

"You're worrying over nothing. The man right here is my lover."

"Wh... What did you say?"

"...."

So my cover-lover status is apparently here to stay.

Lu Yangyang and I had only blinked at each other stupidly for a moment when Ruixing, as if the timing were perfect, gestured toward me.

"Yes. In fact, greet this gentleman first. He is the benefactor who rescued Jin Hao from a North Korean assassination squad."

"...Oh my! Is... is that so?"

In one instant, the fuming Lu Yangyang transformed completely.

Startled, she hurriedly smoothed and patted her clothes into order, then offered me a greeting of practiced elegance.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. My name is Lu Yangyang."

"How do you do. Nguyen Kodam."

"...That's an alias, isn't it?"

"I'm mixed-blood."

My persona as a Vietnamese mixed-blood hitman who draws first the moment things go sideways was still alive and well.

Lu Yangyang wore a baffled, uncertain expression, but made herself nod anyway.

"Ever since Father told me the story, I've wanted so much to meet you and thank you in person. Thank you for saving my husband-to-be."

"It was nothing. Jin Hao and I both just got lucky."

At my modest answer, Lu Yangyang clasped her hands daintily and gazed at me with shining eyes.

It was a complete about-face from the look she'd worn moments ago, glaring at Yang Mi-ryeong as if she meant to devour her.

"They say you brought down dozens of North Korean assassination squad agents all by yourself, sir?"

"Dozens?"

"Yes. I spoke with Jin Hao on the phone the day he was rescued. He said the North Korean agents were firing rockets and bringing the whole building down, and he thought he was going to die that day."

So here the story had been dressed up into dozens.

Thanks to that, Lu Yangyang's eyes held deep curiosity, and even a trace of awe.

"I've been dying to ask you. How on earth did you manage to take them down, one after another?"

The awkward standoff was on the verge of dragging on.

"Now, Yangyang. I understand you're delighted, but let's leave the greetings there. Everyone must be tired after the long journey; shouldn't we show them inside first?"

"Ah! Of course. How rude of me."

Ruixing gestured lightly to the staff on duty around the mansion.

They stepped in close and took charge of our coats and luggage.

"That commotion at the banquet must have taken a good deal out of everyone. Guest rooms have been prepared, so first wash up in comfort and rest off the fatigue of the road. I'll have tea and refreshments laid out in the drawing room; we can continue our conversation then."

"Thank you, Boss."

Ruixing stepped forward and brought the conversation to a close.

Leaving the whirlwind welcome behind for the moment, we made our way into the mansion.

Boss Ruixing's mansion was every bit as grand as Boss Jin Yao's.

The building itself rose three stories, and a massive spiral staircase in the central hall swept clear up to the ceiling.

"See you later. And if you find yourself needing to visit my room tonight, knock first."

"That won't be happening."

"Won't it, though?"

"...."

Perhaps because the guest rooms were split by sex, Yang Mi-ryeong was shown to the second floor and I to the third.

The moment I stepped inside, a gasp escaped me before anything else.

"Wow."

It was a room so luxurious I couldn't believe it was for guests.

The lavish decor, like a Western aristocrat's finest villa, was dazzling to the eye.

Even the air hanging in the room felt expensive.

"Man..."

On top of that, the moment I opened the bathroom door, there sat an enormous tub, bathwater already drawn and waiting, crimson rose petals floating on the surface.

I'd opened that door planning on a quick rinse, and found myself backing away without meaning to.

'What, am I supposed to scrub off the gamey smell first?'

Somehow it felt like I was being washed nice and clean, getting ready to be devoured.

*****

Boss Jin Yao's birthday banquet was scheduled to run day and night for three full days.

Most of the outside attendees left after exchanging greetings with Boss Jin Yao and passing a little light time, and at this darkening hour, those holding the banquet hall were overwhelmingly Chongqing Society men.

A place beyond the reach of the brightly burning mansion's halo of light.

"Ugh, quit your whining. You're a bastard the size of a mountain; your jaw gets knocked loose, and you cry like a little girl? Pathetic. I mean it."

-...!

A lone man paced back and forth in that thick darkness.

A man with a thin frame and limbs that were strangely, unnaturally long.

"Yeah, yeah. Your big brother here will snuff the guy's breath out for you, so be a good boy, go back, and keep icing that thing."

-...!

From the phone pressed to his ear leaked a stream of mumbled complaints, the pronunciation mashed beyond recognition.

The man on the phone let out a crooked snort.

"For a guy with a busted jaw, you sure mumble plenty. Hanging up. I'll call when the job's done, so get yourself a good long sleep."

The man cut the call without ceremony and flicked a glance over his shoulder.

"Whew. Everyone's here except my kid brother, right?"

"Yes. Every man you ordered is assembled, big brother."

Countless crouched silhouettes shimmered in the darkness, waiting.

In glimpses of moonlight, no small number of firearms and assorted gear hung from their bodies.

"Man. Hu Xiongsheng, that bastard, the way he whines... A grown man throwing a tantrum because the deed's going down without him. What am I supposed to do with that?"

"Heh heh heh."

"Never would've guessed it, but the little big brother's a regular schoolgirl."

The dozen-odd men holding their breath in the dark let out low bursts of laughter.

At the sound, the Husheng Gang's enforcer Hu Yuansheng raked a long finger back and forth across his cheek.

"Well, whatever. Today, at long last, our boss has ended his long deliberation and made up his mind to seize the throne. Carrying out the deed on Boss Jin Yao's own birthday... You couldn't ask for a more auspicious date."

"Can't we each smoke one to mark the occasion before we move out?"

"Smoke after, you bastard. You want to advertise to the whole neighborhood that we're gathered out here?"

"Tch."

The Chongqing Society's vanguard muscle, the Husheng Gang.

Jin Weiliang's elite troops had gathered in one place.

"Right. Let's move."

"We'll all light up together once we've taken Boss Ruixing's head."

"Yes, sir!"

Their destination was Boss Ruixing's mansion.

Five minutes by car, thirty on foot.

"Ah, right. One more thing. If you happen to spot some clean-faced pretty boy of a bodyguard hanging around Boss Yang Mi-ryeong, come tell me. I need to put a bullet in that jaw of his, or Hu Xiongsheng will never stop his sniveling."

With the mansion blazing like a city that never sleeps at their backs, they advanced soundlessly into the dark.

*****

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