After descending several flights of stairs, Ling Yun arrived at the entrance to the passageway at the end of the stairs. His eyes lit up and his view suddenly opened up. Under the bright white wall lamps, two burly men dressed in black suits stood on either side of the closed double-leaf mahogany door. Their height of over 1.9 meters and weight of 300 kilograms made them look like two iron tower gatekeepers.
As Ling Yun walked over, a burly man on his left reached out and blocked his way, saying in a deep voice, "Sir, please search me!"
Ling Yun was taken aback, then raised his arms as if he understood. The burly man searched him carefully from head to toe before nodding. Then another burly man pushed open the door on the right and let Ling Yun in.
"Looks like a newbie? There's not much to gain!" said the burly man on the right.
"Damn it, apart from his clothes, I couldn't find anything he was carrying, not even a coin," the burly man on the left said, frowning.
"Then what's he doing here?" the burly man on the left asked.
…………
What came into Ling Yun's view was a spacious hall spanning several thousand square meters. A five-meter-high ceiling was adorned with a dozen or so stained-glass hemispherical chandeliers, illuminating the entire hall as if it were daytime. The hall was divided into four sections by semi-transparent partitions. Ling Yun's view led to a gambling room, where a dozen or so gambling tables were arranged in a staggered pattern on a scarlet carpet. These tables hosted baccarat, blackjack, and roulette. Dozens of gamblers surrounded each table, many holding thick stacks of chips, intently watching the roulette wheel and placing bets.
The sounds of betting, cheers, and gamblers' excited shouts of winning or losing filled the air, assaulting everyone's eardrums. Many gamblers were already bloodshot, roaring wildly, as if they would jump onto the gambling table at any moment, recklessly venting their uncontrolled emotions of extreme highs and lows. But often, not far behind these gamblers stood at least two burly men in black suits with bulging waists.
Chapter Forty-Eight: I'm Here to Sell Drugs
On one side of the gambling hall was a secluded and ambiguous place. Under the bright pink lights, several hot and beautiful women were performing a hot striptease that was sure to get the blood pumping. Two smooth steel pipes stood on a T-shaped platform ten centimeters high, and two naked women were making various tempting and sinister dance moves around the steel pipes.
Two girls, their bodies radiating licentious laughter, walked to the edge of the narrow T-shaped stage and struck various alluring poses for the nearly frenzied audience below. Countless large hands greedily groped their smooth, white thighs.
In a dimly lit corner, a dozen couples had stripped naked and rolled around on the thick carpet, emitting obscene moans. Their outer and inner garments were scattered all over the floor, a scene of madness and debauchery.
Just ten meters apart, the above-ground and underground worlds are like two completely different worlds.
Ling Yun sniffed. The air was clean, without any stuffy smell or other odors. It was nothing like being in a basement. This at least proved that the ventilation system here was very good. It seemed that the underground forces prioritized the convenience of guests' escape in the event of a fire or other accident, rather than illegality. It was very humane.
A waiter dressed in a black vest quickly approached Ling Yun: "Sir, would you like to gamble a couple of rounds or go over there for a bit?" As he spoke, he gestured with his mouth towards the strip club.
"I have some drugs and I'm looking for buyers. Could you help me make some contact?" Ling Yun leaned over and whispered in the waiter's ear. This was an excuse he had prepared beforehand. Since Lao Yao had dealings with drug dealers, pretending to be a drug dealer would likely make it easier to find him.
The waiter was taken aback, giving Ling Yun a thorough once-over. The young man before him certainly didn't seem like a drug dealer; he looked more like a student, and his thin frame didn't suggest he was dealing in drugs. But here, appearances can be deceiving. A seemingly honest and kind farmer could very well be a bloodthirsty criminal on the run. Underestimating anyone could mean paying the price in blood and lives.
Thinking of this, the waiter bowed politely to Ling Yun and said in a low voice, "Sir, this special transaction is of great importance and is not something I can decide on my own. Could you please wait here for a moment while I go and inform our supervisor?"
Ling Yun nodded. The waiter then led Ling Yun to the rest area next to the casino, politely asked him to sit down and wait a moment, and then had a maid bring him several plates of fruit and a bottle of drink before hurrying away.
Ling Yun leaned back casually on the large, soft, light yellow leather sofa, took an apple and a pear from the fruit bowl on the milky white hard plastic round table, and began to eat them nonchalantly. He closed his eyes, and his invisible senses spread out like ripples on water, easily touching any corner of the hall.
To the west of the hall was an underground boxing ring, where two fierce underground boxers were locked in a brutal and menacing fight. Their heads, faces, and bodies were covered in shocking blood, and the shouts from the crowd below were deafening: "Kill him! Kill him..." Clearly, the blood had greatly stimulated the violent nerves of the crowd.
Ling Yun's perception only lingered for a fleeting moment before passing by. The two boxers' skills were clearly far inferior to Wu Wanshen, the sword-browed youth Zhou Ping had hired that day; they could only be described as mediocre. What was truly eye-catching was the blood and the brutal, life-or-death combat. Thinking of Wu Wanshen, the underground boxing champion with a rather江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) air, Ling Yun couldn't help but feel a pang of regret, wondering how the sword-browed youth was doing now.
The senses slowly shifted to the east side of the hall, where there was also a wrestling ring, but it was significantly more popular than the underground arena, and the audience was entirely male. On the ring, two beautiful Russian girls, dressed only in bikinis, were wrestling. Their stunning figures, gorgeous faces, and the intensity of their performance, comparable to that of professional boxers, captivated the audience, who cheered with rapt attention.
Of course, what people were watching wasn't the wrestling match itself, but rather the fact that the final winner would forcibly remove the loser's bikini and throw it into the crowd. The losing Russian girl would then have to express a deep apology to the spectators with her body exposed. The thrilling match amplified the desires of every spectator to the extreme, and many even made outrageous gestures, such as pressing their genitals and starting to masturbate.
Aside from the main peach wood door on one side of the wall and several exits marked with security signs, every few meters along the other three sides of the hall, there was a room with a tightly closed wooden door. The wooden doors of the rooms on the east and west sides were silver-white, while the door of the room on the north side was crimson. These appeared to be VIP rooms or rooms for important figures. Ling Yun, too lazy to probe each room one by one, withdrew his senses.
After this period of cultivation, Ling Yun's perception is now vastly different from when he first entered the school. The cultivation of the fourth and fifth layers of the barrier has brought about a qualitative change in him. Although it has only been a little over a month, Ling Yun has already grown a lot.
Just as I opened my eyes, the sofa next to me suddenly sank, and a fragrance reminiscent of orchids wafted into my nostrils. A sweet, delicate female voice sounded in my ear: "Young man, do you have a fire?"
Ling Yun turned her head and looked at the beautiful face so close to her. The heavy makeup could not hide her beautiful features. The low-cut dress revealed a pair of smooth and dazzling thighs, and the low neckline revealed most of her fair and smooth breasts. Even from 30 centimeters away, Ling Yun could still see two plump and soft mounds of flesh without a bra.
The slender Ms. Moore held a cigarette between her fair index and middle fingers, her long nails coated with a purplish-black balsam syrup speckled with gold powder. The reddish-purple cigarette filter was gently held between her lips, which were adorned with deep black lipstick.
"Excuse me, I don't smoke." Ling Yun knew very well who this young woman was, so he politely declined, subtly shifting his body to the side.
The heavily made-up woman smiled slightly, showing no embarrassment at being rejected. She pulled out an exquisite Zippo lighter from somewhere, lit it, and slowly exhaled a smoke ring: "Why don't you smoke? Almost all the men here smoke."
“Smoking is harmful to your health,” Ling Yun said.
The heavily made-up woman paused for a moment, then laughed: "You're right, smoking is harmful to your health. I haven't heard anything so reasonable in many years. Young man, you're quite an interesting person."
"Thank you," Ling Yun replied with a polite smile.
"Can you take me out? I've got my eye on you. I'll give you a 50% discount. How about five thousand for one night?" the heavily made-up woman said leisurely.
“Excuse me, ma’am, I don’t have any money with me,” Ling Yun said.
"What are you doing here if you don't have money?" the heavily made-up woman asked in surprise. "Everything here costs money. You didn't come here just to eat the free fruit and drinks, did you?"
A waiter approached from a distance and respectfully whispered to Ling Yun, "Sir, please come with me. Our manager would like to see you!"
Ling Yun stood up and smiled at the heavily made-up woman who was extremely surprised: "I'm here to sell drugs."
……………
Chapter 49 Manager Fang
The waiter led Ling Yun to the north side of the hall and stopped at the second crimson door. Then, with a smile, he gestured for Ling Yun to go in. Before Ling Yun could push the door open, the waiter turned and left.
Ling Yun stood in front of the door for a second, then turned the doorknob and went inside. A blinding beam of light immediately shone into his eyes. Ling Yun instinctively turned his head to the side, closed his eyes, and raised his arm to shield his eyes from the sudden light. He heard the door slam shut behind him, followed by a sudden pressure on the back of his head as a cold, gun-barrel-like object was pressed against his head.
"Hands up!" a deep, powerful voice commanded.
Ling Yun obediently raised his arms in a gesture of surrender, slowly opening his eyes to survey the room. In reality, he had already conducted a comprehensive X-ray vision scan of the room while outside the door. The beam of light shining into his eyes had no effect; he only made this instinctive, human-like gesture to avoid alerting those inside.
The room was about twenty square meters. Facing the door, near the wall, was a maroon executive desk, its large surface covered with a monitor and other miscellaneous items. Behind the desk, a middle-aged man in a white and blue plaid shirt sat upright in a black leather executive chair. His shrewd and capable face, with a neatly trimmed mustache, was scrutinizing Ling Yun with a suspicious expression.
Beside the middle-aged man stood a young man in his twenties with long, smooth, black hair. His somewhat effeminate, handsome face revealed a cold expression, and he was playing with a small wolf-hair flashlight in his slender, fair hand. Clearly, the beam of light that had shone into Ling Yun's eyes earlier had come from the flashlight in the long-haired young man's hand.
Six burly thugs, all dressed in black suits, stood in two rows at opposite ends of the desk, facing the desk. Each of them had their suit jackets open, clearly revealing the dark black Type 54 pistols tucked into their waistbands.
Clearly, there were more than six thugs in the room, as at least two more were standing behind Ling Yun. One thug was pointing a gun at Ling Yun's head, while the other was thoroughly searching him. However, before coming to the western suburbs, Ling Yun had left all his identification documents and belongings in his dormitory, and hadn't even brought any money with him. The burly men outside the lobby had already searched him thoroughly, finding nothing. Even with this thug's meticulous search, he still found nothing.