The girl's hand was still around my neck, her fingertips gently tracing the muscles on the back of my neck. Then she looked up and saw a large sign next to us.
This is the entrance to a hotel; there are many small hotels around the 36 Streets area. And we just happen to be standing in front of one of them.
"How about it? Want to come in?" The girl gently touched my ear, deliberately blowing air into it, and said in a soft, seductive voice, "I'll make you feel very comfortable." After a pause, she slowly added, "You're very handsome, and you make me very happy. I won't charge you extra for your appearance, just one hundred yuan an hour, how about it?"
I chuckled, released my arm from her waist, and then pretended to look around. My voice had calmed down: "Okay, let's go back."
"..." The mixed-race girl seemed somewhat surprised. She gave me a deep look: "What's wrong? Don't you want to?"
"No, I'm not in the mood right now," I replied curtly, already walking back to the roadside to hail a taxi.
"Why?" The mixed-race girl looked somewhat defeated, staring intently at me with a bewildered expression. "You... what's wrong with you? Don't you like me? But you were the one who initiated it just now..."
"You're quite nice." I kept my eyes on the road, focused on hailing a taxi. "But I don't like the smell of your perfume."
On the way back to the Ocean Heart nightclub, the mixed-race girl didn't say a word to me. Her face showed some anger. I knew my actions earlier had made her feel somewhat mocked and unhappy.
My heart grew colder. In the car, I tried to close my eyes to calm myself down. But as soon as I closed my eyes, it was as if I saw Tiger standing in front of me, looking at me with a complicated smile on his face.
I could almost hear him say to me, "Xiao Wu, we're on the same side now."
Just like the first time he smiled at me.
I've killed before; I've killed several people. But this time… the person I killed was originally my good brother! He used to take care of me like an older brother. Before we left this time, Tiger would teach me a lot about the organization every day in that room at the auto repair shop, like a teacher.
"five hundred!"
A cold voice interrupted my thoughts. I turned my head and saw the mixed-race girl with an unhappy expression, holding out a hand to me. Those two words had just come from her mouth.
"What?" I asked.
“Sir, you promised, so I’ll go out with you and show you the way. I’ll be your guide, and you’ll give me five hundred yuan.” She said quickly.
I smiled. I casually took out my wallet, counted out the bills, and gave them to her.
We walked into the nightclub together, through the lobby, and into the back corridor of the private rooms. The waiter at the door saw me return and immediately opened the door to let us in.
I thought for a moment, then turned to the mixed-race girl and said, "Alright. You don't need to come with me anymore. I'll let you leave work early, and you don't need to come in with me."
But the girl hesitated for a moment, then bit her lip: "But...you won't complain about me to the manager, will you?"
I laughed: "No."
I then pushed the door open and went in, but the mixed-race girl behind me still followed me in.
Back here, the moment I stepped inside, I was hit with a strong, unpleasant smell—a strange mixture of alcohol and tobacco. I pushed open the door to the large private room, where deafening music filled the air. As soon as I entered, I saw a group of pale, naked bodies swaying to the music.
"Damn it, that fatso." I muttered under my breath.
It seems Hong Da had a wild night here, making all the girls strip naked, with more than a dozen of them dancing and twisting around in the room.
Although the lighting was dim, I could still see Hongda standing among several girls, surrounded by a group of women. Hongda had stripped down to just his briefs, and the girls around him were also dressed very lightly. I glanced around and saw that some were only wearing underwear, some were only wearing bras, and some were only wearing shoes...
Hong Da was having a great time, his arms around both women, his hands moving up and down, groping and rubbing against them. I glanced over and saw Xi Luo sitting in a corner of the sofa with two girls beside him, but he looked quite embarrassed.
I noticed that Xiluo was only wearing a shirt and underwear; his outer clothes were nowhere to be found.
I smiled and strode inside.
When he saw me come in, Xiluo visibly breathed a sigh of relief, but then he looked embarrassed. He was about to stand up, but immediately realized that his clothes were disheveled, so he sat down again with an embarrassed expression.
"Xiao Wu... I..." Although the light was dim, I could still clearly see that Xi Luo's face was almost purple from holding his breath.
"Alright." I waved my hand and laughed, "When you're out having fun, don't be so shy."
I walked straight to him and gestured for a girl next to him to move aside. Then I sat down next to Ciro, picked up a wine glass from the table, and without caring whose it was, downed the wine in one gulp.
The strong whiskey flowed down my esophagus like a ball of fire! But I felt a little better, and the previous depression and repression eased slightly.
"How was it?" I glanced at Hong Da. Xi Luo immediately understood: "He's fine, nothing went wrong..." He hesitated for a moment, then chuckled softly: "He just pulled two girls into that small private room next door, looks like he had his fun."
I smiled and didn't say anything. This old guy has been terrified these past few days; it's good for him to vent now.
"Where did you go just now?" Xiluo looked at me with some doubt in his eyes.
I picked up the bottle again and poured myself a glass. Then, holding the glass, I first clinked it against the glass in front of Ciro: "Have a drink with me."
Xiluo didn't say anything, but readily downed his drink, still looking at me with a questioning gaze.
“I think…” I said slowly, “our troubles are over.”
"?" Xiluo looked at me speechlessly.
I sipped the whiskey in my glass slowly, fully experiencing the burning sensation of the alcohol on my esophagus and stomach.
“Tiger…I’ve taken care of him.” I looked into Ciro’s eyes and said slowly.
"Bang!
The wine glass in Ciro's hand fell to the ground. He jumped to his feet, staring at me with wide eyes. After a moment, he said incredulously, "Brother Tiger... you... you..."
"Yes." I nodded slowly.
Xiluo took a deep breath. He was finally able to control his emotions in time. Then he glanced at the two young ladies beside him and said, "You two, go away."
Once it was just the two of us on the sofa, he gritted his teeth and said, "Brother Tiger...aren't we on the same side...?"
I smiled, but it was a really ugly smile: "Xi Luo, everything I told you before was true. I said that the task Eighth Master gave me was different from all of yours."
Xiluo slowly sat down, seemingly unable to accept what I had just said.
After all, I went out for a while and came back to tell him that I had killed Tiger... He must be a little confused right now.
“Tiger is no longer one of us.” I said calmly, “He had already betrayed Eighth Master before we came out this time. My mission this time was to confirm this, and then…” I sighed.
Looking at the silent Xiluo, I felt a mix of emotions. I really liked Xiluo; although he was two years older than me, he was much more naive. He hadn't experienced much...
You could even say I feel he's a lot like me. Just like I was back then: young, impulsive, energetic, loyal, and utterly devoted to my brothers…
But he was just as naive as I was back then.
"Siro, remember one thing." I took a big gulp of wine: "This world is simple... this world is complex!"
The music was deafening, and a row of naked women were writhing in front of us. The women were having a wild time, and Fatty Hong was excitedly howling from time to time.
But suddenly, I felt a surge of disgust.
...
Just now, I killed someone I respected very much with my own hands.
"Sir, stop drinking! Come dance with me!" A woman walked up to me. She looked very seductive, wearing only a pair of high heels... I noticed that she had very fair skin and large breasts. She would occasionally sway her waist to the music, seemingly trying to seduce me.
I looked at her coldly and said indifferently, "No... The thing I hate most in my life is dancing."
Part 1: A Man in the Martial World, Helpless to His Own Destiny, Chapter 174: Fatty, Fatty Seen Again!
"What did you say?"
I looked at Hong Da with some surprise, then I immediately forced myself to calm down, squinted my eyes, and carefully examined the fat man in front of me.
“You heard me right, I’m telling the truth.” Hong sighed.
We are still sitting in the private room of the nightclub.
Last night was a wild night; Hong Da seemed to have gone mad, releasing his pent-up energy! I roughly calculated that he dragged girls into the small private room next door three times that night. Even with the loud music outside, it couldn't drown out the girls' excited screams and panting coming from inside…
This fat man is really venting; he seems to be trying to release all his inner fears in this way.
At this moment, it was already dawn, but the fat man was wearing only his underwear, with a shirt casually draped over his shoulders. He sat in front of me with a forlorn expression, a cigarette between his fingers, and said something that shocked me!
I don't plan to go to Saigon.
According to the plan, Hong Da's original destination was Saigon, another major city in Vietnam and the largest city in South Vietnam! There, Hong Da was going to meet with Vietnamese drug traffickers. If their deal went smoothly, the Vietnamese would then control a larger share of the North American drug market...
Of course. To avoid that situation, I will kill Hong Dae in Saigon—along with the Vietnamese people who made contact with him.
And now, Hong Da is sitting in front of me, telling me very seriously: he's not going to Saigon!
I frowned, staring intently at the fat man, trying to figure out what he was up to...
"I'm telling the truth." Hong Da took a deep drag on his cigarette, looking exhausted... Clearly, the revelry of the previous night had left him somewhat overwhelmed. The girls had all left by now, but the room still reeked of a mixture of perfume, tobacco, and alcohol.
I chuckled. "Why? According to your plan, wasn't this trip supposed to be to Saigon to meet your business partner?"
A bitter smile appeared on Hong Da's lips. He looked at me without any attempt to hide his feelings: "I'm worried that I might go there alive, but not come back alive."
I raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
Hong Da forcefully stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray: "Brother, I started out in this business when I was eighteen. At first, I worked as a henchman for the boss, and I've also been a 'powder cop' and a 'pilot' in drug trafficking organizations..." (Powder cop: someone who provides drugs to drug users. Pilot: someone who transports drugs within a drug organization.)
"...Later, the boss was killed...I fled to North America, relying on my old brothers to support me, and started anew...I've made it this far, half by luck and half by being cautious. Now, I'd say I'm an independent drug dealer. I handle a lot of drugs flowing from Asia to North America every year. I have connections with many drug lords in the Golden Triangle, and I'm on the client lists of major Asian gangs in North America...I've made it this far. I won't mention any other special skills, but every time danger comes, I always manage to survive! It's all thanks to being cautious!"
Hong sighed and leaned back on the sofa, his entire body covered in a mountain of fat. The flabby flesh around his waist resembled a tattered sack.
“I’m not greedy. It’s not that I don’t want to be greedy. It’s that I don’t dare!” Hong Da smiled bitterly. “I’m afraid I’ll make money but not have the life to spend it… I’ve been cautious my whole life, and it’s only because of this timidity that I’ve survived to this day… Let me tell you, many of the people who did this business with me back then were bolder than me, more ruthless, and had more tricks up their sleeves… but now they’re all dead!”
He stared at me: "It's because they're greedy!"
I smiled, vaguely guessing what was going on, and handed him a cigarette with a smile. Then I lit it for him myself.
“…Hoo…” Hong Da slowly exhaled smoke and said with a bitter smile, “I’m not greedy. I’d rather earn less, and when I encounter danger, my first reaction is to turn around and run… Many times, I would rather bear some losses than take risks… Back then, many people laughed at me, calling me ‘Rat-Coward Hong,’ meaning that I was even more timid than a rat. But now, Rat-Coward Hong is still alive… Those who laughed at me are either all dead or in prison.”
I didn't say anything, and waited quietly for him to continue.
"...I originally planned to retire after this job." Hong Da grinned. "I'm different from you guys... Of course, I can't be sure if you're from the Big Circle or one of those Chinese clan associations. But your gangs are different from me. I'm a drug smuggler. As long as I cover my head and disappear into somewhere, nobody can find me. The circle I live in is more dangerous than yours, but it's also simpler. I don't have that many thugs or that many guns... We drug smugglers rely on a few henchmen to survive." He suddenly became excited when talking about his profession, a smile on his face, and said, "We have some goods today. I'll personally go to the Golden Triangle to get the goods from those drug lords, then have a few henchmen come over and find people to transport them. I've done human transport by swallowing drugs, I've worked on black ships, I've smuggled drugs into legal cargo... Then when we get to the destination, the henchmen dump the goods at the designated location, then split the money, and everyone goes their separate ways, nobody knows anyone else... Brother, do you know what a drug smuggler is?"
I shook my head. In fact, I don't really know much about it.
"Actually, to put it simply, you might understand... We drug dealers are like freight companies, similar to DHL, TNT, and Global Express. The only difference is that they transport legal goods, while we transport drugs."
"The key to the so-called 'dismantling the house' lies in the word 'dismantle.' I get the drugs from those drug lords in the Golden Triangle, a whole batch at a time, and then distribute them according to the demand lists of various gangs in North America. Then I send my 'couriers' to deliver them one by one... I don't bear any risk because the money is directly transferred from those gangs to the Golden Triangle. I have no financial dealings with those gangs; I'm only responsible for delivering the goods. The North American gangs give the money directly to the Golden Triangle, and then the Golden Triangle gives the money to me. This way, I don't have to worry about being double-crossed. That's the 'dismantling' part." Hong laughed. "The other part is 'house,' which actually should be called 'processing.' When I get the whole batch of goods, I can't just sell them. They need to be processed before they can be consumed. The process is very simple, like a food processing plant. You boil it, cool it, add some additives, and make it into the kind of drugs you see on the market. Then you can send them out to the buyers."
He sighed: "So, for us demolition companies, the word 'demolition' and the word 'addition' are inseparable."
He casually grabbed a bag of dried fruit kernels from the table—a snack served at nightclubs—and ripped open the packaging in front of me. He popped a few kernels into his mouth, crunching them a few times. He chuckled, “Like this stuff, this dried fruit. It’s fruit bought from farmers, but food processing plants dry it, process it, package it, and then send it to supermarkets… The drug lords in the Golden Triangle are like the fruit farmers, and the gangsters in North America are like the supermarkets… As for me, I’m the food processing plant in the middle. Do you understand?”
I was a little confused: "Why are you telling me all this?"
Hong Da didn't answer my question directly. He sighed deeply and said, "I'm getting old."
He slapped his belly hard, the fat on it making a loud cracking sound. Then he looked at me with a wry smile: "Damn it, those girls almost broke my back last night... If this were a few years ago, I would have made them scream for mercy long ago... But last night... I was the one screaming for mercy!"
He chuckled twice, then took another drag of his cigarette, looking at me with a serious expression. "I'm a middleman, really. I didn't have any business in North America originally, but now there are so many Asians flocking to North America... They can't get their goods from the South American market, so they have to source them from Asia. That's how I've found a place to survive. What am I? Just a middleman. I save everyone the hassle of transportation and take a tiny commission. To put it nicely, I control the drug sources for many Asian gangs in North America; to put it bluntly, I'm basically their deliveryman!"