"So if you run into someone on the street who’s really rude and has a caterpillar tattoo on the back of their hand, you can basically be sure they’re from the Red Blood Gang."
"..."
Of all the things they could choose for a tattoo, why a caterpillar? ’The Red Blood Gang sure is a strange bunch...’ Lin Li thought back.
The five members of the Red Blood Gang he had just tossed into the river did indeed have caterpillar tattoos on the backs of their hands.
Lin Li really couldn’t understand why the Red Blood Gang would choose such an ugly design as their mark of membership.
’Could it be because the Gang Leader has unique tastes? Does he have some bizarre notion that caterpillars are cool and imposing?’
The girl wasn’t one to hide her thoughts, or perhaps she had previously seen members of the Red Blood Gang bullying the weak.
So when Lin Li asked about the Red Blood Gang, she immediately poured out everything she knew.
’A gang formed by a bunch of criminals. It’s bad enough they haven’t been punished, but they still act so arrogantly. I guess this really is a feudal society,’ Lin Li mused as he listened to the girl’s stories about the Red Blood Gang.
"Mr. Lin, please don’t get too involved with the Red Blood Gang just out of curiosity!
I heard a merchant tried to do business with them once. In the end, not only did the Red Blood Gang take all his money, but he lost his life as well," the girl warned.
"Thank you for the warning. I was just curious and wanted to know a little about them. I have no intention of getting involved or doing business with them."
Lin Li smiled and thanked the girl for her kind reminder, then asked with some confusion.
"Since this Red Blood Gang you mentioned has done so many bad things, doesn’t the local government have any intention of getting rid of them?"
The girl shook her head helplessly and sighed.
"Sigh..."
"It’s not that the government hasn’t thought about wiping out the Red Blood Gang. They just can’t act because they lack evidence. And besides! I heard..."
The girl paused, then whispered to Lin Li, "I heard that the Red Blood Gang has a powerful backer, someone really important.
They say the government once gathered enough evidence of the Red Blood Gang’s crimes to finally make a move, but all the proof just vanished into thin air."
Watching the girl’s serious, cautious expression as she recounted the rumor she’d heard, Lin Li suddenly had an idea to play a little joke on her.
"Miss Wang, I had no idea you thought so poorly of us in the Red Blood Gang."
"Huh?!!!" Hearing Lin Li claim to be part of the Red Blood Gang, the girl gasped, clapping her hands over her mouth with a look of utter disbelief in her eyes.
Seeing the panic on her face, Lin Li knew he couldn’t continue the joke. He quickly explained, "Sorry, I was just kidding. Don’t take it seriously..."
"Phew..." The girl let out a long breath, her heart finally settling. Lin Li’s joke had given her quite a scare.
After all, having described the Red Blood Gang so vividly, she was well aware of how petty its members were.
They might admit they were bad, but if they found out a woman was bad-mouthing them behind their backs, they would most likely show up for a "friendly" chat.
"Miss Wang, after listening to what you said about the Red Blood Gang, I feel like I have a better understanding of them now.
They’re so wicked that if they found out you were speaking ill of them, they’d almost certainly come looking for trouble. You shouldn’t talk about them so freely with others in the future, just in case it gets back to them," Lin Li advised.
"Mm," the girl nodded earnestly, then said bluntly.
"I know you’re not a bad person, Mr. Lin. That’s why I told you everything I know when you asked about the Red Blood Gang."
Having unexpectedly received a "good person card," Lin Li smiled and continued to chat with the girl, though this time they moved on to lighter topics.
For instance, what fun places there were to visit in Dongwu City, or which restaurants were famous and worth a try.
「」
RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE...
Layers of dark clouds enveloped most of Dongwu City, and brilliant flashes of silver-white lightning frequently streaked through the ink-black cloud cover.
Whenever a downpour like this occurred, the residents of Dongwu City were always immensely grateful to the Lord City Lord for continuously renovating and building new drainage facilities over the past decade or so.
Many residents of Dongwu City recalled a time, over a decade ago, before the current Lord City Lord had arrived.
Back then, whenever a torrential rainstorm hit Dongwu City, many areas would flood due to the old and outdated drainage system, submerging large sections of the city.
Two enormous stone lions stood guard at the entrance to Dongwu City’s City Lord’s Mansion.
Inside the City Lord’s Mansion, a tall, righteous-looking middle-aged man stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He stood before a window, gazing up at the distant, thunderous sky, his brow furrowed in thought.
The sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the corridor outside.
A moment later, a man with a saber hanging at his waist arrived at the study’s entrance. He clasped his fists and called out to the middle-aged man standing by the window.
"Lord City Lord."
Li Dingtian, deep in thought, heard the voice from the doorway and turned to face the man.
"Come in."
The man with the saber entered the study as permitted.
"What of the matter I sent you to investigate?" Li Dingtian asked as he sat down at his desk.
"Just as you suspected, Lord City Lord, a storm of this magnitude shouldn’t have occurred this month. The sudden downpour from the day before yesterday was indeed suspicious.
Following your instructions, I led an investigation and discovered that this unusual storm is connected to that Mutant Beast," the man with the saber reported, looking at Li Dingtian with admiration.
"Heh..." Li Dingtian chuckled, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then spoke with a look of disdain.
"Ever since I defeated that Mutant Beast over a decade ago, it has harbored a grudge. But after it finished healing, it never made a move.
It dragged things out for all these years, only acting now. I’d like to see just how it plans to get its revenge this time.
If all it can think of is using a rainstorm for revenge, then that’s just pathetic."
The man with the saber nodded and said with a smile, "That Mutant Beast probably still thinks Dongwu City will suffer a flood from a major storm, just like a decade ago. How utterly ridiculous."
After his subordinate finished speaking, Li Dingtian thought for a moment before saying, "The storm from the day before yesterday had just ended, and now another one has come just a day later.
Although our continuous renovation and construction of drainage facilities over the past decade has greatly improved our ability to withstand heavy rain, if we let that Mutant Beast continue to run wild, problems are bound to arise."
"Lord City Lord, your meaning is?" the man with the saber asked.
"It is impolite not to reciprocate. Since that Mutant Beast has held its grudge for so many years and has now come seeking revenge, we should give it a taste of its own medicine," Li Dingtian said.
"Yes, your subordinate will make the arrangements at once."
"Don’t be too heavy-handed. Just make it understand that we know the heavy rains in Dongwu City are its doing."
"Yes, sir."
The man with the saber nodded, then left the study to begin implementing the counter-plan.