A Dark and Stormy Night

The night hung dark and low, with the occasional bark drifting out of the shadows.

Three street toughs sauntered into Houjia Alley, arms slung over one another's shoulders and swaggering as they went.

The short, stocky leader had a reed stem clenched between his teeth. He reached a hand into his open collar and kept rubbing at the sweat and grime. "Th-this... this new girl at Cui Xi Hall, her tits are s-so damn soft. Have... have a couple more puffs of Fushou Paste, and we'll feel right as rain."

The tattooed tough behind him was thinner and looked hesitant. "Big Brother, have you heard? Yan Lao San and the others got hooked at the docks today. They died not long after they went back. Their bodies are still soaking in the river."

"Several have died in the past two months. Maybe we should stop smoking..."

Smack!

Before he could finish, the short, stocky man slapped him across the face and cursed, "I... I say, have you been kicked in the head by a donkey? Once you stop this stuff, it feels worse than dying! I'm not about to suffer that kind of misery!"

He shoved the thin man hard and continued forward.

The scar-faced tough slipped an arm around the thin man's shoulders and said, half-mocking himself and half-comforting him, "Brother, don't think about things that may or may not happen. When we drank blood wine and joined up, we already tied our heads to our waistbands."

"We're going to die sooner or later anyway. We might as well live it up while we can!"

The words sounded like reckless surrender, but they were not wrong.

The ruffians of Jinmen might not have been particularly skilled, but every last one of them was a nightmare to deal with.

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