"Ke ke ke, Hall Master Wang Hong, you didn't see this coming, did you? Our Holy Cult's followers are spread far and wide." Li Dalong stood on Wang Hong's back and sneered.
"Y-Yin Tong Cult... You're all members of the Yin Tong Cult..." Wang Hong's face grew even paler, her body trembling.
"That's right, Hall Master Wang. To offer your body as a sacrifice to the great Great Yin Tong is truly a blessing."
"P-please spare me. I don't want to die. I'm willing to become a follower of the Yin Tong Cult." Wang Hong begged desperately.
"Ke ke. Too bad. My Yin Tong Cult has no need for disloyal, divisive people like you. Enough chatter. Stay put!"
Li Dalong stepped forward and kicked in the pointed chin Wang Hong had always been so proud of, then knocked her unconscious.
"Wang Hu, take her back to the Holy Cult's stronghold in County Town and offer her as a sacrifice to Great Yin Tong."
"Yes!"
"Hiss, hiss, hiss..."
Nearby, Wang Hong's pet Red Snake lifted its head and stared at Li Dalong with its triangular eyes, looking ready to threaten him.
"Shing!"
Li Dalong drew his blade and struck in a flash. The snake's red head dropped to the ground.
"You're only a venomous snake if you manage to bite someone. If you can't, you're just a spicy strip."
Li Dalong grabbed Red Snake's body and ate it like a spicy strip before leaving.
A venomous snake stored its venom in its head. Its body was generally harmless.
"Smack, smack..."
With Wang Hong taken care of, the next step was to cover their tracks.
Snake blood stained the corner of Li Dalong's mouth as he narrowed his eyes and smiled.
"Wang Bao, didn't you practice Black Wolf Fist in secret? Come on, hit all of us once. There are a few Blood Snake Hall members still unconscious here, too. Finish them all off with Black Wolf Fist."
"Yes!" Wang Bao stepped forward with a broad grin. First, he took care of the Blood Snake Hall members with Black Wolf Fist, then punched several others once each.
"Now that Hall Master Wang Hong has been abducted and her life is unknown, it was the Black Wolf Gang's doing. What does that have to do with me, Li?"
After putting on their little show, Li Dalong, Xu Kun, Xu Cai, Wang Hu, and Wang Bao hurried back to the mine in a panic.
They reported the Black Wolf Gang's ambush, pinning everything on them.
With Xu Kun and Xu Cai as witnesses, everyone was convinced that the Black Wolf Gang had deliberately targeted Poison Dragon Hall.
"The Hall Master's life is uncertain. To prevent chaos and stop the Black Wolf Gang from taking advantage of the situation, all Blood Snake Hall brothers will temporarily follow Hall Master Li's orders."
Xu Kun and Xu Cai fanned the flames from the side, clearly hoping to merge Blood Snake Hall into Poison Dragon Hall.
Having lost their Hall Master, the Blood Snake Hall members were at a loss. They could only follow Xu Kun and Xu Cai's orders and temporarily accept Li Dalong's leadership.
Li Dalong put on an expression of heartfelt sincerity. "You're all brothers of my Poisonous Snake Gang. I treat you like family, so rest easy."
Afterward, Li Dalong merged the personnel of the two halls, then appointed leaders and reorganized their forces.
When Zhao Han returned that afternoon, he saw the mine in a state of high tension. After asking around, he couldn't help feeling speechless.
There hadn't been any Black Wolf Gang ambushers. Zhang Long, Zhao Hu, and those three snake catchers had clearly been killed by him.
But the situation didn't look like a sham. Wang Hong had been captured by the Black Wolf Gang, and Li Dalong had also been injured. It seemed that Black Wolf Gang members really had been lurking nearby, hunting people down.
But how come I never ran into them?
Forget it. What's it got to do with me? I'll just keep raising my Black Wolf Fist proficiency.
I don't care if you're Black Wolves or Black Panthers, poisonous snakes or venomous bugs. I'll crush you all with one punch!
Zhao Han had only walked a few more steps when an elite gang member called out from behind him.
"Zhao Han, Leader Wang wants to see you about something urgent."
"Leader Wang? What does he want with me?" Zhao Han asked, puzzled.
"You still don't know? Leader Liu Gang was transferred to Blood Snake Hall. Now Leader Wang Hu and Leader Wang Bao are in charge of Poison Dragon Hall."
"What? What the..." Zhao Han couldn't quite keep up.
Liu Gang had gone to manage Blood Snake Hall, while Wang Bao had risen to take charge of Poison Dragon Hall.
What about me?
"Go see him right after you eat. You know what Leader Wang Bao's like. If you're late, watch out—your ass... I mean, your head might not stay on your shoulders. Ke ke ke..."
The gang member was strange. At the end, he let out a lewd laugh.
"Got it. Thanks for letting me know."
Zhao Han stood where he was, frowning as he wondered why Wang Bao wanted to see him. Was he trying to settle a score?
But he hadn't offended Wang Bao. He'd only been on friendly terms with Liu Gang.
Was Wang Bao really going to suppress him just because he'd been close to Liu Gang and received a little special favor?
Forget it. When soldiers come, I'll block them; when water comes, I'll dam it. Wang Bao's only at Skin Refining. Killing him would be as easy as eating or drinking.
Zhao Han wasn't afraid. He'd trained both Black Wolf Fist and Snake-Style Deft Hand to proficiency.
He had already surpassed Wang Bao, who had only barely reached the third level in Snake-Style Deft Hand.
The third level corresponded to proficiency.
The fourth level corresponded to mastery. Only Liu Gang and Wang Hu had reached that level.
The fifth level corresponded to great mastery!
Across the entire mine, only Li Dalong had trained Snake-Style Deft Hand to the fifth level.
If it came to a fight, Zhao Han was confident he could kill him head-on.
Wang Bao was nothing. He could deal with him in a snap.
Still, just to be safe, Zhao Han went to eat first and left Wang Bao waiting.
Once night fell and the kitchen was empty, he went inside, found a small knife, and put it in his space.
He also grabbed some lime powder used to clean grease off pork and stored it in his space, along with a jug of water, just in case.
Mix lime with water, and you'd be in for a world of hurt.
Lime wasn't quite as good at removing grease as caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), but it was more than enough to deal with an ordinary mortal.
When he reached Wang Bao's tent, Zhao Han called softly, "Leader Wang, you wanted to see me?"
"Xiao Zhao, what took you so long? Come in," Wang Bao said impatiently. He'd been waiting for Zhao Han for ages.
Inside the tent, Zhao Han looked at Wang Bao.
Wang Bao had a leopard's head and round eyes. He was rather thin and dark, with a thin mustache at the corners of his mouth.
His elder brother, Wang Hu, was built like a bear, every inch a brawny man.
The two of them didn't look like brothers at all.
"Leader Wang, what did you need me for?" Zhao Han asked, bowing slightly with his fists clasped and getting straight to the point.
Wang Bao spoke softly.
"Heh heh, Xiao Zhao, no need to be nervous. We're all family here. I just wanted to ask what you plan to do now that Old Liu has gone to Blood Snake Hall."
What do I plan to do? I'm just an elite gang member. You lot can arrange my fate however you please.
Zhao Han grinned and flattered him. "Naturally, I'll follow Leader Wang. If you get to eat meat, I can at least drink some soup, right?"
"When I followed Liu Gang, I went hungry nine days out of ten. Life with Leader Wang will be much better."
Wang Bao was delighted. "Good, good! Looks like Xiao Zhao knows how to read the situation and..."
"Know when to bow to the times!"
"Exactly, exactly! Xiao Zhao, you're a clever fellow, a man who knows what's what. From now on, you're one of my brothers. I'll make sure you get your fill of soup while I eat meat."
"Then I'll be in your care, Leader Wang."
Zhao Han grumbled inwardly. Who the hell wants soup when there's meat to be had? Chaos is a ladder. I'm going to eat meat too.
Wang Bao rubbed his hands together with a grin.
"Heh heh, since Xiao Zhao's one of my own now, I won't stand on ceremony. Drop your cleaver, turn around and bend over, pull down your pants, and let me have a good look."
"???"
"WTF?"
Zhao Han's head filled with question marks.
Turn around, bend over, pull down his pants—what kind of lewd request was that?
But after thinking it over and recalling the short videos he'd watched online back on Blue Star...
And that gang member's lecherous grin from earlier, Zhao Han's expression changed at once.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"What, you want to be one of my men, but you can't even do this little thing?" Wang Bao slapped the table and shouted.
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