Li Jinshui didn't care what Chen Dali and his classmates might think.
They were already here. It wasn't as if they could just turn around and leave, was it?
He strode into the station and surveyed the surroundings.
The place was sparsely furnished, with only a few desks and chairs and some computers. A large screen hung on the wall, and the whole place looked rather shabby.
Li Jinshui casually pulled out a chair and sat down. Turning to the deputy station chief, he said, "Uncle Lin, get everyone in here, then close up and call a meeting."
The deputy station chief's full name was Lin Zhen. He was a trusted subordinate assigned by Huang Lichen and the others.
Li Jinshui had no experience delivering food and had never been involved in coordinating and managing a delivery station. As for the theoretical classes at the Youth Training Camp, such as "How to dispatch delivery personnel" and "How to handle complaints about late orders," he'd hardly attended any of them. There was no way he could handle the complicated duties of running a real station.
So Huang Lichen and the others had offered Lin Zhen double the station chief's top salary, asking him to take full responsibility for the new station's actual operations behind the scenes.
As for Li Jinshui, he was simply there to lend the station his title and draw fire.
Wei Hu Security had publicly announced that they were going after Li Jinshui. Other stations didn't want the trouble and refused to take him in, so Ye Mei and the others simply went with the flow and put him in the station chief's position for all to see.
If a delivery rider was targeted and got hurt, the matter was usually settled quietly, with a private agreement and compensation.
But attacking a station chief was a different matter altogether. It was tantamount to publicly slapping Daming Technology in the face and declaring war on its Rong City branch.
That was Ye Mei and the others' strategy. Rather than stay on the defensive, they would flip the table and make a scene. Only by throwing everything into chaos would they have a chance to turn the tables.
"Station Chief Li, your driver dumped your luggage on the road, then ran two red lights and sped off..." Just then, a delivery rider walked in carrying two suitcases.
"It's fine. Just leave them in a corner. They aren't actually mine. Chief Ye and Commander Huang must've felt sorry for me and worried that I'd been spoiled growing up and couldn't handle hardship, so they secretly stuffed the car with nutritional supplements and high-end toiletries for me." Li Jinshui shook his head, looking utterly nonchalant.
Once everyone had arrived and the rolling shutter had been pulled down again,
Li Jinshui's expression turned serious. He swept his gaze across the room and said in a low voice, "Everyone, I've always been straightforward. Today, I'll lay it all out for you. Now that you've been assigned here, we're all in the same boat. I just got word from Chen Yu, the head of the Intelligence Department. Several gangs in the outer district are gathering their forces. If nothing unexpected happens, they'll come after our station tonight."
"Hiss!"
Chen Dali and his classmates sucked in sharp breaths, their faces turning pale.
Several gangs coming at them together?
Wouldn't that mean at least dozens, maybe even a hundred people—and all of them were crazed martial artists who didn't value their lives?
What were they supposed to do against that many?
The ten veteran riders standing at the back looked grim, too.
They hadn't volunteered to come. They'd all been pushed out at their old stations, either ostracized or singled out by their station chiefs. But they'd signed ten-year contracts with Flash Group Delivery and couldn't leave even if they wanted to.
The only good news was that the company had raised their pay. For their first three months at the new station, they'd receive double their base salary and double their commission.
So in the end, they could only grit their teeth and obey the forced reassignment.
But they'd never imagined things would get this dangerous. The station hadn't even officially opened for business, and already they were facing an attack by several gangs tonight?
"Heh! Are you scared?"
Li Jinshui gave a scornful smile and raised a hand, pressing it down. "There's no need to be afraid. Even if the sky falls, I'll hold it up for you. Besides, the company has already made all the necessary preparations."
As he spoke, a cold glint flashed in his eyes. His voice turned icy. "So just watch in peace. I, Li Jinshui, will make this clear right now: however many of them come tonight, every last one will die."
The company had already made preparations?
The ten veteran riders' eyes lit up, but they still turned to look at the deputy station chief, Lin Zhen.
Seeing Lin Zhen so calm and composed, they finally felt reassured. Believing Li Jinshui's words, they let out a long breath.
Chen Dali and the others felt the crisis had passed and laughed out loud without a care.
"Hahaha, that's our class monitor! I knew it. He never fights a battle unless he's sure he can win."
"I always knew following the class monitor was the right choice. With the company's elite forces leading the way tonight, we might even be able to hang back and fish in troubled waters, picking up a little credit."
The oppressive atmosphere in the station was swept away by their optimism, and the mood grew relaxed and lively.
A faint smile tugged at Li Jinshui's lips, too.
Chen Dali and the others were right. He never fought a battle unless he was sure he could win.
The day before graduation from the Youth Training Camp, he'd already discussed things in detail with Huang Lichen and the others. He'd also predicted that the Drifter Gang would definitely come looking for trouble.
So Huang Lichen and the others had secretly arranged for more than a dozen First-rate Martial Artists to sneak into the homes near the station ahead of time.
The Drifter Gang had quite a reputation and terrified many ordinary people.
But at the end of the day, they were just a bunch of mediocre lowlifes who'd banded together to throw their weight around. No small gang had more than twenty martial artists, and high-level fighters were rarer still.
They were up against a rabble tonight. As long as the other side didn't have enough First-rate Martial Artists, they'd be walking straight into their deaths, with no chance of coming back.
And there was even less need to worry about anyone above the First-rate level, in the Thousand-Jun Realm.
Huang Lichen and the others had all sworn that, given how small this conflict was, Wei Hu Security wouldn't dare send anyone in the Thousand-Jun Realm into the fray. That would break the rules. It would not only anger Daming Technology, but could also bring the authorities' Inspection Bureau down on them first.
That said, Li Jinshui couldn't just sit back and do nothing.
He'd spoken to Old Huang in private several times, and in the end he'd managed to talk him into coming along.
Old Huang couldn't join the fight, but he could secretly watch over Li Jinshui in case the other side went berserk and ignored the rules of the underworld.
So Li Jinshui was brimming with confidence and completely unafraid of tonight's battle.
If they could drive off those gangs, the station would make a name for itself with a single battle.
Even if more trouble came afterward, Huang Lichen and the others would deal with it.
As for Li Jinshui, he was looking forward to tonight.
The Drifter Gang?
A few hundred people?
Come on, the more the merrier. They'd be perfect for speeding up Heaven Rewards Diligence. Heh heh heh!
Night gradually fell over the run-down neighborhood.
Li Jinshui had already told everyone to head straight up to the second floor.
The second floor was the station's dormitory. The station chief and deputy station chief had their own small private rooms, while everyone else slept in a communal dorm. It was only meant for things like their midday breaks.
The beds had all been pushed into a corner, and the power had been cut. The room was pitch-black.
Everyone spread out by the second-floor windows, watching the situation outside through the glass.
Li Jinshui had taken off his windbreaker and stood quietly by a window.
Two specially made tactical inner belts were strapped around his waist. Neat rows of Willow Leaf Throwing Knives filled them, their edges gleaming with a cold light in the moonlight.
They were a gift from Ye Mei, originally meant to help him practice Meteor Chasing Moon.
But Li Jinshui had already mastered the basics of Meteor Chasing Moon. Tonight, those knives would draw blood.
"Station Chief, I see a few figures over here. They're pretty far away, so I can't tell if they're..." A rider watching from the north window spoke in a low voice.
"Don't worry about them. Keep waiting."
Li Jinshui didn't even turn around. He answered calmly.
Then, in the darkness, his eyes narrowed slightly as he fixed his gaze ahead.
Through the glass, he could already see dozens, perhaps a hundred, figures in the alleys of the low-rise neighborhood ahead. Like rats in a gutter, they crept toward the station under cover of night without making a sound.
"They're here! This time I'm sure!" another rider said quietly.
"I see them too. At least a hundred!"
"I've spotted them over here, too. The alley... the alley's full of people!"
"Damn, have they gone crazy? They sent this many people?"
"There must be several hundred of them coming from all directions. They can't all be martial artists, can they?"
In an instant, the riders on the second floor were overcome with shock, their faces tense and uneasy.
Chen Dali and the other recent graduates went even paler, their hands trembling slightly.