Incoming attack

Red Three Street, inside the logistics market.

As Old Xie's home base, Red Three Street was just like every other street in the apocalypse: muddy dirt roads, dilapidated low buildings on either side, and pavement crowded with vagrants and beggars who might be alive or dead.

Red Three Street was the apocalypse in miniature.

Everyone lived in misery. Even so, people outside the city still envied them.

And the logistics market on Red Three Street was what Old Xie relied on to curry favor with the powerful.

The market wasn't big, but all freight entering or leaving the city passed through it, and some vehicles unloaded there.

"Boss Ding, I'm sorry. This definitely won't affect your business. You have my word."

Old Xie stood in his office, humbly explaining himself to the person on the phone.

"You can't even keep your own Matsai in line. You have three days. If you can't handle it, I'll put someone whose orders actually mean something in charge of Red Three Street."

With a few brief sentences, the person on the other end decided Old Xie's fate.

Looking at the sprawling market and the Matsai gathered outside his window, Old Xie tightened his grip on his phone.

Once people grew accustomed to wealth, they never wanted to lose it. He wouldn't let anyone take what belonged to him.

"Xiao Kui, hurry the Awakened along, and keep a close eye on Old Ninth. We have to take him down tomorrow."

Old Xie opened his office door and gave orders to the Matsai outside.

"Yes, boss. Which wife's place should I drive you to tonight?"

Xiao Kui asked, inviting trouble.

Old Xie's expression changed. He angrily kicked Xiao Kui in the stomach. "At a fucking time like this? I'm sleeping in the office tonight!"

Old Ninth had already scared Old Xie witless. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to gather everyone in the warehouse to protect him.

His two sharpest blades were now pointed back at him, and it infuriated Old Xie.

"Send more men out on patrol."

Old Xie shut the door, cursing, then took a bulletproof vest from his safe and put it on.

Xiao Kui spat a thick glob of phlegm outside the door in resentment, then walked off to a deserted corner.

"Sister-in-Law?"

Xiao Kui called Old Xie's home.

"Boss isn't coming home tonight," the lackey whispered, cupping his phone.

"Then come over. I'll be waiting at the usual place."

"Sure, wait for me, baby."

Xiao Kui put on a thick black padded coat, started a car, and drove out of the warehouse alone.

As he passed the guard post at the entrance, Xiao Kui pulled a stern face and shouted at the Matsai on watch, "Stay fucking sharp! I'm going out to bring Sister-in-Law some medicine. Keep the boss safe!"

"Got it, Brother Kui."

"Understood."

The car pulled away.

"Ah, being the boss sure is nice. It'd be even better if Old Xie were gone." Humming a tune, Xiao Kui went off to meet his darling.

Heavy snow began falling from the sky, and fierce winds whipped it into people's faces, stinging their skin.

The pedestrians had all retired for the night. In weather this cold, aside from people in certain special professions, everyone had already burrowed under their blankets.

Outside the logistics market, only a handful of streetlights flickered along the straight road.

"Hey, baby, did you take the pill today, or should I bring protection?"

Xiao Kui held the steering wheel in one hand and his phone in the other, a sleazy look on his face.

"What pill? Half of Old Xie's kids are yours anyway. Hurry up and get here."

"Ha..." Brimming with smug satisfaction, Xiao Kui pressed harder on the accelerator.

Screeech...

Xiao Kui slammed on the brakes and stared dumbfounded at the scene ahead.

"F-fuck. My luck can't be that bad, can it?"

Xiao Kui's legs started trembling. Of all times, the car had chosen this moment to stall.

The faulty streetlight flickered on and off. Xiao Kui swallowed.

Beneath the streetlight, eleven dark figures stood in a row, their bodies completely covered by raincoats.

As the light flickered, the line of figures moved one step closer to the car every time it came back on.

"G-ghosts..."

After several tries, Xiao Kui finally got the car started.

Just as he was about to reverse, he noticed the glowing tip of a cigarette by the roadside, less than five meters away.

Someone lurked in the darkness. When the cigarette brightened, he could just make out half the person's face.

"A ghost!"

Whoosh!

The person in the roadside shadows bounded four or five meters forward and kicked the car before Xiao Kui could react.

Screeech...

The sedan slid two meters across the ice, struck the curb, and rolled onto its side.

Bang!

Xiao Kui looked up in a daze as the dark figure dropped from above and slammed heavily onto the car.

His face battered and bruised from the crash, Xiao Kui stared in terror at the young man standing on the upturned car door.

Through the window, Little White Tiger's resolute face drew closer.

"T-T-Tiger..."

Bang!

Little White Tiger smashed the glass with a punch, then held money in one hand and a knife in the other.

"Pick one."

Xiao Kui hadn't become Old Xie's trusted lackey by being an idiot. He instantly understood what Little White Tiger meant.

At the same time, he let out a deep breath of relief. Little White Tiger, that killing fiend, wasn't planning to kill him just yet.

"Brother Tiger, you're alive!"

Xiao Kui shouted with feigned delight, "You scared me to death! When I heard you'd been executed, I was so upset..."

A shotgun poked through the window, cutting off Xiao Kui's attempt to cozy up to him.

Old Ninth's cold, ruthless face appeared.

Xiao Kui shuddered and didn't dare say another useless word.

Old Eighth was wild; Old Ninth was mad.

Better to provoke Old Eighth than get anywhere near Old Ninth.

The moment Old Ninth appeared, Xiao Kui knew he had to choose every word that followed with extreme care.

"How upset?" Old Ninth asked darkly. "Cry for me. Let's see."

"No, Brother Nine-"

"If you don't cry, I'm gonna shoot."

"No, bro, my dear brother, I was wrong!"

Xiao Kui cried. He was scared into tears.

Old Ninth had pressed the gun barrel right against his crotch.

Satisfied, Old Ninth withdrew his gun. Outside the car, Little White Tiger beckoned to Xiao Kui.

Not daring to try anything, Xiao Kui obediently crawled out of the car and knelt on the ground with his hands on his head.

The snow fell harder and harder, its thick curtain obscuring the distant logistics market.

Thirteen young men in raincoats surrounded Xiao Kui.

"There are over a hundred men in the market. Twenty at the front gate, thirty at the back, and over fifty waiting in ambush inside the warehouse."

Before Little White Tiger could even speak, Xiao Kui spilled everything.

He'd even dared to hook up with Old Xie's wife. Why would he risk his life for Old Xie?

"Old Xie was afraid you'd raid his home base, so he made plenty of preparations this time."

"I won't believe anything you say until we rough you up a little."

Old Ninth curled his lip and called over a few lackeys, ready to give Xiao Kui a beating first.

"I have an ironclad reason to betray Old Xie." Xiao Kui raised three fingers toward the sky. "I fucked Sister-in-Law."

"You what?"

Little White Tiger and Old Ninth's entire worldview shattered.

Hi Dog scratched his crotch. "Buddy, you've got us beat. We're stabbing Old Xie, and you're fucking stabbing Sister-in-Law?"

"Ahem." Little White Tiger cut off Hi Dog's urge to gossip and asked sharply, "Can you lure the men away?"

"The guards at the front gate are my men. I can take them away."

Xiao Kui assured Dao Attainment, "But you have to kill Old Xie. Otherwise, I'm done for."

"Fuck."

Old Ninth kicked him in the face. "Why weren't you fucking scared when you climbed into her bed? Lead the way."

"I was forced into it. Old Xie orders me around all day, and his wife orders me around all night. Brothers, I've got it rough." Xiao Kui flicked his bangs aside.