Borrowing troops

"Hey, are they all right?"

Little White Tiger paced restlessly in his room.

On the other end of the phone, Mr. Li sighed wearily. "Piglet's been taken to the hospital. They're trying to save him."

"What about Old Ninth?"

Mr. Li rubbed his temples, looking troubled. "Old Ninth took nine of your brothers into the West Garden District. Now they've disappeared. Fuck, how did he dare charge into Old Ding's territory with just ten men when Old Ding has over a thousand? He's insane."

A Lang was the mastermind behind this assassination attempt. With Old Ninth's temper, he was bound to go settle the score.

That was exactly what gave Mr. Li a headache.

Old Ninth was completely uncontrollable. Mr. Li had called him over a dozen times, and Old Ninth had given him just one reply.

"Don't stop me, or I'll take you down too."

Little White Tiger spun in anxious circles. No one knew his brothers' temperaments better than he did.

"Little Tiger, I want to take you all to a higher level. Before you start fighting and killing, you need to understand your objective. Our goal is to get a seat at the table and a share of the pie, not to lash out over wounded pride."

Mr. Li was a business heavyweight. To him, the actions of Old Ninth and the others were nothing more than youthful immaturity.

Revenge that brought no benefit was pointless conflict.

But he had forgotten that Old Ninth and the others weren't cold machines. The bond between these brothers couldn't be measured in profit.

Mr. Li wanted to keep persuading Little White Tiger to stop Old Ninth, but Little White Tiger answered gravely, "Mr. Li, you're a god in the business world. We're ghosts on the streets. To you, profit matters most. To us, our brothers are everything. We've only survived this long because we stick together."

"Thank you for showing me a different world. I'm no longer a frog at the bottom of a well, but I'm still the Little White Tiger who puts his brothers first."

Little White Tiger stubbed out his cigarette. "From now on, we're taking over the battlefield. Wait for me to bring you Old Ding's head."

"What are you going to do?" Mr. Li shouted, his voice breaking. "Did everything I just said go in one ear and out the other?"

"I heard everything you said. But... the moment they fired their guns, the war began. Mr. Li, I'll get your business done. You don't need to know how. That's it."

Little White Tiger hung up and charged straight out of the room.

"Earthworm! Earthworm!" Little White Tiger stood in the courtyard and shouted.

"Here."

Earthworm emerged from another room, yawning.

"Take me to see the Old Man."

It was the first time Earthworm had seen such terrifying killing intent on Little White Tiger's face.

Even meeting his eyes felt like he might tear him apart.

When Little White Tiger met the Old Man of Black Mountain Town, he took a bank card from his pocket and got straight to the point. "Old Man, I need to borrow troops."

"Borrow troops? What are you planning?"

The Old Man calmly lifted his teacup and asked with interest.

"My brother's about to raise hell like Nezha stirring up the sea. I need to bring him his Wind Fire Wheels."

Little White Tiger lit a cigarette and bowed respectfully to the Old Man. "Old Man, I need men to kill someone. Can you help?"

Seeing Little White Tiger suppress his fury so hard that his body began to tremble, the Old Man set down his teacup without hurry.

"I can give you men. What can you bring Black Mountain Town?"

Seeing beads of sweat on Little White Tiger's forehead from his urgency, the Old Man slowly laid out what he wanted.

He could help Little White Tiger, but Little White Tiger had to meet his price, and that price wasn't just money.

The old man and the young man held each other's gaze.

After a moment, the Old Man spoke first. "I know there's someone behind you. My condition is for him."

Two youngsters wouldn't dare leave the city to seek out Lei Zi without an adult backing them.

That was how the Old Man had seen through to the big boss behind Little White Tiger.

"I want a hundred City Residence Permits."

The Old Man sighed. "Outside the city is no place for people to live. I'm old. I want to give the next generation of children a better environment."

"Fine." Little White Tiger nodded without hesitation.

"Think it through before you answer. A hundred," the Old Man reminded him pointedly. "If you can't deliver, I won't be so friendly."

City Residence Permits were extremely scarce. The city only issued a few hundred each year. One or two could be arranged, but without serious connections, a hundred was out of the question.

The Old Man meant for Little White Tiger to call Mr. Li and ask.

But calling Mr. Li now would expose his identity immediately.

After weighing it up, Little White Tiger decided to act first and explain afterward.

Bragging wasn't a crime, anyway. He would get the men into the city first. "The man behind me has connections everywhere. If I can't deliver, I'll personally bring you my head."

Mr. Li had taught him how to leverage someone else's influence. This time, Little White Tiger was leveraging his.

"You've got guts." The Old Man nodded in satisfaction. "But we still have rules. How much effort we put in depends on how much you pay."

Smack!

Little White Tiger slapped his bank card onto the table. "There's still nine hundred thousand in here. If that's not enough, I can get a few million more at any time."

Hi Dog stood to one side and silently swallowed.

He knew that was all the money Little White Tiger had. Whether Mr. Li would keep giving him money was another question.

Little White Tiger was making some pretty big claims. If Mr. Li refused to clean up his mess later, the people of Black Mountain Town would turn around and attack Little White Tiger.

But to get Black Mountain Town involved, he had to convince them he had powerful backing.

If he showed any uncertainty now, the people of Black Mountain Town would never take that risk with him.

The Old Man narrowed his eyes. Seeing no trace of fear in Little White Tiger, he nodded, half convinced.

Whatever else might be true, those nine hundred thousand were real.

He smiled. "Young man, Black Mountain Town will back you in this fight. Go after whichever big shot in the city you want. If trouble comes, head outside the city. As long as I'm alive, no one will dare come out here and touch you."

The Old Man removed his thumb ring and handed it to Little White Tiger. "Take this to Black Mud Mountain and find Xiao Fei. I'll give you as many men as you want. As long as you can afford it, I'll even join you in storming the city. Since this is our first time working together, Black Mountain Town will give you a little gift as thanks for saving Earthworm."

The Old Man picked up a Satellite Phone and dialed a number. "Put Red Ghost on. Hello? Wipe out Old Ding's bases outside the city. Tell him Black Mountain Town did it. Starting today, his men aren't allowed to take one step beyond the city gates. Those are my orders."

"Now that's power." Little White Tiger cupped his fist in salute to the Old Man.

"I won't say any more. Go fight without worrying. Money is ammunition. If you're willing to spend your money, we people outside the city are willing to spend our lives."

"Done."

Little White Tiger rose impatiently. "My brother's fighting for his life in the city. Old Man, I'll bring him to visit you another day."

"Go."

The largest karaoke club in the West Garden District.

Smack!

A Lang slapped one of his underlings on the head.

"Every fucking day, you run your mouths like you could take down even the mayor. Now you can't handle two little bastards? Maybe I should make you my bosses instead. Every last one of you is all fucking talk."

A Lang glanced at Red Hair sitting beside him as he cursed his men.

Their features were almost identical. The only difference was that Red Hair had red hair, while A Lang had long, flowing black hair.

"Forget it, bro. Let's figure out how to deal with Little White Tiger and Old Ninth first," Red Hair reminded him. "Our lookout said Old Ninth brought weapons into the West Garden District. That kid's a complete psycho. If he gets to Boss Ding, we'll both be utterly humiliated."

If Old Ninth led his men in an attack on Old Ding's building, Old Ding would lose face whether he won or lost.

His own headquarters attacked, and by a handful of young punks at that-what would happen if word got out?

"Little White Tiger's gathered over a hundred men outside the city. I hear that Li guy's about to make a move too." Red Hair took a gloomy sip of his drink. "We only tried to kill two kids. How did it turn into stirring up a hornet's nest?"

A Lang was also worried that Old Ninth would lose his head and go after Old Ding. Old Ding's reputation was at stake.

After thinking it over, A Lang called to his underlings. "Spread the word. I'm the one who sent men to kill Old Ninth and Little White Tiger."

Red Hair's eyes lit up.

A Lang was drawing the fire away from Old Ding.

"Fuck. As if two young punks could turn the whole world upside down."