Chapter 73: Tenfold Retribution (Part 2)
Night Dance Billiards City, located in the middle section of Qianshui Street, could be said to be the most chaotic area of Qianshui Street, and also the most peaceful place of Qianshui Street.
It was called chaotic because anyone who wasn’t part of the underworld didn’t dare to wander here for no reason. It was called peaceful because no thug dared to cause trouble here.
At three in the morning, the place was still brightly lit. However, unlike the usual lively atmosphere, the number of thugs loitering around had noticeably decreased. The four main entrances of the billiard city were already shut, each guarded by three to five idle-looking but highly alert thugs watching the street.
Inside the billiard city, it was a different scene altogether.
Over thirty men dressed in identical black clothes were surrounding the center of the billiard city, forming a circle. Each of them held something in their hands—most of them machetes.
In the middle of the circle, seven trembling thugs were kneeling in a line, with blades pointed at them.
Zhang Yang swept his eyes over each of their faces one by one. Chen Tianxiong was punctual—two hours meant two hours. Of the eight thugs who had assaulted He Ting this afternoon, seven had already been caught. One had managed to escape, either because he caught wind of something or for some other reason.
Qianshui Street was a messy place with plenty of thugs, but few organized ones. Even if some were, they’d never admit it. Chen Tianxiong told Zhang Yang that these seven were the type who temporarily teamed up—stab someone, split the cash, and that was it.
If they could gather like this, there had to be an organizer. So now Zhang Yang had to find the leader first, then find out who hired them through him.
The night was deep, the wind chilly, yet Zhang Yang’s blood was boiling.
“I’ll start asking now.” Chen Tianxiong glanced at him, giving a reminder. What came next was likely to be bloody. Maybe he thought someone like Zhang Yang, who looked like a scholar, didn’t belong here.
Chen Tianxiong waved his hand, signaling for a thug to be dragged before him.
“Name?”
The thug hesitated, and was immediately slapped hard across the face!
“Name?”
“Ah Qiu!”
“Qiu, my ass! Your real name, the one on your ID card!” Ah Gou behind him slammed a club down on his shoulder.
The thug screamed in pain and shouted, “My real name is Wang Gao!”
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“Where do you live?”
“No.7 Jingshui Road, Building 3, Unit 201, Yuetian District…”
Ah Gou looked at Zhang Yang and explained, “Our brothers will check later. If he lies, we’ll chop off a hand.”
Hearing that, the thug quickly changed his words: “Big brother, big brother, I said it wrong. I live at No.4 Shangbin Road, Unit 303, Yuetian District… ah!”
Before he could finish, a black-clad man next to Ah Gou smashed a club straight into his ribs. The thug named Ah Qiu screamed and fell to the ground.
“Fuck! You think we’re easy to fool? Say one more lie and I’ll chop your hand off!”
“No, no, big brother, I won’t dare anymore!” The thug curled up on the floor, wailing in pain.
“Won’t dare?” Ah Gou stepped forward, ground his boot on the man’s face, then crouched and slapped him a few times. “Do you know why we caught you?”
The thug glanced at the others around him. He clearly knew, but still pretended ignorance, shaking his head innocently. “I… I don’t… know.”
“Don’t know? Then you’re useless. Cut off his index finger, move on to the next one.” Chen Tianxiong said coldly from the side.
The thug screamed, “No! I know! I know!”
“Too late.” Chen Tianxiong waved his hand. A black-clad man grabbed the thug’s hand, pressed it to the floor, while Ah Gou and another man pried open his fingers. With one clean swing, his right index finger was chopped off.
“Ah!” The thug let out a pig-like scream, sweating profusely as he rolled and wailed on the ground.
Chen Tianxiong gave him a cold look. “Got your memory back yet?”
“Y-Yes… I remember now. This afternoon, Old Ye from the ice rink under the bridge called us over. Gave each of us five hundred yuan, said he wanted us to teach a lesson to some old man who was fighting his cousin over a stall. We thought it was nothing serious, so we agreed. Big brother, I shouldn’t have listened to that bastard and hit the old man, but I didn’t really hit him. I… I only kicked him once.”
“Once? Where did you kick him?” Zhang Yang slowly walked over, looking down at the thug.
The thug clutched his bleeding hand, groaning, and seeing Zhang Yang, foolishly asked, “Who the hell are you?”
“Where?” Zhang Yang borrowed an iron pipe from a nearby black-clad man and asked quietly.
The thug swallowed hard, trembling. “L-Lower leg… I kicked him twice.”
“Twice, huh? I’ll ask the others later. If it turns out it wasn’t two kicks, or if it was three, I’ll chop your whole leg off.” He swung the pipe hard, smashing it against the man’s shin.
“Crack!” The thug’s leg broke instantly, followed by a gut-wrenching scream.
The other kneeling thugs were stunned on the spot. Four out of the remaining six pissed themselves immediately.
Zhang Yang glanced over and said to Chen Tianxiong, “Brother Xiong, pick one who didn’t piss himself.”
Chen Tianxiong looked at Zhang Yang, shocked. This Zhang Yang was just as ruthless as he was. He waved to Ah Gou, who quickly pulled out a somewhat calmer thug from the group.
Zhang Yang looked at him and slowly walked up. Before he could even speak, the thug peed himself in terror. “B-Big brother, please, spare me! I was tricked too…”
Ah Gou stepped forward and kicked him in the chest. “Did I say you could talk? Name, address, now.”
After reporting his name and address, another black-clad man came up and hit him in the chest with a club.
Then he said to Zhang Yang, “You can ask now!”
“Which one of you is Old Ye?” Zhang Yang squatted down and asked slowly.
The thug shook his head. “Old Ye ran. He’s not here.”
“Then!” Zhang Yang pointed at the thug who had lost his finger and broken his leg. “Where did he hit the old man this afternoon?”
“He… he kicked him a few times.”
“How many times?”
“About three.”
Zhang Yang frowned, stood up, and walked slowly toward the injured thug. “You told us only twice?”
The thug lying on the ground couldn’t stand it anymore. Enduring the pain, he shouted at the newly pulled thug, “Ah Xin, you bastard! Fuck you and your mother! Which damn eye of yours saw me kick three times?”
Zhang Yang looked at Chen Tianxiong. “Brother Xiong, looks like we’ll have to let them testify against each other.”
Chen Tianxiong stepped forward, smiling. “Leave it to me. But it seems the organizer really isn’t among them. What do you plan to do with the rest?”
“My friend’s father is still in the ICU. So, whoever hit his hand—break their hand. Whoever hit his chest—break their ribs. Whoever hit his leg—break their leg. Whoever hit his head—cut off an ear, let them suffer a concussion…” Zhang Yang scanned them all. He didn’t bother finishing the sentence. When they hurt others, they never thought about consequences. Thugs like these—crippling them was doing society a favor.
He’d wanted to do it himself, but when he broke the first thug’s leg earlier, the system gave no reward. It said the time limit had expired. So he’d let Chen Tianxiong’s men handle the rest. When they caught that Old Ye, he’d deal with him personally.
Zhang Yang stepped out of the billiard city. The wind was cold, the street lonely. Other than a few thugs huddled in corners scrolling through their phones, no one else was around.
He pulled out his phone to check the time, only to find multiple missed calls and several unread messages.
They were from Qiao Xier.
A quick glance and Zhang Yang slapped his forehead, cursing silently. He’d been so busy running around that he hadn’t returned before midnight or sent her a message. The damn phone’s ringer had broken, so he hadn’t noticed her calls or texts.
Her last message was sent half an hour ago: “You jerk, why aren’t you replying or picking up? I’m coming to find you.”
In that instant, Zhang Yang’s eyes stung, tears nearly falling. That damn girl, it’s so late—how could you come looking for me alone? Do you even know how dangerous it is?
