Lin Yao called Ah Bu into a small side room.
He briefly told him what had just happened and instructed him to make the necessary preparations.
Although Hongyi was only a mid-sized triad, Lin Yao's own hall had fewer than a hundred officially registered members.
Even counting the外围 guys, they didn't reach three hundred.
What's more, most of those short-tempered punks didn't have much real fighting ability.
If things really came to blows, it would still come down to Lin Yao and Ah Bu taking the field personally.
Ah Bu answered with a grunt and immediately went out to rally people.
Living in Kowloon Walled City meant that every few days, you were bound to clash with other gangs.
Over this period of time, Ah Bu had personally trained more than twenty men for Lin Yao—each one stronger than the average street thug.
Even River Dragon Xu Feng had felt a clear sense of pressure from it.
The boss had already expressed many times that he wanted to emigrate to the Maple Leaf Country.
The only person who could compete with River Dragon for that position was Lin Yao.
And Lin Yao wasn't just skilled himself—he also had such a capable subordinate backing him up.
No wonder River Dragon was uneasy.
Originally, Fat Wah had intended to support Lin Yao as the hall's White Paper Fan.
This had already been explained internally.
But to officially become Liansheng's hall White Paper Fan, Fat Wah still needed to submit the recommendation to the Elders' Council—
—and let the elders make the final decision.
Under normal circumstances, anyone nominated by the hall boss would pass without issue.
But River Dragon had stuck his oar in.
He claimed that Lin Yao had a distant cousin named Chen Jiajun, who was a street thug.
So they needed to "observe a bit longer," otherwise it would be hard to handle later if Lin Yao turned out to be an undercover.
In truth, Lin Yao had never even met this so-called cousin.
"Three thousand li between relatives…"
This was obviously River Dragon's attempt to fabricate trouble.
Fat Wah didn't actually believe River Dragon's nonsense—but River Dragon was his godson.
In the end, he listened to him.
To appease Lin Yao, Fat Wah handed over management of this small alley's nightclub and massage parlors to him.
However, the income from the nightclub and massage parlors had nothing to do with Lin Yao.
River Dragon had his own people handling the finances.
The protection fees Ah Bu collected today came from several convenience stores belonging to other merchants in the alley—
—plus three adult bookstores, five massage parlors, and six mahjong houses.
Altogether, it was just a little over one hundred twenty thousand.
Out of that, one hundred thousand still had to be handed up, leaving only twenty-eight thousand.
That twenty-eight thousand still had to be split among Lin Yao's ten core enforcers.
To put it plainly, Lin Yao didn't even have ten thousand dollars in savings right now.
There was no helping it—this was just how poor Hong Kong's bottom-tier street punks were at this stage.
This was also one of the reasons Liansheng was declining.
As for the外围 little brothers, they only got paid when they showed up for numbers, fights, or brawls.
On ordinary months, there was no fixed salary at all.
Ah Bu, because Lin Yao had saved his life, had no complaints whatsoever about such low pay.
His loyalty to Lin Yao was practically one hundred percent.
He even told the other brothers that sticking with Brother Yao would sooner or later lead to big money.
After Ah Bu left, Lin Yao had originally planned to go talk to those two women again.
But at that moment, another underling named Ah Yong came over to report:
"Brother Yao, people from Tung Sing—Ba Fu's side—have been showing up in our territory these past few days, hitting massage parlors."
"They've been spreading the word outside, saying they're going to buy up all the massage parlors here. No idea where they got that much money."
"Or maybe… they're here to muscle in?"
Ba Fu?
Hearing Ah Yong say this, Lin Yao immediately recalled that brute with the face full of横肉.
"When did he say this? And who did he say it to?" Lin Yao asked.
"Just earlier, at that Wild Rose Massage City up front. The manager there told me today. He told us to stay alert, said Ba Fu might bring people over to smash the place…"
Lin Yao thought for a moment, then said:
"You take two sharp brothers with you. Don't do anything these next couple of days—just keep an eye on Ba Fu's movements."
"If there's any sign of trouble, report back to me immediately."
"Got it, Brother Yao."
Ah Yong nodded and went off to handle it.
"Bang—"
Just then, the door was pushed open from outside.
A younger brother rushed in, shouting, "Brother Yao! This is bad!"
Lin Yao raised his eyes and looked at him calmly.
"What's the panic? What happened? Speak."
"It's Hongyi Hall's dragon head—First Brother! First Brother brought people over from Kwun Tong!"
"He even named you specifically, told you to go over—and threatened to flatten our entire turf!"
"Where's Ah Bu?" Lin Yao flicked ash from his cigarette, still not getting up.
"Brother Bu already took people to block them! But there are too many on the other side—at least three to four hundred!"
The underling's voice grew more frantic.
"That lunatic even said he's only giving you five minutes. If you don't release them immediately, he'll level this place!"
Lin Yao finally stubbed out his cigarette.
He barked orders at the underling:
"Take two people to the backyard. Keep a close watch on those two women—don't let anything go wrong."
After saying that, he grabbed the short baton by the table and, with six or seven sturdy enforcers behind him, strode toward the door.
Once out of the alley, it was Heng Fung Street.
One end of this street connected to Kwun Tong.
Further down the other end was the illegal immigrants' haven—Sai Kung.
At this moment, there were already no pedestrians on the street.
Ah Bu stood there with more than twenty brothers, gripping weapons, staring deathly at the opposite side.
Hongyi Hall's people packed the entire street in a black mass.
Steel pipes and machetes glinted coldly—was this really just three or four hundred?
They'd clearly dragged out every fighter they had.
"Brother Yao!"
Seeing Lin Yao arrive, Ah Bu hurried over and said:
"These bastards are here for real. Looks like we're fighting today."
"Don't worry, Brother Yao—one bottle from me can take down a hundred of them!"
Lin Yao said nothing, lifting his gaze toward the opposite side of the street.
First Brother stood at the very front of the crowd, with a head of striking long hair.
As he opened his shirt, a tiger-head tattoo on his chest was revealed.
His nickname was "The Tiger of Hong Kong Island"!
Seeing Lin Yao arrive, he didn't give the order to attack. Instead, he tilted his chin at a nearby underling.
Very quickly, two men dragged out a folding square table from a street-side eatery.
They set out several plates of cold dishes, two crates of beer, and even found a chair—
—letting First Brother sit down like a general holding court.
First Brother picked up a bottle of beer, popped the cap open with his teeth, and tilted his head back for a huge gulp.
Beer spilled from the corners of his mouth down his neck, but he didn't care.
He only sneered at Lin Yao, neither friendly nor hostile:
"Sex-crazed Yao, I'm giving you five minutes—that's me giving you face!"
"Come over right now and hand the people over. Then break one of your own fingers to apologize."
"I might even let you walk away with some dignity. Otherwise—"
Before he finished speaking, he casually smashed the empty bottle onto the ground.
Crash!
Glass shards scattered everywhere.
The Hongyi enforcers around him immediately followed suit, roaring, steel pipes banging against the pavement.
The killing intent was overwhelming, arrogance written all over their faces.
They hadn't even put Lin Yao's few dozen men in their eyes.
To them, the drinking, the shouting—
—was just a way to stomp Lin Yao's dignity into the dirt first, before cleaning up the mess.
In First Brother's eyes, Lin Yao's begging was only a matter of time.
After all, today he'd brought a full five hundred and eighty men.
More than ten times L
in Yao's numbers!
Even if Fat Wah called out every single man from his hall, they still wouldn't be a match.