Chapter 483: Meeting!

“Friends in the Land Rover, hello there. My men were out of line and offended you all. Let me apologize on their behalf first.”

“First, let me introduce myself. Folks on the street call me Brother Pao. That bag you picked up is a little personal item of mine. It’s not really worth much, but it has some sentimental value to me. I wonder if it would be convenient to do me a favor and return it?”

“Where are you right now? I’ll send someone to pick it up. We won’t disturb you again. Also, I’ve prepared a generous gift as an apology.”

“……..”

On the other end of the line, Brother Pao’s tone was extremely polite. He had to be—if the other party discovered what was in the bag, he’d be in serious trouble.

He’d already taken a fall once in Pearl City. His boss had spent considerable resources to bail him and his crew out.

If something went wrong again, he really wouldn’t know how to explain it to his boss.

He’d probably be sold off overseas like livestock.

His boss was already worried about the situation in Pearl City. Wanlong Society had taken out their important partner Zhao Tianxing—hell, that terrifying young lady of Wanlong Society from Pearl City had even shot him dead.

That revenue stream was completely cut off.

Even getting clear of that mess had cost the boss plenty of connections and money just to clean up the fallout.

But losing one source of income was a huge blow, and they had to find a new angle.

Then they hit on a new moneymaking scheme: loan sharking.

Only their main targets were university students, hitting them with high-interest loans—especially that nude loan business.

In that bag the three blond punks lost, there was a silver USB drive storing information on a lot of students, including some videos—not just of girls, but guys too.

This information was used as leverage to force students who couldn’t repay into paying up, but naturally, it had other uses as well.

Bottom line, if this thing fell into the cops’ hands, the consequences would be unthinkable.

On this end of the line, Shen Hao let out a cold laugh.

If Brother Pao hadn’t mentioned that black bag, it might have been fine, but bringing it up only raised his suspicions.

He immediately had Zhu Silin search through the bag and, sure enough, found a silver USB drive.

He took it and looked it over, even more convinced that there was definitely something shady inside.

“Brother Pao, this ‘souvenir’ of yours is quite unique? You store your keepsakes on a flash drive?”

“Tell me, should I call over a computer-savvy buddy right now so we can all appreciate your treasured collection?”

He said this deliberately to test the waters.

“No! Friend! Whatever you do, don’t!”

“We can work this out! Where are you? I’ll come myself. Name your price—any amount—just please return that thing to me!”

“Fine, I can name my conditions, right? Then get your three reckless punks to crawl over here, kneel, and apologize. Once I’m satisfied, then we can talk about the USB drive.”

“Done, I agree! I’ll make them kneel and apologize! Give me the address…”

“Straight shooter! Then let’s pick…”

The two sides quickly settled on a meeting location: that old factory district even further south slated for demolition.

After hanging up, Shen Hao called Gu Yebai.

“An old factory? They’ve got an eye for locations.”

“We’re already in the Greater South City area. We’ll be there soon.”

“Good!”

…………..

South City outskirts, the old factory district awaiting demolition.

Shen Hao’s Land Rover sat alone in the center of the factory grounds, headlights on, parked on a pitted concrete lot.

Shen Hao stood in front of the car, his forehead wrapped in gauze. Zhu Silin and Bai Shisui were with him, chatting casually.

None of the three showed any sign of nervousness.

After all, they had Gu Yebai backing them. With his influence in Greater South City, if he couldn’t handle a few small-time punks, it would be a joke.

To put it bluntly, Gu Yebai dealing with those punks would be like an elephant stomping on ants—effortless.

The three waited for about ten minutes.

“What if they don’t show?”

“They’ll come, unless they don’t want that USB drive anymore.”

…….

And then, right on cue.

Several beat-up vans and over twenty motorcycles roared out from different intersections, headlights flashing erratically, blinding them.

They quickly came to a stop right in front of the Land Rover.

Doors banged open as a crowd of thugs armed with steel pipes, machetes, and baseball bats jumped out, a dark mass pressing in on them.

Shen Hao shielded his nearly-blinded eyes with one hand. Seeing the other party had brought so many people, his heart skipped a beat.

It seemed this USB drive in his hand was even more important than he’d thought.

Soon, Brother Pao emerged, his bald head gleaming, surrounded by his gang of thugs.

He was surprised to see only one man and two women.

The three blond punks were right behind him, pointing at Shen Hao and shouting: “Brother Pao! It’s him! It’s this kid!”

Brother Pao spun around and backhanded the blond punk hard across the face: “Didn’t you fucking say there were a lot of them?!”

“Just wait till we get back—I’ll deal with you then!”

Even an idiot would realize he’d been played by his men.

“A lot of people? Where are they?”

But this wasn’t the time to dwell on that.

Brother Pao took a few steps forward, sizing up Shen Hao, then glancing at the two women beside him: “Kid, you’ve got guts, huh? You dare show up with two girls? Where’s the thing?!”

Shen Hao didn’t take him seriously at all and said impatiently: “Who are you? Where are the three pieces of trash I asked for? Tell them to get their asses over here and kneel!”

“The fuck you talking to!” One nearby thug raised his steel pipe and started forward.

But Brother Pao raised a hand to stop his man.

Though he felt sure he had them cornered, he also noticed that this kid and the two pretty girls he’d brought hadn’t shown the slightest fear at the sight of his crew, which was too abnormal.

After so many years in the game, Brother Pao knew exactly how ordinary people reacted to this kind of show of force, and this wasn’t it.

Chances were they had something up their sleeve.

“Kid, what crew you running with? Give me a name. We might be on the same side, after all.”

Shen Hao grew even more impatient: “You’re not worthy of asking my name. Less talk, get them over here to kneel!”

The blond punk, still clutching his face, stepped forward: “Brother Pao, I know, I know. He told us before—he’s the young master of the Shen Group.”

Brother Pao narrowed his eyes, giving Shen Hao another once-over.

Honestly, judging by the kid’s clothes, his bearing, the car he drove, he did look like a rich young heir.

He knew the Shen Group, of course—a listed company worth tens of billions, with a branch in Greater South City too.

If the punk was telling the truth, this guy wouldn’t be easy to handle.

But, but he just couldn’t figure out how a top-tier rich kid like this would end up in conflict with his men.

“You’re really the young master of Shen Group?”