Chapter 551: Cruel Punishment
The moment Xu Qiang and the others heard the three words “Wanlong Society,” their hearts sank, and a sense of foreboding washed over them.
They remembered now—the name did sound familiar, not much different from that Wanlong Supermarket chain, except the other party had added the word “Society” to it.
The name Wanlong Society definitely sounded like one of those underworld organizations.
But they still had one question—hadn’t they heard there were no gangs in University City?
Just as they were filled with confusion.
Suddenly!
Someone pointed at a nearby intersection and shouted in shock.
“Holy shit!!! So many cars!!!”
Xu Qiang and the others instinctively looked in the direction he was pointing.
They saw a massive black motorcade driving majestically down University City’s main road, heading straight for them.
“What… what’s going on?”
“Why are there so many cars! It’s terrifying!”
The motorcade stopped along the roadside at Finance University’s gate, and the doors opened almost simultaneously. Streams of figures in black uniforms emerged from the vehicles.
The once bright sky seemed to be instantly enveloped by an invisible black haze with the appearance of these people.
The black-clad figures silently converged on their location, so numerous they couldn’t count them at a glance. Most strikingly, each of them had a dragon-shaped emblem embroidered on their chest.
“Who… who are these people?”
“Are… are these real gangsters?”
“This is terrifying!”
“Why do the logos on their clothes look kind of familiar to me?”
“Yeah, they do look familiar.”
Everyone’s gaze involuntarily turned to the four black-clad figures they had surrounded earlier.
Their souls scattered in an instant!
We’re doomed!
They’d messed with real underworld figures!
“I think I’m suddenly getting low blood sugar—everything’s going dark. Someone help me to the supermarket to buy some candy.”
“I… I have asthma, cough cough cough… my medicine… I forgot my medicine! Help! Take me to the hospital!”
“Oh, my phone’s ringing!”
Brother Chicken suddenly pulled out his phone and pretended to take a call: “Hello? Mom! What? Grandma’s dying? Okay, okay! I’m coming back right now!”
He tried to slip away, but a short, skinny guy grabbed him: “Don’t go, bro! Our grandma can’t be in trouble! Let me come with you to see her!”
“Take me too! Your grandma is my grandma—I have to go see her!”
“……”
The excuses this group came up with were getting more and more “tragic.”
Yu Xin finally couldn’t watch anymore and spoke coldly: “Are you done with your performance?”
The scene instantly fell silent.
Brother Chicken weakly raised his hand: “Um… can we get a do-over?”
Yu Xin completely ignored him.
By now, the Dragon Gate group was completely surrounded by over a hundred black-clad figures.
Now they were even more panicked.
Although they had more than thirty people, they were all freshmen this year—how could they compare to these black-suited figures before them who were even more “societal” than gangsters?
They could only place their final hope on their newly-acknowledged leader, Xu Qiang.
“Boss, what do we do?!”
“Boss, say something!”
“Boss……”
Xu Qiang, being yelled at like this, suddenly became anxious.
“Who’s the boss! Who’s the boss! I’m warning you, don’t call me that!”
“I’m no underworld boss—I’m a model student, an outstanding Youth League member, a progressive youth, a future pillar of our nation. How could I be your boss?”
“If any of you call me boss again, I’ll really call the police!”
Yu Xin was too lazy to watch their antics: “Take them all away and teach them a lesson!”
The moment she finished speaking, Xu Qiang and his group immediately fell to their knees in unison, begging for mercy.
“Spare us, sis! I’m just a passerby!”
“We came to Finance University’s gate just to see the bea—uh, I mean, to observe the difference between this undergraduate institution and our vocational college. We didn’t know there were rules here.”
“Yeah, yeah, we just wanted to see what the difference was.”
“Sis! Actually, I’m your long-lost younger brother! Mom told me to find you before she passed!”
“……”
“Shut up, all of you.”
Yu Xin’s head hurt from their noise: “Get up. The sun’s too strong here.”
Xu Qiang and the others were overjoyed, thinking she was letting them off the hook. Just as they were about to thank her, they heard Yu Xin point to a row of plane trees on the nearby sidewalk and say: “The sun’s too strong here. Go kneel under those trees where it’s cooler.”
Dragon Gate members: “…”
How considerate of you!
They didn’t dare disobey. They could only lower their heads, walk to the trees Yu Xin had indicated, and kneel neatly in two rows.
Some had indeed considered running, but seeing so many black-clad figures eyeing them with predatory gazes, they immediately gave up on the idea.
They didn’t want to die yet.
Once they were all kneeling, several black-clad figures brought over a stack of thick “Pearl City University City Civilized Conduct Code” booklets and handed one to each person. Then they produced a stack of prepared exam papers, densely printed with questions.
“Testing begins now. Full marks are 100. Passing score is 90. Those who fail…”
The young black-clad examiner paused, then pointed to a van with privacy film on its windows: “Will be taken inside for private tutoring.”
Hearing this, everyone hurriedly and clumsily flipped open their code books.
One look and they nearly fainted—the damn code was over two hundred pages long?!
“Is… is this even humanly possible to memorize?” Brother Chicken was almost in tears.
The black-clad examiner comforted them: “Don’t worry, we’re very humane. Considering you’re first-time offenders, you only need to memorize the first fifty pages to pass.”
Xu Qiang raised his hand: “Sir, um… can we take this as an open-book exam?”
The black-clad man sneered: “What do you think?”
Xu Qiang: “Definitely not. Just asking.”
Just then, the real kicker arrived.
Several more black-clad figures walked over carrying two cases of ice-cold cola, handing a can to each person.
“Since you’re all so hot, we’re treating you to some cola.”
Although it was September, the temperature was still over thirty degrees—quite hot.
Xu Qiang and his crew were touched by this thoughtfulness and were about to express their gratitude when they saw a group of black-clad figures approach, take out steel needles, poke a small hole in the bottom of each can, then hang the colas from the branches with string, positioned directly above the kneeling group.
These guys were all bewildered, having no idea what the black-clad figures were up to.
The black-clad examiner finally explained the purpose of the cola: “The rules are simple. You must recite the codes while drinking the cola. If a single drop of cola hits the ground, you get ten additional pages to study!”
Everyone: “!!!”
Motherfucker, have some humanity!
They suddenly thought of the story of studying with hair tied to the rafters and stabbing one’s thigh with an awl—except what hung over their heads was dripping cola. Even worse!
And so, beneath the plane trees on the sidewalk at Finance University’s gate, a bizarre spectacle unfolded.
More than thirty non-mainstream-styled youths knelt in a row, frantically reciting from their code books while desperately licking the cola dripping down from above.
“University City Campus Civilization Rule Number One… ah… no public disturbances allowed… ah… ah… ah…”
“Rule Number Two: No gathering to cause trouble… ah… ah… ah… prohibited… ah…”
“Rule Number Eighteen… ah… ah… no gangsters allowed at Finance University’s gate… ah… gathering… ah… lingering… ah…”
“Rule Number Thirty… ah… help me… I can’t memorize this anymore!”
“Mom… ah… I don’t want to… ah… study anymore… ah ah… I want… ah… to go home!”
“…….”
Xu Qiang, leader of Dragon Gate, alternated between catching cola in his mouth and reciting the code with tears he couldn’t shed.
“Our mission ended before it even began… Dragon Gate is finished!”
“This University City’s waters run too deep and too dark—I want to go home to Mom!”
Time ticked by. Just as they were being tortured to the brink of death, the surrounding black-clad figures suddenly moved.
They swiveled in unison toward the school gate, quickly assembling into formation, standing in several rows as if preparing to welcome someone.
Even the Finance University students who had been watching the spectacle cried out in surprise.
“What’s happening?”
Before Xu Qiang and his group could figure out what was going on, a black, luxurious Maybach sedan appeared in the distance, entering their field of vision.