Chapter 558: Sworn Brotherhood?
“Scram!”
At Zhang Tao’s angry shout, Zhao Ming and the thugs he’d hired scrambled to their feet and fled in disgrace.
Zhang Tao then walked up to Zhang Dalong and gave him a thumbs-up. “Brother, you’re seriously badass! That ‘Whirlwind Staff Technique’ was absolutely incredible!”
Flattered by the praise and emboldened by the alcohol he’d consumed tonight, Zhang Dalong suddenly felt like he was floating on air.
In his thirty-some years of life, he’d never felt this awesome before!
“Ah, it was nothing. These punks just couldn’t take a hit.”
Zhang Tao: “Brother, I’m truly in awe of your skills. I feel like we’ve known each other forever, like we should’ve met ages ago. Why don’t we swear brotherhood right here, become blood brothers, and share both fortune and hardship!”
Still intoxicated by the illusion that he was a martial arts master, Zhang Dalong’s head heated up and he agreed boldly: “Let’s do it! Absolutely! Zhang Dalong acknowledges you as my little brother!”
Afraid he’d change his mind, Zhang Tao immediately grabbed two skewers of grilled meat, handed one to Zhang Dalong and kept one for himself: “Heaven above…”
Before he could finish, Zhang Dalong interrupted him.
“Hold on!”
“What’s wrong, brother?”
Zhang Dalong grabbed another skewer and handed it to Chu Yang, who’d been watching the show: “Brother, you’re pretty skilled too. Let’s all three swear brotherhood together.”
Chu Yang: “…”
How childish can you get?
But he didn’t refuse. He knew the Young Mistress valued this man, and he understood what Zhang Tao was doing.
In the end, he silently took the skewer.
And so the three of them began the sworn brotherhood ceremony in front of the barbecue shop, facing the moon in the sky.
“Heaven above, Earth below, I, Zhang Tao.”
“Chu Yang!”
“Zhang Dalong!”
The three spoke in unison: “Here we swear brotherhood, to live and die together, to share fortune and disaster! If we break this oath, may heaven strike us down!”
With that, they immediately stuffed the skewers into their mouths and stripped off the meat in one go.
The ceremony had its solemn moment, though the meat had gone cold from sitting out and didn’t taste great.
“Good brothers!”
“Good brothers!”
“Good brothers!”
They shared a brief embrace, and the ceremony was complete.
Zhang Tao, as if suddenly recalling something, said to Zhang Dalong: “Right, brother, since we’ve sworn brotherhood, we’re family now, correct?”
Zhang Dalong: “No problem.”
Zhang Tao: “Then my other thousand-odd brothers and sisters are also your brothers and sisters, right?”
Zhang Dalong: “No problem.”
The moment he said it, he felt something was off. Had he drunk too much? Was he hearing things?
A thousand brothers and sisters? That sounded absurd.
Definitely a hallucination. Yes, that must be it.
Zhang Tao continued: “Brother, I just remembered something very important I need to tell you—about the rules among our brothers and sisters.”
“What rules? Tell me, brother!” Zhang Dalong still wasn’t taking it seriously.
Zhang Tao’s eyes suddenly narrowed as he smiled: “Actually, it’s nothing much. Just one sentence that everyone must follow.”
“Anyone who betrays the Young Mistress or Wanlong Society receives three knives, six holes.”
The smile on Zhang Dalong’s face instantly froze.
“What… what did you say?”
Zhang Tao explained: “It’s exactly what it sounds like. If someone betrays the Young Mistress or our brothers and sisters, they get three stab wounds that go clean through—hence ‘three knives, six holes.’ It’s an ancestral rule meant to remind us brothers that the Young Mistress’s loyalty and our bond weigh heavier than Mount Tai!”
“Don’t worry, brother. Our Wanlong Society brothers and sisters are exceptionally united. This family law has never been enforced since our founding—it’s just a formality to remind everyone to honor our code. Since you’re one of us now, you naturally have to abide by it, right?”
Zhang Dalong: “!!!”
Hold on—he was a law-abiding citizen who paid his taxes on time, an outstanding programmer who wouldn’t even dare copy company code. How had he somehow ended up on this pirate ship?
Wasn’t this goddamn organized crime?!
He wanted to ask if he could take it back, back out of the sworn brotherhood.
But looking at Zhang Tao’s somewhat hypocritical smile and Chu Yang’s seemingly calm yet murderous gaze, he swallowed his words.
These two plus himself had taken down those thugs—their strength was undeniable. He was afraid he couldn’t take them on alone.
Just as Zhang Dalong was internally debating whether to call the police and report that he’d been coerced into joining a criminal organization…
Suddenly!
A taxi screeched to a halt, and out stepped a non-mainstream girl with dyed yellow hair.
It was Xiaoya, the girl Zhang Dalong had met at the bar earlier.
“Xiaoya, what are you doing here?”
“Uncle, uncle, you need to run! Zhao Ming’s bringing people to beat you up,” Xiaoya said breathlessly.
Zhang Dalong wasn’t concerned at all: “Is that all? Don’t worry, Xiaoya. That punk already came by with over twenty guys, and we sent them packing.”
Xiaoya: “No, uncle, this is different! He called his cousin, who goes to the North City Sports School, and brought a whole bunch of his classmates—at least forty or fifty people!”
Pearl City did have a sports school, though its reputation was somewhat questionable. It wasn’t located in University City but in North City, near some vocational schools.
But even if it was questionable, those sports school students’ physical conditioning was leagues above your average street thug.
“Forty or fifty people? From the sports school?”
Zhang Dalong’s face instantly paled. He glanced toward Zhang Tao and Chu Yang.
Zhang Tao’s brow furrowed slightly, as if assessing the situation, while Chu Yang’s expression remained unchanged from before.
From the looks of it, these two newly-sworn brothers seemed ready to fight head-on.
They could handle twenty-something thugs, but now the numbers had doubled, and these were sports school students. Who could fight that many?
Zhang Dalong was about to tell them to run.
When several vans appeared in their view, screeching to a halt by the roadside.
Immediately, a dark mass of people piled out. Leading them was Zhao Ming, his face still bruised and swollen, accompanied by a muscular young man in a sports tank top—undoubtedly his sports school cousin.
The group had completely cut off their escape route.
Leaning on someone for support, Zhao Ming stood at the front of the crowd with a vicious grin: “So you can fight, huh? Big fucking deal! I’ll bury you in bodies today! Let’s see how many you can take!”
Zhang Dalong hadn’t expected such vicious vindictiveness—beaten once, and already back for more.
Looking at these stronger, fitter young men, he could already envision the pathetic scene of himself surrounded and pummeled by dozens of sports school brutes.
No, impossible! He was absolutely going to die!
At this thought, Zhang Dalong suddenly spun around, rushed to Zhang Tao and Chu Yang, and grabbed their hands.
“Brothers! Does that oath we just swore to the moon with our grilled meat skewers still count?”
Zhang Tao, somewhat bewildered by this sudden enthusiasm, nodded instinctively: “Of course it counts!”
“Great!”
Zhang Dalong shook Zhang Tao’s hand vigorously: “Then you definitely won’t abandon me, right? We share hardship! You just said so!”
Zhang Tao chuckled at his panicked expression: “Brother, put your mind at ease. A Wanlong Society member’s word is as solid as spit once it hits the ground. We said we’d live and die together, so we absolutely won’t abandon any brother. Even if he brings forty or fifty, even a hundred, we’ll face them together!”
Chu Yang nodded: “Mm, as long as he’s here, you’re here.”
Zhang Dalong: “…”
Why did that sound not reassuring at all?
But at this point, he had no other choice. He could only hope the three of them could fight off this mob together.
He was just a coding manager, and now he was about to brawl with dozens of sports school jocks. This wasn’t the right script!
This Wanlong Society pirate ship was too damn exciting!
“Old yellow-haired bastard, and you two idiots who don’t know death when you see it! Where are you going to run now? Cousin, that’s them! Beat them to death! I’ll get you that fifty thousand yuan later!”
“OK!”
The sports school cousin cracked his knuckles, his fierce gaze locking onto the three of them.
A major battle was about to begin.