Martial Arts Livestreaming
Chapter 479 - 443 Jianghu Matters

Chapter 479: Chapter 443 Jianghu Matters

"Master Wu, please have a seat here."

In the room, Lin Yun actively greeted Wu Li to sit down.

"Is there a target?"

Wu Li sat down and asked straightforwardly.

Lin Yun nodded, personally poured a cup of tea for Wu Li.

"This time it might be a bit risky, and I would like to seek your advice."

Wu Li took a sip of tea, "Let’s hear it."

Lin Yun: "As you know, due to the all-out war with the Longhua Association, we have given up a lot of territories, and many businesses have been forced to stop."

Wu Li nodded. Organizations like Zhiqing Hall, which straddle both the legal and illegal worlds, had long moved beyond the primitive stage of relying on protection fees for revenue. They owned many enterprises, the most common being nightclubs, bars, and KTV lounges. These were actually the basics; the rest varied widely, spanning industries such as real estate, hospitality, fashion, and foreign trade... and some even involved the entertainment industry as hidden investors in many movies and TV dramas.

Of course, every organization emphasized different businesses. For instance, Zhiqing Hall’s main legitimate business was in catering, owning over a hundred Chinese restaurants throughout the Los Angeles area, catering to various market segments and making up over 40% of their annual revenue.

However, with the onset of full-scale war with the Longhua Association, recently any restaurant owned by Zhiqing Hall encountered disruptions—some people came under various pretexts to start trouble, then escalate to vandalism; some simply vandalized, not just once but almost every other day, making business impossible to sustain.

Zhiqing Hall could not assign all their guys to guard these restaurants every day, moreover, Longhua Association might have been merely waiting for them to do just that, to strike both people and properties together.

Having the support of White Reaper, Longhua Association had more than enough personnel, all highly trained, and stronger firepower. In a straight fight, Zhiqing Hall had no advantage, so Lin Yun simply decided to close all restaurants temporarily until this period was over.

With over a hundred restaurants shut down, along with several dozen KTV lounges, bars, and nightclubs shutting down too, Zhiqing Hall’s income source was immediately halved. Moreover, with Lin Yun having been duped by White Reaper out of two hundred million US Dollars recently, plus nearly a hundred million spent on medical and condolence payments, finances were tight.

Yet, during such tough times, cash was exactly what was needed—after all, why should the underlings risk their lives for you if you’re not offering stacks of cash for them to bear arms against mercenaries?

Whether in the past or now, war was always the most expensive endeavor—motivating troops and buying loyalties required money, equipping needed money, and so did the post-war medical and condolence expenses; when it came to rewarding merit, only cash functioned as a real reward...

Lin Yun shared his woes to Wu Li at length, essentially summarizing that he was short on money.

"Besides catering revenue, another major source of income for Zhiqing Hall is arms dealing," Lin Yun told Wu Li.

"Given the special circumstances, I planned to pause the arms business, but our financial situation is really tight, so I’m thinking of taking on one more deal."

"Hmm," Wu Li quietly listened.

Lin Yun: "However, if Longhua Association gets wind of it, they’re sure to come sabotage it. Thinking about it, instead of being passively on defense, I prefer taking the initiative, letting the information slip to them and then lying in wait for them."

Wu Li thought for a moment, "Last time we also lay in wait, but ended up being outmaneuvered by Long Yu. Are you confident this time?"

Lin Yun: "Firstly, my motivation and reasoning are quite substantial; Long Yu is sure to guess my current financial strain. Secondly, even if Long Yu suspects it’s a trap, he has no choice but to walk into it because if I complete this deal and have sufficient funds, I can continue to hold out against him."

"If the standoff continues, as long as we don’t fall apart, your presence itself is the biggest threat to Longhua Association, Master Wu. Even if Long Yu can hold on, his subordinates can’t—they’ll worry about being killed by you some night."

Wu Li nodded, the reasoning indeed solid. As long as Long Yu couldn’t deal with him, the mid to high level ranks of Longhua Association wouldn’t have peace of mind.

Admittedly, the situation at Zhiqing Hall was similarly strained, so both sides were now grappling not only with psychological warfare but also with how to maintain financial liquidity.

This prolonged conflict was disadvantageous for both parties, thus Lin Yun was certain that once Long Yu received the news, even knowing it was a trap, he would still take the bait—it was an open ploy.

And Lin Yun also wanted to use this opportunity to eliminate Long Yu!

"The key is, if Long Yu really brings men over, Hall Master Lin, are you confident about taking him down?" Wu Li asked.

Lin Yun looked at him: "This is exactly what I wanted to discuss with you. We can’t best the Longhua Association head-on, so I aim to tie down Long Yu’s companions as much as possible, then have you lead your men to directly eliminate Long Yu! Once Long Yu dies, Longhua Association’s morale will immediately crumble, and White Reaper’s men might not even want to stay and fight to the death."

Wu Li thought for a moment, then nodded: "It’s worth a try."

Lin Yun looked at him: "Then, Master Wu, how confident are you that you can kill Long Yu?"

This was the crux of the matter!

Wu Li met Lin Yun’s gaze and said firmly, "If you can manage to get me a one-on-one with Long Yu, I’m seventy percent confident."

"Seventy percent..."

Lin Yun’s expression changed, and he finally gritted his teeth: "Alright, that settles it!"

...

"Impossible! This is sending me to my death!"

In the room, a Chinese man, somewhat breaking down emotionally, yelled quietly at his phone.

"What are you howling for, want to die right now?"

The person on the other end of the line yelled back unapologetically.

The Chinese man clenched his fist, pleading: "Brother Bai, I really can’t do this job, this is outright sending me to my death."

"If you don’t do it, your whole family dies, but doing it doesn’t necessarily mean you will die. Lao Lu, you haven’t been in the game just yesterday, do I still need to teach you such simple logic?" The voice on the phone was chillingly cold.

The man known as Old Lü clenched his jaw shut without speaking, his knuckles white and veins bulging.

After a while, the voice on the other end of the phone softened a bit, "Old Lü, once this is done, not only will your family be safe, you’ll also get three million US dollars. Even if you’re no longer around, this money will go to your family."

Heaving breaths could be heard, but Old Lü didn’t speak.

"Actually, you don’t have a choice, Old Lü."

"...If something happens to me, will the money really go to my family?"

"Of course, Zhiqing Hall wouldn’t stoop to stealing that amount of money."

"Fine, but I want five million US dollars!"

"...That can be arranged, but let me be clear beforehand, if you try any tricks, I guarantee not just the three humans in your family, but even your dog will die!"

"I understand."

"Alright, wait for further instructions."

The call ended, and Old Lü collapsed to the floor, drained of strength.

He looked at his phone, found Long Yu’s name in the contacts, hesitated several times wanting to call, but ultimately gave up.

In this line of work, although the rules of the underworld say not to involve family, often these rules are not binding, so he always cautiously protected his family. Even within the Longhua Association, few knew where his family was, but now the people from Zhiqing Hall knew and used this to threaten him.

He actually wanted to tell Long Yu, to have him send someone to rescue his family, but he didn’t dare take that risk because Zhiqing Hall now had Wu.

If Chang Hao could be killed by Wu under the protection of 47 gunmen, leading to the death of all 47, how many could Long Yu send to protect Old Lü’s family?

Moreover, based on Old Lü’s understanding of Long Yu, if he really did tell Long Yu, it was highly likely that Long Yu would use his family as bait to lure out Wu, which would put his family in even more danger.

Thus, in the end, Old Lü had no choice but to compromise.

...

"He agreed."

In a meeting room, Xiao Bai put down his phone and said.

Lin Yun, Wu, and a bunch of Red Sticks were there.

Having now heard Xiao Bai and Old Lü’s conversation and learning about Lin Yun’s detailed plan, Wu’s brow had been furrowed the whole time, and he looked at Xiao Bai asking, "Did you tell him earlier that if he leaks this issue, even if the Longhua Association saves his family, I would kill them all?"

Xiao Bai was momentarily stunned, then spread his hands, "Do I even need to say that? He can figure that out himself."

"Master Wu."

Seeing that Wu looked somewhat displeased, Lin Yun quickly spoke, "Rest assured, we won’t touch Old Lü’s wife and child. Even if things get exposed, we won’t make you act."

Wu remained silent, understanding why Li San had been so agitated when he found out that he would be involved in matters between Zhiqing Hall and the Longhua Association.

In the Jianghu, one can’t help oneself. This overused saying sometimes truly can only be understood through personal experience.

Wu’s conscience definitely didn’t want to use someone’s wife and children as a threat, but ironically, it was because of his past actions that such threats were possible.

"I really don’t suit this kind of Jianghu..." Wu thought to himself with self-mockery.

"Let’s finalise the specific action plan then," Lin Yun said, looking at Wu.

Wu nodded.

Once this matter was settled, and the security company was established, increasing his ability to protect himself, he would try as much as possible to stay away from these affairs.

At that moment, that’s what Wu thought.

...

In a certain room, Long Yu instructed the captains of the three White Reaper teams, "Go prepare, we’ll settle this in one go."

The three captains: "Yes!"

Then Long Yu took out his phone and called Victor, "I’ve sent you the time and place."

Victor: "Received, how will you determine Wu’s location at that time?"

Long Yu: "Where I am at that time, Wu will be there."

Victor: "Alright."

Long Yu: "I hope you won’t disappoint me then."

Victor: "You won’t be disappointed."

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.