On that same night, Meng Hao and the others proceeded to a karaoke session after the satisfying dinner.
Tunes of the latest Billboard hits flooded the room when Meng Hao suddenly pushed open the door and staggered towards the toilet. At that point, his entire body reeked of the smell of alcohol and smoke.
Suddenly, two muscular men stopped right in front of him, obstructing his path.
A tinge of anger flashed across Meng Hao"s slightly flushed face as he retorted, "What do you want?"
One of the blokes slid him a death glare before replying, "We are representatives from x.x.x peer-to-peer lending platform," With that, he flashed a card in Meng Hao"s face, "There is RMB 500,000 inside. Our boss doesn"t want a repeat of today"s rally from now onwards."
"Hmph?" Meng Hao"s right eyebrow shot up when those words rang in his head. The effects of alcohol had left him significantly more edgy than usual as Meng Hao answered, "Are you trying to buy me off with your stupid cash? You can at least show your sincerity by offering more than that measly sum."
Bam!
Meng Hao threw his arm forward and slapped the credit card out of that muscular man"s hand. Meng Han then continued, "Get lost. Go back and tell your boss to get ready to close his stupid shop."
A muscle in his jaw twitched when the bloke heard those insolent words coming out of this disrespectful guy. He immediately lifted Meng Hao off the ground by grabbing on to his collar as he threatened, "Young kid, if you continue acting this way …"
Suddenly, another college boy appeared out of nowhere, with his index finger pointing straight at the muscular man, as he roared, "What are you doing? Put Meng Hao down right now!"
"Someone is trying to beat Meng Hao!"
"Who dares to lay a finger on him?"
"They claimed that they are representatives of the peer-to-peer lending platform!"
"Fight back!"
"Let them have a taste of their own medicine."
The result of the battle was long determined even before the first punch was thrown. On one side were tens of student apostles. On the other were two ordinary blokes. Soon enough, the students had already subdued them. With one foot pus.h.i.+ng down against their face, the students took turns mocking and ridiculing them before leaving amidst a chorus of laughter.
"We will beat you up whenever we see you lurking around this area."
"How stupid can they get? They should take a look at the mirror before trying to fight against us!"
"Haha, I bet they had no idea who we are."
One of the muscular blokes watched as the gang of c.o.c.ky students disappeared from his sight. His lips drew back into a snarl as his entire body began to tremble with fury. He struggled to reach for his phone before contacting his boss.
"h.e.l.lo? Boss, I"m sorry. We failed."
"They didn"t want our money and even beaten us to a pulp."
"Yes, yes, I understand."
Matsuo carefully placed his phone against the ornate marble table with his usual expressionless face.
The fate of the lending platform was intricately linked to all of his future plans. He would never allow anyone from disturbing it, let alone bring it down.
Suddenly, a man"s voice rang in his head.
"Mr. Matsuo, can you help me come up with a solution?"
Matsuo suddenly recalled that he was still in the midst of entertaining a guest. He then lifted his chin and sported his most radiant smile before answering, "Mr. Xiao, this isn"t an issue of coming up with a solution. Your requirements for the loan are simply not aligned with our company"s rules and regulations."
The person standing opposite Matsuo looked as if he had not showered for the past month. You could barely see his face which was concealed by his messy hair. His tattered clothes were adorned with holes all over it. This man was none other than Xiao Ming.
Xiao Ming collapsed to the ground before plunging his face into his hands and sobbed, "Mr. Matsuo, I really need your help right now. You know that I have the money to return you. It"s just that all my a.s.sets are frozen inside the bank. I will immediately return you the money once I get hold of them.
Furthermore, the project which I have my eyes on this time around is 100% legitimate - electric car! We are on the cusp of the next transportation revolution! Standing right on the fringe is none other than electric cars!"
A frown crept up Matsuo"s face as he muttered, "From what I know, there haven"t been any revolutionary, technological breakthroughs in the fields of electric and self-driving cars."
Xiao Ming ran towards Mats...o...b..fore clarifying, "Throughout history, revolutionary projects such as this have never been well-received among the ordinary people! Mr. Matsuo, come and listen to my PowerPoint presentation! With you by my side, we can usher in the next technological revolution into China!"
"I guess I"ll pa.s.s. Mr. Xiao, why not you join us and be part of our marketing team. With your connections, you can open the doors to the filthy rich of Jiangmen City. It will be a piece of cake."
Those words left Xiao Ming in a daze as he struggled to reply.
"Do not worry, you will definitely be satisfied with the commission that I promise all my employees."
Matsuo finally managed to get rid of Xiao Ming who was still stuck in his perplexing thoughts. With Xiao Ming gone, Matsuo instantly focused all his attention back on the incident with the college students.
"No one can stop me. Do they really think that they are invincible just because they are apostles?"
On that same night, Ares and Dust Ball were prancing down the busy street of Jiangmen City with their eyes jumping from one human head to another.
"What bad luck," Ares commented with a sigh of despair, "We have yet to complete a single mission for the entire day."
Dust Ball"s face reddened with anger as she retorted, "I already told you to go to j.a.panese street, but you insisted on coming here! Look at us now! We will go back home with zero missions completed! Are you happy now?"
"We"ve been coming here for the past few days so I thought it"s better to come to a familiar place." Dust Ball"s sharp words immediately plunged Ares into despair. He then muttered, "Let"s walk down this street one last time. We will change location if there"s really no one."
While they were walking down the street, they suddenly heard a familiar voice blaring in their ears.
"I"ve finally found the two of you!"
Ares and Dust Ball immediately swept their heads towards the voice as beams of excitement shot out of their eyes.
"I recognize you! You were that j.a.panese who gave us so many mission previously!" Ares swept his head towards Dust Ball and roared, "Dust Ball, let"s go!"
A sly grin crept up Sato"s face when he watched those two clueless cats charging towards him. He then turned his body around before sprinting down a nearby alley.
Ares and Dust Ball did not hesitate to continue their pursuit down this secluded alley. Soon, they found Sato hiding in a deserted corner.
Suddenly, they heard footstep approaching them from behind. They turned their heads around only to see Onitsuka towering over them, blocking their only way out of this secluded alley.
Sato"s smile stretched from ear to ear as he announced, "Today is your unlucky day, I"ll let the both of you understand …"
Bam!
Ares"s deflective field had already swept across the alley, tossing Sato across before his body collided against the bricked-wall.
His vision was clouded in darkness when that same irritating electronic voice rang in his ears.
"Hey, do you need my help?"
Rage overtook Sato as he shouted, "Get lost!"
He threw his arm forward as tens of shadows appeared out of nowhere and sprang right in front of Ares. He then continued extending his arm towards Ares"s head.
"Mission success."
When that thought flashed across Sato"s head, he felt the weight of an enormous mountain cras.h.i.+ng into his palm. He was literally centimeters away from Ares but yet failed to reach him.
Actually, he was intercepted by Ares"s invisible deflective field, which currently encapsulated both Dust Ball and him within it.
Meanwhile, Onitsuka swept his arm in the air, preparing for their next attack. Suddenly, strands of black shadow emerged from the shadows surrounding them as they charged towards Ares and Dust Ball.
This was Onitsuka"s power - shadow st.i.tching technique. He was able to shoot out projectiles that were tougher than t.i.tanium from his shadow.
However, the same fate awaited his projectiles. They simply stopped in mid-air, centimeters away from the cats" bodies.
Suddenly, both their visions went dark as they felt an enormous force striking them at the back of their head as they collapsed to the ground.
That same irritating voice rang in their heads as they struggled to get onto their feet.
"Nice to meet you, do you need my help?"
For some unknown reason, tears began to roll down Sato"s cheeks.
Dust Ball was stunned by Sato"s reaction as she roared at Ares angrily, "Look at what you"ve done. They"ve turned into idiots because of you! How can we complete our missions when they"ve turned into idiots?"
Ares began to tap lightly against their heads in hopes of fixing the problem. However, the golden exclamation marks remained elusive as he mumbled, "Why can"t it work this time around? Maybe …"
"I should slap them a few more times?"