Super Soldier

Ye Xiaoxi suddenly spoke. "Brother Bing, was it Bi Tingting that called you when we were eating?"

While Xiao Bing was about to nod his head, Ye Xiaoxi"s face turned stern. "Brother Bing, don"t lie to me."

"Okay. It seems that you already know the answer," said Xiao Bing with a bitter smile. "Long Xiaoyun died on the way back to H City. His car exploded and it"s said that even his bones did not survive the explosion."

Ye Xiaoxi gasped and then she felt worried. "You have greatly offended the Long family for me this time. If Long Xiaoyun was okay, they probably wouldn"t cause you much trouble. But now he"s dead. Though you barely had anything to do with it, their hatred toward you might escalate."

Xiao Bing said carelessly, "It"s something inevitable."

"Brother Bing, you may not know how powerful the Long family is. They have the underground forces of two provinces under their control, and many great martial artists work for them. If it weren"t for them being afraid of Master Hou, they could have united the underground forces in the entire Black Province a long time ago. If you didn"t beat Long Xiaoyun black and blue before he died, then they wouldn"t be coming after you, since it was something between Master Hou and the Long family. But now, they might also blame his death on you..."

"What will they do then, in your opinion?"

"If Lord Long is a clever man, he won"t do anything to you until Master Hou is not a threat to him anymore. After all, you are a n.o.body in his eyes now and you are not involved in the underground. If he has no wits, he will try to kill you and Master Hou at the same time."

Xiao Bing rubbed his nose and put on a bitter smile. "One way or another, he will be looking for me."

"Of course. Long Xiaoyun is the only son that Second Master Long ever had. He must have gone crazy when he heard of his son"s death. He will take vengeance on everyone who"s involved in this, including you."

Xiao Bing sighed. "Master Hou must have thought the same thing, so he called me instantly. It seems that it"s impossible for me to keep my distance from Master Hou anymore."

Ye Xiaoxi looked into his eyes. "So what will you do?"

"I need to talk to Master Hou."

Ye Xiaoxi sighed and said with sadness, "It"s all because of me. Otherwise, you would not have been involved in this..."

"Don"t ever say that." Xiao Bing took her in his arms and gently kissed her forehead. "What kind of man would I be if I let others continue to bully you... Besides, even if Long Xiaoyun was not killed in the car accident, I would have never spared him... No matter if he"s dead or not, the Long family would always be a threat to us."

"Brother Bing..."

"Don"t worry. I"m not a reckless man. If I"m scared of little things like this, then I"m not a man who once served the army. Just put this behind us. You"ve got a company to look after. You should go to work tomorrow and take care of yourself, as I should go to the noodle house to work."

"Will you come back in the evening?"

"Of course." Xiao Bing grinned. "I"m your man and the only one you can count on. Is there any other person that can keep you company?"

Ye Xiaoxi put up a smile of happiness and leaned on Xiao Bing"s chest like she was melting.

The next morning, after Xiao Bing had been busy in the noodle house, he went to Master Hou"s mansion at noon. It was the first time that Xiao Bing had gone to visit Master Hou.

There were only Master Hou, Mu Tingchuan, Miyamoto Shinji, and Xiao Bing at their meeting. Master Hou asked the others to leave and looked at Xiao Bing while smiling. "Taste the tea, Xiao Bing. You have something to tell me?"

Grinning, Xiao Bing picked up the teacup. "What a cunning fox you are! Obviously, you are more desperate than me, yet you pretend to not care. It"s you and the Long family who are about to fight it out. Since you seem not to be worried, why should I tell you so quickly?"

Xiao Bing seemed to be impressed after he took a sip. "The tea is really good. Master Hou, do you still have these tea leaves in your house. Can I take some with me when I go back?"

Master Hou could not help laughing. "You want to take the leaves while you"re still drinking!"

"What, do you have a problem with it? Master Hou is the king of H Province and the underground of Jiang City. You own so many properties. And now you complain about giving me some tea leaves?"

"Take all of them. Guys, take a look at this lad. Can you believe that he said he was a solider? How come this rascal retired from the army?"

Mu Tingchuan laughed out loud as well.

"Soldiers are also human. They have emotions and personalities. I always believe that a solider without personality is not a good solider."

"Mr. Xiao, which army did you serve?" questioned Mu Tingchuan curiously.

"I can"t say. It"s confidential."

"So it must be a very special one. I understand. There are rules about confidentiality in many armies."

Xiao Bing grinned. "Thanks. Don"t forget about the tea leaves. I"ll take some with me later."

Master Hou shook his head while smiling bitterly. "Miyamoto, go and give all of the Longjing leaves we have left to Mr. Xiao."

A hint of light flashed in Xiao Bing"s eyes, but he feigned a refusal. "That"s too much."

"I think that"s enough, Xiao Bing. Stop beating around the bush. It seems that you truly won"t tell until I start. So, what do you think about Long Xiaoyun"s death?"

Master Hou finally had figured it out. Though Xiao Bing seemed to be reckless, his canniness was no less than Master Hou"s. Hence, he didn"t want to waste his time.

However, Xiao Bing didn"t seem to understand what Master Hou just said. "Master Hou, that"s interesting. I had nothing to do with his death... Though I did beat him that day over some trivial things, I didn"t want to kill him. And I"m not powerful enough to kill him," said Xiao Bing with a smile.

Master Hou shook his head and smiled. "Xiao Bing, stop acting like a fool and be serious. Since this Long Xiaoyun is dead, his family will definitely declare a war on us. His father holds great power in the Long family. I can tell you everything about him."

Xiao Bing rubbed his nose. It seemed that he was not afraid of the threat. "Master Hou must have mistaken. If the Long family wants to unite the underground of Black Province, you will be their biggest obstacle. And if you are as ambitious as them, then the Long family will be your enemy as well. I"m just the owner of a small noodle house. I"m not a threat to anyone. I have nothing to do with you or the Long family."

Master Hou"s face turned stern. "We need to be serious about this. Don"t forget that we"re partners now."

Xiao Bing grinned and said, "All right, I"m listening."

Master Hou looked at Mu Tingchuan. "Tingchuan, tell Xiao Bing what we know about the Long family."

Mu Tingchuan replied, "Yes, sir. This Long family was originally the underground king of a certain city in L Province. They were not as powerful as Master Hou back then. After all, they only had one city"s underground world out of the many in L Province. Back then, their leader was Long Aochuan, the father of the present leader of the family. His second son had greatly contributed to his family. He accompanied his father to conquer the underground of the city when his brother was not with his family. Allegedly, he started his own business somewhere far away from his family. Then one day, Long Aochuan"s first son came back."

"It seems that Lord Long has something to with the Long family"s ascension," Xiao Bing thought inwardly.

As Xiao Bing had expected, Mu Tingchuan"s face became serious as he spoke. "Lord Long came back with three sworn brothers, who were allegedly the local tyrants of the southern Yangtze River. They had done many evil deeds but the government had never found any evidence. They were called the Four Evil Dragons of the Yangtze River.

"Lord Long is an unfathomable man and his three sworn brothers are all masters at the Concealing Strength Stage. With his son"s help, Long Aotian soon conquered the entire underground world in L Province and crowned himself.

"Maybe he had offended too many, or those in the underground of J Province were afraid of being conquered. Many of the Long family members encountered a.s.sa.s.sins. Many survived, but Long Aochuan didn"t. Lord Long was infuriated. He led all of his men to J Province"s underground world and started a slaughter. Many died, some surrendered, and some escaped and disappeared.

"Actually, when Lord Long returned to his family, he had already become the second-in-command in the family. So, when his father was a.s.sa.s.sinated, he became the leader of the family unquestionably.

"Lord Long united the underground world of L Province and J Province. The number of his men was greatly enlarged and he recruited many martial artists. As his ambition grew, he tried to conquer the underground of the 3 provinces in the north. If it weren"t for Master Hou being here and that they haven"t firmly rooted themselves in the provinces they had just conquered, I"m afraid that they would have already started working on it. Now the leader of the Black Province"s underground has sworn his fealty to the Long family. But they haven"t laid their hands on other places."

Xiao Bing nodded absently and started counting on his fingers. "They own the underground of two provinces and Master Hou only owns one. The difference is gigantic... I feel that you"re on the losing side."

Mu Tingchuan put on a faint smile. "That may be true. But there"s more to it than it seems."

"I"m all ears."