Chapter 141 Causing a Catastrophic Disaster

Everyone was stunned. Lin Jia asked in astonishment, "What?"

Fifth Brother gave a soft smile, flicked his ash into the ashtray on the tempered glass coffee table in front of the sofa, clasped his hands together, rested his elbows on his knees, and said with evident appreciation, "Just now, I stayed down by the Lakeside Garden and chatted for a bit with Old Huang, the neighborhood cop from the Sixth Group of Qiaomiaoling. Do you guys even know how many punks you knocked down with your own hands?"

Lin Jia and Fourth Brother remained silent. After exchanging a glance, Fourth Brother couldn't help saying, "Fifth Brother! We might have been a bit too heavy-handed... Are those people alright?"

Fifth Brother chuckled and said, "Little Seven, don't be nervous. I know you're worried about the two guys you smashed with bricks. You were the one who smashed them, right? You guys were the only ones with bricks! Don't worry! Old Huang and the others had just come back from handling a case—you know, the floating corpse case found by the lake last week, they went to retrieve the body and a forensic doctor happened to be with the team. They checked those guys right on the spot. Those two kids are fine, just a mild concussion and a slight intracranial cortical hemorrhage. One of them had his scalp split open, which looks scary, but it's not a big deal. They won't die!!"

Lin Jia and the others had no idea about any floating corpse case, nor did they care. But hearing that the two guys they had been terrified of accidentally beating to death were actually fine, a heavy burden instantly lifted from their hearts.

"However!" Fifth Brother paused dramatically, scaring the two young men so much that their newly settled hearts leaped right back into their throats. "Two of the other guys had it rather miserable. One chubby fellow had his facial bones fractured... uh—what do they call the bones on the face in medical terms again? Damn it! Never went to school, I can never keep straight those fancy medical terms the forensic doctor used! Anyway, the bones in his face are cracked, nasal bones shattered, jaw fractured, and basically all his teeth are gone! It looked like he was slapped by a wooden door panel! Tsk tsk... truly pathetic!" Fifth Brother watched Lin Jia and the others' reactions with keen interest.

Ignoring Lin Jia's increasingly pale complexion and the cold sweat pouring down like rain, Fifth Brother grinned with a sadistic sense of dark humor and said, "The other one is even worse! Seven ribs broken, his chest collapsed, internal bleeding. Even if he recovers, he'll be a sickly invalid. I won't even mention his nose or face—he's probably permanently disfigured, completely mashed to a pulp by fists!! His neck seems messed up too, hard to tell if it's a fracture or a dislocation. That old forensic doctor said there's a possibility of paralysis!" As he spoke, Fifth Brother cast a meaningful glance at Lin Jia's still-bleeding hands. His knuckles were an unrecognizable bloody mess and trembling violently; the cigarette he was holding had long been extinguished by the blood.

Lin Jia's mind went completely blank. Numbly, he placed the extinguished cigarette back between his lips and sucked on it hard. The brothers around him all sat in silence. Fifth Brother smirked, pulled another cigarette from his pack, lit it himself, and jammed it between Lin Jia's trembling lips.

Lin Jia was terrified. Yes! Right now, his mind was consumed by regret and fear. Setting aside the criminal liability of beating someone like that, at the very least it constituted intentional assault. Lin Jia didn't even dare to imagine the medical bills for those two alone!

With so many people acting as eyewitnesses at the time, the police wouldn't even need to investigate a case like this. Once he got arrested... going to prison... his mom and dad...

Darkness swam before Lin Jia's eyes, and he could only mechanically draw on the cigarette in his hand one after another. Could that even be called smoking? The cigarette was practically burning up on its own, billowing dense clouds of smoke from his mouth. His hands, whether from bleeding or something else, were icy cold without a shred of warmth, as if they no longer belonged to him, but were instead the hands of a corpse.

For street-runners hanging around outside, things like this probably didn't amount to much at all. At most, they'd go inside for a year or two and then come out, treating it like a stay at a sanatorium. Even if it were more serious, it would only be three or four years, or better yet, they'd just pay some money and avoid prison altogether!

Yet for children from ordinary families like Lin Jia and his friends, this was a catastrophic event as if the sky itself were collapsing! Once the reputation of having a son in prison spread out, not only would their parents' expectations for them be shattered, but the pointing fingers and gossiping whispers of the neighborhood gossips would be enough to strip away all the dignity of parents who had toiled bitterly for a lifetime, leaving them forever unable to hold up their heads in front of neighbors and relatives!

"Madman! Uh... Lin Jia!" Fifth Brother stubbed out his cigarette butt in the ashtray, reached out to pat Lin Jia's shoulder, and pressed down on him sincerely. "You and our little Seven... Hongbin have been childhood friends running around in open-crotch pants since you were babies. You haven't spent less time running wild behind our Thirteen Young Masters gang since you were little either. To tell you the truth, I've always looked at you like a younger brother! You and Little Seven are both my brothers. What I said earlier about getting you to join me in our line of work was just a joke. But judging by the ruthless streak in you, if you really did come out to the streets, your name would definitely make waves! I heard all about what happened today from Fangfang. You're a real man, kid! I'm going to cover this for you and Little Seven! It's just a minor matter of paying some money and finding a scapegoat to take the rap! Rest assured! I guarantee even your parents won't find out!" Lin Jia and Fourth Brother beamed with sudden joy, raising their heads to look at Fifth Brother.

Fifth Brother chuckled, straightened his posture, and teased playfully, "How's that! Scared you, didn't I? What I said just now was a bit exaggerated! It's not that serious! Hahaha... I was actually wondering if I could trick you into coming over to my side to help out~"

"Fifth Brother!" Fourth Brother stood up angrily.

"Alright, alright! Don't get so worked up!" Fifth Brother chuckled with a helpless air. "Though I bet our little Seven is never going to let me live this down!" He looked at Fourth Brother and Lin Jia, then smiled softly. "I know your situations. Come to think of it, you and Little Seven are two of the very few good boys in our generation. You don't want to make things difficult for your parents at home, right? The old folks of the older generation used to lecture us by holding you up as role models all the time—they never thought about how much wilder they were back in their day... Hang on a second, let me make a few phone calls!"

With that, he stood up, took out his mobile phone, walked off to the side, and began speaking in a low voice. Lin Jia and Fourth Brother watched him, feeling a mixture of anxiety and dread. Boss walked over, patted Lin Jia on the shoulder, and consoled him, "Don't worry, Lin Jia! It'll be fine! I'll call those uncles and elders in a moment and ask them to lend a hand. You know how it is—my uncles and elders have quite a bit of pull in both the underworld and the legitimate world!" As she spoke, she gave Lin Jia's shoulder a hearty slap, causing Lin Jia to let out a miserable shriek and double over, clutching his shoulder. Only then did Boss remember that Lin Jia and the others were currently covered in wounds, and she hurriedly squatted down to check on Lin Jia's injuries.

At that moment, Black Bear, standing nearby, whispered to Fourth Brother, "Is that guy Fifth Brother from the Thirteen Princes?"

Fourth Brother glanced at him sideways and said, "Yeah."

Black Bear shivered, his eyes filled with absolute worship. Excitedly lowering his voice, he said, "Holy crap! I heard the people from the Thirteen Princes are super badass! I finally get to see the real deal today. So he's your older brother?"

"I'm Seventh Brother of the Thirteen Princes myself! What's so strange about that?" Fourth Brother rolled his eyes in exasperation. In the eyes of outsiders, especially street thugs, the Qiaomiaoling Thirteen Princes—who represented the younger generation of underworld forces—were legendary, all-powerful idols in the small town. Aside from the figures of the older generation, only a handful of factions could rival them.

The town wasn't very large, but since ancient times it had been a bustling hub connecting five provinces, situated right next to the Yangtze River and neighboring the provincial capital of Wuhan. Street business flourished vibrantly there. Most importantly, because the town wasn't as heavily controlled as the provincial capital of Wuhan, government and police constraints were far less tight than in the capital, naturally giving rise to an undercurrent flowing beneath the surface.

Fifth Brother's phone call lasted a long time. After a while, he hung up, walked back over, and sat down. "I just got in touch with Old Huang. He said a total of over sixty kids were rounded up. The whole thing has already been classified as a brawl. Since there are no heavy political backgrounds involved—just a pure turf fight between punks—it won't cause any negative fallout. Handling it internally is totally fine. We just need to pay some medical expenses, send someone in to take the fall for a few months, and give the higher-ups an explanation, and it'll all be over!"

Fifth Brother lit another cigarette, took a drag, and said, "I've already called people to send medical money to the four kids lying in the hospital. As for needing someone to step up and take the rap, my own men aren't suitable—they're all too seasoned and slippery. I'll go talk to Thirteen tomorrow. He still has a few young punks under his wing who've got decent guts; sending them into the cell blocks for a look around wouldn't be a bad idea..."

"Prince Big Brother! I'll go!" Unexpectedly, Monkey, who had been cowering timidly behind Black Bear the entire time, suddenly stood up in excitement, breathing heavily as he declared, "I..."

Everyone was stunned, and Fifth Brother wore an expression of utter astonishment.

"I... I... I'll step up and take the fall for Crazy Big Brother and Prince Seventh Brother!" Monkey's face flushed bright red as he said, "I'm an orphan! There's nobody at home! I've been inside the cell blocks twice before for theft! I'm a really good fit for this!" Lin Jia and the others were filled with astonishment. Monkey had only met them once; there was no logical reason for him to show such fierce loyalty and take on this prison sentence for them.

Fifth Brother quickly curled his lips into a smile and said, "Good! You've got some loyalty, kid! Follow me and do some work under my banner after you get out!" It was only then that Black Bear realized what was happening, and he glared at Monkey with bitter regret.

"You've got a fast-turning brain, kid!" Fifth Brother pulled a cigarette from the pack in front of him, tossed it to Monkey, and laughed. "You know there won't be any real trouble this time, so you're trying to take the fall to make a name for yourself? Old Huang just told me that getting locked up this time means at most half a year of detention, and we can find an excuse to release you in three or four months tops. Take this five thousand yuan! Consider it your food money for your time inside!" With that, he pulled a thick stack of cash from beneath the sofa cushion he was sitting on, riffled through it briefly, and tossed it right to Monkey.

Monkey first caught the cigarette as if receiving a supreme honor, lit it, and took a puff. Then, startled by the five thousand yuan tossed at him by Fifth Brother, he scrambled to his feet, just about to refuse, when Fifth Brother swept a single glance his way that frightened him into swallowing his words right back down.