Being Extorted for Protection Money

"Hurry up! Hurry up! Bear and Pervert said you guys are doing pretty well in the game! Come on, make it quick! Hand over the protection money, or don't blame me for turning on you!" Fifth Prince stretched out a massive palm, chuckling wickedly as he beckoned to Lin Jia and the others.

While Lin Jia and his friends were being extorted, the Taoist Pervert, whom Fifth Prince had just sent to the kitchen to find a prickly giant cucumber, came running back clutching a long, thick gourd to his chest. Seeing Fifth Prince extending his hand and beckoning, he assumed Fifth Prince was urgently waiting for it, so he trotted over excitedly and shoved the gourd—whose thinnest part was thicker than an adult's wrist—into Fifth Prince's hands. "Fifth Prince!" he blurted out excitedly. "I got it! I couldn't find a prickly giant cucumber, but I found a gourd in the kitchen myself. It's way thicker than a cucumber! Let me do the honors! I've never seen anyone pop a virgin chrysanthemum with a gourd before!"

"Plop..." The half-burnt cigarette dangling from Fifth Prince's lips dropped onto the marble floor once more. Dead silence fell over the room, leaving even Black Bear, the victim in question, completely stunned.

"You... you're seriously planning to shove this gourd... up Black Bear's ass?" Fifth Prince looked between Black Bear's darkened face and the beaming Pervert, utterly astonished by the Taoist's behavior. He actually couldn't tell whether the guy was joking or serious—what a truly formidable comprehension ability!

"Forget it! Black Bear, since he's so curious about your chrysanthemum, why don't you two go outside and sort it out privately!" Fifth Prince waved a feeble hand, abandoning any intention of explaining things to this mentally challenged underling.

Grinning hideously, Black Bear cracked his knuckles, stepped forward, and hoisted up the Pervert, who was just beginning to realize something was amiss. Striding out of the VIP suite, it wasn't long before the sound of Black Bear's excited, lewd laughter echoed from the next room, followed closely by the Pervert's shrill, miserable screams...

Threatened by Fifth Prince into donating a portion of the "protection money," Lin Jia and Fourth Brother dolorously forked over five million gold coins from their savings as starting capital for Fifth Prince's crew. They were also shaken down for a Voicehorn that was on consignment with Lone Wind-gust and a gold bar meant for guild creation. Their direct financial losses totaled well over sixteen million. As it turned out, the reason Lone Wind-gust hadn't sold that Voicehorn yet was because its price kept rising; he had planned to hoard it as a rare commodity, only to be abruptly told that the horn was no longer for sale, nearly driving him to fight Lin Jia and the others to the death.

Having suffered such massive bloodletting, the three brothers practically fled in panic, even rejecting the VIP internet cards Fifth Prince offered them. Are you kidding me? They had only sat down for a moment and been extorted out of more than sixteen million. If they stayed any longer and he discovered the overpowered stats on their gear, wouldn't the three brothers be stripped down to their birthday suits?

Just before leaving, Lin Jia asked Fifth Brother Ah-Biao if he was coming with them, but Ah-Biao hesitated. He looked at Fifth Prince, pondered for a moment, and told Lin Jia that he was going to stay. Lin Jia opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately sighed and turned to leave.

Eldest patted Lin Jia on the back from behind and said, "Ah-Biao has his own ideas, just leave him be! Let's go back!" Lin Jia nodded silently.

At night, the streets of the small town were completely devoid of traffic; not even a taxi could be found, leaving Lin Jia and the others with no choice but to walk slowly back to the internet cafe. Fortunately, it wasn't too far, only about a half-hour walk on foot.

"We're out of money..." The three brothers walked in silence for a while before Eldest suddenly spoke up.

Fourth Brother and Lin Jia were taken aback. Fourth Brother asked in confusion, "Didn't we have close to a thousand yuan? How is it gone already?"

Eldest glared at Fourth Brother and retorted irritably, "You're not the one managing the household, so you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil, and salt are! Lin Jia's glasses got smashed during the fight, and I went to get him a replacement. The frames alone cost over 160 yuan, and the lenses were 110 yuan each—that's 380 right there. Then there are the herbal patches you two used over the past two days; even though that quack doctor didn't charge us exorbitant prices, it still cost over 100 yuan. Add in our expenses at the internet cafe, what we eat and drink... do you think those Pepsis, potato chips, instant noodles, and bread were picked out of a garbage dump by me? I didn't dare go out to buy anything for fear of being spotted by my family, so I got everything straight from the internet cafe counter, which is much more expensive than outside! Plus the delivery food we order three times a day—the food expense alone is over 100 a day! And that's not even counting our internet fees! There's hardly any money left on the VIP card! If we don't figure out a way to get some cash soon, chances are we'll be forced to go home because we can't afford to eat before your injuries are even fully healed!"

"Should we sell some more gold coins then?!" Fourth Brother hesitated and suggested.

"But we don't have many gold coins left ourselves either! We originally had over thirteen million, but we just gave six million to Fifth Prince, leaving only seven million. If we sell those too, chances are we'll end up having to mine for gold just to make money and level up!" Eldest said. Eldest had always managed the finances for the three brothers—both RMB and Legend currency—so Lin Jia and the others never had to worry about it.

After pondering for a long time, Lin Jia said casually, "It's fine! If we run out of Legend coins, we can just earn them back. But if we run out of money to eat, we're screwed. I've even been wondering if I should delay going back a few more days, and what we'll do when the time comes. If all else fails, we can just sell some equipment! Someone will always be willing to pay cash for our gear!"

"I guess that's all we can do!" Lacking any better ideas among the three of them, Eldest and Fourth Brother were accustomed to following Lin Jia's lead. It wasn't that they hadn't considered asking Fifth Prince to borrow some money, but they already owed him tens of thousands in personal favors; neither Lin Jia nor Fourth Brother could bring themselves to ask him for another loan!

Returning to the internet cafe, Mei-Mei greeted them with a worried look. The expressions on the three brothers' faces could hardly be called cheerful, something the sharp and clever Mei-Mei naturally sensed. Pouting her pretty lips, she walked over to Lin Jia, gently wrapped her arms around his left arm, leaned against him, and used her tenderness to comfort her "male friend."

"What's wrong?" Mei-Mei asked cautiously.

Lin Jia smiled cheerfully. "Nothing! It's just that our living expenses ran out, and we were just discussing it!"

Mei-Mei blinked her pretty eyes and said, "I still have money here! Don't worry! Besides, it's almost the end of the month, and we'll be getting our salaries any minute now!"

"No need! We have a way!" Lin Jia said with a beaming smile. Taking advantage of Mei-Mei's distraction, he subtly pressed his arm closer to her direction, the smile on his face inevitably transforming into a lewd grin. "Oh~~ my gattaca! Oh my god~~ she is so soft~~~" Lin Jia's breathing inevitably quickened, and his nostrils began to flare.