Chapter 92: Did Business Suddenly Pick Up for No Apparent Reason?

It was almost one in the afternoon.

The late-summer heat still held sway. The sun seared the earth; the wild grass by the roadside seemed on the verge of catching fire, and the waves of heat in the air made it hard to breathe. Not a breath of wind stirred. The willows along the riverbank drooped their heads, and the canna lilies not far away were almost withered.

Unlike the blistering world outside, the game room was eerily quiet.

Buzz Cut and Baldy from Old Zhang's crew huddled before the counter, staring at each other. They could both see a trace of fear in the other's eyes. Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that a thief would walk straight into a den of robbers. Take the burly man in front of them, for example: they knew him. They both knew he was one of the Green Dragon Gang. In the eyes of ordinary people, Old Zhang's crew might seem impressive enough, but compared with the Green Dragon Gang, they were nothing at all.

"I... I..." Buzz Cut swallowed hard and couldn't get a word out.

At that moment, the burly man said something that left them both dumbfounded.

"Don't stammer. If you're here to collect protection money, go ahead and collect it," the burly man said cheerfully, pointing beside him at Xiao Jian. "See? He's from the Sea Dragon crew, and this is what happened to him for collecting protection money."

Buzz Cut and Baldy let out an astonished sound and followed the direction of his finger, only to see seven or eight swollen, pig-faced men staring back at them.

After looking closely for a long moment, Baldy cried out, "Xiao Jian? What happened to you?" He knew Xiao Jian from the Sea Dragon crew. They had eaten together several times.

"Yeah, it's me." Being exposed like that in front of an acquaintance, Xiao Jian felt awkward and unpleasant. Then, suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind. He quickly tugged at the corners of his badly swollen mouth and forced a smile, turning the embarrassment back on them. "That's right. I ended up like this because I was collecting protection money. But if someone comes here looking for trouble, they'll fare even worse. Take Dong Xiaowu from the Green Dragon Gang, for instance—one of his arms was broken by someone. It's as miserable as it gets."

Damn!

Dong Tiger's arm had been broken?

What kind of place was this game room, with so many hidden dragons and crouching tigers?

Buzz Cut and Baldy drew in a sharp breath, almost unable to believe the news was so explosive.

The burly man glared. "You!"

Seeing them about to start arguing, Wang Qiang slapped the counter, making a dull thudding sound, and barked, "What is this? Are you trying to fight again?"

To Buzz Cut and Baldy's astonishment, the usually domineering people from the Green Dragon Gang and the Sea Dragon crew, after being shouted at, did not fly into a rage. Instead, they put on smiling faces and surrounded the young game room owner, saying only flattering things. They even began to wonder whether they were seeing things.

...

The two men left the game room in a daze, not even knowing how they got out. But after they ran into acquaintances outside, they immediately told them the story with growing agitation.

"Ah Yu, did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"Xiao Jian from the Sea Dragon crew went to collect protection money and got beaten up!"

"You're kidding, right?"

"I'm not kidding. We saw it with our own eyes."

"Whoa, that's big news."

"And that's not all. You know Dong Xiaowu from the Green Dragon Gang, right?"

"Yeah. Don't tell me Xiao Jian got beaten by Dong Tiger?"

"No, no. Dong Xiaowu went to the game room to cause trouble, and one of his arms was broken!"

"You're getting more and more outrageous. Did you not get enough sleep?"

"What would I lie to you for? It's the Dragon Soaring Game Parlor on Qinghai Road. Xiao Jian is still there right now. If you don't believe me, go look for yourself. The Green Dragon Gang is still being held there."

A great many people from the underworld had heard this news, but who would believe it? If the Sea Dragon crew got beaten while collecting protection money, that would still make sense. But Dong Tiger from the Green Dragon Gang went to make trouble and got an arm broken? That was a complete joke, an insult to their intelligence.

No one believed it.

Not a single soul.

In fact, many treated it as a joke and told it to close friends.

"Do you know what Xiao Ming from Old Zhang's crew just told me?"

"Huh? How would I know what you two talked about if I wasn't there?"

"Xiao Ming's gone crazy. He actually said Xiao Jian from the Sea Dragon crew got beaten while collecting protection money, and that Dong Xiaowu from the Green Dragon Gang had an arm broken in the Dragon Soaring Game Parlor."

One person told ten, ten told a hundred.

Soon, everyone in the surrounding circles had heard this amusing "rumor."

Many did not believe it, but Buzz Cut and Baldy had spoken so convincingly that quite a few people could not help feeling curious. Could it be true?

So some of them really did sneak over, driven by curiosity, wanting to see for themselves. Human beings always have at least a little curiosity, and especially this bunch of loafers with nothing better to do; going over to take a look would not cost much time.

Some went alone, some in groups. In the end they all wanted only one thing: to verify whether the story was true. Of course, it was not just idle curiosity. More important, they wanted to know whether the Dragon Soaring Game Parlor, a place they had heard of for the first time, was somewhere they could afford to offend. If the whole thing was false, then they had discovered a new way to make money. If it was true, then they would keep their distance. If they could not afford to provoke it, could they not at least avoid it?

...

Inside the game room, Wang Qiang and Zhu Xiaofeng had just finished their wontons. The heat was so oppressive that each of them fanned himself with a paper fan.

Then something strange happened.

Every so often, three or five people would walk in through the doorway. None of them came to play games; they only looked around inside. Some of them seemed to know Xiao Jian and the burly men, and would run over to chat.

When they were first invited to play, many had resisted. But after playing for a while, they all found it rather interesting. Especially the eight people, including Xiao Jian and Xiao Wen, who were playing the intelligence card games; the more they played, the more engrossed they became.

At the time, Xiao Jian was playing Final Fantasy 1 and was in the middle of an encounter with the pirate chief Bikke. He was deeply absorbed when he suddenly felt someone pat him on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw a man from another crew, nicknamed Black Cat.

Black Cat was startled the moment he saw Xiao Jian. In a low voice, he asked, "Did you really get beaten while collecting protection money?"

Xiao Jian was grinding his teeth with frustration, but since he and Black Cat got along well, he could not simply ignore him. He said vaguely, "Yeah."

Black Cat glanced around and asked the question he had been dying to ask. "Then did Dong Tiger really have an arm broken?"

Mentioning that made Xiao Jian feel a little proud. After all, Dong Xiaowu had once slapped him hard across the face. He answered very firmly, "Yes." Then he turned back and continued playing.

Black Cat's curiosity had been thoroughly stirred. He sat down beside Xiao Jian and kept asking about the details. At first the two of them did indeed lower their voices and talk about Dong Xiaowu, but as they spoke, Black Cat gradually became drawn to the game on the screen. The little character would walk along and run into monsters; after gaining enough experience, he would level up, and there were all kinds of quests besides. Even as a mere onlooker, he slowly became interested.

"So, what game are you playing?" he asked.

"Final Fantasy."

"Um... can I try it for a while?"

"If you want to play, go open a machine yourself. An intelligence card costs three yuan an hour."

"Three? That's expensive."

"If you want to play, play. If not, stop bothering me. I'm in the middle of a game."

In the end, Black Cat hesitated for a little while before standing up and heading toward the counter.

...

Over here, while chatting with Zhu Xiaofeng, Wang Qiang suddenly heard a voice: "Boss, set me up with a machine."

Wang Qiang looked up and saw a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth. Since he was a customer, he naturally welcomed him. Smiling, he stood and said, "I have regular cards and intelligence cards here. Regular cards are one and a half yuan an hour, and intelligence cards..."

"I know, three yuan." Black Cat pulled ten yuan from his pocket, handed it over, then turned and pointed to the seat against the right wall. "I want to play the same game as Xiao Jian."

What game was Xiao Jian playing again?

Let me think... oh, right, it seemed to be Final Fantasy.

Wang Qiang rummaged through the drawer where the game cards were kept, only to find that the only ones left were Destiny of an Emperor and Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Overlord of the Land. He had no choice but to say, "We don't have Final Fantasy anymore. How about Destiny of an Emperor or Overlord of the Land instead?"

Black Cat was a little reluctant. "That won't be as fun as Final Fantasy, will it?"

If one were to speak of the peak of FC intelligence card games, Wang Qiang felt that Destiny of an Emperor and Metal Max were unquestionably in a class of their own, and Final Fantasy was a bit weaker by comparison. With great confidence, he produced the Destiny of an Emperor card and said, "This game is definitely more fun than Final Fantasy. Don't believe me? Go try it. If you think it's not good after playing it, I'll go swap it for Final Fantasy with Xiao Jian."

Black Cat was half convinced, half doubtful. "Then I'll give it a try."

Wang Qiang set up the machine for him and deliberately stayed there a while longer, giving him some pointers.

Black Cat picked it up quickly and soon was playing with great delight, exclaiming that it was fun.

"Isn't it better than Final Fantasy?" Wang Qiang asked with a smile.

"Yes, yes, it's better than Final Fantasy." Black Cat stared unblinkingly at the screen.

Just as Wang Qiang was about to offer a few more tips, Zhu Xiaofeng's shout came from over there.

"Uncle Xiao Wang, I can't keep up anymore!"

Can't keep up with what? Wang Qiang was puzzled. He had only been over here guiding Black Cat for more than ten minutes. How could he already not be able to keep up? He was just about to turn around and say, You little slacker, when the words died on his lips.

Why?

Because the counter was already packed with more than a dozen people.

Wang Qiang hurried over and asked, "What's going on? All of you want machines?"

"Quickly."

"Set me up with a machine, hurry up."

"I saw the game Old Lu was playing, and it looked really interesting."

More than a dozen people were talking over one another, all of them wanting to play.

Wang Qiang was a little stunned. Not long ago, they had almost scared all the customers away, and he had been mentally prepared for it to take several days before business recovered. But what was happening before his eyes now?

Had business suddenly gotten better for no reason?

Had a dozen unfamiliar customers just appeared out of nowhere?