Volume One: High School Years Chapter 84: The Cancer of the Campus

When Ren Xiadong woke up and saw Liu Sheng before him, he asked, "Liu Sheng?" Then, noticing the masked man with a baseball bat standing nearby, he staggered to his feet, walked unsteadily over, grabbed the man's collar, and demanded, "Was it you who ambushed me?"

The masked man looked fearfully at Liu Sheng, hoping for some help, but Liu Sheng only said, "You're the most incompetent robber I've ever seen!" Then he turned to Ren Xiadong and said, "Let him go. You were brought here by this guy—he's kidnapped you!"

Ren Xiadong stared at Liu Sheng in confusion, but Liu Sheng repeated, "Enough, let him go. My phone's out of battery, so transfer him six hundred thousand."

"What’s going on? He hit me, and now I have to pay him?" Ren Xiadong thought Liu Sheng must have misspoken, so he asked again for confirmation.

With an awkward smile, Liu Sheng explained, "Yes, because both of us have been taken hostage by him. We need to pay ransom, or else he might just get rid of us!"

Suddenly, Ren Xiadong understood, and, brimming with anger, turned on Liu Sheng. "Damn it! You couldn’t handle this little punk? You had to drag me into this mess? Do you know how much it hurt when he hit me?"

The masked man, now thoroughly scared, wondered how things had come to this. He was supposed to be the criminal here, yet neither of these two seemed even slightly afraid of him. Instead, they had the leisure to argue right in front of him. Who was actually in control here?

"Gentlemen, maybe you should just leave. I quit. I can’t do this anymore," the masked man pleaded.

But Liu Sheng and Ren Xiadong ignored him, continuing their “friendly” argument. Seeing their endless bickering, the masked man prepared to leave on his own, but just as he moved, both Liu Sheng and Ren Xiadong shouted together, "Stop!"

Liu Sheng then said to Ren Xiadong, "Transfer the money, now!"

Ren Xiadong shot back, "I don’t feel like it, so I won’t!"

"Come on, just do it. If you don’t pay him today, I won’t feel right inside!"

The masked man fell to his knees and begged, "Please, just let me go!"

At that moment, the masked man’s phone rang. He answered.

"Have you got the money ready? Your girlfriend’s with us. She’s got a nice body—if you can’t pay, maybe my brothers should have some fun. Call it two days’ interest—what do you say?"

"Don’t hurt her! I’ll bring the money right away!"

After getting the address, the masked man hung up and turned to Liu Sheng and Ren Xiadong. "Please, just one hundred thousand. I swear I’ll pay you back someday."

The old, derelict factory was so quiet that Ren Xiadong had heard every word of the call, and his expression turned serious. "Let’s go! Fate has brought us together, and I’m in on this with you."

The three of them took Liu Sheng’s car to his house, fetched a hundred thousand in cash, and then Ren Xiadong got behind the wheel of his own R8, taking the masked man with him, while Liu Sheng followed closely behind in his own car.

"It’s really not easy to keep up with Ren Xiadong’s R8," Liu Sheng muttered to himself, struggling to catch up.

On the rooftop of an unfinished building in the city, a woman lay bound on the ground, surrounded by six young men—the hired muscle sent to extort money.

"So, what’s it going to be? Pay your debt, or strip to pay it off?" one of them jeered.

The woman, trembling with fear, pleaded, "Please, let me go. I’ll find a way to pay you back!"

One of the thugs laughed. "You? Other than taking your clothes off, what else can you do to make money? Besides, I went to a lot of trouble to find you—I can’t just let you go. You probably can’t pay now anyway. So why not listen to us, strip to earn the money, or I’ll send a video to your family and let them pay?"

"Don’t involve my family—I... I’ll do what you say..." the woman sobbed as she spoke.

The leader squatted down in front of her. "Looks like love really can’t stand up to money. Your boyfriend’s been gone so long and still hasn’t shown up." As he spoke, he untied the ropes binding her. "We don’t know if you’re any good at your work, or if you can make enough money. Tell you what, my brothers and I will try you out. We won’t charge you—consider it a week’s interest off your debt. How’s that for a deal?"

The woman sat, helpless, on the ground. If she refused, who knew what they might do to her? Slowly, she began to unzip her jacket.

The six men ogled her, one of them remarking, "College girls are the best—not too used up yet."

Just then, the roar of the R8’s engine reached their ears. When the sound faded, the masked man’s voice called out, "I’ve brought the money! Give me back my girlfriend!"

The six thugs immediately deflated, their anger rising. The college girl was almost within reach, and now it was over. One of them cursed, "I already had my pants halfway down, and now I have to pull them back up!"

"We need to teach that little punk a lesson for making us look for him so long!" the leader snarled, and the six men took the woman downstairs.

Out in the open space below, the masked man saw his girlfriend and rushed over, but the leader blocked his way. "Where’s the money?" he demanded.

The masked man handed over a file folder. The leader checked the contents, smiled, then shoved the masked man hard to the ground. "Pretty good at hiding, huh? Nearly made us miss you!"

"You’ve got the money—let her go!" the masked man shouted angrily.

His girlfriend was now too terrified to speak.

The leader sneered. "This isn’t enough. You still owe us two days’ interest. Don’t say I’m being unfair—just the manpower it took to track you down should cost extra, but I won’t bother. Two days’ interest: twenty thousand. Pay it, and I’ll let her go."

"You said a hundred thousand! How can you go back on your word?" the masked man protested.

"Boss, why don’t we skip the interest and give the brothers a treat? I’ve been watching her videos every day while looking for her, and I can’t take it anymore. Let her pay in flesh," one of the thugs suggested.

The leader grinned. "Fine, but I go first!"

With that, the thugs dragged the woman back toward the building. The masked man, seeing his girlfriend being taken away, grabbed a brick, charged at the leader, and smashed it down on his head.

"Argh!" The leader’s scream made the other five turn. Seeing their boss attacked, they dropped the woman and rushed at the masked man.

In the R8, Ren Xiadong glanced in the rearview mirror. Liu Sheng still hadn’t caught up. With a sigh, he lit a cigarette, honked the horn, and got out of the car.

The thugs, who had been kicking the masked man, stopped at the sound of the horn. The leader eyed Ren Xiadong’s car, then addressed him. "This is our business, brother. Best if you stay out of it."

He knew that car must be worth over a million. Whoever drove it was either the child of a tycoon or a government official—either way, not someone he could afford to cross.

Ren Xiadong took a drag from his cigarette. "Let the two of them go, and get lost. If I change my mind, none of you will leave here."

"Screw you! Who do you think you are—got a bit of cash and you think you’re hot stuff?" one of the thugs shouted, brandishing a brick at Ren Xiadong.

Ren Xiadong retrieved the masked man’s baseball bat from the car, swinging it as he walked toward the thug. Without warning, he brought it down hard on the man’s head. The man crumpled to the ground.

"Oops, sorry, didn’t see you standing there," Ren Xiadong said with mock apology.

The remaining four thugs grew agitated, the leader barking, "We do the beating here, not anyone else!"

He and the others prepared to attack, but at that moment Liu Sheng’s A6 pulled up. Liu Sheng got out, glanced at the leader’s bleeding head, then at the thug sprawled at Ren Xiadong’s feet.

"Aren’t we ever going to talk things out? Why is it always violence with you?" Liu Sheng said reproachfully.

The leader saw another newcomer—his car wasn’t as flashy, but still worth a fortune. Neither of these men was someone to provoke, but he couldn’t back down in front of his men.

"I don’t care who you are," he declared, pulling an electric baton from his belt, which crackled menacingly. "If you want to interfere, don’t blame me for what happens next!"

But before he could finish his threat, Ren Xiadong knocked the baton from his hand with a swing of the bat, then rained blow after blow on him, not giving him a chance to fight back.

The other thugs, seeing Ren Xiadong’s ferocity, were too afraid to intervene.

Liu Sheng, seeing the leader nearly beaten to death, hurried to stop Ren Xiadong. This time, he wasn’t using fists or feet, but a baseball bat—this could be fatal.

Once he’d stopped him, Liu Sheng quickly checked if the leader was still breathing. Confirming he was alive, he turned to the remaining four. "Which company are you from?"

The four still tried to act tough, staring at Liu Sheng in silence. Ren Xiadong advanced menacingly with the bat, and the four quickly blurted out, "The Student Loan Company!"

Liu Sheng gave a cold laugh. "Student loans? Is that what you call this? You pretend to help students but actually lend at exorbitant rates. Aren’t you afraid the authorities will come after you?"

"We’re just employees—the boss pays us, we do the job. That’s all we know," one replied.

Liu Sheng waved them off. "Take your injured and go. The hundred thousand is yours—your account is settled. Don’t ever bother them again."

After the thugs left, Liu Sheng said to Ren Xiadong, "Didn’t expect we’d get to use our power this soon!"

"You mean, we’re going to take down their company ourselves?" Ren Xiadong asked excitedly. It was his first time wielding such power, and the thrill was intoxicating—not just for him, but for Liu Sheng, too.

But to go after the company so rashly would be reckless—the other side would surely deny everything, and there would be plenty of resistance. Liu Sheng knew he needed direct evidence, so he dialed Tang Xin’s number.

"Liu Sheng, what’s made you call me?" Tang Xin answered.

"I need a favor," Liu Sheng replied.