Chapter 157: The Trap

Brother Cheng and several hall masters were pacing back and forth in an abandoned factory building on the outskirts of the city. More than eighty remaining brothers were lying around, exhausted. The continuous days of fighting had left them tired, hungry, and sleepy. Brother Cheng couldn't help but look outside the factory building, wondering in his heart why Chu Tian and the others hadn't come yet. These people of his hadn't eaten for a whole day. They had been chased around by the Jiang Bang all day, engaging in fierce battles. If it weren't for his quick wits, he might have already become a victim.

Suddenly, five vans drove into the area outside the factory building and then stopped. Chu Tian slowly got out of the van in the middle. When Brother Cheng saw Chu Tian, he was slightly delighted but pretended to shout, "Everyone, be careful. Someone is coming."

The more than eighty people who had been sleeping were instantly alerted by the danger signal. They quickly picked up their machetes with chipped edges, iron bars, and stood up with a commotion, getting into a fighting formation, ready to fight to the last man.

One of the hall masters took a few glances at the dozen or so people who had gotten out of the vans. Judging by their appearance, they didn't seem to be here for a fight. Otherwise, there was no need for only a dozen people to come. But he still remained on guard and shouted, "Who are you? What are you doing here? Could it be that the Jiang Bang sent you to hunt us down?"

A member of the Shuai Jun stepped forward and said in a calm and friendly tone, "We are from the Shuai Jun. We have no ill intentions today. Our Young Master has something important he wants to discuss with you hall masters."

"Shuai Jun? Young Master?" The more than eighty people started to talk among themselves. A person's reputation is like a tree's shadow. They had already experienced the fame and strength of the Shuai Jun. So, although there were only a dozen or so members of the Shuai Jun in front of them, there was a hint of fear in the eyes of these more than eighty people.

"What do we have to talk about with the Shuai Jun? We're in this situation today all because of you. How dare you still want to talk to us? Aren't you afraid that our more than eighty people will cut you all down?" Brother Cheng quickly shouted. He had already mastered the essence of the "undercover" role to perfection.

Chu Tian smiled slightly, took a few steps forward alone, and said indifferently, "First of all, we have no ill intentions. Otherwise, there would be more than a hundred members of the Shuai Jun standing here. Secondly, in this world, there are only eternal interests, not eternal enemies. Finally, the Shuai Jun only took your territory but didn't kill a single one of your brothers. The Jiang Bang is your employer, yet they killed more than two hundred of your brothers. If you want to get your territory back and avenge your brothers, you must talk to us."

"Who are you? What right do you have to make decisions?" Brother Cheng preemptively shouted.

One of the members of the Shuai Jun raised his eyebrows. With respect and pride in his tone, he said, "This is our Young Master."

The more than eighty people immediately started whispering among themselves. Could this young man really be the Young Master? The Young Master who commanded more than six hundred members of the Shuai Jun? How could that be possible? There was a hint of disbelief in everyone's eyes.

Chu Tian smiled slightly. Knowing that they didn't believe it, he flashed his figure and instantly appeared in front of the several hall masters. The hall masters then felt their throats tighten and loosen, and their breathing stopped. When they looked at Chu Tian again, he was still standing two meters away with that faint smile, as if he hadn't moved or made a move at all. They were all shocked. Now they understood that the Young Master's reputation was well-deserved, with extraordinary courage, martial arts skills, and intelligence.

The more than eighty people under Brother Cheng only saw Chu Tian's figure flash, and the several hall masters immediately became respectful. They were all secretly amazed.

The several hall masters quickly cupped their hands in salute and respectfully said, "The Young Master is truly young and promising, with remarkable courage. Please, come this way." As they spoke, the hall masters led Chu Tian towards a dilapidated table.

Chu Tian turned around and said, "Men of the Shuai Jun, bring up the things from the vans for these brothers who have bravely fought against the Jiang Bang. They are all real men and deserve our respect."

The dozen or so members of the Shuai Jun immediately carried in the medicine, machetes, bread, steamed buns, barreled water, dozens of roasted chickens, and two slaughtered and cooked pigs weighing about two hundred catties each from the vans. There was enough food for them to eat for several days. When the more than eighty people saw the food, they couldn't help but swallow their saliva. Their impression of the Shuai Jun immediately improved a lot, and they seemed to have forgotten that the Shuai Jun had taken their territory. Finally, the members of the Shuai Jun also carried in five cases of Zhuyeqing liquor.

Chu Tian smiled slightly, walked up to the roasted pig, took a machete from one of the members of the Shuai Jun, and with a刀法 (I'm not sure if you have a specific word for this in Chinese martial arts context, so I used the pinyin here) and strength that surprised everyone, he cut off a piece of meat weighing more than twenty catties with one stroke and placed it on the dilapidated table that had been covered with clean oilpaper. Then he asked the members of the Shuai Jun to bring up five bottles of Zhuyeqing liquor, several roasted chickens, and a bag of peanuts. Chu Tian sat down boldly and let out a hearty laugh, "Hall masters, today we'll eat big pieces of meat and drink big bowls of wine. It's only when we talk while eating that we can truly enjoy the gallant world of the underworld."

When the several hall masters and Brother Cheng saw that Chu Tian held a high position and had excellent martial arts skills, yet he was also so straightforward and approachable, and then they thought of Zhangsun Jincheng's arrogant and distant demeanor, they couldn't help but feel a bit of affection for Chu Tian. They looked at each other and smiled, then let loose and happily started drinking and eating. The grudges over the territory disputes were temporarily put aside. Moreover, the Shuai Jun hadn't harmed their brothers. Besides, what Chu Tian said was right. There were no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.

After three rounds of drinking, they were all men, so they had a very enjoyable meal. Biting into the tender pork with juice splashing out, chewing on the fragrant roasted chicken, and the crispy fried peanuts, and drinking big gulps of Zhuyeqing liquor, it made people feel as if they had entered the era of Liangshan Marsh, where heroes robbed the rich to help the poor. Loyalty, pride, and sincerity burst forth. These hall masters seemed to have completely forgotten that the Shuai Jun had taken their territory. Panting with the smell of alcohol, they completely forgot that they were now in a difficult situation. They patted Chu Tian on the shoulder and called him brother, saying that if he had any difficulties in the future, he could come to them. They might have nothing now, but they still had loyalty. One of the hall masters used to be a pig butcher. He kept shouting that if it weren't for the Health Bureau pushing him too hard, he would still be a respected, graceful, and skilled pork seller. It seemed that he was more interested in being a pork seller than being an underworld hall master. This once again proved that the underworld wasn't an easy place to be in and required bloodshed.

After Chu Tian finished eating a chicken leg, he took a tissue and wiped his hands. Seeing that the time was right, he took out a few cigarettes and threw them over. He also used a lighter to light them one by one for the hall masters, which really made these small hall masters grateful and made them like Chu Tian even more. In the smell of the cigarettes, the hall masters' moods calmed down a bit. Chu Tian smiled and said to the hall masters, "Brothers, shall we start talking about some serious business now?"

The hall masters couldn't help but nod and started listening to Chu Tian's serious matter.

The night after Chu Tian met with these hall masters, these hall masters led dozens of brothers into the urban area and found an economic venue of the Jiang Bang with weak defense and carried out a "smash, rob, and loot" operation. They used the sharp German machetes provided by Chu Tian to injure many members of the Jiang Bang. When the relevant hall sent reinforcements, these hall masters had already driven away in the vans provided by Chu Tian with their men and disappeared without a trace.

A few days later, in the late night, these hall masters led another fifty brothers into the urban area and caused chaos in the Jiang Bang's large entertainment city. They even set a small fire, causing the Jiang Bang to lose a lot of property. When the hall to which the entertainment city belonged arrived, they had already escaped from the urban area. This happened several times. Once, they almost blocked and injured Tiger Hall Master Zhao Fengxiang, a direct-line member of the Jiang Bang, in a bar. If it weren't for Zhao Fengxiang escaping through the toilet window, he might have already become a victim.

In Changfu Garden, Zhangsun Jincheng was fuming with anger. Standing beside him were three elders, and the direct-line Dragon Hall Master Lin Xiongjun and Tiger Hall Master Zhao Fengxiang. As for the position of the Leopard Hall Master, it was temporarily held by Old Master Han. Zhangsun Jincheng didn't trust others to take that position.

"Damn it! Those scum of the Jiang Bang, those bandits. I should have known better than to incorporate them. Now it's come to this." Zhangsun Jincheng was naturally very angry. These small gangs had consumed nearly two hundred of his fresh troops and caused him to lose a lot of money. He now wished he could tear them into pieces.

"Yes, we must wipe them out. Otherwise, the various venues of the Jiang Bang will be in a state of panic, not knowing when they will pop up and launch crazy sneak attacks again." Tiger Hall Master Zhao Fengxiang also gritted his teeth. Making him escape in embarrassment through the toilet window was really humiliating.

Zhangsun Zijun stepped forward and patted Zhangsun Jincheng on the back, saying, "Father, don't be angry. Those scum are just dozens of people. They can't amount to much. As long as we find their hideout, we'll send two hundred elite disciples there and wipe them out."

"Report! We have found that Brother Cheng and several other hall masters are hiding in an abandoned factory building on the outskirts of the city. There are about fifty of them." A member of the Jiang Bang ran in to report.

"Good, good! Immediately send people to wipe them out. Otherwise, I won't be able to quell my anger." Zhangsun Jincheng slapped the table and said excitedly, his eyes flashing with murderous intent.

Tiger Hall Master Zhao Fengxiang immediately stepped forward and said, "Gang Leader, uncles, I'm willing to lead two hundred elite brothers from my hall to go there and bury that bunch of scum alive."

Zhangsun Jincheng nodded. Two hundred people from the Tiger Hall were more than enough. He said, "Good, Fengxiang. I'll leave this battle to you. Make sure not to let any of them escape." Then Zhangsun Jincheng said to the elders and Lin Xiongjun, "Also, everyone should closely monitor the troop movements of the Shuai Jun and the Qing Gang, in case they take advantage of our weakness and attack our various halls."

"Father, don't worry. In the urban area, we still have more than four hundred gang members. We're not afraid of the Shuai Jun." Zhangsun Zijun said to comfort her father. But she herself let out a sigh. Not long ago, the Jiang Bang still had more than a thousand gang members. As a result, three hundred杂牌 (I'm not sure what this word exactly means in this context, so I used the pinyin here) defected, and nearly two hundred direct-line members were killed or injured. All of a sudden, there were only six hundred left, and some of them were newly recruited. It was really a bit distressing.

Old Master Zhao watched his son leave with great ambition, but his eyelids kept twitching, and he immediately felt a sense of unease in his heart.

There was no moon tonight. When Tiger Hall Master Zhao Fengxiang was still one kilometer away from the abandoned factory building, he told his subordinates to get off the vehicles and slowly advance on foot, wanting to kill Brother Cheng and the other hall masters in their sleep. More than ten minutes later, the two hundred people finally reached the target location. Seeing that there wasn't even a sentry at the gate, Tiger Hall Master Zhao Fengxiang shook his head. These rabble were really careless. They thought that hiding here would make them untraceable. Did they really think that the direct-line members of the Jiang Bang were incompetent? Tiger Hall Master Zhao Fengxiang then showed a sinister smile. Wouldn't he be able to avenge the humiliation in the toilet tonight?

Zhao Fengxiang waved his hand gently, and more than a hundred brothers immediately rushed in. Dozens of brothers behind them immediately turned on their flashlights and then rushed in. "Kill them all!" Tiger Hall Master Zhao Fengxiang waved his hand, and the remaining more than sixty brothers rushed in with him. In an instant, this circular-shaped abandoned factory building was filled with murderous members of the Jiang Bang.

The more than a hundred brothers in the front could clearly see Brother Cheng and the others who had just woken up on the upper floor. Just as they were about to rush across the last patch of lawn and step onto the staircase leading to the second floor, "Ah, ah, ah!" More than a dozen brothers in the front actually fell into the lawn and into a trap. Some of the brothers in the middle quickly stopped, feeling lucky. Suddenly, they were pushed into the trap by the brothers behind them who didn't know what was going on. Some brothers knew that something was wrong in front but couldn't stop their steps. There were more "Ah, ah, ah" screams ringing out in the air above the abandoned factory building until the trap was filled. Finally, the charge stopped, but dozens of brothers in the front had already fallen into the trap and died.

Zhao Fengxiang was extremely angry and shocked. When he came over and took a look, he couldn't help but feel uneasiness after the event (I'm not sure if there's a proper English word for this specific feeling, so I used the pinyin here). Fortunately, he wasn't leading the charge, otherwise he would have already been killed. This patch of lawn had been completely dug out, and inside there were either old iron bars or iron nails. Although they were rusty, they were enough to kill people. Moreover, the dozen or so square meters of this lawn had been smeared with machine oil, making it extremely slippery and difficult for people to stop.

At this moment, Brother Cheng and the several hall masters and others were standing on the third floor, looking at them with smiles. Brother Cheng pretended to be surprised and shouted, "Oh, it's actually Tiger Hall Master of the direct line of the Jiang Bang. I'm really sorry for not greeting you properly. Please forgive me. My brothers and I have a lot of energy and have nothing to do for fun, so we dug this big pit to play with. I didn't expect Master Zhao's brothers to jump in like this. If we had known you liked it, we would have dug it bigger."

Chu Tian was on the rooftop with Guangzi and the others, drinking Zhuyeqing liquor, as if what was happening below had nothing to do with them.

Zhao Fengxiang gritted his teeth and shouted, "Despicable villain! When I catch you, I'll cut your flesh piece by piece to sacrifice to our brothers." Then he turned around and shouted, "Brothers, kill them!"

Suddenly, water was poured down from the air. The members of the Jiang Bang who were about to rush forward thought it was some kind of hidden weapon and quickly retreated. Brother Cheng clapped his hands, and dozens of people immediately emerged from around the third floor of this large circular factory building and threw down a lot of stones and bricks. There were plenty of these materials around the factory. The members of the Jiang Bang quickly dodged, but still, many of them were killed or injured. Even Zhao Fengxiang's shoulder was hit by a brick, and he quickly hid under the eaves of the corridor. Some members of the Jiang Bang wanted to enter the workshop inside, but they found that the doors were all welded shut and couldn't be opened at all.

Some members of the Jiang Bang reached the staircase leading to the second floor and were about to rush up when a lot of slippery machine oil was poured down from above, making them fall continuously. When they finally managed to climb halfway up, they suddenly found a huge old machine tool hanging in the air. With a "boom", it smashed the few disciples in front into a pulp, and the huge old machine tool completely blocked the staircase.

Zhao Fengxiang and the others hid under the corridor, thinking that they wouldn't be hit by the stones anymore and were just about to sneak up and cut down Brother Cheng and the others. Suddenly, with several "轰轰轰" (I used the pinyin here to represent the sound of the collapse) sounds, the entire rooftop above the corridor collapsed, and more than a hundred members of the Jiang Bang huddled inside were smashed and crying out in pain. As soon as the rooftop of the corridor on the first floor collapsed, the view immediately became clear, and the dozens of people on the third floor started throwing stones and bricks again. After more than ten minutes, almost all the members of the Jiang Bang were injured. Zhao Fengxiang looked around in horror. Now, there were only about a hundred people who could stand and fight. Seeing that the enemy was so well-prepared, he began to have the intention of retreating. He quickly told his subordinates to go back the way they came, but they found that the thick iron gate of the factory building had been locked from the outside and was electrified. They couldn't touch it at all. At this time, on the third floor, several large water pipes had already started to pour water downstairs. Looking at the water gushing down and the high-voltage electricity by the door, Zhao Fengxiang could only shout, "Be careful of the electric shock! Use stones to prop yourselves up." After saying that, Zhao Fengxiang started to call Zhangsun Jincheng and his own father for help.

Chu Tian was drinking Zhuyeqing liquor upstairs and asked Guangzi, "How many minutes' drive is it from here to the urban area?"

Guang Zi thought carefully for a moment and said, "It will probably take about forty minutes." 

Chu Tian nodded gently and smiled slightly. He said, "Inform Brother Hai to start a full-scale attack on the Jiang Gang's territory in 25 minutes. We can at least hold back 300 to 400 elite members of the Jiang Gang here tonight. And ask Brother Hai to tell the people of the Sky Wolf Sect that they can also participate in the operation. Whoever seizes the Jiang Gang's territory can keep it. The Shuai Army won't interfere with it at all." Guang Zi nodded in agreement, took a few steps away, and went to make the phone call that would lead to the complete downfall of the Jiang Gang.