Chương 23: White Tiger

Lin Shen quietly walked back to his apartment, his footsteps frantic. The sky was still dark with some lights in the surrounding lit up.

He realized his face was covered in blood and his clothes were stained. He used his hands to occasionally wipe the blood that blocked his view. He worried if people saw him, they would report him to the police. There were always a few people hanging out in the surroundings at night time, mostly to get the fresh air.

Lin Shen had to be careful and avoid them. It would be best if he could wash off the blood right now, but there weren't any source of water nearby.

The thought of using the water talismans to wash off the blood crossed his mind, but he quickly abandoned the thought. Only a rich idiot would use a talisman to wash off the blood from his face.

Besides, even using one talisman had cost him a fifth of his total Qi. With his already depleted Qi that was recovering very slowly, it would be a miracle if he could even use a talisman. Yes, he could use his phone to speed up the recovery, but his hands were bloody and he didn't want to dirty his phone.

Well, even if he could use the talisman, it was an offensive type spell so wouldn't it attack him instead if he pointed it at his face? His wounded face definitely wouldn't be able to handle it...

Lin Shen was lucky enough to not have encountered anyone hanging out near the routes towards his apartment. There was no light coming from the windows so he concluded that his dad was probably not home or asleep. He quietly inserted the key and opened the door, afraid of making any noises.

As he stepped in, he noticed the addition of a new pair of shoes, evidence that his father was home. There was a possibility that his father would be awake and he didn't want him to see the blood. He took off his shoes and silently made his way towards the bathroom, when the lights suddenly turned on.

"Lin Shen!" Father Lin sternly stood tall, his arms crossed as he scrutinized his son.

"D-dad…" Lin Shen knew that his father was angry from the way he was using his full name.

Father Lin was just about to reprimand his son when his eyes widened upon noticing the bloody form of Lin Shen, and his stern composure disappeared, replaced by worry.

"Son, tell me what happened. Why is there so much blood on you? Did somebody do this to you?"

Father Lin was worried that his son was being bullied. Earlier, he had just returned from work when he realized there was no one home. He knew his son had an exam coming up so he was expecting him to be studying in his room, but the brat wasn't even home.

He waited near the door with the lights off to catch Lin Shen unaware, but his son coming home with a bloody face was the last thing he expected.

Lin Shen quickly calculated his thoughts on what to say, but the excuses for a bloody face were very limited. After a few seconds, he decided to just tell the truth while leaving out the parts about Xiulan and her father.

"So this is what happened…"

Hearing Lin Shen's explanation, Father Lin was even more worried. If someone from Yu Conglomerate really wanted to kill Lin Shen, there was almost nothing they could do. The power they held compared to the Yu Conglomerate was like that of an ant towards a dragon.

"Son, just go wash up and change your clothes. We'll discuss this after." Father Lin just went towards the living room to sit down on the couch, his body feeling heavy. The present situation was troubling him.

Lin Shen did as he was told. He threw his blood-stained shirt in the trash while his pants went to the laundry bin since it didn't have any blood on it. Soon enough, the stream of droplets poured on him as he rinsed the blood, careful not to damage his already injured face.

As Lin Shen was taking a shower, Father Lin held onto his phone while looking at a certain contact. He gripped the phone tightly as he struggled to decide whether to call or not.

Doing so would bring 'that' life back to him, but if he didn't then he wouldn't have any ways to guarantee his son's safety.

A memory of his wife before her death surfaced in his mind, of her loving figure and warm smile. The memory guided him towards his decision. His fingers tapped on the dial button as he didn't want to lose his only son.

~+++~

City A.

Time around here was a little earlier than in City H, so the city just had its first light.

A construction site.

Wack!

A man was knocked out by a wooden bat that had unknowingly swung behind the back of his head.

The one who had the bat swung it towards his back as he spun around, his ever white hair dashing to the eyes.

"U-gh!"

He glared furiously at the fallen enemy who had just gotten wacked by his bat.

"Trash!"

The white haired bat-wielding gangster stomped on the fallen ambusher, who then coughed blood and fainted. He hurriedly thrust the bat backwards, stopping the new enemy.

The enemy hurriedly stepped back and clutched his stomach in pain. He looked up only to see a bat swinging his way.

Bam!

The white haired man panted as he was out of breath. "A hundred and three."

He surveyed the battlefield as he noticed his three gang members were also done. The enemy gang were all sprawled on the field, their bodies battered and bruised.

He stretched his aching body to get rid of the soreness as he complained. "I'm getting too old for this…"

He took out a cigarette to smoke as he asked his approaching teammates. "Lighter?"

One of them, a young man around 19-years of age, handed him a lighter. "Chief, you know smoking is killing your body. In the past, you could've beate-"

"Alright alright, don't bring up the past. it's been 18 years and I'm already 39. I'm just getting old." He waved his hand to stop the youngster.

A man who had a mohawk hair spoke up, "Chief, we've beaten these 400 trash from the 'River Blood' gang, now what?"

The white haired man, or as he was called, the Chief puffed out a swirl of smoke. "Get the leader here."

The last of the three threw a man down in front of the Chief. "Chief, the leader."

The boss of the River Blood gang held his head in pain, his face had swollen parts to it as he struggled to look up.

"Sigh…" The Chief crouched down, his eyes staring at the fallen leader.

"Why? Why did you do it?"

"...?"

"We Godblood never move unless provoked. I just heard from Mohawk here that you talked sh*t about his hair when all he did was mind his own business and was drinking his beer."

"You even ruined his drink on purpose...just because he wasn't fighting back, did ya think he was weak?"

"W-we...thought...he was...just...a regular...person…" The leader of River Blood tried his best to squeeze out the words.

"Bullshit!" The Chief smacked the leader on the head as he admonished. "The club y'all were at was the Tiger's Underground Club! He wasn't fighting back because of the respect for the club's rules. Only an idiot would believe a regular person would drink there! Plus he has a mohawk!"

The Chief was so angry he just used his bat to smack the hell out of the fallen leader. When there were no more responses, he finally stopped.

"Damned fool! Tch." There was actually such a stupid excuse! He stood up and looked towards his gang members. "Call the other members to clean up the mess. Also, absorb the River Blood gang into the south subsidiary of our gang, and make sure they behave."

"Yes, Chief." The three members answered in unison before getting to work.

Tiredly, the Chief walked away from the construction site-turned battlefield.

Upon reaching a road, he stopped before a black sedan and waited as the driver opened the back seat, before making his way in. The car then drove off along the road.

The Chief still had the cigarette in his mouth as he continued puffing, filling up the car with the smell of cigarettes. The driver was tempted to open the windows, but doing so could get him in trouble. He could only try his best not to breathe in the smell while focusing on driving.

Dalalalala….

As he was busy puffing his cigarette, his phone suddenly rang. He took a look at the caller before breaking into a smile.

"Hey, White Tiger speaking. It's been a while...Black Tortoise…"