“What is your main line of business?” Shudi asked. “How are you operating in Yide without police detection?”

“We provide housing for women in need,” Nimbo replied, puffing out another ring of smoke and grinning a toothy smile that bared his yellow teeth. “We protect them, and they provide their services to our members.”

“How many?”

“Can I count my money first?” Nimbo asked as he took out the stash of money and started to count. “Twenty-five.”

Twenty-five was a decent size operation. “How about the members in the organization?”

“There are twelve of us including the boss,” said Nimbo.

“What’s the name of your boss?”

“We call him boss, he has no name.”

Shudi raised his eyes curiously. For a boss who didn’t even have a name, Shudi wondered what sort of man it was. To be in charge of the prostitution ring, it was possible he had some sort of money laundering business.

“Yeah, our boss is extra careful. If he finds out I’m providing you information, he’s going to castrate me. The boss is known to be a very powerful martial artist.”

“Oh really?” Shudi thought that martial artists were pathetic. His three bodyguards were provided to him by lawyer Wing Bo. They were underground fighters who participated in illegal matches. They were able to keep him safe for the past seven years he had been in business. “How do you gather the girls?”

“Usually the homeless ones or the runaways,” said Nimbo. “How about your girls?” Nimbo looked at the two girls with lecherous eyes.

“College students with a lot of debts,” said Shudi. “Girls in the villages are better tho, easier to train.”

“It’s too difficult to get them. Same for drugs. We have a lot of clients asking the girls to provide them some, but we don’t have a good line of connection,” said Nimbo. “I heard Boss Shudi has good connections.”

“That’s just a rumor,” Shudi didn’t want to talk about his drug business. Wing Bo was the one who was in charge of gathering clients' data, and Shudi had his men distribute them to the clients.

“That’s too bad. I was hoping to get some myself.”

“If you expand out, aren’t you afraid of the cops?”

“We don’t have a set meeting location, so we have managed to avoid them. They assume we have pockets around town, but they don’t know how we operate.”

After chatting with Nimbo, Shudi had to reconsider the plan to expand into Yide. He had been trying to find someone in the Yide Police Department to act as a mole, but the police force there was unusually well trained and disciplined. Two of Shudi’s men had been captured, and he had not heard back from them. As for the government office, Shudi was even less inclined to send out his mole. He heard that Governor Ning had a tight grip on everyone with political appointments in the Yide office as it was his home base. 

Wing Bo had also warned him about crossing paths with Governor Ning. Although Governor Ning wasn’t a bigshot in the political party, in the province, Governor Ning was king.

In the grand scheme of things, Wing Bo’s boss in charge of the area would not care much. What they really wanted was land around the rural area to grow opiates and marijuana. Qinbei and Angao were enough, they may not need to expand into Yide.

Shudi looked at Nimbo. Since there weren’t going to be much use, Shudi wondered if they should get rid of Nimbo or get him to join.

“So, what do you think about joining our gang?” Shudi asked. “I heard you don’t have any family in Yide. Why don’t you ask a couple of your friends to come over to Qinbei? It’s much more relaxing than dealing with the cops in Yide.”

Nimbo brightened up. “Boss Shudi is such a good guy, Yide is getting a bit stale. If Boss Shudi has a spot for me, I’ll love to join your operation. How much do you pay?”

“100k a year.”

Nimbo whistled, it was an impressive number. “That’s quite a deal, no wonder there are always people wanting to join your company.”

100k a year to act like a thug was a dream job. Farmers who worked day to night could only hope to make 75k a year.

“So, do you have anyone else who will join us?”

Nimbo laughed.

Just as Nimbo was laughing, the two women by Shudi’s side fainted. Shudi wondered what was happening, but his first suspect Nimbo also fainted. Shudi stared at the two bodyguards.

“What the heck is going on!?” Shudi stood up, but as soon as he did, he fell to the sofa.

The third bodyguard waiting outside heard the disturbance and quickly entered. He panicked upon seeing everyone in the room had passed out. Before he could react, a tiny acupuncture needle dislodged into his wrist and two arms tightly trapped his neck. Within minutes, the third bodyguard was in the same state as everyone else.

Nimbo, or Li Yun disguised as Nimbo, opened the door leading into the hallway and walked toward the back exit. He opened the door, allowing the real Nimbo and former members of the Evils to enter.

"Hey boss! You look good at meself!" Nimbo complimented.

"You're a pain to recreate," Li Yun replied. The waiter only took Rouxi two hours to put together, but it took her six hours to remold his face with plaster and turn into Nimbo.

But even then, he wasn't even remotely as ugly as the real Nimbo. The group of them quickly placed the five bodies in barrels and left the club in a van.

"What should we do with the girls?" asked Nimbo.

"Don't you have housing for them?" Li Yun asked.

Nimbo worked for an organization that took in women who had suffered from domestic abuse. "I could house them temporarily, but aren't you worried they will expose everything?"

"They shouldn't wake up for a day. Offer them money first and then we will figure out what to do afterward."

Nimbo and Li Yun quickly finished their task of unloading the girls into a safe house. The only task remaining was for Li Yun to take the barrels to the wine cellar.

"Wow boss, I haven't seen you since high school, but you have really changed," Nimbo commented before Li Yun left.

"Really, in what way?" Li Yun asked. He didn’t feel any different from high school.

"You're way cooler when you don't try to act cool!"

Li Yun flinched. In high school, he was still exploring his path. "Don't remind me."

"You should keep the tattoos!" Nimbo loved Li Yun inscriptions that his body was permanently marked with Li Yun's inscriptions.

With Li Yun's current strength, he didn't need to inscribe himself with tattoos, but the ones he had temporarily drawn on himself to look like Nimbo made him feel a lot stronger. The 1% added to his existing strength felt completely different from how it felt in high school.