Who Played Who (3)

“That’s the sentence. You should have opened with that line, most gangsters do!” said Ye Lang.

“What sentence?”

“I’m the law here!”

“...”

“Ok, I didn’t pay you and I don’t have the money to. Can you move? I need to pick up the money,” said Ye Lang as he started to pick up the coins on the floor.

“If you don’t accept the drink, don’t blame us if we force it down your throat!” said the thug.

[Note: it’s an idiom- we play nice, yet you’re not, so we’re going to turn into the bad guys now]

“I don’t drink!” said Ye Lang.

“...” The group was dumbfounded.

“Boss, is he playing with us?”

“I can see that!”

“What should we do?”

“What else!? Beat the shit out of him!”

“Yes, boss!”

They jumped on to Ye Lang, wanting to teach him a lesson.

Shing.

The gang saw a flash of light appear and disappear. The next thing they knew, they were all on the floor from crashing into each other.

“Ah!!”

“Don’t you leave you idiot!!”

They turned around to see Ye Lang walking away. They got up to chase after him only to trip on what seemed like their pants.

Their pants had all fallen to the ground…

Laughter erupted from the onlookers.

“Ah, boss, how did your belt break?”

“Boss, us too…”

“Looks like we got played…”

Their belts were all uniformly slashed by a sharp object and Ye Lang was the only person close enough to do that to them!

Could it be him? How was he so fast!

The gang looked at him in disbelief. They were starting to doubt that they would be able to take him down.

If he could do that to their belts, who's to say he couldn’t do that to their necks?

That doubt led them to be too scared to pursue Ye Lang. They didn’t even try to grab the money on the ground, well, they were too slow to do that anyway. When they came to their senses, the money was all gone.

“??”

What happened? There was so much on the ground. Was it him again?

...

“Excuse me, do you know where Ha De House is?”

Ye Lang asked directions every chance he got because he kept losing his way.

He was lost after every turn he took.

The nearest he got to it was two streets away but he was most likely ten streets away from it now.

“Ha De House? I’m going there too, let’s go together.” Ye Lang was lucky to find someone heading in the same direction.

“Thank you!” said Ye Lang.

“You’re welcome. Who knows, maybe we need to help each other later on!” said the person as they smiled.

He was clad in coarse cloth just like Ye Lang. He was most likely a commoner. Maybe because of that he was exceptionally friendly to Ye Lang.

With the help of the man, Ye Lang reached the Ha De House quickly. He saw a lot of people at the door but they were all in a line, queuing.

No way, I have to queue just to enter? What is it with this place?

Ye Lang didn’t know that Ha De House wasn’t usually this crowded. They had more guests than the usual household but not to the point where they needed to queue.

The house was actually recruiting workers at that time. They had always treated their workers really nicely and they were a big family with many powerful members in the empire so many people were interested in working for them.

Everyday there would be people lining up here to get a job and as time passed, more and more people came.

Ye Lang was unaware of this and he thought the line was to meet them. If it wasn’t for the person with him that headed towards the line, he would have just walked up to the door and asked to meet Migen.

Even if they didn’t let him in, he wouldn’t need to line up anyway.

Hence, Ye Lang waited and waited…

“Name, age, specialties…”

“Ye Lang, twenty-two, I’m a swordsman!”

“Swordsman? What level are you?”

“I don’t know, I never took the exam!”

“Just enter!”

It was finally his turn. He naturally answered the questions without wondering much.

He knew that if he answered then he would be able to enter, which was what he wanted.

At that moment, the person that came with Ye Lang looked at him with envy, Ye Lang was headed to a different place than him.

This requirement was for jobs from all the departments so there were so many people present then.

The person was envious of Ye Lang because he thought Ye Lang was headed for a more glamorous department than him, which was the security department.

“??” Ye Lang was confused why they were being separated, did they already know who he was looking for?

Maybe they’re just splitting up the line because there are so many people. I don’t need to meet Migen anyway, I can ask them to pass on the word for me. I’ll just follow their lead!

Soon, he reached the practice arena where they were conducting fitness and skill tests there for the people applying to the security department.

Anyone that was applying to Ha De House would get a background check, but only if they passed this first round, or else they would have too many people to check!

Ye Lang caught the attention of the interviewers and interviewees alike. They all wore an expression of contempt on their faces. Seeing that Ye Lang was just a commoner, he would probably just be a normal security guard.

At the same time, some noticed the odd sword he had. Would it even last in a duel?