The cops arrived and arrested the wounded, battered loan sharks. Inevitably, I was brought along for interrogation, even though the Qin family and my friends served as witnesses to testify that everything was self-defense.
True to his word and honorable despite being a loan shark, Brother Long also admitted everything. Following his example, his lackeys also confessed to the stuff they had been doing, and their illegal businesses were brought to light. It took a while, and my parents were called up, but the cops finally let me go once they were satisfied that I wasn't a common criminal.
Before I left the police station, though, Brother Long had some parting words for me.
"We'll probably spend quite a bit of time in jail, but once we get out, we'll serve under you, boss."
"Huh?! No! you don't have to!" I protested, waving my hands. Brother Long shook his head.
"You're our big bro now. We'll turn over a new leaf and start afresh, but we'll be your subordinates once we're out. I feel like we have a better future under you rather than continuing the loan shark business."
"That's right!" One of the other loan sharks, or ex-loan sharks now, agreed.
"Big bro!"
…I didn't know how to react to that. I wasn't an underground type of person, and I didn't know what to do with these connections. Nor did I have the wealth or influence to give these guys jobs and help them reintegrate into society proper. It wasn't as if I was Han San Qian or one of those overpowered son-in-law protagonists that infested web novels and manhuas these days.
Speaking of which, didn't Han San Qian have command over a notorious gang leader by the name of Brother Long too? Someone who stabbed his own hand as punishment for abducting his wife, Su Ying Xia, and then swore loyalty to Han San Qian because he was friends with some Tang guy who was an influential figure of that city?
Whatever. It wasn't my business. I wasn't Han San Qian (for those not in the know, this statement is a parody of the "super popular" web novel series with a manhua adaptation, I am Han San Qian).
"I'm very sorry!" Mr. and Mrs. Qin were apologizing to my parents, who had shown up in the police station. "Please don't punish your son. He was only protecting us from the loan sharks. He didn't mean to get into a fight, but they were harassing us, so he stepped in to help. He is really a good boy."
"No worries," dad said, raising a hand. Mom didn't look pleased, but fortunately, dad was the one who spoke to them. "I know what kind of character my son is. I believe in."
"Thank you. And please, thank him for us." Mrs. Qin had her head lowered. "If it wasn't for him, we would have suffered more."
"Not at all," mom assured them. "I'm glad nobody was hurt."
"Hopefully we'll get to know each other better in the coming days," Mr. Qin added, and I tried not to roll my eyes at that. "It seems like my daughter is close with your son."
"We'll leave it to the youngsters to decide their own relationships," dad said diplomatically, and the matter was done. Thankfully.
While the adults talked among themselves, I hung out with people my own age.
"I showed you guys my summoned spirit beasts for a reason," I explained to Tong Xue, Hao Ren and Qin Ying. We were still standing outside the police station, waiting for the adults to finish their discussion before we dispersed and went home.
"Yeah, they are pretty powerful!" Tong Xue was staring at me in awe. "You are pretty much a one-man army, dude! You can solo the tournament on your own!"
"No, I can't. Don't forget who we are up against. We aren't fighting common criminals or people from the underground. If Brother Long and his Sea Shark Gang were powerful cultivators, they wouldn't have ended up becoming loan sharks – they would have a better future becoming proper cultivators and fighting against spirit beasts. That makes more money than illegal moneylending. But they couldn't because they weren't…that strong. So don't be deceived by the outcome of the battle earlier."
"That's right. Even your strongest summoned spirit beast is peak Yellow Rank." Qin Ying nodded thoughtfully. "Never mind Long Fan Xue, who's now at Mystic rank, even Li Wang and many of the elite students will be able to fight on par with them."
"Also, my summoned spirit beasts serve as support. They are here to support us human cultivators in combat, not take over the fighting role completely. They are powerful assets, to be sure, but in the end, we are the decisive factors. They are here to help us, not do our jobs for us."
"Yeah, in the end, you were the one who took on that Long guy by yourself," Hao Ren agreed.
"Well, the point is, I showed you my summoned spirit beasts and what I'm capable of so that you guys will have a better idea of my combat style and get used to fighting alongside me. We will be able to better teamwork if we know each other's strengths and weaknesses."
Qin Ying nodded, clenching her fists. "I won't let you down."
"…uh, I think I can't do as much as your spirit beasts, though," Tong Xue muttered. He then stared at me. "But how did you do that? That Long fella was right. I have never heard of any cultivators taming spirit beasts. How did you do it?"
"Deus ex Machina."
"Huh?"
I shrugged. "That's the only way I can explain it to you. I'm the chosen one, the protagonist of some stupid power fantasy story, or it's my cheat. I'm a special snowflake. If you don't believe me, I don't know how else to convince you."
"We believe you," Hao Ren cut in before Tong Xue could argue. "What matters is that we know what we can do, and from now on we'll each work hard on developing our powers. Once we figure out what we can do, we can then think about working together during the tournament."
"Exactly." I then glanced in the direction of my parents. It appeared that the adults had finished their discussion. "Well, for tonight, let's just rest. Absorb the qi from the spirit stones I gave you whenever is convenient for you guys. We'll talk again tomorrow."
"Yeah. See you in class tomorrow." Hao Ren raised a hand and waved.
"Thanks for everything," Tong Xue added.
Though the two guys left, Qin Ying stayed behind. At first, I thought she was waiting for her parents, but she reached out to grab my sleeve before I could approach my parents.
"Um…you've done so much for my family, Song Jun Wen. I feel like I should tell you the truth, or it wouldn't be fair."
"Truth? What do you mean?" I raised an eyebrow. Qin Ying sighed heavily.
"When my father told you that we borrowed money from loan sharks because our restaurant business was in the red…it wasn't the entire truth. I mean, it was part of the whole reason, but even so, we wouldn't have racked up such a huge debt from running a business. Sure, people couldn't eat in our restaurants during the pandemic, but we had government help, and we made do with deliveries. Sales were low, yes, but not to the extent where we lost over 500,000 yuan over the last couple of years. And business was picking up after the measures were lifted."
"Um, okay?" I shrugged. "I'm sorry, I have never run a restaurant business before, so I don't know how it works. But you're saying you didn't lose 600,000 yuan just because sales declined during the pandemic?"
"Yes. The real reason why we had so much debt was because…" Qin Ying took a deep breath. "Well, I should start from the beginning. My dad used to own an entire chain of restaurants. We had branches open all over the country. But when the pandemic hit, one of his…uh, friends approached him for help. Offered to be a business partner and suggested all sorts of commercial strategies to keep our businesses viable during the pandemic. My father trusted him, but…"
"Let me guess. That so-called friend turned out to be a fraud, embezzled funds from your father's company and ran off with the money."
"Exactly." Qin Ying wasn't surprised that I could guess the outcome. This was so cliché it actually hurt. What was worse was that it was something that happened frequently in reality, and not just in Hua Xia alone. "Our company shares plummeted overnight, and investors began pulling out. In the end, we were so neck deep in debt that my father had to sell all of our branches and move to this place in the suburbs. Even so, we couldn't pay off the debts fully, and so my father had no choice but to borrow money, not just to pay off the investors that the fraud ripped off, but also to buy this place here. But that landed us in even bigger trouble."
She then looked up determinedly.
"But we will definitely pay you the money back. I swear it."
"I want you to focus on becoming a strong cultivator first," I told her. "I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm not a loan shark. You can pay me back in a few years – yeah, 600,000 yuan might be a lot, but if you become a ranked cultivator, you'll make a lot of money when fighting on the frontlines. Even so, don't be reckless. You won't be able to pay me back if you get yourself killed out there, so I want you to prioritize your survival over everything else."
Qin Ying stared at me for a moment before she looked away shyly, folding her arms. she smiled.
"You really are a nice guy, Song Jun Wen."
"Not really. It's for my self-interest. I won't get my money back if you're dead."
She snorted. "Don't be absurd. Even if I die, my parents will work to return you the money. I know you're aware of that. You're just saying that out of concern for me."
"Interpret it however you want." I shrugged. Then I turned just as my parents came. Mom nodded at Qin Ying.
"I hope everything is all right for you."
"Ah, yes! Thank you for your concern!" Qin Ying bowed deeply. Mom smiled and glanced at me. I knew that look. She seemed to like Qin Ying and was probably going to pressure me to ask her out or something. Ugh.
Sorry, but I had better things to do. Like become stronger. Moreover, if I tried making a move on Qin Ying, I would probably suffer divine retribution from a certain person living under the sea. Not that I would see her again, but somehow, I felt uncomfortable developing a relationship with other girls when I knew she was still waiting out there in the ocean.
"Make sure you take care of yourself," dad added.
"I will!" Qin Ying nodded before scampering off to join her approving parents. Then we went our separate ways. I tried not to feel dread at the conversation that would be coming next.
"Jun Wen," dad said with a sigh. "I know you're only trying to help, but…avoid getting into fights next time."
"Yeah."
"The cultivation techniques you've learned…" Dad paused and looked up at the night sky. The moon was gently shining down on us. "They're meant to be used against spirit beasts and demonic monsters. Not against other humans."
That wasn't exactly true. There were plenty of cultivation techniques developed to combat other human cultivators, and quite frankly, there were plenty of rogue cultivators out there who decided for some reason to abuse their powers and rob, murder and plunder other people instead of defending humanity. Cultivators were supposed to guard the citizens against such criminals as well.
But I was too tired to argue.
"Still, you did a good job."
"Huh?"
That was unexpected. Dad was smiling at me, and he ruffled my hair before turning back toward his car. As we clambered in, he strapped himself in the driver seat, looked over his shoulder and grinned.
"Let's go home and rest."