The next day, the purchasing continued.
However, no recycling station was willing to part with their waste for him, not even a single one. Even if the offer was twice the original price, they just wouldn't budge.
Upon inquiring, it turned out that the order had come from One-eyed Wolf.
One-eyed Wolf was in fact the General Manager of Fenhuo Trade, but was essentially a seasoned gangster. His real name was Gao Dalang and he had yet another nickname, the Lustful Wolf. He was formerly from the Gao family, but at fourteen, after sleeping with a widow in the village, he was banished from the Gao household and his name was eradicated from the family tree.
Afterwards, Gao Dalang joined the army. He lost one of his eyes after coming back from the Vietnam War, earning him the nickname One-eyed Wolf. Later, he stabbed his own boss to death over a woman.
By the time he got out of prison, society had changed, all industries had been standardized. Left twenty years behind, he was unable to adapt, so he gathered his old subordinates and prison mates and started collecting waste.
Then, in just a few short years, he seized control of the entire waste industry within Northrealm. No one dared to snatch business from him, and anyone who tried to transport waste to L County to sell would be at the receiving end of a brutal beating from him.
Given One-eyed Wolf's brutal reputation, when he gave word, none of the small bosses of the purchasing stations dared to resist.
Li Zhongnan was feeling a headache.
Okay, whether he's a wolf or a tiger, time to deal with him.
Li Datou scratched his head and asked, "Uncle, what should we do about that, One-eyed Wolf?"
"Afraid?"
Li Zhongnan asked with a laugh. He was glad to see fear, for it asserted the presence of survival instinct. He thought for a moment and called out to several young men, "Come on, let's head to Gaokou."
After all, our purchases were limited to around Northern Town yesterday. It's only been one day. There's no way the news would've reached One-eyed Wolf without a snitch. And the snitch had to be among the Gao brothers.
Sitting around and waiting was not his style. Moreover, he didn't have the luxury of time to spend on a tiring standoff. He had to strike first.
Gaokou was just a small village with two to three hundred inhabitants. Even without the Genetic Potion, he would not have feared them. If the Gao brothers dared to touch him, the people of Li Family Village could drown them with saliva alone.
They arrived at the Gaokou purchasing station.
Just as Li Zhongnan got off the car, a red-haired youth seeming to have been waiting for him charged forth, shouting, "Second Brother Li, you've really got guts now, daring to go against Old Wolf!" He tried to slap Li Zhongnan's head.
"Get lost!"
Li Zhongnan gave no thought to who the guy was and kicked him right away. With a loud thump, he was sent flying and crashed into a waste pile five or six meters away.
Everyone looked on in astonishment. He casually kicked a man flying...
This strength, too terrifying!
Especially the young men of Li Family Village. All of them stared wide-eyed, looking at him as if they had just met him. However, their blood had boiled. If their uncle was this strong, what was there to fear!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
Fifty to sixty henchmen swarmed out from a building, surrounding Li Zhongnan and his team in an instant. No doubt, these were One-eyed Wolf's subordinates, specially rushed over from his territories around the cities and towns to handle him.
"Attack!"
These battle-hardened thugs went straight into action without any unnecessary talk, wielding their weapons.
The one who took the lead attacked with a knife, but Li Zhongnan easily dodged and sent him flying with a punch. Then another swung a steel pipe at him, but Li Zhongnan seized the pipe and kicked the attacker down.
One punch for one man! One kick for another!
In less than a minute, Li Zhongnan had toppled more than a dozen henchmen. Moreover, not a single one had been able to land a hit on him. In an instant, all the henchmen were scared out of their wits. They had charged out so ferociously, but now they were hastily retreating, nearly wetting their pants in terror.
They felt as though they were not facing a man, but rather a monster!
How could they continue fighting? He was taking down one with a single punch, what difference would their numbers make!
"Let's deal with them!"
Now or never, Li Datou shouted, leading the twenty or so teenagers from the village and charged forward, randomly swinging their weapons. The group quickly scattered, and within three minutes, One-eyed Wolf's henchmen had suffered defeat and taken to their heels.
Some of the village lads wanted to chase after them, but Li Zhongnan stopped them, "Alright, come back, let's not cause a fatality."
The young villagers returned.
All looked at Li Zhongnan and praised, "Uncle, you're too awesome! Did the spirit of Bruce Lee possess you?" Li Zhongnan laughed and said, "Bruce Lee? I'm more like the second coming of Wong Fei-hung." Even if Bruce Lee were alive, three of him probably wouldn't be enough to beat one of him, so his words were no exaggeration.
At this moment, the Gao brothers were scared out of their minds, practically pissing their pants. One-eyed Wolf's men could run, but they couldn't. They lived here!
Li Zhongnan glanced at the oldest of the Gao brothers. The man immediately fell to his knees in fear, his face pale. He sobbed, saying, "Second Brother Li... no... Big Brother Li... Brother Zhongnan... it's not my doing! I didn't call these people!"
Yeah, right!
Even if Li Zhongnan hadn't come to Gaokou, these thugs would've come looking for him soon enough. If it had been the old him, he would definitely have been brutally beaten and then extorted. Of course, he had no fond feelings for the Gao brothers, but he also wasn't petty enough to square off with them.
With a chuckle, Li Zhongnan said, "Alright, stop your wailing. Just hand all your stuff over to me and we'll call it quits."
"But..."
"Oh? You won't do it?"
Li Zhongnan's face grew cold and the Li village youngsters stepped forward...
In the end, Li Zhongnan took all of the waste accumulated over a week in Gaokou, weighing about twenty plus tons, at their purchase price. However, his resources were already strained. He had no cash, so he gave them a promissory note, telling them to take it or leave it. When he'd pay them back would depend on his own convenience.
When the incident broke out, word spread throughout Northrealm.
Everyone in the waste business was watching and waiting to see how the show would unfold. When One-eyed Wolf's subordinates got beaten up, it was obvious that he would retaliate...
Li Zhongnan was also a bit anxious. No matter how strong he was, he was done for if he got shot a few times. In Northrealm, one could get a piece for few thousand bucks, and it was inconceivable that One-eyed Wolf, an ex-military man, and his veterans wouldn't have a few in hand.
Out of options, he stayed in Li Family Village and observed how things were progressing.
As a result, he waited for ten days and there was no movement at all. It was as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, rumors spread among the locals who speculated that One-eyed Wolf had been scared off by Second Brother Li and was afraid to even step out of his house...
There were stories of Second Brother Li knocking out more than a hundred of One-eyed Wolf's men with just his fists; there were accounts of him going alone into One-eyed Wolf's house, unafraid of dozens of gun barrels pointed at him and emerging unscathed...
More astonishingly, some even claimed that Li had slept with One-eyed Wolf's wife right in front of him and Wolf didn't dare to let out a single fart.
All sorts of rumors circulated, almost deifying him.
At this, Li Zhongnan could only offer a bitter laugh. Although there was some gratification within, he realized that it was not, overall, a good thing. But he was too lazy to fuss over this. Seizing this opportunity, he extravagantly spent all the money he had. Then he issued more promissory notes, sweeping over the waste stations in the neighboring towns.
Within just a few days, the coin count on his system reached 5000.