The pale and thin man looked at me and shook his head.
He gave me the vibe of "what the hell were you thinking?"
But I didn't fucking care; you wanted me to 'help' you?
You better work for it.
"Who the hell is this? Boys, let's show him what we can do."
Faisal, seeing how his men were floored so swiftly, rallied the rest to concentrate on the pale and thin man.
They went at him, but his movements were smooth and swift like a snake.
With a slight twist, he elegantly dodged all the punches.
When his palm, which looked harmless, made contact, it caused the victim to moan in pain, slowly kneel, and lose consciousness.
Soon it was only Ramdan and Faisal left standing.
The pale and thin man stopped, looked at me, and said: "So, how do you want to end this?"
Before I could say anything, Bobby picked up his knife lying on the ground.
He walked up to Ramdan and plunged the knife into Ramdan's thigh.
"Ouch… you piece of shit!"
Hearing the swearing, Bobby twisted the knife to exact more pain out of Ramdan.
Ramdan couldn't bear the pain and cried out.
Faisal wanted to move, but the pale and thin man lifted his finger and pointed at him.
Warning him not to be foolish.
"Now we are even," Bobby said as he moved his hands off the knife.
The pale and thin man was impressed with what Bobby did.
He then proceeded to say: "You two be prepared for tomorrow." And then he left.
I went up to Faisal, took out some $100 dollar bills in one hand.
"My name is Sam. Since we are now even, take the money and pay for the medical bills of those injured.
"I hope we get to work together."
I reached out my other hand for a handshake.
I've always believed in keeping more friends and having fewer enemies.
Right now, I need Ramdan's skillset in information gathering.
Faisal took the cash and then shook my hand.
"Nice to meet you. How do we work together?"
"Ramdan, what's your email address? I need you to find out where my Shifu is."
After I took down his email address, I immediately sent a picture of Shifu and information of his last known whereabouts to Ramdan.
"I will let you know when I find out… ouch…" Ramdan replied as he groaned from the pain of his injury.
Bobby and I then went back to his place.
"Phew, I thought we were going to die. How did you know that pale and thin man would come to our rescue?"
"I didn't; it was just a hunch."
"You what…"
I then went on and explained my thinking.
This Amy Lee had eyes on us; if not, the Molotov cocktail wouldn't have struck at such a perfect moment.
For her to want my Shifu or me to go on their expedition, we had some skills or knowledge she desperately needed.
That's why I was confident to take a bet.
"Ha, I knew it. You were always much smarter than me during school days."
Bobby gave me a thumbs up.
This was also why I'm comfortable with him going on the expedition with me.
Even if I made any risky move, he would stand by me without questioning.
"It was a rough day; you want to go and have some fun in the alleys?"
"What fun?" I acted innocently and replied.
No way I was going to lose my important virginity to some stranger in the alleys.
"You haven't tried before?"
"Have you?" I sheepishly asked and threw the question back at him.
"I'm tired; let's sleep for the night."
Bobby avoided the question, and I let him off with it.
It was a long day; I needed the sleep to prepare for what's coming.
...
The next day came very soon.
Bobby and I made our way to my Shifu's antique shop.
Bobby had an eye-opener with all the antiques in the shop.
"Sam, what's this?"
"That's a rare Ming dynasty flower vase. Be careful with it; it costs around $5,000."
"What? Do you know how many fake sex pills I must sell to get the same amount?" Bobby slowly put the flower vase down.
"It's considered a low price; rare and sought-after pieces can go up to millions in an auction," I replied.
Before I could continue, the door opened, and Amy Lee's perfume smell rapidly swarmed the air.
Bobby had the same reaction I had when he saw her.
He looked at her with lust but stopped when he saw the pale and thin man.
How the pale and thin man had taken on ten-over thugs was still vivid in our memory.
"Hi Sam, here's my offer. Join us on our expedition, and you will get a share of the profit."
"How much are we talking about?" I asked Amy.
"The gold ingots might total up to a tonne. If it's pure gold price, not much, $50 million.
"But with the historical significance of the gold ingots as an artifact of the first republic in Southeast Asia, I can get up to $200 million for it. Don't worry about the selling part; I will take care of it.
"Your job is to help me find the gold." Amy replied and took out a cigarette for me to light up again.
$200 million?
It's an amount of money I never could imagine making in my lifetime.
My hands holding my lighter were trembling with excitement.
After the cigarette was lit successfully, I gave her my answer, "I'm in. But my friend here, Bobby, will have to be part of it too."
Amy took a puff and looked at Bobby. "You sure? That means he will take a share of your profit. I assure you that buddies and friends have backstabbed each other to keep everything for themselves; you sure you can trust him?"
"I'm sure." I looked at Bobby confidently, and he too gave me an assuring look.
"All right, welcome to the team. First, let me introduce to you our team leader for this expedition, Mr. Fang."
She waved, and the pale and thin man stepped forward.
He smiled, somehow giving me the feeling of a snake, and greeted us, "You can call me Sea Snake Fang."