Chapter 78: I'll Give You 5 Times

"This is the last time!"

With that, she stepped into the elevator, and Mu Lin quickly followed.

A moment later, Mu Lin headed to the project department while Li Xue went to her office.

Her secretary saw Li Xue and asked, "President Li, did you run into a handsome guy?"

Li Xue was confused as to why her secretary would say such a thing.

"Why would you say that?"

The young secretary gestured at her own cheeks, then gave Li Xue a mysterious smile.

Li Xue pulled out her phone and used the selfie camera to check. She discovered her face was flushed bright red, like a baboon's rear end.

The corners of her mouth were turned up so high they formed a strange arc.

'Oh my god, did I really walk all the way from the parking garage with this look on my face?'

'I must have been a laughingstock.'

Li Xue was mortified. She felt this whole ridiculous incident would probably leave a deep psychological scar.

Mu Lin rounded a corner and arrived at the office. He found the rich kids yawning nonstop as they recited the materials he had assigned them. They looked absolutely miserable.

"How's the memorizing coming along?" Mu Lin asked.

Chen Xi flopped onto his desk and whined, "Brother Mu, you might as well just kill me. This is too hard to memorize! I can't get any of it!"

Mu Lin said, "Take your time. You'll get the hang of it eventually. Our team started late and we don't have much experience, so it's normal to find it difficult. If you were as experienced as Teams One, Two, and Three, you probably wouldn't need to memorize any of this; you could just reel it off."

Zhou Yu said, "So you're saying we're paying the price for slacking off in the past. Everything we were supposed to learn and memorize... we really can't skip a single thing."

Mu Lin gave Zhou Yu a thumbs-up and told them to keep at it.

He, on the other hand, covered his face with a newspaper and fell fast asleep.

When lunchtime arrived, Mu Lin was happily enjoying his meal of three dishes and a soup when a hooded man sat down across from him.

"Chairman Wu is waiting for you. Come with me."

Mu Lin paid him no mind. "Where'd this stray dog come from? Get lost!"

The hooded man said, "Chairman Wu can make two hundred cars unable to start. He can also make them all go up in flames. Believe it or not."

The threat was palpable.

Mu Lin figured he no longer had a choice but to go.

He couldn't be sure if it was a bluff or a genuine threat.

「Underground Parking Garage.」

In a silver-gray, long-wheelbase Audi A8, Wu Long was leaning back in his seat.

Beside him sat a woman who bore a sixty-percent resemblance to Li Xue. Unfortunately, her meek and submissive demeanor left her with no presence to speak of.

She also had the air of a call girl, which shattered any sense of beauty.

Mu Lin walked up to the car. Wu Long gave the woman a look, and she lowered her gaze and obediently stepped out.

Mu Lin glanced at her and nearly had a heart attack, thinking Wu Long had kidnapped Li Xue.

A closer look revealed it obviously wasn't her. It seemed Wu Long had gotten an itch he couldn't scratch last night and found a call girl who looked the part to tide him over.

'It's a wonder he could find a sixty-percent lookalike in this city.'

The woman held the door open for Mu Lin, and he got right in.

"Chairman Wu, didn't you get beaten enough yesterday? Looking for another round?" Mu Lin cracked his knuckles, his gaze turning sharp.

Wu Long waved his hand dismissively and changed the subject to something Mu Lin didn't expect. "What do you think of this car?"

Mu Lin took a closer look. "Seems pretty luxurious."

"If you come work for me, you can drive it away right now."

Mu Lin knew all too well that you can't accept a gift from someone and then act against them.

"I'm not taking the car. Just say what you want," Mu Lin said, turning to look at Wu Long.

"It's true we've had our share of unpleasantness, and I admit I was the cause of much of it. I'd like to apologize."

Wu Long watched Mu Lin with narrowed eyes, gauging his reaction. If Mu Lin proved completely uncompromising, he had no objection to eliminating him on the spot.

Mu Lin mulled it over for a moment before saying, "Since you seem so sincere, I'll accept your apology for now. But you didn't go to all this trouble just to say that, did you?"

"Mr. Mu, you are a man of great magnanimity to be so accepting despite our past conflicts. I am truly impressed."

Mu Lin said, "My lunch break is short and I don't want to waste any more time. Spit it out. What do you want me to do?"

"I hope you, Mr. Mu, will abandon the Li Family and come serve my Wu Family."

Mu Lin's mind reeled. "Are you talking about the Yuelong Group?"

"No. I mean pure loyalty to the Wu Family. You'd handle some matters for the group, of course, but it would mostly be about my family's internal affairs."

"With your abilities, Mr. Mu, you would be in your element. I've always believed that!"

"As for compensation, let's use your current salary as a baseline. Whatever the Li Family is paying you, I'll quintuple it!"

Mu Lin scoffed. "Cut the crap. Before you make big promises, why don't you ask Lu Yi, the guy who pays me? Isn't he your dog? My base salary, not including bonuses, is two hundred thousand a month. You think you can afford to pay me five times that? That's a million a month!"

"As long as you have the skills, Brother Mu Lin, I don't see it as a problem. Pang Dahai met a violent end, and now Guo Lei is handling all my underworld business. Frankly, he's not doing a very good job—at least, not by my standards."

Mu Lin gave a dry laugh. "And you think I'm the man for the job? You're giving me way too much credit. I'm just a regular joe."

Wu Long suddenly let out a sneering laugh that made Mu Lin's skin crawl.

"You think I couldn't tell? The only reason Qiao Canhua showed up at the banquet yesterday wasn't for me—it was for you! I don't know how you arranged it, but that meeting was no coincidence."

"And that proves you have that kind of power."

Mu Lin opened his mouth but was speechless. Wu Long might be a brutish thug who ran with gangsters, but he had his moments of sharp perception. No one had been drinking last night, so everyone's memories were crystal clear.

"I can let everything you've done to me slide, as long as you pledge your loyalty to me and never betray me. With your power, we'll have no rivals left in Anhua City. Even those three great families will have to treat us with respect."

"What's more, I have that project with Shengding International. With that, it's only a matter of time before our influence reaches the provincial capital!"

"Before long, the entire Nanjiang Province will have to reckon with us."

Mu Lin chuckled. "You think that's realistic? Are you the only real person in the world? Is everyone else just some low-level mob waiting for you to beat them down? Step on them once and they die, is that it?"

"Dominating Nanjiang Province? I'd be surprised if you even survive the month!"

'August had just begun, so there was still a long time to go. Who knew what might happen?'

Wu Long's face turned livid. "I waste my breath trying to persuade you, and this is the only answer you give me?"

"Are you not satisfied with this answer, Chairman Wu? If so, there's nothing I can do. I'm just a nobody without any grand ambitions, and I have no interest in working with shady characters."

Mu Lin opened the door and got out of the car.

Furious, Wu Long clenched his fist so tightly that his knuckles made a dull CRACKING sound.

"Mu Lin! You chose to do this the hard way!"

As he walked away, Mu Lin said slowly, "Actually, I think if you were to hurry up and hand the Yuelong Group over to our side, you might still have a way out. If you wait, I'm afraid you won't get another chance."

"In a little while, who knows if the Yuelong Group will even be worthy of the Li Family's notice."

Wu Long's rage was uncontrollable. 'I extend a sincere offer, and this is how I'm repaid? Fine. Don't blame me for what comes next.'

He patted the driver's shoulder. The driver grabbed the microphone of a two-way radio and spoke into it.

Suddenly, six shadowy figures emerged from hiding and rushed toward Mu Lin's retreating back.

'Mu Lin had been on high alert the entire time. A place like an underground garage had plenty of hiding spots; he was sure they had people lying in wait.'

'He just hadn't expected six of them.'

'The Li Group's security team really needs some serious training!'

The six men exchanged a look and, with practiced coordination, launched their attack on Mu Lin.

They were all equally fast, forcing Mu Lin to face immense pressure from six directions simultaneously.

Even a man made of iron would have been crushed flat.

But Mu Lin was completely unafraid. With a flicker of movement, he vanished, and the six attackers ended up crashing right into one another.

The full force of their attacks, meant for him, ended up injuring their own teammates instead.

Mu Lin immediately followed up, lashing out with a kick that sent one man flying as if he were a soccer ball.

The man slammed hard against the wall, leaving behind a human-shaped, bloody imprint.

Wu Long gasped. 'How is this possible? These are top-ten masters from the Nanjiang underground fighting circuit! He had gritted his teeth and hired every fighter ranked from tenth all the way up to fifth.'

'But against Mu Lin, they couldn't even last a single exchange?'