Chapter 456 - You Bend, You Break

Back in the Qing's household, things were going pretty… chill? There was no other way Qing Lok would describe it. Despite knowing that there was a huge possibility that they might be running for their lives soon, it was like things were still normal.

He tapped the clipboard with the pen that he was holding. "I guess that's it," he told Clown. They were down in the armory of yet another one of the stockrooms of Enigma disguised as an empty house.

"How about a drink, boss?" Clown asked.

"Yeah, thank you."

Also, at every stockroom, they had plenty of drinks. The world might end tomorrow. They liked to be prepared. Qing Lok was already running the numbers in his head. His mind might not be like Qing Chen's when it came to solving, but it was a close second.

"We're going to need to order more," he informed Clown. "We also need spares."

They had been making sure that everything in their inventory was accounted for. They were counting every kind of gun and rifle in their possession as well as bullets. They were also checking if each car that they had were in full function and was fully stocked at the trunk.

If you were going to ask Qing Lok, he hated this kind of job. He could easily place a person in each house and do this for him. But Qing Chen would have his head if he did that. Qing Chen was on a closed off mode. Like he was a house and all his windows and doors were all locked with a deadbolt. He was not trusting anybody.

It was good, Qing Lok reasoned with his mind. He was just making sure that they were not putting their lives on the hands of a stranger.

"We might encounter a problem with that," he voiced out to Clown who returned with a glass of two golden liquids. "Make sure that you drop by to the factories tomorrow. Let me know if the boss is there."

"Noted," replied Clown who sat in front of him, his scarred face more scary than all the guns in the room. "You're thinking that the arms dealers already befriended La Hiena?"

"Well, there's nothing wrong with being prepared." He was trying not to let it get to him, but he was worried. He told Qing Chen not to do this. But he did exactly just that.

He was not the one who was calling all the decisions. He was just one of his brother's pawns. Alright, maybe not a pawn. Wuming would have been the horse. So he had to be the bishop. Of course, his wife is the queen.

"A lot of people are on our side, boss," assured Clown.

"We don't know that. One of these smaller MAFIAS," he emphasized, "will bend one way or another." He emphasized because these 'mafias' were not up to par to what they did.

A lot of people still think that modern mafias were the ones on the poorer streets, guns blazing, drunken staff, and drug addicts. They were not doing it like that. They were trying to get some class infused in this line of job.

A mafia was not a small man's business. It was about big money. It was a business empire—a very lucrative one.

"I hope not," said Clown. Qing Lok felt for him. Clown had been one of their best people since forever. He was the one who were the closest to the management and administrative tasks in Enigma. He was the one getting associated with the other smaller 'mafias' to get them as allies. Clown was friends with the other leaders.

"But our rule," followed Clown. "You bend, you break."

Qing Lok shook his head, regretfully. "I'm sorry, Clown. I wish it won't come to that point."

"I trust your brother's decisions. He will see us through this."

Qing Lok smiled at Clown. "He will," he said. But he wished that he had as much of Clown's trust in Qing Chen.

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You would think that Feng Xuan was going to be rocking the party now that she was with the two possibly craziest people breathing on this earth: Addison and Wuming. However...

"I know," said Addison when she Feng Xuan's face. "It's lame."

Feng Xuan tried a smile on. "No, it's great actually. It was nice to make all these rounds."

Wuming laughed from the driver's seat. "Great? I, myself, am bored. But we all have to follow the boss' orders. And he said to check up on everything. Make sure everything is in rightful places. And that we're not getting spied on by some little birds."

"Why don't you just leave the two of us here?" asked Addison as they stopped on yet another one of the rundown bars of Enigma. "We're going to have some fun and you finish up on the last two that we're supposed to drop by on tonight."

"Aw," said Wuming. "Alright, I'll be back as soon as I can."

"What are we supposed to do here?" asked Feng Xuan when she and Addison were already on the pavement.

"We're going to have some fun," Addison grinned at her.

They stayed around half an hour on the bar, drinking drink after drink. They stood up when they were both already in some space in their mind that only alcohol could reach. They tried going to the small dance floor but they both could not handle the smell of sweating and grinding bodies. They emerged from the throng laughing and tripping on their own feet.

"Another drink," Addison told that bartender. "Come on, don't keep Mrs. Qing waiting."

Feng Xuan felt her throat burn as this new drink was both hot and cold in her mouth. "What is that?" she asked.

"The truth serum," said Addison, twirling the umbrella from her glass. "We're going to play something that would bring us closer. We're going to talk about the men in our lives."