Chapter 3.5 - Righteousness In Vengeance
Su walked over to open the door. His perception wasn’t wrong. The ones outside his door were precisely Li and Li Gaolei. The only one that would knock like this was Li.
Su always felt that Li and Li Gaolei’s relationship was extremely good, but of course, it was mainly due to Li Gaolei’s patience and tolerance. Something that could make Li and Li Gaolei argue so noisily was definitely no small matter.
“Su, I need money! Give me 50 thousand for now!” This was what Li said as soon as she walked through the door. She walked all the way up to Su and only stopped when she was just a centimeter away from him, her eyes staring at him. Su could even clearly feel her breathing.
Su was immediately shocked. 50 thousand was definitely not a small amount! Objectively speaking, this amount of money would be enough for a dragonrider officer to be promoted a level. Li Gaolei seemed to have some understanding towards the dragonrider’s pricing system, so he pulled Li back and moved her away from Su’s face before shouting, “Li, enough! Don’t make such a fuss anymore! This isn’t something you can make a joke out of!”
Li forcefully flung her arm, her four levels of ability not something Li Gaolei could hold onto at all. He was directly thrown into the corner of the room. Li turned around to look at him, and with a stubborn expression, she shouted, “I’m not joking! You aren’t a woman, but I am! I don’t want Sally to continue selling herself and sleep with those vile men! You don’t have that much money to help her, which is fine, but I do!”
Li Gaolei rushed over to grab Li once again. His voice also became louder. “Do you know what Sally wants to do that requires that much money? Do you know what 50 thousand from the dragonriders signify? Do you have money? Do you really?! You just want to ask for money from leader. If you want to help Sally, then you have to be like me and give her the money you earned yourself!”
Li Gaolei was tossed aside once again without any suspense. This time, Li stepped down on his calf to prevent him from crawling back up. With a cold voice, she said, “How old is Sally, yet she has to sleep with men day after day? With each passing day, she has to sleep with many more men! Fine, I can go make it. I’ll go into the underground and fight it out there, or maybe some type of extreme wrestling. I’ll be able to make money quite quickly!”
Li Gaolei wasn’t the only one whose expression changed. Su also began to frown. Even though he didn’t see it himself, Su had heard about this so-called extreme wrestling. That was a type of fighting without any rules or restrictions done purely for the sake of entertaining the spectators. There were both men and women on both sides, even having ferocious beasts and mutated creatures. One of the popular events was having a female fighter fight against over ten different male opponents, as well as vicious creatures. If she won, then it would naturally bring plentiful earnings, but if she didn’t, then it went without saying what type of end she would face.
Su pulled Li away, letting Li Gaolei struggle somewhat haggardly to his feet. He then raised his hand to stop Li Gaolei who wanted to say something before asking Li, “The Sally you are talking about, what is going on?”
Li explained Sally’s situation with just a few sentences, but she didn’t know what Sally wanted and only knew that Sally’s expenditures in Dragon City were particularly high. In addition, she needed money for medical expenses to completely rid her of her mutated tissues, which was definitely going to be quite a bit. Then, Li reached out her hand towards Su and said, “That’s why let me borrow 50 thousand first. You can deduct it from my salary later.”
“Li!” Li Gaolei’s voice turned into a roar, “There isn’t any relationship between Sally and yourself. She is my responsibility! If you ask leader for 50 thousand today for Sally, are you going to ask for another 100 thousand for another girl? There are thousands to tens of thousands of famished people in suffering. How many can you save? Leader’s money is for rebuilding our armed force. Are you going to let your bit of sympathy put everyone in danger as well? Who the fuck do you think you are?! You don’t even know what Sally needs all that money for!”
Li had never been berated so heavily by Li Gaolei before. Her expression immediately became much more pale. Her originally unwavering resolution seemed to have became a bit downcast as well. However, she raised her face and continued, “I will definitely care about Sally’s matters! I said before that you don’t have to interfere, nor does Su have to give me money. I am just borrowing! You don’t have to buy equipment for me in the future. Just use all of that to pay back the debt!”
Su stopped Li Gaolei who was going to speak again. The scene of the first time he met Sally appeared within his mind again.
“If a girl wants to earn money, there is only a single method. Every single lesson here is so expensive, and I have to pay for them all, which is why I need a lot of money.” This was the first sentence Sally spoke that left Su with a deep impression.
In addition, Su recalled another scene, which was a sincere and resolute Sally saying, “I want to learn everything that can be learned, and in the future, I am going to bring this wisdom back to the wilderness. I want to change the wilderness, make it a place where all those living there have enough to eat and no longer be treated like wild beasts by the people here. I don’t want my children in the future to repeat my childhood, I don’t want them to have to use their bodies to exchange for a piece of bread or decaying flesh before their bodies have even matured yet.”
That time, Sally wasn’t like a ten or so year old child at all, and instead like an apostle that had undertaken a heavy mission. Everyone had their own dreams, but most of their dreams would never be a reality. Sally’s dream seemed like the most impossible one of them all.
Back then, Su didn’t help her because he didn’t have the ability to, and he was shouldering an even greater responsibility. Now, Su was extremely hesitant as well, because what Li Gaolei said was correct. At this critical moment, this amount of money was extremely, extremely important. Perhaps, no, not perhaps, but instead quite likely that a few soldiers will be injured or maybe even die in battle due to a lack of equipment. At the same time, for Sally’s dream, 50 thousand was far from being enough. However, Li didn’t know these things, and her understanding towards the Black Dragonriders’ currency system was practically nonexistent.
Su brought out a card and handed it to Li before saying, “Hand this card to Sally and have her store it carefully. There will be 50 thousand inside tomorrow.”
The room sank into a moment of silence.
Li carefully collected the card. This was a rare instance where she didn’t flaunt her victory towards Li Gaolei. She silently walked way. Even though Li had 100 yuan of salary a month, she had never used it, and she didn’t even know what 100 yuan signified to dragonriders. Even though she obtained the money she asked for, Li Gaolei and Su’s reactions made her rather anxious and frightened. Could it be that 50 thousand yuan truly was an extremely, extremely large amount? However, Li knew that Su would make several hundred thousand every time he went out on a mission!
When Li left, Su laughed in apology towards Li Gaolei and said, “It seems like I’m not that good of a team leader. I still let my personal feelings make my decisions sometimes.”
Li Gaolei sighed and brought out two cigarettes of the poorest quality. He handed Su one and then lit it before taking a deep breath. The stinging and somewhat odorous smoke immediately filled the room. Li Gaolei said with a somewhat serious tone. “Leader, this matter… it’s fine as long as you feel like its fine. I just find myself extremely useless, unable to help Sally live the life she wishes to live.”
Su took a deep breath of the cheap cigarette as well. When he heard Li Gaolei’s words, he only chuckled before saying, “It’s fine as long as you tried your best. I feel like the times I feel useless is much more often than you. Sally… I feel like she has her own principles, and also has her own direction. We can help her a bit from the side, or maybe guide her from time to time, but we can’t try to force her onto her future path.”
Li Gaolei looked at Su and said, “Leader, you are treating her completely like an adult. However, don’t forget that she is only a thirteen year old child! Also, leader, the words you just spoke seem like those of someone getting on in his years.”
Su laughed and comfortably leaned against the side of the window. “Perhaps Sally is more mature than all of us! Also, in the future, speak to me with a bit more respect. I’m only twenty… cough, twenty four!”
“Respect?” Li Gaolei began to laugh mischievously. “But I’m already thirty!”
Regardless of whether there was any increase in respect due to their ages, the relationship between these two men seemed to have become even better after this incident.