The night passed without incident!
Early the next morning, Li Yi had just gotten out of bed and was about to go downstairs for breakfast when he saw Huang Lixing, Yang Wenguang, and Yan Guangming sitting in the living room on the first floor.
There were some leftovers on the table in front of them—clearly, they had finished eating some time ago. He had no idea when they had arrived.
“When did you guys get here? Why didn’t you wake me up?”
As he spoke, Li Yi instinctively glanced at Zhang Ziqiang beside him.
Yang Wenguang immediately replied, “We got here a little after six. I told Captain Zhang not to disturb you—after all, you’ve got to deal with those people today, so you need to get some rest.”
Li Yi nodded, then looked at the three men, their eyes bloodshot, and asked, “Didn’t sleep all night?”
“Yeah, we didn’t sleep!”
“How did it go?” Li Yi asked again.
“Mission accomplished!”
Yang Wenguang then explained in detail, “We launched our operation right on schedule at nine o’clock last night. We sent out a vanguard team to lead the way, carrying out infiltration strikes against the headquarters and main branches of those gangs. Aside from the Yamaguchi-gumi operation, where the enemy detected us and we had to resort to a full-scale assault, the operations against the other four gangs went very smoothly.”
“After securing those gang strongholds, we used our prior intelligence to launch raids on the casinos, brothels, and nightclubs controlled by these gangs, and successfully took control of those locations.”
“Finally, we raided the residences of the gang leaders and key members. As of now, we have fully taken control of all five gangs.”
Li Yi nodded in satisfaction, then asked, “What about casualties? Did this attract the attention of the police department?”
“In this operation, we had two seriously injured and seven lightly injured on our side, while we killed 567 enemies and captured 8,688!”
Yang Wenguang continued, “Apart from the die-hard members of various gangs, most of those killed were from the Yamaguchi-gumi. Those little bastards put up fierce resistance—they even had an arsenal set up at their headquarters.”
“Luckily we acted quickly. If those little bastards had gotten their hands on the weapons, it would have been a real battle!”
“Really? What about all that weaponry?” Li Yi asked in surprise.
“It’s all become our spoils of war. There are over five hundred handguns alone, plus assault rifles and sniper rifles—even RPGs. All those weapons combined could arm an entire regiment!” Yang Wenguang said.
“A whole regiment… What on earth were those little bastards up to? Why would they stockpile so much weaponry on Hong Kong Island?” Li Yi frowned.
“According to their confessions during our interrogation, those little bastards were originally planning to fight the 14K for territory. They never expected to be wiped out by us before they even had a chance to act!” Yang Wenguang said.
“Excellent. After this battle, those bastards no longer have anyone to do their dirty work. From now on, they’ll have to compete with us in the business world!” Li Yi said with satisfaction.
Yan Guangming, who had remained silent until then, suddenly spoke up: “Boss, we came here primarily to ask for your instructions on how to handle the prisoners, and also to discuss our next steps.”
Huang Lixing chimed in, “We’ve captured over eight thousand gang members this time. Now that the ringleaders and die-hard elements have been eliminated, most of the remaining ones are just ordinary foot soldiers. They’re only trying to make a living; we can’t just dispose of them carelessly.”
Upon hearing this, Li Yi immediately replied, “I’ve given this some thought as well. My approach is to analyze each gang on a case-by-case basis. For those we can control, we’ll take control ourselves or install trustworthy proxies to manage them—for example, the Tiger Hall and the Green Alliance. After all, their members are our compatriots.”
“If we can’t control them, or if the risks are too high, then we’ll simply seize their territory and deal with the gang members separately…”
“Brother Li Yi, what exactly do you mean by ‘deal with them separately’?”
Li Yi replied immediately, “Take the Yamaguchi-gumi, for instance. Aren’t they stockpiling weapons and gear to fight the 14K for territory? Well, we’ll just hand all those little Japs over to the 14K. I’m sure Old Master Ge will be quite pleased with our gift. As for how they deal with those little Japs, that’s none of our business.”
“What a clever move—using someone else’s knife to do the killing!” Huang Lixing remarked.
“No, this is called ‘offering flowers to Buddha.’ If we wanted to deal with those little bastards ourselves, we wouldn’t need to use someone else’s knife.”
Li Yi continued, “The reason I’m doing this isn’t just to spare our men from too much bloodshed; more importantly, I want to use those little punks’ heads to send a conciliatory message to the established triads, including the 14K, letting them know we have no intention of meddling in Hong Kong’s underworld.”
Hearing this, Huang Lixing and the others immediately understood Li Yi’s meaning.
These two operations had cleanly and decisively taken down these second-rate gangs, which was bound to put the top-tier local triads in Hong Kong on high alert.
After all, two tigers cannot coexist on the same mountain, and one cannot allow others to sleep soundly beside one’s own bed.
Once those top-tier syndicates felt that the Blue Dragon Society and Shield Security were threatening their interests, they would inevitably find ways to target them—and this could even affect Star Investment and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
Although Li Yi isn’t afraid, he doesn’t want to invite trouble.
It’s important to realize that the power of those top-tier triad organizations should not be underestimated; some have membership exceeding hundreds of thousands, and even the British colonial government dared not provoke them lightly.
Li Yi was running a legitimate business and had no intention of getting involved in Hong Kong’s underworld, so there was absolutely no need to make enemies.
After grasping Li Yi’s reasoning, the others were deeply impressed; his strategic vision was truly on a different level from their own.
Just as they were marveling at this, Li Yi’s voice rang out again: “As for the next steps, while you’re dealing with these triads, keep having your men surround the police station…”
Before he could finish, Huang Lixing spoke up in confusion: “Brother Li Yi, we’ve already taken control of those triads. Why do we still need to keep surrounding the police station?”
“Let someone else do the dirty work!”
Huang Lixing was taken aback for a moment, then asked in confusion, “Whose knife are we borrowing, and who are we killing?”
Li Yi smiled and said, “Old Huang, what do you think the police station’s reaction will be once they find out we’ve wiped out those gangs in one fell swoop?”
“They’d probably release those bastards immediately to clean up the mess and see if they can rally some new henchmen!” Huang Lixing said.
“Under normal circumstances, that’s perfectly reasonable. But if the police station is now surrounded by the public, demanding that the government severely punish those despicable gang leaders, do you think the police would still release those bastards?” Li Yi said with a half-smile.
Whoa!
Huang Lixing couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath!
Knowing those ruthless bastards at the police station as he did, if they were truly faced with such a situation, they would abandon Meng Lin, Yamada, and the others without a second thought.
After all, once those triad gangs were wiped out, Meng Lin and the others would be left completely powerless and utterly worthless.
If their heads could be used to quell the public’s anger, both the police headquarters and the Governor’s Office would likely welcome it.
“Brother Li Yi, are you asking for the police department’s permission to kill those triad bosses?”
Li Yi nodded and said, “In this line of work, what goes around comes around. The moment they used underhanded tactics to harm our brothers, their fate was already sealed!”
However, there were some things Li Yi didn’t say. His actions weren’t merely to avenge the crew members of the Blue Dragon Society who had died so tragically; they were also meant to strike a blow against—and even serve as a warning to—the Police Department and the Governor’s Office.
Although the current situation prevented him from actually leveling the police headquarters and the Governor’s Office, he had no intention of letting them off easy.
It was easy to imagine that once the British colonial government, unable to withstand the pressure, dealt with the leaders of those triads, their prestige would suffer a severe blow.
After all, everyone in high society knew that those triads were working for the Governor’s Office. Now that they were facing trouble, they were pushing their own underlings out to take the fall—who would dare to work for them or risk their lives for them in the future?
In the long run, whether it’s the Governor’s Office or the police headquarters, they’ll both become toothless tigers, no longer posing any threat to Starry Sky Corporation or the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
After hearing Li Yi’s words, Huang Lixing and the others immediately stood up and said, “We know what to do!”
They then discussed a few minor details before finally leaving Cloud Peak No. 1…
………