Outside the corridor.
The hospital corridors seemed somewhat empty.
"Crunch."
The ward door was pushed open.
Ryuzaki Makoto stepped out and closed the door behind him.
Three people outside the door immediately looked over.
Masaki Amamiya and Hiroto Amamiya immediately stood up from the bench, their backs ramrod straight.
The woman named Aihua huddled in the corner, her hands clasped together.
Ryuzaki straightened his cuffs, his gaze sweeping over the three tense faces, a slight smile playing on his lips.
He smiled.
"Alright, stop looking so serious, like you're attending a funeral."
"John Lone has woken up."
Upon hearing this, the Amamiya brothers' tense shoulders visibly relaxed, and they both let out a long sigh of relief.
Aihua covered her mouth, her eyes reddening.
Ryuzaki Makoto waved his hand.
"I won't disturb your reunion."
After saying that, he did not leave immediately, but instead turned his gaze to Aihua, who was huddled in the corner.
Ryuzaki Makoto looked away, reached into his pocket, and rummaged around for a moment.
Clang.
A metal key was tossed into the air, arced through the air, and finally landed steadily in Ryuzaki Makoto's palm.
He handed the key to Aihua.
"This is the key to the detached villa of Mitsui Fudosan."
"The location is great, right next to the house where Hiroto Amamiya and the others are staying now, just a few steps away."
"Now that John Lone is awake, you should take him to live with you."
Aihua looked at the key that gleamed silver under the light, appearing timid and hesitant.
Just then.
A large hand suddenly slashed in and snatched the key from Ryuzaki Makoto's hand.
"Smack."
Masaki Amamiya gripped the key tightly in his hand.
He turned his head and glanced at Aiwa.
In his view, this woman was just a burden to his elder brother.
Moreover, what Ryuzaki Shin gave was real money.
Given Ryuzaki Makoto's domineering temper, if it's said to be for his older brother to recover from his injuries, then it's his older brother's private property.
This belongs to the Amamiya family; how can it be handed over to a woman so casually?
If this woman packs her bags and runs away one day, or does something stupid with the house, won't the older brother be the one who suffers?
This kind of thing must be overseen by him, the younger brother.
Masaki turned his head and smiled at Ryuzaki Makoto.
"President Ryuzaki, you're too kind."
"Since this house is for my brother, I'll keep it for him."
He shook the key in his hand with practiced ease, clearly not intending to give it to Aihua.
Ryuzaki Makoto looked at Amamiya Masaki.
This funny guy has now become a bit more shrewd.
Ryuzaki shook his head indifferently.
It's just a villa; for the True Dragon Society, which now controls several territories and has vast assets, it's not even a drop in the ocean.
It doesn't matter who it's given to.
All that's needed is for Amamiya Kenryu to move in.
"Whatever you want."
After saying this, Ryuzaki Makoto turned and walked towards the end of the corridor without giving the others another glance.
...
Night falls.
Lily of the valley.
Orange flames lit up an open space on the school playground.
The charcoal burned in the iron rack, occasionally popping with a crackling sound and sending sparks flying.
A simple barbecue grill was set up there, covered with thick slices of beef, chicken wings, and sizzling pork belly.
The grease dripped onto the charcoal, stirring up a puff of smoke, and the aroma of meat instantly filled the night.
Tadata, Tokaji Yuji, Serizawa Tamao, Izaki Shun, Makise Takashi.
These people were sitting on the ground around the grill, completely lacking any decorum.
They didn't go to any upscale clubs or noisy izakayas, but instead chose this old playground full of cement dust and weeds.
For them nowadays, money is no longer a rare commodity.
Chung-tae is now a junior manager at Zhenlong Credit, handling an astonishing amount of money every day. He is always chauffeured around in a private car and always dressed in a suit and tie.
Yuji Toji and Shun Izaki are Kaoru Kazama's capable lieutenants.
Takashi Makise and Tamao Serizawa, fighting under Goro Ishida, are the sharpest claws of the Shinryūkai.
Each of them, if chosen individually, would be qualified to order the most expensive wine in the best private room in Huyali.
But they still chose to return here.
This is lily of the valley.
It is a crow's nest.
It was where their dreams and ambitions began.
Only when they sit on this cold concrete ground, listening to the wind whistling through the barbed wire, do they feel real.
At this moment, Chuta was covered in sweat and was carrying a bottle of barley liquor.
"Come on, everyone, bring your cups over here, fill them up!"
He poured wine for the people sitting in the circle. The wine was cloudy and strong.
Several people held up disposable plastic cups.
"bump!"
The cups collided, making a dull thud.
No one spoke; everyone tilted their heads back and drank it all in one gulp.
The strong liquor went down my throat like a burning thread going into my stomach.
Tamao Serizawa put down his glass and wiped the wine stains from the corner of his mouth.
"belch--"
He let out a loud burp without any restraint, looking at Chuta sitting opposite him with somewhat dazed eyes.
By the firelight, one could see that Chungta's originally round face was now even rounder, and his suit shirt was stretched into an exaggerated arc by his taut belly, the buttons practically groaning.
Serizawa frowned and reached out to poke Chuta's stomach.
"Hey, Chuta, you used to be able to run and jump even though you weren't skinny. Now look at you, can you even see your toes when you look down?"
"You need to be careful about your figure. You're a cadre of the True Dragon Society, after all. Don't go out looking like an inflated balloon. It's embarrassing."
Upon hearing Serizawa's teasing, Shun Izaki and Makise, who were standing nearby, both let out low chuckles.
Chungta didn't take it to heart at all; instead, he laughed heartily and patted his round belly.
"Slap! Slap!"
The belly bounced back, making a crisp sound.
"You bunch of guys who only know how to fight and kill, what do you know?"
"What's the point of doing business? It's the drinking culture! It's about appearances!"
"If I don't treat those clients well, will money fall from the sky? This is the result of my hard work over the past year and a half at countless drinking parties."
Chungta looked proud, as if his fat body was some kind of medal.
"My belly is full of real gold and silver, the achievements of the True Dragon Society!"
After saying that, he slammed the bottle on the ground and glanced at the other four people.
It was nighttime, and these guys were dressed in dark casual clothes.
If you don't look closely, you can't even make out the outline of their facial features.
black.
It's too dark.
These men had rough, dark skin that gleamed with a bronze sheen in the firelight, and their muscles exuded explosive power even through their clothes.
Chungta pointed at them.
"Don't talk about me, but you four, why are you as black as coal?"
"If we don't light a fire next to you, you guys will be like invisible when you sit in the dark. The only thing we can see when you grin is a row of white teeth."
Upon hearing this, Tokaji Yuuji laughed and cursed, then picked up a piece of coal and threw it at Chuta's feet.
"Get lost."
"Although we are in different departments, we are all doing dangerous jobs."
"Those old guys in charge of training are all freaks."
As Tokaji recalled the intensive training he had undergone, a flicker of trepidation crossed his eyes, but his excitement outweighed any lingering feelings.
"In the training camp, regardless of wind or rain, day or night, we rolled in the mud and were exposed to the scorching sun."
"That kind of intense combat training and physical conditioning is simply unbearable for a human."
"Those who train like madmen, how could they not be tanned? Those who aren't tanned have been worn down on the training field. Those who are sitting here have survived by shedding a layer of skin."
Hearing Tokaji's humorous yet somewhat cruel explanation, the group exchanged glances.
"Hahaha!"
Everyone burst into hearty laughter.
Laughter echoed across the empty playground.
The laughter contained both exhaustion and catharsis.
There was another "bang".
The group raised their glasses again, spilling the wine onto the dry ground.
After finishing the drink, Tamao Serizawa's eyes became slightly more profound.
He picked up the tongs, flipped the slices of meat on the grill, and said without looking up.
"What do you think the boss is doing right now?"
This question caused a moment of silence.
Shun Izaki toyed with the empty wine glass in his hand, gazing into the distance.
"We'll be going to have a head-on battle with Kowloon in three days. That's the Shanxin Society, the last fighting force in the Kowloon Group. The boss is probably looking at the map right now, considering troop deployment and thinking about the details of the decisive battle."
Yuji Tokaji scoffed dismissively and threw a piece of firewood into the fire.
The flames rose, illuminating his defiant face.
"Kowloon? That's nothing."
"The boss definitely doesn't take them seriously."
"Who knows, right now the boss is lying in some high-class hot spring, or drinking some wine that we can only dream of, enjoying life."
Toji has a blind worship of Ryuzaki Makoto.
In his opinion, nothing could make that man even frown.
Takashi Makise remained silent, focusing solely on eating his meat.
At that moment, he suddenly stopped chewing, swallowed the meat in his mouth, and blurted out a sentence.
"Our leader once said that he would take us out of the crow's nest and to see a different world."
Makise raised his head, his eyes shining with an astonishing light.
"He did it."
Everyone was stunned.
The action is frozen in time.
My memories were instantly pulled back to a long time ago.
On the rooftop of this school building, the man stood at the highest point, his back to the setting sun, and said those words to the group of delinquent teenagers.
Back then, they thought the world was all about fists, and that they could dominate Suzuran.
But now, they wear the best clothes, drive the best cars, and have power, money, and status.
They witnessed the true nature of the underworld, the cruelty of power struggles, and the vastness of the world.
Did you do it?
Looking at each other now, and thinking about the power they hold and the balance in their bank accounts.
like...
They really did it.
They are no longer crows trapped in this dilapidated school, but have become the claws and teeth of a dragon circling over the city.
In the silence, Serizawa suddenly pursed his lips.
He slammed the bottle he was holding heavily on the ground.
"Nonsense."
"Is that all you're satisfied with?"
"Back then, the boss said he wanted to dominate Tokyo, to stand at the very top."
"We're still a long way from dominating Tokyo."
Everyone's breath caught in their throats.
Just then, footsteps came from the darkness behind them.
"Oh."
"Who's talking about me behind my back?"