The Road to Slaying God

Translator: Grim

Rewriter: Nyamh

“It’s Xiao Yi Ran…Xiao Yi Ran. So?” Liu Biao asked.

“She…what’s she doing here?” Zhang Yang stared at Xiao Yi Ran’s back.

“If we can come here, why can’t she?” Liu Biao said. “Boss Xiao is her older brother, so of course she has to come.” Liu Bao wore an expression that said it was inevitable and right.

“Wait.” Zhang Yang’s eyes widened, and then he took a deep breath in shock only to choke on air like an idiot. Holding out his hand, he let out a stream of coughs. Finally, his breathing calmed. “Boss Xiao is Xiao Yi Ran’s older brother?” His mouth opened and closed like a fish on dry land. He even imagined his eyes goggled in the same way.

“What do you think? If he wasn’t her brother, why do you think so many people at school are afraid of Xiao Yi Ran?” Liu Biao narrowed his eyes at Zhang Yang. “You got something to do with her?”

“No.” Zhang Yang shook his head. “No,” he said again.

“Are you still afraid of when you secretly took those photos?” Liu Bao waggled his eyebrows as an evil smile lifted the corners of his lips.

Zhang Yang felt impatient. And now Liu Biao wanted to mess with him. Zhang Yang grit his teeth—he’d sent himself into the tiger’s mouth.

“Don’t be afraid. First of all, Xiao Yi Ran won’t come to this floor. She most certainly will head straight to the second floor or third floor. Second of all, Xiao Yi Ran’s brother may be scary, but he never meddles in his younger sister’s business.” Liu Biao hesitated. “Well. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Unless Xiao Yi Ran goes to her brother because she wants to quarrel with you.” Liu Bao loved seeing Zhang Yang’s panicked expression.

“Th-then…then let’s leave.” Zhang Yang stuttered. His entire body stiffened ramrod straight even though it thrummed with nerves. It was as if he sat on a cushion of pins and needles.

“Don’t worry. If she really had gone to her older brother, then before summer vacation even started, you would’ve already been killed and dismembered.” Liu Biao laughed.

“You mean—she won’t send her brother after me?” Zhang Yang’s eyes glimmered with hope.

Liu Biao chuckled. “Of course! Would I even have brought you here if that were the case? Oh right, I always wanted to ask you something.” The expression on Liu Biao’s face became unreadable and mysterious. Leaning over, he watched as Zhang Yang lifted the cup of tea to his mouth, and then Liu biao whispered his question in Zhang Yang’s ear, “Why did you put Xiao Yi Ran’s *** online?”

Zhang Yang choked and almost spat out his tea. Turning beet red and choking, Zhang Yang managed to set Liu Biao straight. “She was wearing clothes!”

“Okay, okay. Right now we are not arguing this part. The main point here is: why did you put those photos online? Wouldn’t it have been enough to just keep it to yourself and secretly enjoy them?”

“I…I…I don’t know why, either. At the time, I got hot-headed and just…simply…uploaded them online.” Zhang Yang’s entire face scrunched, practically oozing his regret and grief over the stupidest thing he’d ever done in his entire life.

“I get it, I get it. Good things are supposed to be shared with everyone!” Liu Bao’s face held only lecherous intent as he patted Zhang Yang on the shoulder, making goosebumps rise all over Zhang Yang’s body.

While the two were messing around, the hotel’s waiter had laid out the chopsticks, and a lot of the tables’ occupants had already started eating. In that short amount of time, the quiet banquet hall had become lively. At their own table, Zhang Yang and Liu Bao also began moving their chopsticks.

In reality, the entire banquet hall, save for Zhang Yang and Liu bao wolfing everything down, had good table manners. Many communicated with each other in a friendly way while a few people made rounds with their wine glasses as they moved from table to table. It seemed like they were all treating this place as a platform for networking rather than an actual place for eating food and drinking alcohol.

The food was plentiful. There were four varieties of hotpots that contained all kinds of delicacies and seasonal vegetables. Merely looking at the richness of the food made Zhang Yang’s appetite grow. Of course, his mood also affected his appetite. Since he’d discovered that Xiao Yi Ran wouldn’t tell her older brother, Zhang Yang was finally able to feel like the weight lodged in his heart had lifted.

Though Zhang Yang and Liu Biao were less decorous than everyone else, they didn’t bother anyone. Their table had a few businessmen who were very quietly eating and conversing, seemingly discussing some sort of business with the numbers probably in the hundreds of thousands. [1] None of them spared Zhang Yang and Liu Bao any glances, completely unaware there were two at the table currently mimicking the Japanese invasion of China, sweeping through everything with the Three Alls Policy. [2]

“I’m full. Should we leave?” Zhang Yang put down his chopsticks, his two hands rubbing his stomach. The meal had been worth at least 5 meals at school. And, everything he’d eaten had been either something he’d never had before or was never able to eat on his own. As such, a plate of shrimp had been completely taken care of by him, utterly reduced to a pile of shells. Glorious residue of his battle against the rich food.

“No!” Liu Bao’s face was filled with determination as he vehemently spat on the luxurious carpet beneath his feet, completely disregarding how many numbers could be attached to the cost of the carpet.

“Why?” Zhang Yang blinked. He rarely ever saw Liu Bao with such an adamant expression.

“Because I want to see my idol!”

“Boss Xiao?”

“Yes!”

“Will he come? Since we’ve been here, we’ve demolished an entire meal and then some, yet we’ve not even seen him make an appearance.”

“He will. When we were arriving, he arranged for people to greet the guests. And when the guests are leaving, he will surely come out to greet us.” Liu Bao was full of confidence.

“Yeah, he will probably come out…but…” Zhang Yang hesitated and didn’t say it out loud.

“You’re scared Xiao Yi Ran is going to come along with her brother?” Liu Bao had a trace of a strange smile on his lips.

“This…” Zhang Yang coughed. Liu Biao completely saw through him. A deep red suffused his face.

“Don’t worry. Xiao Yi Ran never participates in her brother’s social activities. She’s only here today because her brother is 36. In actuality, this banquet may be to celebrate a promotion, but word in *** says it’s Boss Xian’s 36th birthday today. If even Xiao Yi Ran came, this rumor probably isn’t fake,” Liu Biao said.

Zhang Yang picked up his chopsticks again and poked around in a plate of steamed peanuts.

Time flowed slowly, Zhang Yang and Liu Bao picked at the plate of peanuts. When they finally finished it all, they still had not seen the main character of the main event.

Zhang Yang noticed a lot of things while he waited with Liu Biao. The businessman at their table had finished discussing their affairs and were left blankly staring at the few hotpots Zhang Yang and Liu Biao had cleared. Occasionally, they turned their heads to peer at the elevator doors. Still, it was apparent that no one had any intention of leaving. They were also waiting.

Their table wasn’t the only that held its audience captive, the entire hall’s tables held their people there. While it looked like people were finishing the last bits of their food, in actuality, they were all stalling. Each person pretended they needed to finish something—whether it be to finish the last dregs of their drink or that last thing they needed to say to so and so or to finish that last rolling peanut on their plate.

Everyone waited so anxiously and so intensely that they practically bore holes into the elevator. And just as a worn-out feeling was starting to pervade the venue, the elevator dinged and a person in a white suit exited the elevator. The Seventh Brother! And from behind him, over a dozen people surrounded him. A group of bodyguards who stood inside the banquet hall immediately formed an escort to protect the host of people exiting the metal doors.

“Boss Xiao.” Liu Bao opened his mouth and then closed it.

“Which one is Boss Xiao?” Zhang Yang asked.

“Behind Seventh Brother…”

Zhang Yang instantly understood why Liu Bao wore such an expression. Though Boss Xiao had also donned a suit, he did not look like the main character of this grand event at all. He strolled behind Seventh Brother like a completely unassuming side character. Because all of the limelight shone on Seventh Brother.

And, at this time, all of the people in the hall stood and bowed to the Seventh Brother, their eyes filled with reverence and fear

Translator’s Notes

[1]: “hundreds of thousands yuan” is at least $14,585 USD (which is 100,000 yuan).

[2]: “Three Alls Policy” was the name of a Japanese policy in China during WW2.