Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

August 1982, 1, night.

Mong Kok, let's be heroes.

The deafening disco music was still blaring, and the colorful laser lights were spinning wildly, cutting through the dim air.

KK huddled in the innermost corner of the booth, her hands tightly gripping the unfinished cocktail, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

"I must have had the worst luck in my life to agree to come to a place like this..."

KK sighed inwardly.

She was feeling down because of her breakup with her boyfriend, so she wanted to meet up with her close female classmates. They had originally planned to just have dinner and watch a movie, but after dinner, the two classmates who usually seemed very well-behaved suddenly started insisting on helping her find new love and dragged her into a newly opened bar.

Although KK frequents bars, she only goes to those run by her brother Dafei. Having been to bars herself, she knows how chaotic they can be. She planned to stay a little while and then leave with her two girlfriends, but less than ten minutes later, her two "best friends" saw some well-dressed "rich guys" waving at the next table and, without hesitation, abandoned her to go and freeload. She was left alone, drinking her sorrows away.

Then, the thug called "Big Guy" arrived. Drugging, verbal abuse, physical altercations... it all happened so fast that her mind went blank, leaving only instinctive struggle and despair.

"Let me go... Do you know who my brother is... My brother is Dafei!"

Unfortunately, Big Fei is still just a nobody in Hung Hing, and Big Guy has never even heard of him, let alone taken him seriously.

When the big guy's foul-smelling hands grabbed her hair, preparing to forcibly drag her away, KK truly thought her life was over.

At this critical moment.

Those long, powerful hands were like an unbreakable iron gate, firmly blocking all the violence.

"You dare mess with my guests on my turf?"

That deep, magnetic voice rang out.

KK looked up, her eyes blurry with tears.

Against the dazzling lights, she could see the man's profile clearly.

The collar of his dark blue suit was slightly open, revealing his defined collarbone; beneath his messy bangs were a pair of eyes as cold as piercing stars; a high, straight nose, tightly pursed thin lips, and a tense, angry curve on his jawline.

Handsome, roguish, yet possessing a reassuring domineering aura.

Ahua.

In that instant, the surrounding noise seemed to vanish, and the menacing claws that had tried to grab her no longer seemed so frightening. KK even forgot the pain in her scalp, and her heart skipped a beat.

So, coming to a bar... isn't such a bad idea after all.

"Ah... Ah Hua?!"

The big guy's expression changed when he saw who it was, but he didn't let go. Instead, he puffed out his chest even more arrogantly, "Mind your own business! I've got my eye on this chick, I'm taking her tonight!"

Although Ah Wah is now a newly appointed Red Pole of Hung Hing, with a rising reputation, in Big Guy's eyes, he's just a greenhorn who's only recently risen to power. In Mong Kok right now, Hung Hing's influence is nowhere near that of Tung Sing. Even though Brother Crow is gone, his remaining power is still enough to crush this newcomer who hasn't yet established himself.

"If I've set my sights on something, it's mine!" the big guy sneered, speaking with extreme provocation. "Ahua, don't let a girl ruin our relationship. Give me some face, and I'll have someone send two flower baskets over tomorrow to congratulate you on your opening, and we'll call it even."

This is typical underworld logic: face is given to each other, and women are like clothes, which can be replaced at any time.

But what he didn't know was that Ahua was waiting for this opportunity to break off all pretense of civility.

"face?"

Ahua loosened his grip on Da Ge's wrist, but then grabbed a bottle of foreign liquor from the table and weighed it in his hand.

"Big guy, have you forgotten the rules of the underworld?" Ah-Hua's voice was calm, but those who knew him knew it was the calm before the storm. "No matter which gang you're in, 'kidnapping women' is a heinous crime punishable by three cuts and six holes. What? Don't you Tung Sing have any manners?"

"Damn it! Don't try to intimidate me with your rules!" Big Guy, enraged, pointed at Ah Wah's nose and cursed, "I'm Crow's man! In Mong Kok, my word is law! I'm sleeping with this girl tonight, not even Jesus can stop her, I said it!"

"Really? Then go explain it to Jesus!"

Before he could finish speaking...

"Bang--!!"

A sickeningly loud, explosive sound suddenly rang out.

The thick-bottomed liquor bottle in Ahua's hand left a blur in the air before smashing it hard and mercilessly onto the big guy's forehead.

"Splash!"

Glass shards flew everywhere, and amber-colored liquor mixed with crimson blood instantly flowed down the big man's fleshy face.

"Awooo—!!"

The big guy let out a pig-like scream, staggered backward, clutched his head, and blood gushed out from between his fingers.

The entire venue fell into a deathly silence.

Even the DJ on the dance floor was stunned by this scene and accidentally turned off the music.

"Boss!"

Upon seeing this, the seven or eight henchmen brought by the big guy pulled out folding knives and steel pipes, roaring as they tried to rush forward.

"Let's see who dares to make a move!"

A loud shout, like a thunderclap, rang out.

The plane, carrying a dozen or so men in security uniforms with ruthless, wolf-like eyes, instantly pressed in from all sides. Although they only carried rubber batons, the murderous aura they exuded, honed through the grueling training at "Luo Jun Boxing Gym," forcefully pushed back the ragtag group from Dongxing.

Especially the plane at the very front, he didn't even have a weapon in his hand, he just grabbed a stainless steel ashtray from the table, his eyes fixed on the big guy's throat, as if he was ready to pounce and tear it apart at any moment.

"I'll say it again," Ahua said, holding a sharp, broken bottle in his hand, pointing at the big guy whose face was covered in blood, his eyes cold as ice, "Apologize."

"You're crazy...you're a madman..."

Big Guy stared at Ah Hua through the blood seeping from between his fingers; he was genuinely terrified. This Ah Hua was completely unpredictable!

"I...I apologize!" the big guy stammered, facing KK. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry!"

"roll."

Ahua threw away the shards of glass in his hand.

"Fine...fine! Ah Hua! You've got guts!" Big Guy, helped up by his underlings, retreated while threatening, "I'll remember this! You wait! Tonight, if I don't wipe out your place, I'll change my name to something else!"

"I'm ready to serve you anytime."

Ahua picked up the wine glass on the table, raised it to the departing figure of the big guy, and looked at him with a mocking gaze.

"Fly, clear the place," Ahua turned around and ordered Fly, "Give all customers a 20% discount, then ask everyone to leave. We're not doing business here tonight."

"Yes!" Although Fly was usually carefree, he knew that something big was going to happen tonight, so he immediately led his men to evacuate the customers.

Upon hearing this, the guests who had been watching the spectacle dared not linger any longer and scattered like birds and beasts.

The female classmates who had abandoned KK now squeezed to the door with the crowd. Seeing KK still sitting in the booth, they had a change of heart and shouted, "KK! Run! There's going to be a fight here!"

KK sat there, clutching her backpack strap tightly. She glanced at the so-called "friends" at the door, then looked back at Ahua, who stood by the bar with a back view as imposing as a mountain.

"You guys go," KK said firmly, biting her lip. "I'm not leaving."

"Are you crazy? That's a gang shootout!"

Seeing that they couldn't persuade them, the female students didn't dare to stay any longer, fearing they would be implicated, and they ran away without a trace.

After finishing his tasks, Ahua turned around and found the girl who had almost been bullied still sitting there, staring at him expectantly.

"Why aren't you leaving yet?" Ahua frowned, walked over, and although his tone was stiff, his eyes softened a lot. "It's going to be dangerous here later. This isn't a place for girls."

"I'm not leaving..."

KK stood up, almost losing her balance because her legs were too weak.

Ahua instinctively reached out and supported her arm.

KK's face flushed red as she was supported by that warm, strong hand again. She lowered her head and mumbled, "It's just someone being attacked, I'm not afraid! Besides, you got into trouble with them to save me, I can't be ungrateful..."

Seeing her like this, a soft string in Ahua's heart was touched.

He sighed and pointed to the stairs on the second floor of the bar: "The manager's office is up there, and the door is burglarproof. Go inside and stay there. No matter what you hear, don't come out. I'll take you home when this is all over."

"Um."

KK looked at Ahua deeply, as if trying to etch his face into her heart, and then obediently ran upstairs to the second floor.

After settling KK in, Ahua's face instantly turned serious: "Airplane!"

"Here!" The plane emerged from the shadows, holding a solid steel pipe in its hand.

"Pull the roller shutter down halfway. Then wake up the brothers and check their gear, take out whatever they can handle."

As Ah-Hua unbuttoned his suit jacket, he pulled a watermelon knife wrapped in newspaper from under the bar. "Tonight, Tung Sing will definitely be out in full force. Tell the brothers not to be afraid. Just hold the door, and we'll chop them down one by one."

"Brother Hua, we only have thirty people. If the other side sends hundreds..." Fly trembled slightly. Although he was holding two watermelon knives, he was clearly not confident.

"Who said there are only thirty of us?"

Ahua sneered and took out the private phone number that Lu Chen had given him from his pocket.

He dialed a number.

"Hey, Yong-ge."

A cold, iron-like voice came from the other end of the phone: "Speak."

"The fish has taken the bait. Big Dongxing went back to get reinforcements. They should be here in half an hour," Ahua said in a deep voice.

"Okay," came the concise and firm reply from the other end of the phone. "I'll be there in five minutes."

After hanging up the phone, Ahua let out a long sigh of relief.

The reason he dared to crack open Big Guy's head and wait here for Tung Sing to sweep the field wasn't just because of his thirty trained rookies.

More importantly, it's because Lu Chen is standing behind him.

Standing there was the fearsome "Jiahe Security".

……

Five minutes later.

"Squeak—"

The back door of the bar was pushed open.

A chilling aura instantly swept in as thirty men dressed in black tactical vests and baseball caps that covered half their faces, carrying special retractable batons but no guns, silently entered.

They were new faces trained by Jiahe Security, and since they hadn't had a chance to take on any missions yet, their backgrounds were all clean. This was a good opportunity for them to put their skills to the test.

They were as silent as ghosts, but the chilling aura emanating from each of them instantly lowered the temperature in the bar to freezing.

The plane looked at the group of people, and for the first time, fear appeared in its eyes. As a wild beast, it could smell the scent of its own kind, and these people... were even more ferocious beasts than it.

"Brother Hua".

The squad leader walked up to Ah-Hua and nodded slightly. "Brother Yong asked me to pass on a message: tonight in Mong Kok, you can cause as much trouble as you want. If anything goes wrong, the boss will cover for you."

"Please thank Brother Yong and the boss for me."

Ahua gripped the long knife in his hand and glanced at the flashing neon lights outside the bar.

At the end of the street, the faint sounds of hurried footsteps and shouts of battle could be heard, the commotion of the Dongxing Brigade gathering.

"Brothers!"

Ahua turned around and looked at the sixty people behind him—half of them were hot-blooded wolves, and the other half were cold and ruthless machines.

"After tonight, I want Tung Sing's flags to disappear from Mong Kok!"

"Get ready to work!"

"roar!!"

In her office on the second floor, KK peered through the gaps in the blinds at the man standing at the front of the crowd below, holding a long knife and with a back as imposing as a mountain. She clasped her hands together and silently prayed in her heart.

The storm has arrived.