Being carried onto an ambulance at the start? But this is America!

"Big brother!"

Dalton's cousin glanced back, his voice tense, "Our car has tires punctured in the front and back!"

They were surrounded.

Dalton's Adam's apple bobbed as he forced himself to remain calm, glaring at Li Ping: "Who are you people?"

Li Ping then spoke slowly, a slightly amused smile on his face: "Bridge Hole Cleaning and Recycling Cooperation Association, you people from the Sea Whale Gang, coming to our headquarters to cause trouble, and you even ask who we are?"

"Bridge... Cleaning... Cooperative Association?"

Dalton paused for a moment. The name sounded like a cleaning company.

Whose company has its headquarters under a bridge?

His cousin, standing nearby, turned pale and whispered urgently, "Big brother, it's the Bridge Gang! Damn it, this is their hideout!"

Dalton's face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

I had a conflict with them during the day, and then I accidentally wandered into their lair at night. How is this any different from sending a sheep into the tiger's den?

What should I do?

His mind raced for a few moments, then he whirled around—

"Snapped!"

A resounding slap landed squarely on Nova's face before she could react, causing her to stagger and her cheek to immediately swell and turn red.

"You!" Nova said, looking aggrieved, but dared not speak.

When he turned back, Dalton's face was covered with a smile that could be described as enthusiastic and obsequious, and he even slightly bent his nearly 1.9-meter-tall back. His change of expression was astonishingly fast.

"A misunderstanding, a huge misunderstanding!"

He rubbed his hands together, his voice full of regret, "It's all that bitch's fault, she's a complete liar! We really didn't know this was your gang's headquarters. We're so sorry for disturbing you!"

This smooth act of admitting defeat made Li Ping raise an eyebrow, as if he vaguely saw the figure of some old acquaintances who could bend and stretch.

"Sure."

Li Ping gave a thumbs up, "To be able to be the boss, you're definitely extraordinary; you know how to seize opportunities."

However, he still preferred Sheldon's unruly demeanor from earlier.

"Oh, not at all. Compared to your esteemed establishment, we are far inferior, far inferior."

Dalton smiled on the outside, but in his heart he had cursed Nova and his cousin who was in charge of gathering information a hundred times over.

He glanced at the silently approaching crowd, their weapons gleaming, swallowed hard, and decisively tossed the canvas bag at Roland's feet.

"We overstepped our bounds today and shouldn't have listened to slander. We are returning your documents as they are, Ms. Roland, please take a look!"

Roland quickly picked up the bag, hugged it tightly to his chest, and breathed a long sigh of relief.

She got it back, and it didn't cost her any money; the car was also returned.

"Bro, thank you so much!" Roland said to Li Ping with a mixture of surprise and joy.

Looking at Roland's exquisite and beautiful face under the lamplight, Li Ping smiled and said, "That's what happens when we're good brothers!"

Dalton noticed that the encirclement showed no signs of dispersing.

Dalton gritted his teeth and growled at his men, "What are you all standing there for? Pay up! Pay up whatever you have on you!"

The fates of White Raven and the leader of the Shield Gang serve as a cautionary tale; never resort to guns unless absolutely necessary.

The henchmen looked at each other, reluctantly began to rummage through their pockets, pulled out a handful of crumpled banknotes, and finally handed them to Dalton.

"This is just a small token of my apology to my brothers, and I'll buy them some drinks."

Dalton handed over the money, a thick wad of cash, which looked to be four or five thousand.

Li Ping took it, casually weighed it in his hand, and his smile became even more genuine.

"There's an old saying at our university, 'No fight, no friendship.' Now that the misunderstanding is cleared up, we're friends from now on!"

He reached out and took Dalton's hand.

As they shook hands, Li Ping tightened his grip slightly, wanting to test just how much this seemingly burly gang leader really weighed in.

As a result, Dalton's hand was like a soft dough, letting him squeeze it. He grimaced in pain but dared not resist in the slightest, while maintaining a stiff smile on his face.

Li Ping suddenly felt bored and let go of her hand.

Outwardly strong but inwardly weak; their bones are soft.

"Welcome to visit again next time."

Seeing how pragmatic they were, Li Ping didn't want to get into a conflict with them.

"Definitely...definitely..." Dalton's smile was more like a grimace.

Four or five thousand at a time, who can afford that?!

A group of people escorted the nine members of the Sea Whale Gang to the spot outside the camp where they had parked their car.

Dalton's men tried to open the car door.

"Wait a minute," Li Ping said slowly, "Tonight's misunderstanding can't be resolved with just this amount of money and an apology."

Dalton's heart sank.

Li Ping pointed to the old Toyota: "Leave this car here. Bring five thousand US dollars to pick it up tomorrow."

The Chevrolet originally belonged to Roland, so it should naturally be returned to its rightful owner.

Fletcher immediately stepped forward and, with a grin, snatched the car keys from the hand of the tall, thin passenger who hadn't even reacted yet.

Dalton and his men fell silent, none of them daring to utter a sound.

"Of course, that's only right!"

Dalton nodded in agreement, which made him feel even more at ease.

One of the underlings quietly tugged at Li Ping's sleeve and lowered his voice.

"Boss, that piece of junk is worth at most three thousand. If they ask for five thousand, they might just give up on it."

Li Ping suddenly realized, turned to look at Dalton, and his expression was extremely sincere.

"Look at me, we hit it off immediately, I'm so happy I'm almost confused. Since we're friends, five thousand is too much! Here's what we'll do, bring another two thousand tomorrow, and then you can drive away."

Dalton was initially a little pained by the expense, but upon hearing this, he almost thought he had misheard.

Does this person really consider me a friend?

He suddenly felt like he'd made a killing, and finally managed a genuine smile: "Thank you for your generosity, it's a good deal! But two thousand is too little, three thousand US dollars, don't worry, we're friends now..."

He had already planned in his mind that he would squeeze every last penny out of Nova to make up for the losses.

A potential conflict seems to have been temporarily averted in a friendly atmosphere.

There was no other way; Dalton and his men had brought guns.

If they push them too far and open fire, things will escalate, and the police could launch another crackdown at any time.

The lessons learned from the White Crows and the Shield are still fresh in our minds.

The martial arts world is more than just fighting and killing.

The Sea Whale Gang members forced Nova to walk away, her figure looking somewhat disheveled in the night.

Back in the center of the camp, Li Ping jumped onto a wooden crate, held up the stack of spoils banknotes in his hand, and shouted.

"Brothers, you've worked hard tonight. The weekly wage you promised is being paid early—three hundred each this time!"

He doesn't need to advance the funds himself much anymore.

"Thank you, boss!"

The underlings below immediately cheered, their voices echoing under the bridge.

Those temporary underlings and brothers-in-law who were called in to fill in the gaps didn't come for nothing; each of them received a $50 appearance fee.

The four thousand dollars were quickly reduced to only five hundred.

For these young people hanging out on the streets, spending half an hour hiding in a tent and then standing around to earn fifty dollars is like a windfall.

They were all overjoyed, feeling that they had made the right choice by joining the Bridge Gang.

Beside the firelight, after the initial joy, Roland silently sorted through his recovered document bag, but his face didn't show much happiness.

Nova's final look at her, cold and hateful, chilled her to the bone more than the loss of those documents.

The last vestige of hope for a past relationship was shattered by reality.