Chapter 693

There was a famous entertainment district in Kowloon’s old quarters called Liushang, though everyone simply called the place Red House.

The name fit. The entire building was dressed in red, and it had originally been founded by a senior figure in one of Hong Kong’s old underground societies. The wordplay had stuck, and so had the reputation.

Red House was notorious as a money pit, the sort of place where a wealthy man could walk through the doors and emerge with nothing but an empty wallet and a valuable lesson.

For Evenson, however, there was only one question that mattered.

How much was dinner going to cost?

He’d asked Lily to pick somewhere they could have a reconciliation dinner after last night’s misunderstanding.

He hadn’t expected her to bring him to a building that looked like it had been transplanted out of another era, all old-world elegance and colonial charm.

His chest tightened.

Is she trying to kill me financially because she couldn’t kill me physically?

Evenson was already wondering whether he should call the twins and ask for an early advance on next month’s spending money when a hand smacked him hard between the shoulders.

He turned.

Lily stood there in a leather jacket, cigarette dangling from her mouth.

"What are you staring at? You think I brought you here to pick a girl?" She jerked her chin toward the building beside Red House. "Over there, genius."

Then she swaggered toward the neighboring restaurant without another word.

"Oh."

Evenson finally understood.

Lily might dress and act like one of the guys, but she was still a woman. Claire was coming too. Taking either of them into a place like Red House would have been inappropriate.

And Lily clearly had no intention of doing that.

The restaurant she’d chosen was respectable enough.

Compared to Red House next door, it was positively modest, which also meant the bill was unlikely to require a second mortgage.

Evenson’s heart rate finally returned to normal.

There was one odd thing, though.

The restaurant was completely empty.

It was the middle of the day, yet not a single customer could be seen.

Lily walked inside.

The moment the manager and staff spotted her, they immediately split into two lines and bowed.

"Senior Sister!"

"Mmh."

Lily removed the cigarette from her lips and gave them a casual nod.

Only then did everyone straighten.

The manager hurried forward, smiling from ear to ear.

"I heard Senior Sister was coming, so I closed the entire restaurant for you."

Evenson looked around.

So that explained the empty dining room.

Business wasn’t bad.

The place had simply been shut down for Lily.

Apparently, her reputation carried farther than he’d realized.

"Thanks for the trouble."

Lily patted the manager on the shoulder.

"Don’t worry. I won’t shortchange you when we settle the bill."

"Senior Sister, what are you talking about?"

The manager looked genuinely shocked.

"Having you dine at my restaurant is an honor. How could I possibly charge you? This meal is on me."

Evenson’s face brightened.

Now we’re talking.

But Lily immediately corrected him.

"Someone’s treating me to a reconciliation dinner. He pays."

"Oh. Of course."

The manager’s eyes darted toward Evenson before another compliment rolled smoothly off his tongue.

"Senior Sister is willing to accept a reconciliation dinner from him? That’s a huge honor. Of course he should pay. Absolutely."

Yeah, absolutely.

Evenson gave the manager a dark look.

Just don’t try to turn "he should pay" into "charge him whatever you want," or we’re going to have a problem.

The manager wisely didn’t notice.

They headed toward a private dining room that had clearly been prepared in advance.

As they walked down the corridor, Evenson leaned toward Claire.

"Why is everyone here calling Lily ’Senior Sister’? Don’t tell me this restaurant belongs to the Hong Kong Sanctum too."

"No."

Claire answered without missing a beat.

"Senior Sister’s situation is... complicated."

"Leaving aside her connection to Kamar-Taj, she’s the great-granddaughter of Master William Grant and the adopted granddaughter of Bajiquan master John Grant, who personally taught her the complete art."

Claire lowered her voice.

"That gives her frightening seniority in the martial-arts world."

"And she’s also the adopted daughter of the former Kowloon City walled-city boss Samuel Wong. After the walled city was demolished, many of the people who escaped eventually gathered under her."

"So she has a lot of standing in the underworld too."

Claire gave Lily a sidelong glance.

"She’s still a woman, though. People weren’t exactly going to spend all day calling her ’Grandmother’ this and ’Grandmother’ that."

She shrugged.

"So everyone settled on ’Senior Sister.’"

Evenson stared ahead.

This woman really knows how to build a career.

When they entered the private room, Eddie was already waiting.

He looked significantly worse than he had yesterday.

His nose and cheeks were swollen, with one side of his face puffed out so badly that it looked as if he’d stuffed a dinner roll into his mouth.

Apparently Lily had continued their little conversation after yesterday’s events.

Everyone took their seats.

Lily claimed the head of the table without hesitation.

Claire and Evenson sat nearby.

Eddie then stood, lifted a glass with both hands, and offered it to Evenson.

"Brother, I was in the wrong that night. I hope you’ll forgive me."

Evenson accepted the glass and drained it.

"I was too aggressive too. No hard feelings, Eddie."

They drank.

Just like that, the matter was settled.

At least, officially.

Lily looked increasingly bored.

"Fly."

Eddie froze.

"Yes, boss?"

"You’re done drinking, right?"

"I’m done."

"Then get lost."

Lily waved him away.

Eddie’s face crumpled.

"Boss, please. I haven’t even eaten dinner since yesterday."

"There’s a place across the street that does fried noodles."

Lily didn’t even look at him.

"Go eat there. What makes you think you’re sitting at this table?"

"Oh."

Eddie stared longingly at the food covering the table.

Then, shoulders slumped, he quietly left the room.

"Come on."

Lily picked up her chopsticks.

"Let’s drink."

She clearly treated meals with the same casual attitude she treated almost everything else, so Evenson followed suit.

And since he was paying, there was no chance in hell he was eating less than his money’s worth.

A few rounds later, the dishes had been thoroughly sampled and the wine was beginning to take its toll.

Lily’s cheeks were flushed.

Claire wasn’t doing much better.

Evenson, meanwhile, remained perfectly steady.

It wasn’t his first time drinking with an Asgardian. After a few drinking sessions with Sif, he’d learned an important lesson:

If you drank with Asgardians often enough, eventually you either developed an iron stomach or stopped having organs worth discussing.

Either way, alcohol was no longer much of a threat.

Lily had reached the stage where alcohol loosened her tongue.

She suddenly looked at Claire.

"Little sister, I’ve decided I’m getting out."

Claire lowered her chopsticks.

"Getting out of what?"

"All of it."

Lily took another sip.

"I’m washing my hands of the life."

Claire stared at her.

"You mean you’re leaving the underworld?"

"Exactly."

Claire looked genuinely baffled.

"You want to go back and work at Kamar-Taj?"

She shook her head immediately.

"That doesn’t sound like you. I’m a homebody, sure. You’re the wild one. How are you supposed to tolerate living under Sanctum rules?"

"I’m not going back to Kamar-Taj."

Lily shook her head.

"I just want out of the underworld. I want to settle down and properly run the White Rose shops John left me."

Claire burst out laughing.

"You?"

She pointed at Lily.

"You want to run a barbershop? Do you even know how to use scissors?"

Claire’s grin widened.

"What are you going to do, shave people’s heads with your twin blades? You’d send every customer screaming into the street."

Lily leaned back in her chair with a smug grin.

"Why would I need scissors?"

She spread her hands.

"How many heads are there in this world? Let’s see what these hands can do."

Claire stared at her.

Lily immediately broke into laughter.

"I’m kidding."

She took another drink.

"Even if I go back, I’ll be the owner. I wouldn’t be the one cutting hair."

Evenson lifted the bottle and refilled her glass.

"Then congratulations on retiring while you’re ahead."

He studied her curiously.

"Though I have to admit, I’m surprised. Usually people don’t leave this life until they’re old, worn out, and ready for retirement."

"You’ve still got plenty of years left."

"What made you decide to leave now?"

Claire’s eyes suddenly lit up.

"Wait. Are you getting married?"

She leaned forward.

"Now that would be a story. I’d love to meet the man crazy enough to marry the Tigress of Kowloon."

Lily slapped the table.

"If you said that on any other day, we’d be settling this physically."

Then she grinned.

"But not tonight. I’m in too good a mood."

Her expression faded.

"The truth is, this life just isn’t sustainable anymore."

Evenson raised an eyebrow.

"Really? I only just arrived in Hong Kong, but Claire has told me plenty about your reputation. And judging from the way everyone treats you today, you’ve certainly got influence."

He took another sip.

"Why would someone in your position say the game is no longer worth playing?"

"You only know your own troubles."

Lily waved the question away.

"It used to be manageable."

"But ever since the handover, every boss in the underworld has been looking over their shoulder."

"Especially now."

She frowned.

"Hong Kong’s police chief is about to retire. His two deputies, Commissioner Lau and Commissioner Lee, both want the position."

"They’ve been working overtime to prove themselves."

"And the Organized Crime Unit is taking full advantage of it."

"They’ve been coming down hard on the gangs lately."

"Not long ago, even Boss Shin, one of the biggest players in the city, was killed during a shootout with the police in a parking lot."

Lily shrugged.

"Anyone with half a brain can see where this is going."

Evenson smiled.

"Cracking down on organized crime is good for the city."

He raised his glass.

"And you’ve decided to leave that life behind and take the straight path. Sounds like a good thing to me."

"It is."

Lily nodded.

"At least I won’t have to think about carrying a blade around every day."

Her voice softened.

"It is... peaceful."

She’d been in the underworld for a long time, but she’d never fooled herself into thinking she was one of the good people.

She knew exactly what she’d done.

And she knew exactly what she’d been part of.

"But..."

She didn’t finish.

She didn’t need to.

Walking away from a life built on power sounded easy until you remembered what happened after you stopped being one of the people holding the power.

Evenson watched her over the rim of his glass.

There was still something unresolved in her expression.

"You don’t sound entirely happy about it."

Lily looked at him.

"So let me ask you something."

Evenson set his glass down.

"If you’re tired of how things are going here, would you consider expanding into the States?"

Lily straightened.

"The United States?"

"Exactly."

Evenson smiled.

"I’ve got some connections over there. If you really want to go, I can arrange a few things."

Lily considered it.

"Is our line of work easier over there?"

"Yes and no."

Evenson deliberately kept his answer vague.

"There is a place called Hell’s Kitchen."

"Even the name should tell you something."

"If you want to establish yourself there, you won’t have trouble finding people doing business the same way you are."

He shrugged.

"But you’ll also find plenty of people who already consider the neighborhood theirs."

"So whether you thrive or not depends on whether the Tigress of Kowloon can handle the local predators."

Lily narrowed her eyes.

Hell’s Kitchen.

A den full of criminals.

That sounded familiar.

Aside from the Sorcerer Supreme, when had she ever been afraid of anyone?

Whatever kind of local tough guys waited for her there, surely they couldn’t be more frightening than that bald-headed woman at Kamar-Taj.

Still, Lily eventually shook her head.

"Not yet."

She took a slow drink.

"I don’t think I’m ready to leave for America."

"I want to settle things here first."

"And then I want to go back to the mainland for a while."

Evenson tilted his head.

"To do what?"

Lily’s expression became serious.

"To finish something I’ve wanted my entire life."

"Something you’ve wanted your entire life?"

"Her great-grandfather’s technique."

Claire answered for her.

"No Second Strike."

"My senior sister’s lifelong goal is to master the technique her ancestor was famous for."

Lily nodded.

"Master William Grant was known as the man of the hard fist, the one who never needed a second strike."

"People thought that just meant he hit too hard and killed people with a single punch."

"They didn’t understand."

She lowered her glass.

"His skill had reached such a level that a single strike could kill even when it didn’t land on a vital point."

"That was the true meaning of No Second Strike."

Her eyes hardened.

"I’m his descendant."

"I’m also a woman."

"And ever since my grandfather’s generation, my family has lived away from the original school."

She clenched her fist.

"The martial world has always been full of rules about who is allowed to inherit what. Most traditional schools still favor passing their deepest teachings through the male line."

"I inherited the complete Bajiquan tradition anyway."

"And to some people, that alone is already an offense against tradition."

Lily’s voice grew sharper.

"I’m stronger than anyone in the Grant school now."

"And they still look down on me."

Evenson understood.

"So you want to master No Second Strike as a woman, become the first person since Master Grant himself to truly inherit it, and prove every one of those people wrong."

"Exactly."

Lily’s eyes gleamed.

She was already imagining it.

She could practically see the expressions on the faces of the old-school martial artists when they were forced to acknowledge what she’d accomplished.

Evenson smiled.

"Senior Sister, take a look at this."

He extended one finger toward a roast chicken sitting in the middle of the table.

"Would you say No Second Strike means something like this?"

Lily blinked blearily at him.

The roast chicken suddenly sagged.

She rubbed her eyes.

Then she grabbed her chopsticks and pulled the meat apart.

The skin was untouched.

The flesh was intact.

But inside...

The bones had been reduced to black dust.

Lily stared.

"What..."

She looked up sharply.

"How did you do that?"

He hadn’t touched it.

He hadn’t even moved closer.

With one finger from across the table, he’d destroyed every bone inside the chicken without harming the meat or skin.

So that’s what he was.

A hidden expert.

No wonder the Sorcerer Supreme treated him as a guest.

And no wonder Eddie had returned from yesterday’s encounter in one piece.

Lily leaned back slowly.

"Interesting."

She meant more than Evenson’s trick.

Someone capable of doing that from a distance was unquestionably dangerous.

Claire hadn’t been exaggerating after all.

Yesterday, she’d said Evenson could have done much worse to Eddie if he’d really intended to.

Lily had assumed Claire was merely showing off the abilities of her boyfriend.

Now she wasn’t so sure.

Evenson clearly possessed strength that could rival her own, perhaps even exceed it.

And yet he’d never once used that power to bully them.

He’d spent the entire confrontation yesterday giving her ways to step back without losing face.

Even now, he’d offered a reconciliation dinner instead of escalating the feud.

He understood the value of peace.

Lily looked at him with a faint smile.

Yeah.

This guy really is interesting.