Battle Frenzy

“What do you mean ‘what’s the matter’?” Ma Dong smiled as he continued, “I’m fine. Just wanted to drink a bit. Maybe I drank a little too much… hic.”

“Is that so? Then I’ll accompany you a few rounds.” His shot glass was refilled and Wang Zhong immediately emptied it into his mouth.

“Fuck, are you trying to kill yourself!?” Ma Dong was so frightened that he immediately sobered up. He hastily snatched the glass away from Wang Zhong’s hand and cried out, “You idiot! You can’t even hold your liquor so stop pretending.”

Wang Zhong felt a scorching heat within his throat, but spoke through it, “We can talk about those matters now, right? You should just speak about whatever problem you’re facing. Even if I can’t offer any help, you should feel slightly better afterward. Don’t suffer through it yourself. Naturally, if it’s because you’re unable to get a girl, then you can just go drink yourself to death.”

A bitter laugh was followed by a sigh before Ma Dong replied, “Can’t you see I didn’t want to drag you into all this trouble? Even if I talk, I won’t be able to do anything about it.”

“Well, I don’t know exactly what you’re facing, and I also don’t know if I have the ability to help you,” Wang Zhong spoke while directly looking at him, “but I do know that at the very least, I can support you and think of some helpful ideas once I hear it. Even if it’s useless, I can still listen to you whine and grouch about it. Maybe I’ll accompany you with a few curse words.”

Ma Dong was silent for a while before a smile appeared on his face. “When did you become such a gossip?”

His hesitation lasted only a moment before he ordered two cups of lemonade. After a fierce and sobering drink, he shouted, “It’s all because of those broken shits in the family!

“My status is a bit complicated. While I am a member of the Assassin Clan, my surname is actually Ma. In fact, my father was just an accountant of the Assassin Clan, but he actually managed to hook up with a big miss of the Assassin Clan’s main branch. Yep, that would be my mother. This relation was definitely not allowed inside such a large clan, but by the time they discovered it I was already born.”

Ma Dong’s explanation was slow and had a whiff of ridicule and mockery inside. “When they heard such a disgrace had happened to the clan’s name, they actually wanted to kill my father. I have to give credit to my mother’s might. She used various methods and even gave up her right of inheritance to calm them. With the added mediation of an elder and a banishment to St. Mongul, we finally managed to keep our lives.

“We managed to leave the main branch and become a side branch. That should have been the end of it, but recently, that elder just passed away.” Glancing at the wine, Ma Dong swallowed his saliva back and continued, “Now, the clan is currently eyeing our interests here and want to take it all while replacing us with their own people.”

Wang Zhong frowned after hearing Ma Dong’s explanation. “Isn’t that robbery?”

“Robbery? Haha. Those people wouldn’t use such a term. They would just glorify and beautify it. ‘This is all for the sake of expanding our clan!’.” Speaking up to here, Ma Dong clenched his fists violently. He had made plans for his future, but was now about to lose everything.

Ma Dong had always felt slightly inferior to Wang Zhong and Barran after seeing the hard work they put in. Even Grai and Emily shone with their talent. For him, the origin of his self-confidence was his pretty decent family and his good personality. After losing all this, he found he was about to lose the will to live.

“You know I love to be together with you guys. It’s because we’re the same kinds of people; I just can’t get used to those second generation young masters. What I wanted to do was to take control of the Assassin Clan and let those stubborn, obstinate old fools know how big a mistake they made when they chased away my parents that year.” Ma Dong’s eyes were slightly red, his voice a bit hoarse. “But I was wrong.”

“Ma Dong…” Wang Zhong really didn’t know how to console and comfort him. He wasn’t able to offer the slightest bit of help on this matter.

“People have to accept the way they were born.” Ma Dong smiled and continued, “Take my old man for example. He was batshit poor before, and now he’s still batshit poor. Even after marrying Miss Perfect, one would think he’d made his mark, but those aren’t things you’re supposed to have in life. In the end you’ll be forced to spit them back out.”

“Is Emily’s family able to help in this matter?” Wang Zhong couldn’t hold it in and shot out the question. “Emily is the successor to the main branch.”

With a pale face, Ma Dong laughed lightly. “If not for the protection her family gave, do you think I’d still be sitting here? Even now the elders have already made their decision. The only thing left is to determine how to break up and distribute what is ‘theirs’.

“Furthermore, Emily is just a successor. There are many other successors in the Assassin Clan. For large clans, bloodline is just the most basic requirement. Power and ability are the deciding factor. To be frank, Emily had already been eliminated from the running. If she was so important, would she really come to Tianjing? She already gave up on trying. The lass is too optimistic though. It’s best that only you know about this worrying stuff. Don’t let her know all this and just let it pile up like snow during a blizzard.”

After absorbing everything Ma Dong had said, Wang Zhong stayed silent for quite some time.

Similar to Ma Dong, he had also considered reasons why such a large clan like the Assassin Clan would be willing to send Emily to a place like Tianjing. While her fire special ability raised envy and jealousy in the ordinary population, for those large clans like the Assassin Clan it clearly wasn’t enough. He didn’t know how to help Emily who loved to laugh and joke around. But right now, the one in the most dire situation was Ma Dong.

“So what will you do now?” asked Wang Zhong. “That group of people are really blind. Your business capabilities and skills are some of the most outstanding I’ve ever seen.

“Brother, don’t flatter me like that. As if I matter shit.”

“In the short span of a single month, the two of us went from having nothing to constructing a super society with at least three hundred thousand credits in sponsorship. This is our Prodigy Society! I seem to recall its president is a person call Ma Dong!”

“That was just a collaborative effort with you guys. I didn’t contribute at all,” Ma Dong replied with a lowered head.

“The idea of the Prodigy Society was yours. It was also you who gathered everyone together. And the first to acquire a sponsorship was also you. The one to neatly organize everything in the society is you, and the one to chase after and gather more sponsors was you.

“If I were in your shoes, my results would definitely not be as great as yours. And you’re the one to get me those crosswheels. That isn’t something I can just get with money. In your eyes those might have been common and ordinary accomplishments, but I don’t know anyone else who could have done so. You are very strong!” said Wang Zhong.

None of these were things Wang ZHong made up to flatter him. Even if people wanted to sponsor the Prodigy Society, knowing how to spend that sponsorship fund was something that required knowledge and management skills. This included organizing the ordinary members, build up publicity for the society, create a cheerleading squad, order society uniforms, set up society benefits, and all kinds of complicated matters necessary for a society.

Not a single job would appear all that exceptional, but like the worth of scattered change, when it was all added together it involved the arrangement of hundreds of people of the society into a neat and well-organized group, not just anyone could achieve it. Ma Dong didn’t even have an assistant as he did it all. Wang Zhong, as the vice-captain, was just allocated regular work without doing any of it. There was also Ma Dong’s ability to harmonize with people from god only knows what angles and words.

Ma Dong sighed and laughed bitterly. “All of that was due to the resources I had on hand then. I do indeed have many ideas and plans. I wanted to create my own miracles! I wanted to let those who looked down on my parents feel regret and guilt! But look at me now. All of that had just been wishful thinking. There’s just no such thing as miracles in this world!”

The changes that had occurred in the clan was just too big a blow for Ma Dong. It was equivalent to pulling the carpet from under him. He had even reached the point of rejecting himself.

“Can All-Mouthy King not be considered a miracle?”

Ma Dong immediately gawked. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Like that’s considered a miracle. I can guarantee that All-Mouthy King is some ace from a large clan. There’s even a possibility he’s from one of the Five Great Clans of the Federation. Only those kinds of people can bring up a monster like him. Nobodies will always remain nobodies.”

“I am All-Mouthy King,” Wang Zhong said in a calm and unhurried fashion.

“So you’re All-Mouthy…” Ma Dong just stared. “Wait, who did you just say you were?”

“All! Mouthy! King!”