When a person thinks they have reached their limit, more often than not, they haven’t.

While those people hadn’t yet gotten back up, Bai Youwei moved with clean efficiency — she opened a bottle of medical-grade disinfectant alcohol and poured it over them —

Then struck her cute little lighter with a snap.

The tattooed leader tilted his head back, weeping copiously — from the pepper powder — his eyes swollen and red, tears streaming ceaselessly.

“Stop… achoo! Achoo, achoo!…” His voice had gone hoarse. He forced the words out with great effort: “We can… we can talk this through…”

Bai Youwei seemed to be considering the credibility of his words. She released the lighter, then struck it again with a snap. The flame rose and died, rose and died — she said nothing, over and over again.

Through the entire corridor, nothing could be heard except wrenching coughs and relentless sneezing rising and falling without pause.

The tattooed leader stared at the flickering flame in her hand, his heart trembling, terrified that Bai Youwei might twitch her wrist and set them all alight for real.

After a long silence, Bai Youwei finally spoke: “Who’s the leader among you?”

Without waiting for the tattooed leader to answer, those around him had already instinctively looked over at him.

Bai Youwei said plainly: “The leader stays. The rest can go.”

So those people actually left.

Some fled at full speed, desperate to escape this pepper-powder-saturated world. Some hobbled away with a limp, clearly having been injured in the tumble on the stairs. Others had at least a shred of conscience — they lingered, looking back at the tattooed leader, not quite rushing off immediately.

The tattooed leader gritted his teeth. Was he really going to let himself be intimidated by a young girl? He steadied himself against the railing and stood up with a show of bravado: “You all go! Don’t worry about me!”

The last few people promptly bolted.

Tattooed Leader: “…”

Couldn’t even hesitate for a second?

He caught his breath, forcing himself to maintain his dignity as a man, and looked at Bai Youwei. “I don’t believe you’d actually set fire to anyone. If you did, my brothers would definitely come back for revenge. Little girl, I’m advising you to quit while you’re ahead — because you have no idea who you’ve actually crossed. Let me tell you plainly: my brother Qinglong, in these streets, with one word from him…”

Bai Youwei cut him off: “Can you smell that?”

The tattooed leader paused.

Bai Youwei said: “Just finished roasting one today. Can’t be helped — conditions at the orphanage are so poor, getting even a bit of meat is quite a feat.”

Tattooed Leader: “…”

He seemed to smell… roasted meat…

Could it be…

The man’s face drained of color at a visibly rapid pace.

Bai Youwei let out a soft laugh, put away the lighter, and said: “Close your livestream and come inside with me. I have something to discuss with you.”

She turned and walked into the room by the stairwell. The three small ones followed close behind her.

The tattooed leader stood frozen on the stairs for several seconds, then, with a puzzled expression, slowly climbed up.

……

Inside was just an ordinary empty room — old desks and old chairs stacked in a corner. No obvious traps at first glance.

Even so, the man didn’t dare let his guard down. He stood carefully at a distance not far from the door and asked: “What do you want to talk about?”

“Is your livestream off?” Bai Youwei asked.

The tattooed leader’s brow furrowed slightly. “We didn’t turn it on when we came.”

“Oh?” Bai Youwei smiled a little. “Without a livestream, how do you and your brothers make a living?”

The tattooed leader thought it over and decided there was nothing worth concealing, so he answered straightforwardly: “Only high-intensity events can pull in followers and tips. We normally keep the stream off to avoid losing viewers — we only go live when we’re about to get into a real fight. We also take on some debt-collection work on the side for extra income.”

Bai Youwei smiled and asked: “Isn’t today a fight too? Why didn’t you go live?”

The tattooed leader gave a subtle curl of his lips and replied quietly: “Going up against a bunch of kids doesn’t count as a real fight… Our fights are against other gangs.”

Bai Youwei reflected on this: “That kind of large-scale brawl has a big impact visually, but it’s easy for people to get seriously hurt or killed — and there’s the risk of being detained by the police on top of that. It can’t be done too frequently. It sounds like earning points isn’t easy for you either~”

The tattooed leader frowned: “What exactly are you trying to say?”

Bai Youwei smiled at him warmly. “Cooperation — care to consider it?”