Chapter 36: 36: What can we do? Just live one day at a time.
"How can anger just appear out of nowhere..."
Squatted in the corner of a dilapidated warehouse, Chen Yu, with a bruised face, was drawing circles on the ground with his finger.
Outside the door.
The bald man’s face was icy cold.
Especially after seeing the "title" above Chen Yu’s head, it got even colder.
"Damn it."
"He’s doing it on purpose!"
"His title is ’Proactive Appellation.’ He can become whatever he wants, just on a whim?"
"He’s provoking us!"
"He simply looks down on us, the Iron Blood Gang!"
Clenching his fists, the bald man was furious, "What’s even more infuriating is, he even called the cops! He managed to call them while he was taking a dump! If I hadn’t run fast, our Iron Blood Gang would have been wiped out today! Damn!"
"How dare he?!"
"... Gang Leader." The rank officer beside him, head lowered, heaved a deep sigh, "What do we do now?"
"What do you think?" The bald man squinted, "Why don’t we just take him out."
"Ah? Gang Leader! Calm down!" the rank officer exclaimed in shock, "As the saying goes, a great man can weather any storm. If we kill him, won’t we have struggled in vain?"
"So what do we do?" The bald man was irritable, "Look at that damn title of his, can he be a Gang Leader?"
"I think, we need to play the long game here." The rank officer tried to calm the bald man’s temper, "Think about it, he called the cops, causing our Iron Blood Gang to lose so many people. Yet, we still treat him as usual, what is this? This is returning good for evil!"
"..." The bald man remained silent.
"What’s our ultimate goal? To strengthen the gang! Even for the sake of the financier’s funds, Chen Yu is an indispensable member! Yes, right now, he doesn’t respect us, considering our small scale. So he deliberately changed his title to mock us. But Zhuge Liang visited Kongming’s thatched cottage three times.
With enough sincerity, persistence pays off!"
"..." The bald continued to be silent.
"Gang Leader, you know my character," seeing the bald man seemed somewhat persuaded, the rank officer immediately pressed his advantage, "I don’t have any other strengths, just reliability! Before I joined our Iron Blood Gang, I was involved in multi-level marketing. You can also trust my ability to persuade and manipulate."
"So, what are you trying to say?"
"Just leave Chen Yu to me!" the rank officer patted his chest, "Give me just one week! I will make him understand our difficulties, recognize the potential of our Iron Blood Gang! I will even reignite his ’evil’ nature! Make him fall in love with committing crimes! Turn him back into the [World’s Top Murderer] and lead us to rise!"
"One week?" The bald man raised an eyebrow.
"Exactly! Just one week."
"...Alright." The bald man nodded and turned to leave, "Just one week. If his title doesn’t change back to [Murderer], we’ll take him out."
"You can count on me."
Watching the bald man walk away, the rank officer stood up straight, adjusted his clothes, and confidently walked into the warehouse, "Boss, I’m coming in..."
...
One week later.
"Gang Leader, you know me, when it comes to reliability, no one beats me! But Chen Yu has been heavily indoctrinated by the officials, he’s tough to handle."
"But rest assured, I’ve already cracked his toughest shell!"
"Just give me one more week, ah! Just one last week!"
"I promise he’ll turn over a new leaf!"
...
Another week later.
"Gang Leader, don’t worry. We are almost there! Just one last tremble away from success!"
"That’s right." Chen Yu nodded repeatedly in agreement beside him, "I’ve fully realized my mistakes now. A man should carve out his own piece of the sky! If not to be eternally celebrated, then at least to be eternally notorious!"
"Chen Yu says his title is about to change, right?" the rank officer asked anxiously.
"Yes." Chen Yu raised his middle finger, "I swear, I’m about to change! When the time comes, I will take control of the Iron Blood Gang again and lead everyone to liberate the whole world!"
"So, give us one more week. Just one last week!"
...
Three weeks later.
"Changing today?" Facing the bald man with the gun, the warden seemed to ignore him and asked Chen Yu, "Or changing tomorrow?"
"My title can change whenever I want, but I’m quite superstitious, the feng shui isn’t great these days." Chen Yu shook his head solemnly, "I need to wait for an auspicious day. Eh? Gang Leader, are you here? I’ve thought it through, a life of crime really suits me. I was born for darkness."
"It’s just that he thinks changing his title these days would be unlucky," the warden added.
"Exactly." Chen Yu nodded, "Gang Leader, prepare for it in the next few days. And do some offerings. I’m about to change."
"Three days, at most three days!" The warden thumped his chest resoundingly.
...
Three days later.
"Gang Leader, put the gun down first. I see it this way, a title is a person’s most important business card. And the first impression is a person’s most vital display! So, considering what I and the warden discussed, we’ve decided not to become the ’Top Global Murderer’ anymore. If we change, we go big!"
"Right!" the warden excitedly said, "My boss decided to become the ’Top Global Mafia Boss’ directly! Think about it, isn’t this title cooler than a murderer?"
"Yup yup yup. Just give us three more days. I will completely take over the Iron Blood Gang!"
...
Another three days later.
Facing the bald man who was hysterical with intent to kill, Chen Yu firmly grabbed the muzzle of the gun, gasping, "One day! Just one day! I have OCD! Last time I changed the ’title’, and by tomorrow, it will exactly be a month! How lucky is that! Just one day!"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" the warden shrieked in fear, "Just one day! Give us just one day! If he doesn’t change, you can shoot me too!"
...
One day later.
November 16th.
Chen Yu’s title finally changed.
Amid the bald man’s tears of joy, the warden’s immense relief, and the anticipation of several gang leaders, the title successfully became ’Top Scholar of the College Entrance Exam.’
"..."
"..."
In the empty warehouse, there was dead silence.
The bald man stood, dumbfounded, nearly ten minutes without snapping out of it.
The warden was dumbstruck too, rigid as a statue.
Even Chen Yu himself, who lived by the idea of "one day at a time," was deeply and unimaginably shocked when he saw the title.
"Um..."
"About that..."
"This is what I was thinking."
"Yes. As the saying goes, ’a strong youth leads to a strong country.’
"A gang can consist entirely of thugs. But a Gang Leader must be educated."
"As everyone knows, military advisors like Zhuge Liang are not trustworthy. Thus, as a Gang Leader, one must have considerable culture and wisdom."
"Therefore, I’ve decided..."
Chen Yu couldn’t continue.
The bald man had already raised his pistol, pressing the barrel against Chen Yu’s forehead.
"Click."
The bald man turned to the warden, looking particularly puzzled, and asked, "Genius, I asked you to teach him how to be bad, and you taught him physics and chemistry?"
...