Transmigrated as the Villain Boss's Precious Darling-Chapter 138: Collecting Protection Money
"Leave the money!" the lead boy said, his tone menacing. The others wore the same contemptuous expressions, clearly not taking them seriously at all.
Two teenagers and a chubby little girl. They figured they could take them down with no effort. Of course, they were only after money, not their lives. As long as they paid up, they would certainly let them go.
Tang Xiaonan furrowed her brow. ’I didn’t think there would be street thugs like this around. They must be the sort of guys you hear about who collect protection money, right?’
’They must have been watching us for a while, looking to cash in on our hard work. Shameless bastards.’
"Why should I give you any money? Fat chance!" Jim Thorne clenched his fists, his eyes turning fierce.
He wasn’t about to hand over a single cent of the money he had worked so hard for.
Adrian Hawthorne clutched his schoolbag tightly. He had no intention of handing over his money either. ’Give in once, and they’ll come back a thousand times more. Not even God himself can take my money.’
"Go stand over there. Don’t get close."
Adrian Hawthorne gave Tang Xiaonan a push and whispered, "Enough talk. Let’s get them."
Jim Thorne had been itching for a fight. The moment Adrian Hawthorne finished speaking, he charged at the group and sent the lead boy—who was likely the gang’s leader—to the ground with a single kick.
Although Jim Thorne was half a head shorter than the leader, he was incredibly strong. The kick nearly knocked the wind out of the other boy. He’d been running roughshod over this area for more than half a year, but this was the first time he’d ever met "bandits" who didn’t play by the rules.
’Everyone else had always just paid up obediently!’
Soon, they were all tangled in a brawl. Although they were outnumbered, Jim Thorne and Adrian Hawthorne were no pushovers. Adrian Hawthorne, in particular, was vicious with every move, and that was with him holding back. Otherwise, he could have crippled them all.
In less than five minutes, all of the menacing thugs were on the ground. Tang Xiaonan’s jaw dropped in astonishment. ’Holy crap, the future big shot is actually a trained fighter!’
’Of the five thugs, Adrian Hawthorne took down at least three himself. His technique was clearly that of a trained fighter. But why was he always getting beaten up by his three older brothers before? And by the other village kids? Even toddlers could push him around. It seemed like I’d never seen him win a single fight.’
"Still want money?" Jim Thorne snarled, yanking the leader up by his collar and glaring at him fiercely.
"No, no more... Spare me, hero! We were blind and didn’t recognize your greatness."
The leader was beaten black and blue, as were the others. If they had known these two teenagers were straight out of a bandit’s den, they never would have tried to extort them. Life, after all, was more important than money.
"Speak! What gives you the right to take our money?" Jim Thorne’s anger hadn’t cooled. He’d been the top dog on Millstone Peak for eleven years, and no one had ever dared demand money from him. ’These guys must have a death wish!’
"I... We were just collecting a little protection money. This is our turf... Hero... from now on, you can sell anything you want here. I won’t charge you a single cent."
The thugs pleaded for mercy. In truth, they weren’t really thugs, just a group of idle, unemployed youths. They had no interest in studying and hadn’t been assigned jobs, so with nothing to do all day, they’d hit upon a crooked idea: collecting protection money from the small-time vendors who were selling goods on the sly.
The vendors, of course, didn’t want to make a scene, as it would do them no good, so they always paid without a fight. Having gotten a taste of easy money, the youths decided to make a career out of it. It was much better than having a real job. It was just their luck that today, they had run into some tough customers.
"Tch... You think you can protect anyone? I could take all of you down by myself!" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
Jim Thorne looked at them with disdain. The thugs lowered their heads in shame, sneaking a glance at the impassive Adrian Hawthorne, a chill running down their spines.
