Rise of the Wasteland Chapter 131 - Refused

Chapter 131        Refused

The crossfire between both parties finally stopped when night fell.

The Zetas members even began to regret going to Downtown Manhattan. They finally realized why Zhou Qingfeng had been hailed by the media as the world's most dangerous criminal of the twenty-first century!

Los Zetas initially had the force of over thousands of people. However, after encountering the opposing force coupled with the mass escape of the members, the enormous gang instantly shrank to just few thousand members. As a consequence, the overall strength of the gang was drastically weakened.

On the other hand, Zhou Qingfeng was even more pathetic. He was barely able to gather even six to seven hundred people. However, after a series of battles and the mass escape of the members, he was now left with under two hundred people. What’s even worse was that the majority of his team members were now either old or weak people. The size of his search team shrank from five hundred people to a mere hundred.

His one-hundred man squad could not even fill up the Kenney neighbourhood. In the end, they decided to stay inside the buildings and the gloomy atmosphere seemed impossible to get rid of.

When Zhou Qingfeng returned to his mobile command vehicle, Jenny, who was terrified, threw herself at him. Zhou Qingfeng could only try to comfort her by gently stroking her back and said, “Everything will be fine, we’ll all be fine. Look, I even got ourselves toilet paper and we won’t be running out of them anymore, at least, for now.”

“I’ve also got some cosmetic products, clothes, and some ladies’ necessities. We’ve robbed a bunch of gangsters when we were in the Brooklyn area and we’ve got ourselves some pretty good stuff. I guarantee that you’ll like them. You’re such a good girl…… good girls don’t cry!”

Zhou Qingfeng comforted her like she was a little girl. However, Jenny felt peace in her mind once she received a solid hug from her man. As soon as Zhou Qingfeng tried to rest for a moment, Katrina gave him a call through the wireless radio and told him that Chinese men from Chinatown had come to find them?

Chinatown…. They’re just a bunch of p*ssies who only know how to deliberate. Why are they here?

Zhou Qingfeng brought Jenny with him to the meeting and their current team lacked in members. Zhou Qingfeng and the other important characters, including Angie and Tony Parker, were all in the temporary meeting room. The familiar faces of Chinatown were in the meeting room as well. This included the middle-aged Uncle Zheng and the young man Marco, who used to serve the U.S. military forces.

“How can I help you?” Zhou Qingfeng asked the two Chinese men.

Uncle Zheng wanted to speak, but Marco beat him to it, “We’ve accepted few hundreds of refugees today and they actually used to serve you. According to them, you’ve been attacked by the Zetas. Therefore, I think that we might be able to lend you a helping hand.”

“A helping hand? From you guys?” Zhou Qingfeng was wondering if the sun rose from the west this morning. These bunch of p*ssis finally dare to stand up to fight?

Marco instantly shook his head, “No, we’ve faced the attack from Zetas too, and we’re currently under pressure. Hence, we won’t be able to lend you any manpower. However, you would be allowed to enter our neighbourhood. We’ll look after you, but only with conditions. You will have to…… “

“We’ll have to follow your order, am I right?” Zhou Qingfeng mocked him. “A bunch of p*ssies are now trying to give us commands?”

Marco immediately wore a look of resentment on his face, but Zhou Qingfeng carried on, “What kind of f*cking pressures are you guys facing? I think we’ve been facing the pressure for you. You guys never showed up when there were six or seven hundreds of us, and now you suddenly appear when we’re having a hard time? The guy with the surname of Ma - you’re pure genius!”

Marco was triggered on the spot, “Ma is not my first name. My name is Marco and it’s my Christian name.”

“Hehehe……, your surname will be Ma from now on then,” Zhou Qingfeng did not seem to really care about him.

Uncle Zheng came up hurriedly in the effort to ease the tense atmosphere. He said, “Alright, alright. I think that’s enough. Are you guys really going to have an internal conflict during such a crucial moment?” He first pulled Marco over then spoke to Zhou Qingfeng, “Little Zhou, we’re really trying to help you with our full sincerity.”

“You have only a hundred people remaining and it’s actually possible for all of you to be dead tomorrow. The thugs from Zetas are crazy and we know that. Look at your losses today? What’s the point to continue working alone? Don’t you think you’ll be better off collaborating with us?

“It wouldn’t be a big deal for you to admit your failure anyway. Just leave this place. I seriously can’t think of any benefits for you and your team to keep staying here. Stop being reckless and act now before it’s too late.”

Zhou Qingfeng however, shook his head and looked at his companions, “What do you guys think?”

Katrina crossed her arms and stood in the corner. She said, “I want to hear your opinion first.”

Butcher looked at the ceiling and said, “Although today, I was only seconds away from meeting God, it felt great.”

Mox did not speak. He lowered his head and cleaned his pistol.

Angie and her father stood together. Tony Parker, who stood by the side, cleared his throat and said, “I love Chinese food, you know that’s true. Would I be able to eat any Chinese food if I were to join the Chinatown gang?”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion.” Zhou Qingfeng pouted.

The troublemaker immediately shrugged and he took a step backwards, “Alright then, I’ll stop talking. No one’s going to listen to me anyway.”

After sinking in deep thought for quite a while, David Lawrence finally spoke, “Zetas is actually not as strong as you have described. We can see from today’s battle that their only advantage is in numbers. If it’s possible for Chinatown to……”

Marco interrupted him before he could finish his words, “No, we will not join the war. Our sources are limited and they’re only enough for us to protect our homeland. We decided to help you and your troop today simply because we’re compatriots.”

David Lawrence was not offended even though he got interrupted. Instead, he gave a nonchalant shrug and said, “Victor’s right. There’s no way a bunch of p*ssies could command us. There will be no leadership within our group if we were to join you guys. We’ll gradually get dragged by you guys towards death.”

The situation instantly turned awkward. Marco was offended and he even tried to leave while Uncle Zheng felt embarrassed. The latter then looked at Zhou Qingfeng and he tried to ask him one last time, “Little Zhou, will you reconsider? We actually need help from you guys too.”

Zhou Qingfeng turned his head around as he felt that someone was pulling his shirt. It turned out that Jenny was watching the entire time. The timid, but mature lady seemed to want him to reconsider. However, he stuck with his decision and said, “Jenny, do you remember the guy named Mobutu?”

“Yes, I do. He’s the security guard of the building where we first met,” Jenny clearly remembered him.

Zhou Qingfeng then continued, “I was once driven to the wall by two mobsters. If Mobutu was beside me during that time, I would have been able to solve the problem easily. However, he chose to leave me. You were the one who helped me in the end, that’s why I’ve decided to keep you by my side.”

“But do you know that I met Mobutu today? He lost one of his legs and was in the middle of the crowd. He even wanted to shoot me when he saw me, however, he ended up getting crushed to death by my backhoe loader. In just a split second, I saw the hopelessness on his face before his death.”

Jenny fell silent after hearing what Zhou Qingfeng said. He then turned around and said to Angie, “Angie, do you remember Cooper? What about Korgan, Cooper’s dad, the infamous leader of the gang from the Queens.”

Angie shook her head. It seemed that she had totally forgotten the young, white man who almost raped her. Zhou Qingfeng continued, “I met Cooper and his dad today as well. Both of them were also in the middle of the crowd. They were pushed to the ground by the others and as a consequence, they ended up crushed to death by the backhoe loader. They died in a worthless fashion.”

Finally, Zhou Qingfeng threw several glances at Uncle Zheng and Marco, who tried to persuade him to join them. “Do you know why I’ve never chosen an easy life? That’s because I’m afraid that I’ll die ingloriously if I were to lose my autonomy.”

“I have decided, even if I were to die, I want to die with honour. I won’t be joining you guys as you simply have no dreams. What difference is there between people and salted fish if men don't have dreams? That’s why I refuse to join a bunch of p*ssies.”

Clap, clap, clap. When Zhou Qingfeng finished talking, Katrina, who was standing in the corner, clapped her hands before anyone could react.

Chapter end