Page 60 of Billionaire’s Ruin

Xiao Wu and I were kept together at first. A single day, maybe a bit more. A room with no windows, no water—just a dented bucket in the corner that served as our toilet.

We tried to hold it in for as long as we could, turning it into a game of who could last longer.

If I remember right, I won the pee challenge but lost the poo one. Or maybe it was the other way round.

After hours of waiting, nobody came.

We tried everything—banging on the door with our fists, kicking with bare feet, throwing our bodies against it until our shoulders bruised.

Nothing happened.

Eventually, we gave up. Sat side by side on the cold concrete, talking about stupid things, dreaming about food, about freedom.

Every now and then, Xiao Wu cracked a joke so ridiculous that we both forgot, for a second, that we were prisoners.

He kept me sane.

He promised me that someone would come for us.

That whoever took us would pay, personally—by his father, by his powerful family.

Maybe it was childish. Maybe I was naive.

But I believed him.

That night, we went without food or water.

At one point, my stomach growled so loudly that it drowned out our whispers. We decided to stay quiet after that—to save our strength for when the chance came to escape.

If hunger didn’t kill us, exhaustion might.

Still, we became brothers that night.

Not by blood, but by choice.

Xiao Wu told me about his family—how they weren’t related by blood, but bound by it.

He spoke about oaths, about loyalty that could never be broken.

How his father and brothers would never abandon one of their own.

He said that to join their family, you had to prove yourself through trials—real ones, the life-and-death kind.

And when you were finally deemed worthy, you’d take the brotherhood oath under Second Brother Guan—a symbol of loyalty, honor, and brotherhood.

Then you’d drink each other’s blood.

That part freaked me out.

I imagined vampires, fangs, blood dripping from necks.

Xiao Wu had laughed.

That same bright, reckless laugh that Dannie has now.

He explained that everyone pricked their fingers, let a few drops of blood fall into a bowl of clean water, stirred it, stirred it and then each took a sip.

No fangs. No necks. Just brotherhood.