American variety show: The Godfather, the Peace Ambassador, what the heck?

Chapter 218 If you hear the Tao in the morning, you will die in the evening.
The events are quite simple.

Brian and his friends were having a blast racing when they were raided by the police, who were there to arrest a group of bikers running an illegal underground racing ring. On their way home, Brian and Toretto stumbled into the territory of the Triad biker gang.

The triad members and Toretto were irreconcilable enemies, and Toretto's intrusion into their territory was seen as a provocation by them.

Brian cursed the bastards on the phone, then complained, "Old Pigeon! They shot my car to pieces! Those bastards! I spent hundreds of thousands modifying that car! Old Pigeon, I'm done for, my car is gone!"

This guy was like a primary school student who had been bullied and was complaining to his parents. He was crying and sniffling on the phone, speaking in a tearful and heartbreaking manner.

The little green car is no longer the beat-up car that the FBI sponsored for him. Brian has put a lot of effort into it over the years, and Luca also funded the upgrades for his car back then. You could say that this car is Brian's "family heirloom".

This time it exploded, and everything was reduced to nothing.

Of course, this was no big deal in Luca's eyes. Those Triad members were just a low-level biker gang with a little money who liked to go around shooting guns with typewriters.

Luca calmly asked, "Are you all alright?"

"It's nothing. By the way, Old Pigeon, Toreto, take your GTR out for a test drive tonight."

"."

"Your GTR didn't explode, but it was riddled with holes."

"."

Luca took a deep breath. "Where are you now?"

The Triads in Los Angeles are not very powerful. The strongest Triads are in Hong Kong, and in the United States, the strongest Triads are not in New York or Los Angeles, but in San Francisco on the West Coast, where they are almost regional hegemons and monopolize many local shady businesses.

The first place where Chinese people immigrated was San Francisco, while Los Angeles was a coastal town a hundred years ago.

The Triads in Los Angeles are just so-so; they gather in Chinatown, which is about the same size as the Korean community in Koreatown.

Torreto's auto repair shop is not far from Chinatown, and he often clashes with that group of triad members, one over territorial disputes and the other over racing.

Who the hell is the king of racing?
Luca remembered that in the original story, the leader of this triad biker gang killed Toretto's men and was killed by a car while being chased by the bald man.

Of all people to mess with, why did you have to mess with your family member?

Now they've also angered Luca.

When he arrived near the Confucius Institute, he saw a Mitsubishi that was smoking and burned beyond recognition, and a black GTR that was riddled with bullet holes.

Police and firefighters also arrived at the scene.

"Old Pigeon, those people are really going too far! We were just passing by, we didn't do anything, and they forced us to stop at gunpoint!" Brian stood under the statue of Confucius, rattling off a complaint.
Luca glanced at the Confucius statue and said, "Do you know the ancient Chinese saying? It comes from the Analects: 'If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening.'"

Brian and Toretto were both completely bewildered because Luca was speaking in Chinese, and although it had been translated, they still couldn't quite understand him.

Luca: "It means that if you hear I'm coming in the morning, you're going to die tonight."

Brian: "."

Toreto: "."

The two looked up at the statue of Confucius and wondered if the old man's virtue of winning people over was actually achieved through "martial virtue".
Brian thought this made sense; if pigeons flew over, wouldn't those people die?

Luca looked at Toretto. "You know where those people are, right? I need their addresses."

Toreto felt a chill run down his spine. "Hey buddy, who are you? Are you really going to come knocking on my door like this?"
He felt guilty after all, having ruined his client's car to such a state that he couldn't afford to pay for it, but he also didn't want Luca to get involved with that gang.

“Luca, those guys aren’t just any biker gang, they’re from the Triads,” Torreto quickly explained. “The Triads are a very powerful Asian gang in the area, and they’re very vengeful. It’s unwise to mess with them.”

Luca pointed to his car, "Are you going to compensate me for my car? I invested over a million in this car, and now it's completely totaled. My investment has gone down the drain. What car am I supposed to drive in the upcoming high-speed race? I'm going to settle this score with them, otherwise any Tom, Dick, or Harry will dare to mess with me."

Brian comforted Torreto, "Dom, tell me their hideout address, and Old Pigeon and I will handle this."

Torreto's friends and brothers all called him "Dom".

Torreto was secretly alarmed by the arrogance of the two men.

Who exactly is Luca?

He can casually pull out a million dollars to modify a car, and he can also "shamelessly" seek revenge against the Triads, so he seems to have a very powerful background.

Torreto was a responsible and meticulous man. Since this matter stemmed from his feud with the Triads, he felt he had to get involved.

He stepped forward and said, "I'll go with you."

Luca smiled and said, "All you need to do is tell me the address."

Are the Russians and the Draña family pushovers? They're just looking for a sucker after their truck was robbed, and now they can get the Triads to rip them off again.

"This GTR is worth 1000 million, any objections?" At that moment, a surprised voice came from behind Luca.

“Greco?”

Luca turned around and saw Vincent. He thought to himself, "You're such a workaholic. Do you even have to worry about this?"
To be honest, with Detective Vincent, the "firefighter," in Los Angeles, Luca wasn't so worried about the robbery. This guy was very good at solving cases; it had even become a skill.

Solving cases isn't Luca's forte, so instead of trying to catch people on his own, he should cooperate with Vincent.

You can also increase your affinity with other characters.

"Officer Vincent, what a coincidence, we meet again."

Is it really just a coincidence?

Vincent stepped forward. "You've been at every crime scene. And don't tell me this is related to your truck drivers' union too."

Upon hearing the word "union," Toreto's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately perked up his ears to listen.

I've robbed quite a few truck drivers these past few months. Hopefully, the investigation won't find out about me.
Luca pointed to the GTR: "That GTR is my car."

Vincent: "."

Is it really just such a damn coincidence?
He found a police officer and learned some details.

"Sir, we followed your instructions to investigate those underground motorcycle gangs, but they got away. They drove too fast for us to catch. This GTR and that burned-out Mitsubishi Eclipse were also involved."

The police officers recounted the events of the day, explaining that they failed to catch up with the perpetrators and that the two vehicles were totaled when they were rediscovered.

How did Luca's car end up at the racetrack? Wasn't Luca with me at the time?

Vincent keenly sensed that Luca was definitely connected to those biker gangs.

He went to Luca again to find out what was going on and learned about the modified car and the high-speed race. He then asked, "Do you know who smashed your car?"

Luca shook his head: "I don't know either. It was a group of bikers wearing helmets and riding motorcycles. My brother couldn't tell who they were."

This was clearly a lie. Toreto, standing to the side, thought to himself, "This is troublesome. Luca is planning to handle this himself."

But I can't just sit idly by.
He and the Triads had an agreement to keep to themselves, but this time, he was being chased by the police and accidentally wandered into their territory. Although it was a bit much for them to smash his car, Toretto didn't really want to cause too much trouble.

But now he can't control the situation. That GTR belongs to Luca, and he can't stop the other party from going to settle scores with the Triads.

What else can I do? I've already decided to help Luca, so I can only follow Luca to fight the Triads.

Hopefully, it will have a good outcome.

In the end, Vincent failed to get any useful information out of Luca. This guy said he would cooperate in solving the case, but is this his attitude of cooperation? Or does this guy really not know who did it?
Watching Luca and his group leave, Vincent muttered, "Could the car-smashing incident also have been the work of Luca's business rivals?"

He had a premonition that Luca must have some very important clues in this series of truck robberies, a key breakthrough.

"Shall we go find the Triads now?"

On the way back, Toretto asked, "They have a lot of men, and they're all armed. I'll call some more brothers over. I suggest we come up with a plan instead of recklessly rushing into their doorstep."

How many of them could there be?

Luca then mentioned the Analects, saying, "There is a saying in the Analects, 'At thirty, one stands firm; at forty, one is free from doubt.' This means that even if thirty people stand together, they can't beat us. Even if there are forty people, I can beat them until they doubt their existence."

Brian and Torreto fell silent again.

This Analects is really domineering. Is this what Confucius talked about—winning people over with virtue?

Brian asked curiously, "Old Pigeon, have you studied the Analects of Confucius? How do you know so much about it?"

Luca smiled and said, "You can treat the Analects as rules and guidelines that Confucius wrote for those who follow the Way."

Is the Analects a gangster's bible?

“Emmm, rules are rules, regardless of whether it’s the underworld or the legitimate world,” Luca said calmly. “Ideas can control people; Confucianism has helped many ancient emperors govern their countries.”

Luca then said to Toreto, "Dom, tell me your address and name, and I'll send someone to find them and teach them how to follow the rules."

Torreto hesitated for a moment before revealing the other party's information.

The biker gang leader is named Johnny Chen, the head of the Los Angeles Triads, and his father is a high-ranking Triad member with considerable power in Chinatown.

Luca then called the Russians and the Draña family, telling them to settle scores with the Triads.

After hanging up the phone, Luca said, "Just wait, they'll be at your auto repair shop by tomorrow at the latest, kneeling down and begging for our forgiveness."

Toreto looked shocked. "Dude, who did you call? So assertive?"
(End of this chapter)