APR 49

Zhong Su saw a blade of light slicing straight toward his back. He reacted swiftly, sidestepping to avoid it. The cleaver narrowly missed his clothes and slammed heavily into the bus compartment, leaving a deep, gouged scar.

“Damn it, I missed!” the man cursed, struggling to wrench the cleaver embedded in the bus body free.

Zhong Su didn’t give him the chance. He kicked him hard, sending him sprawling momentarily. “Get lost!”

He slapped the bus door fiercely, causing the thin door to shake violently as if about to fall apart, shouting, “Driver, open up quickly, let me in!”

“No way! Who knows if they’ll rush onto the bus and chop me up too? I don’t know you, young man, don’t drag me into this!” The bus driver, terrified by the horrifying scene, refused to open the door no matter what. Others sheltering from the rain under the platform also scattered in panic, fearing they’d be caught in the crossfire.

Before Zhong Su could slap the door a few more times, the remaining debt-collecting thugs closed in from behind him.

The leader had a scarred face, full of menace, tapping the back of his blade against his palm with a venomous tone: “Zhong, you little bastard, you’ve been dodging us for so long, ignoring our calls to repay, not answering our calls, and refusing to listen even when we tried to talk nicely. Now we’ve finally caught you. I tell you, you’re dead tonight.”

Zhong Su raised an eyebrow slightly. He certainly didn’t consider those messages filled with vicious curses and personal attacks as gentle “nice talk.” Wasn’t it laughable for loan sharks to claim goodwill?

The scarred face didn’t care what Zhong Su was thinking. He charged forward with his blade. Whether it was seven years or seventy, street thugs fighting only relied on intimidation, not technique.

Simply put, it was about scaring people.

Zhong Su dodged several wild, chaotic strikes in succession, then bent his elbow and forcefully elbow-struck a thug rushing toward him, causing his nose to bleed profusely.

But with only his own strength, he couldn’t ultimately withstand so many armed professional thugs.

After securing some breathing room, Zhong Su didn’t linger in the fight. He turned and ran toward the wider area across the street, trying to shake off these thugs.

But after only a few steps, he was caught off guard and kicked close-range at the bend of his leg, stumbling and crashing against the rear of the bus.

“Ugh… damn!” His evasive movements slowed a beat as he watched the opponent’s blade about to strike down, instinctively raising both hands to shield himself—

“Stop!” At the critical moment, Yu Zizhuo, who should have already left by bus, actually jumped down from his own bus and shouted to Zhong Su: “Little brother, don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you!”

Yu Zizhuo was robust in build, but his explosive power was astonishingly strong. As he charged forward, he struck down the cleaver from one thug’s hand with a swift, precise hand chop. Without hesitation, he picked up the blade and swung it back toward the unlucky thug’s calf.

Yu Zizhuo resembled a police dog lunging at a criminal, his round eyes faintly glowing with excitement. His fighting style was entirely fierce and righteous, driven by hatred for evil.

The blade met the human torso like a hot knife slicing through butter, instantly cutting the thug down to the ground, the flowing blood staining his pants red.

The pipe, even through the torn fabric, revealed the gruesome cross-section of flesh and tendons beneath.

“My leg, ahhh!” the thug screamed in terror.

This agonized cry distracted Yu Zizhuo momentarily. Another thug seized the opportunity, raising his knife to slash viciously at Yu Zizhuo’s wrist holding the weapon, trying to force him to drop it: “Damn cop, your mother! This isn’t your business, don’t interfere.”

The opponent’s blade was equally sharp, slicing a crimson gash across Yu Zizhuo’s wrist bone.

Severe pain pierced through his nerves, and glaringly red blood dripped down, splattering onto the ground before being washed away by the rain.

Yu Zizhuo lifted his head, looking at the person before him, seeming somewhat surprised: “Are you… assaulting a police officer?”

His expression showed no fear; instead, he seemed immersed in this raw violence. On his young, handsome face, a strange yet fervent smile slowly emerged.

“Excellent,” he whispered softly, a pure light flickering in his eyes. “You’ve done wrong. This way, I have a reason… to punish your misdeeds.”

“What—ugh!” The thug couldn’t react before a terrifying cold flash swept past his eyes.

Yu Zizhuo turned the blade, striking down toward the shoulder bone of the thug who had attacked him. With a bone-cracking sound that grated on the nerves, a deep wound visible to the bone extended from the man’s shoulder down to his chest. If the blade had deviated half an inch to the left, it would have directly severed the carotid artery, spurting blood and killing him instantly.

This brutal scene stunned the other thugs who still wanted to charge forward.

“You’re too weak. That slash earlier couldn’t sever my hand, so you should have fled immediately. Are you so accustomed to wrongdoing that you’ve lost the ability to think?” Yu Zizhuo wiped the blood from the blade with his fingers, flicked it clean, and tilted his head to look at the thug who had collapsed in terror, now soaked in blood.

Zhong Su watched Yu Zizhuo, whose face was splattered with blood, pressing his tongue against the roof of his mouth, feeling his stomach churn.

Having been reborn for so long and leaving behind the days of living dangerously in the gang, he had somewhat forgotten how perilous it truly was. But now those memories became vivid again, momentarily causing him to lose focus.

Seeing Zhong Su covering his mouth, Yu Zizhuo thought he was frightened. He soothingly patted Zhong Su’s head with his blood-stained hand and smiled at him: “Don’t be afraid, little brother. Those people are just intimidating petty thugs. I’m a police officer; with me here, they dare not harm you.”

However, Kou Jun, the loan shark, was clearly genuinely provoked by Zhong Su. Not only had he sent these people to chase Zhong Su, but shortly after, another van parked roadside, and reinforcements of thugs jumped out one after another.

A group of menacing thugs formed an impenetrable wall in the rain, blocking the escape route for the two.

Yu Zizhuo’s steps faltered slightly; he staggered backward, bumping against Zhong Su’s shoulder.

“Hey, how are you?” Zhong Su quickly supported him, pulling aside his sleeve, and his heart sank sharply—he discovered the police officer was severely injured. The wound on his wrist was deep enough to expose bone, and blood was gushing out with the cold rain, steadily draining his body temperature and strength.

Even though Yu Zi was quite robust, his lips were pale from blood loss at this moment, but he still gripped the knife handle tightly and said firmly, “I’m fine, really, don’t worry.”

“You’re saying you’ll protect me like this? Better call an ambulance for yourself first.” Zhong Su interrupted him, knowing that if they continued like this, both would be trapped here. He waved to the reinforcements and shouted, “Hey! Don’t you want money? I have ten thousand yuan right now, come and take it if you want!”

Seeing that those people’s attention was drawn, Zhong Su ran toward a narrow alley nearby.

The heavy rain poured down, the alley was dark and damp, rainwater dripped from eaves extending from both sides of the alley, forming lines that hit the people below. Zhong Su ran over the pitted ground, his footsteps splashing strings of water droplets.

While running, he pushed the scattered debris piled in the alley onto the ground to block those behind him, greatly widening the distance between them.

Seeing that he was about to reach the end of the alley, the soft glow from the streetlight standing at the alley’s end filled Zhong Su’s heart with a sense of relief after narrowly escaping disaster. Good, he could run away.

Suddenly, a familiar luxury car appeared from somewhere, its tires stopping horizontally at the alley’s end, precisely blocking the only exit. The car window lowered, revealing the person sitting inside to Zhong Su.

“Chen Huan?” Zhong Su exclaimed, his breathing becoming somewhat hurried.

Chen Huan’s gaze fell on Zhong Su, then swept past him to look at those ferocious thugs behind, slightly raising one eyebrow, seemingly finding the scene interesting: “Are you busy now? I have something to discuss with you.”

“What?” Zhong Su couldn’t think of what matter the other person had to come specifically for, only knowing that as he stopped, the pursuers behind had already caught up.

The leading thug was furious to the extreme, spitting out saliva mixed with rainwater: “Brothers, before that dead cop calls for help, let’s pin down this Go to hell. Hiding, hiding, always hiding everywhere, disgusting like a rat.”

With no retreat left, Zhong Su simply stopped running. He abruptly halted his steps, turned around, and charged toward the crowd, heading straight for the leader at the front.

The alley was narrow. Zhong Su used the terrain, his left hand gripping the opponent’s wrist, forcefully slamming it against the wall, the cleaver fell with a clang, his right arm then encircled the leader’s neck, pulling him tightly into his embrace, firmly restraining him in front. The tall, burly ruffian was instantly locked at the throat, struggling to breathe, his face turning a frightening purplish-red.

“Everyone, back off!” Zhong Su held the leader, his voice colder than an ice blade, his gaze sweeping over each thug’s face, saying, “If you don’t want to watch your man suffocate, immediately throw your knives on the ground.”

But even restrained, the leader remained stubbornly defiant, refusing to yield, saying, “Don’t listen to him! Don’t throw your knives, I’m not afraid of him—ugh!”

Zhong Su tightened his grip even more, almost squeezing the leader’s trachea into deformation, stating word by word: “It’s not your turn to speak.”

He was like a young alpha wolf hunted by a pack of hyenas, soaked through, yet still snarling back with bared teeth, the ruthless nature within him fully revealed.