CHAPTER 178: PROTECTION

At 10 p.m., more than ten modified convertibles belonging to the Blood Scars Gang drove into Respite Street.

At this point in time, there were no pedestrians on the spacious road. The streetlights were still on, but the convertibles made no effort to hide their presence. The passengers were shouting loudly and even firing into the sky with an air of arrogance.

“It’s that place, Boss.”

The well-built man pointed at a lit martial arts training center beside the river. It occupied quite a large area, and it was surrounded by a cement compound wall with an iron gate.

Zhuo Bao cast the place a glance before motioning for the convertible to stop. The driver immediately did so, and the convertibles behind them came to a stop as well. The gang members eagerly grabbed their best friends and jumped out. Around fifty people started closing in on the martial arts training center.

There were only a few patrolmen guarding the martial arts training center that night. In total, there were just five. When they saw the Blood Scars Gang members, they became nervous and retreated behind the compound wall, where they brought up their crossbows to aim at the outside.

Zhuo Bao got out of his convertible and went to the front of the group. He could feel a fire burning in his chest, and it was growing stronger every second while screaming at him to let it out. He extended his arm, and the well-built man quickly put a gun in it.

Zhuo Bao took a few steps forward to stand alone in front of his group. Then, he brought his gun up and fired three times into the sky before shouting at the martial arts training center, “Come out, Chen—”

Before he could finish, a gunshot rang from the building diagonally across the martial arts training center. The dull sound was like a thunderclap along the spacious road.

Zhuo Bao froze. A large, bloody hole appeared on his forehead, and he swayed before he fell backward.

When the well-built man heard the gunshot, he thought that some idiot with a death wish had fired first to steal Zhuo Bao’s thunder. Then, he saw Zhuo Bao collapsing on the ground, and he was stunned. He wasn’t the only one. Everyone around him was shocked.

Just then, they heard a shrill whistle. A second later, constables came from the shadows on either side of the street. They brought up their GD-Rifles, aimed at the Blood Scars Gang members, and pulled the triggers.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

For a short while, gunshots rang through the street. In the darkness, the sparks from the muzzles were incredibly eye-catching and could be seen from an entire street away.

The shooting lasted more than two minutes. When the last gunshot finally faded away, the street was filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder. None of the fifty or so Blood Scars Gang members remained standing.

Xiao Wu stepped forward from under the eaves of a building with a handgun in hand. When he walked past a twitching gang member, he shot him in the head, making him lie still forever. Then, he walked around the area and shot all the Blood Scars Gang members who were still alive.

Once he was certain that there were no survivors, he went up to Zhuo Bao, took aim at his head, and fired until he emptied his magazine.

Then, he looked up at another constable. “Call the Blood Scars Gang and tell them to come retrieve these idiots’ corpses. Also, tell them to mind their own business and not bother those they shouldn’t.”

“Roger.”

Once the constable made a call in a phone booth, Xiao Wu ordered, “Retreat!”

A sharp whistle tore through the air. The constables came forward and lined up in formation before jogging to the end of the street. Their military boots clattered against the road and faded into the distance.

***

Chen Chuan wiped his saber calmly in the martial arts training center without bothering about the noise outside. When he came back from the lakeside park, he noticed that the Constabulary had increased its patrol, which had to be his uncle’s arrangement.

Nian Fuli sent the constables to protect him after learning about the attack. At the same time, he was sending a warning to whoever was behind it all.

***

The people who had been keeping a close eye on the situation soon learned about this matter.

Shao Xiaobie was shocked and nervous. “What? They were all taken out? And by the Constabulary? They actually interfered?”

“Don’t worry, Young Master. The Blood Scars Gang attacked the boy; it has nothing to do with us. The boy is related to a constable, so the Constabulary must have increased the patrol over that area after he was attacked. Zhuo Bao was just unlucky and ran into them,” the butler appeased him.

“As long as it has nothing to do with us, it’s fine.”

Shao Xiaobie relaxed, but this was a troubling matter. After this incident, even an idiot would know to increase their defenses. How was he supposed to kill Chen Chuan at this point?

This matter was already beyond him. The one good thing about Shao Xiaobie was that if he felt that he couldn’t do something, he did not keep going forward in a fruitless attempt to succeed. He picked up the phone and called a number.

“Hey, Wei Jun. It’s me, Shabby. Sorry, Brother. The guys I sent couldn’t take out the kid. That place is under strict surveillance now, so I can’t think of anything else.”

Wei Jun thought that Shao Xiaobie was useless for not being able to take care of something so simple and even causing such a huge ruckus, but he still needed him around, so he didn’t yell at him. He only said, “You’ve done enough, Shabby. I’ll take care of the rest. You don’t need to get involved anymore.”

“Alright. Just tell me if you need me, Wei Jun.”

Wei Jun mulled over it for a long time with a dark expression before he picked up the phone receiver again and called a number in Central City. It went through after a moment.

“Hello, Mr. Tan? I’d like you to kill someone for me. I can pay your implant surgery fees, and you can bring up any terms you want...Alright. Let’s talk when we meet again.”

The next afternoon, a car arrived at his villa. It stopped on the flowerbed, and Jing Lin came out. Then, the back passenger seat door opened, and Tan Wang came out while dressed in a suit. The butler led them into the villa.

Wei Jun went to the study upstairs to wait for them. When Tan Wang and Jing Lin came in, he asked his butler to leave before asking the two of them to sit down.

Tan Wang sat down on the sofa and said meaningfully, “I told you before that if you joined the Secret Python Cult, you’d become one of us, and as your initiator, I would be obliged to fulfill one request that isn’t considered too hard. You wouldn't even need to pay me.”

Secret Python Cult was a faction. If Wei Jun went to the main campus, being part of it wouldn’t help him but would instead serve as an obstacle.

Hence, he didn’t continue down this line of the conversation. Instead, he said, “Mr. Tan, the one I’m asking you to kill is the student you wanted to recruit.”

While Tan Wang remained smiling, a dark look flashed in his eyes. Clearly, he remembered the event. Not only had he failed to recruit Chen Chuan, but He Xiaoxing had also beaten him up so badly that he was too humiliated to stay in the branch campus.

Wei Jun knew him, and he continued, “If I join the Secret Python Cult, I’ll just be another cultist, and I won’t be of much help to the cult, but if I go to Central City’s main campus, I’ll be able to provide resources to the cult after I graduate and take over the family business. I promise you that I’ll pay for all of your training resources from now on. Why don’t you give my terms a thought?”

Tan Wang hummed. Those terms were indeed interesting, but also the most Wei Jun would offer. If Tan Wang asked for more, Wei Jun would look for someone else. While it would be troublesome, he would not necessarily fail to find someone willing to kill Chen Chuan.

After some pondering, he huffed and looked up. “I’ll agree to it. Where is he?”

The butler immediately handed over a stack of documents.

Tan Wang motioned for Jing Ling to take them and stood up. “I’ll find a time to kill him. Once I’m done, I’m going back to Central City, and I’ll be waiting for you to fulfill your promise.”

He walked out.

Wei Jun went to the window and watched Tan Wang exit the villa, then leave in his car. A great sense of relief washed over him. Tan Wang was at the Third Limit, so there was no way he was going to fail.

He had always known that the Secret Python Cult took up assassination jobs. Even if he made a lower offer, Tan Wang would have agreed, but he was not in the mood to negotiate. It was already late August, so he had to get rid of this problem before going for the unrestricted defense permit test. He couldn’t allow a repeat of the entire thing with Shen Zheng.

After Tan Wang left, he started reading the information about Chen Chuan. The beatdown from He Xiaoxing was an insult he would never forget, which was why he had already been thinking about how to hurt the man.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t rich enough, and he hadn’t made enough tributes to the cult, so he couldn’t get the full set of implants or the secret teachings. He didn’t need those to get rid of a tiny worm, though. After the deed, he would get the money to go back and get the full-set implant surgery.

Once he finished reading Chen Chuan’s information, Tan Wang smiled meaningfully and looked outside. “Let’s go to that lakeside park,” he said to Jing Lin.

Soon after he changed his direction, Wei Jun’s butler received word about it, and he immediately reported it to Wei Jun. “Young Master, the servant tailing them said that Mr. Tan has changed course.”

“He didn’t go back to his residence?”

“No. Judging by the direction, he’s going to Reed Lake. It’s the lakeside park the boy has been going to every evening.”

“Oh? He intends to take care of the problem right away?” Wei Jun perked up. “Tell the servant to pay more attention to them. Tell me once the results are out!”

“Alright, Young Master.”

***

Chen Chuan walked out of the private martial arts training center and looked up. The sky was dark and cloudy, and the air was stuffy.

The security guard said, “The way the sky is looking, I think it’s going to rain.”

“I know,” Chen Chuan replied.

He then left. It had been stuffy and humid for days, so many people were hoping for a storm.

Twenty minutes later, he arrived at the lakeside park. The corpses from three days ago were gone, but he could still see some traces of the fight.

The wind started blowing, and the reeds swayed. Ripples also began forming on the lake.

He had only just arrived when he heard a car coming over. Two sedans were heading toward him. The one at the back stopped much further away, while the first one only stopped when it was only around ten meters away from Chen Chuan.

The door opened, and Jing Lin came out in a suit. Fine embedded lines covered his face and neck, as if he had something implanted.

Jing Lin rolled his wrists and walked toward him. “Bet you weren’t expecting to see me, Chen Chuan.”

He removed his gloves and threw them on the ground to reveal hands covered in scales. “Back then, I was careless and lost to you. It won’t happen again.”

He clenched his fists. “I’m going to show you my strength, and I’m going to return the humiliation tenfold.”

Before his voice could fade, the earth and grass under his feet flew up as he charged toward Chen Chuan like a flying arrow.