The noise in the surroundings died down suddenly; everyone's attention was attracted by the man.
They were frightened by the dangerous aura that was radiating from the man.
Su Chen felt a sudden chill piercing right through him. He looked at the man speculatively. The man was also staring at him indifferently.
"Hey, I, Baldie Qiang, have this area covered. If you're gonna make a scene, f*ck off!" Zhou Qiang slammed his hand on the table, stood up, and yelled at the man.
The man had not done anything, but Baldie Qiang was not happy with him. He hated it when there was someone cooler than him.
His thugs stood behind him, glaring at the man.
"Go away!"
The man's eyes swept over Zhou Qiang and his minions, the timid ones shuddering subconsciously.
"Sh*t! Who do you think you are? Boys, teach him a lesson!" Zhou Qiang bawled and led his thugs towards the man.
The customers who were sitting around the men moved away swiftly, worrying that they would get in trouble.
Su Chen furrowed. If he got it right, he was the man's target. The man looked tough. Zhou Qiang and his people would get really hurt.
When he was about to stop Zhou Qiang, Zhou Qiang had already reached for a beer bottle. He charged toward the man, yelling, and smashed the bottle on the man's head.
Lin Yumeng, Qian Manman, and some other feeble customers shut their eyes, not daring to look.
The man did not even try to dodge. When the beer bottle hit his head, it shattered after a loud bang.
"How… How is this possible?" Zhou Qiang looked at what was left of the bottle in his hand and then again at the man, who was not hurt at all. He could not believe his eyes.
Was his head made of steel or something? There was not even a scratch on his scalp!
The man tilted his head, giving a cracking sound. Then, he punched Zhou Qiang in the stomach.
"Arghh!" Zhou Qiang's eyes were wide open. He fell on his knees while holding his stomach, which was in excruciating pain, and finally curled up on the floor on his side. His face was ashen, and blood was coming out of the corner of his lips.
Apparently, that was a very heavy punch.
"Shit, how dare you hit our Brother Qiang? Get him!" one of Zhou Qiang's loyal sidekicks roared and cheered his friends on. He then lifted a chair and charged toward the man.
The other thugs followed him. Some of them took chairs while others took beer bottles.
The man stood there without moving even a little bit when they smashed the things on him.
The wooden chairs were broken, the beer bottles were shattered, but the man was not hurt at all. He did not even frown.
Everyone in the vicinity was dumbfounded.
"Was this the legendary Vajra Body Defending Divine Skill?" Pan Xiaojie whispered to himself, excitement glimmered in his eyes.
"No, that was Shaolin's Thirteen Cross Practice," said Su Chen, his voice hardened.
Just a moment ago, a notification appeared in his mind, and then a new skill was activated in his PCM system.
This new skill was called "Thirteen Cross Practice". It was one of Shaolin's undisclosed, long-lost techniques. Although it was also known as "Forced Kungfu", it required martial artists to work on both their inner and outer strengths, namely their spiritual toughness and their physical power.
The Thirteen Cross Practice was then split into Inner Vitality and Forced Technique, each with 13 styles.
The former guided the martial artists to gain the elixir field, which was mentioned in plenty of novels as inner genuine Qi, whereas the latter built the artists' physical endurance, turning every part of their bodies into weapons, making splitting rocks with bare hands a piece of cake.
Under the skill icon of "Thirteen Cross Practice", there were two other smaller icons, which were "Inner Vitality" and "Forced Technique". Next, below each of the two smaller icons, there were 13 even smaller icons.
Inner Vitality was divided into Arhat's Tiger's Roar, Arhat's Dragon Subduing, Arhat's Tiger Taming, etc…
The Forced Technique was split into Iron Arm, Iron Elbow, Iron Fist, Iron Leg, Iron Skin, etc…
In general, the menu page for the Thirteen Cross Practice looked like a branching tree diagram, and every technique was accompanied by its corresponding proficiency points.
Su Chen was very interested in this practice. The Hundred Style Fist was an integration of more than ten boxing styles, while the Thirteen Cross Practice, on the other hand, was differentiated into many segments.
Anyhow, Su Chen concluded that Thirteen Cross Practice was a very intricate and abstruse kungfu; it was almost impossible to learn each and every technique.
Inner Vitality seemed slightly easier than the Forced Technique, but it demanded accumulation of experience over a long period of time. This technique aimed to cultivate inner genuine Qi, which acted as the foundation of the Forced Technique.
Su Chen speculated that the man focused on practicing the Forced Technique mainly.
To cultivate the Forced Technique, a huge amount of precious Chinese medical supplement was needed to enhance the body, or else too much irreversible damage could be done to the body.
"Shaolin Kungfu? But he doesn't look like a monk!" Pan Xiaojie was confused.
Su Chen shook his head. He did not know the answer, either.
Logically speaking, this sort of kungfu was never made public, so how did this man learn those skills?
When Su Chen and Pan Xiaojie were talking, the man had already knocked Zhou Qiang's thugs over.
The man stepped over those who were lying on the floor as if what he had done was the most common thing a person could do and walked straight toward the table next to Su Chen. He sat at the table calmly, took a pair of chopsticks, and started eating what was left over by Zhou Qiang.
"Who is this guy? He definitely doesn't look friendly," Guo Lei frowned and said.
Su Chen did not say a word, although he figured the man came for him. However, it seemed like the man wasn't going to do anything, so he did not want to worry Lin Yumeng and his friends.
"Let's quickly eat and go back to our dorm rooms!" said Lin Yumeng. She was a little flustered.
The others nodded and ate faster.
Zhou Qiang's injuries were not serious. He stood up despite the pain, bid Su Chen goodbye, and left with his thugs.
They had come to realize that the man was not someone they could bully, so they could only bite the bullet.
Su Chen and the others soon finished their food, paid the bill, and left.
When they left the food street, Su Chen noticed that the man was tailing them, as he predicted.
"You guys go back first. I'm gonna go buy some stuff," Su Chen said to his friends.
"Brother Chen, what are you gonna get? I'll go with you!" Lin Yumeng said smilingly while holding Su Chen's arm.
"Nah, I'm just getting the webcam for video game streaming. You don't need to go. It's so warm out here. Go back and enjoy the air conditioning!" Su Chen smiled and patted her head.
"Okay then!" Lin Yumeng nodded.
Su Chen watched them walk away. Then, he turned around, looked toward a dark alley, and said coldly, "Come out!"
"Interesting." The man stepped out of the darkness, his eyes' boring into Su Chen. "Thank you for cooperating. This makes my job so much easier."
"Who hired you?" Su Chen's voice hardened.
The man did not deny it. He nodded and said, "I don't know who, exactly. I didn't ask. They want me to break one of your legs. I need the money, so I can't say no."
There was an ancient saying, "The poor hold swords, the rich hold pens."
The man practiced only the Forced Technique. He needed lots of precious medicinal herbs, which were very costly. Besides, the only thing he was good at was kungfu, so he could only do this kind of dirty work for money.