"Bro Chen, rest assured. I know my limits."
"Boss Hao, Boss Chen, not good!"
At this time, the underling that Jiang Hao sent out to rush the owner came back in a hurry, looking extremely flustered. "Zhao Zhengxiong is here! He brought quite a few of his men and is eating at the lobby below us!"
Jiang Hao furrowed his brows. "This Zhao Zhengxiong sure has balls of steel, actually daring to come to my territory. Bro Chen, just relax here, I'll take a few men to check out the situation."
"Alright, be careful. If he really just came here to have a meal, there's no need to cause a huge ruckus."
"Understood. Brothers, follow me."
Peng!
Kwang!
Not even a few minutes later, a loud commotion started outside of the private room. It sounded as though something was being smashed on to the ground.
The frown lines on Ling Chen's forehead deepened and he placed the teacup in his hand down onto the table. He shot a look at Nanrong Hao, who was sitting beside him and grinned. "Young Master Nanrong, do you care to check out the situation outside with me?"
"Alright." Nanrong Hao meekly replied, nodding his head frantically.
Leaving the private room, Ling Chen hurried to the lobby, with Nanrong Hao following close behind. The instant he entered, he was greeted by the sight of a few bodies writhing on the pristine lobby floor. They were all Jiang Hao's underlings, and none of them was spared from injury, currently moaning pitifully in pain.
At the side, Jiang Hao was kneeling on one knee, with his left hand tightly clutching onto a beer bottle. His right wrist seemed to be dislocated and was powerlessly hanging at his side. Sweat matted his forehead, and he could not hide the pained expression on his face.
Seeing the dire situation, Ling Chen hurriedly hoisted Jiang Hao upright and directly twisted his right wrist back into its original position. 'KAH!' A loud snapping sound rang out and Jiang Hao grimaced, his mouth contorting into a wordless scream, almost fainting from the pain.
"Bro Chen..."
"Go find somewhere to rest. Leave this to me." With that, Ling Chen turned his gaze towards the round table in the middle of the lobby.
Around eight people were sitting around the table, and the one sitting at the head was Zhao Zhengxiong. There was a crutch by his side, a telling sign that he had not fully recovered from his leg injury. What attracted Ling Chen's attention more was the two other individuals sitting at the table. One of them was tall and slender. He had a hawkish mouth and resembled an ape with white, thin hands. The other had a more ordinary figure, looking to be about thirty years in age with slanted temples, and he was wearing a tangzhuang jacket.
"Slightly interesting."
Ling Chen dexterously swiped a toothpick from the table and placed it in his mouth. Zhao Zhengxiong had found two skilled martial arts practitioners as helpers. No wonder he had the gall to bring his underlings to find trouble on Five Mile Street.
"Esteemed masters, this is the punk."
Zhao Zhengxiong coldly glared at Ling Chen, resentment rushing through his veins. Last time, back at the abandoned garage, he developed an extremely painful and clear understanding as to how formidable Ling Chen was. He thus expressly splurged a vast sum of money to invite two experts to teach Ling Chen a lesson and restore his dignity.
The ape-looking man casually looked over Ling Chen and drawled, "Boss Zhao, do you want us to cripple the punk's legs or both his hands?"
Zhao Zhengxiong seemed like he dawned upon an ingenious idea at that moment. His eyes filled with gloom, he cackled evilly, "I think both his legs are too small a price. I want you to cripple his third leg."
The ape-looking man froze, before revealing an understanding smile and he laughed sinisterly. "Roger that."
Hearing them have a conversation amongst themselves as though he didn't exist, Ling Chen shrugged, feeling very helpless. He wanted to be civilized but clearly, these guys wouldn't give him a chance to do so.
At this moment, the ape-looking man got up and approached Ling Chen.
His forehead raised, he looked down on Ling Chen imperiously, as though staring at a puny bug and proudly proclaimed, "Brat, my name is Galway. Carve my name into your heart, so that you know who you're losing to."
As soon as he finished his sentence, he lifted both hands suddenly, mimicking two poisonous snakes, and swiftly attacked, without giving Ling Chen any chance to reply.
As two strong gusts of wind came barrelling towards him, Ling Chen's body suddenly leaned back slightly, his right hand shooting out in an attempt to block his opponent's hands. But the opponent's reaction was equally swift, and he broke through Ling Chen's defence with a slight flick of his wrists. In a flash, his body was right in front of Ling Chen, and his deadly hands aimed straight for Ling Chen's eyes.
Ling Chen's heart sank, and a gleam of cold light flashed in his pupils.
How vicious, he's aiming to maim! Originally, Ling Chen merely wanted to fend off these two experts casually, but the despicable actions of the other party made him boil with anger.
There were unwritten rules, even when fighting. And the ape-looking man had broken those rules.
Seeing Galway's fingertips rapidly approaching, Ling Chen lightly twisted his foot and nimbly contorted his body to avoid the attack. Following that, he immediately stretched out his hands, entangling Galway's hands, and pushed forward, forcing Galway back by a few steps.
"Hmm?"
Galway was surprised for a moment, which then swiftly turned into horror.
He found that his hands seemed to be trapped by Ling Chen, and he could not escape from his grip no matter what he tried.
As he froze in shock, a sharp pain suddenly forced him to come to his senses. He felt as though all his fingers broke, and his legs turned into jelly. He could not muster the strength even to stand.
"You... you broke my fingers!" Galway looked incredibly pale. His hands formed the basis of his martial arts. With all his fingers broken, this also meant that all his kung fu training had been wasted.
Ling Chen nonchalantly said, "There's no point in you retaining your martial arts, lest you harm others or yourself."
"This friend is truly skilled."
At this moment, the man wearing tangzhuang, who had been observing the entire scene play out while seated, suddenly stood up and gloomily looked at Ling Chen.
"Who is your master? Did he not teach you that wasting the martial arts of someone else is a huge taboo?"
Ling Chen chewed on the toothpick in his mouth and sneered, "Before learning martial arts, one must first learn principles. Attacking to maim is also a huge taboo, didn't your master teach you that?"
"You sure know how to run your mouth. I would like to see whether your skills are up to par with that mouth of yours!"
Watching the man wearing tangzhuang nearing him, Ling Chen spat out the toothpick in his mouth, which flew towards the tangzhuang-wearing man's face at a blistering fast speed.
The man did not say anything but merely swatted at the air, fully intending to deflect the toothpick. However, at the same time, Ling Chen exerted strength in his legs and powerfully kicked the ground, launching himself towards the other party. In the blink of an eye, he had closed the distance between them.
In the face of Ling Chen's sudden attack, the tangzhuang-wearing man was full of indignation and shock. "You!"
"Your mother, you! Scram!"
Ling Chen cut off the complaint of the other party and his fist barrelled towards the man's abdomen, his strike vicious and incredibly swift.
The man who had no time to react to the combination of attacks felt a rush of pain and rapidly retreated. He felt his internal organs being shaken up by Ling Chen's attack and incomparable suffering suffocated him.
"You… you dirty bastard!" The tangzhuang-wearing man endured the piercing pain and spat out a curse while gritting his teeth.
However, Ling Chen merely curled his lips at the man's resentment.
There were indeed rules when fighting, but that depended on who the opponent was. When dealing with the likes of these scum, Ling Chen would not bother playing by the rules.
"I'll count to three. If you don't fuck off from my sight by then, then you can forget about leaving, I'll make sure to give you a proper welcome."
The tangzhuang-wearing man was flushed purple with anger, and he spat out angrily, "Great! This debt, I, Song Yi will remember it well. I'll make sure to return the favour a hundredfold next time! Junior Brother, let's go!"
"No… Master Song, Master Gao, what's going to happen to me if both of you leave?" Zhao Zhengxiong's face was ghastly pale, and he pleaded with them desperately. If it were not for the fact that his injury still hampered him, he would have long chased after them.
Song Yi did not even bother turning his head, coldly answering, "This matter is beyond my abilities. I'm afraid that you'll need to find someone else."
Zhao Zhengxiong went even paler, and he indignantly retorted, "But you already accepted my money..."
His plea fell upon deaf ears as Song Yi ignored him and resolutely walked out of the hotel.
"Bro Xiong."
After Song Yi and Galway left, Ling Chen strolled to the seat beside Zhao Zhengxiong and sweetly called out his name, with a face full of smiles. He then casually rested his hand on Zhao Zhengxiong's shoulder.
"Do you still remember what I said to you last time?"
"I…" Zhao Zhengxiong wanted to say something, but it seemed to be caught in his throat. Perspiration trickled down his forehead uncontrollably and he stammered, "Ling… no, Boss Chen! You're a generous and noble person, someone of great abilities! Please give this lowly one another chance! I promise that I will never overstep my boundaries again!"