As was typical in Hell's Kitchen, Jamil fell in love with Lu Xuan—and demanded that Bray hand her over immediately.
Bray, of course, couldn't comply. He glanced at Luya, knowing he wasn't capable of handling Jamil alone. If this escalated, the boss might have to intervene.
Before Bray could react further, a steel fork flew through the air with lightning speed—thrown from Erica's hand without any warning—and aimed directly at Jamil's eye!
Clang!
In a desperate move, Jamil pulled a pistol from his bag just in time, using it to block the fork at the last second.
The fork ricocheted as if it had a life of its own, spinning back into Erica's hand.
"Pretty impressive!" Luya blurted out, genuinely impressed by the move.
"Madam, may I know your name?" he asked, surprised at how naturally the words left his mouth. Even Luya was startled by himself.
"What's wrong with me? I must be channeling something from my homeland... I'm normally not like this! That must be it!"
Erica hesitated for a moment before answering.
"Erica."
"Oh… I'm Luya—from, uh, my homeland… No, just Luya!" he stammered, offering a nervous smile.
To his own surprise, Luya realized he was starting to like this wild girl.
Erica, however, didn't care for small talk. She had her own code for dealing with scum—and for Jamil, she had already reached a verdict in her mind: "Tongue cut out. Blind his eyes."
Without warning, she sprang from her seat and lunged at Jamil. In a blink, she thrust the steel fork towards his eyes again.
"You filthy b***h!" Jamil roared, his rage boiling over. Although he was stronger than most men, Erica was on another level entirely.
Realizing he was no match for her and that his gun was useless, Jamil became desperate. With a crazed determination, he accepted the cost—allowing her fork to pierce one of his eyes—in exchange for an opening.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunfire erupted in the cramped restaurant.
Several bystanders dove for cover immediately, their instincts honed from surviving in Hell's Kitchen. But little Lu Xuan wasn't so lucky—Jamil's bullets were meant for her.
And she had no desk to hide behind.
"Lu Xuan!" Lu Hao screamed, trying to shield his sister. But no matter how fast he moved, he couldn't outrun bullets.
Even if he did reach her, his frail body would only add one more corpse to the pile.
In Lu Hao's desperate gaze, Lu Xuan remained remarkably calm. She shut her eyes, feeling a strange peace settle over her. At that moment, time itself seemed to slow.
"As long as he's there to protect my brother… Even if I die, everything will be fine."
Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!
A series of dull sounds rang out—not quite the noise of bullets hitting flesh, but something eerily close.
Lu Xuan opened her eyes.
There, standing in front of her, was Luya—his broad figure shielding her from the gunfire. She couldn't comprehend how he had moved so quickly. But as she stared at him, two tears rolled down her cheeks.
The girl who had remained fearless in the face of death now trembled, her hands frantically searching Luya's chest, hoping to erase the bullet wounds with her touch.
Her heart swelled with unspoken emotions. She owed her life—and her brother's—to him.
Snap.
Luya gently caught her trembling hands.
"Just a few bullets," he said with a smirk. "I may not be made of steel, but pistols aren't enough to hurt me."
Lu Xuan stared at him in disbelief. Despite the bullet holes in his shirt, Luya was unharmed.
"Haha! Should I tell you I've mastered Qigong?" he joked.
To his surprise, Lu Xuan took him seriously.
She remembered stories from her mother about the far East—about mystical powers and warriors who trained in techniques like Hard Qigong to become invulnerable.
Her only confusion was how Luya—an American—had learned such a skill. But it didn't matter. What mattered was that he was safe.
With a playful smile, Lu Xuan gave Luya a light punch on the shoulder before rushing back to the counter to grab her brother.
Jeremy's rampage wasn't over. With his bullets spent, he pulled out a laser sword—one of Kingpin's experimental weapons. Though it hadn't been tested in real combat, the way Erica kept dodging suggested it was nothing to take lightly.
"Tsk," Luya muttered, feeling an odd sting where the bullets had hit him. It was barely more than a mosquito bite, but it still annoyed him.
Meanwhile, Erica was thinking fast. The laser sword was dangerous, and her steel fork had already been sliced into three useless pieces.
Suddenly, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.
"Let me handle this," Luya said coldly, irritation clear in his voice.
It was the first time he had felt pain since adopting the "motherland template," and he intended to make Jeremy pay.
Erica was stunned. She hadn't even noticed Luya move beside her. Despite focusing on Jeremy's attacks, she had missed his approach entirely.
It was simple, really: speed. The kind of speed only someone like Luya could achieve.
At that moment, Jeremy, blinded in one eye and losing blood fast, roared in a frenzy.
"I'll kill you!"
"Watch out for the laser sword!" Erica shouted.
But Luya didn't even flinch. To him, the sword was moving slower than a turtle.
"Too slow."
He threw a punch.
"Too slow."
Another punch.
"Too slow!"
With each word, Luya landed a devastating blow. By the third strike, Jeremy was a broken shell—blood streaming from every orifice, his body crumpling under the force. The laser sword slipped from his grip, clattering to the ground.
But Luya wasn't finished. The rage simmering inside him demanded release. Grabbing Jeremy by the head, he held him upright and locked eyes with him.
"In your next life," Luya hissed, "remember to keep your eyes open—and never cross the wrong people."
The madness faded from Jeremy's expression, replaced by a flicker of regret. But it was far too late.
In the final moments of his life, the only thing Jeremy saw was two glowing red lights converging—just before two crimson beams shot forth.
Wow!!!
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