The expression and look on Ryan's face made Jack think he was about to make a move. Jack immediately tensed all the muscles in his body, his eyes locked on Ryan's shoulders. However, Ryan, standing in the shadows across from him, seemed to be considering something for a moment before turning and walking away.
"What does he mean?" Jack couldn't figure it out. He paused for a moment, then tugged on Bell and Sophia, saying, "I just saw Ryan!"
"What?" Bell, who was grooving to the music, couldn't hear him. Jack had to drag them back to their booth. "I said, I saw Ryan…" He pointed at Ryan, who was walking toward them with a group of more than ten people, and his face turned serious. "Looks like he's here to cause trouble."
Bell and Sophia followed his gaze and saw Ryan and his crew squeezing their way through the crowd. They immediately became nervous. "What should we do?"
"What can we do? Just deal with it!" Jack pushed Sophia. "Go over there and watch over Emily and her friends! Don't let them come over here!"
Sophia hesitated for a moment, then nodded and squeezed through the dance floor. Meanwhile, Jack stood up, a cold smile spreading across his face as he stared at Ryan and his crew, who were approaching aggressively. "What's your business?"
"You have no f***ing idea who you've pissed off, do you!" a thug with bleached blonde hair and two shark tattoos on his arms slammed the table and cursed viciously.
"I don't know." Bell, who had been nervous just a moment ago, was now emboldened by the alcohol. His head was heated, and he stepped forward to push the blonde thug. "You better stop acting crazy here, a**hole!"
"Oh, feeling bold, huh?" Another thug, who looked even tougher, grabbed Bell by the shoulder and sneered, "You're pretty cocky, aren't you?"
Jack grabbed Bell by the collar and pulled him behind him. His voice was cold and firm. "What do you want? Here to start trouble?"
"Damn right we are!" Ryan, standing at the front, had a twisted smile on his face. He grabbed a bottle from the table and smashed it toward Jack's head. "Do you even know whose territory this is?!"
Crash! The sound of the bottle shattering echoed in the air. Shards of glass flew everywhere, and sharp fragments cut across Jack's face, causing bright red blood to drip down.
Jack took a deep breath, his fists clenched tightly, and his body burned with adrenaline. However, when his gaze caught sight of Emily squeezing through the crowd in the distance, he forced himself to suppress his anger. "I don't want to fight you here," he said in a low voice. "If you want to fight, let's take it outside. I'll take you on to the end!"
The chaotic music continued blasting through the bar, and the dim lights added to the dangerous atmosphere. None of the patrons around them noticed the imminent fight, as they were still dancing and partying.
But before Jack could finish his sentence, Bell's anger erupted first. He grabbed a wine glass from the table and smashed it directly into the blonde thug's face.
"Get him!" Ryan roared. The blonde thug screamed in pain and hunched over, while Ryan raised his broken bottle and lunged toward Jack. At the same time, several other thugs pounced on Bell, pinning him to a chair.
With a loud crash, a beer bottle came smashing down on Bell's head, blood splattering everywhere.
"Bell!" Jack turned and saw Bell's face covered in blood. He roared in anger.
Seizing the opportunity, Ryan once again swung his bottle at Jack. But to his shock, as the bottle slashed across Jack's face, Ryan could see with his own eyes that the wounds on Jack's face were rapidly healing, as if they had never been there in the first place.
Ryan froze in disbelief. He had never seen anything like this. Before he could react, Jack grabbed his leg in one swift motion.
Ryan felt a tremendous force clamp down on his leg, rendering him completely immobile, as though it had been caught in a steel vice. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't move forward even a millimeter.
"You're done for," Jack said in a low, menacing voice. Then, with a single swing, he hurled Ryan through the air like a rag doll. Ryan crashed to the ground several meters away with a loud thud.
"Get out of here!" Jack roared, launching himself like a freight train into the crowd of thugs who were beating on Bell. With one punch, he smashed into one thug's arm. A sickening crack echoed as the thug's arm broke, and he collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain.
Jack's strength hadn't increased much, but his body had become as hard as steel, completely resistant to any attack. This change had occurred when the bottle shattered on his forehead, triggering a genetic mutation.
Punch after punch, Jack sent the thugs flying one by one. His steel fists collided with their faces with dull, resounding thuds. Bones broke, and blood gushed like fountains. The screams of the injured filled the bar.
Finally, the other patrons began to realize what was happening. Screams erupted across the bar as people scrambled to back away, trying to avoid the chaos.
"Everyone get out of here!" Jack yelled as he pushed the bloodied Bell toward the approaching Emily and Sophia. He then charged toward Ryan, kicking a thug in the chest with such force that the man was sent flying three meters back.
Ryan had just gotten to his feet when he saw Jack charging at him, his rage like a tidal wave. Ryan's face turned pale as he stammered, "Stop him! Hold him down!"
"Grab who?" Jack's icy voice exploded next to Ryan's ear.
Ryan turned his head and saw Jack's blood-red eyes staring directly at him with an unyielding intensity.
The music in the entire hall came to an abrupt halt, and the lights gradually brightened. Only then did the crowd finally see what was happening: in a corner of the bar, a man covered in blood was standing against a dozen thugs, with even more people shouting as they charged toward him.
"Jack!" In the chaotic hall, Emily's voice rang out clearly, piercing through the crowd and drawing the attention of many. Her face was full of fear as she tried to free herself from Bell's grip, desperate to rush to Jack's side.
Bell and Julie held her back tightly. "Don't go! You can't help even if you do!"
Ryan spotted Emily in the crowd, and a sinister smile spread across his face. He had clearly figured out her identity. Waving to a few of his men, he shouted loudly, "Grab her!"
"Grab who?" A cold, cutting voice suddenly echoed in Ryan's ear.
Ryan whipped his head around, only to see the blinding overhead lights illuminating the scene. Standing right in front of him was the blood-soaked figure of Jack, his crimson eyes locked onto him with an unrelenting glare.
"Who do you think you're going to grab?" Jack's voice was low and cold, carrying an overwhelming aura of authority and menace.
"Stop!" A few security guards finally managed to squeeze through the crowd and rush toward the scene. But when they saw what was happening, they froze in place. Jack seemed completely unfazed by the punches and kicks that landed on him, using steady and precise movements to take down one thug after another, with two hits or kicks enough to incapacitate them. What struck fear into everyone was when Jack grabbed Ryan. Without hesitation, he clamped one hand on Ryan's shoulder, while his other hand seized Ryan's right arm.
The scene looked like something straight out of a violent action movie.
The head security guard lunged forward, grabbing Jack's arm in an attempt to subdue him.
At that moment, Ryan appeared to have been saved—or so it seemed to everyone present. But to the security guards' and everyone else's shock, the arm they had tightly pinned down suddenly twisted and slipped free, as if it had no bones.
Before the head security guard could figure out what had just happened, a powerful punch landed directly on his shoulder.
As he flew through the air, he thought he heard the sound of his own collarbone snapping.
Jack had completely lost control.
"He's gone mad! Jack's gone mad!" From a distance, Julie stood watching Jack rampage through the crowd of thugs and security guards. One thought dominated her mind: He's lost it completely!
Jack no longer distinguished between security and thugs. As long as someone touched him, they would be met with a merciless counterattack. One after another, people were sent flying through the air, landing on the ground with cries of pain—some were security guards, while others were opportunistic thugs who had joined the brawl.
"Stop him now!" Julie shoved a dazed Emily hard. "Only you can stop him!"
Emily snapped out of her stupor and, crying, rushed toward Jack, shouting, "Jack! Stop!"
Hearing her voice, Jack froze as if struck by lightning. He turned his head, and when he saw Emily breaking through the crowd, tears streaming down her face as she ran toward him, the rage clouding his mind finally dissipated.
The next moment, security guards and thugs swarmed over him, tackling him to the ground. He didn't resist, instead muttering softly, "Sorry..."
At this point, "sorry" was no longer enough to solve anything. When the police arrived at the scene, they were greeted by chaos and bloodshed.
A police officer scanned the area, taking in the thugs and security guards groaning on the ground, then glanced over at Jack, who was sitting in a corner, being held by Emily. Turning to one of the security guards, the officer asked, "Did he do all this by himself?"
The security guard nodded vigorously, his face still filled with terror. "Yes, him—just him!" Even now, the security guards didn't dare approach Jack, instead forming a loose circle around him to ensure he didn't escape.
"Take them all," the officer said sternly. "Everyone who can still walk, thugs and security guards alike, bring them back to the station!" But after a moment of thought, he corrected himself. "No, take them straight to the central precinct."
"You're dead!" a young thug lying on a stretcher shouted spitefully, still trying to have the last word. "Just wait—"
But when Jack turned his icy gaze toward him, the thug immediately shut his mouth and pretended to pass out.
When the police handcuffed Jack, he didn't resist. In fact, he could have easily taken out his National Security Agency (NSA) credentials to avoid being arrested. However, regulations clearly stated that personal identification as an NSA agent should not be revealed outside of official duties.
More importantly, Jack didn't want to expose his identity in front of so many people. He figured he could explain everything once he got to the central precinct.
Besides, it was clear from the circumstances that he had acted in self-defense. The other party had initiated the confrontation, and he was simply protecting his friends and himself. There was no way he could be held accountable.
That said, his credentials weren't even on him—they were safely locked away in the drawer of his desk at home.