Before Chang Hu could even enjoy his triumph for three full seconds, the smile vanished from his face, because after the gunshot, Chu He was still standing right where he was, completely unharmed and showing no signs of having been hit at all.
"Why isn't this punk dead yet?"
His underlings were equally baffled. By all accounts, anyone who took a bullet should have been meeting King Yama right this second.
"Chang Hu, did you really think a few hired guns could kill me?"
Chu He let out a cold laugh. With that, he slowly opened his palm, and as everyone stared in utter disbelief, there, resting right in the middle of his hand, were several gleaming brass bullet casings!
"Th-This is impossible..."
Panic gripped Chang Hu's heart. For the first time in his life, he was seeing someone catch bullets with their bare hands—it was utterly mind-boggling.
"I'll ask you again: who the hell told you to send people to kill my parents?" Chu He demanded coldly.
"What are you idiots just standing around for? Kill him!" Chang Hu roared at his men.
The underlings looked at each other in dismay. The guy wasn't even afraid of bullets—if they rushed him now, wouldn't they just be handing over their own heads?
Only a fool would go up against Chu He!
Seeing that his men were terrified, Chang Hu gritted his teeth and shouted furiously, "Chu, I'm taking you down with me!"
With that, he leaped straight off the sofa and launched a direct attack on Chu He, unleashing a ferocious flurry of punches that whistled through the air.
"External martial arts?"
Seeing Chang Hu's moves, Chu He recognized at a glance that the technique belonged to the introductory forms of the hard qigong school.
"Ha! Punk, at least you know your stuff. Watch me smash your skull to pieces!"
Chang Hu flashed a grim smile, his fists churning up a howling wind as he smashed them viciously toward Chu He's temple.
As an underworld boss in the southern district, he had fought his way up using nothing but his bare fists—what kind of storms hadn't he seen?
"Break!"
Chu He stood rooted to the spot, completely unfazed. Facing Chang Hu's incoming strike, he simply raised his hand and threw a lightning-fast punch of his own!
Thud!
A dull impact echoed as their fists collided in mid-air!
Crack!
Immediately following was the sound of fracturing bone. Chang Hu's fist bones were shattered to dust by the sheer force of Chu He's blow. He let out a cry of agony, clutched his injured hand, and stumbled backward, sweat instantly soaking his back!
"How—how can you possibly be this strong?"
Overwhelmed by excruciating pain, Chang Hu stared at Chu He in absolute shock. The punk looked so harmless and innocent, yet where on earth did he get such monstrous combat power?
With his pair of "iron fists," he could punch clean through a concrete wall, yet a single exchange with Chu He had completely pulverized the bones in his hand!
"This is my last time asking: who ordered you to kill my parents? Don't test my patience!" Chu He's voice was freezing cold, dripping with murderous intent.
"I won't accept this!"
"Punk, do you dare make a bet with me?" Chang Hu glared at Chu He, his face twisted with fury.
"What qualifications do you have to negotiate with me?" Chu He sneered.
"Don't you want to know who is trying to wipe out your Xu Family?!"
Chang Hu was a ruthless man; backed into a corner, he was still willing to make one final desperate gamble. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Three days from now, at noon, you and I will fight to the death right here! If I lose, I'll tell you everything you want to know!"
"And if I refuse?"
"Then kill me right now. But whatever it is you're looking for, you might never find out!" Chang Hu said, enduring the agonizing pain.
Hearing this, Chu He frowned slightly. He thought of Xu Jinshui—the old man had rather died than reveal who was pulling the strings behind the scenes. Since Chang Hu was willing to talk, sparing his life for the moment wasn't out of the question. After pondering for a moment, Chu He nodded.
"Fine. As you wish—I'll be back in three days!"
With that, Chu He walked straight out of the KTV lobby. Chang Hu's underlings watched him leave with terrified gazes, not even daring to draw a full breath.
Just as Chu He was about to leave, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, turned around, and walked back in. This scared the wits out of everyone present, and they instinctively scrambled backward.
"You're going back on your word?"
Seeing this, Chang Hu gritted his teeth. If Chu He reneged on the deal, he was a dead man for sure.
"There's one thing I almost forgot!"
Chu He walked right up to Chang Hu, the corners of his mouth curving up as he said, "You have a lackey named Fly. Last time, he beat up my brother's father, and it was agreed he would pay ten million in compensation!"
"You..."
Hearing this, Chang Hu turned green with rage. He had long since heard about this from Fly—the ones who got beaten up were clearly Fly and his men, and the loan shark's IOU had already been returned to that lame Uncle An. How on earth did Chu He still have the nerve to demand ten million?
"By the way, Uncle An's leg was broken by you, wasn't it?" Chu He asked immediately after.
"Yes, I broke it, but..."
"As long as you admit it!"
Chu He's voice suddenly turned frigid. With the speed of lightning, he lashed out with a kick, directly shattering the bone in Chang Hu's right calf!
"Agh!"
Unable to hold it in any longer, Chang Hu let out a howling shriek and collapsed heavily onto the floor.
"Stop howling and pay up!"
Looking down at Chang Hu from above, Chu He said in an icy tone, "Otherwise, you won't get to keep your other leg either!"
Hearing this, Chang Hu felt like ripping Chu He's heart out, but he was a veteran of the underworld and understood all too well that a wise man submits to circumstances. With no other choice, gritting his teeth through the agonizing pain, he used one hand to write out a ten-million-dollar check.
Chu He took the check, glanced over it, and warned:
"Chang Hu, if you dare issue a bad check, I guarantee you won't live to see the third day!"
[...]
A demon!
That punk surnamed Chu was an absolute demon!
Watching Chu He's receding figure, Chang Hu felt a hatred so intense it made his teeth itch. If only he had rooted out the weeds and eliminated the roots five years ago, he wouldn't be facing such a catastrophe today!
"Lord Hu, are you alright?"
Seeing that Chu He was finally gone, Fly—who had been cowering behind the bar the whole time—scuttled out and squatted beside Chang Hu, asking with concern.
"Get lost!"
Hearing such utterly useless words, if Chang Hu hadn't been injured, he would have kicked Fly to death on the spot.
Once Chu He was gone, Chang Hu gritted his teeth, pulled out his mobile phone, and dialed a number.
"President Chang, is something the matter so late at night?" a magnetic male voice came through the receiver.
"Mr. Hu, I have some bad news for you—your junior brother Jin Hai has been killed!" Chang Hu sighed.
"What?!"
The caller's voice spiked an octave as he angrily demanded, "Who on earth dares to kill my junior brother?"
"To my shame, old Jin was killed while trying to help me!"
With a sorrowful tone, Chang Hu twisted the truth and exaggerated the sequence of events before gritting his teeth. "Mr. Hu, that punk surnamed Chu has threatened to kill me in three days. Please, sir, you must save me! Once this is done, there will be a heavy reward!"
"Hmph! Even if he weren't going to kill you, I'd still come looking for his head!"
The caller let out a cold snort and said, "Tell that punk that three days from now, on the Lujiang River, I will personally claim his head!"
"Good! With your word, I can finally rest easy!"
Hearing this, Chang Hu couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. This "Mr. Hu" he spoke of was Hu Heng, a martial artist retained by a certain syndicate in the North.
This man possessed terrifyingly high cultivation, with one foot already stepped into the Grandmaster Realm. Chang Hu had once witnessed Hu Heng kill a man a hundred paces away using nothing but a toothpick—an unforgettable display that had terrified him to his core!
With him dealing with Chu He, there was zero chance of failure!
As for the Lujiang River that Hu Heng mentioned, it was a major tributary cutting right through Jiangzhou, with a river surface several hundred meters wide. Many locals made their living off this very river.
"Chu He, let's see you survive this time!"
Gritting his teeth, Chang Hu turned to Fly and ordered, "Go deliver a message to Chu He: three days from now on the Lujiang River, I will fight him to the death!"
"Ah? Me? Go?"
Hearing he had to deliver a message to Chu He, Fly shook so hard in his legs that they turned to jelly.
"I told you to go, so go! Where did you get all this useless chatter? Watch it or I'll invoke clan discipline on you!" Chang Hu glared fiercely at Fly and roared.
"Yes..."
Fly felt like crying but had no tears. He was terrified of Chu He to the bone, and just hearing the name made him cringe. But since Chang Hu had given the order, he had no other choice; bracing himself, he went off to deliver the message to Chu He...
Leaving Jiangnan Hui, Chu He's phone rang the moment he stepped outside. He glanced at the screen and answered:
"Old Hei, what is it?"
"Holy Lord, I'm on the rooftop at your two o'clock position. Viper has already been secured!" a cold voice came from the other end of the line.
"Good, I'm heading over right now!"
Chu He hung up, glanced toward the high-rise commercial building to his front right, and with a flash of his figure, vanished into the night in the blink of an eye...
On the rooftop.
The night wind howled past as a dark shadow materialized like a ghost upon the roof—it was none other than Chu He.
"Young Master Chu!"
"Sorry to trouble you, Old Hei!" Chu He nodded.
"Dealing with a few pieces of trash, no trouble at all!"
Spade K gave an honest, good-natured smile. If certain people in the know were to find out that he could smile, they would be utterly shocked!
This was one of the top assassins in the entire world; ruthlessness and bloodshed were all that Spade K deserved. As for smiling... do assassins even smile?
"Where are they?"
"Over there!"
Spade K pointed a finger not far away and explained, "I was worried they might pull some tricks, so I took the liberty of breaking their legs first!"
Stepping closer, Chu He saw several men dressed in camouflage gear lying motionless on the ground. Their expressions varied—some showed terror, others resentment, and a few burned with rage!
"Which one is Viper?" Chu He swept his gaze across the men and asked coldly.
At those words, Viper glared viciously at Chu He while letting out a low, guttural growl deep in his throat, sounding remarkably like a guard dog warning an intruder.
"Looks like it's you."
Cbaing to waste any breath, Chu He went straight to the point. "If you don't want to die, confess honestly: who sent you to kill me?"
"In your dreams! Our Viper Squad will never betray our employer's information!"
Viper gritted his teeth, the long, jagged scar across his face twitching violently as he looked as ferocious as a living centipede.
"Is that so?"
Chu He smiled coldly, turned his head toward Spade K, and gave him a subtle look.
Spade K understood instantly. He walked over to one of the mercenaries, pulled out a gleaming dagger, and before the man even realized what was happening, drove it straight into the mercenary's thigh. Blood instantly spurted everywhere!
"Ah!"
The mercenary's miserable, piercing scream pierced the night sky. Annoyed by the noise, Spade K threw a punch that shattered the man's jaw...
"Hmph, my men have spines of iron. Even if you kill him, I still won't talk!" Viper sneered, showing total disdain.
"As you wish!"
With that, Spade K pulled a blue-and-white porcelain bottle from his person. Seeing the object, Chu He instinctively pinched his nose and took a few steps back.
Corpse-Dissolving Oil!
This stuff could dissolve an entire ox, leaving behind not even a scrap of bone.
Spade K unscrewed the cap and let fall just a single drop of the corpse-dissolving oil onto the mercenary's bloody wound.
Sizzle!
The moment the wound came into contact with the oil, it began to hiss and sizzle, sending up a reeking cloud of white smoke. The mercenary broke out in a cold sweat from the agony, but with his jaw shattered, he couldn't even scream out loud. He could only watch wide-eyed as his thigh was slowly eaten away by the corpse-dissolving oil, until everything went black and he passed out cold.
In less time than it took to smoke a cigarette, a living person had vanished right before their eyes, leaving behind nothing but a pool of foul-smelling bloody water and tattered scraps of clothing...
"Spade K, you—you're too cruel! Even more vicious than a demon!"
Witnessing all this, Viper felt a surge of horror and panic, and could not help gritting his teeth to curse Spade K.
"Don't worry, you're next!" Spade K looked at Viper with a playful smirk, then turned and walked toward another mercenary. The dagger in his hand was still dripping with blood, making the remaining mercenary's scalp prickle until he finally snapped and shouted at Viper:
"Boss! All the brothers are dead anyway! Just give the employer's info to Spade K!"
"This..."
He hesitated for all of two seconds before Spade K slashed his blade directly across the mercenary's throat, sending him straight to the underworld on the spot!
"Damn you, Spade K! Aren't you afraid of offending the Mercenary Guild?" Viper was so furious his balls ached—would it have killed him to let him hesitate a few more seconds?
"The Mercenary Guild?"
Spade K looked utterly contemptuous. He pointed a finger at Chu He and cast a mocking glance at Viper. "Do you even know who our Young Master Chu is?"
"Him?"
Viper glared bitterly at Chu He. According to the dossier the Xu Family gave him, wasn't this punk just an ordinary person?
"Let me tell you, Young Master Chu is the Holy Lord of the Dark Palace. Would your measly guild ever dare offend the Dark Palace?" Spade K sneered.
"What?! H-He's the Holy Lord of the Dark Palace?"
Hearing that answer, Viper's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Strictly speaking, the Dark Palace was the absolute pinnacle of assassination organizations—unlike the mercenaries who relied on guns and heavy artillery, the people there were top-tier ancient martial arts masters, outclassing the Mercenary Guild by who knew how many levels!
"Duh! Otherwise, who else would have the ability to make me work for them?" Spade K flexed without leaving a trace.
"Fine, I'll talk!"
Viper finally caved. The Dark Palace was not something he dared to offend. He blurted out immediately, "My employer is Xu Yinshui. He offered ten million US dollars to take out Chu... Mr. Chu."
"Ten million?"
Before Chu He could speak, Spade K blew his gasket first. Furious, he raged, "Who does this old bastard Xu think he is? Is Young Master Chu's life only worth ten million? I'm going to go wipe this old turtle out right now!"
"Old Hei, don't act rashly!"
Chu He remained completely calm, saying indifferently, "A person has to keep their word. I said I'd give the Xu Family half a month. If I kill them now, wouldn't that make me a man of broken promises?"
"Young Master Chu, the Xu Family is utterly disgusting, hiring such low-class trash to assassinate you!" Spade K gestured toward Viper.
[...]
Hearing that, Viper almost coughed up a mouthful of old blood. In the mercenary world, he was considered a somebody—how on earth did he become "low-class"?
"Doesn't matter!"
Chu He waved a hand dismissively, locked his gaze on Viper, and said, "There's something I'm quite curious about. If you can answer me honestly, I might just spare your life!"
"Really?"
Overjoyed, Viper nodded eagerly. "Mr. Chu, ask whatever you like!"
"Huaxia has always been a forbidden zone for mercenaries, and you know that better than I do! Besides, how did you manage to bring all this gear into the country?" Chu He finished by nudging a high-powered sniper rifle on the ground with the tip of his shoe.
Even if you broke a thing like this down into pieces, customs would flag it—let alone a wanted figure like Viper. How could the relevant departments ever let him slip into the country so easily?
"That... I honestly don't know!"
Viper pulled a bitter face and explained, "I was worried about that too at first, but Xu Yinshui said he had already greased the wheels. He told me it wouldn't matter even if we brought rocket launchers!"
"Is that true?" Hearing this, Chu He furrowed his brows.
"I swear, if I'm lying to you by even a single word, let me be struck by lightning!" Viper raised three fingers and swore solemnly.
"Hn, I believe you."
Chu He nodded. It seemed the people behind the Xu Family were the ones pulling strings; otherwise, relying solely on Viper's abilities to smuggle a sniper rifle into Huaxia would be nothing short of a pipe dream.
"Then... can we go now?"
Viper was ecstatic. Seeing this, Chu He nodded. "You can leave. You should thank Xu Ni for tipping me off about the assassins, otherwise I wouldn't even have known who was trying to kill me."
"Xu Ni?"
Hearing that name, Viper's expression instantly darkened.
"Well, since that woman happens to like me, maybe she just couldn't bear to see me die?"
Chu He shrugged. Then, very considerately, he helped Viper reset his broken leg and offered some earnest advice in a fatherly tone: "Viper, there was never any real grievance between us—it's all the Xu Family stirring up trouble. If it weren't for Xu Ni, your brothers wouldn't have died. So if you want to blame someone, blame her."
"Let's move!"
Viper gritted his teeth. No wonder Spade K had tracked him down so easily—someone had betrayed him! No way in hell was he letting this go; this debt had to be avenged!
"Young Master Chu, are you really letting them walk?" Spade K asked, watching Viper and his remaining associate retreat into the distance.
"Trash like that doesn't matter dead or alive. Better to let them go give the Xu Family a warning—playing all these little games comes with a price!" Chu He sneered.
"I understand. Young Master Chu's trick of borrowing a knife to kill someone is smoother than ever..." Spade K took the opportunity to flatter him.
Meanwhile, a fuming Viper climbed back into his vehicle, his face etched with murderous intent as he told his sole surviving comrade:
"Drive to the Xu Family. I'm going to tear that bitch surnamed Xu into pieces!"
"Boss, what if this is just a smoke screen set up by Chu He to deliberately drive a wedge between us and the Xu Family?" the subordinate asked skeptically.
"What the hell do you know?!"
Viper was burning with rage and couldn't listen to reason. He instantly barked a furious reprimand: "If Chu He wanted us dead, it would be as easy as snapping his fingers. Why would he go through all this trouble to trick me?"
"This..."
"Stop flapping your gums and drive!"
With no other choice, the subordinate started the engine and sped toward the Xu Family estate. Now that he thought about it, Viper's words actually made a strange sort of sense...
The Xu Family, villa living room.
"Dad, do you think Viper can actually kill Chu He?" Xu Ni asked, looking at Xu Yinshui, who sat on the sofa with a furrowed brow.
"Let's hope so!"
Xu Yinshui had no confidence in his heart either, sighing, "It's just a pity that the person up top refuses to step forward. Otherwise, things would be much easier to handle!"
"You always mention 'the person up top'—who on earth are they?" Xu Ni asked, full of doubt.
"Don't ask about things you shouldn't, or our Xu Family will face complete annihilation!" Hearing that, Xu Yinshui quickly cut off his daughter's line of questioning.
"Dad, Chu He is about to wipe out our Xu Family too, and we've even had to hand over our shares in Tingyuxuan! Are the people up top really just going to sit back and do nothing?" Xu Ni complained angrily.
"Shut your mouth!"
Xu Yinshui finally lost his temper and scolded, "Go get some rest and stay out of these matters! Oh, and that immigration paperwork I asked you to process—is it done?"
"It's done. I can pick up my American visa in three days!"
At the mention of emigration, Xu Ni couldn't help smiling. "The air in America is so much fresher, and the citizens have a much higher standard of education than people in Huaxia. I've wanted to go over there for ages!"
"Hn, as long as it's processed, that's what matters!"
Hearing this, Xu Yinshui let out a sigh of relief. Chu He's return to Jiangzhou left him with a lingering sense of unease, which was why he had rushed Xu Ni to sort out her emigration. Just in case anything went wrong, the Xu Family would at least have a direct bloodline left surviving elsewhere...
"Dad, get some rest early."
"I know."
After exchanging a few words, Xu Ni left the study, went downstairs, and turned in for the night.
Yet not long after Xu Ni left, Xu Yinshui heard the family's large wolfhound erupt into a frantic session of barking, followed immediately by a series of muffled gunshots downstairs. The dog's howling cut off abruptly.
Oh no!
Hearing the gunshots, Xu Yinshui turned pale with shock. He hurried to the corner of his study, retrieved a pitch-black handgun from his safe, stepped out of the study, and crept stealthily down the stairs...