"I was saved because of him, yet you didn't run away when I was dealing with you. Well! Though I'll catch up to you soon enough, it's pretty audacious of you to show up on your own!" Lin Yingbin talked to himself. "See that? I knocked him down with ease."
Just as those words fell from Lin Yingbin's lips, a large hand grabbed him tightly by the cheek, and then he could feel his body pushed backward by a massive force. He struggled fiercely, trying to brace himself and stop, only to find he couldn't.
Ryuseki grabbed Lin Yingbin's head with his hand, exerted force to push him, and then slammed his head against the concrete wall behind. The back of Lin Yingbin's head hit the wall hard, bleeding, and the wall was smashed open with a large hole. Ryuseki didn't give him a chance to catch his breath; his left hand wrapped in airflow and was about to knock Lin Yingbin to the ground, but when the fist struck, Lin Yingbin stood tall and didn't budge an inch.
"See if you go down!" Gritting his teeth, Ryuseki hardened his heart and used all his strength to pin Lin Yingbin to the ground with a punch. Lin Yingbin was knocked flat by that fierce blow, leaving a medium-sized impact crater in the ground. It looked like Ryuseki hadn't held back any mercy with that punch.
"Bastard!"
Lin Yingbin executed a kipping up-reverse, then quickly retreated two paces to put some distance between himself and Ryuseki to prevent any follow-up combos. Next, making sure Ryuseki wasn't going to strike, he rushed right in front of him. This whole sequence took less than two seconds.
"Huh?!" Before Ryuseki could react at all, Lin Yingbin grabbed him by the head in return.
Lin Yingbin straightened up, looked at Ryuseki, and lifted him up using only one hand on his head. Originally, Ryuseki thought Lin Yingbin was going to dodge; he hadn't expected him to counterattack so fast. He struggled, continuously hammering away with his fists at the arm grabbing his head, trying to break free of his current plight. Yet it had zero effect; Lin Yingbin's arm was like a steel sculpture, refusing to let go no matter how he attacked.
"That last hit hurt a lot, so I'm giving it back to you!" Following that, Ryuseki felt an extraordinary pain wash over his face in an instant, and the pressure surrounding him felt as though it was about to crush his skull into pieces as Lin Yingbin's five fingers squeezed hard.
Then, Lin Yingbin hoisted Ryuseki by the head and slammed him fiercely into the ground, with a force entirely no less than Ryuseki's previous blow. Blood seeped from the corners of Ryuseki's eyes instantly, and the next second, whether Lin Yingbin let go or Ryuseki put up a sheer struggle, he broke free of the large hand and started screaming while clutching his head.
"Ugh~" Ryuseki rolled around on the ground clutching his head, blood beginning to seep from it.
Lin Yingbin walked over step by step, then raised his foot.
"Go to hell!" Disregarding the blood flowing from the back of his head, he wore a smile toward the rolling Ryuseki, but his tone was filled with ferocity.
Ryuseki realized the attack was coming, so enduring the pain, he leaped up and quickly jumped away to escape the range of Lin Yingbin's kick.
"Get over here!"
How could a Lin Yingbin who had now turned cold-blooded give Ryuseki any chance? He swiftly gave chase, fiercely pinning the not-yet-run-far Ryuseki to the ground, and then subjected him to another round of brutal blows.
After landing several punches, he tossed him into the air, squatted down to support his body with both hands, and kicked Ryuseki away with both feet just as he was about to land.
High in the air, Ryuseki had zero opportunity to fight back, and the flurry of fierce strikes had already left him with barely any strength to retaliate. He simply had no way to escape, left with no choice but to take the brunt of it like Lin Yingbin's living target. Hit squarely and viciously in the upper spine by Lin Yingbin, Ryuseki let out a miserable scream. "Aargh-nu~"
Lin Yingbin then jumped up at extreme speed, continuously stomping hard with both feet against Ryuseki's abdomen. Next, utilizing the recoil from stomping off the air, Lin Yingbin landed swiftly and delivered the final blow to Ryuseki. Exerting his full strength, he unleashed a back whip kick straight into the abdomen of the falling Ryuseki.
Ryuseki crashed into a massive crater on the concrete ground, and the force of the impact caused a wall nearby to collapse abruptly, burying him beneath the fragments of the fallen perimeter wall.
After this terrifying series of strikes, Ryuseki had collapsed heavily beneath that pile of bricks. Previously, Ryuseki had never imagined he would be beaten into such a state by his most trusted bosom friend. In truth, right from the start, Ryuseki had never dealt a genuine killing blow to Lin Yingbin. He always talked big about how he wouldn't let him off and would handle it with full force. Yet the very moment he actually threw a punch, not only his consciousness, but even his body would relax.
He's a friend!
The instruction received by his body was just that. Even though he desperately told himself that only by defeating Lin Yingbin could he save him, the command issued at the most crucial moment was never to use his full strength.
Dying rather than suspecting one's friend—such was Ryuseki's nature. Even though he had stated he would take down Lin Yingbin, he simply couldn't bring himself to deal such heavy blows to his bosom friend in action. In his worldview, aside from family, the most important people were friends, so the vow he made to himself was that he could never betray a friend. Trusting friends was certainly important, but placing overly excessive trust in them might very well become his fatal weakness henceforth.
"You still alive?!" There was a slightly mocking undertone to Lin Yingbin's voice, but no sound answered him. Pinned underneath, Ryuseki didn't emit the slightest noise, as if he had lost the signs of life. Consequently, Lin Yingbin concluded that Ryuseki was dead.
"What the heck! You die just like that." Appearing somewhat exasperated, Lin Yingbin turned around and walked toward Ryuu Mufei, whose psyche had just suffered a severe blow.
Ryuu Mufei had originally intended to use the connection of the mental world to manipulate and magnify the fear buried deep inside Lin Yingbin's heart, thereby shattering his mental realm. Yet the moment he invaded Lin Yingbin's psyche, he felt clearly that bottomless depth of terror.
What on earth had Lin Yingbin experienced before? What kind of hardships must he have gone through to cram such powerful darkness into his heart? When was such a formidable fear buried deep within him? And how on earth did he hide all of this? Such intense terror was difficult even for Ryuu Mufei to manipulate, and instead, he found himself suppressed by this layer of dread.
Bang... crash!!! Ryuseki crawled out from beneath the ruins of the collapsed wall. He looked severely injured, especially about the head, where the blood had been stained black by dust. Trembling all over, he stared at Lin Yingbin and panted continuously.
"I thought you were a goner. You really... when you could have just saved your life like that, or maybe preserved a chance of a comeback by hiding yourself. Showing up with such a grand spectacle..." Lin Yingbin turned back around to look at Ryuseki, his tone shifting from icy to excited. "Though you know what? It's precisely like this that things get interesting! Right now, I really do want to take down a tough bastard like you!"
Before you continue