Broken Hand

"What do we do?" Little Fatty asked with a mournful face, looking helplessly at Su Hao and He Qingqing.

Obviously, Little Fatty's money had been stolen, and they did not even know who had taken it. Where were they supposed to look now?

Su Hao said speechlessly, "What else can we do? Qing Qing and I will help support you. If we eat and drink a little less, we can always pull through."

Little Fatty wailed, "No!"

He Qingqing's little face was full of indignation. "If I find out who stole it, I'll definitely break his hands."

Su Hao turned to He Qingqing. "Qing Qing, you didn't leave your money in the dormitory, did you?"

He Qingqing shook her head. "My dad specifically told me to keep it on me."

Little Fatty said resentfully, "Why didn't my dad tell me that?"

Su Hao ignored him and said directly to He Qingqing, "Keeping it on you isn't necessarily safe either. You have to stay alert at all times."

He Qingqing nodded.

After thinking for a moment, Su Hao's consciousness entered Marble Space. He gave Little Light an order, "Extract the data from before and after leaving the room."

"Extraction successful."

"Compare the differences before and after."

"Comparison in progress... Comparison successful."

"Unfamiliar footprints and fingerprints detected."

"Footprints successfully recorded. Fingerprint patterns are unclear. Please collect again."

Following Little Light's prompt, Su Hao picked up an object bearing fingerprints and held it before his eyes.

"Fingerprints successfully recorded."

Su Hao exited Marble Space and took the lead out of the dormitory. "Qing Qing, Little Fatty, let's go."

Little Fatty followed listlessly, sighing as he asked, "Where are we going?"

"To find someone!" After saying that, Su Hao ignored Little Fatty again.

He Qingqing asked curiously, "Are we going to find the thief?"

Su Hao nodded. "Yes!"

"How can we find him?"

"I naturally have my own method!" Saying that, Su Hao gave Little Light another order: Search for unfamiliar footprints and fingerprints.

Very quickly, Little Light gave feedback, marking the locations of unfamiliar footprints—or suspected locations—in Su Hao's field of vision with red circles.

Under He Qingqing and Little Fatty's doubtful gazes, Su Hao led the two of them as they searched and followed the trail. Whenever the footprints broke off, he expanded the search around the point where they vanished, quickly picking up the trail again.

Before long, the three of them arrived at a restaurant outside Warrior Academy.

The waiter warmly came forward, his face piled high with smiles. "Welcome, the three of you. Our little restaurant has anything you might want to eat."

Su Hao shook his head. "No need. We're looking for someone. Go about your work first."

The waiter said disappointedly, "All right, then. Please make yourselves at home."

Little Fatty and He Qingqing followed nervously behind Su Hao, scarcely daring to breathe. If they had come in by themselves, they would never have dared, but seeing Su Hao's unconcerned expression, they immediately admired him deeply.

After going up to the second floor, Su Hao roughly located his target. He was a Short-Haired Man of average build, though it was clear he had practiced martial arts and was likely a Martial Artist. His looks were ordinary, but he was smiling so broadly that his features were squeezed together. He had ordered a whole table of dishes, with two companions even more muscular than him sitting at the same table. All that remained was to confirm the fingerprints.

The Short-Haired Man was currently sharing his haul with his companions. He laughed loudly. "It's gotten harder these past two years. I haven't run into such a foolish kid in ages. I only followed him all the way with the attitude of trying my luck, but it actually worked out. Today, I've really struck it rich."

One of his companions echoed, "You did pretty well today, kid. Your luck shot through the roof. We had no gains at all. We can only eat this table of food and wine today by basking in your light."

The Short-Haired Man said smugly, "Of course! This one haul is enough for me to live it up for a month."

"Come, let's have a drink. May we make a fortune every day."

"Cheers!"

The three laughed loudly, their wine cups clinking together as they were about to drain them in one gulp.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need to confirm something."

A voice suddenly came from beside them, youthful in tone but mature in manner.

The three turned their heads and discovered that it was a boy of around ten. The Short-Haired Man immediately said impatiently, "Scram, scram, scram! Get lost! Don't disturb your grandpa while he's drinking."

As he spoke, he reached out to shove Su Hao.

Su Hao grabbed the Short-Haired Man's hand and flipped it upward.

"Fingerprint comparison successful."

Su Hao revealed a brilliant smile. "All right, I found you! Now, hand over the money you stole!"

The Short-Haired Man was greatly startled. He tried to wrench his hand free with force, but could not. Hearing Su Hao's words, he immediately shouted, "You little bastard, what are you trying to do? Let go of your grandpa's hand right now!"

Su Hao sneered. "Looks like you still haven't remembered."

He turned and beckoned to Little Fatty. "Little Fatty, come over and identify him."

Only then did the Short-Haired Man notice Little Fatty standing to one side.

Knowing things had gone wrong, he realized that the owner of the money had come knocking. Just as he was panicking, his two companions stood up to help.

The two rose to their feet, reaching out to grab Su Hao as they shouted, "You brat, are you looking for trouble? Looking to get beaten? Today, we'll discipline you properly in your parents' place."

Without even looking at them, Su Hao raised his leg and kicked twice at carefully chosen angles, sending both men flying. They crashed into a pillar and fell down, groaning and moaning, unable to get back up for quite a while.

The diners who heard the commotion were all startled and quickly rose to hide to one side, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.

The waiter hurried over at once but did not dare approach. He said to Su Hao in a panic, "Oh dear, oh dear, what happened? Stop, quickly! Don't hurt the harmony!"

Su Hao first turned to the waiter with a smile. "Wait a moment. I'll be done soon."

Then he said coldly to the Short-Haired Man, "So, do you know what I want now? Hand over the money you stole!"

The Short-Haired Man argued, "What money? I don't know. You've got the wrong person."

Su Hao did not waste any more words on him. He twisted his wrist.

Crack!

The Short-Haired Man's hand was broken, and he let out a shrill scream.

Little Fatty's heart clenched. His eyes went wide as he froze. He Qingqing bit her lip and clenched her fists tightly. It was clear that she had been greatly impacted. Could it be because I said I would break the thief's hands that Su Hao twisted his hand off? The other diners also seemed to breathe half a beat slower. This young boy looked refined and delicate, yet he had broken someone's hand at the slightest disagreement. He was actually so brutal!

A huge question mark rose in Little Fatty and He Qingqing's hearts. "How did Xiangwu determine that this man was the one who stole the money? What if he got the wrong person?"

Su Hao did not keep them waiting long. After breaking the Short-Haired Man's hand, regardless of how the man begged for mercy, he flipped him over and pinned him to the ground. Then he searched his body, quickly finding three money pouches.

Holding the three money pouches, Su Hao asked Little Fatty, "Which one is yours?"

"This one!!!" Little Fatty's eyes lit up. He immediately rushed over and hugged one of the bulging money pouches, kissing and stroking it like a treasure. Tears of excitement nearly fell from his eyes. The feeling of recovering what had been lost almost made him kneel down and hug Su Hao's leg in thanks.

At this point, how could they still suspect Su Hao of having mistaken the man? The surrounding diners also seemed to understand what had happened. Their gazes toward the Short-Haired Man were no longer sympathetic, but full of schadenfreude. One by one, they boldly gathered around, pointing and whispering cutting remarks.

The Short-Haired Man was still begging for mercy.

Su Hao weighed the remaining two money pouches in his hand and smiled.

The Short-Haired Man was overjoyed, thinking that Su Hao was going to let him go.

Unexpectedly, Su Hao raised his foot and stomped down on his other hand.

Crack!

The Short-Haired Man let out another pig-slaughtering howl. His other hand had been stomped broken as well.

The waiter was pacing in circles anxiously now, looking at Su Hao as if he wanted to speak but hesitated. "Um... the food and wine... the cost of the food and wine..."

Seeing his difficulty, Su Hao went over and searched the bodies of the Short-Haired Man's two companions. He found some Silver Yuan and tossed them to the waiter. "Is this enough?"

The waiter immediately broke into a smile and nodded repeatedly. "Enough, enough!"