Surrender Now—All of You Are Surrounded by Me!

Inside the factory building.

"..."

As if someone had pressed a pause button, everyone fell silent and turned to look at the unexpected intruder.

Seeing such a pretty, well-proportioned girl barge in alone, several of them stood up, making lewd gestures as they openly teased her.

"Little girl, this isn't a place you should be. Right now, you ought to be lying comfortably under your blankets."

"But now, you'll have to make us comfortable instead. Hahaha..."

"A Qiang, don't laugh so sleazily. What if you scare the little girl?"

"Scare her? Scare my ass. Once I pull my thing out later, I'll show her what being scared really means."

"Give it a rest. With that little thing of yours..."

Watching the thugs rely on their numbers to dismiss her, brazenly acting like hooligans, Su Yao could not help but grow angry.

"I received a report from the public that you are suspected of kidnapping. Hand the person over, then come with me!"

"Here are my credentials!" Su Yao pulled out her ID, thinking that even if they were not intimidated, they would at least show some restraint. Instead, they became even more outrageous.

"Whoa! A police flower! Have you guys ever played with one? Officer, where are your colleagues? Why are you all alone? One person won't be enough to handle all of us."

"Yeah, we're all such big, rough men, while you're so delicate. I'm afraid you won't be able to handle us!"

"Woohoo, none of you better fight me for her! I, A Long, am going first!"

"Bullshit! I..."

They were practically drooling.

Just as the men outside fought over who would go first, a deep, authoritative voice came from within and stopped them. "Shut up! A Long, A Qiang, take two people and 'invite' the female police officer in. Clear up this misunderstanding with her. Don't lay a hand on her."

"Hmph! Since you're resisting law enforcement, don't blame me for getting rough."

Outside.

They parked outside the factory, the engine still running.

A Jiu spent quite a while soothing Xiao Jiu before it finally agreed to stay in the car by itself.

Young Master Fei got out with A Jiu, crouched low, and approached the factory gate step by step.

Since the place had long been abandoned and the gates stood wide open, they entered without much effort.

It was impossible to say he was not afraid at all. A random thug could probably knock him unconscious with a single hammer blow.

But Young Master Fei had a trump card as well. A Jiu was more than capable of keeping him safe.

Following the only place where light shone through, Young Master Fei hurried forward in small, stealthy steps until he reached the factory building's entrance. He did not dare delay, immediately peering inside through the half-open door.

Several large incandescent bulbs hung from the ceiling. The lighting was not particularly bright, but it was enough to make out people's silhouettes.

The factory interior was slightly smaller than a middle school athletic field, with several closed rooms inside.

Aside from some discarded junk piled along the walls and in the corners, there were only tables and chairs in the middle. The voices inside were not too far away, and since both sides were shouting at full force, Young Master Fei could barely make out what they were saying.

Several people already lay on the ground, doing nothing but groaning, "Ow, ow." Most had sticks lying beside them, so there had clearly been a brief fight earlier.

And the result? There was no doubt about it. Su Yao, with the strength of a Martial Master, had won.

In the original novel, Young Master Fei remembered that the author had only revealed the power scale up to Martial Ancestor in the early stages.

As for whether there were any higher ranks later on, he had no idea.

The power ranks were: ordinary person, Martial Disciple, Martial Practitioner, Martial Master, Martial Ancestor.

Generally speaking, A Martial Practitioner could easily defeat a fully equipped special forces soldier at the peak of human capability, one who had undergone extensive training and seen years of real combat.

A Martial Master, meanwhile, could easily take on multiple opponents at once—dozens or even hundreds, perhaps.

However, since that was not the original novel's focus, the power system was never strictly defined. There was plenty of inconsistency, and the upper and lower limits varied widely.

Take Ye Chen, for example. He had the protagonist's special ability—power bursts—so his strength was highly unpredictable.

But no matter how great the variation, Su Yao dealing with a bunch of petty thugs now should have been effortless.

As long as they did not have guns, she could move through them with ease.

Yes, after all, by the time the novel was abandoned, it was completely a low-martial world. Everyone had weaknesses. No matter how skilled one was, bullets were still terrifying.

At most, Martial Masters and Martial Ancestors could use muscle strength to reduce the damage bullets caused them, or dodge them through combat instincts and reflexes.

She easily took down several underlings in just a few moves.

Su Yao was quite satisfied with her own strength. Of course, that was also the confidence that allowed her to venture alone into this dangerous place.

She was not showing off; she simply had faith in her own abilities.

One force could overcome ten techniques. Before an absolute gap in strength, schemes were useless, and numbers were useless too.

"Grab your weapons! Get him together!"

A burly, scar-faced man saw that they had run into a tough opponent. Forgetting all notions of honor among outlaws, he shouted for his brothers to grab their blades and attack together.

However, just as they were about to make their move, Su Yao moved with ghostly speed.

With a flash, she appeared before one of the thugs. A flick of her wrist took the knife from his hand, followed by a side kick that sent him crashing to the ground, unable to rise.

The thugs stared at the scene in shock. Before they could react, Su Yao had already knocked down several more of them. Every one of her movements was flawlessly precise.

In less than five minutes, the entire factory had gone from a mess to utter devastation.

The thugs were either lying on the ground groaning or retreating into corners in terror.

"Th-this thing isn't human!" one thug said in a trembling voice, his face full of fear.

"She... she's a monster!" another thug stammered, unable to get the words out properly.

"..."

Seeing how ferocious Su Yao was, Young Master Fei was stunned as well.

She was this strong?

This was the first time he had seen what kind of fighting power a martial arts master possessed.

He knew they were strong, but he had not known they were this strong.

Or rather, he had never had any real concept of just how strong martial arts masters were.

It seemed he had not overestimated her intelligence—he had underestimated her combat ability.

It could not be helped. There was a martial arts master right beside him.

And this martial arts master...

He narrowed his eyes and turned to look at A Jiu.

At that moment, A Jiu was peering through the crack in the door, her eyes wide with the curiosity of a child. As though she had never seen anyone so formidable before, her mouth hung slightly open in a somewhat flattened O.

Forget it. This was fine too.

While Su Yao was fighting the thugs, two people inside watched the battle outside clearly through a one-way mirror.

"A martial arts master!" an elderly-sounding voice exclaimed in shock.

"A martial arts master? Can you beat her?" another deep, powerful voice asked.

"I never expected this young woman to be such a prodigy. This old man has trained hard for half his life and has only reached the peak of the Martial Practitioner realm. In a direct fight, I am no match for her. Within ten moves, I would surely fall behind."

"Doesn't that mean we're done for today?" The middle-aged man with the deep voice sounded agitated.

"This old man will do his best to hold her back and let Master escape!"

"No! I don't merely want to escape. I want her dealt with—I want this trouble eliminated. Escaping is a trivial matter for me, but if she rescues the hostages here, those people from Gu Corporation will no longer be controllable. If Gu Corporation does not fall into my hands, how can I swallow this grievance?"

At the thought of his meticulously planned scheme going down the drain and billions in money slipping away, the middle-aged man was utterly unwilling to accept it.

If only, if only he had a little more time...

"Master, as long as the green hills remain, there will be no shortage of firewood." Seeing that Master refused to leave, the old man grew anxious as well.

Then inspiration struck the middle-aged man, and he suddenly thought of a way.

"Don't panic. That woman relies on her formidable strength and is somewhat arrogant, but success and failure both stem from the same cause. She will pay the price for it. I have a plan; I only need..."