After getting into the car, Chen Hao felt his heart pounding violently. Damn, I'd never encountered anything this thrilling in my previous life.
Damn, these thugs were vicious. He had originally planned to give them a little benefit so everyone could be happy, but those bastards had seen him as an easy target and treated him like a fat sheep to butcher.
Luckily, he had reacted quickly. It was just a shame about that stack of flyers. Forget it—maybe those bastards would become his customers too.
The driver uncle drove for a while and looked around. Seeing that they had shaken off their tail, his curiosity was stirred by Chen Hao's actions, and he casually asked, "Young man, what kind of business are you in?"
Chen Hao sat in the back with his eyes closed, resting. He was thinking about the slogan on the flyers. Was "One slash for 999, every slash a critical hit" better than "If we're brothers, chew me"?
Hearing the uncle's question, Chen Hao's brain failed to process it, and he instinctively replied, "The business of hacking people!"
Screech!
It was the sound of the tires grinding violently against the road.
The taxi slammed on the brakes and stopped by the roadside.
That was right. In Legend, fighting monsters, leveling up, and treasure hunting were merely the process.
PKing and hacking each other was the eternal truth of Legend, so the rewards from killing bosses were not necessarily higher than those from killing people in the wild.
In a Sabuk conquest battle, several guilds and hundreds or even thousands of people hacked away at one another. That was what you called a battle that darkened the heavens and dimmed the sun and moon, with blood staining half the sky.
In Legend, the most explosive location was neither the various Boss lairs nor the safe zones in the cities. It was a place called Red Name Village, located in the lower-right corner of the Mengzhong Province map.
That was a prison for villains. It was packed with countless vicious and belligerent criminals. Each person's name was red as blood, and each had several lives on their hands. Even money was useless there; they could only wait until their sentence was over. It was open twenty-four hours a day. Of course, in private servers, it was not impossible to clear a red name. You just had to pay more!
So, setting reality aside, Chen Hao was not wrong to say that Legend was a business involving hacking people. However, the driver uncle, who was over fifty, had clearly misunderstood. He pulled 400 yuan from his wallet and handed it over.
"Young man, I'm not taking your money. I'm a few years older than you, so let me offer you some advice. You still have a long road ahead of you. It's not too late to turn back now!"
Uh, the uncle had clearly misunderstood.
Chen Hao took out the flyers he was carrying and hurriedly explained everything to him.
The uncle looked at the greatsword on the flyer, still dubious. "This really isn't a recruitment list for the underworld? It's some kind of game?"
After Chen Hao repeatedly assured him, the car slowly started moving again.
In Northeast China, at the end of winter and the beginning of spring, darkness fell early. After driving for several hours, they had only covered half the Internet cafes.
Ice City truly deserved to be called the provincial capital. There were so many Internet cafes, too.
Just then, Chen Hao's phone rang. He answered it. "Hello, who is this?"
"Old Ban, you've arrived in Ice City? Good, wait a moment~"
Chen Hao moved the phone away, asked the uncle for the name and address of the next Internet cafe, and then told Pang Ban.
"I'll wait for you at the entrance of this Internet cafe. It shouldn't be far from the railway station. Just take a taxi directly here!"
"Mm, okay. Hanging up!"
A few minutes later, they arrived at Supersonic Internet Cafe. As usual, the car drove several dozen meters farther ahead.
Chen Hao got out and walked over with a stack of flyers in his hand.
As the saying went, if you often walked by the river, your shoes were bound to get wet.
This time, Chen Hao was not as lucky as before.
Relying on his silver tongue, he stalled them for quite a while. When he truly could not stall any longer, Chen Hao planned to use the same trick again.
He had just wanted to run when he discovered two lackeys guarding the entrance. One charged forward and the other intercepted him, blocking Chen Hao right at the door.
The people surfing the Internet wore expressions that said it had nothing to do with them and that they were merely standing by. A few even showed looks of anticipation as they secretly watched.
The network administrator had long since grown used to this and turned a blind eye.
Chen Hao was surrounded by five or six people, who took him to a secluded, gloomy corner behind the Internet cafe.
Seeing that the surroundings were almost identical to the back of the Internet cafe near his home, Chen Hao knew he was in trouble. He regretted it a little. I'm screwed. If I'd known, I would have waited for Old Ban before going in!
"Go on, scream. Keep screaming. Even if you scream your throat raw, no one can save you. I don't mind telling you that your brother has connections inside the local police station! Even if we beat you, it'll be for nothing. Got it?"
"My uncle, Meng, is an officer at this police station—"
"I told you to keep your mouth shut! Haven't I always said we should keep a low profile? Keep a low profile, understand?"
Before the lackey could finish, the boss gave him a beating.
The gang leader approached Chen Hao, his eyes gloomy and his lips curled into a cold smile. "Big brother doesn't have that much patience. Hurry up and hand over all the money on you, and we'll let you go. Otherwise, we brothers aren't to be trifled with." The gang leader stared at his prey like a wolf.
"Fuck, I never said I wouldn't hand it over. Why are you pushing me?" Chen Hao brushed away the hand reaching toward him. He lowered his head, his expression shifting between light and dark. Then he raised his head and said obsequiously, "Big brother, how about you leave me a hundred yuan for a taxi home? I'll give you the rest."
"Hey~ That's more like it. If you'd had this awareness earlier, we brothers wouldn't have had to make such a fuss." The other party nodded.
Chen Hao moved closer and took out his wallet, pretending to withdraw money. He kept his head lowered, his eyes turning vicious as he clenched his teeth.
Damn it, I'm going all out!
Suddenly, taking advantage of his proximity, Chen Hao exploded into action. He drove his knee into the gang leader's groin in a sneak attack. As the other man bent over in pain, Chen Hao jammed his fingers into his eyes the next instant, making him howl and collapse to the ground.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, leaving the surrounding people unable to react.
Taking advantage of his upper hand, Chen Hao straddled the other man and launched a flurry of punches from both sides. The next moment, Chen Hao felt a burst of sharp pain in his back. The other man's lackeys were not just decorations either; they quickly reacted and began their operation to rescue their boss.
Chen Hao truly did not know how to fight, but recently, he had learned a few dirty tricks from Pang Ban at home. The eyes, throat, and groin were all vital weak points. He had not expected those tricks to actually come in handy.
He knew he was definitely no match for these people, so he stubbornly clung to their boss and pummeled him, turning himself into a medium. Whoever hit him, he hit their boss. No one knew how many punches and kicks Chen Hao had taken, but the boss had taken just as many.
In a moment of carelessness, Chen Hao was kicked flying.
The gang leader had escaped death. His face was covered in blood, and he huddled over his body, becoming the sect master of Wudang. His eyes blinked repeatedly, his expression venomous. He looked far worse than Chen Hao.
Leaning against the wall, Chen Hao staggered to his feet. Pain spread throughout his body. He narrowed his eyes, bared his teeth, and snarled viciously, "Damn it, if you've got the guts, kill me today! Before I die, I'll drag one of you down with me! Who's first?"
"Kid, you've got guts! Killing someone is against the law, but we can still beat you until even your parents won't recognize you—and we're very experienced at it! 'Who's first?' How childish. Brothers, beat him half to death!"
Several people charged toward Chen Hao with astonishing momentum. Chen Hao involuntarily closed his eyes, immediately crouched down, and covered his head, trying to minimize the area being hit and protect his vital points.
He had only succeeded with one move earlier because he had caught them off guard. Charging forward now would be pure stupidity. He had no choice but to endure it.
The next moment, Chen Hao discovered that the pain he expected never came. Instead, the other side let out waves of exclamations and strange cries.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that a Liangshan hero carrying a huge backpack had suddenly burst out from the side and kicked two people flying with a single flying kick.
Seeing this, the other side immediately shifted their focus and decided to deal with this Cheng Yaojin who had appeared halfway through. They surrounded the uninvited guest from all sides.
The hero struck first. Without any visible exertion, he rushed forward two steps, thrust out his hips, twisted his waist, and dropped his shoulder, directly slamming one of them into the wall beside Chen Hao. With a bang, the man slid to the ground and lay there motionless.
He took a punch to the chest from the side, swept out his arm, and knocked the other man flat on the ground, sending dust billowing into the air.
Then, as though he had eyes in the back of his head, he tilted his head and dodged an enemy's sneak attack. The attacker was none other than the leader of the gang.
With a concealed sweeping kick, he sent the other man pitching forward and flying into the air. His right hand shot out like lightning and clamped around the man's throat. His muscles tensed as his arm slowly lifted, displaying his terrifying arm strength and creating an intensely dramatic sight.
The gang leader's feet dangled in the air as he struggled continuously, but it was all in vain. Before long, his struggles gradually stopped. His face turned from pale to red, then purple. Just as the purple was about to deepen into a dark crimson, the man released him.
The gang leader collapsed to the ground like a puddle of mud, coughing and gulping in huge breaths of air.
The two men who had been kicked away at the start had only just gotten up when they saw that their side had already been wiped out. They exchanged a glance, realized the situation was bad, and immediately fled, abandoning even their boss.
No one knew whether they had gone to call for reinforcements or had truly run away.
The man watched them disappear into the distance but did not pursue them. He stood in place, guarding the pass alone, invincible even against ghosts and gods!
After pausing for a moment, the man with the backpack walked over and crouched in front of Chen Hao. His face came into view, wearing its usual expressionless look, yet carrying an entirely different kind of arrogance.
It was not Pang Ban—who else could it be?
Before you continue