Pushing People Too Far

"Status panel."

Name: Xu Qing

Lifespan: 17/98

Combat Secret Technique: Night Owl (Fourth Form) (+)

Movement Technique: Night Concealment (Profound Understanding) (+)

Cultivation Method: Night Guiding Art (Perfection)

Available Attribute Points: 0

"Hm? The Fist Technique and spear technique have both been hidden?" Xu Qing discovered in surprise that several lines of data had vanished from the panel.

"Yeah, but they've already reached Perfection, so there's not much point in displaying them."

"My lifespan limit has risen to ninety-eight. It's about to break a hundred!"

Xu Qing stood in the woods behind the dormitory, slowly throwing punches and shifting his steps as he felt the changes in his body.

Through the real combat of his weekend hunts over the past two months,

he had grown increasingly proficient in using his Combat Secret Technique.

Now, he could control the strength he used when attacking very well.

Even so, he could not slack off from practicing his fists for even a single day.

After practicing in the morning and eating breakfast,

Xu Qing went to the production workshop as usual.

But the moment he entered, he heard a group of coworkers gathered together discussing gossip.

The topic seemed to be the conflict among the local Three Great Gangs.

The newly arrived Hunting Tiger Gang appeared to have been jointly besieged by the two older gangs, suffering heavy losses.

They said there would be major moves soon.

Xu Qing lost interest after listening for a while.

What did any of this have to do with him?

Why bother worrying about it?

Xu Qing walked over to his workstation and asked the coworker beside him, "Why isn't Li Yuan here? I was planning to ask him for leave."

The coworker smiled. "Team Leader Li is escorting a vehicle today. He went with the Materials Department to transport Beast Hide and should be back around evening."

"Uh, the materials have been arriving pretty frequently lately, haven't they?" Xu Qing had not paid attention to company matters for a long time, so he asked in surprise.

"Yeah. The conflict among the Three Great Gangs has all three sides buying Combat Suits, so there have been a lot of orders lately."

The coworker replied casually, then went back to work.

Xu Qing did not pay it much mind either and began his day's work.

However, when work ended that afternoon,

Xu Qing had barely stepped out of the workshop when he saw many coworkers hurrying toward the main gate with panicked expressions.

After asking around, he learned that

the team transporting Beast Hide had been attacked on the road and was nearly wiped out.

They said the attackers seemed to be members of the Hunting Tiger Gang.

Xu Qing's heart jolted, and he immediately rushed toward the company gate.

But as soon as he arrived,

he saw a large number of armed jeeps surrounding the entire entrance to Celestial God Company.

At the same time, Celestial God Company's materials transport truck was parked amid the convoy.

Yet the driver was a Hunting Tiger Gang member.

Nine Celestial God Company employees, covered in dust and looking dejected, knelt in front of the truck.

The three martial artists from the Security Department were equally bedraggled.

Only Liu Jun, who had led the team, was nowhere to be seen.

"See that guy? He's Li Feilong, deputy leader of the Hunting Tiger Gang and the son of its leader, Li Hu. I heard he's a Fourth-Order Martial Artist and extremely strong."

Among the crowd, a coworker sighed softly.

"My God, a Fourth-Order Martial Artist? Isn't that stronger than most of our Security Team? Damn bloodsuckers. They really won't let us live a single peaceful day!"

"Let's see how Old Zhou handles this. They clearly came with ill intent. This might even be connected to the conflict among the Three Great Gangs."

"I heard Deputy Team Leader Liu and Team Leader Li were killed."

"Fuck... damn it!"

Hearing this, Xu Qing's heart sank.

Soon afterward,

Boss Zhou Yu arrived with a group of martial artists from the Security Team.

Seeing Celestial God Company's materials transport truck among the convoy, Zhou Yu's face immediately darkened. "Leader Li, what is the meaning of this? Does Tianshen owe you your annual payment?"

Li Feilong crouched atop the roof of a rugged Hummer, glaring darkly at Zhou Yu. "It seems Boss Zhou did not take what I said seriously."

Li Feilong jumped down from the roof and walked before Zhou Yu. "I said that if Boss Zhou didn't put our order first and deliver the full shipment within half a month, you might have to pay a price.

Look, I brought you a truckload of Beast Hide today.

My sincerity is quite clear. I hope you'll move our order up. What do you say?"

"That's our truck!" Zhou Yu shouted furiously, his face red.

"Oh, I know. Now it's mine." Li Feilong spoke calmly. "Boss Zhou, I know you're angry, but you'd better think this through.

Our Hunting Tiger Gang is nearing a matter of life and death.

If you refuse to cooperate, then I'll simply fight to the death and slaughter everyone in your Celestial God Company.

Compared with your own life, that little so-called company reputation shouldn't amount to much, should it?"

"You!"

Zhou Yu stared at Li Feilong with bloodshot eyes, then looked at the many Hunting Tiger Gang members behind him. In the end, he could only let out a sigh.

"What about the other two employees of mine?" Zhou Yu asked heavily.

"Oh, you mean the one in charge of transport security? He was killed. He talked too much." Li Feilong sounded utterly unconcerned.

"As for how the other one died, I forgot."

Zhou Yu's eyes reddened, and he fell silent.

The surrounding employees all looked furious, wishing they could charge forward and fight these people to the death.

Zhou Yu also wanted to throw caution to the wind and have people fight these bastards to the death.

But he did not dare gamble with the lives of his employees.

"Half a month is too tight. I need at least a month."

In the end, Zhou Yu said helplessly, his face ashen.

"I don't care. For every extra day, I'll kill one person from your company." A vicious glint flashed across Li Feilong's face.

"You motherfucker! Aren't you fucking afraid of the County Government Hall?!"

Zhou Yu finally snapped.

Over the past year, these gangs and roaming bandits had practically driven him into psychological ruin.

Hearing Li Feilong's threat now, he instantly lost control.

Li Feilong's expression darkened. He abruptly reached out toward Zhou Yu, seemingly intending to grab his throat.

But at that moment, a figure suddenly flashed out from the crowd, grabbed Zhou Yu, and pulled him two steps back, evading Li Feilong's hand.

"Uncle Zhou!"

Xu Qing called softly into Zhou Yu's ear.

Zhou Yu instantly came to his senses, drenched in sweat. Looking at Li Feilong, he said, "Fine. Half a month it is. I'll have someone deliver the goods to your door then."

Li Feilong narrowed his eyes at Xu Qing beside Zhou Yu, then grinned and nodded. "No need for delivery. I'll come collect it myself."

With that, he turned around and led the convoy away in grand fashion.

"Sigh." Watching them leave, Zhou Yu let out a deep sigh, seeming to age more than ten years in an instant.

The members of the Security Team beside him all looked bitter.

Even if they could handle a Fourth-Order Martial Artist, the other side had too many people.

Moreover, behind the Hunting Tiger Gang stood their leader, Li Hu, a Fifth-Order expert.

Acting now would only invite even more terrifying fury.

"Qing Zi, thank you," Zhou Yu said gratefully to Xu Qing after coming back to himself. "If you hadn't stopped me just now, I probably would have lost my head. The Hunting Tiger Gang is no different from that Red Knife Society."

"Uncle Zhou, are you still going to ask Uncle Liu to come back?" Xu Qing asked with a frown.

"No. There's no point." Zhou Yu shook his head. "Even if Liu Zhankun came back, he could only guard this place temporarily. He can't stay here forever."

Zhou Yu sighed. "Once he leaves, we'll face even more brutal retaliation. These local tyrants have plenty of ways to retaliate against us.

The only thing we can do is avoid provoking them, or leave this place completely."

"Leave this place?" Xu Qing's heart skipped a beat. "Relocate the company?"

"Yes, but that would be troublesome and risky. I don't really want to do it."

"But I can't stand just swallowing this either."

"Or I could shut down the company and go back to the Moon to live as a wealthy man. That wouldn't be too bad either."

Zhou Yu said it like a joke.

Xu Qing's heart sank, but he consoled him, "Don't worry, Uncle Zhou. There's always a way through when the cart reaches the mountain."

"Mm, you don't need to worry about it. Go get busy." Zhou Yu shook his head, clearly not taking Xu Qing's comfort seriously.

After returning to the dormitory, Xu Qing lay on his bed, feeling helpless.

The Hunting Tiger Gang had many people and great power. Facing them head-on might not only endanger his own life, but could even harm the ordinary people in the company.

But after thinking it over and over, Xu Qing felt this problem had to be solved.

Zhou Yu had shown him tremendous kindness. He could not stand by and watch Zhou Yu fall into such a predicament.

Furthermore, Liu Jun from the Security Team had helped him greatly in the past.

If not for him, Xu Qing would still be ignorant of many things concerning martial artists, and he would never have learned of the existence of Combat Secret Techniques.

My fever stayed high for the past two days, and I had no strength to write. I finally felt a little better this afternoon and hurried to write two chapters. Sorry for the late update.