Chapter 14

This was originally the day Bai Lang would finally finish converting all his internal energy. He had decided to take a short break that afternoon, stroll around outside, and treat himself to a good meal. As he walked through the streets of Lanzhou, restaurants selling lamb, beef, and rice dishes lined both sides. The fragrant scent of grilled meat made his mouth water. He had money, and quite a lot of it—Shanghai housing prices ranked among the highest in the country, after all. The money from selling his family home should have been enough for him to live out the rest of his life somewhere like Lanzhou.

Then he might as well order an entire roast lamb. Bai Lang was currently cultivating the Thirteen Great Protectors' Adamantine Bell Shield. The concentration of ambient essence in this world was insufficient for this martial art to absorb enough essence from the outside. Besides, during the first three stages of entry, it did not yet possess the ability to absorb essence externally. Everything depended on extracting essence from the food the practitioner consumed. Thus, nearly everyone cultivating the Thirteen Great Protectors' Adamantine Bell Shield became a huge eater in the beginning.

Lamb was cheap here. For just over a thousand yuan, an entire roast lamb was brought out. Once several cases of beer arrived as well, Bai Lang began eating and drinking to his heart's content. Eventually, even the waiters and the owner came over to watch—after all, it was rare to see one person finish an entire sheep along with so much beer. It might have been the first time any of them had ever seen such a thing, so everyone came to gawk.

Full and satisfied, Bai Lang felt slightly tipsy. Even though he cultivated martial arts, it did not do much for his alcohol tolerance. Bai Lang could only drink so much, and after all that beer, he was somewhat drunk. In no hurry to return, he simply strolled along the street with his hands in his pockets, leisurely enjoying the myriad sights of modern civilization. By the time night fell and the city lights came on, the alcohol had not faded. Instead, it was starting to hit him even harder—this beer really was good. It was not light beer, but dark beer with a relatively high alcohol content.

As Bai Lang walked, his steps shifted slightly, perfectly avoiding someone who rammed into him. With no Bai Lang to cushion the impact, that person slammed heavily into the wall behind him before collapsing to the ground. Bai Lang turned his head and saw that he was just an ordinary person. Several others hurried over from the direction that man had come from. The leader was even holding a machete. "Fuck! You dare bump into me? Beat him to death!" he shouted.

The man on the ground was quickly surrounded and kicked around by the group. "Hey, hey! That's enough. You'll seriously hurt him if this keeps up!" Bai Lang could not stand by and watch. The man claiming he had been bumped did not look injured at all—so even if someone had hit his car, that was no reason to beat a person like this. "I'm calling the police!" Bai Lang did not want trouble, so he intended to solve this by calling the police.

This was a society governed by law. Brawling was the way of barbarians—if this had been the world after his transmigration, Bai Lang would already have acted. But when in Rome, do as the Romans did, and his memories of the past had made him a law-abiding citizen once more rather than Brother Bai Lang, the enforcer for a tooth broker. Yet his words and his attempt to stop them seemed to enrage the group. The leader with the machete looked to be in his thirties, while the others were young men in their twenties or thirties. One look told Bai Lang they were no good—temperament made their faces repulsive, and he had seen those looks often enough. That was what thugs and hooligans looked like.

They reeked of alcohol too, so they probably failed to notice the significance of how Bai Lang had effortlessly pushed them all aside with a mere sweep of his arm. The leader sprang up and brought the machete straight down at Bai Lang. Even this drunk, he instinctively used a blade technique meant to split flesh and skin? Looks like he's an old hand. He knows what he's doing. Bai Lang saw through them at once. He leaned back slightly and easily dodged the strike.

Missing made the man fly into a rage. "He, he, he... fuck!" He even stammered as he spoke. The men behind him rushed forward to grab Bai Lang, while the leader simply thrust his blade ahead. It was only a machete, but it still had a pointed tip, and the consequences would be different. Bai Lang gave a bitter smile. He did not regret stepping forward and bringing trouble upon himself. With a flick of his hand, he knocked the blade aside, then lightly pressed his palm against the man's chest.

Bai Lang had not used his true skill. There was no need against a few punks. With that palm strike, the man immediately collapsed. Bai Lang then turned from side to side, his Hand Blade flashing repeatedly. In the time it took to breathe, he had knocked down everyone there. Control the force properly. Just make them pass out. Bai Lang's ear twitched slightly. He crouched beside the first man he had struck down. "Now this is trouble! Why isn't this guy breathing?"

Bai Lang was decisive. He pressed the man's neck and, after confirming there was no pulse, immediately took out the man's phone and dialed 120—he still needed his own phone, and it would not be good if it was located after he called. After briefly giving them the location, Bai Lang tossed the phone aside and ran. He would not go back to pack his belongings. There was no need, and there was nothing worth taking. Leaving immediately was what mattered.

Bai Lang had no desire whatsoever to end up in a police station. The situation could not be explained clearly, so fleeing first was the best choice. He could not take a train or a long-distance bus, and flying was naturally out of the question. He would have to use his own two legs. He could, however, take a taxi out of the city first. Bai Lang bought a map as quickly as possible, then hailed a taxi and went straight out of Lanzhou. He could not take the highway, where roadblocks might be set up. The national highways were the same. Thus, Bai Lang got out of the taxi somewhere outside Lanzhou.

He had bought an atlas containing maps of Lanzhou and Gansu, mainly tourist maps. Wherever his internal energy circulated, his breath remained long and steady. Once he employed his lightness skill, his legs were not much slower than a galloping horse. Under cover of night, he hurried south at top speed. Perfect. I'll take the Hanzhong route to Sichuan, then keep heading south and find a way to Southeast Asia—today really made up my mind. Bai Lang truly did not know whether to laugh or cry. He had never expected that one act of righteousness would end with him killing someone.

What the hell was wrong with that bastard? How could he be so fragile? I didn't use any force at all. And from the feel of it, I shouldn't have broken his ribs. There was even less chance of a broken bone piercing his heart and killing him. Bai Lang ran while thinking, and in the end, he could only blame it on Heaven wanting the boy dead, so that even a light blow had killed him.

Police cars had already surrounded the area. Several officers held the men involved in the fight off to one side and questioned them, as well as the original victim. Crime scene investigators took photographs, while the forensic examiner conducted a preliminary examination of the body. When the ambulance arrived, they already knew this was a death caused by a fight, so after confirming the death, no one touched the corpse again. "The preliminary assessment is myocardial infarction. Perhaps the struggle stimulated his heart and caused it to stop, then the man died," the forensic examiner said, lifting his head to the criminal detective in charge. "What kind of mess is this?" The detective shook his head.