"If you know what's good for you, leave everything you're holding and carrying. I won't make things hard for you; drop your stuff and go wherever you please."
The leader of the group held a large saber in his hand.
It was the longest blade among them, which looked like it had previously been used for cutting watermelons.
The others held sticks, shovels, and the like, forming a semi-circle around the three of them and eyeing them with hostility.
Big Brother Zhang flicked his blade back and forth as he spoke, "If you guys don't know what's good for you and insist on making Grandpa here go through some trouble to take your things by force, none of the three of you will be walking out of here upright today!"
As he spoke, he exchanged a glance with the men beside him.
The men beside him understood immediately, and several of them raised their weapons and slowly closed in on Gu Mian and his companions.
Seeing them close in, the fatty looked anxiously at Gu Mian.
Gu Mian, however, remained calm and unhurried; he neither spoke nor made any particular gesture.
Seeing that the three of them seemed unwilling to cooperate, Big Brother Zhang frowned, "Looks like you're tough nuts to crack..."
Yet the moment those words left his mouth, Gu Mian, standing in the center, suddenly made a move that lacked all backbone.
He moved abruptly, then took a large guitar-case-like bag off his back and set it on the ground.
Big Brother Zhang narrowed his eyes slightly at this action, "Did your brain suddenly clear up, and you're ready to hand your things over to Grandpa as a tribute?"
Immediately afterward, however, he realized things were not as simple as he thought.
The doctor in the middle, wearing a white lab coat, crouched down and swiftly unzipped the large bag containing the guitar.
What lay inside was no guitar, but a gigantic, ferocious chainsaw, and they watched with their own eyes as the doctor reached out and pulled it out.
"Holy shit!" Seeing this massive weapon appear, Wang Xiaolong, who was closest to Gu Mian, trembled, and the hammer in his hand almost smashed onto his foot.
Seeming to see such a huge and ferocious chainsaw for the first time, the leader Big Brother Zhang froze for a second.
Right after that, though, he reacted, stepping back slightly and glaring warily at the three people before him. He hesitated for a moment before giving an order, "We're retreating!"
There was no need for him to give a second order; the men beside him had already been scared into running backward the moment they saw such a ferocious gadget.
They all backed away facing Gu Mian, seemingly afraid that the doctor might suddenly rush over and saw away at their backs.
In television shows, if normal people encounter robbers and successfully drive them away, they usually say these four words—"Do not pursue a desperate foe."
Wild grass cannot be eradicated; the spring wind blows it back to life. If you cannot exterminate them completely, pursuing them might just bring trouble upon yourself.
But life is not a TV show, and Gu Mian is not a normal person.
He held the huge chainsaw and stared at the dozen or so people slowly retreating, "It seems you misunderstood."
The retreating people paused slightly, and Big Brother Zhang looked up at Gu Mian in surprise.
The chainsaw in the doctor's hand was already running, emitting a roar like a motorcycle that sounded exceptionally piercing in the dark night.
He smiled, standing on the steps of the supermarket.
"I have no intention of playing a game where we all take a step back and leave each other alone—"
"If you know what's good for you, leave everything valuable and worthless on your bodies, and I'll spare your dogs' lives. If you don't know what's good for you and want to run, you'd better run fast and don't let me catch up, or I'll saw your heads right off."
The dark night plunged instantly into an eerie silence.
Big Brother Zhang widened his eyes as he looked at the doctor smiling cheerfully above. "You're refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit, and now you're even threatening me? You really think having a saw makes you invincible against everything? Bah!"
He seemed as if he wanted to say more, but Wang Xiaolong reached out and stopped him, "Big Brother, forget it, forget it. If we fight, neither side will come out ahead. Big Brother, don't forget that things aren't like they used to be."
In the past, if you got hurt in a street fight, you just went to the hospital, and once you recovered, you dusted yourself off and left.
Things were different now, though.
Hospitals were closed, medicine was hard to find, injuries were hard to heal, and the world was somewhat chaotic. Sometimes, getting injured was equivalent to losing your life.
Even doctors, who were usually praised as angels in white, were now taking chainsaws out onto the streets to hack people.
Thinking this, Wang Xiaolong looked up at Gu Mian, "Doctor, my friend, let's talk this out reasonably. We've both taken a step back, so you shouldn't press us this hard, right?"
Gu Mian touched his chin, "It doesn't seem like I invited you to surround this place in the middle of the night."
Wang Xiaolong was choked up by the remark.
It took him several full seconds to find his voice again, his tone carrying a hint of threat once more, "It seems, Doctor, that you're someone who refuses to let up even when you're in the right. Very well, let me lay it out for you: the reason our big brother backed down is because he didn't want his men to get hurt, not because he thought we couldn't beat you."
As he spoke, he glanced at the two people beside Gu Mian.
"There are only three of you, and only you have a chainsaw. We have over a dozen people here, and every single one of us is holding something. If a real fight breaks out, it's hard to say who would win."
"Besides, that saw doesn't look light. At most, you'd injure a few of us before burning through your own stamina. Do you think we'd let you go after that? In the end, your stuff would still be taken by us. Instead of all that, we might as well both take a step back—you take all your stuff, and none of us get hurt. It's good for both sides."
With that, he stared intently at Gu Mian, waiting for the doctor to state his stance.
In truth, Wang Xiaolong knew very well that with such a ferocious chainsaw, a fight would result in far more than just a few injuries.
His side was just a plate of scattered sand that had just gathered together; nobody would ever risk their lives in the face of danger. If a real fight broke out, most of them would probably turn tail and run.
He only said that to scare the doctor and make him back down.
To his surprise, this doctor was smarter than he imagined and didn't fall for this routine at all.
Gu Mian raised the chainsaw in his hand slightly. "You don't need to worry about that..."
"When I was seven, I was chased across eight streets by three Tibetan mastiffs. When I was twelve, my house caught fire and I carried a large box all the way down from the ninth floor in one breath. When I was sixteen, I carried my dying math teacher five kilometers through mountain trails in the middle of the night."
"So you don't have to worry about whether I can carry the saw. I can carry it."
The group of people in front of him broke out in a cold sweat. The first two sounded relatively normal, but carrying a math teacher away was real?
The fatty also swallowed hard and looked at Chu Changge, who showed no reaction. "Doctor Gu... did he have a math teacher die on him?"
Chu Changge glanced at him, then nodded slightly. "Mn, I was in his class back then."
Gu Mian lifted his foot off the step and strode toward the people in front of him.
Getting closer and closer...
Someone—it was unclear who took the lead—at the very back trembled slightly and bolted.
His running was like throwing a firecracker into a pile of explosives; the others blew up as well, turning and running in every direction.
Wang Xiaolong certainly wasn't going to stay here and trade verbal blows with Gu Mian either. He whipped his head around and ran back with all the strength he had, attempting to get as far away from that terrifying chainsaw as possible.
After running a long stretch, he managed to look back, only to realize his boss had somehow been left behind.
At this moment, his boss was being held up by the chainsaw-wielding doctor like a little chick.
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