Make a Move

The crowd of escorts near the Zhenyuan Escort Agency's signboard slowly parted to form a path, and just as everyone tried to discern where the questioning voice came from, a figure as fast as lightning appeared in the middle of the street like a ghost.

The entire street was in turmoil—a woman's weeping, the aroma of sugar-roasted chestnuts, the discontented commoners on the roadside, and the shop owners in their storefronts who "washed their hands of anything that didn't concern them"—every scene, every image, proclaimed a fractured and grotesque social landscape.

Human life was as cheap as grass, order trampled at will by the powerful and privileged... Those in power did not seek the welfare of the people.

This was the Great Xin Republic...

In an instant, Luo Bin's thoughts churned. In one month, he had climbed from the bottom rung to a position valued by the Chen Family, completely lacking the tempering of struggling for survival at the lowest levels, even blurring the unspoken social rule that ordinary people had no control over their own lives...

Now he understood anew... In prosperity, the people suffer; in ruin, the people suffer.

Striking now was absolutely the best timing—first, he could earn favors from three families; second, he could hone his combat experience and skills against a formidable opponent; and third, he could vent some anger for these ordinary folks who had lost their lives.

By the time Luo Bin activated [Phantom] and arrived beside Zhao Changhe with uncanny, unpredictable speed...

The elegant young master Shao Yancheng, seated upright on his black horse, furrowed his brow in an instant, his gaze locking onto Luo Bin, who was now right before him. He narrowed his eyes slightly, sizing up this youth in a Western suit.

A tremor of unease rose from the depths of his heart—this was the first time in the three years since he returned from Jinmen to Ping City that he had encountered someone so young yet so threatening... The last one had been that young man from the Gushang Peace-Waves Society in Jinmen, who was on the verge of reaching Tongxuan.

Before Shao Yancheng could speak, Luo Bin gave a faint snort and flashed over to stand before Chen Manqing and the other two.

Though Zhao Changhe was a scapegoat put forward by the Shuo Gang to draw public anger, his strength far exceeded that of ordinary people—he was a Martial Master at the mid-stage of Golden Skin Pass. Seeing Luo Bin's bizarre speed, his eyes could barely track the afterimages.

He couldn't help but frown and tested the waters: "Young master, you look quite unfamiliar in Ping City... That talk of yours just now—saying things like that comes with a price!"

The Jiang Family was now at its zenith in Ping City, with secret connections to the city government, foreign merchants from Balun and the Yingluo Kingdom, and the Tianhai Public Security Bureau, all while swallowing the fat the Chen Family had recently spat out.

They were formidable now!

With Shao Yancheng, a Great Martial Master of Jade Bone Pass and a core member of the Jiang Family camp, holding the fort, Zhao Changhe wasn't afraid. He was about to continue his rebuke.

Bang!

Zhao Changhe took a kick, stumbling back several steps with a clatter, a flicker of panic in his expression as he drew a short blade from his waist.

Seeing that the Hand Grenade King, Chen Manqing, Sun Shuhua, and the others were now at a safe distance, Luo Bin turned to face the three women. Unhurriedly, he took off his suit jacket, pulled open the collar of the notched lapel, and removed his tie, revealing a white shirt stretched taut over his muscular frame.

"Eldest Miss Sun, hold onto my suit for a while, no problem, right?"

Chen Manqing, Sun Shuhua, and Su Yu had originally thought that if stepping forward to speak didn't have a deterrent effect, they would run back to the Department Store and figure things out from there—after all, life came first.

In their eyes, these gang members, though beneath notice, were undeniably notorious for their vicious and ruthless methods.

The first to recognize Luo Bin was Chen Manqing. Just like that day in Qunyu Garden when she had deliberately sulked and refused to speak, Luo Bin still wore that smile that made people feel like a spring breeze—but it wasn't directed at her.

Sun Shuhua was stunned for a moment. After clearly seeing Luo Bin's face, she suddenly realized.

Wasn't this... the young man who had saved her life that day in the broken-down little building north of Long Wind Pier... and she had called him... husband.

Thinking of this, the sweet and lovely Eldest Miss of the Sun Family instantly flushed crimson, her earlobes as red as if they were bleeding. "Oh... oh, oh, don't worry, your clothes are safe with me—I won't ruin them or get them dirty. If I do, I'll buy you five new sets!"

"No... ten sets!"

Luo Bin found it amusing and nodded in agreement. "Alright, you said it."

He swept a cold glance over the Shuo Gang members on the street, Shao Yancheng watching from the sidelines, and the escorts in the distance, before fixing his gaze on Zhao Changhe.

"As expected, a dog's habits still have something to do with its master's—so stupid and treating human life like grass."

"I wonder if you'll still be so cold and indifferent when you're about to die?"

The moment Luo Bin's words fell, two sturdy Shuo Gang men suddenly charged forward, trying to grab hold of Luo Bin. Before Zhao Changhe could even catch his breath from the pain, he rushed forward with his short blade—after all, with Shao Yancheng of Jade Bone Pass here, what did he have to fear?

Luo Bin stood still, calm and composed.

The Shuo Gang men grabbed his arms, but no matter how they pulled, he didn't budge an inch. The next second, an irresistible, mountain-crushing force bore down, and the two Shuo Gang men were flung away.

The arm Luo Bin had been grabbed by emitted a series of dense, popping sounds like bursting beans. A faint golden light rippled across his skin, and his taut muscles swelled a size under the golden glow's enhancement!

"Hiss—"

Before anyone else could react, several knowledgeable Martial Masters among the Zhenyuan Escort Agency let out sharp intakes of breath. The pressure emanating from the white-shirted youth in the middle of the street was no less than that of a mid-stage Jade Bone Pass Martial Master... Yet that face, only sixteen or seventeen years old, gave off an utterly absurd feeling.

Wei Ang stared blankly: "So he wasn't bluffing—with strength like this, could he really challenge the school?!"

"So young, with boundless potential..."

"That's right. As the saying goes: Golden Skin is easy to obtain, but Jade Bone is hard to achieve. To have Jade Bone Pass strength at such a young age—he can be called a natural martial prodigy!"

Even Chen Manqing, Sun Shuhua, and Su Yu, standing far off watching, could clearly feel the searing heat and suffocating pressure radiating from the youth who had placed himself between them and danger.

Chen Manqing felt it most keenly. Though her martial arts talent was mediocre and she had never trained, she had recently spent a great deal of resources and money cultivating Wu Gou, so she had a thorough understanding of Martial Masters—the representatives of half the world's violence. She also knew very well what kind of talent it took for a bottom-tier youth to push his strength to such a terrifying level in less than two months...

Chen Manqing's earlier unease when facing difficulties with Sun Shuhua and the others had somewhat dissipated, but now, seeing Luo Bin's suffocating strength, her heart clenched again...

"Why didn't he let me hold his clothes? Our Chen Family has a closer relationship with him..."

A jumble of random thoughts filled Chen Manqing's mind.

Sun Shuhua's pretty face flushed with a hint of pride, and she grabbed Su Yu, who stood beside her with slightly parted lips, chattering on about Luo Bin.

"Su Yu, Su Yu, he's the one who saved me last time—young and incredibly strong. If it weren't for him last time..."

In the middle of the street.

In an instant, before the shock on the faces of the two Shuo Gang men had even faded, they were lifted up like a king raising a tripod, their bodies struck in the abdomen as if by a city-smashing battering ram. They spat blood violently and slammed heavily into the muddy roadside.

The lines they carved into the ground were especially elegant.