Surprise Attack (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

The moment his thoughts settled, Fang Shuwen took a deep breath, his muscles tensing as he coiled like a dormant leopard.

He did not rush to act, instead crouching behind the bushes for a moment to carefully observe the movements of the two men at the river bend.

Brother Hu sheathed his dagger and gestured with his chin toward the stocky man: "Lao Liu, get these two sacks onto the boat. We need to ship this batch out before dark."

Lao Liu, the stocky man, grunted in response and bent down to lift the sacks from the cart.

He grabbed one in each hand as if they were mere chicks; the sacks felt weightless in his grip, as if they had no heft at all.

Fang Shuwen's pupils constricted slightly.

Each of those sacks contained a person, weighing at least a hundred pounds apiece.

Yet this stocky man lifted them with one hand without the slightest effort, walking with a steady, unshakable gait.

At least a Bone-Resonance stage one, Fang Shuwen silently estimated.

Brother Hu looked even more lean and fierce than Lao Liu, meaning his strength was likely a cut above.

Fang Shuwen did not act rashly, choosing instead to remain in hiding and wait for an opening.

With the prepared ambushing the unprepared, it took only a moment for a flaw to appear in the two men ahead.

At that moment, Lao Liu had carried the sacks onto the wooden boat.

Brother Hu stood beside the cart, his back to Fang Shuwen, head bowed as he adjusted his belt.

A perfect opportunity.

Fang Shuwen praised him silently, actively triggering his Snake Form Talent.

His body seemed to lose all skeletal support, sliding forward without a sound.

With his silent landing and the masking roar of the rushing river, Brother Hu remained completely oblivious.

He finished adjusting his belt and turned around, his gaze sweeping casually toward the direction of the river bend.

Lao Liu had already moved the two sacks to the stern of the boat and was bending down to untie the mooring ropes.

"Hurry up, it's getting dark," Brother Hu urged, lifting his foot to head toward the wooden boat.

It was at this exact moment that Fang Shuwen moved.

This was the moment he had been waiting for.

Brother Hu's attention was divided, and Lao Liu was at the stern with his back turned.

Neither of them noticed Fang Shuwen's direction.

Fang Shuwen erupted from his hidden state, his spine snapping like a giant python coiling, the accumulated power exploding from the soles of his feet and surging through his waist and hips into his right fist.

He did not charge in a straight line, but rather took an arc, cutting in from Brother Hu's rear flank.

It was treacherous and cunning, nearly impossible to guard against.

Soaring Snake Fist.

Snake Fang Thrust!

His fist tore through the air, emitting a sharp, explosive whistle.

With this single burst, he poured out all his strength.

Snake Form Talent, the killing move of the Soaring Snake Fist, the strength of a Bone-Resonance stage two...

Under the full force of his outburst, his fist slammed down like a siege hammer.

As his fist pierced the air, the atmosphere itself erupted with a piercing, buzzing boom.

"Who!"

The punch came too fast, too fierce.

But Brother Hu was, after all, a veteran at the Bone-Resonance stage three, a man who had spent his life licking blood off the edge of a blade; his intuition for danger far exceeded that of an ordinary person.

The moment Fang Shuwen's fist was half a foot from the back of his head, the hair on his body stood on end.

Knowing that dodging was impossible, he instinctively twisted his body to the side while crossing his arms to protect his chest.

But he was half a beat too slow after all.

Fang Shuwen's speed was too fast; his strike, coiled and ready, compressed the strength of his entire body into that single punch.

Although Brother Hu managed to dodge the lethal blow to the back of his head, his right arm was still held horizontally across his chest, and the fist slammed solidly into his forearm.

Snap!

The crisp sound of bone fracturing exploded over the river bend.

Brother Hu let out a muffled groan as his entire right arm hung limp; his forearm bent at an unnatural angle, and jagged white bone shards pierced through his skin.

A single strike had shattered his arm, inflicting heavy damage.

"Stop, quickly stop!"

Brother Hu's eyes bulged, his sockets threatening to split.

The excruciating pain of his broken arm left him unable to even shout in anger before he was submerged by a continuous barrage of fist shadows.

Soaring Snake Fist!

Snake Fang Thrust!

Due to momentum, the power of this punch was even greater than the last.

With the second punch, Brother Hu's remaining arm was broken.

With both arms shattered and a life-or-death crisis looming, Brother Hu's eyes turned blood-red as he roared frantically:

"Who? Who are you?"

"Why do you want to kill me!"

However, he did not receive an answer from Fang Shuwen.

In an instant, another punch arrived.

Fang Shuwen did not have much combat experience, but having already knocked his enemy down and seized the upper hand, he naturally chose to strike while the iron was hot, never making the mistake of talking too much.

Immediately after, another punch landed.

At this moment, with both arms broken, Brother Hu was unable to defend himself at all, leaving his center wide open.

Bang!

The fist landed fiercely on Brother Hu's chest.

With just this one blow, Brother Hu felt as if his internal organs had been turned into mush.

A strong survival instinct made Brother Hu forget the pain in his arms, and he flailed his broken limbs wildly, attempting to block Fang Shuwen's subsequent attacks.

Brother Hu roared in his heart.

Just block one... and I can recover and escape with my life!

Unfortunately, it was completely useless.

Soon, the third punch, the fourth... the sixth.

Brother Hu took four punches in an instant, his eyes nearly beaten to the point of bursting.

The ribs in his chest were broken almost one by one.

In a fleeting moment, Brother Hu's tall, thin body crashed to the ground.

Blood flowed, three bone-cracking sounds echoed, and Brother Hu was dead.

"Who are you? How dare you lay a hand on someone from our Wild Wolf Gang?"

"You must be tired of living!"

The voice of the short, stocky man, Lao Liu, exploded over the river bend, carrying a hint of blustering ferocity.

He had just jumped off the stern of the boat, and before he could clearly see Fang Shuwen's face, he saw Brother Hu lying in a pool of blood.

That tall, thin body lay limp and sprawled on the gravel, his arms bent at unnatural angles, his chest caved in significantly, and blood spreading out from beneath him.

One look was enough to know he was dead beyond any doubt!

Lao Liu's pupils constricted violently.

Brother Hu, a man who had reached the third level of Bone Cracking, was considered a top-tier fighter within the Wild Wolf Gang.

He had seen blood, killed men, and possessed formidable martial arts skills.

He had just died like this?

Beaten to death in a few punches by a half-grown youth wearing a blue-green school uniform?

"Who... who exactly are you?"

A garbled roar squeezed out of Lao Liu's throat, and his feet retreated half a step involuntarily.

At this moment, Fang Shuwen raised his head and looked over.

He was very young, with a high brow ridge, deep eye sockets, and thin lips.

That face could not be called handsome, but it possessed a composure disproportionate to his age, or perhaps one could even call it indifference.

After finishing off Brother Hu, Fang Shuwen's breathing was slightly rapid.

Yet his heartbeat remained steady, his gaze clear, devoid of the panic or excitement one would expect from an ordinary person after killing.

A chill ran down Lao Liu's spine.

He had been roaming the streets for over a decade and had seen all sorts of ruthless characters: those who went mad after drinking, those whose hands shook after killing, and those who remained expressionless as if they were doing something mundane.

And this youth before him was precisely the latter.

"Wild Wolf Gang?"

Fang Shuwen finally spoke; his voice was not loud, but it reached Lao Liu's ears with perfect clarity.

He shook the blood from his fist and took a step forward.

"The Wild Wolf Gang of the west side of the city?"

"That's right!"

Lao Liu stiffened his neck, his voice rising a notch as if to bolster his own courage.

"Scared now? Our Wild Wolf Gang has four or five hundred brothers in Xikou County Town, and our leader is a Dark Force grandmaster! If you dare touch me, the Wild Wolf Gang won't let you off!"

Fang Shuwen let out a cold snort, his gaze devoid of even a shred of warmth.

"Since you're from the Wild Wolf Gang, then you deserve to die even more!"