Li Jinshui's curse startled the few vagrants, making them bristle on the spot.
In the blink of an eye, they closed ranks and surrounded him, their faces twisted with malice.
"Bastard, are you the one who wants to die?"
"We saw how filthy you were and figured you were just some dirt-poor loser, so we couldn't be bothered with you. And now you're actually coming here to get yourself killed?"
Hearing their lines, Li Jinshui's tense expression instantly relaxed.
Sure enough, this kind of cause-and-effect setup can't be missing. I'm just an ordinary young man passing by, but because the bloodstains on me were charred black by the electricity and made me look a little dirty, they've come out of nowhere to mock me for being a dirt-poor loser. How utterly inhuman and cruel of them.
"Ah, this world... People's hearts aren't what they used to be..."
Li Jinshui let out a deep sigh. Electricity began to surge from the filthy battery strapped to his legs, and his legs abruptly blurred.
Boom!
A blinding flash of lightning blazed through the night, sweeping out in a fan-shaped arc.
"You..."
The vagrants' eyes widened. Their screams caught in their throats as they were instantly swept into the air like leaves in an autumn gale. Their bodies shuddered and broke apart before crashing heavily into the security shutter behind them. They died on the spot.
[Repaying violence with violence, Heaven Rewards Diligence, Lightning Pulse Step +5] [Repaying violence with violence, Heaven Rewards Diligence, Lightning Pulse Step +5] ...
"Tsk. That's all?"
Li Jinshui frowned. The few of them had only given him a total of 30 proficiency points. That was too little.
"Damn it! You bastards, did you do that on purpose? Looking to die?! I finally managed to get into the mood, and that crash of yours scared me out of it again!"
Suddenly, a huge bald man with a face full of flesh charged out through the gap beneath the shutter, cursing and roaring with a vicious expression.
But the moment he came out, he saw his men sprawled across the ground, all dead and charred.
The bald man's face instantly darkened, and his sinister, triangular eyes snapped toward Li Jinshui.
"Did you do this?" His voice was icy, already thick with murderous intent.
"Well, well. Another expert!" Li Jinshui's eyes lit up.
What a pleasant surprise!
The aura the bald man had unleashed was about on par with those gang leaders from earlier. He was probably a First-rate Martial Artist too.
Lightning Pulse Step's proficiency was stuck at 680/1000. If Li Jinshui electrocuted the bald man into the afterlife, he'd gain a hundred points right away and get closer to the stage of great mastery.
"Bald brother, are you a First-rate Martial Artist?" Li Jinshui hurriedly asked him, politely and courteously.
"???" The flesh on the bald man's face twitched, then contorted into a scowl.
Damn it, I'm bald, not balding!
"Fuck! You're looking to die. I'm with the Color Gang, and you dare mess with me? I'll kill you first, then go slaughter your whole family."
Before he'd even finished speaking, the bald man attacked.
His iron fists whooshed through the air, carrying a mighty force of Qi-Blood as they shot straight for Li Jinshui.
"The Color Gang?"
Li Jinshui clasped his hands behind his back and lightly stepped into a movement technique, his graceful figure leaping backward to effortlessly evade the man's killing blow.
He'd known the Color Gang's name since childhood. It was one of the more famous gangs in Rong City.
They were nothing like the little-time outfit that was the Venom Snake Gang. The Color Gang ran a complete underground industry chain, dealing in everything from fencing stolen goods and smuggling to selling pirated manuals and running prostitution businesses.
The last time he'd heard the gang's name was when Old Huang and the others had mentioned it. The power backing them was Weihu Security Company.
"Oh, so you're with the Color Gang. Well, talk about a flood that's carried water into the Dragon King's temple. We're family, yet we didn't recognize each other."
Li Jinshui beamed, acting as if they were old friends.
The bald man paused, looking suspicious. "Who are you?"
"Heh!" Li Jinshui raised the corner of his mouth and thumped his chest as he introduced himself. "I'm the number-one enemy of Weihu Security Company, Li Jinshui!"
"???"
After hearing that, the bald man's mind seemed to seize up. He couldn't quite process it. Was this guy one of theirs?
But Li Jinshui was already moving. Powerful arcs of electricity coiled around his legs, and a crushing side kick shot straight for the bald man's temple.
"Fuck, you dare mess with me? Die!"
The bald man reacted swiftly. With a roar, he crossed his arms in front of himself and thrust them upward, taking Li Jinshui's kick head-on.
Thud!
The heavy impact of flesh against flesh rang out, and the shock wave sent dirty water spraying across the ground.
The bald man stood his ground, completely unharmed, but his face was filled with shock and alarm.
"A First-rate Martial Artist this young?" he said in disbelief.
The blow had left both his arms numb. That meant his opponent was at least as strong as he was—perhaps even beyond the average ninth-grade First-rate Martial Artist.
Li Jinshui landed and looked slightly taken aback too.
That didn't make sense. He hadn't even coughed up blood?
Looking closer, Li Jinshui saw a pair of leather bracers on the bald man's wrists. They gleamed with a cold, dark-gray metallic sheen, and faint sparks of electricity still clung to them.
"Mutant beast equipment?"
Li Jinshui recognized the item at a glance.
He'd seen these things in his school textbooks. They were made by fusing rare modern alloys into mutant beast hides, and were a new type of equipment weapon.
The bald man's bracers could clearly absorb and disperse external force. They could even increase the power of his punches when he fought.
"Damn it. No wonder my leg went numb. I thought it was just numb from all the electrocution."
Li Jinshui cursed under his breath and began mulling things over.
Those bracers were worth a lot. If he took them to the black market, he could easily sell them for two or three hundred thousand.
Wouldn't it be a terrible waste if he accidentally kicked them to pieces in a fight?
"Bald brother, wait a second!"
Li Jinshui called for a time-out and pointed at the bald man's arms. "We can fight, but take off my bracers first. Whatever you do, don't damage them."
"Fuck, you must have something wrong with your head."
The bald man roared. His Qi-Blood surged into a thin, crimson veil around him as he charged forward.
A set of wide-sweeping, murderous punches tore through the air, turning into a flurry of fists that howled toward Li Jinshui.
Whoosh!
Li Jinshui had no intention of meeting him head-on. He dodged left and right with ghostly speed, then leaped high into the air, his body leaving several afterimages behind.
Swish!
A throwing knife pierced the air and shot straight toward the bald man.
But the bald man's martial skill was clearly well-honed, and his reflexes were top-notch. He instantly pulled back his fist and changed moves, swinging his arm to smash the knife with his bracer.
Clang!
Sparks flew as the knife was knocked away, leaving a white scratch on the surface of the bracer.
"Fuck your mother! You bald bastard, you dared scratch my bracer!"
Li Jinshui was truly enraged. Lightning blazed beneath his feet as he leaped forward, using the hang time from his movement technique to kick out a barrage of blinding electric afterimages.
A succession of feints left the bald man flustered, and at last he made a mistake.
Li Jinshui immediately struck, driving a heavy kick into the man's fist.
Crack!
The bald man's knuckles shattered with a sharp snap.
"Argh! My hand!" he roared in pain.
Before he could react, Li Jinshui's ghostly figure had already pounced above him. A throwing knife was gripped in his hand, but he held it back, aiming straight for the man's head.
With a soft thud, the knife pierced the bald man's skull.
Then Li Jinshui followed with another heavy punch, brutally hammering the knife all the way in.
"Ugh... Hhk!"
The bald man's eyes instantly bulged, bloodshot. His massive body convulsed violently before crashing to the ground.