The Clash (2)

The third packet of sugar seemed to balance out the coffee's bitterness a little.

Wang Yiyang sipped slowly for a long time. After ordering a cup of coffee, he sat there for a full two hours, until he finally poured the last drop into his mouth.

Only then did he slowly get to his feet.

He took out his phone and checked the time. It was eleven twenty-five.

The armed operation had begun twenty minutes ago.

Just as he walked out of the café, his phone rang.

Wang Yiyang answered.

"Boss, it's over. We captured five members of Mantis, thirteen people in total. Eight were killed." Jian's voice came steadily from the other end.

"Interrogate them. Find out why they targeted Yuekong Martial Arts Hall. I need a clear answer," Wang Yiyang said softly.

"Yes. I'll also document the operation in detail and send you an electronic report."

"All right."

The call ended.

Wang Yiyang felt reassured. The first step seemed to have gone smoothly.

"I can use the report to see just how much combat ability and destructive power martial arts experts have in real combat. Then I can take precautions accordingly."

He put those thoughts aside, setting the secret matter to one side.

"Enough. I won't think about that for now. I have money, so I should enjoy myself a little."

He glanced at the sky, smiled faintly, and headed for the Ruihua Garden sales office across the street.

No matter what, he needed to improve his living conditions first.

If he failed to weather the trouble and kicked the bucket before long, wouldn't that be a huge loss?

Wang Yiyang wasn't planning to live it up extravagantly, but at the very least, he wanted an elevator to take him out and a car waiting downstairs.

Otherwise, he'd be wasting far too much time.

He also needed a house, preferably somewhere with convenient transportation.

That was why he'd specifically taken a taxi here.

There were all sorts of upscale residential compounds, villas, and apartments nearby. The area was also close to a commercial district, and transportation and subway access were very convenient.

The only drawback was the high price per square meter.

Fortunately, he had enough money to buy a house now, and plenty of free time to look at them one by one.

Angli Hotel.

Jian listened as his deputy continued to relay the post-battle casualty figures behind him, his expression calm.

Their losses had been very low. Against so-called martial arts experts, it had been a normal one-for-one exchange, or even two for one.

In his eyes, that ratio was perfectly reasonable.

After all, training a true martial arts expert took years.

A competent marksman, on the other hand, could become a threat after just a few months.

"How's the coordination with the police?" Jian asked casually.

"They've already started withdrawing. Since the armed forces were deployed under the pretext of an exercise, they're not allowed to stay in the city for long," the deputy replied.

"What about the other two bases?"

"No activity, but the people inside have probably all withdrawn. This operation was too big, and it made too much noise," the deputy explained.

Jian nodded and looked at the officers who had begun wrapping things up inside the hotel.

He paused to review and reflect on the entire operation. After finding no oversights, he turned and headed for the corner, where a covert vehicle had been waiting for some time.

Just as he was about to get into the car,

several dark figures suddenly shot out from nearby shadows, moving at incredible speed as they lunged toward him.

They were less than ten meters away.

"Alert!" The people beside him quickly drew their guns, took aim, and fired.

But the figures were prepared. They flicked their hands, sending black darts flying. The darts struck the wrists of several people around Jian with pinpoint accuracy.

The deputy's hand twitched. A miniature pistol appeared in his grasp, and he fired three shots, almost as quickly as the attackers had moved.

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

With three soft sounds,

three of the dark figures fell to the ground in midair and didn't get back up.

But four more charged out of the darkness. Using their comrades as cover, they rushed up to the deputy and punched the pistol from his hand.

Jian was just as quick. He reached for the gun behind him, but several darts were already aimed at his lower back and flying toward him.

Clang, clang, clang!

Three sharp clinks rang out in succession. Reacting instinctively, Jian knocked the darts aside with his pistol. Before he could take aim again,

a long, shapely leg, wrapped in tight blue jeans, kicked him in the forearm.

The pistol traced a perfect arc through the air, spinning as it flew. A dart struck it hard in midair.

With a clang, the trigger was cut clean off. The remaining pieces dropped to the ground, bounced a few times, then lay still.

Jian deflected the woman's leg with one hand and flung it hard to the side.

The nimble figure of a woman was thrown two meters away before landing steadily.

At the same time, the deputy engaged his attackers at close range. Two shadowy assailants pursued him as he moved away, drawing him into an alley nearby.

The rest of Jian's subordinates had been knocked down in the sudden assault, their condition unknown.

Jian glanced around, his expression calm. Then he looked at the young woman standing opposite him.

She seemed to be the leader of the group. Her black hair was tied in a ponytail. She wore a tight black tank top that outlined her full, striking figure, and pants that clung to her legs. Two black dart bands were strapped to the outer sides of her thighs.

More than half the darts were missing from the bands. It was clear that some of the darts just thrown had come from her.

She also wore a black mask that covered her entire face, leaving only her eyes exposed.

Her purple eyes fixed on Jian, filled with deep hatred.

"Your subordinates are finished. Now you're all alone! Are you afraid? Desperate? Hehehe... Too late... I'm going to crush your bones, one inch at a time! I'll make you slowly experience all the pain my junior brothers and sisters went through...!"

"Heh." Jian casually took off his gloves and tilted his neck, producing a series of crisp cracks.

"So there were still a few stragglers." He smiled. "You've killed so many of my people. I won't be able to explain that to my boss. So..."

Bang!

In an instant, Jian stamped down hard. His muscles swelled rapidly, and his body bulked up by a full size in the blink of an eye.

He sprang forward like a black bear, crashing toward the woman at the front with overwhelming force.

At the same time, a black dagger shot from his hand, knocking aside several darts flying toward him with pinpoint accuracy.

"Die!"

Jian drove a heavy punch toward the woman leading the group.

She had no time to react. Throwing her darts had already been as fast as she could manage.

But she was no pushover. She crossed her arms in front of her and shielded her head.

If she couldn't dodge, she could only take the blow head-on.

Thud!

A muffled impact rang out.

The woman was knocked stumbling away by the tremendous force, crumpling like a wad of paper.

The black-clad men who rushed to block him were no match for Jian, who faced four of them at once. He took each one down in just a few moves.

Each was knocked unconscious by a punch to the chest.

In just over ten seconds, only Jian and the woman remained.

"Kill!" Seeing this, the woman felt a surge of blood rush to her head. She drew a short blade from her back and lunged at Jian.

They fought at close quarters, the short blade and dagger clashing rapidly. Again and again, they left wounds on each other.

The woman was clearly a little faster than Jian, but she was much weaker.

Moreover, though she slashed at his chest and side several times, her attacks were stopped by the high-density protective suit he wore beneath his clothes.

The only result was a few insignificant cuts in Jian's outerwear.

Jian was also skilled in the difficult Eresa Combat Arts.

It was a practical fighting style built around rapidly alternating between offense and defense with both hands, and it had considerable killing power.

It was obvious that Jian had trained this popular fighting style to its absolute limit. With a dagger in hand, he was extraordinarily dangerous.

In fact, the woman's overall martial arts ability was a little greater than Jian's.

Both her technique and speed were superior.

Unfortunately, she didn't have high-strength protective gear, and, oddly enough, she was weaker than Jian.

As a martial arts practitioner, she had focused on cultivating internal breathing for eight years.

This powerful breathing method, developed within her organization, gave her more strength than even a grown man at his peak.

And yet, against Jian, she was still at a disadvantage.

Thud!

The two clashed heavily again. The woman took the opportunity to backflip and create some distance.

It wasn't that she was running out of stamina. Rather, the wounds she'd just received had begun to send numbness spreading through her body.

"The blade was poisoned?!" she cried.

"Wasn't yours?" Jian smiled.

In a flash, he hurled the dagger like a projectile. Then he swiftly closed in and slammed a punch into the woman's stomach.

With a muffled thud,

the woman's body was numb, and she couldn't react in time. The blow doubled her over.

Just as the fight seemed about to end, a streak of black shot toward them from a distance, aimed precisely at Jian's right eye.

It moved incredibly fast, emitting a piercing whistle even before it reached him.

Jian had no choice but to dodge to the side.

By the time he tried to move in and finish the woman off, he could no longer find her.

She had been rescued.

Jian stood where he was, his expression blank. Nearly half a minute passed before hurried footsteps sounded from the distant street corner.

The armed police who had just withdrawn arrived again and quickly sealed off the scene.

Jian took a walkie-talkie from one of the officers and switched it on.

"Notify the boss immediately. The situation has changed."

Wang Yiyang walked out of the third sales office and was about to head to the next one.

His phone suddenly rang. He took it out again, answered, and held it to his ear.

A faint sound came from the other end.

As the report came in, Wang Yiyang's expression gradually turned solemn.

Soon, he lowered the phone and put it back in his pocket.

At the start of the operation against the bases, they had indeed gained the advantage through a surprise attack.

But after the operation ended, they had been ambushed in turn.

With the armed forces withdrawn, six members of Jian's squad had died on the spot, along with a deputy.

Jian had taken action himself and managed only to injure the enemy, who was then rescued by a mysterious expert who arrived later.

If the armed forces hadn't quickly returned and driven the attackers away, even Jian might have been in danger.

"In a head-on fight, technological weapons are definitely strongest. But when it comes to sneak attacks and assassinations, hand-to-hand combat seems to have its uses too."

Thoughts turned over in Wang Yiyang's mind, and he soon had a new idea.

It seemed that this little force really wasn't enough to keep the situation under control. He needed to officially reinforce the Security Department in the surrounding areas.

Besides, now that he'd confirmed the value of expert fighters, he needed to make plans to deal with them as well.

After all, if there was one thing the Mister Group had plenty of, it was money.

Rather than have his private troops risk their lives, he might as well hire mercenaries wandering the battlefields. After all, there were plenty of skilled hand-to-hand fighters among them.