Settling Things 1

Everyone present thought the dust had settled, but no one expected the situation to take such a sudden turn.

Even as they were dying, Wu Qi and the other two had managed to pull off something like this.

The dart contained all the red-browed man's remaining strength.

After he threw it, his arm and shoulder both made faint popping sounds as they dislocated.

It was the aftereffect of exerting more strength than his body could withstand.

But he didn't care.

The red-browed man watched his dart fly straight toward Wang Yiyang, the mastermind behind it all. At last, a trace of relieved satisfaction appeared on his face.

"I... finally..."

Clang.

A crisp, deafening sound of a block cut off his words.

In that moment, everyone was caught off guard.

The dart had indeed hit Wang Yiyang.

Then... it passed straight through him without encountering any resistance, only to be deflected by a dagger in the hand of a Limit Martial Artist behind him.

Only then did everyone realize that Wang Yiyang and Lei Wei's group were nothing more than three-dimensional holographic projections...

Wang Xinlong and the other two let out a deep breath. The projections had been so lifelike that they even had body heat, solidity, and sound.

On top of that, they were far away, surrounded by a large crowd. They'd had no way to inspect Wang Yiyang closely and tell whether he was real.

Now it seemed they'd been worrying for nothing.

Whoosh.

Wang Yiyang's image appeared again.

He looked at the red-browed man, who had been shot several more times, and saw the despair on his face.

"I'm sorry. You bet wrong."

Now that the drug had taken effect, Wang Yiyang had no reason to waste time talking to them.

"Kill them." He waved a hand.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!

In an instant, countless bullets roared toward Wu Qi and the other two from every direction.

Machine guns mounted on drones, snipers in the distance, and dozens of submachine guns positioned in a semicircle around them.

In seconds, the ground beneath the three was blasted into a crater. Clouds of dust and smoke billowed up, blocking everyone's view.

But that didn't matter. There were plenty of thermal imaging sights in the area.

Even a martial artist as powerful as Wu Qi, who had reached Grand Justice Rank, was helpless against the poison and the hail of gunfire.

His body soon buckled under the barrage, blood spraying everywhere. By the end, even his corpse had been blasted into several pieces. He collapsed into the crater, lifeless.

At the same time, more than a dozen gun barrels opened fire on Zhong Can, who lay on the ground.

Unlike the other bullets, these were specially made for high penetration and carried a powerful anesthetic.

Already poisoned and gravely wounded, Zhong Can dodged only half the bullets before his legs went numb and he fell to the ground.

At the points where the bullets had struck, anesthetic potent enough to knock an elephant unconscious quickly entered his bloodstream.

His mind soon grew hazy and heavy, and then he finally lost consciousness.

The dust settled. It was over.

Only then did Wang Yiyang relax. He smiled at his grandfather, Wang Xinlong.

"Grandpa, this little senior-citizen outing of yours was pretty exciting."

Wang Xinlong's hands trembled slightly, but he didn't respond to his grandson's teasing. Instead, he stared stiffly at the spot where Wu Qi and the others had been killed, his mood heavy.

Wu Qi had been stronger than him by a long shot.

He had no doubt that if they had fought one-on-one, he wouldn't have lasted five moves against Wu Qi.

Yet even a top martial artist as formidable as Wu Qi had been utterly helpless against modern weapons. He was no different from an ordinary person.

And those people his grandson Wang Yiyang had brought... Who were they? Had he anticipated this situation and brought so many people in advance?

But where had he found so many, including Limit Martial Artists?

"Teacher... don't dwell on it. It's over. We should focus on what to do about Zhong Can now," Nicholas said gently, forcing down his own emotions as he tried to comfort him.

Xiao Hong helped Wang Xinlong to his feet as soldiers rushed over to clean up the scene.

Several medics in protective suits carried Zhong Can onto a stretcher and loaded him into an ambulance that had been waiting. It sped away into the distance.

The armed soldiers spread out, leaving only a small squad behind to guard the area.

Several Limit Martial Artists glanced over from afar, then quietly withdrew.

Wang Yiyang's image slowly faded away.

As for Wang Yiyang himself, he was sitting in an armed helicopter several thousand meters from the martial arts hall.

The helicopter was ready to take off at a moment's notice.

He was worried that some hidden mastermind might try to assassinate him, so as soon as he gave the order to attack, he had immediately pulled back to the armed helicopter in the distance and directed the operation remotely.

Now that the dust had settled and the Mantis forces had been wiped out, there was no need for him to remain ready to flee.

Wang Yiyang still had plenty of questions and concerns about what had happened.

After thinking it over briefly, he got out of the helicopter and headed straight for Yuekong Martial Arts Hall.

Twenty minutes later.

Wang Yiyang and Wang Xinlong sat facing each other in the martial arts hall's study. No one disturbed them; it was just the two of them, grandfather and grandson.

The old man's face had relaxed, and the usual severity and solemnity were gone.

He gazed at his grandson across from him, his mind tangled with countless questions and worries, yet he had no idea where to begin.

He had worked hard for decades, struggled for decades. Yet now, a disciple into whom he had poured so much effort had tried to kill him over a simple disagreement in their beliefs.

Compared to that, nothing else seemed to matter for the moment.

The man he'd believed would never betray him had turned on him at the most crucial moment.

The shock and heartbreak made him feel as if he'd aged more than ten years in an instant.

The wrinkles on Wang Xinlong's face seemed to deepen and dry like tree bark. His once proud, straight back had also bent a little without him realizing it.

"Grandpa, what kind of power does martial arts have that could change someone like Zhong Can so much?" Wang Yiyang asked. He wore a white suit, his expression complicated.

Zhong Can had been there for him as he grew up. He'd been like family.

They hadn't been close, but after all those years together, Wang Yiyang knew him better than some distant relatives.

When someone familiar suddenly tried to kill you,

the shock and disbelief could get to even him—let alone his grandfather, Wang Xinlong, who was at the heart of it all.

He still remembered when he was very young, when his grandfather had taught him to practice martial arts.

He had trained in the courtyard against the cold wind until he was exhausted, then fallen to the ground.

A hand not much bigger than his own had hauled him back up.

"Thanks, Brother Zhong Can." The young Wang Yiyang looked up at Zhong Can beside him and thanked him weakly.

"No need," Zhong Can replied woodenly.

"Brother Zhong Can, is there some trick to this basic stance? I've been practicing for ages, but I feel like I haven't improved at all," Wang Yiyang asked quietly.

Zhong Can glanced at Wang Yiyang's somewhat dark face.

"It's simple. Keep practicing for two months, and you can..." "Then I'll be able to master it?"

Wang Yiyang's eyes lit up with excitement.

Zhong Can gave him a cool look. "No. Then you can learn the trick."

"..."

The memory was like an old photograph fading with time. The scene from his childhood gradually blurred and faded in Wang Yiyang's mind.

His gaze softened slightly. He picked up the tea in front of him and took a small sip.

He liked the feeling of the steam rising from the cup and the tea's fragrance filling his nose.

It made him feel surrounded by warmth.

"Martial arts..." Wang Xinlong murmured across from him.

What kind of martial arts could change a person's nature so drastically?

He had no answer to his grandson's question.

Perhaps no martial artist could give a single, definitive answer.

"Let's not talk about that. What are you planning to do next? You called in those mercenaries and martial artists. I saw the way they treated you..." Wang Xinlong stopped mid-sentence when Wang Yiyang raised a hand.

"That's enough, Grandpa. You don't need to worry about the rest. Just know that I have my own work and my own ideals."

Wang Yiyang spoke calmly.

"I'd thought of the martial arts hall—of your place—as my last refuge. But... it seems I was too naive."

"There's always turmoil somewhere in this world. What people call peace and quiet is merely something held in place by an even greater force," Wang Xinlong sighed. He didn't press his grandson about his secrets.

He only needed to know that Wang Yiyang was definitely more than an ordinary office worker.

Suddenly, Wang Xinlong felt listless.

He had worked hard for most of his life, yet in the end, it seemed he had gained nothing. All the effort he had poured in had turned into blades pointed back at him.

If his grandson hadn't stepped in to help, everyone at the martial arts hall might have been dragged into the disaster.

Just as Wang Yiyang had said earlier, martial arts were already a thing of the past. They were fine for cultivating the mind and body, but trying to use them for anything else was wishful thinking.

"Perhaps I should start thinking about how to fill my retirement," Wang Xinlong said with a bitter, subdued laugh.

"You still remember what I said earlier, Grandpa?" Wang Yiyang laughed. "I only said that to provoke Wu Qi, make his blood circulate faster, and bring the poison's effects on sooner. Martial arts aren't actually as useless as I made them sound. Otherwise, the Federation's military wouldn't still teach hand-to-hand combat."

"..." Wang Xinlong fell silent.

"Don't dwell on it, Grandpa. I'll handle Zhong Can's case. His heart may have changed, but he didn't hurt anyone at the martial arts hall.

"On the contrary, he killed quite a few of those Mantis martial artists who showed up later. So there's no reason to hold him responsible for anything."

Wang Yiyang was now almost certain.

In his previous life, Zhong Can had probably had nothing to do with the fire at the martial arts hall or the staged car crash that had killed him.

Zhong Can had clearly killed Mantis members too. And he wasn't strong enough to take on everyone there.

In the end, Wu Qi had probably swept through them all.

Mantis's people had killed everyone at the martial arts hall, then killed Zhong Can and burned the whole place down.

"What about after that?" Wang Xinlong asked.