Brother Kun, Please Don't

After confirming the instance, Wu Heng decided to take care of the matter in front of him before going to the Lighthouse.

He couldn't ignore a potential threat right under his nose.

In Room 403, Cai Xueli returned to the apartment she'd moved into just half a month ago and locked the door.

She changed into a loose set of pajamas, then propped her fair, delicate right leg on the table. When she unwound the gauze, it revealed a wound that had been stitched up with six stitches.

Judging from the bruising around it, the wound was deep. It looked like it had been made by a blade, sword, or dagger.

"Is being someone's dog really that great?"

Cai Xueli murmured to herself. She picked up a packet of loose white powder, poured it over the wound, and redressed it.

Biting her lower lip, she endured the stinging pain and wrapped the wound on her leg in fresh gauze.

Then she changed her pants, put on a coat, tossed the gauze and medicine wrappers into a garbage bag, and headed downstairs with it.

She needed to throw out the trash, then make a trip to the supermarket.

She hadn't wanted to go out with her leg injured, but while changing the dressing just now, she'd gotten her period!

Her face was even paler, so in a way, she hadn't lied to Wu Heng.

She threw the trash into the big green bin behind the residential compound, then turned and headed for the supermarket outside.

Whoosh!

The instant she walked out of the compound and disappeared from view, a shadow darted past the garbage area.

The lid of the green bin rocked slightly. The garbage bag inside was gone.

In the small woods behind the compound, where no one had trimmed the trees in years, a figure appeared with the garbage bag in hand. It was Wu Heng.

He carefully examined the contents. A person's daily life could be pieced together from the things they threw away.

Alcohol-soaked cotton swabs, medicine wrappers, bloodstained gauze, and even the packaging from sleeping pills.

What was going on with this girl? Where had she gotten that blade wound? Could it really be such a coincidence that she was also a Tower Guardian?

If she'd simply been stabbed by some lunatic, that was one thing. But if someone had deliberately wounded her, it would inevitably mean trouble.

Wu Heng hated trouble most of all, so he had to figure out what kind he was dealing with. Trouble with ordinary people was no big deal, but if they weren't ordinary...

Then this place would no longer be safe. He'd have to move immediately.

He dug a hole by hand, buried the trash, then went somewhere farther away and watched with his superhuman eyesight.

Cai Xueli went to the supermarket and then returned to her apartment in the compound. Everything seemed perfectly normal.

By the next afternoon, Wu Heng felt he'd already wasted too much time. He hesitated over whether to assume another identity and sneak in to investigate.

At last, the door across from him opened. The girl stepped out wearing an apricot-yellow coat over a tracksuit, with a black leather handbag in hand.

Wu Heng hurriedly followed her from a discreet distance.

After leaving the compound, he tailed her all the way to a dilapidated, abandoned building on the outskirts.

The Green Link Group had built a residential complex in the development zone,

but the construction had failed to meet standards, and several buildings had partially collapsed. The residents had all moved away. It was now a deserted area slated by the government for demolition and reconstruction.

Cai Xueli headed straight into the depths of the abandoned buildings.

What was she doing here?

Wu Heng slipped into an abandoned prefab container nearby and put on Raghav's skin.

I'll have to collect some spare disguises during the next instance. For now, he'd have to make do. After all, he wasn't someone who killed innocent people indiscriminately.

Once his disguise was in place, he was about to resume following Cai Xueli when he heard footsteps and the sounds of fists and feet striking nearby.

Wu Heng stopped and peered through a crack.

In a patch of wild grass, two men chased and fought each other.

Their punches landed with a meaty thud, their kicks hit their marks, and every move packed a powerful impact.

It looked like the martial arts fight scenes from the action movies of his previous life. It was pretty entertaining.

"Brother Kun, I have to take Lili back!"

The young man in black training clothes was knocked back by a punch. He took another step forward, raised his fist, and swung it down at the burly, middle-aged man.

"If you want to take her, then take her. When did I stop you? Why are you blocking my way? Move!"

Kun, wearing a black jacket and sporting a muscular build, gave a cold snort. He easily blocked the punch with his powerful arm, then thrust a kick straight toward the young man's groin.

"Uh, Brother Kun, we have to take back the stuff Lili has on her, too!"

The young man lowered both hands to block, but the force knocked him back another step. His palms smacked against Kun's combat boot with a sharp, meaty thwack. His hands curled inward, his palms turning red, and both arms trembled.

"No. You can have either Lili or the stuff, not both."

Kun pressed his advantage, his fists whistling through the air as they hammered toward the young man. Each blow was more vicious than the last, but he avoided the vital spots. Clearly, he was holding back.

Even so, the young man retreated step by step, quickly losing the ability to defend himself.

"Fine, then I'll take the stuff!"

The young man backed away five or six steps to create some distance between them, then vigorously rubbed his arms.

That really hurts!

"Go to hell!" Kun cursed.

Clenching both fists, he rushed forward and kicked the young man hard in the chest. The young man toppled backward. Kun was about to follow with a spinning sweep kick, but abruptly stopped.

"Brother Kun, don't force me!"

The instant he hit the ground, the young man rolled and drew a pistol from behind his waist, pointing it at Kun.

"So that's what gave you the nerve to stop me?"

The middle-aged man flicked his wrist. Two flashes of cold light flew from his hand. One struck the pistol, and the other hit the young man in the thigh.

Clang, clang!

Two metallic impacts rang out.

The pistol fell to the ground, and the throwing knife that had struck his thigh bounced off and landed nearby.

"Cangyue Cloth Armor! That old geezer even let you wear the clothes off his own coffin!"

Kun lunged at the young man, holding his arms up in a bull's-horn stance as he tried to seize him.

"Brother Kun, someone's here!"

The young man backed away in alarm, but in doing so, he moved farther from the pistol.

"Bullshit!"

"This is such a fine set of armor. I should be the one wearing it."

As Kun spoke, he darted over to the pistol beside the rubble, flicked it up with the tip of his right foot, and caught it steadily in his iron-clamp-like hand.

"Seriously, look at the footprints in the weeds by the container entrance. Someone obviously just went inside."

The young man made a wild guess, hoping to catch his breath. He hadn't expected his second senior brother to have reached the limits of human strength.

Kun ignored him. Pointing the gun at the young man's head, he stepped forward, seized him, and pinned him to the ground.

"Brother Kun, please don't! There really is someone here!"

Kun didn't stop. He stripped off the young man's coat and took a one-piece outfit resembling a fishing suit from underneath, then put it on himself.

Only then did he point the gun at the prefab container.

"Come out!"

Ten seconds passed without a sound. Kun fired without hesitation. He trusted his junior brother's wits.

Bang! Bang!

The instant he fired, a figure darted out. The shotgun in the shadow's hands tore through the container's outer wall, scattering pellets toward the two men outside.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The shotgun fired repeatedly until it ran out of shells. The young man collapsed to the ground, but the bullets aimed at Kun were stopped by the armor he had put on.

Whoever the other person was, they'd attacked first. Showing mercy now would be foolish.

"Shit, just my luck—it's some damned old Tiandu bastard! You killed my junior brother. Your life wouldn't be enough to pay for it!"

Kun saw that Wu Heng's gun was out of ammunition and that he was trying to retreat to reload, so he used the same move he'd just used against the young man.

Holding his arms up, he charged at Wu Heng like a bull lowering its horns.

"Good! Bring it on!"

Wu Heng shouted. The muscles in his legs tensed and bulged as he stamped on the rubble with a crack, then charged toward Kun as well.

Boom! The two collided like cannonballs, the impact thundering through the air. A series of bone-cracking sounds followed.

Kun was sent flying ten feet. Blood ran from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. His broken ribs had punctured his internal organs.

Thanks for yesterday's monthly tickets. You guys completely stunned me—I suddenly got more than a dozen!