From Igniting Talent to Becoming a Demon God Section 44

In the end.

"You bastard..."

Their hands clasped together, and Zhao Yuanqing broke into a grin.

Then he used the pull to rise smoothly to his feet.

Tap, tap!

Once he steadied himself, he looked at the other man.

All the frustration and sorrow in his heart scattered at that moment. He looked Lu Chao up and down, and all that remained on his face was anticipation, excitement, and nervous disbelief.

"It worked?"

"Yeah."

Lu Chao smiled and nodded.

"It really worked?"

His body trembled, and he met his eyes again as he asked, as though afraid it was an illusion.

And to that...

"Yes."

Lu Chao raised a hand and lightly patted the other man's black-and-blue work clothes, brushing away the dust on them.

Meeting his gaze calmly, Lu Chao said, "I'm a Fighter now."

As his words fell, the atmosphere went briefly still.

Under the glare of the fluorescent lights, a few motes of dust spun through the air.

Zhao Yuanqing's body suddenly began to tremble, and the smile on his face grew wider and wider.

"It worked. It really worked..."

In the quiet factory, only his voice remained, murmuring on and on without end.

Only after several full seconds did he look toward the workers, and toward Old Dong, who had been threatened earlier. His fists clenched tight, his face flushed as he said, "It worked!"

"Chao did it! He became a Fighter!!"

His excited shout rang out. It was as if he were venting some emotion, his voice echoing again and again through the filthy, black-stained factory.

So gritting your teeth and risking your life really could pay off.

Even mud-legged kids from the Welfare Institute like them had a day when they could rise up!

His voice was full of excitement, and at some point, his eyes had reddened.

Lu Chao stood where he was, quietly watching the scene.

He did not answer or interrupt. Only after several seconds did he lower his head slightly and look at his outstretched right hand.

Several thin streaks of blood seeped from the pores on the back of his hand.

It was an injury from clashing with the prosthetic arm. His capillaries and skin had been shocked and damaged, but it was not too serious.

But.

A strange feeling rose in Lu Chao's heart, and he clenched his fist again.

"So this is what it means to be a Fighter."

A dozen minutes later.

"T-this brother, that was all Xu Peng's idea."

The two Rock Gang members crouching in the corner with their hands over their heads had pale faces, and their voices shook as they spoke.

At this moment, they no longer had any of the arrogance they had shown when they first arrived. Every time they raised their heads and saw Lu Chao's calm, assessing face, fear rose in their eyes. They had been scared out of their wits.

"Ever since the last time we came to collect protection fees and got taught a lesson by Brother Hao from Hongyi Society, failing in the end, he became dead set on taking revenge."

"We didn't want to make it this big at first either. It was all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding..."

Amid their trembling explanations, Lu Chao narrowed his eyes.

Following the moment, he looked toward a corner of the factory. Xu Peng could be seen lying there in a black puddle of machine oil, his head covered in blood, his breathing faint.

As for the other brawny man in the vest with the cracked jaw, his thoracic vertebrae had been broken, his ribs and modified lung glands split from the impact. His face was twisted and swollen as he lay unconscious on the spot.

Lu Chao had not gone easy earlier. Unless these two could spend a huge amount on surgery to repair themselves and implant new prosthetics, whether they could ever get out of bed again was a question.

"What else?"

Lu Chao asked calmly, continuing to interrogate them for useful information.

Revenge was indeed a decent reason.

But was Xu Peng really not afraid of Brother Hao?

Only after a full three months had he suddenly come here, specifically targeting Zhao Yuanqing. Lu Chao kept feeling that something was off.

"Right! I remember now!"

One Rock Gang member squatting with his hands over his head hurriedly nodded and said, "Xu Peng's been getting very close to the Iron Blood Gang lately. He often gambles with them at night..."

The Iron Blood Gang?

Lu Chao's gaze sharpened, and he silently made a note of it.

For some reason, he thought of the corpses he had seen back at the cleanup and body-collection site.

Rumor had it those people had some connection to the Iron Blood Gang.

As the thought flashed through his mind, footsteps sounded beside him.

Zhao Yuanqing was still wearing that black-and-blue work uniform as he strode over, holding a few items in his hand.

A stack of bills, roughly three or four thousand yuan.

Besides that, there were two small vials of pale silver liquid, shaped like syringes, about a finger long and three fingers thick.

The former had been found on Xu Peng, while the latter had been discovered inside the modified motorcycle that had not been ridden away.

"Didn't expect that bastard Xu Peng to actually be carrying Neural Stabilizers."

Zhao Yuanqing handed everything to Lu Chao and clicked his tongue in wonder. "This stuff isn't cheap. Nearly ten thousand yuan a shot. Looks like it should've been his and that guy's."

"Oh?"

Slightly surprised, Lu Chao took the medication and looked it over.

He really had not expected to gain something like this tonight.

"What are you planning to do?"

Zhao Yuanqing asked, worry showing on his face.

Xu Peng barely counted as one of the Rock Gang's leaders, but above him there was another Combat Grade boss named Rock.

If this matter was not handled properly, they could very well face retaliation.

"Don't worry."

Putting away the medication, Lu Chao had already thought of a plan.

Judging from the Rock Gang's style and the interrogation just now, Xu Peng and the other man did not have any close friends in the gang.

On top of that, now that they had been crippled and had no value left to exploit, their fate in the gang was practically sealed. It would be hard for anyone to stand up for them.

They might even be dealt with by the Rock Gang to recover the implantation and maintenance costs of their prosthetics.

As for whether the Rock Gang would fly into a rage from embarrassment and come for revenge...

"Brother Hao won't let them get away with it."

Lu Chao said softly, pointing at the smart watch on his left wrist.

He had already informed Brother Hao about what had happened here.

The Rock Gang had gone against his warning and come to the repair shop for revenge. That was not just targeting Zhao Yuanqing; it was also slapping Brother Hao in the face.

"I see."

Realization dawned on Zhao Yuanqing's face, and he roughly guessed the key point.

Although Brother Hao was usually easy to talk to with them, he was a genuine Hongyi Society red staff. There were even rumors that he had already begun taking over the position of hall master, which meant this was exactly when he needed to establish his authority.

Clearly, the Rock Gang had walked right into the line of fire.

"Then that's that."

Having almost guessed the outcome already, Lu Chao said this without much worry.

Even if something unexpected really happened, as fellow Combat Grade fighters, as long as the gap in Vitality was not too large, he was not afraid.

Thinking of this, he looked toward the two men squatting timidly with their hands over their heads.

"Take them and get lost."