Groveling

Gray Bro's heart began to pound as the scene from that day at the abandoned factory flashed through his mind.

His boss, Scarface, had been so imposing, with the strength of an early-stage Martial Master. Yet that old man at the Grandmaster realm had killed him with a single palm strike.

Gray Bro had been standing in the back then. The moment he saw things going south, he turned and ran, barely managing to save his own life.

After returning, the gang leader had flown into a rage and demoted him from a core enforcer straight to the scavenging team.

The miserable state he was in today was all thanks to the young man standing before him.

But he did not harbor even the slightest thought of revenge now. All he felt was dread and terror.

Was this a joke?

This kid had a Grandmaster-level backer by his side. Scarface had been killed without hesitation, and afterward, the gang leader had not even dared let out a peep. Rumor had it that the Zhao Family had even moved out of Azure City overnight. As the leader of a demoted scavenging team, he was not even enough to fill the gap between the kid's teeth!

Even seeking death had to be done properly.

Gray Bro's expression shifted constantly. Everyone present watched him, waiting for him to speak.

The next second, he suddenly turned around and raised his hand, delivering a resounding slap to the lead man's face.

Slap!

The crisp sound of the slap rang especially clearly across the open ground.

The lead man was dumbfounded. Clutching his face, he stared in shock. "Gray Bro? Y-you hit me for what?"

"Hit you? I ought to beat you to death, you blind idiot!" Gray Bro launched into a furious tirade, his tone both anxious and enraged. "Is Young Master Lin someone you can afford to provoke? Are you blind? Hurry up and apologize to Young Master Lin!"

After cursing him out, he immediately put on a fawning smile and hurried over to Lin Yun. He bent so low at the waist that he was nearly doubled over, his voice filled with ingratiating flattery.

"Young Master Lin, I'm terribly sorry! My men didn't know any better. They failed to recognize greatness and offended you. I apologize on their behalf! You're a magnanimous man, so please don't lower yourself to the level of these fools!"

The entire place fell deathly silent.

The bearded hunter and the others widened their eyes, their faces full of disbelief.

The brawl they had expected never came. Gray Bro, whose name inspired fear, was actually bowing and scraping before Lin Yun, apologizing to him?

What was going on?

Just who was Lin Yun, for even members of the Black Tiger Gang to fear him like this?

The Black Tiger Gang members lying on the ground were even more stunned. Their mouths hung open, and they forgot to cry out in pain.

Gray Bro, who was like a vicious demon in their eyes, was as obedient as a cat before this young man?

Seeing Gray Bro's sudden shift from arrogance to deference, Lin Yun understood.

The man had clearly recognized him.

"Did you kill these mutated beasts?"

Lin Yun asked calmly.

"No, no, no! Of course you and the hunter brothers killed them!" Gray Bro nodded repeatedly, bending even lower. "We just happened to pass by and helped cut them up and pack them."

While smiling apologetically, Gray Bro turned around and glared fiercely at his men.

"What are you standing around for? Bring over all the packed materials and offer them to Young Master Lin and the brothers as an apology!"

The men looked at one another, their faces full of confusion. But seeing Gray Bro's pale face and the fear hidden in his eyes, none of them dared ask another question.

They hurriedly scrambled to their feet and dumped out all the Swift Mantis and Bone-Cracking Centipede materials from the sacks, sorting and arranging them neatly. Even the pairs of intact scythe-like forelimbs they had secretly stuffed into their pockets were hastily taken out and placed properly on top.

"Young Master Lin, please inspect them. Nothing is missing."

Gray Bro rubbed his hands together, smiling ingratiatingly.

"These brats don't know any better. I'll make sure to discipline them properly afterward. Please calm down."

Lin Yun swept a glance over the materials on the ground. The quantity was indeed correct, and their quality had not been ruined by rough handling.

"Leave the things and go."

Lin Yun waved a hand casually.

"Yes, yes, yes! Thank you, Young Master Lin, for your magnanimity!" Gray Bro looked as though he had been granted a pardon. He quickly called to his men, "Why aren't you apologizing to Young Master Lin and the brothers?"

More than a dozen Black Tiger Gang members lowered their heads and muttered apologies unevenly, their voices as soft as mosquito buzzes.

Gray Bro kicked the lead man once more before leading his people away in disgrace. They moved quickly and did not dare look back, afraid that slowing down would provoke this fearsome figure again.

Only after the Black Tiger Gang had completely vanished around the corner of the residential compound did the bearded hunter finally let out a long breath. His gaze toward Lin Yun was filled with admiration and curiosity.

"Brother Lin, you're incredible! Gray Bro has always strutted around like he owns the place, yet he was so obedient before you? Just who are you?"

The other hunters also gathered around, curiosity written all over their faces.

Lin Yun did not explain much. He merely said calmly, "We had a bit of history before. They were in the wrong, that's all. Let's move the materials first. We shouldn't stay here long."

Seeing that he was unwilling to say more, everyone wisely stopped asking. They hurriedly stuffed the materials back into the sacks and carried them out together.

Several large sacks of mutated beast materials weighed heavily on their shoulders, but everyone wore a smile.

After this trip, each person's share of materials was worth more than what they normally earned in half a month. It was practically a windfall.

Meanwhile, Gray Bro led his men out of Huimin Residential Compound in a panic. After turning past two broken walls and confirming there were no pursuers behind them, he abruptly stopped, braced himself against a crumbling wall, and panted heavily. His short jacket was already soaked through with cold sweat.

His underlings had held it in the whole way and finally dared to speak.

The sharp-faced lead man clutched his burning cheek and cautiously stepped forward. "Gray Bro, what the hell was that about? That kid looked like nothing more than a teenage student. Why were you so..."

Before he could finish, Gray Bro suddenly turned and glared at him. Most of his usual sinister ferocity was gone, replaced entirely by lingering fear.

He collapsed onto a pile of rubble, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and cursed, "What was that about? You idiots nearly got me killed! What the fuck do you know? That kid has a Grandmaster backing him!"

"G-Grandmaster?!"

The dozen or so underlings around him instantly widened their eyes and gasped in unison. One whose legs had gone weak staggered half a step back, nearly falling to the ground.

Azure City had a population of five million, yet there were fewer than ten publicly known Grandmasters in total. Which one of them was not a major figure who could make the entire city tremble with a stomp of their foot?

Lowly gang thugs like them were not even qualified to carry a Grandmaster's shoes. If they truly offended one, the other party could crush them with a single finger.

"Gray Bro, could you have gotten it wrong? How could a kid who looks like a student have ties to a Grandmaster?" Someone still could not believe it and stammered out the question.

"Got it wrong?"

Gray Bro let out a cold laugh, his voice full of the relief of surviving a disaster.

"Last month, my boss Scarface was hired by the Zhao Family to cripple that kid's limbs. In the end, that Grandmaster killed him on the spot with one palm strike! I only got away with my life because I ran like hell. Otherwise, you wouldn't even be seeing me now!

"And afterward? The gang leader didn't even dare think about retaliation. He even demoted me to do this kind of dirty, exhausting work!"

The more he spoke, the angrier he became. He raised a foot and kicked one of the underlings beside him.

"I've told you all to keep your eyes open! Don't you have any sense of who you can provoke and who you can't? That kid didn't hold it against us today, so we were damn lucky! If we'd really pissed him off, the entire Black Tiger Gang would have to be buried with us!"

The underlings turned pale as death, their legs trembling.

Just moments ago, they had been thinking of relying on their numbers to take the materials by force. Looking back on it now, they had practically taken a walk through the gates of hell.

No wonder Gray Bro had acted like a completely different person earlier, bowing and scraping even more respectfully than he did before the gang leader. Who wouldn't obediently grovel before a Grandmaster's junior?