Rainy night, Zhou Dabao's residence.
Inside the main hall of the courtyard, Zhou Dabao sat around a wine table with four underlings. Several wine jars lay toppled on the floor; they had clearly drunk quite a bit.
"Boss, you really showed your face this time! The gang leader personally praised you by name!"
"Yeah, yeah! At this rate, Boss might get promoted to hall master one day!"
"Boss is mighty!"
Listening to his underlings' flattery, Zhou Dabao waved a hand.
His words were humble, but the pride at the corners of his eyes could not be hidden at all.
"I just got lucky. I collected a little more River God tribute than the other brothers and made the gang leader happy."
"That wasn't just a few coins!" one underling hurriedly chimed in.
"Among all of Four Waters Ward, Boss, you collected the most. That's your skill!"
Zhou Dabao lifted his wine bowl and gulped down a huge mouthful, then grinned. "Those lowborn wretches in Four Waters Ward won't listen when I talk nicely. They have to be taught a lesson before they behave.
"They won't hand over eight taels of silver? Which matters more, their lives or their silver? They know how to weigh it."
"Exactly, exactly!"
"Let me tell you lot, don't treat those lowborn wretches like people. If they won't listen, beat them until they do. They're just like livestock—if they disobey, crack the whip. Sooner or later, they'll behave." Zhou Dabao instructed them in an indifferent tone.
The underlings burst into laughter and raised their bowls in a toast.
"Boss is right!"
"Come on, come on, a bowl to Boss!"
Outside, the rain showed no sign of letting up.
Fang Han pressed himself against the courtyard wall, already soaked to the bone.
He instinctively touched the cloth pouch hanging at his waist.
Fortunately, the pouch had been specially waterproofed. Otherwise, the fine river sand inside would have been drenched.
When a peal of thunder exploded overhead, Fang Han seized the chance. Bracing both hands on the wall, he flipped over it with the agility of a cat.
He made almost no sound.
He silently crept to the side of the main hall. The voices inside were crystal clear, every word reaching his ears.
"Boss, today I followed that kid from the Fang Household."
The bald man had the loudest voice, tinged with drunkenness. "That kid seemed to notice me. He led me into the fish market, then vanished in the blink of an eye!"
"You didn't get the job done, so why the hell are you yammering at me?" Zhou Dabao asked impatiently.
"Boss, hear me out."
The bald man shuddered in fright and hurriedly continued, "This afternoon, I waited for the kid at the alley entrance and saw him returning from the direction of Prefectural Office Street.
"Boss, several martial arts academies have opened around Prefectural Office Street. Li Daniu trains at Flood Peak Martial Arts Academy over there!"
"What are you getting at?"
Zhou Dabao's tone eased slightly, but a cold gleam flashed through his triangular eyes.
"I think that brat Fang Han has very likely really entered a martial arts academy!"
"Otherwise, why has he kept sneaking around and avoiding me? Why did he try to shake me off? He must be afraid I'll see him going to the academy!"
Smack!
Zhou Dabao suddenly slammed a palm onto the table, startling several underlings into shuddering.
"The Fang Household has some nerve!"
Zhou Dabao's voice seemed to squeeze out from between his teeth, cold and vicious.
"They actually have enough money to support some mud-legged peasant learning martial arts? Yet when it comes to eight taels of silver in tribute, they cry poverty to me? They're fucking treating me like I'm beneath notice!"
Zhou Dabao smashed the wine bowl in his hand and snarled, "At dawn tomorrow, call the other brothers. We're going to the Fang Household to settle accounts.
"Make the two men sign contracts of sale, send the little girl to feed the River God, and beat the old ones to death if they refuse to obey.
"I'll let them know what happens when they try to play tricks on me!"
Outside the wall.
Listening to Zhou Dabao's vicious words, Fang Han's killing intent reached its peak.
This beast truly deserved to die!
Good thing he had come under cover of the heavy rain tonight. Otherwise, tomorrow morning would have brought grave trouble.
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed his killing intent, and patiently waited for an opportunity.
Who knew how much time passed before the door suddenly opened.
The bald man staggered out, following the rain-sheltering eaves toward the corner of the house to relieve himself.
Seeing this, Fang Han approached without a sound.
The bald man hummed as he relieved himself. Sensing movement behind him, he instinctively turned his head.
A fist slammed heavily into his neck.
Crack.
The bald man's eyes flew wide. His mouth hung open, but not a sound came out as he toppled over stiffly.
Inside the house.
When the bald man failed to return for a long while, someone began cursing.
"That bastard's taking this long to piss?"
"Don't tell me he drank too much and fell into the latrine? Hahaha!"
"I'll go check." A skinny man friendly with the bald man rose and swayed toward the door.
The skinny man had barely staggered drunkenly to the corner when he saw the bald man lying on the ground. Cursing, he walked over.
Fang Han darted out from the shadows and dealt another heavy blow to the skinny man's nape!
With a crack, the skinny man fell directly onto the bald man, all breath gone from him.
Inside, Zhou Dabao put down his chopsticks, instinctively sensing that something was wrong.
Two people had gone out in a row and neither had returned. Something had clearly happened!
Zhou Dabao had spent many years in the gangs. Though he had drunk a little too much tonight, he still possessed the vigilance he ought to have had.
He drew a short knife from beneath the table. Its blade glinted with cold light. Gripping its hilt tightly, he spoke gravely to his remaining two underlings.
"Go outside and see what's going on."
The two underlings also sensed something was amiss. Fear appeared on their faces, and neither wanted to leave the room.
But when Zhou Dabao glared at them, they could only brace themselves and head outside.
"Aah!"
"Aah!!"
The two men's screams rang out in the rainy night, then fell silent.
Zhou Dabao clenched his short knife, his palms drenched in sweat and his voice trembling slightly.
"Brother, what road are you from? We can talk this out. Is there some misunderstanding?"
Zhou Dabao's voice grew weaker and weaker. "I have money! I can give you money! Whatever amount you want is fine! We can discuss anything, negotiate anything—don't damage our harmony!"
Footsteps sounded outside.
Zhou Dabao stood up, gripping his knife tightly as he stared fixedly at the doorway.
A figure suddenly appeared. Before he could see it clearly, the other party flung a large handful of river sand straight at his face.
"Fuck!"
Zhou Dabao cursed. His eyes burned with pain, and he could not open them in the slightest. He swung the knife in his hand wildly.
"Fuck! Shameless! Come out and fight me one-on-one if you've got the guts! What kind of skill is playing dirty? Do you have any bearing of a master at all?"
Fang Han said nothing.
Seizing his chance, he rushed forward and drove a fist straight into Zhou Dabao's chest.
Zhou Dabao's breastbone shattered with the blow, collapsing inward with the imprint of a fist.
His eyes bulged round as he vomited mouthful after mouthful of blood.
With a clang, the short knife fell from his hand, and his whole body toppled stiffly backward.
Zhou Dabao was dead!
Looking at the corpse before him, Fang Han unexpectedly felt no emotional stir at all.
At this moment, he was calm to the extreme. Only his heart continued pounding violently.
Thump! Thump!
Thump! Thump!
Thump! Thump!
Zhou Dabao did possess some martial skill. If they had truly fought to the death one-on-one, Fang Han was not confident he could defeat him.
After all, the man had spent years in the gangs and possessed extremely rich experience in killing and fighting.
Fang Han had succeeded in ambushing Zhou Dabao tonight entirely because he had caught him off guard, taking advantage of his drunkenness and the fact that his mind was not as clear as usual.
"Whew!"
Fang Han slowly let out the breath he had been holding. Only then did his violently pounding heart calm a little.
After observing for a moment and confirming that Zhou Dabao's corpse truly did not move in the slightest—
Only then did he walk over, crouch down, and search the body.
He found a pile of broken silver, thirty-three taels in total.
And!
A martial arts palm manual called Nine Flood Dragon Palms!
Fang Han's eyes lit up!
He had not expected Zhou Dabao to drop "equipment"!
Before you continue