Hunted Down

When Chen Hao returned to the private room, everyone bombarded him with complaints. Left with no choice, he drank three penalty cups to appease them.

After eating and drinking their fill, everyone chatted for a while longer before leaving one after another.

As they parted, Chen Hao specifically reminded Chu Jinliang to take the Peach Blossom Wine on schedule and come back to him in a month for the second stage of treatment.

At the hotel entrance, Chu Mengling insisted on driving Chen Hao home. Unable to change her mind, Qiao Shan could only agree.

After the two drove away, Chu Jinliang suddenly smiled at Chu Huasheng. "What do you think of Chen Hao and Ling'er?"

Chu Huasheng did not catch on at first. Once he understood what Chu Jinliang meant, he smiled. "Chen Hao is a good boy. If Ling'er ends up with him, I can rest easy."

"Haha, then let's let nature take its course."

Neither spoke along the way. Chu Mengling drove her Porsche 911 at lightning speed and delivered Chen Hao to the apartment where he was currently staying.

"Thanks!" Chen Hao thanked her and reached for the door to get out.

"Chen Hao," Chu Mengling suddenly called out, stopping him.

Chen Hao paused. "What's wrong?"

Chu Mengling smiled. "Thank you!"

Chen Hao smiled and closed the car door. "You're welcome. Drive safely."

"I'm at Zhonghai Normal University. Remember to come visit when you have time," Chu Mengling said, seeming reluctant to leave.

"Got it. You'd better go. It's getting late." Chen Hao waved, urging her on.

Chu Mengling silently grumbled, Why are you so eager to get rid of me?

Watching Chu Mengling drive away, Chen Hao stretched, yawned, and headed toward the apartment building across the street.

Just as he reached the middle of the road, a car parked by the curb suddenly started up. Its glaring headlights shone directly on him, casting a long shadow across the road.

Chen Hao raised a hand to shield his eyes. Seeing figures moving in the darkness, he immediately felt a sense of foreboding.

Just as he quickened his pace to leave, a crowd poured out of several other cars parked nearby and surrounded him.

It was almost ten o'clock, and the area was out of the way, so there was hardly anyone on the road. It was the perfect spot for murder and robbery on a dark, windy night.

There were about a dozen of them, each carrying a steel pipe or a blade. They had clearly come prepared.

Chen Hao's eyes darted around. He no longer had the luxury of wondering why these men had come. Instead, he searched for anything around him that he could use.

But his attackers wasted no time either. After a pause of only a few seconds, a man's hoarse voice rang out from the darkness. "Kill him."

As soon as he spoke, the dozen men surrounding Chen Hao sprang into action, their pipes and blades whistling toward him.

Chen Hao's gaze hardened. Reacting swiftly, he charged toward the direction with the fewest men.

The explosive power of Chen Hao's body was now terrifying. None of them had expected him to surge forward so fast.

The two men in his path did not even have time to strike before Chen Hao brutally slammed into them, knocking them to the ground.

Though he had broken through their encirclement, all that lay ahead was a narrow, pitch-black passage.

With the situation so dire, Chen Hao had no time to think. He gritted his teeth and rushed inside.

"After him!" Seeing Chen Hao break away into the alley, the hoarse-voiced man who had given the order roared.

The dozen men immediately charged into the alley like madmen.

But after running barely a dozen meters inside, Chen Hao fell into despair. It was a dead end. "Damn it!"

Seeing that Chen Hao had nowhere left to run, the leader chuckled nastily. "You little bastard, let's see where you run now. Cut him down!"

At his command, the dozen men sprang into action again and swarmed toward Chen Hao.

Although Chen Hao's physical abilities had improved dramatically, and handling a few ordinary people would have been no problem, the alley was narrow, and he faced more than a dozen armed men. If it came to a fight, he had no chance of winning.

In his desperation, inspiration flashed through Chen Hao's mind. He pulled out his phone and retrieved the Monkey Hair he had picked up from Sun Wukong earlier.

Just as Chen Hao took out the Monkey Hair, the dozen men closed in on him.

"Transform!"

With a thought, Chen Hao blew on the Monkey Hair in his palm with all his strength. A furious gale suddenly swept through the dim, quiet alley. Sand and stones flew as the tremendous wind sent the dozen men tumbling.

When the men scrambled up from the ground and tried to advance again, they all froze in shock.

Seven or eight people who looked exactly like Chen Hao had appeared before them out of thin air.

A few even thought they were dreaming. Some slapped their own faces, while others rubbed their eyes, completely forgetting about attacking him.

The leader, hiding behind the crowd, also stood with his mouth hanging open. "W-what the hell is this? Octuplets?"

After a brief standoff, the eight Chen Haos suddenly moved, charging straight at their opponents all at once.

Only then did the men snap out of it. They swung their weapons and started attacking the Chen Haos.

The extra Chen Haos were, of course, illusions he had created using the Monkey Hair. Their fighting ability was not particularly strong because of Chen Hao's own limited strength, but they were more than enough to deal with this bunch.

The Chen Haos at the front slammed into the men like charging bulls, forcing open a path for those behind them.

The Chen Haos in the rear swiftly slipped through the crowd amid the chaos.

Since all their targets looked identical, the attackers immediately lost their bearings. Unable to tell which was the real Chen Hao, they simply struck anyone they saw.

At that moment, the entire alley erupted into chaos. Some neighbors even opened their windows and dumped used foot-washing water into the alley. "What's all that racket? Are you going to let anyone sleep? We have work tomorrow!"

Taking advantage of those ten-odd seconds of confusion, Chen Hao finally escaped the alley. Without even raising his head, he sprinted toward the far end of the street.

The men were still tangled up fighting several of Chen Hao's clones when, mid-fight, the clones suddenly vanished into thin air. Already utterly baffled, they instantly began questioning their whole damn existence.

"Boss, what just happened? Does that kid know ninjutsu?" one of his men finally blurted out.

"Ninjutsu, my ass! You think we're filming Naruto?" The leader immediately smacked him on the back of the head.

But after hitting him, he still had no idea what had happened himself. He could only mutter, "Could that kid really know ninjutsu?!"

"Boss, he got away. What do we do now?"

The leader let out a long breath. "The Black Tiger Society has always relied on its reputation. We can't let this little bastard ruin our name. Get out there and find him."

"Yes, boss."

Only after running several kilometers did Chen Hao stop, panting a little.

Naturally, he did not dare go home. He could only find a hotel at random and take a room.

After closing the door, Chen Hao began considering who could have sent those men.

He had offended quite a few people over the past few days, but after thinking it through carefully, the most likely culprits were Liang Hong and Lou Haocheng.

"Those two bastards. They'd better hope I don't find out which one did it!"

While he was cursing, his phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number.

He answered and discovered it was Long Guangsheng.

Long Guangsheng sounded anxious on the other end. "Brother Hao, one of my boys just got word that the entire Black Tiger Society seems to be looking for you. Did you offend someone?"

Chen Hao had known little about those men's identities. Now that Long Guangsheng had contacted him on his own, he naturally wanted to get to the bottom of it. "Never mind who I offended. First, tell me about this Black Tiger Society."

Long Guangsheng said, "The Black Tiger Society is a fairly big gang around Songjiang District, with about two hundred members. Thanks to their boss's connections higher up, they're thriving here in Songjiang District. They're vicious. I've heard there's nothing they won't do if you pay them enough."

Chen Hao suddenly asked, "Aren't you the mighty Brother Long who operates around here too? Can you help me deal with them?"

Hearing that, Long Guangsheng immediately gave an awkward chuckle. "Brother Hao, you think too highly of me. I've only got a dozen or so men, and we just do small-time stuff. How could we compare with real gangsters like them?"

After expressing his contempt for Long Guangsheng, Chen Hao exchanged only a few more words before hanging up.

Now that the Black Tiger Society had set its sights on him, Chen Hao's most urgent task was to find a way to protect himself. Once he could do that, he could figure out how to resolve the matter.

Although his physical abilities already exceeded those of ordinary people, and handling a few men might be easy, he still lacked the strength to protect himself against a whole group carrying weapons.

As he pondered this, an idea suddenly popped into Chen Hao's head. He opened WeChat and found Sun Wukong.

Just as he was about to send a message, Chen Hao suddenly remembered something. He ran straight to the supermarket downstairs and bought two cartons of Zhonghua Cigarettes and two bottles of Wuliangye.

After returning upstairs, Chen Hao first sent the two bottles of liquor to the Old Immortal of the South Pole.

Seeing another two bottles of fine liquor arrive, the Old Immortal of the South Pole was overjoyed and sent back a string of handshake emojis.

Chen Hao still needed to maintain a good relationship with the old fellow. Once his Peach Blossom Wine business got going, he would be relying entirely on him for supplies.

Then, without another word, Chen Hao scanned and sent the two cartons of cigarettes to Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong replied almost instantly. "Thank you, exalted immortal! Thank you, exalted immortal!"

Seeing how polite Sun Wukong was, Chen Hao immediately turned into a shameless flatterer. "You're too kind, Great Sage. It's my honor to serve you. From now on, leave all your cigarettes to me."

On the other end, Sun Wukong was moved to tears. "Good! You're a true brother. If you ever need this Great Sage's help, just say the word."

Hearing that, Chen Hao immediately replied, "Great Sage, to tell you the truth, this humble immortal really does have a favor to ask."