I Haven't Even Finished Warming Up! How Are You Already Down?

Liu Ruyan froze with her wineglass halfway raised.

The mellow blues music seemed to vanish in an instant, leaving nothing in the world but that flippant, mocking male voice.

She slowly turned around.

When she saw who had come, every trace of drunkenness and languor vanished from her flushed, pretty face, leaving only bone-chilling coldness and fury on the verge of erupting.

"Feng Shijie. Wen Qingqing."

Her voice sounded as though she had forced it through clenched teeth.

"You two bastards actually dared show your faces in front of me again!"

The newcomers were a man and a woman.

The man was around thirty-five, handsome and dressed in a well-tailored designer suit. He had an arm around a curvaceous woman with immaculate makeup, a mocking smile playing across his face.

Wen Qingqing kept smiling, even adding a touch of pitiful innocence. "Ruyan! I know I wronged you, but Shijie and I truly love each other!"

"Ruyan! Don't be like this. We were together for three years, after all. Even if things didn't work out, there's no need to lash out at us!" Feng Shijie released the woman in his arms and took two steps forward, putting on a show of magnanimity.

Liu Ruyan trembled with rage, her chest heaving. She nearly hurled her wineglass at him.

"Get lost! Stop disgusting me, both of you!"

"Ruyan, you..." Feng Shijie tried to approach again.

Chen Lin stood up.

It was a simple movement, yet he became an invisible wall, placing himself squarely between Liu Ruyan and Feng Shijie.

"Please leave. You're bothering my friend!"

Feng Shijie stopped short.

He looked Chen Lin up and down. Seeing his casual clothes, the mocking smile on his face instantly turned hostile.

"Who the hell are you? What business is it of yours if I'm catching up with Ruyan? Get out of my way!"

As he spoke, he reached out to shove Chen Lin aside.

Chen Lin did not even try to dodge.

Before Feng Shijie's hand could touch his clothes, a hand closed around his wrist.

That hand did not look particularly powerful, but the moment its fingers tightened, Feng Shijie's face went white.

"Ow... ow... fuck! Let go... do you fucking know who I am?"

He screeched like a duck whose tail had been stepped on. A teeth-grating crack came from his wrist, and agony shot through his body like an electric current. Cold sweat broke out at once.

Startled, Wen Qingqing rushed forward and shoved at Chen Lin. "Let go of Shijie right now..."

Chen Lin ignored her shoving, standing as solidly as a rock.

He simply watched Feng Shijie grimace in pain and spoke calmly, stressing every word:

"I'm not interested in who you are. But if you keep harassing her, I don't mind putting you in the hospital for a few days."

"Understood?"

"L-let go! I was wrong! I know I was wrong!" Unable to bear the piercing agony any longer, Feng Shijie went limp and began pleading.

"Get lost!" Chen Lin tossed him aside.

Feng Shijie staggered back several steps, clutching his dislocated, unnaturally twisted wrist. Pain contorted his face.

He stared venomously at Chen Lin and forced out a threat through gritted teeth. "Motherfucker, you're finished! Just you wait!"

With that, he grabbed Wen Qingqing and headed out of the bar without looking back.

A few onlookers in the surrounding booths immediately began murmuring.

"That guy deserved it. He looked like trouble from the start. Probably got caught cheating."

"This young fellow has some skills. Playing the hero, huh? Shame he's gotten himself into trouble now."

"Yeah. Feng Shijie's second uncle is a well-known local kingpin around here. This kid's in for it."

Seeing Chen Lin stand up for her filled Liu Ruyan with an inexplicable warmth, but an even deeper worry followed.

"Chen Lin, let's leave! Feng Shijie may be a bastard, but his second uncle is a local kingpin."

Chen Lin looked a little surprised. "It's only been a few years since the crackdown on organized crime. There are still local kingpins?"

Liu Ruyan gave a bitter smile. "People like them generally don't bully businesses or terrorize the market. They straddle the line between legitimate business and the underworld. Add a few connections, and they've managed to stay out of trouble."

So that was it.

Chen Lin understood. After spending so long in Magic City, he had actually started thinking everywhere was just as peaceful and orderly.

Although Song Qiuya knew Chen Lin could fight, she did not want him getting into an actual brawl. She stood up. "Chen Lin, let's go. We're not in the mood to drink anymore anyway!"

Chen Lin nodded. The three settled the bill and left the Gone with the Wind bar.

As soon as they stepped outside, glaring headlights lit up ahead of them.

Feng Shijie stood in front of more than a dozen men, clutching his dislocated wrist. When he saw Chen Lin emerge, he immediately pointed and shouted, "Dayou, that's the bastard! He nearly broke my hand!"

Chen Lin's expression turned cold.

Still dared to insult me?

A burly man in his forties stepped out of the crowd. He was Feng Shijie's older cousin, Feng Dayou.

Feng Dayou looked Chen Lin up and down before asking menacingly, "You're the one who injured my cousin?"

Surrounded by more than a dozen men, Chen Lin was not nervous at all. Instead, he smiled. "He was harassing my friend. I never hit him!"

Feng Dayou said, "You did it, but you won't own up to it?"

Chen Lin scoffed. "I only caught the hand he tried to shove me with. Who knew your cousin was so fragile?"

Feng Dayou's face darkened. "Kid, I'm not an unreasonable man. Since you hurt my cousin's hand, I'll break one of yours, and we'll call it even. How does that sound?"

Both Liu Ruyan and Song Qiuya paled.

Liu Ruyan stepped in front of Chen Lin and addressed Feng Dayou. "One million, and we put this behind us. How about it?"

Feng Dayou slowly shook his head. "This isn't about money!"

Chen Lin smiled.

Without turning around, he reached back and gently moved Liu Ruyan behind him. His touch was gentle, but brooked no resistance.

"Qiu Ya, take Ruyan farther back!"

Worried, Song Qiuya was about to speak, but a look from Chen Lin stopped her.

She could only take Liu Ruyan's arm. "Ruyan, let Chen Lin handle this!"

Chen Lin stepped forward and rolled his neck, making his joints crack.

"You want to break my hand? No problem."

"Let's see if you've got what it takes!"

Feng Dayou smiled.

He waved at his men, and a bald, muscle-bound brute standing six feet one stepped out.

Without wasting a word, the bald man roared and drove a fist the size of a cooking pot straight at Chen Lin's face, the blow whistling through the air.

Chen Lin shook his head slightly.

Too slow.

To the bald man, his fist was about to smash into Chen Lin's face. But in the next instant, a blur flashed past.

He did not even see Chen Lin move.

Thud!

A deep, thunderous impact rang out like a drumbeat.

Though Chen Lin moved second, his strike landed first, a kick slamming squarely into the bald man's chest.

The ox-like brute flew off his feet as though struck by a speeding car. His body folded as he hurtled four or five meters backward, knocking over two companions behind him. All three tumbled into a heap and passed out on the spot.

Chen Lin had used only twenty percent of his strength, afraid of seriously injuring him.

Song Qiuya instantly breathed a sigh of relief. As she looked at Chen Lin, a hint of infatuation joined the admiration in her eyes.

Liu Ruyan's beautiful eyes went wide. So handsome! No, so strong!

Feng Dayou's eyes widened in disbelief, while Feng Shijie was so frightened that his mouth hung open.

He kicked a two-hundred-pound bald guy four or five meters with one blow?

What kind of monster was this?

Feng Dayou's face grew thunderous. Gritting his teeth, he roared, "All of you, get him! Cripple him!"

The remaining dozen or so thugs rushed forward together, fists and feet flying as they tried to overwhelm Chen Lin.

Instead of retreating, Chen Lin advanced, plunging into the chaotic crowd like a ghostly shadow.

He did not even use any complicated techniques, just simple punches and kicks.

He turned sideways to evade a swinging fist, then drove his elbow backward into his attacker's lower abdomen. The man doubled over like a cooked shrimp and could no longer straighten up.

Casually grabbing another thug by the collar, he swung him around like a human weapon and knocked two more men down.

Every punch brought a cry of pain.

Every kick sent someone flying with a scream.

Less than a minute passed.

Every man Feng Dayou had brought lay on the ground, groaning in agony and completely unable to fight.

The entire stretch of street fell deathly quiet, broken only by overlapping cries of pain.

The sparkle in Liu Ruyan's eyes threatened to spill over.

Song Qiuya wore a look of pride, as though this god of war were hers alone.

Feng Dayou stood frozen to the spot, utterly stunned, as though struck by lightning.

Feng Shijie's legs went weak with fear, and his whole body shook like a leaf. Pointing at Chen Lin, he stammered, "Y-you... are you a man or a ghost?"

Chen Lin ignored him. With a teasing smile, he gently rotated his wrists and ankles, his joints producing a series of crisp cracks.

He looked at the thoroughly dumbfounded Feng Dayou and drawled:

"You can't break my hand. What do we do now?"

"How about I wait here while you go get some more people?"

"I haven't even finished warming up!"