Voices roared and blades flashed as Chen Ying darted through the crowd alongside Hua Shanrong.
Fire Dragon pressed in from the front with his men, while Sha Wei led another group from behind, a long blade in hand. The large street performance, originally full of everyday bustle, instantly became a battlefield of life and death.
Most of the men Fat Bear led were extras who had come along as a favor in exchange for red envelopes. Faced with this, they immediately fell into chaos. Had the enemy not been closing in from both sides, leaving nowhere to escape, they would have scattered long ago.
Hua Shanrong immediately lost his composure. It was Chen Ying who dragged him through the crowd.
"Fucking hell, Brother Ying, the two of us are going to end up chopped chicken today."
"What are you panicking for? Brother Hua Shan, you've spent years fighting in the underworld. What's there to be scared of now?"
Chen Ying was in no hurry. He gripped a hollow steel rod in one hand and dragged Hua Shanrong through the crowd with the other.
"Brother Ying, that Su Xiong is a notorious monster. Once he starts fighting, he goes straight for the kill. And that bastard Sha Wei doesn't follow any underworld rules at all. His favorite thing is chopping off hands and feet. We're going to end up cripples this time."
Chen Ying smiled at that. Chaotic as things were, there was one saying he firmly believed in.
"Brother Hua Shan, stick close to me in a moment. I'll get you out of here."
"Huh? Brother Ying, you're joking, right? Everyone at Tongwen Academy knows you're a famous coward, a weak-kneed chicken."
"That was then. Even three days apart can change a man enough to make you see him differently."
Chen Ying pointed ahead.
"This is like two armies fighting. Sha Wei coming up behind us is the enemy's elite force, while Brother Fire Dragon in front is the useless bait they're using to lure us in. With them attacking from both ends, we'll all get hacked to pieces."
"Our only way out is to break through the front."
"Straight ahead?"
"That's right. In war, you place yourself on deadly ground to survive. The only way left for us is to charge straight through."
"Huh? Brother Ying, do military books really say that?"
"The Art of War. The Nine Situations."
"That fucking bastard Sun Tzu. Wouldn't putting yourself on deadly ground mean fighting that bastard Sha Wei one-on-one? Guaranteed death, no chance of survival."
While Hua Shanrong was still running his mouth, Chen Ying spotted an opening and dragged him straight forward.
"Fire Dragon, fuck your mother's stinking cunt! Brother Hua Shan, Fat Bear's top man, is here to take you on! Come on if you've got the balls!"
Chen Ying bellowed at the top of his lungs and hauled Hua Shanrong into the crowd.
He had momentum on his side, not to mention the menacing aura that now surrounded him.
His steel pipe clanged and battered away. Fire Dragon's underlings around them were extras themselves, and seeing how ferocious Chen Ying was, they all ducked aside.
Fat Bear watched in astonishment from his hiding place in the crowd.
"Fuck me. That pretty boy Hua Shanrong is a notorious gutless turtle. Never thought he'd be so dependable today. You really can't judge a man by his looks."
Fat Bear was astonished, but he had no time to dwell on it. Behind him, Sha Wei charged in with his long blade like a tiger among sheep, sending his underlings' hands and feet flying wherever the blade flashed.
"Fucking hell. Since when did Fat Bear get himself such a badass underling?"
Holding his cigarette butt, Fire Dragon couldn't help retreating another few steps.
Wo On Sing's fortunes had worsened by the day over the past few years. Other gangs had gradually taken over its drug dens, gambling houses, and brothels. Ever since that fiend named Su Xiong had risen in the underworld, even the major gangs had feared for their own safety, let alone small fry like Wo On Sing.
Everyone joined a gang just to make a living. Who actually took loyalty seriously? A transplanted tree might die, but a man could thrive by moving on. Fire Dragon had begun considering changing sides.
Offering Fat Bear and his men to Su Xiong as sacrifices today would serve as Brother Fire Dragon's pledge of allegiance.
Chen Ying tucked Hua Shanrong under one arm as a human shield while swinging his hollow steel rod and charging hard with the other. Sure enough, he forced an opening.
He shoved Hua Shanrong toward the gap.
"Run!"
Hua Shanrong was, after all, a veteran of several vicious underworld fights. He immediately understood Chen Ying's meaning, threw his watermelon knife to the ground, and bolted through the opening.
Chen Ying followed, tossing his hollow steel pipe to the ground and gripping the pistol in his pocket with one hand. The two of them raced toward the end of the street, one behind the other.
"Fucking hell! All bark and no bite!"
"Cut those two bastards down!"
Several underlings immediately gave chase, waving their blades.
Fire Dragon had no time to deal with that mess, because the instant a corner of his formation broke open, the extras on Fat Bear's side charged straight toward him.
It wasn't that these men were particularly brave. Sha Wei and his men were simply too fierce and vicious. Panicking, they ran straight into Fire Dragon's side without caring where they were going.
"Brothers, follow me! Cut these bastards down!"
As the two sides plunged into a chaotic melee, Hua Shanrong led the way with Chen Ying close behind.
Buildings were packed tightly together in Hong Kong and Kowloon, with alleys lining both sides of the streets. After running a short distance, Hua Shanrong plunged straight into one.
"Fucking hell, Brother Hua Shan, do you know the way? You're not taking us into a dead end, are you?"
Chen Ying followed, with Fire Dragon's underlings still roaring behind them.
"Don't run, you fucking pretty boy!" "I'll slash your mother's stinking cunt!"
Hua Shanrong darted and weaved through the alley.
"Don't worry, Brother Ying. I scouted the terrain. When you're making your way in the world, the first priority is finding an escape route."
He was right about that.
Chen Ying looked around.
It was a cluttered alley, flanked by the high walls of buildings. The path was wide enough for two people abreast, with junk piled along both sides.
Fire Dragon's extras had already disappeared into some corner to smoke. They had indeed shaken every last pursuer.
"Brother Ying, you've really screwed me today. My boss is sure to remember I deserted in the middle of a fight. Fuck, I'll probably get three stabs and six holes."
Hua Shanrong braced both hands on the ground, gasping for breath.
"Relax. Maybe Fat Bear's already dead. Then you won't have to worry about anyone over your head anymore."
"Wouldn't that be even worse? I was the first to desert. They'll definitely frame me for getting the boss killed, and the elders will enforce gang discipline."
"Relax. Maybe all your brothers died heroically for the gang. Wouldn't that make you a great contributor?"
"Brother Ying, we're just punks, not psychotic mass murderers. Hundreds of brothers all hacked to death? That'd be unheard of."
Hua Shanrong looked up at Chen Ying.
"Brother Ying, you're Tongwen's number-one empty suit. How come you're not even out of breath after all that running?"
Only then did Chen Ying realize that, compared with Hua Shanrong panting on the ground like a mangy dog, his own face wasn't flushed and he wasn't short of breath. He even felt as though he still had endless strength.
Strange. Was this some kind of perk from transmigrating?
"Relax. I was just born with superhuman strength. I was only messing around with you before. Didn't want to hurt your confidence."
Chen Ying said it offhandedly.
"Born with superhuman strength? Like hell I believe you."
Hua Shanrong stood up. "I came third in the whole school in the thousand meters, and I'm panting like a turtle. You haven't even broken a sweat, Brother Ying. Have you been secretly drinking thirty bottles of Indian miracle oil at home these past few days?"
"Quiet."
Chen Ying suddenly raised a hand, startling Hua Shanrong.
"What is it, Brother Ying?"
Chen Ying pointed ahead.
"Brother Hua Shan, you scouted the terrain. What's up ahead?"
Hua Shanrong looked in the direction Chen Ying was pointing.
At some point, the ground ahead had become a stretch of bluestone paving. White mist drifted around them, and scattered groups of figures were faintly visible through it.
At the nearest spot, they could dimly make out a noodle stall. An old man with a waxy yellow face and a small skullcap was fishing something out of a pot with a pair of long chopsticks.
Every sound around them had vanished. The silence was rather frightening.
Gulp.
Hua Shanrong swallowed.
He knew the surrounding terrain better than anyone. This was a cluster of enclosed little buildings, and the alleys were mostly full of forty- and fifty-year-old "young beauties" and "bust queens" soliciting customers. How could such a large open space have appeared?
"Brother Ying, let's turn back."
Chen Ying said nothing. He gently tapped Hua Shanrong on the back and gestured for him to look behind them.
Hua Shanrong turned around. There was no street or alley behind them anymore, only another bank of thick mist, with the same scattered figures on both sides.
"F-fucking... hell..."
Hua Shanrong's legs went weak, and he nearly dropped to his knees.
Chen Ying reached out and held him up under one arm.
"It's the same road ahead and behind. All we can do now is try going forward."
"Why don't we wait a little..."
Hua Shanrong clutched Chen Ying's arm.
"We can't wait."
Chen Ying pointed behind them, and Hua Shanrong followed his finger.
A line of children in burial clothes was hopping out of the mist.
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