Chen Fan smiled sheepishly. "Second Brother, that's not what I meant. I was just a little surprised."
"Just watch. Miss Wu hasn't earned her reputation for nothing." As Cao Bin finished speaking, the situation on the battlefield had already changed.
Long Wu flipped and landed, bracing one hand against the ground while reaching behind her waist with the other. A gunshot rang out with a bang.
The bullet struck the ground at the feet of the tall, thin man holding the axe, spraying up a cloud of brick fragments.
The tall, thin man flinched in fright and swore. All three men scattered at once, each finding somewhere to hide.
The tall, thin man was clearly their leader. Hiding behind cover, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Long Wu! You can't get away!"
"Boss Jin has given the word. She doesn't want you dead. She just wants us to bring you back."
"If you know what's good for you, throw down the gun and save us all some trouble!"
"Pah!" Long Wu spat. She held the gun in her right hand, its muzzle trained steadily on the handcart without wavering.
The tall, thin man shouted again, "Your brother's already finished, and the entire Four Seas Gang is gone! What are you still holding out for all by yourself?"
The three men each hid behind cover like turtles with their heads tucked in, not daring to show themselves.
Long Wu raised a hand, pulled down a strand of hair, and held it between her lips, slowly moving her pistol between the targets.
A shot rang out with a bang. Long Wu's target wasn't the tall, thin man shouting at her, but the man with the short blade hiding behind a pillar.
As the shot rang out, the bullet skimmed the ground and struck a roof tile beside the blade-wielding man's foot.
The tile shattered instantly, sending fragments flying everywhere.
The blade-wielding man stumbled, instinctively dodging to the left.
In that instant, Long Wu suddenly moved.
She sprang forward, planted her left hand on the ground, and swept sideways with her body almost touching the ground.
The gun in her right hand pressed against the blade-wielding man's knee at point-blank range.
The move looked exactly like something a stunt performer on wires would do in a film or television show in the future.
Only Long Wu had no wires on her. She relied entirely on her extraordinary physical coordination.
Bang!
The blade-wielding man screamed and dropped to his knees.
Using her momentum, Long Wu flipped over and slammed her elbow into the back of his neck. Then her left hand clamped around his neck and twisted it to the left.
Crack! The sound of breaking bone rang out!
Her movements never paused. After snapping his neck, she snatched up the blade he had dropped and hurled it to her left with a backhand throw.
The blade spun through the air, grazed the shoulder of the man holding the iron rod, and embedded itself in the wooden pillar behind him with a clang.
The attack scared the iron-rod man out of his wits. He turned and ran.
Without even looking, Long Wu raised her hand and fired. The iron-rod man grunted and pitched headfirst to the ground.
A moment later, a pool of blood began spreading beneath him...
In a single exchange, only the tall, thin man remained of the three.
Seeing one companion down and the other dead, he panicked, scrambled up from behind the handcart, and tried to dash away.
Long Wu raised her gun. Instead of shooting him, she fired into the ground ahead of him.
The bullet struck right beside his foot. The sparks it threw up made him trip, and he fell flat on his face.
Long Wu rushed over in a few quick strides, planted a foot on the back of his neck, pressed her knee against his spine, and held the muzzle to his temple.
"Talk. Who sent you?" Her voice had a vicious edge.
With the gun barrel pressed against his head, a puddle of foul-smelling liquid spread beneath the tall, thin man's trousers. At this critical moment, he had actually wet himself in terror.
Long Wu's expression shifted slightly, and she nudged the barrel upward.
"I'll count to three. If you tell me the truth, I can consider sparing you. If you don't talk, I'll shoot you dead. Three..."
The tall, thin man stammered, "D-don't! Miss Wu, it was... it was Hong Laoliu, one of Boss Jin's men. Hong Laoliu sent us!"
"Spare me, Miss Wu! We were only doing a job for money. We didn't mean to kill you!"
"Very good." Long Wu rose in satisfaction. The tall, thin man visibly relaxed. The next instant, a shot rang out, and a bullet entered the back of his head.
The tall, thin man lay facedown on the ground, blood pouring from his head, but his eyes refused to close, as though asking why Long Wu had gone back on her word.
Long Wu said softly, "Sorry. I just considered it, and I still can't let you go."
Then she turned and called into the distance, "You two have been watching long enough. Come out."
Chen Fan and Cao Bin stepped out from behind the stone pillar.
Long Wu fixed her eyes on him, still holding her gun.
Only now did Chen Fan get a clear look at her face.
Unexpectedly, the face that met his eyes was baby-faced, looking no more than twenty-three or twenty-four. Her skin was so pale it seemed almost cold, and her delicate features carried a hint of toughness.
Her hair had come slightly loose, with a few strands clinging to her cheeks and trembling gently in the breeze.
Her eyes were especially striking. They were already larger than most people's, with upturned corners, and seemed veiled in a layer of mist, making them particularly captivating.
A tall figure and a ruthless manner, paired with a harmless-looking baby face. That contrast...
Chen Fan stared fixedly at her. His gaze seemed far too unrestrained, and Miss Wu knitted her brows slightly, looking somewhat displeased.
Chen Fan wasn't afraid of displeasing her. He was only afraid she might open her mouth and say, "Zhang Xianzong, my tooth hurts..."
Indeed, Miss Wu looked far too much like that actress he remembered...
Noticing the change in Miss Wu's mood, Cao Bin hurriedly said, "Miss Wu, don't be nervous. It's me, Cao Bin. Don't you remember? I even treated you to a meal..."
"Boss Cao." Long Wu seemed to remember Cao Bin and put away her pistol. "Long time no see."
Looking at Long Wu, Chen Fan suddenly said, "Miss Wu, Second Brother said you're a woman of your word. Why did you shoot just now?"
Long Wu glanced up at Chen Fan. His suit was immaculate, and he looked presentable enough, but his brain didn't seem to work very well.
Cao Bin quickly said, "Miss Wu, this is my brother, Chen Fan."
"He heard you were having some trouble and wanted to lend you a hand."
At Cao Bin's words, Long Wu's expression softened slightly, but her tone remained sharp.
"What's wrong with you? They came to kill me, and I'm supposed to let them go?"
"Even Master Kong said, 'If you repay resentment with kindness, how will you repay kindness? Repay resentment with justice, and kindness with kindness.'"
"Mr. Chen, you look respectable enough. Haven't you ever been to school?"
"Hahaha, interesting. Very interesting." Chen Fan laughed several times, then suddenly said, "Miss Wu, I like the way you do things."
"Someone who doesn't blindly follow the rules can always go a little further than others."
"Follow me from now on. As long as I have something to eat, you'll have your share."
Long Wu stared at Chen Fan and said slowly, "I want money. Give me money, and I'm yours."
"Whatever you want to do is fine..."
Chen Fan didn't even hesitate. "How much?"
Long Wu hesitated for a moment, then said gravely, "Ten large gold bars of high purity."
Large gold bars, and high-purity ones at that.
In Shanghai at the time, a small gold bar could be exchanged for thirty-five to thirty-eight silver dollars on the black market.
Ten high-purity large gold bars were worth at least thirty-eight hundred silver dollars.
Chen Fan had just received fifty-seven hundred silver dollars in dividends from Old Knife Handle.
More than half of it would be gone in one go.
Cao Bin's expression changed slightly. He was about to object, but before he could speak, Chen Fan agreed outright.
"Deal." Then he handed Long Wu a business card bearing the address of his trading firm.
"Miss Wu, I don't have that much on me. Come here at ten tomorrow morning to collect it."
Cao Bin leaned closer. "Ten large gold bars, Chen Fan. Shouldn't you..."
Chen Fan raised a hand. "Second Brother, a fortune is easy to come by, but a great general is hard to find."
"Miss Wu is definitely worth that price..."