"Is this ever going to end? Are you going to let people sleep or not?"
An angry roar came from nearby. It was Landlord, who had been woken by the noise.
A master like him had sharp ears and keen eyes. The slightest rustle of wind or stir of grass could wake him.
Why did martial arts masters generally have such bad tempers? This was probably why.
When you were sleeping soundly and kept getting woken up at the slightest disturbance, going without enough sleep day after day, anyone would get fed up.
Not bothering with the overturned pot of oil, Xu Long went straight to bed. Whatever it was could wait until daybreak.
Xu Long slept soundly, but Red Queen hadn't been idle for a moment.
She had led her people in sweeping through the gangs around Shanghu City. Apart from those farther away, all had submitted beneath the axe.
The dawn moon sank in the west, and the rising sun climbed in the east. Another busy day had begun.
Xu Long glanced at the information Red Queen had sent him, then silently waited for the story to begin.
Red Queen had been busy all night and had already determined where they were in the timeline.
Just last night, she had led her people to wipe out the Crocodile Gang from the beginning of the movie.
"Coolie, why haven't you opened your stall today?"
Landlord, who had risen early to wash up, greeted Xu Long, then headed over to Bucktooth Jane without looking back.
Xu Long: "..."
He opened his mouth, then silently closed it again.
Xu Long realized that Landlord had only greeted him in passing. All his attention was on Bucktooth Jane.
It had to be said that Bucktooth Jane really did have a certain charm, and her looks weren't half bad.
If those enormous buckteeth hadn't spoiled her overall appearance, she would have had the potential to become one of Shanghu City's top socialites.
"Coolie, you're up early!"
Ah Keung, a laborer and successor of Eighteen-Routine Tam Tui, greeted Xu Long, then squatted down beside him with a bowl of noodles.
There wasn't laboring work every day. Today, for example, he could only stay home and rest.
"I was catching rats yesterday and accidentally knocked over the pot of oil, so I'm taking a break."
Xu Long smiled and continued staring into the distance.
By rights, since Red Queen controlled the Axe Gang, there was no need to keep following the plot.
If Xu Long wanted to explore the plot and complete the hidden mission, all he had to do was invite the ten great killers over and kill them one by one.
But that wasn't how things worked!
As a newly opened world, it was bound to have many people taking part. If things happened for no apparent reason, there was a ninety-nine percent chance they would arouse suspicion, which would affect the plans to follow.
Besides, those killers weren't idiots. If they died for no apparent reason without even having a clear enemy, they couldn't possibly fail to think more about it.
Thus, only by stirring up conflict and setting the killers against Pig Sty Alley could Xu Long reap benefits from both sides.
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was noon.
Just as Xu Long was growing drowsy from waiting, the protagonist, Sing, finally arrived.
He swaggered and strutted, but beneath his arrogant exterior, a trace of cowardice was hard to conceal. He perfectly displayed the complex feelings of a nobody at the bottom, unwilling to live an ordinary life yet powerless to do anything about it.
The plot hadn't changed at all. Xu Long watched Sing's performance while practicing his martial arts.
It had to be said that Internal Force really was a wonderful thing.
With Internal Force, cultivating the eight martial arts had become extraordinarily simple. He could execute their moves at will.
And every punch and kick felt effortless.
On top of that, the staff technique he had gained after replacing Donut, the successor of the Eight Trigram Staff of the Fifth Brother, had also improved enormously.
Bolstered by Internal Force, a single thrust of the staff could pierce a wall, and a single swing could smash a steel pipe bent.
In the original plot, the successors of the Eight Trigram Staff of the Fifth Brother, Hung Gar Iron Wire Fist, and Eighteen-Routine Tam Tui had been utterly crushed by Heaven and Earth because the latter had powerful Internal Force.
And Landlord and his wife, known as the Condor Heroes, as well as the ultimate killing king, The Beast, also relied on powerful Internal Force to unleash strength comparable to a demolition crew.
Whoosh! Bang!
As Sing cursed and grumbled, a signal flare shot into the air. Then a short, dark, chubby man walked in from outside, his face dark.
The short, dark, chubby man was no ordinary person. He was the second-in-command of the Axe Gang, the number one gang in Shanghu City.
The night before, his boss had called him up to take down several small gangs overnight. Then, instead of letting him sleep during the day, she had sent him to roam around near Pig Sty Alley.
Already seething with anger, the short, dark, chubby man flew into a rage on the spot when the firecracker went off near him.
"Who threw that firecracker?"
"We're on the same side, boss!"
Hearing the short, dark, chubby man's question, Sing immediately hurried over and told him what had happened, adding plenty of embellishments.
"The Axe Gang has always been the one bullying others. Nobody dares bully us!"
As the short, dark, chubby man walked forward, he pulled an axe from his waist.
Seeing this, his underlings behind him also pulled out their axes, ready for a fight.
"Fat woman!"
The short, dark, chubby man called out to Landlady. When she saw the axe tattoo on his chest, she darted back into her room.
Not just her, but the crowd of onlookers around them scattered like rats that had seen a cat, vanishing in an instant.
"Society is going downhill, and people's hearts aren't what they used to be!"
Hiding behind a window, Xu Long sighed silently.
"Heh!"
The short, dark, chubby man smiled disdainfully. He had seen this sort of thing far too often.
As the undisputed overlord of Shanghu City, the Axe Gang was feared by all. He, too, was used to throwing his weight around and looked down on everyone.
"Was it you who bullied someone from my Axe Gang, punk?"
The short, dark, chubby man looked at Brother Sum in front of him, then swung his axe down viciously.
Whoosh!
A shrill whistle rang out. The short, dark, chubby man fell to the ground, a finger-sized bloody hole in his forehead.
The short, dark, chubby man was dead, shot dead by Xu Long's One Yang Finger.
"You're asking for death! How dare you mess with the Axe Gang!"
With their second-in-command dead, his underlings didn't hesitate either. They pulled a signal flare from a pocket and fired it.
The Axe Gang's reinforcements arrived quickly, and everything unfolded as it had in the original plot.
Because no one admitted to it, an enraged Brother Sum dragged over an innocent mother and daughter nearby, doused them in gasoline, and prepared to burn them alive.
At this point, Xu Long knew the time was ripe.
"Stop!"
Xu Long let out an angry roar and leaped down from the second floor. "I'm the one who killed him. If you've got the guts, come at me."
"Bold of you! Kill him!"
Someone shouted, and a group of men pulled out their axes and charged at Xu Long.
"Bring it on!"
Xu Long shouted angrily, grabbed his staff, and charged into the attack.
The Eight Trigram Staff of the Fifth Brother was said to have been created by Yang Wulang of the Yang Family Generals. It was best suited to fighting multiple opponents alone.
With Xu Long's attributes, combined with the boost from Internal Force, the power he unleashed was terrifying.
Every time the long staff swept through the air, at least one person lost his life.
Xu Long was no kindhearted soul. He might not strike, but once he did, someone was bound to die.
Perhaps moved by Xu Long's heroic spirit and reminded of the hardship of training through the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer, as well as the hot blood of sparring with others, Coolie and the tailor finally couldn't hold back and stepped forward.
With Hung Gar Iron Wire Fist and Eighteen-Routine Tam Tui working alongside Xu Long's Eight Trigram Staff of the Fifth Brother, several hundred Axe Gang members were beaten to death in less than ten minutes.
"Retreat! Fall back!"
Xu Long gave Red Queen, who was disguised as the Axe Gang's boss and hiding in the crowd, a look. She understood and immediately led her people away.