Survival
"Whoosh-"
"Bang!"
"Splash, splash, splash..."
In the pouring rain, beneath the dim yellow glow of a streetlight, three figures flashed past one another, trading places in an instant.
"Pah!"
Cheng Sheng spat out the rainwater that had splashed into his mouth, drew a deep breath, and stared grimly at the two men opposite him.
The two stood about five meters away. Their expressions seemed a little surprised after their attack missed, but quickly turned cold again as they slowly approached him once more.
Cheng Sheng lowered his head and looked at the long tear across the front of his shirt, his heart pounding.
That was close...
Just a moment ago, the bee stinger in the nose-ringed man's hand had come within a hair's breadth of piercing his body.
If his "Sparrow Spirit-level" reflexes hadn't kicked in, he would probably be lying on the ground by now, clutching his wound as blood gushed out.
"Two Nurturing Sha fighters."
They weren't the unorthodox, all-show Nurturing Sha fighters he had fought at Mamba. They were experts from legitimate schools.
And judging by their eyes, both had probably killed before, most likely more than one person...
The rain poured down in torrents, streaming constantly from his hair, while a cold presence seemed to spread and churn silently through the air.
Cheng Sheng wiped his face hard, trying to calm himself.
It had been almost a month since the assessment, and there had been no movement from Zhou Wenye. He had thought the matter was behind him, but the truth proved he had still been too naive.
Zhou Wenye had never intended to let it go. He had merely been waiting for a chance to kill him outright.
Just because he lost to me in an assessment? And now he wants my life?!
An inexplicable surge of hostility welled up inside Cheng Sheng, and his gaze grew fierce without his noticing.
At that moment, the two men opposite him moved, bursting through the curtain of rain and attacking him again, one from each side!
The nose-ringed man was clearly faster. His short, dark, wiry figure moved like a ghost through the dim curtain of rain, and all Cheng Sheng could hear was the low hum of the bee stinger in his hand.
In almost the blink of an eye, he reached Cheng Sheng. The raindrops he had smashed through in an instant burst into a cloud of mist before Cheng Sheng's eyes.
The three-edged bee stinger whistled out of the mist like a venomous bee buzzing on beating wings, its tail stinger raised as it struck straight for Cheng Sheng's face!
"Swish-"
Cheng Sheng tilted his head at an incredible angle, dodging the blow with the tip of the nose-ringed man's bee stinger almost grazing him. Before he had time to think, he had to meet a whistling punch from the burly man with brass knuckles, who came right on his heels.
Cheng Sheng recognized the punch. He had seen Zhou Wenye use it before.
But though it was the same move, the brass-knuckled man's punch looked ten times more terrifying than Zhou Wenye's had been, both in its force and its imposing power!
"Whoosh..."
Cheng Sheng dipped low and slid straight past the nose-ringed man, whose attack had missed. His right hand shot toward the brass-knuckled man's throat, its five fingers pressed together like a razor.
His hand cut through the air with a whistle, and black, horny bumps emerged on the backs and tips of all five fingers...
The move was called Calamity (Crocodile) Kiss, a killing move among the hand techniques of the Black Killing Style's Six Great Forms!
It imitated a crocodile suddenly lunging during a hunt and tearing into its prey, aiming to strike a vital point and kill in a single blow. Cheng Sheng had never used it in the Mamba Fighting Arena's ring.
Just as the strike was about to land, a familiar hum came from behind his head, accompanied by a chill that pierced straight through the crown of his skull.
That fast?
Cheng Sheng didn't have to guess to know it was the nose-ringed man's bee stinger. Without the slightest hesitation, he changed moves on the spot, withdrawing his hand and lightly tapping the brass-knuckled man beneath the ribs with his elbow. Then he used the force to propel himself past the man...
"Bang!"
Cheng Sheng landed on both feet, sending water splashing across the potholed, puddled road.
A muffled groan came from behind him.
Panting, he turned around. Through the heavy rain, he saw the brass-knuckled man rubbing the ribs where his elbow had struck. Beside him, the nose-ringed man slowly transferred the bee stinger to his left hand, staring at him with a dark expression.
"Jibber-jabber..."
The two stared at Cheng Sheng as they spoke in a local dialect he couldn't understand. Perhaps the strength Cheng Sheng had just displayed had exceeded their expectations, and they were discussing how to finish him off quickly.
Damn it, they're even discussing tactics right in front of me?!
Cheng Sheng shook the excess rainwater from his hair and face. Though his expression was calm, he was anything but at ease.
Either of them was stronger than him on his own. That they had failed to take him down twice in a row while working together proved that Sparrow Spirit's upper limit really was high.
But that didn't mean Cheng Sheng was invincible. The closer his reactions came to their limit, the more stamina they consumed.
If the same thing happened a few more times, the two of them might not even need to act before Cheng Sheng collapsed from exhaustion himself.
The guy with the bee stinger is faster than me and has the advantage in stamina. Escaping will be hard... If I let them keep fighting me two against one, they'll wear me to death. I need to find a way to take one of them out first...
Under the streetlight's dim yellow halo, the rain falling from the sky formed strands of honey-colored thread. Cheng Sheng stood in the downpour, his eyes flickering.
Suddenly, he spoke.
"How much did Zhou Wenye pay you to make you two willing to kill for him?"
His voice carried through the curtain of rain. The nose-ringed man and his companion abruptly stopped their discussion and turned to look at him, their expressions somewhat surprised.
Clearly, they hadn't expected Cheng Sheng to speak.
"You're from the countryside, aren't you..."
Seeing that he had their attention, Cheng Sheng continued with a calm expression. At the same time, he slowly raised a foot and began walking toward them.
"Do you know that Nantu is a society governed by law? If you kill someone, you go to prison."
"Aren't you afraid the police will arrest you?"
Cheng Sheng spoke casually, regardless of whether the two could understand him.
The two men frowned at first. Gradually, they began looking at him with cold eyes, as though he were a clown.
As he was about to come within about five meters of them, Cheng Sheng, who had been talking to them on and off, suddenly put on a startled expression, pointed in a direction, and cried out, "Look over there!!"
The brass-knuckled man instinctively turned to look behind him, but the nose-ringed man beside him showed a cruel, mocking smile. Almost the instant Cheng Sheng pretended to be surprised, he sprang from the ground like a spring and charged swiftly at him.
Cheng Sheng, however, seemed to have anticipated this.
He hadn't even had time to wipe the "surprise" completely from his face before he swept his leg low in front of him-
"Bang!"
Cheng Sheng's right foot swept through a nearby puddle, kicking up a high curtain of water in an instant!
As though everything had been calculated beforehand, the suddenly rising curtain of water struck the nose-ringed man square in the face as he charged at full speed.
"Smack-!"
The curtain of water burst apart. Caught off guard, the nose-ringed man instinctively closed his eyes for a moment, and his thrust with the bee stinger veered off course.
Without even glancing at him, Cheng Sheng abruptly accelerated and slipped past him, then lunged fiercely into the arms of the brass-knuckled man behind him, who had fallen for his trick and had only just turned his head back!
The brass-knuckled man, also a Nurturing Sha fighter, was a little slower to react, but not by much.
The instant Cheng Sheng lunged in, he raised both arms, clenched his fists, and aimed a heavy Twin Peaks Strike the Ears at Cheng Sheng's temples.
He seemed to imagine Cheng Sheng's head bursting open like an overripe watermelon in the next moment, and a cruel smile crossed his face.
But in the next instant-
"Bang!!"
Two enormous fists, each fitted with steel brass knuckles, slammed together like iron balls, producing a tremendous muffled clang of cast iron striking cast iron.
The brass-knuckled man froze.
How is that possible?
He paid no attention to his fists, which had been shaken numb. His not-so-clever brain was full of questions-where was the head?
Where had the brat's head gone?
Before he could recover from his bewilderment, the figure that had vanished suddenly "grew" out of his arms again!
"Whoosh-"
Having relied on Sparrow Spirit's reactions to narrowly dodge the brass-knuckled man's terrifying blow, Cheng Sheng activated Spiny Skin in an instant. His arms, veins bulging and muscles knotted, rapidly coiled around the burly man's neck like two giant pythons and locked tight.
"Death Choke!"
With their faces almost touching, Cheng Sheng gave the man a ferocious grin, baring a full set of white teeth.
The instant he locked the man's entire upper body in the choke, his right foot swung sharply outward in a circle, and then he drove it violently up toward the man's chest!
"Power of the Ram! Knee strike!!"
"Boom!"
Everything that seemed so complicated had actually taken place in a single instant.
Before the brass-knuckled man could react, his entire body abruptly took a step backward!
"Bang!!"
His broad back suddenly bulged upward!
"Crack..."
The sound of his breastbone breaking.
The man's eyes flew wide, and before he could catch his breath, another savage knee slammed into his chest and abdomen!
"Bang!!-"
"Ban!"
The nose-ringed man's roar rang out through the rain.
He seemed to realize something was wrong. Eyes red, he rushed forward, gripping the bee stinger in a reverse grip in his right hand and stabbing viciously at the center of Cheng Sheng's back!
This time...
Cheng Sheng didn't dodge.
He let the sharp bee stinger strike his back, pierce through Spiny Skin, and sink deep into his flesh!
The searing pain that shot through his back made Cheng Sheng tighten his arms even further around the burly man. His face ferocious, he drove in another knee!
"Boom!"
"Crack, crack..."
Beneath the torrential rain, the three figures fought in a frantic tangle. Scarlet blood washed down to the ground, only to be diluted out of sight within a few seconds...