Opening Fire

"Brothers! Don't be scared! It's fake! Let's get him!" After hearing his boss, one of the thugs at the front shouted to rally his companions. The thugs had been a little afraid, but once he stirred them up, they all stepped forward again, ready to teach Ye Siyu a lesson for frightening them.

"Even if I die, I have to love~! If it's not to the fullest, it's no fun~!"

Just as the thugs were about to reach Ye Siyu, deafening singing suddenly rang out in the private room. The abrupt blast made everyone cover their ears. They felt as though their eardrums were about to burst.

Ye Siyu moved in that instant. Like a cheetah, he swept past the thugs covering their ears and reached Zhang Ling's side in a flash. He seized Zhang Ling by the collar with his left hand and pressed the pistol in his right against his temple.

"B-brother... this... this toy isn't funny, is it?" Zhang Ling stammered, the pistol pressed against his temple. He could clearly feel the cold metal of the gun. Although he didn't believe the gun in Ye Siyu's hand was real, even being shot in the temple with a fake gun would be no fun.

Ye Siyu lifted the muzzle from Zhang Ling's temple slightly and turned it toward the ceiling, then gently squeezed the trigger.

"Bang!"

"Crash!"

A loud gunshot and the sound of something shattering answered Zhang Ling's question. His ears rang, and his whole head felt as though it had been struck hard with an iron hammer.

"Ah!" Although the blaring music in the private room was much louder than the gunshot, everyone's expression changed at the sound. In an instant, they all froze.

The thugs in particular looked at Ye Siyu as though they were seeing a savage beast. They had never imagined that the gun in his hand was real, much less that he would dare fire it so brazenly.

While everyone was still in shock, the deafening music in the room returned to its original volume.

"Don't look so miserable. Smile. Do you still think this is a toy?" Ye Siyu asked with a smile, patting the face of Zhang Ling, who had long since been scared out of his wits.

"N-no... it's not a toy..." Zhang Ling replied, forcing a smile uglier than a crying face.

Although he was only the boss of a gang in a small area and only used knives and fists against others, that didn't mean he was an idiot. He had seen a real gun before, and from the gunshot and the smell of gunpowder so close to him, he could be sure the gun in Ye Siyu's hand was real.

It was precisely because he knew it was real that he became afraid. This wasn't the United States of America, where everyone had guns. This was China, where, openly at least, only officials could possess firearms.

Even criminal organizations with immense influence didn't dare show guns so openly, preferring to act in secret. Yet Ye Siyu not only had a gun, he even dared to fire it so brazenly. That terrified Zhang Ling. As far as he was concerned, Ye Siyu was a complete lunatic.

"Then do you still want to deal with my younger brother?" Ye Siyu asked.

"No! Big brother, please be magnanimous and let me go..." Zhang Ling begged, his legs trembling.

"Take your men and get lost!" Ye Siyu said with a cold laugh.

"Thank you, big brother! Thank you, big brother!" Hearing Ye Siyu tell him to leave was like music from heaven to Zhang Ling. He didn't dare stay another moment and immediately scrambled out of the KTV room with his lackeys.

"Brother... w-was that a real gun?" Ye Siwen stammered, looking at Ye Siyu after Zhang Ling and his lackeys had left.

As soon as Ye Siwen finished asking, Ye Siyu pointed the pistol at him and the others, frightening Ye Siwen and his classmates into backing away several steps.

"If the gun in my hand were real,

do you think I'd still be the owner of a little convenience store? It's a replica gun. I bought it online. I heard from Xiaowen that you'd gotten on some people's bad side, so I brought it along. I didn't expect it to work so well," Ye Siyu said with a smile. "That's true." Hearing Ye Siyu's answer, Ye Siwen and his classmates, whose faces had been full of panic, all looked as though they understood.

Ye Siyu's convenience store was near their university, and since they were all Ye Siwen's friends, they knew Ye Siyu and knew he owned a convenience store. On top of that, what had just happened had left them somewhat flustered, so for the moment, everyone believed Ye Siyu's explanation, despite all its holes.

"How did you get mixed up with those thugs?" Ye Siyu didn't want the conversation to stay focused on his gun, so he changed the subject.

"We were..." Ye Siwen and the others took turns explaining what had happened.

They had originally come to celebrate a friend's birthday that day when one of the thugs accidentally entered the wrong room and barged in. Seeing that several of the girls in the room were quite pretty, he was immediately overcome with lust and wanted to hit on them.

Ye Siwen and the others were all hot-blooded young men, and they had drunk quite a bit. Seeing someone hit on their female companions, how could they hold back? With the alcohol going to their heads, they cursed at the thug and drove him away.

Who would have thought that, not long after leaving, the thug would return with a large group and start fighting without a word? Before long, Ye Siyun arrived and settled the matter.

"You boys... forget it. Anyone who's hurt should go to the hospital. Those who aren't should take the girls back to school. I'll handle the rest." After hearing his younger brother's explanation, Ye Siyu had wanted to scold them, but seeing the sorry state his brother and his friends were in, he ultimately said nothing. He only shook his head helplessly and told them to leave.

After Ye Siwen and the others left the room, Ye Siyu walked to a corner and crouched down. A deformed bullet lay there among some broken glass. It was the bullet Ye Siyu had fired earlier.

Ye Siyu picked up the bullet and put it straight into the Plane Watch's storage space.

"Red Queen, how long until the police get here?" Ye Siyu asked after picking up the bullet.

"Master, they'll be here in three minutes," Red Queen's voice came from the Plane Watch.

"That's enough time." Hearing Red Queen's answer, Ye Siyu nodded. He then took a knife out of the storage space and scraped at the bullet hole in the wall. He wanted to destroy the evidence that a gun had been fired in the room.