Era of Mist

Chapter 223: Chapter 222: Make a Move

The young man was Ouyang Hong’s son, Ouyang Yuan. His shout immediately drew Ouyang Hong’s attention.

’He hadn’t forgotten about the Rolls-Royce incident a few days ago. Searching all this time without finding that fake traffic cop had left him utterly frustrated. To think that he, Ouyang Baobao, had never been so grievously wronged since coming to Tokyo... and now, today, he had finally found the culprit!’

’He looked Shi Tiexin up and down. Hmm, there was a resemblance, a definite resemblance. Especially the height—it was rare for an East Asian. If you put the guy in a police uniform and some large sunglasses... he’d be a dead ringer.’

”And you claim we started it? It was obviously one of your own men who was out of line! He stole my car right from under my nose! What do you have to say about that?!”

In truth, the conflict between Daxing and Hongshun was a long-standing one, not some recent development. However, in today’s squabble, the conflict had been sparked by the Death Fire shooting incident, which put Hongshun at a moral disadvantage. Even if they were willing to be shameless, it still looked bad.

’But now, an unexpected opportunity had arisen. He could completely turn the tables and gain the upper hand. It didn’t matter if it was true or not; the first move was to sling some mud.’

Sure enough, the Daxing Squad Leader’s expression changed. He turned to Shi Tiexin, his face a mask of irritation. ”You there. Is there any truth to this?”

”Of course it’s true! It was him!” Ouyang Yuan swaggered right up to Shi Tiexin and sneered, ”Punk, you had the balls to steal my car. Today, I’m gonna...”

”Stole your car?” Shi Tiexin finally spoke. ”Who stole it? Who saw it? Where’s your proof? Just because you say I stole it, it’s true? For all I know, you just lost it yourself and are spouting nonsense.”

Simultaneously, Shi Tiexin took two seemingly casual steps, adjusting the relative positions of everyone present.

Ouyang Hong’s expression turned ugly. Shi Tiexin’s retort was a perfect mirror of the very denial he had been planning to use. ’Dammit, some street punk dares to throw my own lines back at me?’ Ouyang Hong gave a subtle signal with his eyes, and the surrounding bodyguards in black suits immediately took two steps toward Shi Tiexin.

’Perfect,’ Shi Tiexin thought.

’He had been worried that if a fight broke out, Wang Dafu was too close and might get hurt. Now, as the bodyguards moved, the danger to Wang Dafu dropped significantly.’

”You’re fucking arguing with me?! I said it was you, so it was you! It was obviously you! Punk, I remember you got physical with me last time, too. Today, money isn’t going to get you out of this!” Ouyang Yuan stuck close to Shi Tiexin. His positioning was just too convenient.

Ouyang Yuan pointed at the burly, broad-shouldered bodyguards behind him, his face a vicious sneer. ”You think you’re a tough guy, huh? Pick one of them. Anyone you want. If you can win, I’ll let it slide. But if you lose...”

”Actually, you guessed right,” Shi Tiexin said, looking down at Ouyang Yuan. ”It was me.”

”What?” Ouyang Yuan was stunned. The others were momentarily dumbfounded as well, not expecting Shi Tiexin to actually confess.

”I admit it. I’m the one who stole your car.” Shi Tiexin pointed a finger at Ouyang Hong. ”And that Rolls-Royce of yours? I had that towed away, too.”

The men from Daxing were all completely baffled. Ah Hui leaped to his feet, shouting, ”What a useless piece of shit! He’s better at ruining things than accomplishing them!”

Ouyang Hong rose to his feet. Ouyang Shun turned to look. Everyone’s attention snapped to Shi Tiexin, and a storm of verbal attacks rained down upon him.

Only Wang Dafu remained silent, quietly backing away to put more distance between himself and Ouyang Hong.

”See? This is why I hate petty thievery. The bickering is endless.” As Ouyang Yuan was still spewing curses, Shi Tiexin’s hand shot out like lightning, and—THWACK!—grabbed Ouyang Yuan’s shoulder. ”Isn’t it simpler just to rob you outright?”

”You—” Ouyang Yuan started, shocked. Then the five fingers on his shoulder tightened like an iron vise, squeezing a yelp of pain out of him. A sharp PUNCH to the gut choked off his cry. In the next instant, Ouyang Yuan was sent flying through the air like he was riding the clouds, hurtling like a cannonball toward the two Ouyang brothers.

”What do you think you’re—”

It all happened too fast. Ouyang Hong hadn’t even finished changing his expression or his sentence when, with two dull THUDS, Ouyang Yuan slammed into him and his brother like a nearly two-hundred-pound sandbag, his ass smothering their faces.

Without so much as a grunt, both brothers went down.

The scene instantly devolved into chaos. From the old man to the Squad Leader, from Ah Hui to Sanfan, everyone’s face was a picture of utter shock. No one had expected Shi Tiexin to attack so suddenly.

It was precisely this element of surprise that allowed him to succeed.

While the others were slow to react, the bodyguards in black were not. Emotion finally appeared on their wooden faces, their expressions uniformly switching to crazed, savage snarls as if changing channels. Their faces were so identical, it was as if the dozen or so men were all wearing the same mask—a sight that would send a chill down anyone’s spine.

But Shi Tiexin felt no chill. On the contrary, a heat surged through him as he was already charging forward.

He took a deep breath. The false core in his lower abdomen swelled as his aura spiraled, filling his mind with a cool clarity. Now that he had made his move, Shi Tiexin discarded all distractions, his focus narrowing to the enemies before him.

He focused, activating his false core and infusing it with essence energy. A warm current shot from the core to his fist in an instant. The power of his punch exploded. Striking first, he lashed out!

BANG! The first bodyguard was sent flying backward, his face a mangled wreck, his eyes bulging so far they looked ready to fly from their sockets.

Another infusion of essence energy, another extension of the warm current. Shi Tiexin swung his left arm in an elbow strike.

KRAK!

A bodyguard to his side had his sternum cave in, a section of his spine even jutting out from his back. He vomited blood and died without a sound.

He followed up with a low kick, viciously striking the knee of an enemy to his front-right.

With a sickening CRACK, the man’s left leg bent backward at an unnatural angle, and he collapsed. Shi Tiexin stepped forward, delivering a rapid three-hit combo. Chunks of flesh burst from three of the man’s vital points, and he died instantly.

In the time it took to kill three men, the others finally snapped back to reality. Ah Hui was the first to react, scrambling away while screaming like a madman. The rest were in a similar state of disarray. None of them had ever imagined something like this could happen. Ah Hui even cursed as he fled, ”You’re insane! An absolute lunatic! If you have a death wish, leave me out of it! President Ouyang, this has nothing to do with me, nothing at all—”

WHAM!

A tall, burly body fell from above, crushing Ah Hui beneath it. Blood streamed from the dead bodyguard’s seven orifices, drenching Ah Hui’s head and face. The impact almost knocked him out cold.

Meanwhile, Ouyang Hong and Ouyang Shun shoved Ouyang Yuan’s body aside. They struggled to their feet in a panic, desperate to flee, all traces of their authority as leaders gone. But another corpse came hurtling toward them like a cannonball, knocking them down again with a heavy THUD. This blow was even harder, leaving the two of them clutching their backs and writhing in agony on the floor, unable to get up.

CLANG! CLANG! People outside began ramming the main doors, but the entrance had long been sealed shut. POP! POP! BANG! Gunfire erupted, but it was quickly drowned out by a great wave of battle cries. The axemen Wang Dafu had placed in ambush were closing in for the kill.

As for Shi Tiexin, he now stood like a War God bathed in blood. And yet, he felt an unprecedented, exhilarating sense of release.