Urban Martial Saint

A few mercenaries stared at Liu Mubai in shock. They had all seen that the item Liu Mubai used to strike them was nothing but a chopstick, and this made them even more astonished. How could a small chopstick cause so much pain simply by hitting a hand? Impossible!

After a brief moment of hesitation, the team leader suddenly waved his hand and shouted for retreat. The few people who were still on the wall immediately turned and followed the leader in fleeing.

Liu Mubai couldn’t understand Bonguk, nor did he expect them to retreat so abruptly. Seeing the group leap off the wall, he was about to give chase when suddenly a black object was thrown from the other side of the wall.

Instinctively, Liu Mubai reached out and caught the object, but as soon as it landed in his hand, he realized something was wrong. It wasn’t a weapon but a heavy, round object. As the light from the alley shone on it, Liu Mubai glanced at it, and his face immediately changed. Gripped in his hand was a hand grenade with its safety pin already pulled!

Acting with lightning speed, Liu Mubai instantly tossed the grenade back over the wall. Then, he took several quick steps back and dove forward. Before he even hit the ground, a deafening explosion erupted on the other side of the wall, the delayed detonation of the grenade going off.

The entire wall was blown through, leaving a gaping hole as concrete and brick fragments flew everywhere. When Liu Mubai got up from the ground, his body was covered in dust, a clear testament to the blast’s immense power. Luckily, at the moment of explosion, Liu Mubai had already nearly reached the ground, minimizing the impact of the blast on him. Even so, his eardrums buzzed from the shockwave.

A mercenary whose neck had been snapped by Liu Mubai earlier was completely buried beneath the collapsed wall. On the other side of the wall, however, not a single figure could be seen. Evidently, the mercenaries had fled at impressive speed, using the grenade to stall Liu Mubai’s pursuit long enough to make their escape.

The explosion alarmed most of the nearby street’s inhabitants. Zhao Chengshuang and Li Lianshan, who were busy devouring their meals, turned to look.

”What the hell? Another explosion!?” Zhao Chengshuang’s eyes widened and he exclaimed, ”Damn, are they turning Shenchuan City into a bomb testing facility or what?”

No longer hesitating, Ye Qing, Black Bear, and King of Explosives immediately got up and rushed forward. Li Lianshan ran too, while Zhao Chengshuang first pulled out his phone to call the police before hurrying after them.

Liu Mubai stood by the wall and stepped aside upon seeing Ye Qing approach.

When Ye Qing saw Liu Mubai unharmed, he let out a sigh of relief. He quickly ran to the scene and surveyed the situation, roughly estimating the mercenaries’ circumstances in his mind.

King of Explosives crouched to examine the ground. He picked up a few guns and some fragments, scrutinized them for a while, then whispered to Ye Qing, ”Ye brothers, you need to be careful. These guys don’t seem particularly busy lately. I reckon they only sent scouts to tail you, not a fully equipped hit squad. That’s why they didn’t carry their usual firearms and instead brought weapons that are easier to conceal. My guess is, this batch of mercenaries has already marked you as a high-value target and is planning a specific operation against you!”

”Seriously?” Li Lianshan’s eyes widened as he asked nervously, ”What… what should we do? Damn mercenaries, sneaky as hell, could pop up out of nowhere. They’re armed with guns and bombs and everything else. If they’re targeting Ye Zi, then Ye Zi’s really in danger!”

King of Explosives shrugged and said, ”What else can we do? The best option is to track them down and eliminate them, to avoid having any future trouble. These mercenaries have been involved in assassinating small-country heads of state before. If they’ve got an eye on you, it’s dangerous no matter what. We can’t sit back and let them make the first move anymore. Ye brothers, I think we need to take the initiative and wipe them out first!”

Ye Qing nodded slightly but stayed silent. This attitude puzzled King of Explosives. Could it be that Ye Qing wasn’t worried about his own safety?

”King of Explosives is right!” Zhao Chengshuang interjected anxiously. ”We need to find these guys fast. Ye Zi, they’re eyeing you like hawks in the shadows. That’s dangerous no matter how you look at it. How about I fetch a map of Shenchuan City for you? Maybe you can study it and estimate where they might be hiding?”

”Not this time!” Ye Qing shook his head and replied, ”I don’t know their personalities and combat styles well enough to guess their hiding spots.”

Zhao Chengshuang was surprised. ”But didn’t you pinpoint He Ziqiang’s location last time?”

”That’s different!” Ye Qing explained, ”He Ziqiang is from the Golden Triangle, and I’ve fought against his group many times, so I know their combat style inside out. Soldiers who’ve undergone strict training tend to have fixed tactics—they’re the same wherever they go. Estimating their movements is easy. But these mercenaries are unfamiliar to me!”

”Seriously, there’s that big of a difference?” Zhao Chengshuang scratched his head and turned to King of Explosives. ”King, aren’t you pretty familiar with these people?”

King of Explosives shrugged again and said, ”Not really. We’ve never fought them before.”

”Damn, what are we supposed to do then? Just keep taking hits passively?” Zhao Chengshuang exclaimed in frustration.

King of Explosives glanced at Ye Qing. He had always believed that, with Ye Qing’s skills, dealing with these mercenaries shouldn’t be difficult. But tonight, Ye Qing didn’t seem to have any intention of confronting them.

”King of Explosives, do you think this might work?” Li Lianshan suddenly proposed, ”These mercenaries wouldn’t target Ye Zi for no reason. If they’re trying to kill him, there’s definitely someone paying them to do it. What if we find these mercenaries and offer them double, triple, or even quadruple the money—would that settle things?”

”No way!” King of Explosives rejected the suggestion bluntly. ”Every mercenary corps values their reputation. Once they accept a task, no matter the price, they must complete it. The rule is: either finish the job or die trying. Abandoning a mission is unthinkable—it’s a question of credibility. Without reputation, no mercenary corps can continue operating. So even if you offered them a hundred times or a thousand times the money, it still wouldn’t resolve the issue!”

”Damn!” Li Lianshan’s eyes widened. ”Are they really that devoted to their reputation?”

King of Explosives shrugged again. ”It’s not easy to stand out among all the mercenary corps in Africa. For powerful groups like these, their reputations are painstakingly built over time. They wouldn’t risk doing anything to tarnish their name. What’s more, I mentioned earlier that the Poison Eel Mercenary Corps members are all Bonguk people. They’re not like members of other mercenary groups, who only care about achieving their goal and don’t mind high casualties. Poison Eel Mercenaries are different—if someone kills one of their own, they will stop at nothing to exact revenge. Ye brothers, you’ve already killed two of them, and Mr. Liu here killed another. One way or another, this group won’t let you off!”

Liu Mubai sneered coldly, ”Then I’ll wait for them to come to me!”

King of Explosives glanced at Liu Mubai, opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing more. Although he didn’t know exactly what had happened since Liu Mubai entered the alley, the scattered guns on the ground provided some clarity—there had been several opponents. Liu Mubai walked into their ambush empty-handed, managed to disarm them, kill one of them, and scare the rest into fleeing. All this without sustaining a single injury. This alone spoke volumes about Liu Mubai’s strength. Truthfully, if those mercenaries really came after Liu Mubai, it wouldn’t be him who suffered.

”Ye Zi, you really need to be careful!” Zhao Chengshuang said nervously.

Ye Qing’s expression remained calm as he looked at King of Explosives and asked, ”Are Poison Eel Mercenaries really this vengeful?”

”Absolutely!” King of Explosives nodded firmly. ”They’ve already marked you as their primary enemy and won’t let you go. Ye brothers, you must be extremely cautious. If they’re allowed to draft a detailed attack plan, the situation will become incredibly dangerous. I think we’d better find them quickly, strike first, and eliminate them to ensure they can’t pose a future threat!”

”King of Explosives is right!” Zhao Chengshuang said, looking at Ye Qing. ”Ye Zi, should I ask my dad to send some people to help you?”

Zhao Chengshuang’s father was a political commissioner in the Shenchuan Military District. If his dad sent people, they would be regular troops. Most people couldn’t command those units. Zhao Chengshuang was clearly bending over backward to help Ye Qing.

Ye Qing shook his head slowly and replied, ”That won’t be necessary. I have something to take care of in the next couple of days, and I’ll be leaving Shenchuan City. Once I finish my business, I’ll deal with these mercenaries properly.”

”You’re leaving Shenchuan City!?” The group turned wide-eyed, Zhao Chengshuang and Li Lianshan especially exclaiming in unison, ”Where are you going?”

Ye Qing sighed lightly and said, ”Dongzhou.”

”Dongzhou?” Zhao Chengshuang and Li Lianshan exchanged shocked looks. Li Lianshan grabbed Ye Qing’s arm urgently and asked, ”Ye Zi, why would you go to Dongzhou at a time like this? Don’t you know how many people out there are gunning for you?”

”Exactly!” Zhao Chengshuang said, equally anxious. ”Forget about the mercenaries—they don’t pose the greatest threat to you. But the real danger is from Wang Tian’an’s crew. Wang Tian’an has been eyeing you ruthlessly, intent on killing you. Here in Shenchuan City, you have Chen San and Wang Tian’an locked in a standoff, so you’re relatively safe. But if you leave Shenchuan City… that would be dangerous!”