Martial Arts Master

Who should he go for?

In a wink, all his attention was focused on how to solve the problem. Normally it would make perfect sense to ask Yan Zheke for help since her family members were Xiushan natives. If they were well connected to senior police officials, they might know the background of Le and Third Jian as well as their connections, thus avoiding the protected mafias and finding the most suitable person to help Wang Xu.

But there were three drawbacks. First, Yan Zheke didn’t have any connections in the police department. Even if she said yes, she would have to ask a favor of her mom or even her grandpa. The more people he involved, the longer time it would take, and also the police might reject them.

Second, to frequently interact with Yan Zheke and strengthen their relationship, he experienced great pleasure in using a little help from her once in a while. However, this time was different. Lou Cheng was rather embarrassed to ask for any help from her family, and he could not get over this feeling due to his pride.

Third, even if Yan Zheke’s mom and grandpa agreed to help, he might leave a bad impression on her family. Suppose they took him as an underachiever involved in the underworld, a degenerate who had given up himself and a pain in the neck who dared break the restrictions using martial arts. Then how difficult would it be for him to be appreciated by his future father-in-law and mother-in-law when he paid a visit?

Those who do not plan for the future will find trouble at their doorstep. Once he figured this out, Lou Cheng quickly decided to call his master.

While waiting for his master to answer the phone, he couldn’t help but pat himself for his long-term view.

Although everything was still up in the air…

“Hello, you are supposed to be practicing your martial arts at this time. Anything wrong?” Soon Geezer Shi’s voice of disbelief rang from the other side of the phone.

Considering it was an emergency, Lou Cheng went straight to the topic, “Master, I need to ask you a favor, I have a childhood friend…”

He explained the whole situation in a few words, but the context of the incident was elaborated clearly.

Geezer Shi cleared his throat before continuing, “Well done. You are smart enough to call me first instead of rushing into danger. Otherwise, I would disown you for being such a dumb disciple. I will get you some help. Wait for my call.”

“Thank you, my master. Thank you, my master.” Lou Cheng repeatedly expressed his gratitude.

He had asked for a great favor for Wang Xu.

Geezer Shi called again a few minutes later with a sense of elation, “I will come out in person, so whatever the problems are, they can be taken care of easily. Take down this phone number and call back right away. It’s the deputy director of the Xiushan police who takes charge of the underworld affairs. Relax, whether the two gangs have contacted him or not, he will definitely help you out first since you are my disciple. He knows how to do the right thing.”

“How impressive! My master, you are so well-connected.” Lou Cheng complimented sincerely.

He squatted and wrote down the number with his fingers in the mud. Then he dialed the number immediately.

A calm and attractive voice came from the other end of the phone after a short burst of rings, “Hello, is this Little Lou?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Hello, Director Xing.” Lou Cheng seemed astonished, “Master has mentioned my name before?”

Director Xing let out a candid laughter, “I have heard a lot about Master Shi. Little Lou, I need more details from you because your master does not tell me details.”

“Sure.” Lou Cheng was glad to hear this.

After three or four questions, Director Xing basically got the picture and replied with a smile, “Little Cheng, don’t worry. Leave it to me and I will take care of everything. If I can’t get in touch with them to reduce the severity of the problem, I will bring my team straight away.”

“Thank you, Director Xing.” Lou Cheng was relieved for a moment. He called Wang Xu.

As a local villain who was familiar with this neighborhood, Wang Xu was certain that Professional Ninth Pin was living in one of the old communities behind the Emperor Pub, so he waited at the intersection between that street and the road to the embankment of the Tongxiu River.

It was the first day of the lunar year, so basically, all kinds of breakfast stands in this area were closed. Only one or two owners who had to make a living opened their shops and provided hot meals for those who played all night long in bars. Wang Xu and another four hatchet men, disguised as passersby, were sitting around a makeshift table and watching the white-haired owner cook noodles in a big iron pot. The cold winds blew through the street, and it was chilly and gloomy.

Wang Xu’s phone rang, and his expression changed slightly once he checked the screen. Instantly he put on a smile and answered the phone.

“Hey, Le. Anything else?”

From their last call, Lou Cheng was not surprized at his words and started to talk slowly.

“I have called the police and asked someone to send officers who you can trust.”

According to his plan, the presence of the police would certainly scare away gangsters from then two sides and avoid any irreversible damages. Even Wang Xu was caught on the scene, with the help of Director Xing, he was likely to seek leniency since the gun did not belong to him. At that time, he bet Wang Xu would not dare to stick with Le anymore.

As for that Professional Ninth Pin with secret mind discipline, suppose he had his cover blown and caught the attention of the police. He would not stick around Xiushan anymore. He must put off his plan until everything was settled.

Now the only problem lied with Le. Would he suspect Wang Xu of leaking the information and turn against him? However, as a freshman, he couldn’t get everything done. He had to count on Director Xing for more protection and see how he planned things out.

Wang Xu frowned upon hearing what Lou Cheng said. It was not the kind of help he was expecting, but now he had to take it. Anyway, it was better than getting into a life-or-death battle with that Professional Ninth Pin. Without any back-up, one small mistake could lead to his death, and there would be no tomorrow for him!

Fortunately, he had witnessed how powerful a Professional Ninth Pin could be in that night raid against the bar, otherwise, he might have the guts to confront him directly since he was such a reckless and desperate man.

“Yep, yep, we will wait for the right moment and take him down in the shortest possible time.” Wang Xu respectfully answered the phone while checking out the four hatchet men sitting beside him. As his gaze swept across their faces, he noticed several features. For instance, one tried to play cool by wearing earrings and another had tattoos on his neck. One man’s eyes were puffy and one of them was shivering a little bit.

In the People’s Park, Lou Cheng was lost in thought again after moving the phone away from his face.

Normally he wouldn’t feel guilty since he had gone great lengths to help Wang Xu by owing his master a big favor. Yet he still worried that something bad might happen. For instance, if Director Xing failed to make the contact in time, then the police might not scare off that Professional Ninth Pin by alarming him on purpose, and this whole thing wouldn’t be settled as if the plan never happened. Also gangsters from the two sides might start a battle before the interference of the police…

Lou Cheng paced back and forth in the park. He took a deep breath and heaved it out as though making up his mind. Suddenly he started to walk toward the exit of the park with a plan to go to the Emperor Pub by cab.

Well, I will keep my distance and watch them from afar. I will not get myself into the mess recklessly. If possible, I will give Wang Xu a hand when he’s in critical situations; if not, I will not take the risk.

It was the early morning of the first day of the lunar year, so it was hard to find cabs or call online car-hailing services. If he wasn’t lucky enough to get a car and arrive in time, he guessed such was Wang Xu’s fate. His conscience was clear because he had done everything within his power.

…

A black car drove across the street and parked in front of a BMW 7-series. Dai Linfeng took out his phone and called Tao Xiaofei.

“Xiaofei, can you see us?”

“Brother Feng, when do we begin?” Tao Xiaofei was extremely thrilled when he sat in the cab with a scantily-clad female in his arms.

From where he stood, Dai Linfeng could clearly see a guy practicing his punches on the embankment. He could also see streets between several old communities on the right side as well as a big iron pot filled with hot boiling water. “We do nothing and let other people do the work. Xiaofei, is it all right to park here? Will he be suspicious of our car?”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry, Bro Feng. Vehicles are always parked in disorder in this neighborhood, who will notice our car?” Tao Xiaofei made light of his worries.

Inside the black car, Qin Rui had to lower his head and curl his back to squeeze himself into the seat. He looked at the embankment and whispered, “It was indeed that guy. I wonder what Le plans to do with him…”

He was very curious and became excited, just like Tao Xiaofei.

…

After a while, Lou Cheng appeared on the other side of the street. Once he got out of the People’s Park, he quickly jumped into a cab and hurried to the street very near to the park.

He did not approach Wang Xu when he saw them gathering at a breakfast stand near the intersection. He hid in the shadows of trees beside the street and waited with his hands in his pockets for the police to arrive. Wang Xu was about 50 meters away, and there were several trees between them.

…

Lou Cheng hoped there would be no unexpected incidents… As did Wang Xu. He prayed to God in his heart while waiting for the police. Unfortunately, God seemed to ignore his prayers considering that the brutal wolf-like Professional Ninth Pin was walking toward them along the street.

He was wearing black exercise clothes, looking sharp and robust. His eyes were cold and he seemed to have developed a habit of checking both sides of the street once in a while. Dai Linfeng, Qin Rui, Tao Xiaofei, and the others subconsciously held their breath and dared not breathe heavily for fear of being discovered.

As their car windows were darkly tinted, the Professional Ninth Pin noticed nothing unusual after glancing through the windows of their badly-parked cars. When he turned the corner into the street, in front of him was a breakfast stand selling noodles and that familiar iron spot. Five young men who looked like gangsters sat around a makeshift table.

“Are they just finishing their party in the bar?” The man dressed in black exercise clothes thought to himself after a quick glance.

However, his eyes narrowed after this glance because these five men looked a little nervous, and two of them seemed to have a hangover.

Wang Xu could feel his heart palpitating. He blamed the police for their slow actions when he reached for his gun on the waist. At this point, he had no other options but to shoot the man immediately. How could he take Le’s fury if he stood down without any sound reason? Having his feet or hands cut off would be light punishments.

He exchanged glances with other four hatchet men and nodded slightly as an indication of approval.

All of a sudden, they stood up and took out their guns. Like stars in shoot’em-up movies, they aimed at the dangerous Professional Ninth Pin less than five meters away. This distance was close enough for them to hit the target.

At this moment, the man dressed in black exercise clothes let out a sudden roar as his eyes flashed like a beam of green light. He had momentum that brought Wang Xu and the other four hatchet men to a howling wilderness. In front of them was a scary giant wolf. They were terrified to death and stayed motionless for a second.

Within a second, it was the difference between the life and death. This man in black exercise clothes moved forward instead of drawing back and went off like an arrow to confront his five enemies in several big strides. He straightened his muscles, turned sideways and lowered his shoulder to bring an explosive force. He slammed his body into the first hatchet man with earrings and successfully knocked off his gun. So powerful was that crash that he broke that hatchet man’s ribs and made him scream in pain.

With a crack, that hatchet man was pushed back and smashed into Wang Xu and other two hatchet men. As a result, they lost their balance and could not shoot without an accurate aim. Everything went as the Professional Ninth Pin planned.

At the same time, the man in black exercise clothes straightened his waist and back to bring out all his strength, turned sideways to avoid any random shots, tightened muscles of his thighs and threw one high whip kick by straightening his instep. The kick hit the tattoo man who did not step back directly on the temple.

Bam!

When this explosive force went through his body, the hatchet man with a tattoo could only feel that his brain was about to explode, and he lost his consciousness right away. Under that scary force, his eyeballs were beaten out of its sockets and traced an arc into the big iron pot. Instantly, boiling water inside the pot turned red.

“This…” Qin Rui, Tao Xiaofei, and the others all felt shaken by what they had just seen. It looked like they had met a demon from hell.

Killing people by a whip kick was not something to fear. What troubled them was that he squeezed out someone’s eyeballs using only a whip kick!

How frightening his force was!

Once they regained their balance, Wang Xu and other two hatchet men could no longer think of their companions and pulled the trigger immediately without careful aiming.

Bang! Bang! Bang! After three loud crashing sounds, the man dressed in black exercise clothes disappeared all of a sudden. He fell to the ground and rolled forward in a tucked position, successfully avoiding the three gunshots.

With one roll, he came before that hatchet man with puffy eyes. However, instead of standing up, he straightened his back and gave his body a push by pressing the left hand downward. Then he clenched his right hand into a fist and brutally threw it towards the space between the man’s legs.

Bang! That hatchet man with puffy eyes was hit under the belt and let out a shrill cry. He dropped the gun and writhed on the ground in agony with both hands covering his crotch. Blood and piss kept coming out from his body.

When they saw that, Wang Xu who missed all his shots and the trembling hatchet man lost all their guts and morale. What replayed in their minds was their companion’s eyeballs flying in the air, his two dark and empty sockets, and his face mixed with blood and water along with the ground soaked in piss.

They had no time to think, and they cracked under such pressure. They hurried to the other side of the street by instinct and missed the best opportunity to fight back with their guns.

The man dressed in black exercise clothes were relieved upon seeing them flee the scene. He had reached his limit during that quick battle. So he was lucky that his enemies were scared away, otherwise, he would take one bullet or two because he was given no time to stand up and take another round of attack. Suppose he was lying motionless on the ground, then only God could know whether he ended up dead, disabled, or surviving without injuries.

He stood up with a carp flip and took the big iron pot from the owner who was very paralyzed with fright. Then he made several big strides and flung the pot of boiling water forward.

“Ouch!”

Wang Xu and the left hatchet men, attacked by the boiling water, fell on the ground with a scream, followed by waves of wailing. The man in black exercise clothes ditched the pot and caught up with his enemies in big strides. One could sense the brutality from his forehead. He pulled his strength from shoulder to waist, waist to leg, leg to tip of the toe and swung a kick at the throat of the left hatchet man.

The scream suddenly stopped. The man in black exercise clothes had a somber look and was about to give another low kick at Wang Xu.

Bam!

Qin Rui saw a leg blocking this deadly kick.

When he looked up, he recognized the young man in a black-edged white suit.

“Lou Cheng!”

Inside the car, Qin Rui suddenly straightened his back and accidentally banged his head on the car roof.