novelraw Chapter 330: Trouble is Brewing
Chapter 330: Trouble is Brewing
Chapter 330: Trouble is Brewing
Human Genius? Sorry, I’m a Deviant
With their leader severely wounded, the remaining members of the Viper Gang's morale instantly crumbled.
"Boss!"
"Fall back, now!"
Someone shouted.
The surviving Viper Gang members lost all will to fight.
They supported their heavily injured leader.
Like stray dogs, they fled in disarray toward the alleyway they came from, too panicked to even care about their fallen comrades' bodies.
The Blood Wolf Gang members didn't give chase. They had also suffered significant casualties, with many injured. The rock-skinned leader's stony hide was now covered in cracks, and he was breathing heavily.
He spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, watching his fleeing opponents with a look of deep satisfaction on his face.
"Get our people! Bury the dead, carry the wounded back!"
He roared hoarsely.
His underlings immediately began clearing the battlefield, dragging away their own casualties.
As for the bodies left by the Viper Gang, they roughly searched them for anything valuable before casually discarding them at the street corner.
The surrounding crowd of onlookers, seeing the outcome decided, gradually dispersed.
The buzz of conversation rose again.
As if the bloody conflict that had just occurred was merely a routine interlude of the night.
Soon, aside from a few puddles of not-yet-dried blood and one or two ignored corpses left on the street, the previous clamor returned.
The Blood Wolf Gang members, carrying their spoils and wounded, disappeared down the other end of the street with the swagger of victors, cursing and grumbling.
This was precisely the outcome Su Zhan had been waiting for.
The victors usually meant having stronger information channels in this area.
Su Zhan silently followed the retreating Blood Wolf Gang team.
The Blood Wolf Gang was on its way back to its stronghold.
The rock-skinned leader was still rubbing his aching chest, calculating the gains and losses of this operation.
A figure appeared without warning not far ahead of them, blocking the path.
The newcomer wore ordinary gray clothes, his features indistinct in the dim light.
"Alert!"
The rock-skinned leader's pupils contracted, and he immediately growled the command.
His remaining seven or eight underlings reacted swiftly, fanning out to surround Su Zhan in a semicircle. Weapons and the glow of Spiritual Energy lit up again, trained on him with tense hostility.
"Who are you?"
The rock-skinned leader suppressed his injuries, demanding in a low, gravelly voice filled with caution and animosity.
In Black City, anyone who dared block the road so openly was either a madman or had powerful backing.
Su Zhan's tone was flat. "I'm here to ask you a few things."
His utterly calm and collected attitude instantly enraged these gangsters whose adrenaline hadn't yet subsided.
"Fuck! Who the hell do you think you are? Daring to speak to our boss like that?"
A subordinate with a scar on his face couldn't hold back first, stepping forward and pointing at Su Zhan's nose as he cursed. "Beat it if you know what's good for you! Or I'll chop you up and feed you to the dogs!"
"That's right! Where'd this blind fool crawl out from? Tired of living, huh?"
"Look at his cocky face, thinks he's somebody?"
A tide of foul language and insults washed over him, full of the brutal arrogance common to the underworld.
They were used to solving problems with violence.
Their first instinct toward anyone daring to challenge their authority was to crush them.
Su Zhan's brow furrowed slightly. He raised a hand and used his pinky finger to pick at his ear, as if clearing away some annoying noise.
This supremely insulting gesture completely lit the fuse.
"Damn it! Trying to give you face and you spit on it!"
The scar-faced underling from before was utterly enraged, feeling his authority had been challenged like never before. If word got out he'd been so utterly ignored, how could he keep his standing on the streets?
With a furious roar, Spiritual Energy surged within him. His right hand shot forward violently, sending a half-meter-long wind blade straight at Su Zhan's face.
This strike was fueled by rage, incredibly fast.
An ordinary Stream Realm Awakened individual wouldn't have time to react.
The surrounding onlookers only saw a blur.
Su Zhan's figure seemed to flicker, or maybe it hadn't moved at all.
The next moment, a piercing scream tore through the air.
"Ah—! My hand!!"
Everyone focused their gaze and was horrified by what they saw.
Su Zhan was now standing beside the scar-faced underling, though no one saw him move. The underling's right hand, which had just released the wind blade, was now twisted grotesquely.
White bone fragments pierced through the skin and flesh, blood dripping freely.
He collapsed to the ground, wailing like a stuck pig.
Su Zhan stood there, expression calm, not sparing another glance at the injured man on the ground. His gaze returned to the rock-skinned leader, whose face had gone deathly pale.
The entire street fell deathly silent.
All the arrogant curses from the Blood Wolf Gang members ceased abruptly.
They stared at Su Zhan in terror, then at their screaming comrade on the ground. A chill shot up from the soles of their feet to the tops of their heads.
What… what just happened?
They hadn't seen him move at all!
Scar was at Stream Realm, second stage! Taken down in one move?
The gap in strength… was too vast!
So vast they couldn't comprehend it, couldn't even think of resisting!
Cold sweat beaded on the rock-skinned leader's forehead. His earlier anger had vanished completely.
He hadn't risen to a small leadership position in Black City just by brute force; he also had the sense to read situations.
The person before him was absolutely someone he, and likely the entire Blood Wolf Gang, could not afford to provoke.
He viciously kicked the still-wailing scarred man, shouting harshly, "Shut up! Useless trash!"
Then he immediately switched to an obsequious expression, bowing deeply to Su Zhan.
"This… this esteemed lord.
My underling is ignorant, he offended you. I beg your utmost forgiveness.
You… whatever you wish to ask, please just give the order.
We lowly ones will tell you everything we know, hold nothing back!"
The other gang members snapped out of it too. They hurriedly put away their weapons, lowering heads that had been held high just moments before. They didn't dare breathe too loudly, their posture humble to the extreme.
In Black City, strength was the only truth.
Su Zhan spoke directly. "In Black City, who does the best, most reliable face-changing work?"
"Answering you, lord. There aren't many craftsmen who can do that work. The ones with good reputations are mainly three."
The rock-skinned leader counted them off on his fingers, listing them like treasures.
"One is Liu San, lives on Shatterbone Street. Fast work, price is cheaper too, but… it's said he sometimes leaves a little… insurance.
The second is…
The third is…"
Su Zhan silently memorized the three names and locations.
Then he posed the second question. "How does one contact the City Lord?"
The rock-skinned leader bent his waist even lower. "Lord, you've truly stumped this lowly one with that.
The City Lord is lofty and exalted, a dragon one sees the head of but never the tail. How would lowly folk like us, rolling in the mud, have any way to contact him…"
Seeing he couldn't get any more concrete information about the City Lord, Su Zhan didn't waste more time.
"Keep your mouths shut."
He coldly tossed down these words. With a slight movement, he vanished before their frightened eyes.
Only then did the Blood Wolf Gang members let out a long sigh of relief, as if they'd just returned from the brink of death, their backs soaked with cold sweat.
The rock-skinned leader stared in the direction Su Zhan had disappeared, muttering with lingering fear. "This master… asking about the City Lord… what does he want to do? Black City is probably going to become very unsettled…"