Madman!

Chapter 116: Skilled in Communication

Inside the room, a muscular man in his thirties slid down the wall, his arms twisted at unnatural angles.

A single strike of the Arching Hand Cannon had shattered his arms.

Cold sweat beaded on the man's forehead from the agony. He stared viciously at the doorway, where a young man with the posture of a tortoise and the grace of a crane walked in.

"Tiger Claw style from the Qi Observation Way, combined with New Arts cultivation," the intruder noted. "Nguyen Phuc Hung, Chen Jinyong, Chen Zhonghong... which one are you?" Throughout their brief exchange, Chen Wujun had already gauged the man's strength—roughly on par with Cun Bao.

Although the man hadn't managed to block a single punch, he could still be considered an expert by West Embankment standards.

After all, Hetu controlled the smuggling channels for Magnetic Field Crystals across the entire East District 9. The vast majority flowed into North Port, leaving only a minuscule amount for West Embankment each year.

Consequently, the local gangs here were a cut below in terms of strength.

"I am Nguyen Phuc Hung. Who are you?" Nguyen Phuc Hung glared ferociously at Chen Wujun as he struggled to prop himself up.

However, he had completely lost the ability to fight.

Even now, he had no idea who his opponent was."Nguyen Phuc Hung... Looks like I found the right person." Chen Wujun smiled, then suddenly lashed out with a kick, pinning Nguyen Phuc Hung against the wall.

Nguyen Phuc Hung immediately spat a mouthful of blood, sensing that at least one of his ribs had snapped.

"I'm here today to discuss some business."

"If your boss, Nguyen Minh Kim, doesn't die... how can you rise to the top? If I take him out for you, how much are you willing to pay?" Chen Wujun asked with a beaming smile.

"Who the hell are you? What do you want?" Nguyen Phuc Hung gritted out through the intense pain radiating from his ribs.

"Do you not understand human speech?" Chen Wujun retracted his foot, swept Nguyen Phuc Hung to the ground, and then stomped hard on his ankle.

Crack.

Nguyen Phuc Hung let out a miserable groan, his forehead drenched in cold sweat.

"Don't say I didn't give you a chance. I'm offering you two choices. Option one: I crush all four of your limbs. I promise to shatter your joints so evenly that they can't ever be pieced back together. You won't even have the strength to jerk off. Then, I'll throw you out onto the street."

"When a Hall Master of the Pingchuan Gang becomes a cripple, I wonder how your old enemies will treat you... and your family..."

"Option two: Tell me Nguyen Minh Kim's whereabouts and have you and your men work for me for a while... Once I leave, you'll be the boss!"

"So, how about it? Nguyen Minh Kim's life, or the lives of your entire family? Pretty easy choice, isn't it?"

Looking at the smile hanging on Chen Wujun's face, Nguyen Phuc Hung felt a chill penetrate his very bones.

"Who are you? How did the Pingchuan Gang offend you?"

"Are you with the Xionglong Gang? We haven't had any conflicts with them recently..."

This Huayan man had suddenly charged in, beaten him severely, and was now forcing him to reveal Nguyen Minh Kim's location under threat of having his limbs crushed.

He had no idea what was actually going on.

"Wrong answer!" Chen Wujun suddenly applied pressure, grinding his foot down.

"Argh!" Nguyen Phuc Hung screamed, clutching his ankle.

"Right now, you can still live as a cripple, but soon you won't even have that luxury..." Chen Wujun moved his foot to the other ankle...

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" Nguyen Phuc Hung's eyes were filled with terror.

He knew his left foot was already gone. Even as a New Arts martial artist, and even with medical treatment, the best outcome he could hope for was a permanent limp.

If the other foot was crushed, he wouldn't even be able to walk with a limp.

He didn't dare imagine what kind of end awaited him then.

He might not fear death.

But being left with four useless limbs was a fate worse than death.

"See? Wasn't that easier? In a way, I'm helping you, right? You should be thanking me!" Chen Wujun moved his foot away, speaking as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm helping you out, so you should accept my goodwill. Otherwise, you're the one in the wrong. It's your fault."

"And if you do something wrong, you have to be punished."

The more Chen Wujun spoke, the more he felt this was the logical truth, his tone becoming increasingly self-righteous.

Hearing these self-righteous words, Nguyen Phuc Hung felt his heart turn to ice. He realized the Huayan man in front of him was a complete lunatic.

There was no way to communicate with him using normal logic.

"Start talking. Where is Nguyen Minh Kim?"

"I know a manor he owns... he's likely there... I don't know any other places... I really don't..." Nguyen Phuc Hung stammered through gritted teeth.

"Chen Jinyong and Chen Zhonghong—call them over. Tell them there's a benefit to be shared, something too big for you to swallow alone."

Chen Wujun wasn't in a rush to verify if Nguyen Phuc Hung was telling the truth.

Instead, he wanted to trick the other two Pingchuan Gang leaders into coming here.

If Nguyen Phuc Hung wasn't playing games, then the manor was likely the real location.

Besides, he could interrogate the other two as well.

If he was playing games... then the manor was definitely fake, a trap waiting to be sprung. Going there would only lead to trouble.

Enduring the agonizing pain, Nguyen Phuc Hung propped himself up and grabbed his phone from the table. He knew that once he made this call, he was finished.

The best outcome would be fleeing West Embankment and going far away.

But if he didn't make the call, he would be reduced to a pile of mud, a fate worse than death.

He glanced at Chen Wujun. That smiling face looked like a demon's mask to him, sending shivers through his heart.

The two choices Chen Wujun had offered, combined with that insane logic, had completely shattered his psychological defenses.

Gritting his teeth, he dialed the number.

"Ah Yong... there's a batch of goods. I can't handle it all myself. Come find me at Pearl Karaoke..."

After hanging up, Nguyen Phuc Hung was trembling all over. He clenched his jaw and prepared to make the second call, but Chen Wujun stopped him.

"Wait until Chen Jinyong arrives before calling the other one."

This prevented the two from communicating and realizing something was wrong.

Chen Wujun scanned the room and spotted a safe nearby.

"Open the safe."

Nguyen Phuc Hung didn't care about anything anymore; he just wanted to survive this and leave West Embankment with his family. He immediately opened the safe.

Chen Wujun saw a dozen stacks of cash inside.

Better than nothing.

However, Chen Wujun also noticed some ledgers and file folders. He took them out for a look. The ledgers were uninteresting, but the folders contained two land deeds and three equity agreements.

These were worth far more than the cash. Chen Wujun's mind began to race; he planned to have someone appraise them later and sell them off once this business was concluded.

'A man cannot get rich without a windfall,' he mused. 'This is much more profitable than painstakingly running gambling dens or computer cafes.'

Chen Wujun dragged Nguyen Phuc Hung downstairs and tossed him to Curry to watch over. Then, he had Li Wei come up to collect the items.

...

Meanwhile, Chen Wujun's senior brother, Yuan Hong, was making a call from the rooftop of a building. "Any good targets in West Embankment recently?"

"Got it!"

"Let me know if you hear anything!"

Kai Zi lay on the parapet wall, watching Yuan Hong make several calls. He drawled lazily, "Still trying to rob someone for a meeting gift for your junior brother?"

"I didn't know you valued sect brotherhood so much!"

"That bastard Qingzhi put me on the spot! If I don't produce something, where does that leave my reputation? I'd lose all face," Yuan Hong grumbled.

Everyone cared about face.

People like them, who possessed great strength and disregarded the law, cared about it even more.

Back on the boat, he had even contemplated killing everyone else.

If everyone else was dead, no one would know he had lost face.

"But this gift won't come free. If Little Sixteen takes my gift, he'll have to do some favors for me in the future."

Yuan Hong finished his sentence through gritted teeth, then propped one leg up on the wall and continued making calls.

...

"Nguyen Phuc Hung actually thought of me for a good deal? I wonder what it is, acting all mysterious." A fierce-looking man with a crew cut and a gold chain around his neck stepped out of a car, followed by several subordinates.

This was Chen Jinyong, another leader of the Pingchuan Gang.

He wasn't particularly on guard, never suspecting that Nguyen Phuc Hung had been coerced into luring him there.

Entering the lobby, he saw the manager, whose face was swollen on one side.

"Where's your boss?" Chen Jinyong looked the manager up and down. It seemed someone had caused a scene here, but he didn't pay it much mind.

Suddenly, his gaze swept over the receptionist cowering like a quail behind the counter, looking terrified.

Chen Jinyong stopped in his tracks, his eyes flickering with suspicion.

Although he didn't anticipate that Nguyen Phuc Hung had already been captured, he sensed that something was off.

Just then, a young man with a distinct crane-like posture emerged from the corridor.

"Are you Chen Jinyong?" Chen Wujun asked with a touch of nonchalance.

"Who are you? Where's Nguyen Phuc Hung?"

"I'm here to discuss some business with you." Chen Wujun smiled at him, then stamped his foot and exploded into motion, instantly closing the distance to appear right in front of Chen Jinyong.

As he lunged, his body seemed to swell in size. The muscles on his back coiled like giant pythons, rippling like waves.

Simultaneously, he unleashed an Arching Hand Hammer with both hands.

Seeing the opponent spring upon him, Chen Jinyong was startled. He pushed off the ground to retreat, his footwork light and agile, while simultaneously thrusting his hand forward in a pecking motion.

It was the Crane Form of the Qi Observation Way.

Yet Chen Wujun followed like a shadow, chasing Chen Jinyong out the karaoke's main door with even greater speed.

"Screech!" Chen Jinyong mimicked the cry of a crane to channel his power, his hands pecking toward Chen Wujun's wrists with blinding speed.

But the moment Chen Jinyong made contact, Chen Wujun shook his wrists, shedding some of the force.

After his previous fight with Nguyen Van Son, he had contemplated how to counter the bone-penetrating force of the Crane Form.

He had already circulated his blood and Qi to his wrists, causing them to swell. The shaking motion dispersed the remaining force.

Although his wrist bones ached, his power output remained unaffected.

Bang!

Chen Jinyong's body flew backward like a cannonball, soaring across the street and smashing into a light box on the opposite sidewalk.

Chen Wujun lashed out with his hands like steel whips, flipping Chen Jinyong's two lackeys. He then strode over to Chen Jinyong, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him back.

'It seems Nguyen Phuc Hung didn't play any tricks. I must have convinced him.'

'I really am excellent at communicating with people.'

Chen Wujun was in a good mood.

He had discovered yet another one of his virtues.

Chen Jinyong's two subordinates, faces the color of earth and trembling uncontrollably, turned to flee—only to find their path already blocked.