Chapter 9 The Fierce Fight in the Alley

"Finally, off work!" Qin Chao stood up from his chair, stretched lazily, and changed back into his own clothes.

It was already dark outside, around six or seven o'clock in the autumn. That was just how the weather was in Sunan City; winter and night always arrived early.

"Hey, Qin Chao, you're off work already?" Chen Yingyang immediately came over, sticking close to Qin Chao. "Come on, stay and keep me company on the night shift."

"Stop it!" Qin Chao pushed away the security team leader. "I have to go home and sleep. Do whatever you need to do."

"Don't go, I have something good to show you."

"Why don't you find Wang Wenkun instead?"

"Oh, you're so bad. I like muscular men."

"Aren't chubby guys cute too?"

"If you eat abalone for too long, you'll get tired of it. So you need to change things up."

"Go to hell."

"You're so cruel..." Chen Yingyang's eyes turned red. Qin Chao completely ignored him and left the security room, heading to the parking lot to retrieve his beloved Forever 28 bicycle. This was one of the artifacts left behind by Qin Chao. He couldn't bear to take the bus to work, especially since it was so expensive.

The nightlife of college students didn't start until eight o'clock, so the campus was still very quiet at this time. The school was also not very close to the city, so there were few cars coming and going. Qin Chao was in good physical shape now, so he pedaled his old Forever 28 bike with ease, humming a tune.

Qin Chao was a very optimistic person. Even if he had offended someone like Chen Si, a big shot, he could still relax. What could Chen Si do to him, a small character? Qin Chao consoled himself in this way. He was a very optimistic person, but the torment of unemployment after graduation had not been small for him. Especially since his family had no food, and he couldn't even afford the rent. He had received many cold glares from his landlord. In response, Qin Chao had constantly encouraged himself that one day, he would make everyone who looked down on him sit up and take notice.

His method was to wake up every morning and praise himself in front of the mirror, saying, "Qin Chao, you are the best!" You might say this was narcissistic, but in the West, this was a good method of psychological suggestion.

Furthermore, Qin Chao never looked at his own face because according to physiognomy, there were five things that should not be looked at, and one of them was not to look at oneself. He had only heard from his grandfather when he was young that his facial features were very complex and it seemed that there would be great difficulties in the future. When his grandfather passed away, he gave Qin Chao a sentence: "Everything depends on human effort."

Qin Chao never thought that the feng shui and physiognomy taught to him by his grandfather were superstitions. Just because one did not understand something did not mean that it did not exist. Physiognomy and feng shui were ancient Chinese cultures that had existed for thousands of years, so they naturally had their own meanings. However, Qin Chao did not plan to inherit his grandfather's aspirations and become a fortune-teller. To put it plainly, he did not have the qualifications. If he went out to tell people's fortunes now, even if he were not blind, no one would believe him.

As Qin Chao rode his bike lost in thought, he arrived at a corner where several dark figures suddenly emerged from the darkness. One of them was holding an iron rod and hit Qin Chao hard on the back.

Qin Chao felt a burning pain in his back and fell directly off his bike. The bike made a loud noise as it hit the ground, while Qin Chao agilely rolled and stood up from the ground. In the dim light of the streetlamp, Qin Chao saw that there were five or six men in front of him, all dressed in shabby clothes with dyed hair and each holding an iron rod.

With one glance at their appearance, Qin Chao, who was not stupid, immediately understood what was happening. He gasped for breath; they were ruthless enough to come for revenge at night after provoking him during the day.

"What do you want?" The group of people approached him, surrounding Qin Chao. Qin Chao took two steps back, but stepped on his own bicycle with a loud noise, and behind him was a wall, leaving him with nowhere to hide.

"Kid, you have messed with the wrong people. Do you think you can walk out of here unscathed?" The leader of the group, a man with a nose ring, squinted his small, almost invisible eyes and sneered while tapping his iron rod in his hand.

"The boss has ordered that we take one of your legs. So, tell us, do you want your left leg or your right leg?" The man with the nose ring laughed coldly, and the sound of his iron rod hitting the wall beside Qin Chao made a loud noise.

"Is there no law anymore?" Qin Chao was a little afraid. This was the first time he had seen this kind of situation.

"Law?" The group of people burst out laughing, with the man with the nose ring laughing the hardest, and even his iron rod was shaking with his laughter. Suddenly, he stopped laughing and looked at Qin Chao contemptuously. "Let me tell you, on this street, I am the law."

As he spoke, he took a step forward and swung the iron rod in his hand, as if he was about to hit Qin Chao's face. The streetlamp illuminated his face, revealing his ferocity.

"Strike first!" The thought suddenly flashed through Qin Chao's mind. Instinctively, he turned around and kicked. The kick was fast and fierce, hitting the nose ring guy directly in the face, kicking off his nose ring and causing his entire nose to bleed.

"Ah! Ah!" The guy screamed like a pig being slaughtered, clutching his bleeding nose and cursing, "Damn it, this kid dares to fight back! Beat him up, break both his legs!"

The remaining few people immediately wielded their iron rods and charged forward. These small gangsters were used to fighting and were different from students. They struck hard and viciously, targeting Qin Chao's vulnerable areas.

Qin Chao quickly stretched out his arms, bent down, and protected his head and chest. The iron rods whistled through the air, continuously hitting his body, accompanied by the thugs' curses.

"Thud, thud..." These were the sounds of the iron rods hitting Qin Chao's back and arms, causing a fiery pain that made his consciousness particularly clear.

"Beat him, damn it, it hurts so much!" The nose ring guy came over with his iron rod and joined the beating team.

A thug's iron rod landed on Qin Chao's knee bone. With a cracking sound, it seemed to have fractured, and Qin Chao only felt a sharp pain in his knee before losing consciousness and falling to the ground.

"That leg! Break his other leg too!" The nose ring guy continued to shout, wielding his rod and striking Qin Chao's other leg.

Qin Chao was furious from being beaten. He looked down and saw his bicycle under him. He grabbed it and stood up with his other leg, supporting himself.

The bicycle was heavy, an old-fashioned one. But in Qin Chao's hands, it was light as a feather. He swung it with a whistling sound, smashing it towards the thugs.

"Ouch!" Several thugs were immediately knocked down by the bicycle and fell to the ground in a sorry state.

"Kill them, kill them..." The fiery pain on his body was like a burning flame, igniting Qin Chao's anger. In his mind, a wild beast seemed to be roaring.

In the nose ring guy's eyes, he saw a terrifying scene. The security guard who had just been half-dead from their beating suddenly let out two heavy gasps. Then, his broken leg seemed to have healed, supporting him on the ground. And his two arms suddenly became thicker and longer, tearing through his sleeves and turning into two claws with black scales.

Then, the security guard lifted his head. His eyes suddenly lit up with two blazing green lights.

"Ghosts, ghosts..." The nose-ringed guy's heart felt like it had been hit by a hammer, beating painfully and heavily. He instinctively threw the metal rod in his hand, but Qin Chao waved his black-scaled claws and effortlessly caught the coin-sized iron rod, then snapped it in half.

"Ghosts..." The thugs were all scared out of their wits. Under the dim streetlights, Qin Chao's eyes burned with green flames, more terrifying than any demon from hell. They threw away their weapons and ran as fast as they could. In that moment, they regretted not having been born with an extra pair of legs.

Qin Chao didn't pursue them, instead he suddenly lifted his head and roared at the streetlight above. The sound was like a detonation of C4 explosives, shattering the eardrums of the fleeing thugs, causing them to bleed from their ears. The nose-ringed guy was the worst off, his ears ringing so loudly that he collapsed to the ground unconscious. The other thugs only covered their ears and fled, ignoring him.

With a crack, the streetlight shattered and fell to the ground with a clatter. After letting out that roar, Qin Chao's arm slowly returned to its original state and the green flames in his eyes dissipated.

Qin Chao, who had just unleashed a thunderous roar, didn't know what he had just done. He only realized that he no longer felt pain, and his broken leg had healed. Looking around, he saw that the thugs who had just attacked him had disappeared without a trace.

Only his broken bicycle lay on the ground, spinning its back tire.

"Well, I'll be damned..." Qin Chao muttered in fear that the thugs might reappear, quickly picking up his bike and pedaling home as fast as he could. Soon, he disappeared into the dark street.

After he left, a stunning beauty in leather pants and jacket suddenly appeared from the darkness, wearing a pair of red leather boots. She clacked her way over to the nose-ringed guy lying in the corner and said, "Not bad... the demonic nature is beginning to awaken... This guy seems to be dead... It's a bit troublesome, but as my client, I'll help you get rid of this problem..."

As she spoke, the beautiful woman reached out and brushed her hand through the air. The nose-ringed guy and the bloodstains on the ground miraculously vanished as if they had never been there.

"Qin Chao, wait for me... After I deal with those bastards in hell, I'll lead you into the realm of cultivation... So, until then, take care of yourself..." With that, she disappeared into the darkness. The streetlight that had been shattered by the sound wave flickered twice and then lit up again.