My name is Duan Shenxing, a pawnshop owner. I thought I would live an ordinary, uneventful life, but the dragon-patterned jade pendant and handwritten notes left by my grandfather led me to uncover...
Jiang Man looked at my phone screen, made sure she didn't recognize the two people on it, and asked me in a low voice, "How can you be sure these two people are following us?"
“I don’t know these two people, but I do recognize one of their shoes. At the night market, a stall owner accidentally spilled chili oil on someone’s white sneakers. I thought we were going to argue, but the person just left without saying a word.”
As I spoke, I led Jiang Man toward the grove of trees by the roadside: "This person changed his shirt, but not his pants and shoes. It's almost a half-hour drive from here to Tawan Night Market. Do you think these two people would be as bored as us, changing their shirts but not their shoes, and coming all this way for a walk?"
Jiang Man frowned slightly: "Then who do you think they're after, you or me?"
Is there any difference?
I turned into a path in the woods, and taking advantage of the bushes blocking our view, I grabbed Jiang Man's wrist and plunged into the nearby grove.
Jiang Man, who was beside me, also took out her phone from her pocket: "I brought some people with me to Shenyang this time. I'll have them come and meet us."
"There's no time to lose. It's too dangerous to stay here and wait for others. We need to shake these people off first!"
I was fairly familiar with the park. After entering the bushes, I kept moving towards Victory Bridge. There was a parking lot under the bridge, and there were quite a few people strolling in the park at that time. It would be convenient to go that way to use the vehicles as cover or to escape the park by heading to the road.
As I hurried along the trees in the park to the parking lot, I saw several passengers get out of a taxi and run over to Jiang Man, holding her hand.
As soon as I showed myself, four young men ran toward me, one of them shouting, "He's here!"
"Damn it!"
I saw the group of people rushing towards me, hesitated for a moment, and then charged towards them.
Judging from the young man's shout, there are far more of them than just a few. If we can't escape this place as soon as possible, things will only get more complicated.
"You brat!"
The young man approaching me saw my actions, deflected the switchblade in his hand, and stabbed me in the abdomen.
I sidestepped the young man's knife strike, pinned his arm down with one hand, and slammed my knee into his groin.
"Aww!"
The young man, struck by the blow, let out a hysterical wail and collapsed to the ground, clutching his crotch.
After I knocked this person down, I didn't even look at him. I made a feint at the second person's face, and while he squinted his eyes, I slammed my elbow into his Adam's apple.
These techniques, which specifically target the lower body and vital points, are the essence of Chinese martial arts. When I was learning from my grandfather when I was young, he taught me that these techniques could only be learned, but never used, because they were too lethal and could easily lead to death if not handled carefully.
At that moment, the other party had already used a knife on me, so I naturally couldn't care less about anything else.
While I was fighting someone, Jiang Man also took down a young man and kicked him in the side of the face.
As soon as I turned around, I saw the remaining man brandishing a knife and lunging at Jiang Man, so I pushed Jiang Man aside and shouted, "Watch out!"
"Pfft!"
As I pushed Jiang Man, the young man's knife pierced my body. In the chaos, I felt a chill in my abdomen, and then I grabbed the back of the young man's neck and slammed his head into the SUV on the side.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
The SUV was hit, and the alarm sounded urgently.
In the flashing lights, Jiang Man saw my white shirt stained with blood and immediately exclaimed in shock: "Duan Shenxing, you're injured!"
"Buzz!"
At this moment, two unlicensed SUVs also quickly drove towards this side. Before one of the vehicles had even come to a complete stop, the door was opened, and countless young men carrying knives and sticks leaped out, surging towards this side in a huge wave.
"It's alright, let's go!"
I saw the crowd rushing towards us, and ignoring the pain in my wound, I grabbed Jiang Man's hand and started running wildly into the distance.
To shake off the vehicles behind me, I chose to take back roads with complicated road conditions and ran towards the streets in the distance.
A tall, long-legged young man rushed up to me, raised a stick, and smashed it down on my back: "You bastard, stop right there!"
I heard the sound of sticks whistling behind me, pushed Jiang Man aside, knocked the young man down with my backhand, then smashed the guardrail next to me, which was used to block cars, into the crowd, and turned to run towards the bridge.
Just then, a young man in sportswear suddenly appeared in front of me and kicked me in the head with a roundhouse kick.
Seeing the other person's movement, I crouched down slightly and swept my leg out towards his other ankle.
The moment I bent over, the other person's knee seemed to have a bearing installed, and with a change of direction, it smashed into my neck.
"Gulp!"
Caught off guard by his sneak attack, I fell to the ground and instantly realized that this person was a trained fighter.
The change-of-direction kick, also known as the Brazilian kick, is a fighting technique that utilizes the flexibility of the hip and knee joints to suddenly change moves. Anyone who can use this move is a highly skilled fighter who has undergone rigorous training.
My opponent kicked me to the ground, and while my leg was still in mid-air, it changed direction, and its heel slammed straight into the back of my neck.
"Bang!"
At the crucial moment, Jiang Man rushed forward and kicked the opponent in the knee, causing him to deviate from his attacking pattern. The two then engaged in a fierce back-and-forth struggle.
As I got up, Jiang Man forced her opponent back with a feint, and blood dripped from her fingertips onto the ground.
I followed the trail of blood and saw that her arm had been cut, and the young man was holding a small knife about an inch long.
The moment I saw the knife in his hand, I knew this guy must be a martial arts master.
The young man glanced at the small scratch on the back of his hand and gave a sickly smile: "Heh, this is interesting."
Before he finished speaking, he had already charged towards Jiang Man again.
"What kind of skill is it to only hit women!"
I let out a roar and charged at the young man, throwing a punch at his throat.
"Bang!"
The young man slightly turned his body and threw a punch at the opponent.
The moment our fists collided, I felt like I had hit a rock, the calluses on his knuckles throbbing painfully, and even his elbows made a cracking sound.
With just that one punch, I knew I was no match for him, but I still charged at him and yelled at Jiang Man, "You go first!"
"Neither of you is getting away!"
The young man roared and charged at me like a cannonball, his elbows repeatedly striking my face.
"Bang bang bang!"
Faced with the youth's fierce attack, I could only bend my arm to withstand it, and it felt like an iron rod was hitting my arm.
In a short while, I was forced back to the side of the road by the young man, and my back slammed into the bridge railing.
At the same time, taking advantage of my wide-open defenses, the young man swiftly slashed his short knife toward my throat.