Chapter Seventy-Two: The Duel Appointment

“What’s going on here?” Huang Kai strode over, his presence imposing. He glanced at the crowd outside and sneered, “Well, there are quite a few of you. What, here to cause trouble?”

The burly man leading the group darkened his face, his voice low and threatening, “Brother, are you looking to start a feud with those words?”

“Oh, outsiders?” Huang Kai scoffed at the accent, “Start a feud? Do you think you’re worthy?”

The group immediately glared at Huang Kai, and the leader’s face grew even gloomier. Yes, they were outsiders, only here for business. On someone else’s turf, he had no intention of making trouble; as long as the other side gave him a way out, he’d let it go. But now, since Huang Kai was so provocative, regardless of his status, this wouldn’t end peacefully.

He nodded, “Since you don’t want to settle things quietly, us outsiders will make it big today.”

With that, his men began to advance. Huang Kai, no stranger to such scenes, was unfazed and sneered, “You really dare to get physical?” He picked up his phone and dialed a number—a captain in the local armed police unit, his grandfather’s friend, planning to call in a squad to show these thugs what real power was. In the Central Asia District, gangsters? They were nothing!

But the burly leader didn’t intend to give him that chance. He shot a signal to his men, and a towering man in a black vest flashed a cruel grin, pulling a willow-leaf throwing knife from his pocket. With a flick of his wrist, a cold gleam shot through the air—the knife pinned both Huang Kai’s hand and his phone to the door behind him, dragging his hand with such force that it was nailed a meter away.

A pig-like scream echoed through Yusheng Garden. The leader waved his hand, and his men poured in, quickly surrounding Guo Lang and his friends.

On the right, the son of a deputy supervisor stood up, face ashen, “Do you really dare? Do you know who we—” Before he could finish, the leader slapped him hard, knocking him to the ground. Apart from Gong Shao, Guo Lang, and Xie Lin, everyone else looked terrified. They saw the deputy supervisor’s son lose half his teeth from that slap—the man had a vicious hand.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care to know!” the leader said coldly. “Tonight, I’ll deal with you lot, and then leave overnight. I refuse to believe your influence stretches far enough to come after us back home!”

“We’re doomed. We’ve run into real trouble!” The group paled, all standing and backing away in unison.

“Sir, perhaps there’s some misunderstanding?” Chen Bing’s face was grim, but he softened his tone. A wise man avoids immediate loss; he wasn’t as reckless as Huang Kai.

The leader sneered, “Now you claim it’s a misunderstanding? Isn’t it too late? If I let you go now, would you really let me off? I’ve seen plenty of rich kids like you. There was a supervisor’s daughter who acted just as arrogant—so I taught her a lesson. Her family’s powerful, but so what? Could they find me? I still live freely!”

His blunt words chilled the group even further.

Gong Shao, standing aside, watched Chen Kaimin’s dark face with amusement and teased, “Should we swallow our pride for now?”

Swallow your pride? Chen Kaimin glared at Gong Shaolin, furious. Even now he was pretending? Did he really think, when the fighting started, these thugs wouldn’t go after him first? The pretty boys were always their favorite targets!

Guo Xiaoting glanced outside. The scene was intimidating, but standing next to Guo Lang made her inexplicably calm. She puzzled over it—when had her useless brother ever given her such reassurance?

Beside her, Xie Xiaoqin, being a girl, was even more nervous. She didn’t have Xiaoting’s instinctive sense of safety.

Xie Xiaoqin’s retreat caught the leader’s eye. His eyes lit up, and he reached out, “This girl’s a beauty—I’ll take her!”

Everyone’s faces darkened, including Chen Kaimin’s. It seemed this was spiraling out of control. Gong Shao, meanwhile, sighed helplessly, “Looks like swallowing this insult isn’t an option!” Suddenly, he grabbed a beer bottle from the table and, quick as lightning, smashed it across the leader’s face. With a bang, the bottle shattered, and the mixture of beer and the leader’s nose blood left him utterly disheveled.

None of the others expected anyone would actually make a move, especially so fast; Gong Shaolin’s speed left most blinking—before they knew it, their leader’s head was cracked open.

The leader screamed, but before he could get angry, he felt something sharp pressed against his neck. He looked up to see Gong Shaolin’s handsome face and a shard of broken glass pressed firmly against his carotid artery.

“Don’t move!” Gong Shaolin’s smile was wicked, his fair face giving him a devilish elegance. He ignored the leader, focusing on his henchmen, especially the two men in black vests: “You two especially, don’t move.”

The two men narrowed their eyes. Their mental acuity wasn’t high; only at this distance did they notice Guo Lang and his friends. Their faces clouded—they hadn’t expected to encounter their own kind here, and three at once!

“Brother, aren’t you a bit too excited?” said the leader, his face dark. He hadn’t expected such a ruthless guy among the crowd, so decisive.

“You were about to touch my girl—how could I not be excited?” Gong Shao replied calmly.

Xie Xiaoqin blushed, lowering her head. In such a tense moment, Gong Shao’s words had an undeniable charisma, sending a shiver down her spine.

Chen Kaimin and his friends could only watch Gong Shao steal the show; there was nothing they could do—none of them could pull off a move like that.

“Brother, easy there,” the leader quickly regained his composure, a seasoned veteran. “If you spill blood there, someone could die. No matter how powerful you are, that’s hard to walk away from.”

“That’s not quite true,” Gong Shao smiled. “With our connections, if I actually kill you, nothing will happen afterward—do you believe me?”

Gong Shaolin’s words weren’t sharp, but they chilled the leader, who inexplicably believed him.

“What do you want, then? Just say it,” the leader’s face darkened, finally resigned.

“This won’t end peacefully, but you have more men. If it comes to blows, we’re at a disadvantage, and there are children and women here—not easy to protect. How about we make it fair?”

“Fair?” The leader paused, then laughed, “Alright, tell me how.”

“How about this? Each side picks five people, one-on-one matches, best of five. Losers apologize.”

The leader hesitated, knowing Gong Shao was offering him a way out. He laughed, “If you’d been the one to come out earlier, none of these messes would’ve happened. Alright, you’re reasonable—I’ll go with your plan.”

“Good!” Gong Shaolin smiled, releasing the leader. Chen Kaimin and his group were shocked, inwardly screaming, “You just let him go? Aren’t you worried he’ll renege? Do you have any sense?”

The leader himself hadn’t expected Gong Shaolin to release him so readily. He wiped his face, raised a thumb, and laughed, “Brother, you’ve got guts—you’re made for great things. Today, Third Master will call you friend.” He waved to his men, “Clear the area!”

His henchmen quickly moved the tables and chairs, leaving a space of several dozen square meters.

The leader smiled and called, “Guo, you lead the charge!”

As soon as he finished speaking, a young man in a flashy red shirt stepped forward. His skin was dark, and his rooster comb hairstyle stood out. At over six feet tall, he might be ordinary in the north, but here in the southwest, he was impressive. He stretched, his joints cracking loudly, sending chills through Chen Kaimin’s group—he looked like a professional fighter!

Fight me? The leader sneered inwardly. He’d done plenty of business, including training underground fighters. These rich kids? He didn’t even consider them a challenge. Still, that young man earlier had some ferocity and confidence; perhaps he had real skill. For the first round, the leader decided to play it safe and sent Guo in.

Guo was a professional fighter, strong—even if he wasn’t top ten in the underground ring, he was the leader’s ace. The leader didn’t know much about the other group’s abilities, but he’d observed their varying quality: Huang Kai, loud earlier, was useless; Chen Kaimin and his friends looked decent but their steps were weak—not trained fighters. But this Gong Shao... Having spent years in the capital among hidden talents, the leader could tell—this young man was not simple...

That’s why he didn’t use his two trump cards, Da Hei and Xiao Hei, right away, but sent Guo first to test the waters.

Seeing the opponent step forward, Gong Shao smiled and turned, “Who wants to go?”

The group nearly choked. After all that bravado, now he asked who would step up? Why not himself? Why should they pay for his act? They felt deeply wronged, forgetting that without Gong Shao’s bravado, they’d have been crushed already.

Li Chao, sitting next to Guo Lang, stood up. He had a military background and was confident in his skills. Watching Gong Shao’s performance and seeing Xie Xiaoqin’s admiration for him, Li Chao was burning to prove himself.

Guo Lang quickly pulled him back—no way would he let his friend get dismantled. Guo Lang’s keen eye told him Guo, just by physical condition, was leagues above Li Chao. He could see the aura of someone who’d killed before, perhaps more than once, and from his coordinated movements and muscle tone, he was either a former special forces king or an underground fighter.

Li Chao had trained in the military, but just as an exercise; he was on the naval command track, not a commando king. He had skill, but no way could he beat someone like Guo.

Li Chao, held back, looked unhappy and anxious, “What are you doing? Didn’t you see I was about to make a statement? That pretty boy’s so arrogant, I need to win some face back!”

Guo Lang rolled his eyes, thinking, “Statement my ass—I’m afraid you’ll get ground into the dirt!”

“No one?” Gong Shao asked calmly, his gaze lingering vaguely on Guo Lang and Xie Lin, but both were busy with their hot pot, clearly uninterested.

Li Chao struggled to free himself, nearly shouting, “Let go—I need to make a statement!”

“Calm down!” Guo Lang shot him a glare.

Li Chao turned to argue, but suddenly froze. Guo Lang was holding his shoulder with one hand, barely exerting force, yet he couldn’t move at all.

“This guy…”

The scene was silent for a moment. Seeing no volunteers, Gong Shao said coolly, “Then I’ll go…”