Chapter 154: Carelessness Costs a Tendon

A civet cat loves fish but cannot enter the water; a fish loves earthworms but cannot go ashore. For the most part, the vast majority of us cannot get what we truly desire.

Wang Chao wanted to elope and live happily ever after with Jinyue, but neither Jinyue nor the influential figure in Lvteng City would ever agree. Yang Wei wanted to get back all the incriminating evidence against that influential figure, but neither Wang Chao nor Zhu Dachang would consent. Zhu Dachang wanted to return to Elm Willow Village and tie the knot with Zhang Cuihua, but Wang Chao and Yang Wei, guarding the entrance of the alley, would not allow it either.

The three men stood in the drifting wind and snow of the alley, silently gazing at each other, creating a delicate equilibrium.

They say that the first person to speak in love loses the upper hand, and the same holds true in a deadlocked standoff.

After one minute and thirty-seven seconds, Zhu Dachang licked his lips and chuckled foolishly, "My stomach is churning right now; I might just be able to shit out what you guys are looking for right away. How about you two step aside for a moment while I take care of business? Diarrhea hits fast, it won't take long..."

Yang Wei turned his head to look at Wang Chao, pursed his lips, and asked, "Do you believe his crap? Should we wait it out?"

"It doesn't matter!" Wang Chao stared at Zhu Dachang with a smile that wasn't a smile. "Whatever I want, I usually take with my own hands..." He turned his head to cast a sidelong glance at Yang Wei, saying coldly, "Don't bother pretending we're close. You're just someone else's lapdog. I gave you a chance to leave just now, but you still blundered right in anyway, so there's no need for you to leave now."

"You better think this through," a cold smile played on the corners of Yang Wei's mouth. "Is the person behind me someone you and that woman can afford to cross? If we really tear off our masks and drop all pretense, you'll find out what it feels like to regret coming into this world... Today's business is simple: you take your things, and I'll take that person's leverage. Before I came, the other person told me that the woman accidentally having her things stolen is a minor mistake. Since they're practically becoming family, they won't pursue it deeply."

"Who's part of a family with him?" Wang Chao's gaze grew even colder and more piercing. "Whether it's that person or anyone else, no one can force her. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?" Yang Wei's right hand secretly felt for the small knife hidden in his pocket. "That person has never failed to accomplish what they wanted to set out to do. No matter how ruthless you are, you're ultimately just one person—nothing more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot... Besides, who told you she was being forced?"

"Your attempt to sow discord is not clever at all," Wang Chao straightened up, his expression expressionless as he said, "Once this matter is settled, I will take her away from City A, far away from Lvteng City. The mountains are high and the roads are long; even with all his connections reaching the heavens, that person won't be able to do a thing to us... Furthermore, whatever happens here today has nothing to do with us. What is the truth? The truth is that you, this dog, and that pig over there fought to the death and unfortunately perished together..."

Yang Wei spat on the ground. "Who dies is still up in the air; I actually know how to fight..." He gave a light cough and asked solemnly, "I have a question. Can you answer it for me first?"

Wang Chao pulled a pair of white rubber gloves from his pocket, slowly slipping them onto his hands, and said indifferently, "Let's hear it. I'm in a pretty good mood today, so I can consider letting you die with your questions answered."

"Clearly, it could be a win-win for everyone," Yang Wei pulled the small knife from his pocket, gripping it firmly in his palm. "Taking what we each need and everyone being happy—isn't that great? Why must it come to a fight to the death?"

"It is a fight to the death... Very well, since you asked with such sincerity, I will show mercy and tell you..." Wang Chao smacked his lips, pointing at Zhu Dachang, who was struggling desperately at the end of the alley trying to scale the wall. "Actually, from the very beginning, he and that other stupid thief were purposely lured into the villa by Jinyue so they would take the contents out of the safe. It's just a pity that these two fools only grabbed a bag of fake jewelry the first time. It really makes one sigh with regret!"

Zhu Dachang and Yang Wei, who were struggling to climb the wall, froze instantly and gasped in unison, "What?!"

"When I heard Jinyue tell the story yesterday, I was just as surprised as you are," Wang Chao also pulled a small knife from his pocket, tilting his head to look at Zhu Dachang, who was frantically kicking at the gaps in the brick wall. "Jinyue has long since had enough of the coercion from that person in Lvteng City and has been trying every way to break free from all of this. She originally thought she could breathe a sigh of relief by marrying a wealthy businessman in City A, but she never expected that Yang Hai and your master are also good friends... Truly, all men within the four seas are brothers... With the rope around her neck tightening by the day, she had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure. After all, having things slipped away by thieves, and right inside Yang Hai's house at that, can't be blamed on Jinyue. It's all just fate."

Seeing that Yang Wei and Wang Chao had suddenly fallen silent and were both staring right at him, Zhu Dachang chuckled dryly and said, "You guys go ahead and keep chatting. As for that design thing involving Jinyue, Brother San and I... we won't hold it against her. Real men are broad-minded; a small matter like this is nothing."

Yang Wei rubbed his nose, blinked at Zhu Dachang, and said, "Don't waste your energy. There's nothing but ice on this wall—it's slippery as hell, and with your tonnage, trying to climb over is harder than ascending to heaven... I have an idea. How about the two of us team up to take care of this little bastard first, and then we can figure out how to get you to shit out what's in your belly? Suddenly I'm not in such a hurry anymore; I can wait. If it doesn't come out today, we'll figure out a way tomorrow. What do you think?"

Zhu Dachang nodded heavily, his right foot still making a vigorous upward thrust. "Very sensible. Brother San always said that harmony is precious, and since we're all men of the underworld, we should naturally follow the rules of the pugilistic world—courtesy before force... How about this: you take care of that little bastard first, and then we can sit down and talk it over slowly..."

"You're not being honest," Yang Wei bent down to pick up a brick from beside the wall, weighed it twice, and suddenly hurled it straight at Zhu Dachang. "Didn't they say fat people are honest and sincere? Looking at you, the only thing left is your bulk. It's one thing not to talk about courtesy before force, but the moment you said that, it reminded me of how you and that skinny monkey ambushed me before... Today, I'll teach you what manners really are!"

Zhu Dachang glanced back, turned pale with fright, and scrambled to dodge. As a result, he slipped and tumbled backward off the wall, the back of his head crashing heavily against a snow-covered rock. His vision went black, and he passed out cold.

Yang Wei held his knife horizontally across his chest, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Wang Chao, and said in a deep voice, "Are you really not going to reconsider my suggestion? Once everyone takes what belongs to them, you guys can go wherever you want, and from then on, we'll owe each other nothing..."

"So much nonsense," Wang Chao walked slowly toward Yang Wei, exhaling a puff of white vapor as he watched the goose-feather snowflakes drifting all over the sky. "Jinyue said that falling snow makes no sound, so you should be a little quieter... Considering that you helped me knock that pig unconscious just now, I'll try to make your death a neat one..."

Clang! A crisp sound reverberated through the alley. Two small knives each traced an arc through the air until their blades pressed tightly against one another.

Suddenly, Yang Wei released his grip on the right-hand knife, swept out with a fist, and smashed it fiercely toward Wang Chao's head. At the same time, he ducked down to evade the cold flash of Wang Chao's counter-swinging blade, caught his own falling small knife with his left hand, and thrust it viciously toward Wang Chao's abdomen.

Wang Chao frowned slightly, leaned his upper body back, and slid backward a few steps in a hurry, narrowly dodging Yang Wei's punch and knife. "Not bad, you've got some moves. You're really not your average piece of trash."

"You're not bad either, but that was just the appetizer. I'm about to get serious now, and it's still not too late for you to take it back..." Seeing his long-brewed offensive easily neutralized by Wang Chao, Yang Wei's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed, adding, "If this freezing weather hadn't hindered my performance, you'd already be lying on the ground by now."

"I hope your skills are as impressive as your mouth..." Wang Chao cast a sidelong glance at the accumulated snow beneath his feet, drove the tip of his boot deep into the snow, and suddenly flicked it upward, sending a flurry of snow flying straight into Yang Wei's face.

Yang Wei's eyelids twitched. Instinctively raising a hand to block, a sudden sense of ominous foreboding gripped his heart. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and he instantly tensed every muscle in his body to guard against a sudden attack from Wang Chao, roaring furiously, "That's not playing fair, launching a sneak attack?"

Wang Chao leaped forward, rolled rapidly twice across the snow-covered ground, and arrived instantly at Yang Wei's feet. A venomous smile hooked the corners of his mouth as his left hand clamped like a steel vise firmly around Yang Wei's left ankle, pulling hard while his right-hand knife circled Yang Chao's ankle, carving a deep red line.

Yang Wei immediately crashed to the ground with a furious howl. He kicked out fiercely with his right foot to force Wang Chao back, flipped himself up, and after taking a few heavy pants with reddened eyes, yelled, "Bastard! How dare you cut my tendons? I'm going to skin you alive today!"

Wang Chao brushed a footprint off his clothes, staring with an amused expression at Yang Wei, whose shoulders were uneven, and showed no rush to press the attack.

Yang Wei struggled to calm his volatile emotions, reversed his grip on the small knife so the blade pointed downward, raised his hand level with his chest, and said coldly, "Come on, again! I was careless and lost my tendon just now, but I'm ready this time!"

"No rush, no rush..." Wang Chao smiled contemptuously. "A person weighing fifty kilograms has about four thousand milliliters of blood in their body. Once blood loss reaches around eight hundred milliliters, they can go into shock, and exceeding fifteen hundred milliliters becomes life-threatening."

"Is that so?" Yang Wei lowered his head to look at his left ankle, from which blood was still spurting. He licked his lips, trudged laboriously toward Wang Chao—dragging a long, bloody trail in the snow—pushed off the ground with his right foot, and lunged forward with a ferocious expression, snapping, "Then I guess I'll just have to kill you before I go into shock..."

Fixing his left foot in place as a pivot, Wang Chao spun his right foot to trace half an arc in the snow, side-stepping Yang Wei's charge. His small knife twirled between his fingers a few times, slicing swiftly across Yang Wei's left forearm to leave a thin red line, and he remarked unhurriedly, "Now you've got two cuts... Flow rate doubled!"

Roaring with anger, Yang Wei grabbed two handfuls of snow from the ground, pressed them respectively against his left ankle and left forearm, blinked hard, took several deep breaths, and stopped talking. He stared icily at Wang Chao, resembling a scarred, solitary wolf waiting to launch its final, fatal strike.