Chapter 26: Ambush

Night deepened.

After the incident, it was already 9:30 PM by the time they returned to the apartment complex.

The lobby on the first floor was nearly empty, with only two people reading newspapers. 

The security booth was eerily vacant; the guard was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing this, a faint smile tugged at the corner of Wu Zhiming's lips.

Yao Jing, unaware of any oddities, walked with Wu Zhiming to the elevator and pressed the up button.

At that moment, the two people who had been reading newspapers stood up and started approaching Wu Zhiming.

Simultaneously, two more men emerged from the corner on the other side.

Four men in total, converging on Wu Zhiming from both sides.

Yao Jing finally sensed something was off. She glanced around and whispered, "Something's not right with these guys."

"Yeah," Wu Zhiming nodded.

Ding! The elevator door opened.

As the doors slid apart, the four men drew steel knives from their waists and charged at Wu Zhiming.

Wu Zhiming pushed Yao Jing into the elevator and said, "Go upstairs and call the police."

Turning his back to her, he blocked the elevator door with his body.

Yao Jing, seeing this, pressed the button for the 10th floor and quickly hit the door close button.

"Hold on," Yao Jing's voice called out from behind as the elevator doors shut with a clang.

Facing the four men surrounding him, Wu Zhiming smirked and said, "Guys, name your price. Let's not get violent, okay?"

"We want your leg," one of the attackers growled, slashing at Wu Zhiming's thigh.

"Brutal," Wu Zhiming muttered as he dodged the strike by lifting his leg and then stomped down on the blade, pinning it to the ground with surprising force.

With a loud crash, the knife hit the floor, and the attacker stumbled.

Wu Zhiming's right fist shot up, striking the attacker's jaw.

Bang!

The man flew backward, landing with a thud.

Without pausing to celebrate, Wu Zhiming ducked just in time to avoid another swipe aimed at him. Seizing the knife from the ground, he parried the descending blade.

Clang! The two blades collided just inches from Wu Zhiming's neck, forcing the attacker's knife-hand upwards.

With a flick of his wrist, Wu Zhiming slashed at the man's wrist.

Slash!

Blood spurted from the cut, causing the attacker to drop his knife.

In a blink, Wu Zhiming had armed himself with two knives, one in each hand, now pointing them at the wounded assailants.

"He's tough! Kill him!" one of the attackers shouted, lunging at Wu Zhiming with his knife.

The other man did the same.

"Do you know why I sent Yao Jing away?" Wu Zhiming asked calmly, watching the blades hurtling towards him. "Because I didn't want her to see me kill."

As the words left his mouth, Wu Zhiming's hands moved swiftly, ready to strike.

Two steel knives blossomed like flowers, their shadows enveloping the two assassins who aimed to kill Wu Zhiming.

Thud! Thud!

Two muffled sounds.

Simultaneously, a bloodstain appeared on the necks of the two assassins.

The two assassins stood still, one hand clutching their necks, the other holding a knife pointed at Wu Zhiming, their eyes filled with terror.

Wu Zhiming glanced up; the elevator had just reached the tenth floor.

He picked up his phone and made a call.

"Come in and handle a few bodies. I left one alive; see if you can get anything out of him. Also, deal with the surveillance here," Wu Zhiming said.

"Yes!"

Thud, thud, the two assassins with slit throats fell to the ground.

Thud, the assassin with a cut wrist collapsed after taking a few steps.

Further away, an assassin with a shattered jaw and a severely injured head lay on the ground, foaming at the mouth.

A few seconds later, a group of men in black suits entered from outside. Some carried the bodies away, while others used special tools to clean the bloodstains on the floor.

Wu Zhiming turned to look at the elevator.

The elevator had descended to the fourth floor.

"Alright," Wu Zhiming clapped his hands, "disperse."

The group left in an orderly manner.

The elevator reached the second floor.

Wu Zhiming slapped himself twice, then picked up a knife and cut a few slits in his clothes.

Ding, the elevator door opened.

Yao Jing rushed out of the elevator holding a kitchen knife.

When she saw that only Wu Zhiming was there, she froze.

"Where are those people?" Yao Jing asked.

"I fought them off!" Wu Zhiming replied.

"Are you hurt?" Yao Jing walked up to Wu Zhiming, anxiously inspecting him. She saw that apart from a swollen face and a few cuts on his clothes, he was unharmed.

Only then did Yao Jing breathe a sigh of relief.

"Those bastards, learning to rob instead of doing something proper. Luckily, your husband practiced martial arts, or it would have been really troublesome!" Wu Zhiming said proudly.

"Robbery?" Yao Jing looked at Wu Zhiming in confusion.

"Yes, robbery!" Wu Zhiming nodded. He couldn't let Yao Jing know that those people were there to kill him, so she could at least sleep peacefully.

"I see, no wonder you drove them away so easily!" Yao Jing suddenly understood and accepted Wu Zhiming's explanation. If those people weren't robbers, they couldn't have been driven away so quickly.

"The police are on their way," Yao Jing said.

"Is it Officer Wang?" Wu Zhiming asked with a strange expression.

"Well, technically... our area and my mom's community are in the same jurisdiction..." Yao Jing said.

Just as she finished speaking, the sound of police sirens blared.

Deputy Chief Wang Zhiqiang, who was patrolling nearby, arrived at the scene in less than a minute after hearing about someone wielding a knife. When Wang Zhiqiang saw the embarrassed Wu Zhiming, he could only let out a helpless cry in his heart.

"Why is it you again?!"

Wu Zhiming once again went to the police station. Because weapons were involved, this was no longer a security case but fell under the category of a criminal case, so he had to go to the station to give a statement.

By the time he finished and returned home, it was already past eleven o'clock.

This time, there were no surprises, and the two of them returned home safely.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

In Haixia City, at Yuehao KTV.

Yang Sandao was singing in the KTV. At his age, he had accumulated enough money, and his daily life was nothing more than eating, drinking, and having fun.

Besides Yang Sandao, there were also many of his subordinates in the private room.

Yang Sandao glanced at his watch, then pushed away the girl next to him and said to his subordinates, "Turn off the music."

Someone immediately turned off the music.

"Tietou, how long have A Bing and the others been gone?" Yang Sandao asked a bald man next to him.

"About two or three hours!" the bald man named Tietou replied.

"Still no news?" Yang Sandao asked.

"No, I'll give them a call!" Tietou picked up his phone and walked to the side.

A minute later, Tietou returned.

"Third Brother, I can't reach them," Tietou said with a strange expression.

"Can't reach them?" Yang Sandao frowned and said, "Didn't you say those four were reliable and wouldn't take the money and run?"

"Yes! They are indeed reliable. They have a good reputation for doing jobs for money in the underworld!" Tietou frowned, also puzzled as to why the four he hired hadn't given any updates.

Just then, Tietou's phone rang. He glanced at it and then walked to the side to answer.

After a while, Tietou returned.

"Boss, I just got word that a few minutes ago, the Jin'an District police station received a report saying there was an armed attack at Jingyuan Community. But when the police arrived, they found no assailants and no one injured," Tietou said, puzzled.

"Didn't find the assailants? No one injured? Wu Zhiming is fine?" Yang Sandao frowned and asked.

"Yes, Wu Zhiming is perfectly fine. He even went to give a statement," Tietou said.

"This is interesting!" Yang Sandao squinted and said, "Four people simultaneously lost contact, but someone reported an armed attack... Tietou, keep trying to contact those four!"

"Yes!" Tietou nodded.

"A Yong, send a few sharp guys to keep an eye on Wu Zhiming. There's something fishy about him!" Yang Sandao said to a skinny young man on the other side.

"Yes!" The man named A Yong nodded with a sullen face and said, "Or should I take action myself?"

"The reason I hired those four outsiders was to avoid exposing us... There's a rumor that Wu Zhiming has someone backing him. Before we figure out who that is, don't act rashly. Wu Zhiming is likely on alert already, so be careful when watching him," Yang Sandao said.

"Just a rich second generation. I grew up in the underworld and learned martial arts at Shao Wu Martial School. How could I not handle a rich second generation?" A Yong said disdainfully.

"Exactly, Boss, you're overestimating Wu Zhiming. Those four outsiders are just so-so. I could easily beat them. If they weren't relatively cheap, I wouldn't have bothered hiring them," Tietou said.

"Wu Zhiming is nothing; we can easily crush him. It's the person behind him that's the trouble... This million won't be easy to earn," Yang Sandao said, glancing at the hostess. "Play the music."

"Yes!"

The music resumed in the private room, and the group returned to their revelry. Although there was a hiccup with Wu Zhiming, none of them took him seriously. In their eyes, Wu Zhiming was just lucky, nothing more.