Met someone tough, huh?
The girl took the initiative to lead Ethan Brooks forward, and Ethan simply followed her lead.
"Stop right there. We've taken a wrong turn. It's a dead end," the girl said to Ethan Brooks.
Ethan looked up and realized he had unknowingly wandered into a row of yet - to - be - demolished bungalows. It was indeed a dead end, surrounded by slanted houses on three sides.
"Watch your step, friend!" a voice called out from behind Ethan Brooks. He jolted and turned around.
Standing behind him were three men. One was a middle - aged man with a scarred bald head and a face full of brute features, clearly a habitual offender from the hard - labor prison. Another was a man in his mid - thirties, wearing a checkered shirt, with no distinctive features on his face. The third was a tall, bespectacled young man with a cold expression, holding an electrician's toolbox in his hand. The man in the checkered shirt was clutching a gleaming dagger.
When Ethan and the girl had entered the dead end earlier, there had been no sign of these men. They must have been hiding in the demolished houses, waiting for Ethan to walk in before they emerged to corner him.
Though Ethan knew what was happening, he looked at the girl and said, "You're all in this together?"
The girl quickly removed her arm from Ethan's and ran behind the three men.
"Not bad, you're not completely in the dark yet," the scarred bald man said to Ethan Brooks.
"Thanks for the compliment. I don't have any enemies. You guys set this up for money, right?" Ethan Brooks said calmly.
The scarred bald man shook his head and said, "Money, but I'm not interested in small change. You knew this was a setup?"
"No, if I had known, I wouldn't have walked right into it."
"Why are you so calm then?"
"What good would panicking do? If I had shouted for help, I'd probably have a hole in me right now," Ethan Brooks said.
"Fair enough. You're a young man with guts, but we still have business to conduct. Your money means nothing to us. We don't want money. We just need to give you a shot," the scarred bald man said.
Ethan Brooks' eyes gleamed with a sharp light as he said, "Kidney - snatching gang?"
Ethan Brooks had heard from his senior roommate that a particularly heinous criminal organization had recently emerged in City B. This group would first abduct people walking alone at night, then administer anesthesia. On - site, someone who appeared to be a doctor would remove a kidney from the victim, leaving the victim's phone number at the scene before fleeing. This group had already committed three crimes in District C of City B, resulting in one death. To avoid panic, the police had suppressed the news and deployed heavy police forces to investigate in District C. However, no one expected that this group would appear in the university town of District F, where Ethan was.
The scarred bald man was taken aback that Ethan Brooks knew about them and said, "You're well - informed, brother. But since you know, let's cooperate. We don't want any bloodshed." As he spoke, he took a step closer to Ethan Brooks!
The man in the checkered shirt beside the scarred bald man was already growing impatient. He didn't understand why the boss always had to say a few words before making a move. In his opinion, it would be much cleaner and more efficient to just knock the person out. Although he loved seeing the desperate expressions on the faces of the men and women he cornered, for the sake of his profession, he had to suppress this indulgence.
But the young man in front of him really annoyed him. He seemed like a coward who wouldn't fight back, yet he was pretending to be calm and cool. The boss had even been deceived by him. If it were up to him, he would have taken the guy down long ago.
At that moment, the man in the checkered shirt heard the boss tell him to make a move. He excitedly licked his lips and approached Ethan Brooks with the dagger in hand.
The young man, who had been lured out by the girl, spread his hands apart and struck a pose.
You think you're Bruce Lee or something? Haven't you heard that even the best martial arts are no match for a kitchen knife? I'll show you what I mean by stabbing a couple of holes in you!
With this thought, the man in the checkered shirt sneered and lunged at Ethan Brooks with the dagger. The young man's facade of bravery was just that—a facade. The man in the checkered shirt could already see the panic on his face!
The girl, who had been used as bait, seemed unable to bear the thought of someone she had just had "intimate contact" with being stabbed. She turned her head away, not wanting to witness the scene.
"Snap!" The man in the checkered shirt froze.
The scarred bald man froze.
The girl who had been used as bait also froze.
The man in the checkered shirt couldn't believe his eyes as he looked at his hand. When he had lunged at the young man with his dagger, the latter's hands had created a blur of movement. His dagger - wielding hand had plunged into that blur, followed by a crisp sound. Then, he felt his arm twist into an impossible angle, as if it were a matchstick, and a searing pain shot through the middle of his arm!
"Ahh!!!" The man in the checkered shirt howled in disbelief as his arm was broken in an instant by Ethan Brooks.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!" As soon as the man in the checkered shirt let out his cry, he was met with six consecutive slaps, two on each side of his face. A hidden force spun him around, and Ethan Brooks coldly said, "What's all the screaming about? You look like a man, but you're squealing like a woman after just a few hits!"
The man in the checkered shirt's mouth was filled with blood, and two of his front teeth were knocked out by Ethan Brooks.
Ethan Brooks then coldly scanned the two men who were still stunned. They felt a sense of foreboding, as if they had been targeted by a malevolent spirit, and their legs twitched with the urge to flee.
Before the two men could even prepare to run, Ethan Brooks executed a high - flying backflip, soaring over their heads!
The two men turned their heads in unison, only to see Ethan Brooks standing behind them, effectively trapping them in the dead end. At this moment, Ethan Brooks was holding a pair of glasses.
"Huh??? Aren't those my glasses?" The man who had been wearing glasses earlier touched his eye socket, realizing his glasses were gone.
Ethan Brooks had casually plucked the glasses off his face while in mid - air.
Ethan Brooks slowly perched the glasses on his own nose and coldly snorted, "They're indeed plain - lensed. You're really a closet pervert."
Seeing the situation was dire, the man with the glasses lunged forward, attempting to break through Ethan Brooks' blockade.
Ethan Brooks let out a cold snort, and his body flickered like a ghost. In the blink of an eye, he was standing in front of the man with the glasses, and with a lightning - quick kick, he struck the latter's shin!
"Snap!" A crisp sound rang out as the man with the glasses howled and collapsed to the ground, his left leg's shin shattered into three pieces!!!
The man with the glasses curled up on the ground like a shrimp, clutching his broken shin and wailing in agony.
"Ptui!" Ethan Brooks spat contemptuously at the man with the glasses, "You know how to show off when bullying others, but a little injury makes you scream in pain? Don't you think the people you've kidnapped and had their kidneys removed also feel pain?"
Then, Ethan Brooks' gaze slowly shifted to the scarred bald man.
"B - Big... Big brother, I think this is all a misunderstanding..." The scarred bald man's earlier bravado was gone, his tongue trembling as he stammered out the words.
"Misunderstanding? If an ordinary person had encountered you, they would have had their kidney removed!" Ethan Brooks' eyes turned cold as he glared at the scarred bald man.
Under Ethan Brooks' piercing gaze, the scarred bald man felt a chill run through him, as if he had fallen into an icy lake in the dead of winter, cold to the bone.
Seeing his cowardly demeanor, Ethan Brooks let out a cold laugh and began to advance step by step towards the scarred bald man.
Seeing Ethan Brooks approaching, the scarred bald man felt like a prey cornered by a bloodthirsty beast on a cliff, his heart filled with a terrifying sense of despair, and he involuntarily retreated.
Ethan Brooks took a step forward, and the scarred bald man took a step back.
Finally, he backed up to where the man in the checkered shirt was.
Suddenly, Ethan Brooks took a large step forward!
The scarred bald man was startled and lost his footing, sitting down on the ground!
In his panic, his hand fumbled and grasped a hard object. He turned his head and saw that it was the long dagger that the man in the checkered shirt had dropped!
The scarred bald man, as if finding a savior, grabbed the dagger.
The scarred bald man, as if encountering a savior, grabbed the dagger and struggled to his feet: "You... don't come any closer! Stay back!"
As he spoke, he frantically slashed at his own arm twice, blood spurting out. Perhaps the sight of his own blood unleashed his primal instincts, and he snarled, "Don't come any closer! I'm not afraid of you!"
Ethan Brooks bared his teeth in a smile, but in the scarred bald man's eyes, those teeth, so white they seemed to gleam, looked like the fangs of a beast, sending a chill down his spine. At that moment, Ethan Brooks had already sprinted forward with a powerful burst of speed!
With a "smack!" during the sprint, a dark shadow flew through the air and struck the scarred bald man. He instinctively swung his dagger at the shadow, only to realize it was a pair of glasses that Ethan Brooks had flung at him.
As the scarred bald man brushed the glasses aside, he saw another dark figure tumbling towards him from the sky!
The dark figure was none other than Ethan Brooks, somersaulting through the air!
In mid-air, Ethan Brooks grabbed the arm holding the dagger and rolled behind the scarred bald man!
With a "crack!" the bald man's shoulder blade snapped, and he let out an agonized scream as the dagger fell to the ground.
Ethan Brooks had already flipped behind him, let out a cold, mocking laugh, and grabbed the other hand of the scarred bald man. He pinned him from behind, like riding a tractor, preparing for the next move.
Suddenly, with a "thud," the scarred bald man dropped to his knees, his face streaming with tears as he pleaded, "Big brother! Spare my life! I know I was wrong! Please show mercy!"