Li Shang tore a piece of cloth to wrap around the cut on his lower back, exerting force with his spine. The muscles twined like pythons, forcefully pulling the triangular wound into a seam.

His third-level martial arts, Pan Snake Force, temporarily stopped the bleeding.

Li Shang wore a somber expression, his gaze sweeping past the narrow alley to look at the unfamiliar man across from him.

Long pants, short sleeves, cropped hair, an average-looking face that seemed to be in his twenties, the type that would go unnoticed in a crowd, but his eyes were strikingly dark and bright.

This was the man who had silently approached from behind and stabbed him.

As a vice-captain of the Patrol Office, Li Shang had offended many enemies, but he searched his memory and couldn't match a face to the young man before him.

"Who sent you to kill me? Do you know who I am?"

Li Shang's eyes were shadowed like a venomous snake, focusing on the man's hand holding a triangular spike with a dull bloodletting groove.

If not for his thoroughly practiced Snake Force, allowing him to control power throughout his body, he would likely have been a bloody mess by now.

The young man remained silent, the triangular spike whizzing out of his hand.

Whistle—

The air emitted a sharp screeching sound.

Li Shang's pupils contracted, and despite being several meters apart, he felt a stabbing pain between his eyebrows. He immediately applied a stepping technique underfoot, his right hand reaching into his pocket, pulling out iron handcuffs to grip on his fist.

He had just been off-work and showering, not carrying any guns or knives, only keeping the handcuffs close by, using them as a makeshift Finger Tiger.

Clang!

As the handcuffs collided with the triangular spike, Li Shang twisted his waist, stepping sideways while his other hand swung like a whip.

He moved as if a giant python slithered on the ground, its head darting to bite from the side.

Beyond the triangular spike, the young man bounded off the ground, his explosive power rapidly closing the gap, seizing the spike again and rotating his wrist.

The rotating spike was like a Poison Dragon Drill, sparking against the handcuff, twisting into a bizarre arc, pursuing like a stubborn affliction.

Li Shang's scalp tingled, neck erupting in goosebumps.

He looked up at the young man, his dark, luminous eyes astonishingly indifferent, unafraid of trading life for life, without the slightest emotional ripple.

"Who could hire such a madman to kill me?"

Li Shang's heart sank, chills creeping from his soles up to his skull.

Faster than his sinking heart were his knees, suddenly dropping to the ground, his body instantly shrinking by half.

Li Shang's scalp went cold, a gust wrenching away a patch of his scalp, his taut skull burning hot, blood bursting open to stain his face red.

The young man's fingers spun, reclaiming the spike, ultimately fooled by Li Shang, momentarily losing sight of his target.

Yet he felt no panic, his heartbeat resolute and vast, filled with the sense of dying valiantly.

"A few rounds less than planned, but life-and-death struggles are rapid; dying here shouldn't disrupt the plan, it will suffice," he thought.

Thud!

His chest exploded, terrifying force crushing his ribs.

The young man looked down, meeting Li Shang's venomous snake-like eyes and the violently beating bloody heart in his chest.

Li Shang's knees sprang up, like a coiled python suddenly straightening, his ferocious strength blasting the young man away, ribbed meat splattering the ground.

Li Shang touched his scalp, a layer of skin and flesh scraped away, directly feeling the skull, burning hot with pain.

"Almost overturned in the gutter." Li Shang licked the blood on his lips.

He could now roughly assess that the stranger's overall strength was only second-class, far weaker than himself, but with sneak attacks, slightly faster hand speed, and a ruthless abandon, it caught him off guard.

"Damn, ever since becoming vice-captain, I haven't been so endangered; my skills have degraded." Li Shang thought with lingering fear.

He walked over to the young man with a dark expression, crushed the wrist holding the blade underfoot, thought it was unsafe, and crushed the other wrist.

Yet the young man seemed nerveless, feeling nothing, staring at him with indifferent eyes.

Facing those dark, bright eyes, Li Shang felt inexplicably irritable; he stomped on the man's face, growling: "Tell me, who sent you to kill me, and I'll make it quick, otherwise..."

The young man grinned, white teeth smeared with blood: "Kill me, and your whole family will die with me."

Li Shang glared, squatting and grabbing the man's collar: "What did you say?"

The young man didn't directly answer Li Shang's question but seemed to; hoarsely he said, "Tell Boss Zheng that Xiaowu repaid what he owed with his life."

Li Shang hesitated, fear creeping in his heart; he propped the young man's head, now fearing he'd die.

"What do you mean? Make it clear, is Boss Zheng Zheng Si? What has he planned for my wife and son?" Li Shang's face contorted, the blood smearing his face making his expression utterly terrifying.

The young man spat black blood, the heartbeat within his chest rapidly weakening; in his final moments, he forced his eyes open, seeming to memorize the face of his killer, or perhaps looking past Li Shang, at the towering, dazzling seat of Upper City above him.

"Truly grotesque~"

The young man murmured his last words, suddenly biting off his tongue, furiously chewing and swallowing it down his throat.

Li Shang furiously tried to pry open the man's mouth, finding only blood-drenched pulp mixed with scraps of flesh.

He watched the young man die with wide eyes, his inner rage replaced by an icy chill.

This chill penetrated to his bones, sending shivers down his spine.

Standing still for three seconds, Li Shang abruptly snapped back, running to the sewage manhole, yanking off the cover, and retrieving his fallen phone.

The incoming call screen still flashed, unaware of how many calls had come through.

Li Shang hurriedly answered the phone.

"Erbing, get to my house quickly, Zheng Si has gone mad, he wants to..."

"Captain Li, you finally answered, the Cyan Wolf Gang has gone mad, capturing people everywhere; we reported it this morning..."

As soon as the call connected, both began speaking at once, urgently barking into the receiver.

Then, both fell silent, a deathly stillness filled only with urgent, breathless gasps.

Li Shang's cranial blood pressure skyrocketed, his vision darkened momentarily, and looking at the body on the ground, hearing the voice on the phone, he had but one thought.

Zheng Si sent a suicidal madman to kill me; Zheng Si is a madman driven by vengeance for his son; the Cyan Wolf Gang members are all brainless madmen.

The Cyan Wolf Gang, from top to bottom, were uncontrolled madmen, utterly unreasonable.

Regret surged in Li Shang's heart, but it was too late; he needed to find a way to fix everything and rescue his wife and child.

Li Shang shouted to Chang Erbing: "Notify all brothers immediately, come find me."

Li Shang hung up, holding onto a sliver of hope, dialed his wife's number.

Constant busy signals met him, and just when despair loomed, the call connected but instantly disconnected.

Trying again, the line indicated it was off.

Despair was no longer needed; his heart was already dead.

His mind was blank, anger and fear gripping his heart; he instinctively wanted to crush his phone, then recklessly charge into the Cyan Wolf Gang.

Yet, after over a decade as Chief Constable, having dealt with countless vicious criminals, his last shred of sanity restrained him.

Rushing to the Cyan Wolf Gang recklessly would not only fail to rescue his wife and child, but also cost him his life.

The Cyan Wolf Gang from top to bottom were mad; force wouldn't work, his presence wouldn't intimidate a bunch of lunatics; he needed an insider, someone less mad.

Suddenly, a face surfaced in Li Shang's mind.

And as if fate were prewritten, his phone coincidentally rang with a number; the caller ID was none other than the person he had just thought of...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.