Chapter 139: Reinforcements from All Directions

"Madman! Are you okay?!" Fourth was terrified. Lin Jia's current appearance was terrifyingly gruesome, and those lifeless eyes simply did not belong to a human.

"Heh heh heh..." A hoarse laugh rattled from Lin Jia's throat. He tremblingly scrambled up from the body of the guy he had been straddling, but then his legs turned to jelly and he rolled on the ground like a tumbling ingot. The earlier brawl had completely drained his physical strength. It was a blessing that the sanitation work around the residential area's lake was exceptionally well done; there wasn't a single stray stone or roof tile in sight, leaving those thugs unable to find even a broken brick to use.

Consequently, the single remaining brick in Fourth's hand became their most formidable weapon. Fourth rushed to Lin Jia's side, wielding his lethal instrument and standing in a standoff against the surrounding thugs. Long-haired, his face covered in blood, screamed madly amidst the crowd, "Beat him to death! Beat him to death and I'll take the blame!!"

The surrounding thugs remained silent. These hoodlums were not real underworld brothers; they were merely a group of idle, unemployed youths who gathered to commit petty thefts. The most dangerous crime they had ever committed was stealing a bicycle, and their proudest exploit was extorting elementary school students. They were fine for participating in a casual brawl, but killing someone? They wouldn't dare even if you lent them the courage. Besides, Long-haired's words were nothing more than empty bluster. If someone were actually beaten to death, he would be the first to run away without a trace; you certainly couldn't expect him to step forward and take the rap.

That being said, ordinary thugs weren't that foolish. While their curses sounded earth-shattering, very few of them would actually deliver a fatal blow. Still, one could never guard against an absolute fool like the one stepping forward now—a short, plump thug with a face covered in acne, who panted heavily and pulled a folding fruit knife from his pocket, bouncing around outside the crowd and roaring, "Move aside! Move aside! Let me stab him to death!" His short stature left him squeezed on the outer edges by several others. Whether he was intentionally putting on a show of bravado or secretly hoping someone would hold him back, he failed to squeeze his way out for a long time.

Seeing that someone had pulled a knife, Fourth tensed his muscles, lowering his body slightly in vigilance. The surrounding thugs had already been terrified by the ferocious bravery of the two men. Coupled with the fact that both of them were now covered from head to toe in blood, they looked all the more menacing and terrifying. Lin Jia had fought with lethal intent; the guy he had tackled earlier was now lying motionless on the ground, blood continuously gushing from his head and face, while the one Fourth had dropped with two bricks had a gaping bloody hole at the back of his skull, oozing plasma in bubbling streams.

Since the thugs were already gripped by fear, and now someone was stepping up to "finish them off," several of them naturally parted with a swish, exposing the short-armed, flailing hoodlum. The short, plump thug, who had been shouting at the top of his lungs, suddenly found the space in front of him wide open, which momentarily stunned him. Right after that, with a fierce whoosh of wind, his vision blurred, and an object slammed viciously right into his face. The impact drove his leaning-forward body flying backward, and he toppled over face-up toward the sky.

Lying on the ground, the short, plump thug felt as though his face had been split in half. Before losing consciousness, he wondered strangely why it didn't hurt at all. Moreover, his mouth seemed suddenly filled with numerous hard, pebble-like little beans, and his nose was blocked, making him feel somewhat suffocated, while his throat was full of warm, salty, bubbling liquid...

All the thugs were stunned by this sudden turn of events. The short, fat man's backward-flying fall was as exaggerated as something out of a cartoon, and he even spewed a mist of blood mid-air! A thug with 20/20 vision stated with absolute certainty afterward, "When the fatty was smashed flying, I saw with my own eyes that he spat out an arrow of blood, and there seemed to be quite a few teeth in it! The arc of his body bending backward and the parabola formed by the back of his head—holy crap, ultra-epic! The exact microsecond the brick bounced off his face, I saw that his face was completely flat~!!!!"

"My word!" Fourth turned his head in astonishment to look at Lin Jia behind him. Lin Jia, wearing a ferocious grin, had his face smeared with bloody paste. Half-hunched over, his drooping left hand clutched half a red brick, while his right hand still maintained a throwing posture. At some point, when he had scrambled up from the ground, he had instinctively grabbed the brick that Fourth had broken into two over another thug's head earlier.

Fourth suddenly couldn't help blurting out, "Damn it! Madman! You didn't even wear glasses, yet your Fireball spell is still this accurate?" The surrounding thugs almost collapsed in disbelief.

The phrase "when narrow paths meet, the brave prevail" is a classic anywhere. Don't think that the protagonist taking on a whole crowd in novel stories is just exaggerated rhetoric by authors; in real life, it is entirely normal for a group of people to be chased around by one or two individuals like fleeing swallows!

When Fourth and Lin Jia let out a wild, thunderous roar and charged toward the pack of thugs while waving their bricks like madmen, the hoodlums were so scared they turned tail and ran—everyone values their lives! When a group fails to subdue a fierce enemy, they certainly stop hoping that the enemy's retaliation will fall upon them! Getting a brick smashed into your face hurts a lot, so fleeing became the natural choice!

The brawl between Lin Jia's group and these thugs had long since attracted the attention of several other small groups of hoodlums nearby, who had been watching the commotion from a safe distance. Some of them knew the people in this group of thugs and had been harboring a restless desire to step in and help. After all, a group mobbing two people was a thrilling prospect, and getting to land a couple of kicks for fun sounded great. But when they witnessed a whole mob being beaten by two guys until they scattered like startled swallows, they froze in utter shock!

Suddenly, a guy from one of the smaller groups cursed loudly, "Damn it! That's Madman and the boys! Brothers, charge with me and smash 'em!!!" With that, seven or eight thugs abruptly lunged out from the dark shrubbery by the lakeside park, cutting off a dozen fleeing individuals and showering them with ferocious blows and kicks!

Not only were Lin Jia and his pursuers momentarily stunned, but the fleeing thugs were also utterly bewildered. Most of the hoodlums wandering around this lakeside park knew each other; there was no deep-seated hatred between them, and normally they wouldn't attack one another. Why on earth were they suddenly turning on their own—no, wait, why were they suddenly beating a dog in the water just because it had been thrashed by two outsiders?

The other groups of bystanders were similarly baffled. However, possessing a modest amount of mutual camaraderie, the moment they saw their acquaintances being beaten, the mindless code of street loyalty ingrained in these young punks erupted. Instantly, the surroundings were filled with filthy curses like "What the hell!" and "Son of a bitch!", as several more batches of disorganized thugs surged out from dark corners to join the chaotic melee. Not knowing who was hitting whom anymore, they simply plunged into the fray for a general brawl—as long as they weren't the ones getting beaten, hitting anyone else was fair game.

The suddenly chaotic lakeside park completely scrambled Lin Jia and Fourth, leaving them clueless about whom to attack. They hadn't even caught sight of which group of thugs had just come to their rescue before bodies swarmed them from all directions, forcing them to close their eyes and blindly lash out with the bricks in their hands.

The sudden, widespread free-for-all erupting in the lakeside park eventually alerted the surrounding residents, some of whom began discussing the spectacle in safe spots, pointing and gesturing. Who knows if any civic-minded citizen actually dialed the police emergency number.

Right in the thick of the chaotic battle, over a dozen taxis suddenly came tearing wildly down the road past the lakeside park, while more taxis could be vaguely seen speeding toward the scene at non-regulation speeds in the distance. Simultaneously, from the direction of the residential compound, several dozen figures rushed out, all carrying iron rods and similar implements.

Amidst the screeching of harsh brakes, more than a dozen taxis parked haphazardly alongside the lakeside park. The doors were violently flung open, disgorging a group of adult men who clearly belonged to the underworld—one could sense that particular brand of "murderous intent" exuding from their eyes, expressions, and physical movements, radiating a dangerous aura. They leaped out of the cabs carrying long, narrow objects wrapped in newspaper. However, they didn't immediately join the fight; instead, all eyes turned to a young man who had alighted from the lead taxi. That young man frowned, first sweeping a glance over the chaotic melee, and then looked vigilantly toward the group emerging from the residential compound, casting a disdainful smirk at those blatant thugs wielding iron rods and steel pipes.

The youngsters of Lin Jia's age rushing out from the compound visibly slowed their pace when they spotted this group pouring out of the taxis, before eventually bypassing them to plunge into the lakeside park.

Boss Xu Fangfang was running at a dead sprint across the road at that moment. The young man who had stepped out of the lead taxi lit up with recognition and opened his mouth to shout, when a harsh, brassy voice bellowed at maximum volume, "Sister Xu!!! Where are the Madman and the boys?!" The young man looked over, only to discover a dark-faced, burly fellow with fierce, heavily-fleshed features.

Fortunately, due to the lakeside commotion, traffic on this already quiet road had been entirely rerouted, allowing Boss Xu to make a safe dash across. She looked around anxiously, but instead of answering the dark-faced fellow, she bolted straight toward the young man from the taxis, shrieking from afar, "Fifth Brother! Little Paoqi and Madman are trapped inside the park!"

The young man remained silent. He glanced back, signaling to the thirty-odd men in their late twenties who had arrived with him. Brandishing their newspaper-wrapped packages, those men charged swiftly into the park. The group brought by the dark-faced fellow surged in right behind them. As the dark-faced man sprinted inward, he roared at the top of his lungs, "Madman! Shout out if you're in there!!!"

Lin Jia didn't make a sound, but Fourth's voice rang out from a spot near the lakeside where he had been pushed during the fighting: "Black Bear! We're right here!!" Because of the swirling chaos, a massive cluster of combatants had splintered into five or six smaller skirmish groups kicking up clouds of dust. This was precisely why the men from the taxis and the crew brought by the dark-faced fellow hadn't been able to pitch in immediately—they simply couldn't figure out who was on which side!

Fourth's roar instantly pinpointed the target for all factions. The arrivals from the taxis swung their newspaper-wrapped items with vicious force at anyone nearby, dropping those thugs to the ground virtually one hit per person, which spoke volumes about the ruthlessness of their methods. Meanwhile, Black Bear's contingent rushed straight toward the source of Fourth's voice, instantly shattering the circle surrounding them. Though their steel pipes and other weapons lacked the specific lethality of the taxis' newspaper packages, they were more than enough to send the surrounding thugs scurrying in all directions with tearful cries.

Just then, the wail of police sirens echoed from afar. The young man standing by the taxi glanced leisurely in the direction of the approaching sirens, placed two fingers in his mouth, and let out a sharp whistle. The thirty-odd men who had accompanied him instantly broke off their fight and sprinted back, tossing their newspaper packages right into the taxi beside the young man. They then scrambled into the cabs that had brought them and scattered like startled flies, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, Black Bear's brethren were still enthusiastically swinging their implements, oblivious to reality, chasing down the wailing pack of thugs. It wasn't until Black Bear let out a thunderous roar—"Run! The police are here!"—that they finally abandoned the hapless hoodlums, tossed their weapons straight into the lake, and scattered into every shadowed nook and cranny of the lakeside park, disappearing completely.

Following that, Black Bear scooped up a person in each arm and sprinted out rapidly. As someone lunged out from a blind spot nearby, Black Bear threw a kick in reflex, prompting the person to shriek, "Brother Black Bear! It's me! Monkey!" Only then did Black Bear pull back his kick, shoving Fourth—whom he had been supporting—onto Monkey, while hoisting the limp form of Lin Jia onto his own back and preparing to bolt.

At that moment, the young man standing by the taxi called out, "What the hell are you running for?! Get over here and get in the car!" Black Bear paused, and upon seeing Boss Xu Fangfang frantically waving at him from inside the vehicle, he finally understood. Rushing over, he shoved Lin Jia and Fourth into the car and squeezed in after them. Monkey hopped anxiously outside; Black Bear's massive frame took up too much space, leaving no room for Monkey, as a single taxi could only seat four or five people. The young man gestured for Boss Xu to get out, shoved Monkey into the front passenger seat, patted the roof of the taxi, and gave a hand signal to the taxi driver, who was smoking a cigarette. The driver nodded leisurely, started up his Fukang sedan at a sluggish pace, and drove off.

Monkey was trembling all over with nervous tension. Through the car window, he watched the young man leisurely stroll back toward the five or six police cars that had pulled up by the lakeside park. The young man exchanged words with one of the police officers who had stepped out of the lead vehicle, even pulling out a pack of cigarettes to share, and the two of them stood there smoking together. Meanwhile, the rest of the police officers acted as though they saw nothing at all, methodically walking into the lakeside park to round up the hapless thugs sprawled on the ground, occasionally dragging a cowering youngster out from the dark shrubbery...

The sluggishly moving Fukang sedan rounded a street corner, and Monkey spotted another group of young people running wildly down the roadside, carrying sticks and assorted makeshift weapons. Fourth suddenly yelled out the car window, "Old Five! We're heading back!!" Upon hearing this, the sprinting pack of youths slammed on the brakes and stared over at the slowly moving taxi. Fourth waved at them, whereupon their lean leader exchanged a few words with the guys around him, and the group slowly dispersed.

Noticing they knew each other, the taxi driver actually pulled the car over to the side of the road, waiting for the slender young man to jog over. After exchanging a brief word with the passengers inside, the leader of the youths pulled the door open, took one look at the crammed interior, blurted out, "Holy crap!", and then squeezed himself into the front seat, roaring at Monkey, "Squeeze over! Let's share!" Fortunately, both of them were thin; otherwise, that single front passenger seat could never have accommodated them both.

......