A lot of the fighting techniques I learned were lethal—even the unarmed ones.

But we live in a society governed by the law. I obviously can’t use those terrifying, lethal techniques to kill my enemies. Still, taking down a few punks like these should be easy. There’s no need to use anything that could actually kill them.

The situation was clear. Ten opponents, just me, and two deadweights. This was the best moment to strike. Five of them had split off to watch the entrance to the alley and make sure Feiyang didn’t escape from inside. The other five seemed to be the highest-ranking members of this little gang, so they’d get to “enjoy” things first.

Whether they wanted to enjoy Liu Su or me…

I calmly watched the gang leader turn around and start eyeing Liu Su’s chest. Four others stood behind me. I already had a plan. The leader was leering at Liu Su with a disgustingly lascivious smile, and Liu Su was frozen in place.

When people are afraid, they either break down hysterically or lose their wits, just like Liu Su had.

Good. My chance had come. I was almost unnervingly calm. I didn’t even stop to think about Liu Su being my maid—I just ran through the plan in my head and struck without hesitation.

I drove off my lower leg and punched the gang leader square in the back. The force hit him all at once, leaving him unable to breathe. His arm slipped away from Liu Su, and just as he turned around—

—my left hand, which had been free the whole time, became an uppercut, with my index and middle fingers extended.

I shaped my left hand into a thrusting punch and drove it into the spot beneath his chin, right below his throat. His jaw cracked sharply. It was a textbook dislocation.

A strike to that spot was very likely to cause a lot of pain, but it wasn’t likely to be fatal.

The gang leader’s mouth gaped open. My attack had worked. The biggest threat was taken care of, and the only person carrying a weapon was down. Nine enemies remained!

Just as I’d expected, Punk Number One—the man behind me on my left—was the quickest to react out of those still standing. He saw me attack the leader, and his next move was to freeze in shock. Punks like these couldn’t react quickly and counterattack on the spot. If he could, he’d be the leader.

While Punk Number One beside me was still stunned, I brought my right arm around in an elbow strike and drove it straight into his ribs. A blow there would knock the wind out of him. If it broke a rib and drove it into his chest, it could kill him.

Of course, I held back. The pain of being winded made him curl up on the ground like a shrimp. Eight enemies remained, and three of them were still a direct threat to me.

I immediately turned around. This time, I struck with my left hand again. My left side was my weak point, as the coach who trained me had often said. He’d told me to practice it more.

This was a critical moment. To make sure I took him down in one hit, I chose an elbow strike for my second attack with my left arm. This one was meant to give the punk behind me on the right a taste of my elbow—right at the temple.

During practice, my coach had actually hit me there once. I’d felt groggy for the rest of the day, even though he’d done his best to hold back. My strike this time was definitely harder than his had been.

The punk only had time to grunt before he crouched down. He couldn’t even get both hands up to protect his head. He just writhed on the ground like a fish.

Two enemies remained, and they’d both reacted. They came running at me. But everything was going exactly as I’d imagined—even their speed and the order they came in.

I shot out my left leg in a textbook groin kick. My shin struck his genitals dead-on. I could even feel the soft give of what I’d kicked. Men always know another man’s weak spot.

Even faster than the one who’d been struck in the temple, the punk trying to sneak up behind me hit the ground face-first.

Enemies remaining: one. Move needed: one.

I pulled my left foot back and planted it to push off. Then I drove my right knee straight forward. The last punk staggered back about half a meter. You can’t send someone flying several meters with a kick like they do in TV dramas. A normal man weighs a hundred pounds or so. Can you kick your bed several meters away?

Still, a knee that heavy, driven into his stomach, was more than enough to leave him suffering from the impact to his internal organs.

I slammed my right elbow into him. I hadn’t planted my left foot for nothing. The knee strike had driven the last punk back half a meter, giving my right arm room to put some force behind its blow.

The last punk was on the ground. Enemies remaining: five. Number of immediate threats: zero.

I’d taken down five people in six seconds. The punks at the entrance finally reacted and jumped in fright. But their leader had been the first one I’d taken down, so they didn’t scatter and run. They just stared at me. I took a step forward, and they immediately backed away. The wall was right behind them. Startled when it suddenly pressed against their backs, the punks stared at me.

Liu Su was just as stunned. I’d gone from a docile sheep to a ferocious tiger in an instant.

The girl beside us was so scared she didn’t know what to do. She just clutched the cat in her arms.

All those years of hard training as a kid hadn’t been so I could bully people or show off my strength. They were so that, when the time came, I’d have the power to protect what mattered to me. I walked over to the gang leader, who was half-crouched on the ground. I didn’t say anything. I just looked at him with a faintly rueful expression. Come to think of it, this man had taken my first time… though it was only my first time fighting someone.

With a little blood at the corner of his mouth, he mumbled, “Boss, I was wrong this time.” I’d probably split the inside of his mouth with that punch. To be honest, I’d gone a bit too far. If his tongue had been between his teeth, he could’ve bitten it when I hit him. Even if I could claim self-defense, I’d still be in trouble if anything serious had happened.

But he’d had a knife on him. If I hadn’t dealt with him quickly, something really could’ve gone wrong. Seeing that he could still talk was honestly a relief.

But being relieved didn’t mean I accepted his apology. If I’d had no fighting skills, or if I hadn’t handled things right and he’d drawn his knife, I probably wouldn’t have ended up any better off than he had.

And I had two girls with me. A hotheaded young man like this didn’t care what the consequences were. You could call it passion if you wanted to be nice. If you didn’t, you’d call him an idiot. Who knew what those two girls might’ve gone through?

If things had gone badly, maybe only the dead would know. After all, if a girl suffered that kind of thing…

I pulled a face and spat on the ground. “The phone you smashed just now was worth nine thousand. I think you owe us that money,” I said coldly, ready to act cool.

“Okay, okay, okay.” The gang leader pulled a card from his pocket and mumbled, “There’s money on here. The last six digits of the card number are the PIN. Please, take it.”

I scoffed and stamped hard on the hand of the underling who’d hit me earlier. That underling was still standing nearby, staring blankly. So I’d make the leader pay something on his behalf first.

I crushed the card under my foot, and the gang leader’s right hand was pinned beneath it too. I remembered that he’d put an arm around Liu Su earlier, and suddenly it didn’t feel like enough. So I pressed down harder and ground my shoe into his hand.

The man who’d been acting like an arrogant king just moments ago didn’t even dare cry out loudly now.

I said slowly, “Unfortunately, I’m not planning to make you pay me back.”

As I spoke, I pressed down hard again. The scream he’d been holding back burst out of him.

“Get him! Kill him!” The “leader,” finally remembering that he still had a few men I hadn’t knocked down, shouted at the five punks. I increased the pressure again, and his yell turned into a scream.

“Let go of our boss!” The five punks were pretty loyal. Even after watching me take down five people in an instant, they hadn’t run. They’d just stood there, stunned. Now that their boss had spoken, they exchanged glances, then charged at me together.

Unfortunately for them, they’d lost all their fighting spirit. Even their charge looked weak and limp. And their flailing punches were no match for me, now so fired up I felt like I’d been injected with adrenaline. Their fists moved so slowly I could dodge them with ease.

A few minutes later, I’d knocked four of them to the ground. One man—the one who’d hit me in the head—had taken several hard slaps from me. He stood off to the side, blood filling his mouth and one hand over his face, not daring to come at me again.

“That all you’ve got?” I sneered at the punk who’d taken my money and acted like he was the toughest guy around.

This was the first time I’d ever fought someone head-on. After Ji Ruoyan beat me up in sixth grade and I realized how weak I was, I asked my dad to find me somewhere to train.

Then Dad got a guy with a face full of scars to teach me how to fight for five whole years…

Now that I’d won my first fight, I was feeling a little too pleased with myself.

Liu Su and the other girl were both staring at me, dumbfounded. The story had taken a pretty sudden turn.