Chapter 9 Asymmetric Warfare

  Yi Tian Xing had discovered the secret of his body, and found that sometimes he would have some "out of place" behavior. The reason for this was that when he concentrated on thinking about something, he would forget to conceal his extremely strong steel-like body. Fortunately, in the past, when he lost himself in thought, he was usually squatting in his own small, messy black house - so using his palm to chop bricks and build a stove, or using his thigh as a chopping board for meat - such abnormal behavior had not been exposed under the bright sunlight.

  But today he was a bit absent-minded, mainly because he was confused by this emotional thing.

  So when seven or eight fist-sized punches came down like raindrops, he simply forgot to dodge and didn't even bother to dodge. His mind was still savoring the blush on Zou Leli's face from earlier, and it was really hard for him to remember that a fight was about to start right now.

  Bang, bang, bang, a burst of chaotic noise. Yi Tian Xing looked at the several burly men beside him with some astonishment as they clutched their fists and fell to the ground in agony, only then remembering that he should do something.

  Then he jumped back, his left hand in front and his right hand slightly raised behind him, posing like Wong Fei-hung. He glanced at the ground out of the corner of his eye and said coolly, "How many more are there? Come on all at once."

  Yi Tianxing felt a bit disgusted with himself, but there was no way around it. If he didn't put on the airs of a master, nobody would believe him. Why did his fist hurt when he punched someone? And the only image of a master he knew... apart from the extremely disgusting first bodyguard of Kongde, was Li Lianjie's move, which he had learned after a long time in the underground video room.

  The leader of the gang was a middle-aged man, his cigarette had long since fallen to the ground, he furrowed his brow, blinked repeatedly, and slowly walked over, looking at Yi Tianxing, thinking: "This guy is still a student, how come he didn't make a move, but his own brother can't?"

  "Hey, have you practiced before?"

  Yi Tian Xing gazed at him quietly and smiled: "You've been practicing since you were young."

  "No wonder you're so arrogant?" the man said fiercely, then pulled out a chopping knife from his bosom. At that time, the most popular among hoodlums was this one-foot-two-inch machine knife, with good steel and a short blade, convenient to carry.

  It was already past five in the afternoon, but the sun's temperature hadn't dropped a bit. There were few pedestrians on the street, and the corner shaded by the paulownia tree was very quiet. Yi Tianxing saw that this person actually dared to draw his knife in broad daylight, and couldn't help but furrow his brow, saying: "Is there something you can talk about first?"

  "Third Brother said, this place, only we have the right to be arrogant. If we encounter someone even more arrogant than us, then there's no need to say anything, just beat him until he's not arrogant." The middle-aged man thought he was scared and laughed wickedly, his yellow teeth showing.

  He mouthed "Third Brother", and Yi Tianxing knew who it was, also a well-known figure in the county town, that is, Xue San'er whom He Wei had warned him to be careful of a few days ago.

  Xue San'er, also known as Xue Gong, unfortunately didn't learn any good virtues. He started hanging out on the streets in the early 80s and was one of those unremarkable types from the East Gate generation. His hands and feet were a bit dirty, but he was good at gambling. At that time, the most despised people on the streets were these unclean little Buddhas and pawns. Xue Gong had both qualities, so naturally, he wasn't very welcome. Once, he got caught cheating while running a scam and was forced to pay 50,000 yuan within a week. Within a week, he begged his father and mother, searched everywhere for people he knew on the streets, trying to find someone to help him out, but no one helped him.

  The time limit arrived, and he couldn't come up with the 50,000 yuan. As a result, someone cut off his right thumb and index finger, leaving him with only three useless fingers.

  From that day on, Xue Gong was called Xue Saner, his name changed, and he seemed to have become a different person. He became ruthless and daring in his actions, doing whatever it took to harm others, and his methods were particularly vicious. Taking advantage of the power vacuum after the first severe crackdown, he occupied some territory in the east gate area and gathered a group of younger brothers, becoming the leader. For years, he lived a life of luxury and deception, cheating and robbing people, until he finally became the big boss of the east gate, feared by all in the county town. It wasn't until his ancestor, an old man from the provincial capital, came back to his hometown to retire that Xue Saner's arrogance was slightly subdued.

  The middle-aged man walked up to Yitian Xing, slapped his face with the steel knife in his hand, making two loud slapping sounds, and threatened menacingly: "Third Master said that if you move his brother, you have to go apologize to his brother and pay with one of your hands."

  He thought the student would be trembling with fear, but instead he saw a completely nonchalant face.

  Yi Tian Xing looked up at the sky, which was divided into blocks by the branches of trees. He narrowed his eyes and shrugged: "I'm not like your Third Master, my hands aren't pig hooves, how can I just take it as you say?"

  The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment before realizing that the kid was insulting him, and in a fit of rage, he raised his cleaver and chopped down at him.

  Yi Tianxing watched the incoming knife light with a calm face. He didn't want to use his body to harden, because although he could, he also didn't want his monster identity to spread so quickly in the small county town. So he lightly turned his heel, letting the knife light narrowly slide down from his nose bridge, took a step to the right, and his entire body was extremely close to that middle-aged man, with an elbow strike hitting the guy's nose.

  What seemed like a light and effortless motion, done swiftly without any sense of exertion, was in fact a devastating blow that sent the guy flying several meters away, his face covered in blood.

  Seeing the big brother being knocked flying, the little rascal who was just clutching his fist in pain finally charged up. Yi Tian Xing furrowed his brow, relying on his speed to get close to the opponent's body, and with a push of his palm, he pushed one of the rascals several meters away. Following this pattern of "pushing", it was only an instant matter, and he had already pushed all the rascals away. He didn't want to use force, because he didn't know if he would end up hurting these people too severely.

  But he thought so, these little rascals naturally didn't know, except for a few clever ones who were timid and fearful, shrinking behind the battle group, and several desperate men drew out their daggers and madly shouted to kill them.

  Yi Tian Xing coldly gazed at the thugs surrounding him, feeling extremely annoyed in his heart. He didn't know if Zou Leilei would get bored waiting for him at the telecommunications building, and since this was happening at the school entrance on a sunny day, he also didn't want to attract too much attention from others. Therefore, he decided to quickly end this boring fight.

  As he watched the crowd of people with ferocious expressions closing in on him, his mind was crystal clear. He carefully observed the movements of his opponents' hands and countered with even faster and more accurate actions. His toes tapped lightly on the asphalt road surface as he darted between the crowd, his fists passing through the armpits and behind the backs of the thugs, landing solidly on their bodies.

  His speed was too fast, like a gust of wind. To these street thugs who only knew how to slash at each other like chopping vegetables, Yi Tianxing was like those martial arts masters on TV. It was just a matter of minutes before the thugs holding knives fell under his iron fists. Of course, he didn't dare use his full strength. The few thugs who had been fighting on the outskirts earlier still had some sense and quickly turned around to run towards the other end of the street.

  Yitian stood at the street corner, looking at the thugs beside him who were wailing and crying uncontrollably. For some reason, a sense of disgust arose in his heart, as if he was a high-and-mighty monarch scrutinizing his pitiful subjects.

  He suddenly came to his senses, feeling that this idea was too strange. With his cleverness, he naturally sensed the danger of being psychologically detached from the crowd and quickly shook his head. He pulled over the bicycle that had fallen under the Chinese parasol tree and turned back to the middle-aged man who was covering his nose to stop the bleeding, saying loudly: "Since you can find out that I'm studying in the county, you must know where I live. If you want to find me again, just go to my home, it's not good here at school."

  He used his right index finger to lightly tap the guy's brow, saying quietly: "Remember, come find me at my place." Then he smiled and said: "Actually, I'm a pretty easy-going person."

  Xue San'er's subordinates were already terrified. When had they ever seen such skills? The young man was just quietly speaking, but in their eyes, it was more frightening than anything else. When they heard the sentence "Actually, I'm a very gentle person", they became even angrier and started scolding him loudly.

  Yi Tian Xing was riding his bicycle towards the river at this time, thinking about how calm and collected he was when fighting with others earlier, and that feeling of floating afterwards. He couldn't help but let out a soft sigh, "I'm really a monster, huh?" The river wind blew against his face, slightly dry, but it made him feel somewhat comfortable amidst the gloominess in his heart. He took his hands off the handlebars, tilted his head back and shouted towards the sky: "Damn you, heaven! You didn't give me parents, but gave me this thing!"

  The county town's riverside is a stretch of green grass, the riverbank highway runs straight from the county center to the telecommunications building. Yi Tianxing thought of the girl waiting for him and finally felt a bit relieved, gripping the handlebars tightly with both hands, pedaling hard on his bicycle towards that direction. The sunset hanging over the green hills across the river cast a long shadow of the young man and his bicycle.