"Han Qingqing just hunched his back and snuck out on tiptoe. He told me to watch over you... but if there's real danger, we'll go down together."
"So don't worry for now... Bucket Girl," Wu Xu said earnestly. Then he turned toward the window, stepped over to stand beside He Tangtang, and gazed down at the street with concern.
This was the first time he had deliberately called Rusty Sister "Bucket Girl" like the others did. The words felt stiff and awkward on his tongue.
Unfortunately, this time Bucket Girl didn't immediately flare up in fury and snap out of her thoughts as she used to.
As if she hadn't noticed at all, the iron suit merely let out a muffled "Mm" by the doorway, turned, and walked over to the window. She looked up and saw Han Qingqing's departing figure.
Then she saw Wen Jifei, carrying the cloth-wrapped Elegy of the Square on his back, running past their battle formation... He quickly caught up with Qingzi, slowed his pace, and walked forward side by side with him.
Together they stepped forward, crossing the blade furrow left behind by Chen Buer.
"So hating to let people down really is an illness, huh! Sigh, an exhausting one at that..." He Tangtang suddenly muttered under his breath.
At the same time, down in the ranks of the wild bands, over a thousand people stared dumbfounded at the two figures advancing toward Weize. Then they exchanged glances, completely at a loss.
"Why those two?"
Now that Corpse Man Weize's terrifying strength had been proven, those stepping forward were neither Dao Dali, nor the top-tier full-armor warrior who had fought the night before last, nor Ah Xi, whom Old Hugh had constantly suspected. Instead, it was Ah Jing and Little Chicken, who had never displayed any fighting skill before.
"Don't tell me every single one of them is top-tier?" someone mused fancifully.
"Uh! Even if they all are, if they can't cut down Weize, we still won't make it through today."
"Yeah. Let's watch a bit longer. If it doesn't work, all of us will just have to charge together."
Because two people had stepped forward this time, most of the wild bands assumed they planned to fight two against one, or even three against one.
In that scenario, the people from the Five Major Factions opposite them would almost certainly swarm forward... and if they did, we charge too.
Tonight was the final night of the New Factions' Strangling Day. Both sides had revealed all their trump cards; life and death would be decided here.
Just as the Wild Band Alliance's ranks steeled their resolve, another loud burst of clamor broke out along the rooftops and buildings lining both sides of the street.
"What happened? What is it now?!" people who didn't know the situation asked anxiously.
The regulars from Bar No. 15 wore absurd expressions, caught between laughter and tears as they explained, "Those two new guys... they wipe cars at Bar No. 15 too."
"...Huh?!" So don't tell me everyone wiping cars at Bar No. 15 is top-tier? "Holy... shit!"
"What the hell are you swearing for?! I even tipped them before... Damn it, back then I threw the money on the ground! I'm so terrified right now, ugh!"
That person groaned in regret. He had no idea that someone else had once staggered out drunk, hopped straight into a car, and gotten their rocks off right in front of these "top-tiers."
"Did they pick it up, then? I mean the tip on the ground—did they pick it up?"
"Uh, yeah, they did."
"..."
They didn't just pick it up; so long as it didn't involve selling their bodies, their enthusiasm and persistence for tips knew no bounds...
Up on the rooftop, Lynne and Jenna looked at each other.
"Say something, Jenna! What are you thinking right now?" Lynne asked first.
"Me? I just suddenly remembered... I almost slept with him for a single source energy block," Jenna said, her eyes wide and blank.
If she had known that the fellow didn't just look like The King from the side, but was also a top-tier combatant, Jenna thought to herself, she would have offered a few more source energy blocks back then—no, her entire life savings.
"You didn't 'almost,' okay! He didn't agree at all!"
When it came to giving money and source energy blocks, who gave more than me?! Lynne grumbled in complaint, turning her head. Her mind was still in a daze, and worry began creeping in.
"From a distance, his figure looks like he'd be really handsome. It's a shame about that scar on his face," a woman's voice said.
"Who cares if a top-tier combatant has a scar on his face? As long as they survive tonight," another woman's voice replied.
The chaotic chatter all around persisted. From her high vantage point, Lynne watched them draw closer. "If it's three against one... won't it just turn into an all-out brawl?!"
"Maybe Weize doesn't mind?" Lynne thought.
Down on the street at that moment, Zhu Jiaming, who had remained standing in place, saw Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei walking over. Without a word, he turned and walked away on his own.
He headed to the alley entrance he knew best, sat down, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, shut off his apparatus, and lit a cigarette.
"So that uncle can't go on anymore... Then is it two against one? Do they even have a chance to win two against one?! Will the Five Major Factions allow it?!"
Nearly everyone wondered the same thing.
The answer seemed to be no. Seeing this unfold, the Five Major Factions' battle formation at the end of the street stirred with unrest, their source energy apparatuses humming and roaring in unison.
To the east, the Wild Band Alliance's formation responded, raising a forest of long blades.
Just as an all-out melee seemed imminent, Weize raised a hand. Waiting for the noise to subside, he said in a low, gravelly voice, "It's fine. I don't mind."
Weize didn't mind taking on two at once.
However—
"Well, I mind!"
A voice from the opposite side, speaking clumsy English, refused... He actually turned it down.
When the astonished crowd turned their gazes, one of the two men facing Weize was already walking off toward the side of the street as he spoke.
The shop lady was standing on the upper floor across the way tonight, watching everything. Little Chicken, carrying a strange, elongated weapon on his back, was strolling right toward her small sundry store...
He seemed about to pull out a cigarette when he spotted the pack lying outside the counter. He picked it up and smiled faintly. The pack was badly battered by now; he tore open the cardboard, found one that was still relatively intact, popped it into his mouth, lit it, and slipped the rest into his pocket.
Then he simply leaned against the closed shop counter with an air of calm, quietly smoking.
The smoke drifted westward in the wind, shifting between slow curls and sudden gusts.
"So... it's one-on-one?! The remaining guy is going to duel Weize alone?!"
"Looks like it."
"Is he suicidal?!"
That was Corpse Man Weize—a fighter standing above top-tier, rumored to be among the top three fighters beneath the City of Iniquity's Four Supers.
Yet even after Weize had agreed to take on two at once, that newcomer in black had chosen a one-on-one duel.
"What is he doing?! He's clearly such a shameless rogue, why pull something like this all of a sudden?" Lynne complained, feeling inexplicably flustered as her heart climbed into her throat.
"You?" Less than two hundred meters away, Weize asked in a low voice.
"Yeah," Han Qingyu nodded.
"Then die quickly! Since Dao Dali won't come out, I'm starting to lose my patience."
The moment the words left his mouth, Weize's source energy apparatus roared like thunder, and he charged forward, swinging his blade.
Speed erupted beneath his feet and along his blade edge at the same time, giving the impression of heavy machinery hurtling past at a pace beyond human imagination.
For the first time tonight, Weize went on the offensive. The massive greatblade cleaved through the air with tangible weight, slashing downward.
*This bastard really is strong!* Han Qingyu instantly sensed the source energy surge rolling over him and made his judgment. Three metal blocks dissolved across his body in a flash—three was his current limit.
Life source energy overflowed, engaging his bone source, while the apparatus source energy surged and the liquid source energy surged, all four turbines firing at once.
Unfortunately, it wasn't his peak.
In his current physical condition, Han Qingyu couldn't run all four turbines at peak output simultaneously; it was like a machine with rusted gears, hitching here, catching there.
*Clang!*
The piercing shriek of clashing metal ripped through the air in an instant.
*Fuck!* Han Qingyu cursed silently in his heart.
In terms of sheer raw power, Weize's source energy surge was far more terrifying than he had anticipated. Han Qingyu knew that even at the peak of all four turbines, he would be at a disadvantage in pure strength, let alone now when he was far from his prime.
"He blocked it!" a young boy's voice shouted from high above, filled with excitement and pleasant surprise.
They were watching with total absorption, completely caught up in the moment...
In everyone's sight, the new young man in black on the street held his blade horizontally, directly withstanding Corpse Man Weize's first slash. The dead iron plates on his shoe soles scraped against the pavement, skidding back more than ten meters before coming to a firm halt.
At the same time, Weize was forced back two steps.
Chapter 474