Boss Dao Returns

The black-clad youth had said the battle had reached his turn... and the battle was over. All told, there had only been two clashes between them, yet the actual time elapsed was incredibly brief—so brief that both this city and the people in it were caught completely off guard. Ever since the thud of that wooden box hitting the ground, the entire street had been dead silent. People tried to reassure themselves that this turning point had truly happened just an instant ago, then strained to recall how exactly it had played out and what it ultimately meant. There was simply too much for them to process. Most of them didn't even know what the newcomer in black down below was called; all they knew was that he had washed cars at Bar No. 15, that he was one of Boss Dao's men, and that he had just bested Weize with his blade. Weize, ranked eighth on the Cloud Piercer Leaderboard, one of the top three combatants below super rank in the City of Iniquity. This was a monumental event. Weize was not dead, though he had thought he was done for as well. Shifting slightly, he felt a sharp sting on the side of his neck. He reached up and wiped it, coming away with a palm coated in blood—blood that was unnervingly black. The edge of the blade had not bitten very deep. Han Qingyu had spared his life because his physical condition bore an uncanny resemblance to someone who had survived stepping out of that experimental iron armor. That could signify a great deal. At the very least, Doctor Zhe would find it fascinating, and the research might even be of help to Rusty Sister. The crowd saw Weize move. Naturally, no one believed it was because the youth in black had lacked the ability to finish him—including Weize himself. Under those circumstances, as long as the blade had slanted even a fraction of an inch more, Weize's head would have parted from his shoulders. Yet he hadn't done it. The bulging blue veins and dark patches across his flesh slowly receded... Weize turned his head, staring at the object resting upright on the other side. After watching it for three to five seconds, he turned back and said, "That felt a bit like an ambush. You didn't take the chance to kill me—aren't you afraid of paying the price?" Han Qingyu's English was decent enough now. Having understood, he gathered his thoughts for a moment and answered placidly, "Don't worry about it. If I can kill you once, I can kill you ten times." "...Fair enough. I lost." "I lost! My life was spared!" Weize shouted toward the five major factions. Then, exhaling heavily, he dragged his blade and departed down an alley to the side. Eyes all around continued to follow him. The youth in black didn't linger either. He slid the dead iron straight sword back behind his shoulder, turned and walked over, and picked up the cloth-wrapped object with one hand... Ignoring the dozen-odd battle formations behind him and the assembled elites of the five major factions, he began strolling back at an unhurried pace. "So, even when he isn't in peak condition, he's still Han Qingyu... Get ready to welcome the freak, everyone. People of this city, the story has officially begun." More than three months after arriving in the City of Iniquity, this was Major Qing's first official fight... Wen Jifei murmured with a quiet chuckle. Looking up at the silent silhouettes perched along the roofs and buildings on both sides, he casually flicked his cigarette butt into the air. The cigarette butt arced high into the night, scattering embers as it tumbled down and landed on the pavement. "Even though the freak doesn't know just how freaky he really is yet." Wen Jifei muttered again, grinning into the night. Carrying Elegy of the Square on his back, he took a few steps forward and stood by the curb, waiting for Han Qingyu. That guy was his best friend. Over the past two years, so many things had happened to them that they once never dared to imagine, things they never could have foreseen. From leaving home to joining Azure, the test results for natural degree of fusion, battle after battle... And recently, Zhe Qiuhong had mentioned that Han Qingyu might have inherited power from an atypical entity. Wen Jifei knew Qingzi was destined to walk a path far from ordinary. Ahead might lie boundless glory, or an abyssal cliff where he would be shattered to pieces. "Let's go," Han Qingyu said, coming to a halt beside him and tilting his head. Wen Jifei stepped forward to walk side by side with him, asking casually, "How is it? Hurt bad?" "Not too bad... actually a bit rough. That guy hits really hard with that blade." Han Qingyu gave a wry smile. "I was wondering earlier if you'd be unable to resist firing to help." "Nice thought... but unless you're half-dead, there's no way I'm taking a shot," Wen Jifei replied with a laugh. The two continued walking back like this. Behind them stood hundreds of elites gathered by the five major factions, including every top-tier combatant they had fielded. A dense, dark sea of people, glowing with blue light and starlit glints along blade edges. Wen Jifei couldn't resist glancing back over his shoulder. "What a pity. This should've been my stage. If there wasn't just one bullet left in my gun, Brother Plague Chicken would've shown you all what cruelty means today, what a bloodbath on the avenue looks like." For an instant, Wen Jifei indulged in that fantasy in his mind... and then felt a brief pang of dejection. Just for a second. He was never the kind of person to display sorrow or angst. He was simply falling behind his best friend's footsteps. Once that final bullet in the chamber was spent, he would drop back to being an ordinary Dice, with actual combat power inferior even to an average soldier. ...Only now did the hushed murmurs around them begin to rise, before suddenly being amplified by a voice. "Aaaahhh... He's so handsome!" an ecstatic female voice squealed. "Isn't that the voice that was just complaining about the scar on his face?" Not too far off, Jenna turned her head in annoyance and peered around, but in the dim light, she couldn't spot the person. "Who cares? Either way, after tonight, women will surge toward him like waves on a stormy night, swarming all over him like bees." In the City of Iniquity, having a shot at latching onto an expert of this caliber meant too much. Lynne felt somewhat gloomy, suddenly thinking that the guy washing cars and collecting tips had been much more pleasant to look at. "Yeah, and I'm one of those women too," Jenna said, her eyes burning passionately as she gazed downward with delight. "I'm like a wave too." "I'm rich!" a man's voice suddenly bellowed. "I'm rich!" "Boss Dao kept his cards played damn close to his chest," other voices murmured in undertones. "..." Over the very same event, the surrounding crowd was concurrently caring about, pondering, and debating countless different things, including their wagers... "Brother Daofeng, we seem to have... struck it rich," Ao Yong said blankly. By the payout ratio, their 20 source energy blocks would turn into 130, and Brother Little Chicken's 200 would turn into 1,300... Thinking about it that way, that guy who had crushed the odds down from 10-to-1 with a massive bet was really annoying. Qian Daofeng nodded, his eyes shining with suppressed excitement, because beyond the source energy blocks, what they had bet correctly on this time might be the truly astonishing prize. "Regardless of whether Ah Jing really is that man or not, we won't talk about it anymore. In the future, if he comes to help sweep the street... let's stay calm," Qian Daofeng said in a dry, hushed voice. Ao Yong nodded vigorously several times in succession. By contrast, the Wild Band Alliance was the slowest group to react. In that initial moment, they didn't cheer; the people in the battle formations exchanged looks and broke into silent smiles, and then someone muttered a curse, tears nearly welling up. Like Black Tooth and his brothers, like Uncle Shiliang... "This is so fucking thrilling," someone said. "Yeah." "I really want to charge over and have a brawl, slash all five major factions right into the dirt." "Are you crazy?!" the one cursing laughed. Amidst the hushed chatter, a sudden massive commotion erupted, followed by several sharp gasps. "D-D-Dao Dali is here!" "What?!" "Dao Dali is behind us!" "..." These shouts came from the far end of the long street. Clearly, it wasn't their own people shouting; had it been their own people, they would have yelled, "Boss Dao has manifested!" In the next instant, every battle formation of the five major factions spun around. All eyes swung in that direction. Under the dim yellow streetlights, Dao Dali stood alone at the street corner, wearing a hospital gown, his right hand gripping a blade, the source energy apparatus on his back flickering with blue light... There was blood on his clothes—a lot of blood. Nobody thought it was his own blood. The five major factions realized that since the men they had left behind to guard their rear hadn't come running... they were probably all dead.