The Heir to the Seven Killers in the City

Chapter 27: Don’t You Dare Bully Me

The man surnamed Xie was still enjoying himself when he heard a shout from outside, followed by complete silence. “Who the hell is it? Damn it, don’t bother me!” Xie shouted toward the door, but no one answered. Xie shrugged it off and pulled up his pants, but just then, the door was kicked in with a loud “bang.” “Fuck you!” Zhang Xiaofei, wielding a machete, slashed at Xie, landing a blow squarely on his forehead, killing him instantly. “Fuck you! I’m going to cut you to pieces!” Zhang Xiaofei pulled the machete out of his body and slashed at various parts of it several more times. He kept at it until he was gasping for breath and could no longer swing the blade. Zhang Xiaofei walked over to the bed and saw Zhang Qiqi, who was already unconscious. His rage flared up again, and he kicked the corpse—which he had already hacked beyond recognition—twice more. Then, gasping for breath with a hint of sob in his voice and paying no heed to the blood covering his body, he wrapped Zhang Qiqi in a quilt, cradled her, and started to head for the door. Before he could step outside, Zhang Xiaofei heard three or four gunshots outside the house. He quickened his pace to the window, where he witnessed the most terrifying scene of his life—a massacre straight out of a nightmare. Qin Yu was so enraged that the violent energy he had been suppressing had completely erupted. He no longer resembled an ordinary human; his eyes blazed with murderous intent and hatred, and a faint red glow emanated from his entire body. The members of the Fire Scorpion Gang were clearly so stunned by the scene that they missed their first three or four shots. Without a second thought, Qin Yu darted over to the group; with his left hand formed into a knife-edge, he sliced right through one man’s body. With his right hand, he effortlessly lifted another man off the ground and slammed him headfirst into the ground. Having killed two men, Qin Yu was even more energized, and the remaining members had no choice but to face a brutal slaughter. Every member of the Fire Scorpion Gang lay dead beside Qin Yu, and though his entire shirt was soaked in blood, he paid it no mind, turning to look at Zhang Xiaofei. Zhang Xiaofei shuddered. He’d never witnessed a scene like this, nor had he ever seen Qin Yu like this before. He began to feel afraid—afraid that Qin Yu, in his killing frenzy, might kill him and his sister as well. But Zhang Xiaofei still believed Qin Yu wouldn’t go that far, so he said, his voice trembling slightly, “How… how could you kill them all?” “They all deserved to die!” Fueled by the gasoline, a tiny flame quickly grew and spread deeper into the house. Zhang Xiaofei watched it all, speechless, as if in a dream. His sister had been assaulted; he’d killed someone; his brother had single-handedly slaughtered a whole group of people… The flames grew brighter and brighter, illuminating everyone’s faces. Zhang Xiaofei looked at Qin Yu, who had now emerged from his earlier bloodthirsty frenzy; his face had turned deathly pale. He glanced at Xiaofei, then at Zhang Qiqi, who was still fast asleep in the car. He clenched his fists once more. “I’m sorry to both of you… I never should have come looking for you,” Qin Yu said. “Don’t talk nonsense. You’re my brother—Qiqi’s Big Brother Qin. If this is your problem, it’s our problem too.” Qin Yu felt a wave of warmth wash over him as he replied, “But you’ve already paid too high a price for this. Rest assured—I’ll make them pay back double for what they’ve done to us!” Zhang Xiaofei was a man of passion; he wanted to grab his machete right then and follow Qin Yu, shouting, “Let’s go together!” But then he remembered that he wasn’t on the same level as that gang, and he worried about what would happen to his dead sister. So, gritting his teeth and reluctantly, he said, “Then I’ll wait for you to come back.” Qin Yu smiled. He was relieved by Zhang Xiaofei’s decision; what he’d feared most was that Zhang Xiaofei would disobey him and seek revenge on his own. Qin Yu glanced at Zhang Qiqi, then stood up and said, “I’m leaving first… I—I don’t know how to face Qiqi.” “Yeah, go ahead. I’ve got some brothers on the streets. We’ll head out to the outskirts—we’ll find a place to stay, one way or another. Don’t worry about us.” “I’ll wait for you to come back. You have to stay alive.” “I promise…” Qin Yu pulled his baseball cap down as low as it would go, revealing only half his face. Though his body was now burly, his face remained soft and fair, creating a slightly incongruous contrast. This place was overgrown with weeds and rarely visited by people. Right in the middle of this wasteland stood a courtyard that was quite large, making it seem utterly out of place. Qin Yu knocked on the door twice, then walked right in. Surprisingly, the courtyard was exceptionally clean, though objects were scattered haphazardly—a pot of flowers here, a pot of grass there. Without lingering to look around, Qin Yu walked straight into the house. Inside was an elderly gentleman who appeared to be in his sixties. He glanced at Qin Yu without saying a word, pulled a file folder from a nearby drawer, and casually slid it over to Qin Yu’s side. This old man was no nobody; he called himself Xu Laosan, and every underworld figure in Jiangcheng—big or small—addressed him as Uncle Xu San. He often boasted that, despite living in a humble abode, he was privy to all the ins and outs of Jiangcheng. As long as the price was right, he claimed he could dig up any amount of information on any subject. The folder was filled with photographs. Qin Yu held it in his hands and looked through them one by one. The photos were all similar: three or five men armed with guns appeared to be lying in wait at a certain location. “Lately, members of the Fire Scorpion Gang have been frequently attacked, and quite a few brothers have died. The key is that the attacker comes and goes without a trace—no one knows who it is. I reckon the Second-in-Command must be scared out of his wits; he’s stationed men all around his island. And I suspect there are heavy forces guarding the island’s interior as well,” Xu Laosan said casually. Qin Yu lifted the brim of his baseball cap slightly, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Uncle Xu, who knew just about everything that went on in Jiangcheng, had no idea that the young man standing right in front of him was the very one who had struck the Fire Scorpion Gang so severely—appearing and disappearing without a trace. “Didn’t they say the Fire Scorpion Gang didn’t have many members? But looking at this, there seem to be quite a few,” Qin Yu asked. “The Fire Scorpion Gang really doesn’t have that many members. A lot of these people here are strangers to me—I suspect they aren’t actually from the Fire Scorpion Gang.” Qin Yu looked up curiously at Uncle Xu and asked, “What do you mean by that, Uncle Xu? If these aren’t Fire Scorpion Gang members, why are they helping Number Two?” “Well, even I, Xu Laosan, don’t really know. Do you think the Fire Scorpion Gang could really run their drug trafficking operations so smoothly if they only had the strength they show on the surface? As far as I know, there’s a major power behind the Fire Scorpion Gang—but that power is beyond the imagination of people like us.” Xu Laosan spoke at length. Seeing that Qin Yu had no intention of leaving, he grew impatient and snapped, “Kid, I don’t know why you’re prying into this, and it’s none of my business anyway. Do you think the favor you asked of me was a small matter? Let me tell you—and I’m not just bragging—but in all of Jiangcheng, only I, Xu Laosan, can pull this off!” Qin Yu could tell Xu Laosan was getting impatient. He realized he wouldn’t be able to pry any more information out of him, so he offered a polite farewell and walked out. As he thought about all this, his fists clenched unconsciously. Everything the Fire Scorpion Gang had done to him, Qin Yu would repay twofold.