Among the group charging at me, only one person looked young, seemingly around my age.
As for the rest, they appeared to be in their early thirties at the very least.
While this group didn't possess the intense, oppressive aura of those adorned with tattoos and piercings, they did…
Each of them wore an expression of detachment, a detachment that defied fear of life or death.
It seemed they had already written me off as a dead man.
Without any exchange of words or communication, these desperadoes, armed with various deadly weapons, sprinted directly towards me.
Seeing this, I instinctively reached into my pocket…
Damn it!
Only one steel plate was left!
With enemies wielding all sorts of weapons closing in, and only a single steel plate in my pocket, it was akin to having only one loaded bullet left in a gun.
With the advantage of my gambling skills, my flying card technique had indeed reached a rudimentary level of mastery.
However, I was still worlds away from Shen Mengqing's ability to instantly incapacitate a crowd with just one card.
If I were to throw this steel plate, which could be used for both offense and defense, I might find myself facing a bare-handed brawl.
Before I could even decide whether to throw the steel plate in my hand…
The young man who appeared to be my age, wielding a gleaming watermelon knife, swung it down at my head!
Seeing this, I no longer hesitated. My right fingers, tightly gripping the steel plate, suddenly exerted force.
*Whoosh!*
Under the illumination of three car headlights, the "A" in my hand traced a brilliant and dazzling trajectory through the night sky, then directly pierced the right wrist of the young man holding the watermelon knife.
In an instant, the watermelon knife dropped from the youth's hand without warning, emitting a crisp sound.
Immediately after, before the crisp sound had even fully faded, the youth's mouth sprang open, and he let out a pained roar.
"Ah!!!"
Unlike the situation on the main road opposite Ruichi earlier, this time, the other desperadoes did not halt their charge at the sound of their comrade's scream.
On the contrary, they accelerated their advance towards me.
Witnessing this, I knew I had no other choice. Scooping up the watermelon knife that had fallen to the ground, I charged directly towards the approaching desperadoes!
I recalled Cheng Minglang telling me that to win a fight against multiple opponents, one didn't necessarily need superior skills. The most crucial aspect was to maintain an unyielding presence.
Secondly, one had to strike first.
One couldn't wait to be completely surrounded before resorting to a desperate counter-attack.
Many people might appear fearless.
But when the blades truly descend, you'll discover who was merely posturing.
Once you manage to take down a few opponents with real force, you'll see how many dare to surround you and stand by your side!
Therefore, remembering Cheng Minglang's teachings, I decided to act first and seize the initiative.
I wanted to see whether the capped fifty thousand yuan was more important, or one's own life.
As I reached the closest person, without any hesitation or pause, I raised my hand and swung the knife, aiming for the right hand of the man holding a steel pipe.
I certainly wouldn't kill anyone.
If I were to actually kill someone, then Luo Qiwu's investment in these desperadoes would be a massive profit.
For just over a million yuan, she could have me imprisoned for life, and that's putting it mildly.
If things went badly…
Therefore, I carefully controlled the force of my blows, aiming only to injure.
This way, even if things escalated significantly, these desperadoes wouldn't be able to do anything to me, nor would they dare to step forward and identify me.
After the blow, accompanied by a cry of pain, blood immediately spurted from the man's right forearm, and the steel pipe he was holding clattered to the ground.
This assassination attempt against me had truly begun from this very moment…
………………
I didn't know how many of these desperadoes were truly fearless.
At the same time, I also had no idea how many injuries I would sustain before I managed to wound and incapacitate each of them.
I only remembered that as soon as the last desperado fell, the three vans by the riverbank vanished without a trace.
And as I slowly relaxed the taut nerves throughout my body…
Under the caress of the night breeze, a searing pain began to transmit from various parts of my body into the depths of my mind.
The next second, my soul seemed to tremble along with these lingering, fiery pains.
To prevent the three van drivers from returning, I ignored my injuries and, enduring the intense pain from all over my body, staggered away from the riverbank.
By this time, the darkness of night was nearing its end.
Beneath the eastern horizon, faint streaks of dawn were quietly appearing.
Both by the river and on the small path along its bank, people who were out for their morning exercises were beginning to appear.
Among these morning exercisers, the majority were elderly people, past the age of fifty.
As I walked, although the elderly people cast curious glances at me, fortunately, their gazes were merely a reflection of curiosity.
After their brief glances, the passing elders and matrons resumed their morning runs.
Seeing this, I breathed a silent sigh of relief and quietly quickened my pace, eager to distance myself from this place of trouble.
If I didn't hurry and leave, and if I happened to encounter a meddlesome good Samaritan who pulled out their phone and dialed three digits, I might be in serious trouble!
However, I had underestimated the extent of my injuries.
Not even a few hundred meters after I started to accelerate, a wave of dizziness and weakness surged from the depths of my mind.
As this sensation of dizziness coursed through my entire body, my vision went black, and I collapsed straight down.
The moment I fell, it felt as though something, or someone, had blocked my path.
In any case, it was soft and carried a faint fragrance.
Before my eyelids completely closed, I seemed to have seen an arm adorned with tattoos and piercings!
It's over! I'm in trouble!
This thought had barely surfaced in my groggy mind before I lost consciousness.
I don't know how much time passed…
When I finally woke up again, I found myself in what seemed to be a dimly lit small room.
Besides the bed I was lying on, there was only a bedside cabinet and a desk lamp.
Oh, right!
And on the floor next to the bedside cabinet, there was a trash can overflowing with used white tissues and condoms…