The four enforcers rushed back to the headquarters of the Great Dragon Gang, only to find that all five hundred plus members of the estate had been killed.
Those who joined the Great Dragon Gang understood the risks involved.
As the four enforcers entered the main gate of the Great Dragon Gang headquarters, Xiao Ming was using a trolley to load the valuables he had acquired into his stretched Lincoln.
The car was already piled high with various antiques, calligraphy, paintings, and gold and silver artifacts. This trolley was filled with cash.
Xiao Ming placed the trolley by the door of the Lincoln and, as he opened it, saw four figures entering through the gate.
Zhou Xia stood to the side, dumbfounded. She hadn't expected Xiao Ming to be so quick not only at eating but even faster at grabbing things.
The four enforcers sensed that something was amiss, but they had no idea that Xiao Ming was responsible for most of the deaths in the Great Dragon Gang.
"You little brat, what are you doing?" enforcer Zhou Huaitian shouted.
Xiao Ming, busy loading the cash from the trolley into his stretched Lincoln, looked up at the sound of Zhou Huaitian's voice and said, "You ill-mannered thing, go wash your mouth in the toilet before you speak to me."
After speaking, Xiao Ming lowered his head and continued loading.
Before becoming an enforcer for the Great Dragon Gang, Zhou Huaitian was a notorious bandit in Southeast Asia. Due to his strength and ruthlessness, his habitual method was to annihilate entire families, earning him the moniker "Zhou the Butcher" among the people of Southeast Asian countries.
Large numbers of police and soldiers from Southeast Asian countries were mobilized to apprehend him, but he managed to escape every time.
Unable to remain in Southeast Asia, he fled to Hong Kong, where he encountered Huang Zaiyu. Huang Zaiyu was not powerful enough and needed help, while he also needed a place to lay low.
The two hit it off, and he became an enforcer for the Great Dragon Gang.
Zhou Huaitian had been arrogant since his debut; no one dared to refuse him, let alone disrespect him.
Being called an ill-mannered thing by Xiao Ming, Zhou Huaitian was enraged and charged at Xiao Ming, swinging a slap towards his head.
Zhou Huaitian's large hand whistled through the air, moving at great speed. Xiao Ming seemed not to notice, throwing a bundle of cash onto the car.
Just as Zhou Huaitian's hand was about to reach Xiao Ming's face, and he was waiting for the sound of impact, Xiao Ming flinched, dodging his hand.
This flinch, seemingly unintentional, perfectly avoided the blow. Zhou Huaitian paused for a moment, then threw a punch at Xiao Ming.
The previous slap had been casual, but this punch carried seventy percent of his strength. He no longer wanted to waste words with Xiao Ming; he wanted to kill him with one punch.
Xiao Ming sidestepped, once again evading Zhou Huaitian's hand. This time, like the last, it seemed as though he was about to move anyway, thus narrowly avoiding the incoming fist.
Zhou Huaitian found it puzzling. It looked more like a lucky dodge than a display of great skill.
"Old Zhou, this kid is not ordinary, be careful," enforcer Lu Kou shouted loudly.
Lu Kou was different from Zhou Huaitian. He was a genuinely honest person, considered a good and kind man by the villagers, but also an easily bullied pushover.
From childhood, Lu Kou had followed his master and honed his martial arts skills. He had reached the peak of the Earth realm cultivation level very early on.
An honest man earned an honest living. Working on a construction site for a few months, like his colleagues, the boss refused to pay him upon completion of the job and even hired a group of thugs to beat him.
However, the honest man's fists and feet were not so honest. The group of thugs were all crippled, and the boss lost his life. Fearing arrest by the police, he fled to Hong Kong for refuge.
Upon arriving in Hong Kong, he encountered Huang Zaiyu and his men robbing a place and being pursued by police. Lu Kou intervened and saved Huang Zaiyu, thus naturally becoming an enforcer for the Great Dragon Gang.
Lu Kou's strength far surpassed Zhou Huaitian's. He could tell that Xiao Ming's ability to dodge Zhou Huaitian's punches was not a coincidence, but rather that Xiao Ming's skill was significantly higher than Zhou Huaitian's.
Hearing Lu Kou's warning, Zhou Huaitian became nervous. He knew Lu Kou's strength far exceeded his own and that he must have seen something.
After dodging Zhou Huaitian's punch, Xiao Ming casually picked up a cleaver from the trolley, preparing to attack.
Seeing the cleaver in Xiao Ming's hand, another Great Dragon Gang enforcer, Cai Lei, was startled. This cleaver was exactly like the one rumored to belong to the Human Chef.
Cai Lei hailed from the martial arts family, the Cai family. From childhood, his elders had told him stories of warriors and legends of the martial world.
There were many stories about the Human Chef, which Cai Lei often heard. His family even possessed drawings of the Human Chef's cleaver and a self-portrait of the Human Chef.
"Are you a descendant of the Human Chef?" Cai Lei asked.
Xiao Ming looked at Cai Lei with a peculiar expression. He could tell that Cai Lei seemed very frightened. To be scared by a cleaver like this, was he truly an enforcer of the Great Dragon Gang?
"What Human Chef? I don't know. My name is Xiao Ming, the gourmet Xiao Ming," Xiao Ming replied.
Hearing Xiao Ming refer to himself as a gourmet, Cai Lei's fear intensified. In the stories of the Human Chef, the Human Chef always claimed to be a gourmet, a gourmet of human flesh, whenever he appeared.
"Is your surname Li?" Cai Lei asked again.
Xiao Ming became even more curious. "How did you know my surname is Li? I haven't told anyone this surname," he asked.
Cai Lei trembled involuntarily and said, "That's right, that's right, you really are a descendant of the Human Chef."
Cai Lei turned to the other three enforcers and said, "My three companions, please apologize to Boss Huang for me and tell him I'm leaving. Our Cai family's ancestral instruction is not to engage in combat with descendants of the Human Chef."
With that, Cai Lei didn't wait for the other three enforcers to reply. He turned and left, quickly disappearing into the darkness.
The three enforcers stared as Cai Lei vanished, dumbfounded. They didn't understand why Cai Lei had left.
They didn't believe the reason Cai Lei gave at all. Cai Lei had betrayed the Cai family, was being hunted by his own clan, and had nowhere to hide, which led him to become an enforcer for the Great Dragon Gang.
"What are you still looking at? If you want to leave, hurry up. If not, I'm going to cook and have dinner," Xiao Ming boasted, brandishing his cleaver and intimidating the three enforcers.
The three enforcers exchanged glances. They were still unaware of the situation in the Great Dragon Gang, nor did they know if Huang Zaiyu had summoned them back specifically to deal with this brat.
"I wasn't scared into this. However, I'm going to see Boss Huang. I won't bother with a mere child like you for now," Zhou Huaitian said, turning and heading towards Huang Zaiyu's villa.
Lu Kou and the silent Ge Long saw Zhou Huaitian leave, and they felt that there was no point in fighting with this kid. They also followed Zhou Huaitian to see Huang Zaiyu and assess the situation.
Xiao Ming watched the three enforcers leave so easily, a sense of pride on his face, but also great confusion in his heart. Why had they left? Was he truly a descendant of the Human Chef?
This was the first time Xiao Ming had heard the name "Human Chef." He had been on the run since leaving the Bian Que Sect and had later encountered Long Xiao.
While being pursued, no one had told him about the affairs of the martial world. After following Long Xiao, Long Xiao was also ignorant of such matters and never spoke of them to him.
Xiao Ming turned to Zhou Xia and asked, "Sister Zhou, do you know about the Human Chef?"
Zhou Xia shook her head and said, "No, but I know an old hand who knows a lot about the affairs of the martial world. We can go ask him when we have the time."