The long corridor of Hai Ke KTV ended at a T-junction. Stairs on the left and right led to more luxurious private rooms on the upper floors, while a staircase in the middle led down to the basement, from which faint sounds of noisy music could be heard.
Led by a waitress, Han Lang and Ma Long descended the slightly dim staircase, arriving at a huge dance floor. Illuminated by the vibrant lights, men and women in the center of the dance floor swayed to the music with abandon.
Without stopping, they passed through the left side of the dance floor and headed deeper, arriving before a large double-doored private room.
The moment the waitress pushed the door open, burly men with exposed chests and arms immediately surrounded both sides of the entrance. They had dyed their hair in various colors, sported all sorts of tattoos, and some held daggers, expertly twirling them. Others, with cigarettes dangling from their lips, leaned listlessly against tables.
But without exception, they all looked at Han Lang and Ma Long with disdain.
"Yo! Young sir, it seems they knew we were coming. Are they giving us a welcome reception?"
"Hmph! Who says not!"
Seeing the setup, Han Lang and Ma Long both understood that the other side clearly knew they were coming.
Though they joked verbally, their expressions turned extremely serious as they looked towards the end of the crowd, at a middle-aged man lounging on a sofa with his legs crossed, a cigar in his mouth, and wearing a simple Tang suit.
"Who exactly are you two, and why are you causing trouble on our turf?"
The middle-aged man took a deep puff of his cigar, sat up straight, and asked with a cold glint in his eyes.
Han Lang chuckled slightly and unceremoniously pulled a chair from the side, sitting in the middle of the passage, facing the middle-aged man from a distance.
"You have a terrible memory, sir! You've repeatedly sent people to trouble my Tian Yi Ge, yet you don't even know who we are. Isn't that a bit laughable?"
Tian Yi Ge?
Upon hearing these three words, the middle-aged man seemed to recall something, his brow furrowing, and his expression instantly turned grim.
"So, Sang Biao and his men have been completely wiped out?"
Han Lang deliberately put on an air of sudden realization.
"Oh! You mean that傻子 with the scar on his face? The police have already taken him away. He asked me to tell you not to wait for him for dinner. Armed assault, he'll likely be gone for three to five years."
Hearing this, the middle-aged man's teeth gnashed together with a grinding sound.
"Good kid! You messed with my people, and you dare to barge in here alone. I think you're..."
Before the middle-aged man could finish speaking, Ma Long, standing beside Han Lang, couldn't help but interject.
"Hey, hey, hey, it's the 21st century. Don't you gangsters have to go to school? We... are two people! What do you mean 'alone'? Do you even know how to use words!"
Ma Long's comically serious expression made Han Lang unable to suppress his laughter. He patted Ma Long's shoulder repeatedly and said,
"Brother Ma, perhaps he meant that you are that horse?"
Hearing this, Ma Long became even more enraged. He rolled up his sleeves, pointed at the middle-aged man, and shouted. 138 Reading Network
"You're Marquis, right! Come, come, you don't need to explain. Let's have a one-on-one fight!"
Just as Ma Long struck a fighting stance, the waitress Han Lang had been holding hostage seized the opportunity when the two were distracted and suddenly fled. As she left, she repeatedly accused them.
"Brother Black Wolf, they just injured dozens of our brothers outside. You must seek justice for us!"
"Black Wolf?"
Both Ma Long and Han Lang were stunned by the name. For a moment, they no longer cared about the waitress escaping and asked in unison.
"You're not Marquis?"
Black Wolf looked at them with a dark expression, full of disdain.
"You two? Worthy of meeting Marquis?"
But the two seemed not to have heard him, continuing their own discussion.
"It's over, it's over! Young sir, this guy puts on the airs of a boss, but he's not the boss at all. We've misjudged the situation."
"Alas, I wonder what kind of shady character this Marquis is. All his subordinates have such lines; it's exhausting just listening to them!"
"So what do we do now? Look elsewhere?"
"Or, should we wait a bit longer? Maybe he'll come looking for us himself later!"
...
"Bang!"
The two's disregard instantly made Black Wolf slam the table and rise.
"Presumptuous!"
"Who do you think you two are? You mess with my people, injure my people, and dare to insult Marquis! If we don't teach you a lesson today, you really won't know the immensity of heaven and earth. Brothers, give them a taste of our power!"
Ma Long feigned confusion: "It's over, young sir. He seems a bit unconvinced and is throwing a tantrum!"
"It's fine! This Heavenly Doctor specializes in treating all kinds of unconvinced people!"
With that, the two attacked from both sides, charging into the oncoming crowd and engaging them in a fierce battle.
As expected, this was their base of operations. The fighting capabilities of the thugs here were incomparable to the security guards outside earlier.
Although Han Lang still faced no pressure, knocking down a group with a few punches and kicks, Ma Long, with his right hand injured and completely unusable, felt immense pressure.
While he could defend himself, he would eventually be overwhelmed if the fight dragged on.
"Damn it! Young sir, these big guys seem to have some basic fighting skills!"
Ma Long exerted his lifelong learning to the fullest, but the sheer number of opponents made it impossible to incapacitate them quickly, and he soon felt he couldn't keep up.
However, when his peripheral vision caught sight of Han Lang, he saw him moving as if in an empty space, knocking down one opponent with each punch, without any wasted motion.
"A monster! Truly a monster!"
Ma Long exclaimed verbally, filled with longing and envy in his heart.
The thugs at this point also seemed to have noticed something. Han Lang's attacks seemed to contain some special technique. With a single blow, they instantly lost their ability to fight.
Because of this, some of the more cunning thugs immediately changed their targets, focusing their attention on Ma Long.
Soon, Ma Long also noticed something was wrong.
Despite using all his skills, he could barely defend himself and was completely unable to launch an offensive. Helpless, he called out for help.
"Young sir, are you done over there? I'm starting to struggle!"
Han Lang was fully immersed in the battle before him. Although he felt the pressure lessen, he attributed it to having knocked down many thugs.
Therefore, when he heard Ma Long's call for help, he was initially puzzled.
But the moment he looked at Ma Long, he understood everything.
It turned out that Ma Long was being treated as a soft target by these thugs!
Immediately, he finished off a green-haired thug with a punch, then leaped over, arriving beside Ma Long, and kicked away someone trying to flank and attack him. He then chuckled and teased,
"It seems not all these gangsters are fools!"
Ma Long, gasping for breath, had no energy to banter with Han Lang and replied helplessly.
"Who says they aren't? This is the first time in my life I've been treated as a soft target!"
Han Lang smiled slightly, not continuing to tease Ma Long, but instead pushing forward and plunging back into the crowd.
Seeing his subordinates falling one by one, Black Wolf became as furious as Sang Biao had been.
"Brothers! Get your weapons!"