Main Text, Chapter 97: The Black Boxer

“Damn it. Everyone stays here. No one is to leave,” Shaqiang roared.

Under the beams of a crowd’s flashlights, the security office was a scene of ruin. The floor was splashed with blood, and four guards lay sprawled on the ground, every one of them crippled.

Shaqiang kept roaring in fury. In a single night, eight of his men had already been put out of commission, and they still did not know who had done it, or whether the attacker would keep going.

At that moment, one of the reinforcements Shaqiang had called for finally arrived.

A tall Black man walked through the school gates. It was the same man Ye Fei had seen before. It turned out that after the first crippled guard was discovered, Shaqiang immediately sensed how formidable the opponent was and called in several experts for help. After all, this was not merely the security company’s problem; it touched the interests of several factions, so the Black man and the others had agreed to come.

With half the guards left at the security office, Shaqiang, the other half of the guards, and the Black man split into three groups to search for Ye Fei.

Ye Fei had been watching from the shadows all along. He had already lost interest in the security company’s people and had shifted his attention to the Black man, intending to test him and see which faction he belonged to.

Silence...

Silence...

Ye Fei trailed quietly behind the Black man. When the others had fallen far enough away, he made his move.

Whoosh.

His fist struck like the wind, aimed directly at a vital point.

Unexpectedly, the Black man reacted quite well, dodging the blow and then taking two quick steps forward. Once he had slipped out of Ye Fei’s attack range, he twisted around and assumed a defensive stance.

“Good reflexes. Strong fighting instinct,” Ye Fei judged inwardly.

“It’s you. Come on, come here...” the Black man said in halting Chinese, taunting him.

Ye Fei sneered, though his face was covered by a black cloth and the other man could not see it.

They exchanged blows, meeting force with force.

Among this race, the body’s strengths tended to be explosive power and resistance to punishment, so in their first direct clash, neither side gained the upper hand.

“Good skills. But you’re not enough,” the Black man said, curling his finger in challenge.

Ye Fei was also analyzing the situation rapidly. This Black man was strong, noticeably stronger than Shaqiang, Xie Dong, and the other top enforcers Ye Fei had encountered in Deep Sea. His striking method was also distinctive, using the same kind of patterns common among boxers. It looked as though this man was a fighter, and not just any fighter, but one of the elite level who had made his name in underground bare-knuckle bouts.

In night combat, the Black man had another advantage: his skin blended so easily with the darkness that opponents often found it very difficult to track his attack trajectory. Unfortunately for him, tonight he had met Ye Fei, who could judge the position of his body by watching the height of his eyes.

Suddenly, the Black man’s eyes seemed to drop sharply.

In an instant, Ye Fei determined that he was going into a crouched leg attack.

Ye Fei leapt up and kicked at the Black man.

Bang, bang.

The Black man was sent reeling back two steps by the heavy blow to his chest.

“You can see my attacks?” the Black man said in surprise. It was obvious he had relied on the advantage of his skin color at night before, and that it had been extremely effective. Today, with that advantage suddenly gone, he was shocked.

Ye Fei sneered. Fighters in underground bare-knuckle bouts specialized in relentless offense and stamina, because the audience wanted raw violence, not technical finesse. Their usual pattern was to attack fiercely and see who could endure longer until someone collapsed. Over time, only that kind of ferocious offense could truly bring out their power.

Yet now this Black man had actually abandoned his usual style, trying to use the advantage of his skin color and defeat Ye Fei through technique. It seemed he had lived in comfort for far too long.

“Then I’ll beat you with absolute strength,” the Black man said, finally choosing the attack style he knew best.

Whoosh.

His power was decent; even his strikes came with a gusting force, showing he was no lightweight.

Still, he could not bring Ye Fei down.

Ye Fei’s physical conditioning had long since surpassed his. Even in a contest of endurance, the one who would fall last would not be Ye Fei. But Ye Fei was not foolish enough to compare stamina with him. He attacked with full force, and when the Black man kicked out, Ye Fei seized his ankle with perfect timing. His palm clamped down like a giant iron vise, gripping the leg tightly as Ye Fei launched a flurry of kicks at him.

Thud, thud, thud...

Ye Fei kicked until blood came coughing from the Black man’s mouth.

Unfortunately, the others had already heard the commotion and were rushing over.

Ye Fei had planned to cripple the Black man as well, but this man was not some useless security guard who could be disposed of so easily. In such a short time, he could not be finished off, and the others were almost upon them. Ye Fei had no choice but to leave for now.

The moment Ye Fei departed, Shaqiang arrived with a group of guards, along with another tall, thin man. This man had thick calluses on both his hands and feet, and his knuckles were especially broad—clear signs of someone trained in boxing and kicking techniques.

“I’m Fan Guanchao, personal bodyguard to Boss Lu of the Bright Gang,” the tall, thin man said expressionlessly.

“So you’re a brother from the Bright Gang. I thought it would be Brother Xie Dong who came,” Shaqiang said.

“Boss Lu was worried Xie Dong might not be the opponent’s match, so he sent me to help,” Fan Guanchao said coolly.

“Good. Many thanks to the brothers from the Bright Gang,” Shaqiang said. “This Black man is Boss Rong’s bodyguard. But he’s been injured by the other side, so let’s ask him what happened first.”

Fan Guanchao nodded toward the Black man. This cooperation had originally been arranged by Rong Gui through Lu Weiming, and when they discussed it, Fan Guanchao had seen this Black man before, so of course he recognized him.

“Fan... Shaqiang, the opponent is too strong. I’m not his match. Still, he should be an underground bare-knuckle fighter,” the Black man said after being helped up.

“An underground bare-knuckle fighter?” Shaqiang froze.

“Where did the other side run off to?” Fan Guanchao asked, his expression unchanged.

“I don’t know. As soon as you arrived, he ran. It was too dark. I couldn’t see where he went,” the Black man said. He was badly injured and had to be taken for treatment at once; his internal organs had already suffered damage.

The Black man was taken away by two guards. Fan Guanchao and Shaqiang led the others in waiting for more than two hours. By then, the sky had begun to pale, but the person hidden in the dark still did not appear.

Fan Guanchao stood up and said, “Looks like he won’t show himself today. I’m heading back.”

Shaqiang nodded as well. “All right. That man secretly wounded so many of our people. He won’t appear today. Dawn is almost here, and the students will be coming soon. You should leave first.”

Fan Guanchao turned and left at once. Shaqiang stayed with the guards, busying himself with cleaning up the security office. They replaced the smashed lights and repaired the cameras.

“Damn it. All of you, keep your heads up,” Shaqiang said through gritted teeth.

This anger could not be vented. So many brothers had been crippled, yet they did not even dare make a public fuss. Shaqiang was deeply dissatisfied, but there was nothing he could do. Their own security company was not exactly clean to begin with, and they feared trouble. If they could cover it up, they would not make a scene.

Ye Fei had seen through that weakness, which was why he made his move. Just as expected, Shaqiang and the others could only swallow their broken teeth and blood together, keeping it all buried inside.