Chapter 51 : Chapter 51
Chapter 51: Of the Three Kinds of People You Least Want to Provoke, Lu Zhan Was All Three
...
“Huh? Brother Qi, aren’t we just lying through our teeth here? Will the people above us really believe it?”
A moment ago, Lu Zhan had chased those men all the way down the road and refused to let a single one escape.
A man that ruthless would make even King Yama fear him.
And now they were supposed to say the enemy would rather die than surrender?
Wasn’t that just treating the higher-ups like fools?
“Why do you care whether they believe it or not? They can believe it or not. If anyone doesn’t, send him to me.”
Han Qi spoke with a great deal more force now.
He might act meek and submissive in front of Lu Zhan, but did that mean he had to act meek and submissive in front of the Demon Extermination Bureau too?
He still knew perfectly well which of the two mattered more.
Changyu could only smile bitterly.
“Changyu, do you think I’m fooling around?”
Changyu said nothing. The answer was obvious.
“What kind of people do you think are the hardest to provoke in this world?”
Changyu shook his head.
“As far as I’m concerned, there are three kinds of people in this world that are the hardest to provoke.”
Han Qi lit himself a cigarette and took a deep drag, relaxing all over.
Then his tone shifted.
“I’m an orphan. Ever since I was old enough to remember things, I’ve been bullied. At first, I didn’t dare fight back, because there were too many of them, and I knew I couldn’t beat them.”
“But later, I realized that the more I endured, the worse they got. Then one day, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I fought back...”
Changyu looked a little surprised. He had never expected Brother Qi to have a past like that.
“And then? Did you win?”
He was genuinely curious.
“No. I lost.”
Han Qi smiled.
Changyu was a little taken aback. In his impression, Han Qi had never lost a fight. The reason everyone called him Brother Qi was not because their Jurisdiction Head had given him that title. He had fought his way into it.
“Even though I lost, I still broke one of the leader’s legs. And after that, I noticed something strange.”
“They seemed to be afraid of me. Little by little, I came to understand that they should have been afraid of me.”
“Because I was more ruthless than they were.”
“After that, people started coming to me and following me around as my little brothers...”
Han Qi recounted the story of how he had grown up, though calling it a growth story might not have been quite right. It sounded more like the history of how he had gone mad. Changyu listened until his scalp tingled, and only then did he understand why the other man was Brother Qi while he himself was merely Changyu.
“So, of the three kinds of people who are hardest to provoke, the first kind is lunatics. Those people are the hardest to deal with. They aren’t afraid of death, their bottom line is low, they’re crazy, and they dare to do anything.”
“Once you become enemies with them, it won’t end until one of you is dead. They’re like mad dogs. Even if you crush them in the end, they’ll still make you pay a steep price.”
Han Qi was exactly that kind of person, so he understood them better than anyone.
“What about the second kind?”
“Geniuses.”
“I managed to build up some power by relying on that ruthless streak of mine, but I also suffered plenty because of it.”
“Back then, I had only just stepped into the mid-stage Qi Condensation Realm. I’d barely managed to secure a foothold through sheer ruthlessness, but then I offended a genius. In the end, every brother who followed me died, and I only managed to kill him after being gravely wounded myself.”
“So don’t provoke a genius. Unless you’re even more of a genius than he is, all you have to do is give him the slightest chance to catch his breath, and he’ll soar into the sky. If you offend someone like that, you have to crush him at any cost.”
That was how Han Qi thought, and that was how he acted. It was just a pity for those underlings from back then.
“As for the third kind, it’s smart people. If you offend someone like that, he can keep you in the dark and toy with you until you die. People like that are terrifying too.”
After saying all that, Han Qi turned around. In his eyes, Changyu saw a deep fear and wariness.
“Which kind do you think Lu Zhan is?” Before Changyu could answer, Han Qi crushed out the cigarette with a hand that trembled slightly and continued, “He’s all of them. Any one of those three would be enough to make people treat him like a great enemy. But he has all three.”
“He’s a lunatic, and one even more ruthless than I am.”
Han Qi looked toward the bridge in horror.
Other people might not have known who that middle-aged man was, but the moment Han Qi saw the man’s martial art, he had already made a guess.
And yet Lu Zhan killed a man of that status without hesitation.
Han Qi did not believe Lu Zhan had no idea what the man was about to say. The fact that he had packed mud into the man’s mouth made it obvious that he had probably guessed something.
But what of it?
As long as the man had not spoken up and revealed his identity, then the man Lu Zhan killed was nothing more than a criminal who had attacked a Jurisdiction Head.
“Besides that, he’s a genius. He opened his apertures in a single day, and now, in just a few short days, he’s already reached the fifth level of the Aperture Opening Realm. Looking across all of Great Xia, that level of talent makes him one of the most dazzling prodigies alive.”
“He’s also a smart man. Whether it was the setup tonight, the way he dealt with the Xu brothers, or how he handled that man by the bridge, everything was done properly.”
After hearing Han Qi’s analysis, cold sweat poured down Changyu’s back.
His awe of Lu Zhan rose to an indescribable level.
“Now do you understand? If I offend the Demon Extermination Bureau, at most the people above will strip me of my position. It’s just a job. I’m already in the Aperture Opening Realm. With strength like mine, where couldn’t I make a living?”
“But if you offend Lu Zhan, he really can kill you. Even if you hide inside the Demon Extermination Bureau, he’ll still find a lawful, proper way to finish you off.”
In Han Qi’s eyes, the Demon Extermination Bureau was like a gentleman. You could push it around a little, as long as you did not go too far.
But Lu Zhan?
He did not care whether you were a gentleman or a petty man. Once you offended him, he would come straight to your door with a blade and mince you to pieces.
How could someone like that not inspire fear?
After that, Han Qi got into the car.
“Let’s go, Changyu. Tomorrow, find a few clever brothers and send Lu Zhan... no, Brother Lu a gift. Build a good relationship with him.”
Han Qi lit another cigarette.
What had happened tonight was far too much for a single cigarette to suppress.
“Huh? We’re giving Lu Zhan a gift? What reason are we using?”
You could not just give gifts at random. Different identities called for different pretexts, and different pretexts carried different meanings.
If they went as Lu Zhan’s neighbors from Peach Blossom Alley, there would be nothing wrong with it, but the attempt to curry favor would be far too obvious, and it would also damage Han Qi’s dignity.
Han Qi frowned slightly and corrected him, “What do you mean Lu Zhan? That’s Brother Lu. Tell the brothers in the jurisdiction not to get the form of address wrong when they see him from now on.”
“As for the reason, just say it’s to thank him for ridding Shanzhu County of a scourge.”
Sima Zheng, Yi Feng, and Bai Yaozu were all thorns in everyone’s side. They had committed no small amount of evil in Shanzhu County, and quite a few jurisdictions had suffered because of them, but there had never been any solid evidence against them.
Otherwise, the Demon Extermination Bureau would have dealt with them long ago.
And as for the people in the jurisdictions, very few of them were a match for those three. That was why they had become a constant headache for Jurisdiction Heads everywhere.
But now it was different.
They had tried to rob Lu Zhan.
And now they were all dead, strewn across the ground.
Every Jurisdiction Head within a radius of more than three hundred kilometers around Shanzhu County owed Lu Zhan a favor.
Perhaps after Lu Zhan destroyed one of the Five Poisons Sect’s strongholds yesterday, many people still did not know who he was. But after tonight, leaving other places aside, in Shanzhu County at least, no one would fail to know the name of the Asura Saber.
After Han Qi and the others left, the Criminal Investigation Division was still at the scene clearing away the bodies.
“Captain He, we’ve confirmed the identities of the dead.”
A trained technician handed a laptop to He Rong. Shang Yin was naturally interested in the victims’ identities as well.
She very much wanted to see who had dared to stir up trouble in Lu Zhan’s jurisdiction.
But the moment she looked, she jumped in shock.
“...That’s Bai Yaozu from the Black Market, and Yi Feng from North Street. Good heavens, even Old Ancestor Sima, that master thief, died at Lu Zhan’s hands?”
He Rong asked in surprise, “Are they famous?”
After all, he was not a Martial Artist, so his knowledge of that circle was limited.
“Very famous, and very strong. Especially this Sima Zheng. Even people at the level of Captain usually don’t want to provoke him.”
“Wait... these people are...” Shang Yin’s pupils contracted sharply. “The Xu brothers, and Captain... Captain Gao He?”
You’ve got to be kidding.
Lu Zhan had killed three of his own side in a single night? And one of them had even been a Captain?
Captains in the Demon Extermination Bureau were promising seeds selected through two rounds of screening.
And before they had even had the chance to grow into towering trees, Lu Zhan had torn them out by the roots.
Would the people backing those Captains really be willing to accept that? This was the equivalent of watching all their investment go down the drain.
“Advisor Shang, make a special note of something when you report this. Captain Gao was disguised. Lu Zhan probably never recognized who he was.”
He Rong spoke up to remind her.
Shang Yin suddenly came to her senses. Right. Lu Zhan had not known the man’s identity, and the other party had attacked first. There was no reason Lu Zhan should not have fought back.
It was just that his retaliation had been a little too fierce.
But would the people behind Captain Gao really swallow this? Shang Yin rubbed her forehead, a headache coming on.
“Lu Zhan, Lu Zhan... you really have handed me a difficult problem.”
Forget it. Those matters should be left for the people above to handle. With shoulders like hers, she could not bear that weight.
She smiled bitterly...