Chapter 53: Next Time
They marched him another ten paces deep into the shadows of the dead-end alcove, right beneath a leaking gutter pipe that dripped stagnant water onto the slick stones. The smell of rotting garbage and damp earth filled the narrow space.
The ring-pierced brute stopped, sheathing his dagger for a brief second only to shove both hands out, aggressively grabbing for the leather money pouch hanging from Lu Feng’s belt and reaching out to snatch the wrapped boxes of pastries.
"Alright, show’s over, hand everything—"
Before the thug’s dirty fingers could even graze the fabric of Lu Feng’s tunic, the young master’s posture shifted with terrifying, unnatural speed.
The bored, compliant expression vanished from Lu Feng’s face in a single heartbeat, replaced by a cold, predatory look that made the hair on the back of both thugs’ necks stand up straight.
"I warned you," Lu Feng whispered softly. "You really should have listened."
The ring-pierced thug barely had time to register the sudden, chilling shift in the air before Lu Feng’s right hand whipped outward with the blinding speed of a striking viper.
The heavy boxes of honey dumplings and the delicate silk-wrapped parcels of fine tailoring were effortlessly shifted to his left arm, held securely out of harm’s way as if they were fragile porcelain. Free and unburdened, Lu Feng’s open palm struck the brute squarely across the center of his chest.
CRACK!
The sound echoed through the narrow, dead-end alley like a snapping beam of dry timber.
The burly thug’s eyes bugged out of his skull. The arrogant, triumphant grin plastered across his face instantly shattered, replaced by a silent, agonizing gasp as the wind was forcefully and violently evacuated from his lungs. The sheer physical impact felt less like a human strike and more like being hit head-on by a charging iron-hide war rhino.
Before he could even comprehend what was happening, his ribs splintered inward, and his massive, two-hundred-pound frame was launched backward off his feet. He hurtled through the damp air, crashing violently into the high brick wall with a sickening thud that rattled loose mortar, before sliding down into a pathetic heap of groaning limbs and stained leather.
The second thug, standing barely an arm’s length away with his short sword half-drawn, froze completely.
His brain utterly failed to process the sudden sequence of events. Half a second ago, they had cornered a soft, wealthy young master who was clutching boxes of pastries like a helpless merchant’s son.
The next second, his partner who was a seasoned underground brawler with a hardened body tempering was swatted across the alley like an annoying housefly by a single, casual blow.
The thug’s hands began to shake violently, the iron hilt of his short sword slipping in his sweaty grip. He tried to scream, tried to channel his rudimentary qi to manifest a defensive barrier, but terror had locked his joints in place.
"W-What... what are you—" the thug stammered, his voice cracking into a panicked, high-pitched squeak as he stumbled backward.
Lu Feng didn’t give him a chance to finish the question.
With a cold, indifferent glide of his boots across the slick cobblestones, Lu Feng closed the distance in less than the span of a heartbeat. He didn’t even bother wasting a high-level martial technique on trash like this; basic, brutal, unadulterated physical dominance was more than enough.
He stepped inside the thug’s clumsy guard, ducked beneath the flailing sweep of the short sword, and delivered a devastating, lightning-fast elbow straight into the center of the man’s jaw.
SMACK!
Teeth shattered instantly, spraying a fine mist of crimson and bone fragments into the night air. The force of the strike spun the thug completely around in a sickening three-hundred-and-sixty-degree arc.
Before his limp body could even hit the ground, Lu Feng smoothly pivoted on his heel, cocked his right leg back like a loaded spring, and unleashed a ferocious, heavy roundhouse kick directly into the man’s ribs.
The side of the thug’s torso caved inward with a brutal crunch. The man shrieked—a high, agonizing sound of absolute despair—as he was catapulted sideways into the wooden rain-barrel that sat near the mouth of the alley.
The heavy barrel splintered into a thousand jagged pieces under the kinetic impact, flooding the narrow passage with stagnant water, rotting debris, and a crumpled, weeping heap of shattered bones.
The entire brutal exchange had taken less than three seconds.
Silence descended once again over the dark, dead-end alleyway, save for the pathetic, bubbling gasps of pain coming from the two broken men bleeding out on the damp stones.
Lu Feng stood perfectly upright amidst the chaos, not a single hair out of place on his head, his dark robes unruffled and clean. He casually adjusted the boxes of honey dumplings and the silk-wrapped garments in his left arm, ensuring not a single crease had formed on the packaging.
He slowly walked forward, stepping over the twitching legs of the second thug, and stopped directly in front of the ring-pierced brute who was currently plastered against the base of the brick wall, coughing up thick, dark clots of blood.
Lu Feng crouched down slightly, resting his weight on one knee, looking down at the whimpering thug with an expression of profound, chilling detachment.
"I told you," Lu Feng whispered softly, his voice carrying a lethal, hypnotic cadence that made the thug’s blood run colder than the surrounding night air. "You were about to make a very big mistake. Do you believe me now?"
The brute could barely lift his head. His eyes rolled back toward the pale moonlight, his lips trembling uncontrollably as tears mixed with dirt and blood streamed down his bruised cheeks. He tried to speak, but only a wet, pathetic gurgle escaped his shattered throat.
Lu Feng let out a low, disappointed sigh. He stood back up, dusting off his immaculate cuffs as if he had merely stepped over a particularly annoying pebble on a morning walk.
"Next time," Lu Feng added casually, turning his back on the ruined cutthroats and beginning his unhurried walk out of the alley, "pick a better target. And for heaven’s sake... learn how to tail someone without sounding like a stampeding ox."
Leaving the two broken thugs groaning in the shadows of the damp, foul-smelling service lane, Lu Feng stepped back out onto the wide, lantern-lit stone avenue, blending effortlessly into the evening walkway traffic as he resumed his quiet journey back to the safety of the guest villa.