Chapter 35: Betrayal? So What?
After listening to Chu Yan's reminders, Zhou Fan walked out of the villa and saw several figures standing before him.
"Is Fan in trouble?"
After a quick glance at the group, Zhou Fan's eyes fixed on the man standing before him, whose left arm had been severed. He asked in a low voice, recognizing the man as Lao San of Wolf Fang.
"In the dense woods of the East City Suburb, the boss and I were pursuing the Assassination Squad when we ran into an ambush. Our casualties were heavy. The boss had us return to tell you that he went after them alone!"
Lao San nodded gravely, then suddenly dropped to his knees. "Please, Nether King, save our boss! He forbade us from contacting headquarters!"
As Lao San knelt, the men behind him followed suit. "Please, Nether King, save our boss!"
"Your fastest person, come with me. The rest of you stay here and help protect my wife!"
The moment Zhou Fan spoke, a small, slender young woman stood up, her gaze fixed resolutely on him. "I'm Xiaojiu of Wolf Fang. My combat skills are average, but I'm fast!"
"Drive. Let's go."
Zhou Fan took one look and didn't doubt her. He'd long been aware that Wolf Fang had more than just masters with incredible combat strength; it also had specialists with all kinds of talents.
After Zhou Fan and Xiaojiu had left, one of the men quietly asked Lao San, "Lao San, is he the Nether King?"
Lao San stood up, his voice ice-cold. "You will take this to your graves. If a single word gets out, he won't have to lift a finger—the boss and I will finish you ourselves. Now, secure this villa with the highest security protocols. I don't want any accidents!"
At Lao San's command, the men all gave a firm nod. Without another word, they scattered to find the best positions and settled in to wait.
The car was fast, and Xiaojiu was an excellent driver. She kept the accelerator floored the entire way, and in less than two hours, they arrived at the edge of the dense forest.
"Stay close to me. Keep an eye out for any signs your squad leader might have left," Zhou Fan said in a low voice. He crouched low and dashed into the dense forest.
Xiaojiu scrambled to keep up, clutching a rectangular box. On the way there, Zhou Fan had instructed her to buy a set of silver acupuncture needles from a pharmacy.
...
"Fan, you've been on our tail this whole time. Do you really think we won't kill you?"
In the middle of the jungle, Fan gripped a dagger in one hand, his gaze locked on the man speaking to him. Six others surrounded them, watching him like hungry tigers.
"You want to kill me? Let's see if you've got the skill. As it happens, I'm curious to see just how strong the former Nether King's subordinates really are." Fan raised his dagger, holding it horizontally in front of him.
He was confident he could kill any one of these seven men in a one-on-one fight. He could even take on two. Against three, he could only guarantee his own escape. But against seven? He had no confidence at all.
"Sorry, but our boss now is Boss Ye, not some Nether King. The Nether King is history!"
The leader sneered and was the first to attack Fan. Seeing this, the other six struck in the same instant.
Although this kind of face-to-face combat wasn't their specialty, they had the absolute advantage in a seven-on-one fight.
"You're all a lot weaker than the Assassination Squad members I've met before!"
Fan taunted them after a few exchanges, his voice laced with contempt. As he slipped past one of his opponents, his dagger slashed across the man's cheek.
"That means you must have joined the Assassination Squad within the last year. The men trained by that piece of trash Ye Fei are nothing special after all!"
But even so, Fan had no hope of winning a seven-on-one fight. In less than ten minutes, he was covered in cuts. Though none were fatal, he would eventually bleed to death if this continued. He had managed to seriously wound two of them in return, but it wasn't enough.
"What are you three waiting for? Did you forget the mission Captain Poison Snake gave you?" Frustrated that they still couldn't take down Fan, the leader yelled at a large tree in the distance.
"Stinger, our mission was only to bring you here," one of three figures who slowly appeared said, his tone flat. They were three young men. "The rest has nothing to do with us. As for Poison Snake, he's *your* captain. We are equals."
"Are you trying to betray Netherworld King's Hall?" Stinger shouted, simultaneously ordering his remaining men to keep attacking Fan.
"And what if we are? Our loyalty is to the Nether King, not to Netherworld King's Hall, and certainly not to Ye Fei. A year ago, the Nether King was ambushed and killed. We didn't seek revenge immediately, only because we needed to help Netherworld King's Hall get through that difficult period. Now that everything is back on track, it's our time to leave. That's what Ye Fei promised us."
One of the three, a man with androgynous features, pale skin, and hair obscuring half his face, looked at Stinger with a sinister smile. "So I suggest you drop the attitude. Otherwise, we can't guarantee we won't take care of you first."