Brother Hong's face was ashen, his legs trembling. His eyes were filled with terror.
That's right. Terror.
Over the years, Brother Hong had been all over and seen it all, but he had never met anyone as fierceâas unnervingly bizarreâas Zhao Yuan.
In the recent brawlâone man against a crowdâZhao Yuan's speed, strength, and reflexes were far beyond those of a normal person. Brother Hong's thugs never even had a chance to fight back; they were completely dominated from start to finish.
Several times, as Brother Hong watched Zhao Yuan tear through the crowd, he had the distinct and terrifying illusion that Zhao Yuan wasn't a man, but a Wild Beast!
A terrifying Wild Beast from primordial times!
More than once, Brother Hong had wanted to run, but in the end, he couldn't. His legs were jelly, sapped of all strength by sheer terror. He knew, with dawning certainty, that he couldn't possibly escape the claws of this Wild Beast.
Watching Zhao Yuan approach step by step, Brother Hongâa man who was usually ruthless, who could kill without batting an eyeâwas so overwhelmed by the piercing aura radiating from Zhao Yuan that he collapsed onto his butt.
"Sp-Spare meâŠ" Brother Hong could no longer act tough. He begged for mercy.
Zhao Yuan walked right up to him, looked down, and said coldly, "Out with it."
"What?" Brother Hong was stunned, not understanding what Zhao Yuan wanted him to hand over.
"The money," Zhao Yuan said. "You just tried to rob me. Now it's my turn to rob you."
"Huh?" Brother Hong was floored. They were always the ones doing the robbing; when had they ever been robbed? The feeling of going from Hunter to prey was utterly disorienting.
But he didn't dare say no. His only hope was to use the money as a bargaining chip.
"I can give you the money, but you have to let me go."
Brother Hong only cared about saving his own skin. As for the lives of his men, he couldn't be bothered, nor did he want to be.
"Bargain with me? You're in no position to make demands." Zhao Yuan sneered and, wasting no more words, activated an Enchanting Talisman.
Brother Hong was once again hypnotized, and he obediently revealed the location of his hidden money.
Following his directions, Zhao Yuan dug under a pile of scrap and pulled out a travel bag wrapped in plastic film. Opening it, he saw it was stuffed with bundles of cashâat least a million or two.
This was money Brother Hong had acquired through years of crime. Although he had squandered most of his ill-gotten gains, he'd saved this stash for a rainy day.
Seeing Zhao Yuan find his hidden money so easily, Brother Hong's jaw dropped in disbelief.
'How could he know where my money was hidden? Not even my most trusted underlings know that secret. Does he have the ability to see the future?'
Little did he know that while Zhao Yuan didn't have the ability to see the future, he did have a Spirit Talisman that could hypnotize people!
Zhao Yuan tossed the travel bag onto the taxi's passenger seat. Then, he scrounged around the scrapyard, gathering some electrical wire and hemp rope. He used these to tie up the thugs he'd beaten down and stuffed them into the back row of the taxi.
Soon, the back of the taxi was crammed full. Every thug's expression was one of agony; they were clearly miserable from being crushed together. The few at the very bottom could barely even breathe. It took Zhao Yuan a great deal of effort to finally shut the door. Inside the car, the thugs' faces were pressed tightly against the window, their features comically distorted by the pressureâŠ
Next, Zhao Yuan opened the trunk. He collected the machetes, steel pipes, and other weapons scattered on the ground and tossed them in. Then he searched the tin shack, found a few powder-actuated guns, and threw them in the trunk as well.
After closing the trunk, he opened the iron gate, walked over to Brother Hong, and gestured with one of the guns. "Don't just sit there," he said. "Get up and drive."
If Zhao Yuan knew how to drive, Brother Hong would have been tied up and thrown into the back seat with the others.
How could Brother Hong dare refuse? He shakily got to his feet and slid into the driver's seat. After starting the car, he asked, "Wh-where to?"
Zhao Yuan pulled out his phone, opened the navigation app, and typed in the address of the police station for the district that included the Chinese medicine market. "Follow the GPS," he ordered, not forgetting to add a threat. "And I advise you to drive obediently. Don't try any tricks, or I have plenty of ways to make your life a living hell."
A chill ran through Brother Hong, instantly extinguishing any budding ideas of defiance. "Yes, yes, I'll be completely honest," he stammered.
Zhao Yuan nodded. "Let's go."
Brother Hong obediently put the car in gear, stepped on the gas, and drove out of the scrapyard.
ăSome thirty minutes later.ă
The taxi reached its destination and pulled into the police station's lot.
"What's this about?" an officer asked as he approached the car.
Zhao Yuan pushed the door open and got out, pointing to Brother Hong and his crew in the car. "These guys are kidnappers. They tried to abduct and rob me, but I subdued them. Their weapons are in the trunk. Also, this gun I'm holding was confiscated from them."
"Zhao?" The officer recognized him at a glance. After hearing what he said, the officer's expression changed drastically. He dashed to the taxi, yanked open the driver's side door, and shouted at Brother Hong, "Get out of the car, now! Hands on your head!" At the same time, he yelled for his colleagues to back him up.
In moments, all the on-duty officers in the station rushed out and surrounded the taxi.
Brother Hong had already been dragged out and was squatting on the ground with his hands on his head. An officer went up, opened the rear door, and barked at the thugs inside, "Get out! All of you, get out now!"
The men didn't move, they just cried out in pain.
"We want to get out, but we can't move!"
"We're tied up, and we're stuck! We can't budge at all!"
In the end, it took several officers and a great deal of effort to "rescue" the group of thugs from the back seat. When they got out, not a single one could stand steadily, as their legs had long gone numb from the pressure.
The station chief, Xian Hong, also rushed over when he heard the news. As soon as he saw Brother Hong, his face changed dramatically. He gasped, "Isn't that Yan Hong? The Class-A fugitive wanted by the Ministry of Public Security for multiple counts of kidnapping, robbery, and murder? Excellent! This Demon has finally been caught! Zhao, thank you. If it weren't for you, this monster would still be at large, harming more people! Oh, right, how did you run into Yan Hong? And how did you manage to subdue them all?"
That was a question on the mind of every officer present.
Yan Hong and his thugs were all ruthless killers, yet Zhao Yuan had single-handedly subdued them and delivered them to the police station. If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they would never have believed it.