What the hell is a surprise?
This right here—this is what you call a surprise!
Staring at the sudden incoming call, Liu Kai felt like he’d been struck by lightning. He was completely dumbfounded.
I mean, he’d just gotten off the phone with the underworld boss.
And now, not even a second later, the police were calling him.
“Why the hell are they calling me out of the blue?”
Liu Kai’s mind was in total chaos. The phone in his hand suddenly felt like a scorching hot potato.
He couldn’t toss it away, but he couldn’t keep holding it either.
After a fierce internal struggle, he finally—trembling—picked up the call and cautiously said, “Hello?”
“Is this Mr. Liu Kai?”
A cold voice came from the other end of the line.
“Yes, yes, that’s me. What can I do for you?”
Liu Kai swallowed hard.
His mind raced—could they have found out about me hiring someone to go after Jiang Nian?
But then he thought that was impossible.
After all, aside from him, the only people who knew about this were that underworld boss and his underlings.
They were in the criminal business—there was no way they’d willingly spill the beans!
Liu Kai clung to a sliver of hope.
He told himself the police were probably just calling for some routine check.
But unfortunately, dreams were plump, while reality was skinny.
The more you fear something, the more likely it is to happen.
Right in the middle of Liu Kai’s silent prayers—
the voice on the other end, flat and emotionless, delivered the verdict:
“Hello, Mr. Liu Kai. This is the Beijing Police Station. We’ve received a cross-provincial case report indicating that you were involved in a transaction with illegal underworld elements—specifically, hiring someone to commit assault. You are hereby summoned to the Beijing Police Station within thirty minutes for case registration.”
“Failure to comply will result in compulsory measures being taken.”
As soon as those words landed, the expression on Liu Kai’s face froze solid.
He didn’t even realize when the call had ended.
Right now, his mind was stuck on only one thing:
His plot to hire someone to hurt Jiang Nian had been exposed!
Almost instantly, he thought of the underworld boss he usually contacted.
He immediately grabbed his phone, dialed the number, and called—demanding to know what the hell was going on.
But three calls in a row—the guy’s phone wouldn’t connect.
On the fourth try—
“Hello.”
A low male voice came through the speaker.
At that, Liu Kai’s pupils contracted sharply—because that voice wasn’t the underworld boss!
And if he listened closely, he could even hear loud commotion and shouting in the background.
“Wh-Who is this?”
Liu Kai’s voice trembled.
The voice on the other end, speaking with a Cantonese accent, replied: “Mr. Liu Kai, right? Hello. This is the Hong Kong Police Station. The underworld boss you’ve been in contact with has been arrested. Your criminal records of transactions with him are now in our possession. We advise you to report to your nearest police station and turn yourself in within thirty minutes—otherwise, local authorities may take compulsory measures.”
With that, the caller hung up without waiting for Liu Kai’s reaction.
Leaving Liu Kai alone, standing dumbly in the bathroom, staring blankly into space.
Beijing police summoning him.
The underworld boss arrested.
And the evidence of their transactions now in the hands of the Hong Kong police.
What the actual—
The sudden chain of events left Liu Kai’s mind completely blank, filled with only three words: The sky has fallen.
But it wasn’t over yet.
Because Liu Kai had committed a crime—and a particularly severe one at that, hiring someone to commit assault.
So after contacting him, the Beijing police made another call—to Liu Kai’s company—to inform them of the situation.
Now, even the company was calling him, demanding an explanation!
“Where did it all go wrong?”
Liu Kai was utterly lost and bewildered, unable to piece together the cause and effect. How the hell did this get exposed?
And even if it was exposed, there’s no way it should’ve escalated to this extent!
Who doesn’t have connections backing them up?
So clearly, something had gone wrong somewhere!
But Liu Kai obviously couldn’t figure it out right now—because the key player in all this was still locked in a desperate struggle out there, not yet in the spotlight…
Whoosh—
Up on the mountain, the scene was utter chaos.
None of the sunglasses-wearing men had expected Jiang Nian to pull such a dirty trick.
Although they’d all forced their eyes open as quickly as possible and smashed that flashlight, trying to fight back—
that 4,000-lumen flashlight was no joke.
After being blasted by it, white spots were still dancing in their vision. They couldn’t adjust to the darkness at all, let alone find Jiang Nian.
And Jiang Nian—he used that window of time to go on a rampage!
Punches, swings, kicks, elbow strikes to the gut—
Simple, straightforward moves—yet no one could withstand a second hit!
This was the highest level of combat prowess—hiding ultimate moves inside basic attacks!
More and more bodies dropped to the ground.
The sunglasses crew was thinning out fast.
Just as Jiang Nian was about to reach the man in sunglasses himself—ready to send this bastard off with a vicious Harbin-style hook—
Twang!
Finally, someone on the scene had recovered enough from the blinding light to raise their crossbow and fire straight at Jiang Nian!
Because they were so close, the bolt shot toward Jiang Nian in the blink of an eye.
Jiang Nian’s pupils constricted—but he’d already sensed the danger beforehand. That was the ability of a top-tier martial artist—the power to anticipate in advance.
If his life was in danger, he’d get an inexplicable premonition.
It wasn’t quite at the level of “the cicada knows before the autumn wind arrives,” but it greatly boosted his reaction speed.
So in truth, the moment the other person fired the bolt, Jiang Nian had already adjusted his move. He raised his hand in front of his face, fingers curling into a claw, and reached out to grab it.
Thwack!
A muffled impact.
The bolt struck perfectly into Jiang Nian’s hand—as if he’d been waiting for it.
The shooter stared intently, watching as Jiang Nian stumbled back a few steps, hand level with his forehead, gripping the bolt shaft, motionless.
And on his hand, bright red blood was slowly trickling down along his sleeve!
“I got him!”
At the sight, the shooter’s spirits soared.
He’d hit Jiang Nian—and right in the head!
“He’s dead for sure!”
But the next second—
Whoosh—
A heavy exhale came from ahead, freezing the grin on the man’s face.
He stared ahead in disbelief.
He saw Jiang Nian open his mouth, thick white mist billowing out.
Then, slowly, he lowered the bolt he’d caught right in front of his face. His gaze, cold and murderous, fixed on the shooter.
“!!!”
Meeting Jiang Nian’s icy glare, the man’s heart gave a violent jolt.
Wh-What the hell?!
He actually caught my bolt—how is that even possible?!
There’s no way anyone can catch that!
As the weapon’s user, he knew full well the power and velocity of that compound crossbow. At such close range, it didn’t even take 0.1 seconds—how could a human react in time, let alone catch it barehanded?
Even if they somehow caught it, the inertia from that force—enough to pierce carbon steel—should’ve driven the bolt straight through his head or at least ripped it right out of his grasp.
But what he was seeing went against every rule of physics!
