Chapter 47: One Punch

At the edge of Xinlu’s docks, there was a hundred-square-meter courtyard. More than half of the courtyard was a training ground.

Even late at night, continuous thumping sounds could be heard. It was the sound of someone hitting a sandbag.

Bam!

A loud strike sound rang out. The sandbag hanging in mid-air was torn apart by Li Si’s kick. Countless grains of sand spilled out from the air and scattered all over the ground.

A maid walked up and carefully helped Li Si wipe his sweat.

Li Si twisted his neck. The black dragon tattoo on his face could be seen stretching from his cheek down to his neck and shoulder. It moved as his muscles twisted, as if it had come to life.

This was Li Si’s residence. The man, whom Fan Hailong had picked up from a wolf den, was born with a wild nature. Since he started living at the docks day and night, no workers or sailors at Xinlu docks dared to oppose the Sea Dragon Gang again.

Behind Li Si, at the edge of the training ground, a middle-aged man knelt on the ground, trembling. Behind him, two members of the Sea Dragon Gang stood guard.

Li Si waved his hand, dismissing the maid. He turned to look at the kneeling man and said coldly, “Yan Datou, are you trying to avoid paying back those five thousand coins for the opium?”

“Fourth Master! Fourth Master, please listen to me!” The man called Yan Datou knelt on the ground and tried to crawl toward Li Si, but the two gang members behind him held him firmly in place. “Fourth Master, please give me a few more days. Just three days… three days, okay? I swear I’ll pay you back in three days!”

“Three days and then three more days, and after that, another three days.” Li Si’s eyes showed cruelty and cunning, like a wild wolf on the grassland. “Originally, since you are a regular at our opium den, I could have given you a few more days. But five thousand coins is too much. You should mortgage your rice shop.”

“Rice shop?” Yan Datou exclaimed. “Not the rice shop! That shop was passed down to me by my father. I can’t mortgage it! Fourth Master, please give me three more days. I will definitely pay you back in three days!”

But Li Si was very familiar with this routine: first trapping someone with drugs or gambling, and then taking over their property. How could he let a cooked duck fly away and easily let Yan Datou off?

He gave a signal. One gang member brought over a contract and pressed Yan Datou to sign it. Yan Datou naturally resisted, struggling desperately. “Fourth Master, this goes against the rules of the underworld! I admit I fell into your trap with the opium! But how can you take my family’s property too? This is not righteousness in the underworld! This is not righteousness in the underworld!”

“Righteousness in the underworld?” Li Si looked at Yan Datou and walked toward him step by step. “In this world, the one with the bigger fist makes the rules.” After saying that, he kicked Yan Datou, sending him flying more than two meters away. Yan Datou spat out a mouthful of blood and passed out.

Li Si said coldly, “Sign it.”

The two gang members immediately took Yan Datou’s left hand and pressed it onto the contract. Watching the unconscious Yan Datou being dragged away, one gang member walked up and handed the contract to Li Si with a flattering smile. “Fourth Master, the Yan family’s rice shop is in a great location. The gang leader will be very happy when he finds out.”

Li Si nodded casually and asked, “How are things at Haoran Martial Hall?”

“We followed your instructions, Fourth Master, and blocked the students. Now, only the two Jiangs, father and daughter, are left at Haoran Martial Hall. Our people have been watching them. They’ve been contacting other martial halls in the city these past few days.”

“Hmph, a desperate struggle.” Li Si said coldly. “Wait seven more days. I’ll make sure everyone in Xinlu knows who the real number one in Xinlu is.”

Li Si’s subordinate flattered him, “Fourth Master, your martial arts are far superior to that old man Jiang. I’m just afraid they might try to escape.”

At that moment, Li Si’s ear twitched. He immediately turned to look at the corner of the courtyard wall. A figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

“Who’s there?”

It was a tall and strong man, about eight feet tall. He was wrapped in a black overcoat, with only his head exposed. In the dim light, he looked like a peasant from the countryside.

In response to Li Si’s shout, Zuo Zhicheng only said one sentence.

“If you can take one punch from me, I’ll spare your life.”

The next moment, the large shadow rushed toward Li Si like a dark cloud.

“Looking to die!”

Faced with the charging stranger, why would Li Si be afraid or dodge? He directly launched a side kick, accompanied by the sound of wind and thunder, aiming at Zuo Zhicheng. Zuo Zhicheng did not dodge or retreat. Instead, he threw a fierce punch toward Li Si’s foot.

‘My leg skills are so strong now, even the gang leader might not be a match. With my full power and the iron piece in my shoe, let’s see how you block it!’

But the moment his foot met the fist, Li Si realized how wrong he was, and how terribly wrong.

His foot and the fist paused slightly in the air. The next moment, a force like that of a prehistoric beast or an ancient dragon came from his foot. It spread through his entire body like a wave, starting from his foot. A series of cracking sounds followed. His leg bone shattered into countless pieces.

At the same time, his body flew out like a meteor and crashed onto the ground more than ten meters away. He lay there motionless, like a pile of mud.

The difference in strength between Zuo Zhicheng and Li Si was too great. If Li Si had chosen to fight tactically, he might have held out until the gang members arrived to help. But faced with Zuo Zhicheng’s challenge, he chose to confront him head-on, which led to his tragic end.

Even before his heart stopped beating, his eyes were filled with disbelief. He wanted to lift his head to get a good look at the person who had defeated him, but he found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t move at all.

In a daze, the man who threw the punch walked up to him. The man seemed to smile and suddenly said softly, “At the martial hall, you kicked me once. This punch is payback.”

“It’s you!” Li Si remembered. “You’re the one-eyed man from Haoran Martial Hall!” His eyes were full of surprise, fear, and regret. How could this person, who seemed like a weakling, suddenly turn into a monster and kill him?

A sense of absurdity flooded Li Si’s mind.

Thinking about what he had done at the martial hall earlier, what must the other person be thinking? He must be laughing inside. If it were me, I’d be laughing my guts out too. It was like watching a dog showing off in front of a tiger.

He wanted to shout out the words in his mouth, but his severe injuries weighed down his body, making it impossible for him to speak. Thinking about being beaten to death like this, Li Si felt anxious, scared, and furious all at once. A mouthful of blood sprayed out, and he passed out completely. His breathing and heartbeat gradually stopped.

Their conversation was very quiet, so naturally only they could hear it.

The gang members in the courtyard had wanted to rush over to help, but when they saw Li Si killed with one punch, they were shocked. The two gang members at the edge of the training ground immediately ran out, shouting as if crying, “Help!”

“Quick, someone help! Fourth Master has been killed!”

Li Si, who was almost the best in martial arts in the Sea Dragon Gang and could fight over a dozen people alone, was killed so simply with one punch.

When this fact mercilessly appeared before the gang members’ eyes, their minds went blank.

The gang member who had been near Li Si earlier, flattering him, couldn’t stop his legs from shaking. He looked at Zuo Zhicheng as if he were a tiger. Cold sweat had already soaked his back.

Zuo Zhicheng glanced at him, and he felt as if a blade had scraped over his body.

Zuo Zhicheng only glanced at him, then ran straight to the wall. He took two steps on the wall and easily leaped over the high wall. By the time the Sea Dragon Gang members arrived, he was long gone.

Zuo Zhicheng jogged all the way to an abandoned courtyard. He slowly removed his disguise and put away each item.

His goal today was to draw the Sea Dragon Gang’s attention to a person he had created, to avoid a direct conflict between Haoran Martial Hall and the Sea Dragon Gang.

At the same time, this was the first step in dealing with the entire Sea Dragon Gang. Like dominoes, Zuo Zhicheng knew the structure and weaknesses of such gangs too well. As long as he removed a few key parts, like in a demolition, the entire gang would naturally collapse.

Whether it was the so-called Four Heavenly Kings or the leader of the Sea Dragon Gang, without the gang and without power, they were nothing.