Chapter Eighty: Riding Alone

An abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city.

This was the headquarters of the Azure Dragon Gang, the place Yanluo had learned from those three little thugs. Astonishingly, the trio had actually told him. Weren't they afraid the base would be exposed and the police would come down on them?

After leaving the grove, Zheng Hong, the plump girl, and the thin girl were waiting there. The three students were all rather uneasy. The Azure Dragon Gang, though hidden from public view in the city, was not the sort of presence ordinary students dared to provoke.

"Huh? They didn't beat you up?"

In Zheng Hong's imagination, Yanluo should have come out with a swollen nose and blackened eyes, but instead he looked exactly as he had when he went in, not even a strand of hair out of place.

Since when were the Azure Dragon Gang so easygoing?

Yanluo smiled. "Why would they hit me? Didn't I say my speech was incredibly pleasant? I wouldn't anger any big shots of the underworld."

"Uh... what's that in your hand, money?" the thin girl asked.

"Oh, one of the gang bosses thought I spoke very nicely, so he gave me the money on him... Forty-eight yuan and thirty cents in all. Now dinner's taken care of. With that much, I could probably afford a barbecue meal." Yanluo put the money into his pocket.

What a pity An Zixuan hadn't been carrying cash. Curse mobile payments...

"They didn't beat you, and they even gave you money?"

Zheng Hong was dumbstruck.

And... from the amount, even down to the thirty cents, it could be felt that this was likely all the cash those gang leaders had on them.

The two girls were equally bewildered.

What on earth had Yanluo said to the Azure Dragon Gang boss?

Three faces, all blank with confusion.

"Thank you all for today."

Although the three had not helped at all, Yanluo still politely expressed his thanks.

Having received an unexpected windfall, Yanluo thought of the night ahead, where he would still have to drill himself mercilessly in a relentless ascent to power. To replenish his energy, he really did go and eat a barbecue meal. After finishing, it was 7:10 p.m., and he had arranged to visit the abandoned factory at 9:00 p.m. with those underworld youths from the Azure Dragon Gang.

Yanluo first returned to the school to fetch the horse from Old Man Chen Jianmin's place.

He did not know how many men the Azure Dragon Gang had in all. Since they were famous in the city, there were probably several hundred? Of course, some who mixed in the underworld had families, so it was impossible for all their members to be there. But after all, it was their headquarters. At 9:00 p.m., it was not too late; if they happened to be gathering, what if there were dozens, or even hundreds?

In the world of ancient Greece, Yanluo had once wiped out a hundred men of a Macedonian corps by himself. Modern street punks could certainly not compare with ancient Greece, and a complete battle corps would at the very least not be equipped with dozens of archers, nor would it form a Macedonian spear phalanx.

But that had depended on his persona mask.

To deal with a gang of criminals, wasting a mask unless one had lost his mind... Even now, Yanluo, whose physical condition rivaled a world champion gymnast's, would still find it difficult to take on a hundred men alone. So he needed the power of a horse, just as Zhao Zilong in the age of the Three Kingdoms needed his mount to charge in and out seven times.

When he reached Old Man Chen's house, Yanluo found that Creamy Chocolate already had a saddle and stirrups on; the old man had fitted them in the afternoon.

"Little Yan, you're here to take the horse away? I called an old friend. He'll come tomorrow to nail on horseshoes, so don't forget to bring the horse here."

Chen Jianmin was in high spirits. His children and grandchildren were all away in other places, and after his wife passed away he had been lonely. He usually liked to wander around the school, and Yanluo's horse made him think of his youth, of the days when he had served as a groom in the production brigade.

How nostalgic...

"All right. Thank you, Uncle Chen."

Yanluo nodded, then led the horse out of the school.

It was night now. In this fourth-tier city, foot traffic was sparse. Under the dim yellow streetlights, pedestrians and vehicles were few and far between. He mounted Creamy Chocolate and galloped toward the outskirts of the city. As he drew farther and farther from the urban center, the crowds became even thinner.

At 8:50 p.m., Yanluo rode the horse to the area near the abandoned factory.

Neighing softly, he brought the horse to a stop, then dismounted. First he loosened his muscles and joints a little. Truth be told, riding a horse was not exactly enjoyable. Sitting astride it for more than an hour while bouncing along was an utterly miserable experience. Fortunately, Old Chen had fitted the saddle and stirrups, or the inside of his thighs would surely have been rubbed raw.

Of course, Yanluo had self-healing genes.

After dismounting, he began to take out his weapons and gear from the storage space.

The Coiling Dragon Staff could not be used. Aside from being too heavy and draining stamina, a sixty-two-jin staff could kill someone with a single blow even if Yanluo did not use his relentless ascent to power. The Mandarin Duck Blades... that was basically an assassin's weapon; once the blades were out, someone would die. What he took out instead was a five-meter Macedonian spear.

Then he donned the bronze chain mail.

A defensive set dropped by the Macedonian corps warrior Guram, it was a full suit of armor. From cuirass to handguards and greaves, everything was there, though regrettably there was no helmet. The chain mail had a brownish-yellow sheen, carrying the ancient, weighty dignity of history; over the chest was a large, intact piece of metal like a breast mirror.

Yanluo stood one meter eighty tall, and after putting on the bronze chain mail he looked like a iron tower.

It was not easy to mount a horse in such heavy armor. In ancient Europe, some heavily armored knights had to be pushed up by servants after putting on their armor. Even Yanluo, with his extraordinary physique, still had to expend considerable effort to climb onto the horse's back. Then he raised the Macedonian spear... but after thinking it over, in order not to stab anyone to death, he turned the sharpened end backward and treated the other end as the spearhead.

"Creamy Chocolate, let's go!"

Setting the spear across his shoulder, angled slightly downward in front, he nudged the horse's flank with his stirrups. Thus the heavily armored knight Yanluo, astride his warhorse, charged toward the abandoned factory.

Inside the factory.

The Azure Dragon Gang's boss, Da Fei, stared grimly at the three underlings kneeling before him. Brother Long Hair, Brother Yellow Hair, and Brother Nose Ring—these three were only the lowest-ranking members of the Azure Dragon Gang. This time, when Boss An's son had called for men, the other side had merely been a student, so they sent the three nearest to deal with it. And yet they had actually botched the job!

What a damn disgrace.

What was worse, one of the three had a broken finger, one had a moderate concussion, and one had his nose split open... Damn it, three useless trash!

"So you just told him where the headquarters are?" The gang boss Da Fei, shirtless and with a blue dragon tattooed across his back, stepped viciously on Brother Nose Ring's chest—of course, the nose ring was gone now—sending him sprawling to the ground.

"The student said he'd come at nine to visit the headquarters..."

"Damn it, and you three took that at face value? He was fishing for information. That punk has probably already called the police by now! Still, fortunately, I was only just released from prison, and the Azure Dragon Gang hasn't done anything too serious lately, so it shouldn't bring the cops swarming in... But if anything happens in the future... damn it, looks like we'll have to find a way to change headquarters."

Just as Da Fei was seething with anger and preparing to find the student's family to exact revenge, a sound suddenly came from near and far.

Clip-clop, clip-clop-clop...

Clear hoofbeats rang out, especially distinct in the night.

"What is that?"

From the factory window, Da Fei and all the Azure Dragon Gang members inside saw this scene: under the cold moonlight, a young man in ancient armor, holding a spear of absurd length and riding a horse, charged into the factory yard.