Urban Martial Saint

Not far from the night market stall was an internet cafe. Although it was quite late, the internet cafe was still doing good business.

The roar of anger came from over by the internet cafe. Ye Qing and the others turned their heads to look, only to see chaos near the internet cafe. A man with graying hair tumbled out of the entrance and fell under the eaves. Behind him, a few outrageously dressed youths exited from the internet cafe.

”Damn, old man, are you looking for trouble again?” The leader was a country punk with an explosive head of multi-colored hair and, for God’s sake, even wore smoky makeup, presenting a quite visually aggressive appearance. Those following him were also dressed in that rural punk style, either sporting seven or eight earrings or draped in cheap chains—bracelets, anklets, waist chains, leg chains and the like. Among them was an oddity with a ring through his nose—he really thought he was the Bull Demon King!

The man looked wan and feebly glanced at the punks’ crowd, saying in a low voice, ”Yan Yan, come home with me. Your mother... your mother is ill, and she misses you a lot. You don’t want to go to school; okay, we won’t go, but you should at least come to see your mom!”

”I don’t want to go back!” A girl dressed up like a ghost came out from behind them. She cast a disdainful glance at the man and said, ”I’m doing fine here. Why should I go back? So what if she’s sick, she’s not dead yet. I want to be with my man, so stop bothering me!”

The man, pained, said, ”Yan Yan, how can you say such things? She’s your mother!”

”Don’t make it sound so nice. Didn’t she say it the last time I left? If I don’t come home, she won’t acknowledge me as her daughter. Since she doesn’t acknowledge me, I don’t acknowledge her either.” The girl said, then wrapped her arm around Explosive Head, ”You better get lost. I don’t want to argue with you, just stop bothering me from now on!”

The man anxiously said, ”Yan Yan, how can you be with someone like him?”

”Fuck, what the hell did you just say?” Explosive Head was immediately incensed, advanced, and grabbed the man’s hair, saying, ”What do you mean by ’someone like him’? Explain yourself! What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with us? Bastard, you can eat anything you want, but you can’t just say anything, got it?”

The man was a little frightened, but still insisted, ”Let go of me, I want to take my daughter home!”

Explosive Head said, ”Old Undying, it’s your daughter who doesn’t want to go home with you, not us keeping her. If you’re capable, take her back yourself, none of my damn business!”

”Yan Yan...” The man looked toward the girl, but she was obviously impatient, saying, ”Stop talking nonsense, I don’t want to talk to you, fuck off!”

”Yan Yan, how can you talk to me like this?” the man urgently said. ”I’m your dad!”

”I don’t care!” The girl turned and walked towards the internet cafe. The man, in a panic, hurried after her but was yanked back by Explosive Head.

”Let go of me!” the man shouted in anger.

”Oh? You’re getting angry now?” Explosive Head couldn’t help but laugh, and said, ”Old Undying, have you forgotten how I beat you last time? I’ve told you, stop haunting Yan Yan, or I’ll fucking cripple you. Last time, I went easy on you because you’re Yan Yan’s dad and just broke one of your arms. If it were someone else, I would’ve fucking killed them by now. Don’t think you can be arrogant in front of me just because I was nice to you. Believe it or not, I’ll break both your legs!”

”You wouldn’t dare!” gasped the man, his breathing ragged, his eyes reddened.

”Why wouldn’t I?” said Explosive Head, and with a kick, he knocked the man to the ground.

”Ah!” With a loud scream, the man suddenly sprang up, pulled out a kitchen knife from his waist, and charged with a roar, ”I’ll fight you to the death!”

Explosive Head was taken aback and quickly turned to run. The man, seemingly mad, swung the kitchen knife wildly as he charged forward, hacking and slashing. But he didn’t hit anyone; instead, he was kicked from behind by a youth and fell to the ground, the knife flying out of his hand.

Seeing the man disarmed, Explosive Head immediately regained his composure, picked up the kitchen knife, and ran back. The man tried to get up, but Explosive Head stepped on his back, pushing him down, holding the kitchen knife and roared, ”You’ve got some balls, huh? Daring to pull a knife on me? Think you’re tough, huh? Daring to use the knife?”

As he spoke, Explosive Head hammered the back of the man’s head with the blunt side of the knife. After a few blows, there was a gash on the man’s head, and blood flowed out.

Seeing such a scene, Ye Qing and the rest could no longer sit still; they stood up and were about to go over.

”Folks, just let it be!” The stall owner hurried over and whispered, ”Don’t stir up trouble, that Explosive Head’s uncle is a local leader in the county!”

”Who cares about some local leader? Fuck, is this even human behavior?” Da Fei said angrily. ”Kidnapping someone’s daughter, beating up parents, worse than animals!”

”In such cases, you can’t blame others. This is just like Zhou Yu fighting Huang Gai—one willing to hit and the other willing to endure,” said the stall owner. ”That man’s daughter has been a mess, dropped out in junior high, and started messing around with these people. That man has tried to find her several times, and each time the girl was more vicious than the last. That man is just too indulgent with his daughter. If he had disciplined her properly before, none of this would have happened. Everyone around here knows that he’s just asking for it! If his daughter even stabbed him to death, he certainly wouldn’t think she was wrong. Who acts like this as a parent?”

”What the hell, there’s such a thing?” Da Fei and the others were suddenly stunned. If the man was really like that, then they indeed had no interest in helping him.

”Exactly,” continued the stall owner. ”Just last month, his daughter, short of money, went to steal from her grandmother. When her grandmother discovered her, the girl cut off one of her grandmother’s fingers with a knife. The man not only did nothing about it, but he also blamed his mom for not giving his granddaughter money. How can anyone be a parent like that? Let me tell you, even if you went to help him, he might not thank you. Worse, if you accidentally hurt his daughter, he might come after you. Why bother?”

People looked at each other in dismay, and Ye Qing sighed before saying, ”Sit down!”

If it were any other situation, Ye Qing would not stand idly by. But this time, what good would it do if they interfered? If you can’t teach your own child properly, how many times can others help you educate them?

Da Fei looked at the man being beaten and wailing, spit to the side, and said, ”To be a parent like that, you’re asking for it!”

In the internet café, the girl saw her father being beaten up, but she sat in front of the computer as if nothing was wrong, leisurely eating sunflower seeds, as if the person getting beaten had nothing to do with her.

Explosive Head and a few others circled around the man, punching and kicking him, and even when the man started bleeding from the mouth and nose, they had no intention of stopping. Everyone giggled and laughed, even starting a contest to see who could hit harder and be more ruthless.

Ye Qing frowned. If the beating continued like this, the man would either die or be seriously injured. These young people had no intention of stopping—did they really want to kill someone?

Just as Ye Qing hesitated whether to intervene or not, suddenly three people ran out of the internet café. The one leading was a slim young man who ran straight towards Explosive Head. When he got close, he jumped up and kicked in the back of Explosive Head, sending him flying.

The young man was not tall, but he moved with proficiency. After kicking Explosive Head away, he jumped again and punched another non-mainstream person to the ground.

”Fuck, Yue Peng, you dare to hit us!” the non-mainstream with earrings roared out loud.

”Hit!” the slim young man shouted, and the two young men behind him rushed over as well. The three of them attacked the five or six non-mainstreamers and managed to overpower them without them being able to fight back. In just a few minutes, all the non-mainstreamers were down on the ground, incapable of resisting anymore.

Explosive Head lay on the ground, gasping for air, and angrily said, ”Yue Peng, I have no grievance with you, you... you dare hit me, you don’t have to hang around in Jiuchuan County anymore. I’ll go back and talk to my uncle. If you don’t spend a few years up the mountain, I’ll fucking take your surname!”

”I wasn’t planning on hanging around in Jiuchuan County anymore anyway, fuck, a bunch of scum—I’ve been sick of you for long, and today I have to make it worth it!” Yue Peng said, and casually picked up a brick from the side, walked straight to Explosive Head.

”What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Explosive Head was scared and angrily said, ”You... dare to touch me and see, my uncle will definitely not let you off!”

Yue Peng did not care at all, swung his hand, and angrily said, ”Pin his hand down for me!”

Two young men came over and pressed Explosive Head’s hand to the ground. Yue Peng bent down, raised the brick in his hand, and smashed it heavily onto Explosive Head’s fingers.

”Ah!” Explosive Head screamed in pain, tears streaming down.

”Damn good!” Da Fei couldn’t help but admire, saying, ”This kid’s not bad; I like him!”

At that moment, the girl also realized something was wrong and rushed out hurriedly, saying, ”Let go of my husband!”

Yue Peng didn’t even glance at her and smashed another brick down, breaking another one of Explosive Head’s fingers.

The girl cried out in shock twice, seeing that Yue Peng didn’t care about her at all; she became furious, picked up a kitchen knife from the ground, and ran over.

”Peng, be careful!” one of Yue Peng’s brothers shouted loudly.

Yue Peng immediately stood up, flipped over, and kicked the girl in the stomach, who then fell flat on the ground.

”Ouch!” The girl cried out in pain and burst into tears.

”Yan Yan!” the man on the ground cried out, shocked, and struggled up, angrily saying, ”What are you doing hitting my daughter?”

Yue Peng gave him a glare and angrily said, ”Scram!”

”You get the hell away!” The man hurried over, using his body to shield his daughter, angrily saying, ”You dare hit my daughter, I’ll fight you to the end!”

The man then charged at Yue Peng, who frowned and kicked the man back, angrily saying, ”You fucking ingrate, I’m helping you, and you repay me with enmity. Fuck, what a piece of trash!”