Pa!

A beautifully-formed incisor flew out of Wind Listener’s mouth and struck a nearby cabinet. Although Wind Listener was a gangster, it was clear that he barely trained himself anymore after he became a professional gamer. A couple of punches would’ve dropped him like a sack of bricks, not to mention that my body had been strengthened by the virus.

I dropped Wind Listener on the floor before walking up to the terrified Moonlight Stone. She was so scared that she didn’t seem to comprehend what was going on in front of her. I said in a gentle voice, "It’s me, Moonlight. Don’t you recognize me?"

At first, Moonlight Stone remained full of terror. When she met my eyes though, they gave way to confusion and recognition. She started sobbing in a tiny voice, "Don’t come closer! Is… is it you, Lu Chen? Is it really you?"

I nodded strongly. "It’s me!"

"You… you don’t hate me for what I did?" She forced through her sobs.

I could hardly describe the sorrow I was feeling right now. Life was a one-way journey, and it was impossible to know what lay ahead of us. During a crossroad in her life, Moonlight Stone had chosen her older brother over us and suffered tremendously as a result. I doubted that even she knew of her current feelings, much less I.

I slowly put a hand on her shoulder and said gently, "Come with me. I told you before, didn’t I? You are my friend, and you always will be, Moonlight."

For a time, Moonlight Stone simply trembled violently and looked like she would collapse at any moment. Then, she pounced into my lap and sobbed loudly, "Please take me away from here, Lu Chen! I don’t want to stay here for even a second longer! I don’t want to have anything to do with those so-called companions anymore, so please take me home, please…"

"Yeah. We’ll be leaving right now…"

I pulled Moonlight Stone to her feet before carrying her gaming helmet and handbag for her. She was still clad in her torn pyjamas, but there was no time for her to change her clothes or pack her luggage. Judging from her appearance, I doubted that she even had the strength to do so right now. We would buy her everything she needed when we returned to the base later.

It was at this moment Gui Guzi walked into the room and kicked Wind Listener right in the face. The boot print he left behind was as clear as day.

"Boss Broken Halberd, is your hand okay?" Gui Guzi looked at my injured fist.

I shook my head. "I’m fine. Let’s get out of here first. I’m sure Candle Dragon has picked up on the commotion we caused!"

"Yeah!"

……

Moonlight Stone could barely stand, so I carried her in my arms and ran behind Gui Guzi. Thankfully, she wasn’t so heavy that it would affect my speed. At the end of the corridors, the two Wind Listener lackeys saw us and abruptly came to a realization. "Shit! Those two bastards are actually trouble! Contact our brothers on the 7th and 8th floors now!"

One of them dialed a number quickly, but Gui Guzi was able to elbow him in the chest and sent both him and his phone flying to the back. The other guy was just about to attack Gui Guzi when I sent him flying with a swift kick as well. Both men could only groan in pain on the ground.

Unfortunately, the call went through, and I could hear someone yelling from the other side of the phone, "Hello? Five? HELLO? Shit! I knew those fuckers were suspicious! Gather our men and get to the 9th floor now! These intruders ain’t getting out of Candle Dragon without a pummeling!"

Oh shit. It doesn’t look like we are getting out of this one without a fight!

……

Moonlight Stone wrapped her arms around my neck and sobbed non-stop into my chest. She looked like she wanted to sink into my body and never reappear again. When Li Chengfeng saw us from the end of the corridor, he raced to our side and asked in an urgent tone, "What happened?"

"Don’t worry, it’s nothing too bad. Anyway, let’s get to the elevator now!"

However, Du Thirteen said, "That won’t work. All three elevators are stuck on the 7th and 8th floor!"

I replied without hesitation, "In that case, we’ll run down the fire escape stairs! It’s just 9 floors! This’ll be easy!"

"Let’s go!"

Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi led the way while Du Thirteen, High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun stayed at the back. I was protected at the center because I was carrying Moonlight Stone. Unfortunately, we hadn’t even run through half a staircase when we ran into a group of seven or eight shouting men. One guy with red hair and a punk style attire yelled, "Fuck! They’re Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and the man who hurt Boss Wind Listener really is Lu Chen! Crush them! There can only be one between Candle Dragon and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!"

Bang!

Li Chengfeng dropped the punk with a single punch before sending three Candle Dragon players stumbling to the back with a powerful kick. God damn! I had never fought against Li Chengfeng before, but he definitely deserved his position as a special police officer!

It wasn’t long before everyone was embroiled in the fight. I couldn’t use my arms because I was carrying Moonlight Stone, so I focused on dropping my opponents to the ground with targeted kicks to the legs. Lucky for us, it looked like most of these people had subpar fighting skills.

……

"Get to the 8th floor now!"

I ran down the stairs while Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were punching a bunch of dudes and keeping them busy. Suddenly, a 20-year-old youngster ran up to me and swung his baseball bat straight at me. The attack would’ve crippled me, Moonlight Stone or both of us, so I turned around and took the hit with my back instead. It hurt like a motherfucker, but I did a back kick and dropped the bastard to his knees before he could do anything else.

It was at this moment Li Chengfeng jumped down the stair rail and knocked two people out with a punch to the face each. He then shouted, "Keep going, Lu Chen!"

"Yeah! Be careful! And don’t forget to take Thirteen and Little Gui with you!"

"Don’t worry!"

I ran into another group of people the second I reached the 8th floor. This time, I saw some of them carrying fruit knives and more weapons. Were they seriously going to risk grievous injuries or even death? Candle Dragon’s men must have gone insane! On second thought, these madmen must belong to Wind Listening Pavilion. They were the gangsters-turned-gamers after all. The sudden violence must’ve awakened their repressed gang boss dreams or something, because every single one of them were running toward us with stools in their hands like they were Andy Chan or Jordan Chan!

There were few things more dangerous than multiple weapons swinging toward you at once, so Li Chengfeng made sure to protect his head with both arms while kicking out at the assailants’ stomachs. Every blow disabled the attackers instantly, and it wouldn’t leave them with internal injuries or broken bones.

Pa!

However, there was only so much one man could do, and it wasn’t long before a wooden bat slipped past his defense and hit him in the forehead. He wiped the blood away before repaying the favor with a heavy punch to the face. While dodging a table leg, he executed a sweeping kick and dropped multiple assailants to the ground. He fought with both his arms and his legs, but there was enough strength behind each blow to drive his opponents away from him.

More people poured in from the 7th floor, and still I didn’t dare to put Moonlight Stone on the ground. The entire reason we came to Candle Dragon’s gaming base and engaged them in this offline PK was for Moonlight Stone, and there was every chance these motherfuckers might decide to vent their frustrations on her instead. I came to rescue her, so putting her in the way of danger went completely against the objective.

Bang bang...

There were two loud bangs, and High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun leaped down from the 8th floor all the way to the 7th floor. Actually, they could’ve been pushed down by the enemy as well. It didn’t matter though. What mattered was that despite the painful grimaces on their faces, they didn’t hesitate to leap back to their feet, grab an iron bar and rejoin the fight.

I didn’t make it through the 8th floor unscathed, not even close. My shoulders alone were screaming from the seven to eight hits they had received. Of course, I made sure to pay back my offenders with as forceful of a kick as I could muster.

"Haha, well fought!" Li Chengfeng praised me with a bloody face.

Meanwhile, Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen rolled down the stairs above us until they hit a wall. Their faces bruised, and lips looked horribly bloodied. Even so, they refused to let go of the table legs they had snatched from their opponents and swung at their legs again and again.

……

We somehow managed to run, fight, roll and crawl to the 7th floor, but I counted at least 50 bastards blocking our way. There was even a security guard running up from below and shouting, "Cut it out!"

Unfortunately, he was KO’d by a Wind Listening Pavilion guy before he could even finish his sentence.

Drip… drip…

Blood slid down my forehead and onto Moonlight Stone’s pyjamas. They looked like plum blossoms in spring.

Moonlight Stone exclaimed in a hurry when she looked up, "Lu Chen, you’re bleeding! You’re bleeding!"

The sight of blood had caused her to panic instantly.

I smashed a youngster’s wrist to the wall and made him drop his knife with a well-placed kick. Just in case, I stomped on his wrist one more time and dropped him to his knees.

It was only then I answered Moonlight Stone with a laugh, "Do you even see how big this fight is? There’s no way anyone’s getting out without an injury or two!"

A short distance away, Li Chengfeng kicked away seven or eight people before pulling Du Thirteen by the collar. He complained, "Dude, Thirteen is so useless. He’s out of energy already…"

I stared at Thirteen’s arms. "That’s because someone cut his arm with a knife, dude!"

"He’s fine, the wound isn’t that deep!"

"Wound? He’s been cut at least seven or eight times…"

"Oh shit, now that you mentioned it, I do see several knife wounds on the other side of his arm…"

……

After we finally fought our way down the 7th floor, the number of people blocking our way started thinning considerably. I had every reason to believe things would improve even further once we got to the entrance hall. No matter how crazy Candle Dragon’s men were, they would never dare to attack us in public. That would open a whole can of worms they couldn’t possibly deal with.

"Ah…"

Suddenly, Moonlight Stone let out a cry of surprise. I looked down and saw that she was staring at a cut on her arm. There was also a small bruise on her leg. She must’ve only noticed it now because we were out of the thick. There was no helping it though. There had been way too many trackers, and I was no protective umbrella. Even if I could block 90% of the attacks flying her way, that was still 10% of damage she had to endure.

Bang!

Finally, I kicked open the fire escape door leading to the entrance hall and charged out. The two wounds on my forehead were burning, and I could feel blood sliding down my cheeks. My hair was stuck to the wound, and my expensive jacket had a lot more holes in it than it did when we first came here. My shoulders, arms, and legs were covered in varying degrees of injuries as well. The good news was that I still felt okay despite all the injuries I took. At the very least, none of them were crippling injuries that would require medical attention at the hospital.

"Chengfeng, get everyone out now!" I shouted.

Behind me, Li Chengfeng rushed out of the door with an exhausted Du Thirteen behind his back. He was quickly followed by Gui Guzi and High Fighting Spirits. One of Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun’s arms were carved up and useless just like Du Thirteen’s, but he kept a tight grip on an iron bar with his other hand and wore an excited expression on his face.

……

The security guards on the ground floor ran toward us when they noticed the commotion, but they backed away immediately when a sea of Candle Dragon players spilled through the fire escape door behind us.

It was at this moment the sliding door leading into the building opened. The leader of the group of five was Candlelight Shadow himself, and he was followed by Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, Transient Smoke and Clouds and God’s Dance.

"What the hell is going on?!!"

Candlelight Shadow looked at me, Li Chengfeng, and Moonlight Stone in my arms. Then, he erupted, "What the HELL is going on here? Don’t you know that it’s forbidden to fight inside the gaming base? A brawl in broad daylight? Do you people like the smell of a prison cell that much?!"

A red-haired youngster immediately pointed a finger at me. "But boss, he’s the one who intruded our base, beat up Boss Wind Listener, and knocked out Little Five and Bumpkin!"

Candlelight Shadow turned his hateful gaze on me. "Lu Chen, you know of the saying ‘you can beat a man, but you cannot shame him’, right? You dare beat up a cadre of my guild in my territory? Have I endured for so long that I gave you the impression of a pushover!?"