"Get him!" Gao Luyuan could no longer contain himself, this guy was too damn insolent, always mentioning his deceased son in front of him, jabbing at his sore spot.
"Who dares touch my boss?"
Just as Gao Luyuan's words fell, a voice bellowed from not too far away. A dignified middle-aged man with a slicked-back haircut approached—it was Brother Spice Ginger.
"Brother Spice Ginger?" Gao Luyuan was first taken aback, but then seeing that Brother Spice Ginger was alone, he also let out a cold laugh, "Just you, come here to die?"
"Alone? Are you blind?" Brother Spice Ginger snorted coldly and then blew a sharp whistle.
Right after, Gao Luyuan and his men heard a strange clinking sound, like the collision of some metal objects.
Then, they saw a huge, dense crowd of men in black emerging from both ends of the playground. Each of them clutched two machetes in their hands, rhythmically clashing them together, producing a persistent metallic clang.
These men were all uniformly dressed in black, with a large "Hao" character embroidered on their chests. There were at least three to four hundred of them, swarming in and completely surrounding Gao Luyuan and his men.
Compared to the motley crew Gao Luyuan had brought with him, Brother Spice Ginger's men seemed much more disciplined. Each one had a sharp look in their eyes, and they were big and brawny, the kind that could take on several men at once.
Surrounded by them, Gao Luyuan and his men suddenly felt a sense of oppression; not only were there many more opponents, but each one of them also looked so fierce. If it came to a fight, they were sure to lose!
Gao Luyuan's face turned green. He had thought Hao Jian had come alone, but had not anticipated that Hao Jian had laid such an ambush.
In fact, Hao Jian had come alone, not knowing that Brother Spice Ginger would bring reinforcements.
"Why such a big scene for a mere piece of trash?" Hao Jian asked Brother Spice Ginger, bemused.
He had planned to handle Gao Luyuan and his men by himself but hadn't expected Brother Spice Ginger to arrive with such a large group. What a commotion this was going to cause.
"I came to support you, and incidentally, to intimidate those with sinister intentions, letting those scheming bastards know we're not to be trifled with." Brother Spice Ginger replied. They had now rallied all of Hua City's forces under one banner; it was time to show their strength.
And Gao Luyuan would have the misfortune of being their sacrifice.
"Hao Jian, I'm so scared!" Che Xiaoxiao immediately pounced over and hugged Hao Jian's waist tightly.
"Teacher, I'm scared too!" Zhao Yating was not to be outdone and embraced Hao Jian from the front as well.
Brother Spice Ginger secretly clicked his tongue; that's the boss for you, even as a teacher, so beloved by his female students.
"Where are you putting your hands? Behave yourselves!" Hao Jian scolded irritably as Che Xiaoxiao and Zhao Yating dared to touch his thigh and butt, respectively, trying to take advantage of him.
"Hao Jian, I've developed a condition where I must touch someone's thigh when I'm afraid," Che Xiaoxiao said to Hao Jian with a pitiful look, her expression earnest.
"Teacher, I've also gotten a condition where I need to touch someone's butt when I'm scared. Let me touch it for a while; it will pass," Zhao Yating said, equally serious.
Hao Jian was exasperated, "Do you think I'm an idiot?"
"Stupid cow, couldn't you come up with your own excuse instead of copying me? Now you see, you've been found out," Che Xiaoxiao said annoyed.
"Bullshit, Hao Jian isn't that smart. You're the one who just blew our cover," Zhao Yating retorted, feeling it was Che Xiaoxiao's fault.
"Do you think I'm invisible?" Hao Jian was irate, these two brats, talking about him as if he weren't there? "Do you really think I wouldn't dare do anything to you?"
"What could you possibly do to us?" Che Xiaoxiao challenged, looking at Hao Jian provocatively.
"Teacher, you can do whatever you want to us, I won't complain," Zhao Yating also said with a smile, appearing ready for the picking.
Hao Jian covered his face and sighed. These two brats, he really was at his wit's end with them. They seemed to be hoping for him to do something to them.
"That's enough, let's deal with this idiot first," Hao Jian gestured towards Gao Luyuan and told Brother Spice Ginger. He would decide how to handle Che Xiaoxiao and the others later, but for now, it was time to settle things with Gao Luyuan's group.
Hao Jian looked towards Gao Luyuan's direction but ignored Gao Luyuan himself, speaking directly to Gao Luyuan's subordinates, "As you can see, whether in numbers or quality, we are much stronger than you. So I'm giving you a chance now, abandon the darkness for the light, leave this fool, and I'll pretend nothing ever happened."
"Otherwise..." Hao Jian paused, his eyes gleaming fiercely, "then next year on this day will be your memorial day. If you want your family and friends to cry and offer incense at your grave next year, then suit yourselves!"
"Despicable!" Gao Luyuan couldn't help grinding his teeth in fury as Hao Jian brought up the families of his henchmen, clearly aiming to break their psychological defenses.
As expected, upon hearing Hao Jian's words, doubt began to creep into the hearts of Gao Luyuan's henchmen. They were not afraid of death, but the thought of their families suffering and being heartbroken filled them with fear—after all, even the hardest of hearts were made of flesh.
"Are you sure a boss is worth following? He knows he will die at my hands, yet he's intent on taking me down with him. Go ahead and throw your lives away. Think about it, his son was killed by me and he's gone mad, but why should you be buried with him?" Hao Jian further instigated.
"Think of your wives and children, what will they do without you? Your wife will end up with another man, your children will be bullied for having no father, and your parents will die without anyone to care for them. Is this really what you want to see happen?"
"Shut up, our brothers won't be swayed by your words!" Gao Luyuan's loyalists hastily stood up and shouted: "Brothers, don't let him bewitch us, he's trying to divide us!"
"I'll give you one minute to think it over. If you don't heed my advice, then you can all go meet King Yan," Hao Jian didn't bother with further talk, directly ordering Brother Spice Ginger: "Start killing after one minute, leave no one alive!"
"Isn't that a bad idea?" Brother Spice Ginger looked hesitant, saying, "Wouldn't that just waste a minute of time? Why not just kill them now?"
Brother Spice Ginger was also deliberately being malicious to create psychological pressure.
"Don't, don't kill me, I surrender!"
Indeed, under the combined pressure of Hao Jian and Brother Spice Ginger, someone finally stepped forward.
And once there was a first, naturally there came a second, and slowly several others followed suit.
Clearly, they didn't want to die or, rather, die in vain as they realized this was an unwinnable war.
"You traitors, how dare you betray the boss? Have you forgotten how he has treated you?" Gao Luyuan's loyalists roared in rage, feeling unbearably stifled as nearly half of their hundred-strong group had defected in just a moment's time.
It was at that moment that a crafty smile crossed Hao Jian's lips; with a flick of his foot, he kicked up a small stone, then grabbed it in his hand. He immediately flick-shot the stone, striking one of the henchmen thinking of leaving right on the face, knocking him out cold.
Immediately, everyone's complexion changed, even the loyalist was dazed on the spot.
"Tsk tsk tsk, they want to leave and you injure them. They are your brothers, aren't they? Do you really hope they die with you?" Hao Jian sighed, shaking his head continuously.
"Exactly, everyone has the right to live. If you want to die, why drag them into it?" Brother Spice Ginger chimed in.
Hearing Hao Jian's words, the eyes of Gao Luyuan's henchmen flashed with coldness, resembling ferocious wolves as they turned against their former master.
"You're talking nonsense, I didn't hit him!" the loyalist said in exasperation, knowing deep down that he had been outmaneuvered by Hao Jian,
"You didn't hit him? Then why did he fall? Is he pretending? Look at his face, it's already bruising. Is that an act?" Hao Jian scoffed.
"You!" The loyalist was burning with rage, pushed into a corner by Hao Jian and ready to draw a knife and fight it out.
But Gao Luyuan held him back, his lips curling into a bitter smile: "Forget it, we've already lost, no more struggle. Let them go."
Gao Luyuan knew there was no stopping his henchmen from leaving. If he continued to bar their way, it might provoke an extreme reaction, and who knew if his own men would turn around and slaughter him, their boss.
With a complex expression, Gao Luyuan looked at Hao Jian: "If I concede now and hand over everything I have, can you spare me?"
Gao Luyuan knew he was defeated. His power was nothing compared to Hao Jian's, their intellects were not on the same level; Hao Jian had never taken him seriously.
"Do you believe in metaphysics?" Hao Jian suddenly asked.
Gao Luyuan frowned, confused about the relevance of Hao Jian's question, but answered truthfully: "I do."
"Then, do you know that besides geomancy and such, there's also the art of face-reading in metaphysics?" Hao Jian continued to ask with a smile.
"I don't know, what are you getting at?" Gao Luyuan felt increasingly uneasy as Hao Jian's conversation drifted further off-topic.
"In the art of face-reading, there's a term called 'eagle-eyed and wolf-gazing.' It refers to people like you. Those with such features are cunning and full of tricks, inherently rebellious, and absolutely untrustworthy," Hao Jian spoke calmly, yet his words carried weight.