dmims Chapter 178: Why did we just fight fiercely against eight sides and suddenly become so weak?
Chapter 178: Why did we just fight fiercely against eight sides and suddenly become so weak?
This swarm of low-level thugs, who came like locusts, was unlike the small gangs that Genjiro and his team encountered when handling official business; at least on the surface, they followed some underworld rules.
They were true outlaws, their eyes bloodshot from the staggering 1 billion yen bounty, their reason long since consumed by greed and madness.
Moreover, this is just the vanguard. One can imagine that a considerable number of the nearly 400,000 yakuza members in Tokyo are probably on the move, converging on this small neighborhood from all directions.
However, the people surrounded in the center reacted surprisingly calmly.
Erii didn't seem to fully grasp the extreme danger that the roaring motorcyclists charging towards her represented. Or rather, in her inhuman understanding, these people were perhaps no different from the kidnappers on the ship or even the wild rabbits hopping around in the mountains—they were all just…
Something that can be easily disposed of.
She merely frowned slightly, seemingly finding the noise a bit too loud.
Ling and Lu Mingfei are simply highly skilled and daring.
Both men were seasoned veterans; to true superhumans, the seemingly terrifying torrent of motorcycles before them was nothing more than the clamor of a rabble.
Even if it were a fully armed modern army, they were confident they could break through the encirclement, let alone these thugs who only had brute force and crude weapons.
So, what about Uesugi Koshi and Genji?
One was the last film emperor who once held immense power in the Japanese underworld and whose bloodline influence reached its zenith.
The other one is an anomaly who also possesses royal blood.
"Do you need help?"
A calm smile appeared on Yuan Zhinv's face. Amidst the roar of engines and the shouts of thugs around him, his voice was eerily clear. His face appeared delicate and beautiful under the swaying headlights, as if he were inviting Lu Mingfei to enjoy a farce together.
"If you want to help, do you still need to ask?"
Lu Mingfei returned the smile, but his eyes were sharp as knives.
He certainly understood the subtext in Genji's words.
This is essentially a test.
If Lu Mingfei can't even handle this small situation, then there's no need for the so-called cooperation to continue.
The next moment, two longswords appeared out of thin air in Lu Mingfei's hands.
The blade is a deep pale blue, as if the starry sky has been melted into it. It is made of a starry sky alloy obtained from the world of flying cars. The blade flows with a cold water-like luster under the light. Its toughness and sharpness are enough to cut through hard tungsten steel like tofu.
The artifacts he used before are no longer suitable for his current combat strength.
He gently tossed one of them to Zero.
Zero caught it steadily, his fingers tracing the cold blade, his eyes showing no emotion.
The two of them stood in perfect unison, one on the left and one on the right, blocking the ramen stall and Erii and the others, facing the motorcycle convoy that surged forward like a raging tide of steel!
Lu Mingfei actually wanted to try to negotiate by shouting, even if it was just to buy a few seconds of time.
But clearly, these thugs, blinded by the huge bounty, had no patience for that. They only had their goal in mind—to crush those who blocked their way and capture that girl worth a billion!
"Dry!"
Lu Mingfei uttered a single word in a low voice, and at the same time as Zero's figure, he disappeared from the spot!
It didn't truly disappear; rather, it moved so fast that it left a lingering image amidst the chaotic vision and dazzling lights of ordinary people.
The next instant, the motorcycles at the front seemed to crash into an invisible wall, flying backward and tumbling with their riders in an even more violent manner. The ear-piercing sound of metal twisting, the muffled sound of bones breaking, and the shrill screams instantly drowned out the roar of the engines!
The two men were like two sharp blades cleaving through the tide. In the flash of their swords, the front of the motorcycle was severed, the tires burst, and the riders' weapons and arms were easily knocked away, with blood splattering on the cold road.
Lu Mingfei and Ling deliberately controlled their strength, focusing on injuring, knocking back, and destroying vehicles, while trying to avoid killing them.
These low-level thugs, driven by bounties, have no deep-seated hatred; their primary goal is to control the situation and reduce the killing.
He's an official now; if he goes on a killing spree, it will have too much of an impact.
However, once the killing begins, it is often difficult to control precisely.
……
On the other side, in the helicopter.
Genjiro, along with his retainers, as well as Chu Zihang, Fingel, Qingniao, and others "left behind" by Lu Mingfei, were rushing to the scene by helicopter at full speed.
Amidst the deafening roar of the rotors, Genji's face was ashen, veins bulging on his forehead, and he practically roared at the three people inside the cabin:
"I'm asking you one last time! Can you get in touch with Lu Mingfei?! The situation is completely out of control now, and he can't handle it alone!"
He had just received several intelligence reports that the bounty was being increased and that more and more outrageous underworld forces were pouring into the area.
Lu Mingfei would never sit idly by and wait for his death. Once he launched a full-scale counterattack, it would be a bloody massacre. The shock and chain reaction that followed would completely shatter the surface peace of the Snake Clan and even the world of Japanese mixed-race people!
"I really don't have his contact information, bro!" Fingel said with a bitter face, looking like he was in despair.
"He just told us he was going out to have some fun and that we should watch the house, and then he slipped away! His cell phone? He probably threw that thing away in some corner of the hotel a long time ago! He didn't even care whether we, his men, lived or died!"
Yuan Zhisheng's face turned even uglier.
The situation has completely slipped out of his control.
Although he notified the Metropolitan Police Department immediately, the police force that could be mobilized in such a hurry was far from enough to deal with the thousands of gangsters who were driven mad by money.
"how much longer?!"
He turned around abruptly and asked Sakura, whose face was cold and aloof, in the driver's seat.
"Ten kilometers! Full speed ahead, we'll arrive in three minutes!" Sakura's voice was calm and clear.
three minutes!
Yuan Zhisheng silently prayed that Lu Mingfei would go easy on him in those short three minutes, so as not to cause irreparable and large-scale casualties.
The scene cuts back to a point where it's clearly not a battlefield.
At this moment, both ends of the street were completely blocked by wrecked and piled-up motorcycles and fallen bodies, forming two terrifying barriers five or six meters high, made of steel and flesh.
On the ground, blood pooled into dark red streams, flowing slowly down the slope of the road. The strong smell of blood mixed with the acrid stench of burning gasoline and rubber filled the air.
Under normal circumstances, witnessing such terrifying destructive power and inhuman combat ability would make even the most ruthless gangsters tremble and back down.
After all, no matter how good the money is, you still need to be alive to enjoy it, right?
However, these bloodshot-eyed thugs, advancing wave after wave, seemed to have completely lost their instinct for fear.
They roared, trampling over the bodies of their companions, brandishing their makeshift weapons, and continued their frantic climb, launching a desperate assault on the group in the center.
Their condition was clearly abnormal, as if something had completely unleashed their ferocity and madness.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Just then, a strange, monotonous yet extremely penetrating sound of a clapper rang out from some corner, or perhaps from all directions at the same time, clearly overpowering all other noises and penetrating everyone's eardrums!
The sound of that clapper seemed to have a magical power!
The moment the sound rang out, the scene before Lu Mingfei's eyes suddenly distorted and collapsed!
The raging inferno instantly replaced the bloody streets, and countless hideous, fanged demons burst forth from the flames, carrying the smell of sulfur and piercing screams, as they pounced on him!
"Go away!"
Lu Mingfei was shaken to his core, but his fighting instincts remained, and he subconsciously swung his sword in a sweeping motion!
As the sword flashed, more than a dozen "evil spirits" screamed and turned to ashes.
However, the next second, vision returned to normal.
There were no evil spirits in front of him, only a dozen or so thugs who had been cut in half at the waist by his sword energy, their internal organs spilling out, not yet completely dead, staring at him with incredulous and terrified eyes, making dying hoarse sounds.
Lu Mingfei's heart sank, and a chill ran down his spine.
Before he could adjust, the sound of the clapper rang out again, and his vision changed once more!
This time it was a snow-covered plain frozen for thousands of miles. Countless shells with trailing flames fell from the sky like hailstones, covering him!
A severe headache accompanied by hallucinations struck him. This attack method, which directly affected his mind and interfered with his senses, made him extremely uncomfortable, and his strength was immediately reduced by 70-80%.
He gritted his teeth, forcibly focusing his almost dissipating consciousness, with only one thought in his mind:
go back!
Go back to Zero and Erii's side!
They might have been infected too!
On the other side, Zero's situation is equally dire.
Her icy eyes became even more empty and lifeless. Although she managed to maintain some semblance of consciousness with her strong willpower and not completely fall into hallucinations, her movements became unusually stiff and slow, like a rusty machine. She narrowly avoided fatal attacks several times.
At the ramen stall, Genjiro and Erii reacted more directly.
Almost simultaneously, their bodies stiffened, and then they began to tremble uncontrollably. Their eyes quickly lost focus, becoming blank and empty, as if their souls had been instantly ripped away.
Erii's writing tablet fell to the ground with a "thud".
As Lu Mingfei, suppressing the churning hallucinations and tearing headache, stumbled back to the vicinity of the ramen stall and dragged Zero, who was also in a bad state, back with him.
The only one on the field who remained clear-headed and seemed completely unaffected by the eerie clapper sound was the ramen chef, who was in a daze.
Uesugi crossed out.
It's not that he can't understand the bloody battles in the underworld; he's been in the business for decades, what kind of scene hasn't he seen?
What truly baffled him was: when did these scumbags at the very bottom of the Japanese underworld dare to be so crazy and reckless in their pursuit of the members of the three inner families of the Snake-Headed Eight Families at the very top of the underworld pyramid?
And they are two descendants who are suspected of having royal blood?!
What baffled him even more was that the two people who had been so powerful and invincible just moments before had suddenly become useless after that strange clapper sound.
Two stood frozen and trembling, while the other two, though still barely standing, were clearly in excruciating pain and had lost all fighting ability.
At that moment, outside the two "barriers" made of motorcycles and human bodies, more rioters climbed up like a tide, their bloodshot eyes fixed on their target, oblivious to the casualties of their comrades and the bizarre scene before them.
"I had already said that I would completely retire from the world, never ask about anything again, and quietly sell the last few bowls of ramen in my life before waiting to die..."
Uesugi looked at Erii, whose face resembled the figure deep in his memory, but whose eyes were vacant and who was trembling slightly. He then looked at Lu Mingfei and Zero, who were pale and enduring pain, and Genji, who was also in an abnormal state.
Sixty years of escapism, sixty years of self-exile, sixty years of trying to erase the past...
At this moment, I was completely shattered by the absurd and perilous scene before me, and by the face that looked so much like my mother.
In his cloudy old eyes, a long-lost sharpness and decisiveness, belonging to the Shadow Emperor, flashed.
He suddenly kicked over the large pot of noodle soup that was still bubbling up next to him!
The scalding soup splashed everywhere, revealing a hidden compartment at the bottom of the pot.
He reached in and pulled out two Japanese swords covered in dust, oil, and rust.
The scabbard was old-fashioned and even a bit tattered, looking like something picked up from a junkyard.
However, the moment his calloused, rough fingers, hardened by years of labor, firmly gripped the old knife handle.
"boom!"
An indescribable, terrifying aura, like a dormant volcano suddenly erupting, spread out from him!
That was not a simple killing intent or aura, but a royal majesty that transcended all living beings, carrying ancient blood and absolute power!
The thugs, who had just climbed over "Motorcycle Mountain" and were about to pounce on their prey, were hit head-on by this sudden aura of power. Their movements froze instantly, and the madness in their eyes was replaced by boundless fear. As if they had seen a predator at the top of the food chain, their legs went weak and they almost knelt down!
That kind of aura, once possessed, can never be truly forgotten.
Even though he wasted sixty years of his life, living among the fumes of cooking oil in the streets and alleys, he tried to use the steam from the ramen noodles to wash away everything from the past.
But when his hand gripped the hilt of the knife again, when the power in his blood was awakened, the "Shadow Emperor" who once held sway over the shadowy side of the Japanese underworld and inspired awe and trembling in countless people was revealed!
Uesugi Koshi has returned at this very moment!
He slowly drew his twin swords, and the rust and grime fell away under the vibration of the invisible energy, revealing the still gleaming blades beneath, as if they had drunk countless cups of blood.
His aged, hunched back straightened ramrod straight at that moment.
He stood with his sword drawn before Lu Mingfei and the others, facing the surging, frenzied crowd, and spoke in a deep voice, which, though not loud, carried the echo of a thousand troops:
"I am here! How dare you demons and monsters act so presumptuously!"