Chapter 86

“Bang!” After a faint gunshot, a member of the Soul Group who had just poked his head out let out a groan before collapsing to the ground. A hole the size of two fingers appeared on his forehead, and blood splattered on the white walls, forming grotesque red flowers. Soon after, sounds of gasping and cursing came from inside the room, but they were in Japanese, and none of the five people understood a word.

Golden Eye grinned at Shui Jing and shouted loudly, “Baga Yaru!” It was the only Japanese phrase he could use in this situation. Then he asked Shui Jing, “Xiao Jing, how’s my marksmanship now?”

“Bang!” As soon as he finished speaking, Golden Eye quickly pulled the trigger again, and another person fell to the ground, their forehead also pierced by a bullet. Golden Eye laughed, “Another ‘peeping bird’ down! Hehe.” His arrogant attitude earned him a disdainful look from Shui Jing.

After entering the office, Xie Wendong glanced around. The interior design was typical of Japanese style—various calligraphy pieces hung on the walls, such as characters for “benevolence,” “endurance,” and “soul.” In the center stood a large desk, with a large weapon rack behind it filled with Japanese swords of different lengths. A middle-aged man in his fifties sat behind the desk, holding a phone and looking at Xie Wendong in surprise.

Xie Wendong hid the gun behind his back and walked over with a smile. “No need to be surprised. I’m here to talk to you!” he said calmly, sitting down in the chair across from the middle-aged man. “Oh, by the way, can you understand Chinese?!”

The middle-aged man replied in fluent Chinese, “Who are you? What do you want here? Do you know who we are?” He had realized something was wrong as soon as he heard the gunshots, but Xie Wendong had entered too quickly—he had just dialed the phone when Xie Wendong arrived!

To the three consecutive questions, Xie Wendong tapped his head with his finger. “It’s really troublesome. Members of the Soul Group aren’t that stupid! Remember well—my name is Xie Wendong. You should know why I’m here by now!”

The middle-aged man understood and lowered his head in silence, slowly reaching for a drawer under the desk. Xie Wendong fiddled with the gun in his hand and smiled. “To be honest, your assassins are quite skilled. You almost killed me twice. I don’t know what I’ve done to offend you to treat me like this!?”

The middle-aged man quietly opened the drawer, his face showing surprise. “You… you were supposed to have returned to City J already. How come you’re here?”

“Tch!” Xie Wendong sneered. “It seems you know nothing about Chinese military strategy. Find time to read ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’—it’ll be useful for you!”

“Thank you!” the middle-aged man gritted his teeth. He was holding back, as his fingertips had already touched the pistol inside the drawer. Staring at Xie Wendong, he said, “It seems your invasion of City M was just a pretense?”
“Oh! You’ve become smarter!” Xie Wendong looked up and said, “I really feel sorry for you. Why not retire peacefully in Japan at your age? Why come all the way to China to cause trouble? But it doesn’t matter. The key is…” Suddenly, Xie Wendong raised the gun and shot the middle-aged man in the head.
“Bang!” The middle-aged man flew backward, crashing heavily against the weapon rack behind him. His eyes were wide open; he never understood why Xie Wendong would suddenly shoot. He was just a little short—just a little short—of killing him. Blood flowed down from his forehead, and he still clutched a gray pistol in his hand.
Xie Wendong sat on the chair, shook his head, and continued, “The key is that you shouldn’t have provoked me. I’ve said it before—whomever gets in my way, I’ll take them out. The Soul Group is no exception. If you mess with me, the name Xie Wendong will forever be your nightmare!”
After saying that, Xie Wendong stood up and casually walked toward the door. When he reached it, he stopped, turned around, and looked at the fallen middle-aged Japanese man, saying, “Don’t treat all Chinese people as fools!”
Xie Wendong stepped out of the room. The five men in the corridor were still standing there, with over a dozen corpses on the floor. Xie Wendong glanced around and said, “The inside is taken care of. Let’s go!”
“Okay!” The five men replied and took out grenades from their waists, walking forward. They threw one into each room they passed, and soon the building was filled with loud explosions. Some members of the Soul Group ran out of their rooms, injured from the blasts, only to be knocked down as soon as they showed themselves.
The five men carried out the final cleanup on the third floor. Xie Wendong went down the stairs. Fierce fighting, or rather a chaotic battle, was still going on on the second floor. The number of people here far exceeded what Jiang Sen knew. Both sides fought in various rooms, using knives and guns, with over twenty people lying dead on the ground.
Jiang Sen and two of his men were fighting against a huge man armed with a Japanese sword, using knives. Xie Wendong checked his watch and shouted, “Jiang Sen, hurry up and use a gun! There’s no time left!”
Jiang Sen was sweating profusely, inwardly cursing. His bullets had run out long ago, and knives weren’t effective either. Most of the others were in the same situation—out of bullets—and had resorted to hand-to-hand combat. Jiang Sen took a moment to shout, “Brother Dong, I’m out of bullets… Damn it!” Distraught, his arm was slashed by the other man’s sword, causing him to cry out in pain before they fought again.

Xie Wendong stepped forward boldly, intending to shoot the opponent at will, but the four people fighting chaotically in the area kept moving around, and he wasn’t sure he could hit them. He shouted, “Get out of the way!”
Jiang Sen and the others heard the shout and quickly dodged aside. Though the burly man didn’t understand what Xie Wendong meant, he guessed roughly what was going on. Seeing that Xie seemed to be of high status, he decided to fight to the death.
The burly man continued to chase Jiang Sen and the others, keeping them engaged so that Xie Wendong couldn’t shoot. Realizing he was not far from Xie Wendong, the man roared, swung his hand violently, and the Japanese sword flew like lightning toward Xie Wendong’s lower abdomen.
Xie Wendong thought the man would at least run away, never expecting him to throw his only weapon at him. Instinctively, he ducked, but his movement wasn’t fast enough to avoid the sword. He felt a chill at his weak spot, followed by unbearable pain. Without even looking, Xie knew he was injured. Gritting his teeth, he fired three shots at the man.
The man, with a vicious smile, leaned against the wall, his body slowly going limp, but his eyes remained fixed on Xie Wendong, with a hint of regret flashing across them.
Jiang Sen quickly stepped closer to Xie Wendong and supported him, checking the wound. Fortunately, the sword had pierced Xie Wendong’s belt, but still, the tip had penetrated more than an inch into his body. Gritting his teeth, Xie grabbed the blade and pulled it out with force. He pressed a cloth over the wound, tightened his belt, and said to Jiang Sen with a smile, “I’m fine. This time, it was my belt that saved my life. Hehe!”
Seeing Xie Wendong’s pale smile, Jiang Sen’s heart trembled. For the first time, he saw Xie as a true man. Although the wound wasn’t deep, the burly man’s Japanese sword had a flat triangular shape, and from the injury, Jiang Sen understood the pain and danger involved. Such a wound was hard to heal, and without immediate treatment, it could easily lead to death from excessive blood loss. Jiang Sen supported Xie Wendong and said, “Brother Dong, hold on. Let’s go to the hospital quickly!” Then he told his men below, “Everyone, retreat! No need to fight them!”
After saying that, he helped Xie Wendong and hurriedly headed outside.
Just as they stepped out of the fiery chaos, no more than 300 middle school students rushed over from a distance, each holding knives and sticks. Seeing Xie Wendong and the other man emerge, they quickened their pace to block them. With fierce expressions, they tapped their weapons, as if ready to pounce on them at any moment and tear them to pieces.

Xie Wendong and Jiang Sen inwardly groaned in frustration—how could the Soul-Reclaiming Gang also show up? This was beyond their expectations. Xie Wendong pulled out his pistol, tied his suit jacket tighter to hide his wounds, and shouted, “Whoever dares take another step, I’ll shoot them!” Although the opponents were all young men, Xie Wendong wasn’t lying; to survive, he had to be ruthless.

“Damn it, he only has one gun. We have hundreds of people—what are we afraid of? Let’s go! If we kill him, the boss will pay us!” shouted a young man in his twenties. Initially, the students had backed off at the sight of Xie Wendong’s gun, but after hearing the young man’s words, they began to advance slowly.

Xie Wendong cursed under his breath, while Jiang Sen yelled, “Damn! Are you even Chinese? Don’t you know they’re all Japanese devils in there? Why are you still helping them? Don’t pretend to be Chinese while not doing what’s right for China. Have you forgotten your ancestors just for that little money they offer? Have you forgotten the Nanjing Massacre too?” Jiang Sen couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he brought up the Nanjing Massacre as well.

The students’ expressions darkened again, and they stopped advancing. Jiang Sen added, “Use your brains! They didn’t come to China to do good—they came to cause chaos and harm us. You’re the new generation of Chinese youth. Don’t you realize they’re using you? Making us Chinese fight each other! If you keep listening to them, you’ll be despised by all Chinese!”

After hearing this, everyone lowered their heads, their faces red with shame. The young man who had shouted earlier felt uneasy and yelled, “Don’t be deceived by him! Japan is here to help us. Don’t forget they can give us money and good things. Only by following them can our country become prosperous and truly rise!”

Jiang Sen was furious and snapped, “Who’s talking? If you’ve got the guts, step forward!”

Frightened by Jiang Sen’s angry expression, the young man shrunk back, stepped several steps away, and hid behind the crowd, still shouting, “Come on, everyone! Kill them, and the bosses will give us higher pay! Hurry up! We’ll have money soon!”

The students hesitated no longer and slowly moved forward. Xie Wendong’s hand holding the gun trembled as well. He knew he had only a few bullets left—even if just one of the hundreds of opponents hit him with a stick, he would be shattered! Just then, the fiery red door opened, and members of the Dark Group rushed out. They were also stunned to see so many people outside.

“Bang!” A gunshot rang out, and the student closest to Xie Wendong screamed, rolling on the ground with his legs wrapped around him, blood dripping everywhere. The other students were stunned; they could see that Xie Wendong, who was holding the gun, hadn’t moved, and they didn’t know where the shot came from, so they looked around in confusion. It turned out the shooter was Dong Xinlei, who had been lurking on the rooftop across the way. He was supposed to be there to prevent the leader of the Soul Group from escaping, but not only did the leader not flee, but the Soul Reclaiming Gang also showed up. Seeing the critical situation, he used a sniper rifle to take down one of them first. Realizing it was a student, he showed mercy and didn’t target vital organs.