Chapter 335

The members of the Soul Group were demoralized. Continuing the fight not only failed to kill Xie Wendong but also led to more casualties for them. The leader of the Soul Group shook his head secretly, gave a signal with his arm, and ordered a retreat from the villa. After all, the Soul Group was no ordinary gang. Despite heavy losses and being at a disadvantage, they retreated swiftly and in an orderly manner. In the blink of an eye, all the members of the Soul Group had left, leaving only a few severely injured ones who could no longer run. With their retreat, Xie Wendong and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn’t felt tired during the confrontation with such a formidable enemy, but once they retreated, exhaustion hit them hard. Their arms, used excessively for fighting, were numb and barely able to be lifted.

Only Xie Wendong knew the severity of his injuries. With every breath, the pain in his back felt like needles and whips piercing him. His heart and lungs ached, and his head buzzed. Yet he dared not show it. If others knew he was seriously injured, their fighting spirit would likely wane, and morale would drop. Facing the ferocious Soul Group would be tantamount to death. So, he could only hold on and stay upright. Ren Changfeng pointed at a few severely injured members of the Soul Group who hadn’t been taken away and asked, “Brother Dong, what should we do with them?” Xie Wendong glanced at them, shook his head slightly, and said nothing. Jiang Sen sneered and said, “Of course, follow the old rule—kill them.” With that single sentence, he sentenced those men to death.

It hadn’t even been five minutes since everyone sat down to rest when the Soul Group launched its second attack, with twice as many members as before. Xie Wendong was stunned. Frowning in thought, he realized the Soul Group’s behavior was unusual. After the fierce battle just now, his side was indeed exhausted, but the Soul Group also suffered heavy losses. There was no reason for them to attack so quickly. Could it be they were in a hurry? Xie Wendong’s guess was correct—the Soul Group was indeed in a hurry because Xie Wendong’s reinforcements were approaching the villa. Although the Soul Group sent people to block them, they weren’t sure how long they could hold out. Most critically, someone they least wanted to see at this moment was also heading toward the villa at high speed—probably only ten minutes away. Not knowing this person’s intentions, the Soul Group decided to use all their strength to eliminate Xie Wendong in the shortest time possible, no matter the cost. This attack not only had more fighters than before but also involved a desperate fighting style. Xie Wendong had just found a corner to catch his breath, but before he could settle in, the members of the Soul Group came back at him with relentless force.

At this point, not even the wisest person could come up with any strategy; the only option left was to fight to the death. The square hall was too large, and with the enemy outnumbering them, the situation was extremely unfavorable. Xie Wendong promptly ordered, “Go to the second floor and hold the stairway. If we hold on another half hour, our reinforcements will arrive.” In fact, the reinforcements should have arrived by now, but since they hadn’t, something must have gone wrong along the way. Xie Wendong understood this, but he had to give his men some hope to stay motivated. Xie Wendong and the others went up to the second floor, leaving Wei Ming’s subordinates trapped in the hall—some too scared to run, others too hesitant to flee. Once the Soul Group attacked, they killed anyone who was still alive and breathing without mercy. Wei Ming’s men had already been terrified by the brutal fighting earlier, and now facing the Soul Group, who were like hungry ghosts, they were no match at all. The battle was one-sided; they couldn’t hold out even two minutes before being wiped out by the Soul Group. After clearing the hall, the Soul Group charged up the stairs. The stairs were short, wide enough only for two people to walk side by side. Ren Changfeng and Li Shuang took the lead, blocking the stairway like two door gods, sealing it tightly. The Soul Group members, having just easily defeated Wei Ming’s subordinates and boosted in morale, and most of them being new recruits who had never seen Ren Changfeng and Li Shuang’s strength, didn’t take them seriously. In an instant, over a dozen of them rushed up the stairs. Seeing the contempt in their opponents’ eyes, Ren Changfeng snorted coldly and prepared to strike, but Li Shuang stopped him. With a grin and his chubby face turning red, Li Shuang said, “Let me take the first strike.” He gripped his knife tightly and shouted loudly, “Ya!” Li Shuang’s voice was already several decibels higher than others’, and in the narrow stairwell, with the walls amplifying the sound, his shout echoed like thunder, lingering for a long time. Not only the Soul Group members rushing up but even Ren Changfeng beside him was startled by his sudden cry, his ears ringing and unable to hear clearly for a moment. The leading Soul Group members were stunned by the shockwave. Li Shuang stepped forward, swung his arms in a wide arc, and brought down a heavy slash from above. “Crack!” The sound of the steel knife cutting through bone was like an invisible sword piercing each member of the Soul Group’s heart. The man hit by his strike sprayed blood all over and flew backward, knocking down those behind him as they tumbled down the stairs one after another.

A young man in the guise of a leader from the Soul Group shouted a few words in Japanese. Hearing this, the others immediately picked up their guns. Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, Li Shuang and Ren Changfeng swiftly dashed upstairs. Behind them, bullets struck the walls with loud cracks. The two let out a sigh of relief. Li Shuang wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a smile, “That was close. Thanks to my agility; otherwise… hehe.” Gao Qiang glanced at him and said, “If you could eat half less at each meal, I guarantee your agility would be ten times better than now.”

“Eat half less?” Li Shuang rolled his eyes and said helplessly, “Then I’d rather get killed by them.” “A fool is still a fool!” Gao Qiang curled his lips and ignored him.

Backed by gunmen, the Soul Group successfully made it up the stairs. But as soon as they reached the second floor, they were met with several bloodthirsty knives on either side. There was no more talking between the two sides—battle was imminent, and fighting erupted on the second floor. Faced with enemies outnumbering them by many times, there was no chance to form a battle formation. In no time, Xie Wendong and the others were scattered by the Soul Group’s assault, forced to fight alone against dozens of enemies each. Severely injured, Xie Wendong relied solely on his strong willpower. His thin but sharp knife felt as heavy as a ton in his hands. The biting cold wind made him realize someone was attacking from behind even before he turned around. He understood what was happening, but his body wouldn’t obey him—there was no strength left to dodge. Moreover, three or four gleaming knives from the front were also aimed at him. With no choice, he threw his upper body backward. Since he couldn’t avoid them, he might as well confront them and reduce the impact of their blows. Xie Wendong’s bold move surprised everyone, including the attacker behind him. *Thud!* The Japanese sword only cut halfway as Xie Wendong blocked it with his shoulder. Although the full force of the strike wasn’t delivered, it still made him grit his teeth in pain as his collarbone ached as if it might break. Without looking, he swung back and slashed at the attacker’s neck. The entire blade sank into his flesh, and hot blood sprayed onto his neck—scalding and sticky. Xie Wendong shook his head, his cheeks turning red. Too busy to clean himself, he faced the next attack from the Soul Group members ahead. Four knives, all coming from the same direction, aimed to take his head.

Xie Wendong had no way to avoid it. Gathering his courage, he held the knife in both hands and braced himself to block it. “Clang!” The blades collided, sparking violently in the dark villa, the light extremely bright. Xie Wendong felt as if he had been hit by a speeding train—his arms went numb, the knife slipped from his hands, and he fell backward. Before he could get up, the four opponents moved swiftly, leaping at him as they thrust their wakizashi downward at his four vital points. At this moment, Xie Wendong truly couldn’t dodge; every ounce of strength had left his body. With a sigh, he could only watch as their knives drew closer. Just then, a thick arm reached out, grabbed Xie Wendong’s shoulder, and with a loud shout, threw him aside. “Clang…” The four wakizashi struck the empty concrete floor, emitting sharp sounds. Impressive! Xie Wendong thought secretly. Turning his head, he saw that it was Li Shuang who had saved him—holding a large knife and smiling at him foolishly. Yet the sweat on his face showed that his smile wasn’t easy at all. On his chest was a nearly foot-long gash deep enough to reach the bone, with the flesh on either side flipped outward. If looked closely, white bone fragments could be seen inside. It was Li Shuang who, to save Xie Wendong, had taken a strike from his opponent and desperately pulled him away from the Soul Group’s blades. “Little Shuang!” Xie Wendong’s heart warmed, his vision blurring. True friends and brothers don’t need words of gratitude to express their thanks—just a gentle call or a glance conveys everything, understood without words. Li Shuang laughed heartily, ignoring his own wound on the chest, and instead said worriedly, “Brother Dong, stand behind me. I’ll take care of these scum!” With that, he stepped in front of Xie Wendong, holding up his large knife, waving at the numerous Soul Group members ahead, and grinned widely, saying, “Come on, come on! Your opponent is here!” Just as Xie Wendong seemed doomed, another fat man appeared, making the Soul Group members furious. Without his urging, they rushed at him in droves. Watching Li Shuang’s massive figure charge through the crowd, fighting like a dying oil lamp making one last struggle, with blades raining down and leaving wounds of various sizes on his increasingly heavy body, Xie Wendong’s heart bled with pain—a torment a hundred or a thousand times worse than physical pain.

Xie Wendong slowly clenched his fists. Some unknown strength supported him once again, and dragging his leaden legs, he silently made his way to the edge of the combat group. Without any warning, he suddenly reached out, grabbed one of the members of the Soul Group by the hair, pulled hard backward, and at the same time raised his knee to strike at the person’s lower back. The lower back is a vital part of the body, and the members of the Soul Group could hardly withstand such a heavy blow. The man screamed, fell to the ground, and rolled around in pain. Seeing their comrade injured, the members of the Soul Group turned to check. It would have been better if they hadn’t looked—upon seeing that it was Xie Wendong who had taken the initiative, three of them immediately swung their knives at him. Faced with the menacing blades, Xie Wendong didn’t even blink. With a quick turn, he suddenly disappeared from the sight of the three members of the Soul Group. “Watch your back!” someone shouted nearby, but unfortunately, it was too late. As agile as a loach, Xie Wendong turned and appeared behind the three men. With a flick of his arm, his golden knife slipped out; with a shake of his wrist, it flew forward. The silver thread quickly wrapped around one man’s neck and then pierced another’s throat at an incredible angle. Seeing his companion clutching his neck and collapsing, his palm covered in blood, the other two were terrified. To prevent Xie Wendong from launching another surprise attack, they rushed at him with all their might. Xie Wendong smiled, his eyes curved, his lips raised—his confident demeanor was enough to awe anyone who saw it. Unfortunately, the members of the Soul Group had no heart to appreciate it, because Xie Wendong’s smile was far more terrifying to them than the worst nightmares. The two men were only three steps away from Xie Wendong. Just one more step, and he would be within their reach. Yet he continued to smile. Suddenly, he pulled his arm backward with force, and one of the men’s head flew up inexplicably, soaring high before crashing into the roof and falling back down, his expression still filled with confusion. He likely wouldn’t even know until death how Xie Wendong had managed to detach his head. The man beside him rushed forward, his wakizashi raised high, but as if suddenly paralyzed, he stood frozen, staring at Xie Wendong in shock. With a “thud,” the large head hit the ground. Xie Wendong glanced at it briefly, lifted the hem of his clothes, and wiped the still-bloodied silver thread clean. “Ah…” Two of the three members of the Soul Group who had charged at Xie Wendong were dead in an instant. The last one let out a pig-like scream, his pupils wide open as if he had seen a ghost, and he turned to run. He had seen many brutal battles, but nothing as terrifying as this. All he could think about was escaping—leaving this villa that resembled a hellish slaughterhouse.

“Thud!” As soon as the man reached the stairs, his back of the head exploded. Without even a sound, his body tumbled straight down the stairs. A middle-aged man in his forties, with a cold expression, ended his life with a single shot. Without even glancing at him, he stared at Xie Wendong with a heartless gaze and said in halting Chinese, “Xie Wendong’s golden sword is truly elusive and deadly.” Xie Wendong was still wiping his golden sword—not out of cleanliness, but because he believed the blood of those killed by it was a contamination for the sword itself. “Are you the leader here?” After a while, when Xie Wendong finally felt the sword was clean, he slowly put it away, his sharp gaze fixed on the middle-aged man’s face. The middle-aged man neither admitted nor denied it, only saying coldly, “I have only one purpose here: to take your head.” With that, he stepped back and waved, ordering, “Go! Whoever fails to get Xie Wendong’s head cannot leave today! But I must remind you—time is running out.” Xie Wendong’s golden sword was terrifying, but the middle-aged man’s words scared the members of the Soul Team even more. If they wanted to leave China alive, they had to obtain Xie Wendong’s head. “Ah!” With their lives at stake, the members of the Soul Team entered a semi-feral state, abandoning their opponents and charging at Xie Wendong with all their might. Once Xie Wendong died, everything would be over, and they could return to their own country, Japan.