Hou Qing ended the call, veins bulging on his forehead. He smashed the phone onto the ground.
Li Xiu frowned. "What happened? Why are you so angry?"
Hou Qing's jaw tightened. "Some bastard from South Korea beat up our boys."
Li Xiu traced her finger across Hou Qing's face. "Is that so? That's not something you should be angry about."
Hou Qing looked at Li Xiu with an intoxicated gaze before the fury returned. "That bastard challenged my authority."
Li Xiu smiled. "That's his mistake. Red Dragon isn't something anyone can just mess with. Shall I inform the leader?"
Hou Qing shook his head. "There's no need to inform him about such a trivial matter. After all, the enemy is only one person. But I do wonder who posted such a large bounty on his head. Whatever. I'll kill him and claim the bounty soon."
---
Baki walked through the streets openly. Since getting out of that warehouse, he'd been attacked several times.
"Who would have such a grudge against me to post a bounty? Among the people I've offended... only T Group should have this much power," Baki thought.
He took out his phone and dialed a number—his employer for this mission. They'd spoken once before he boarded the plane, and the client had said Baki could contact him after landing in China.
Baki entered a local Chinese market packed with street vendors. He chose a food stall at random and ordered some baozi—steamed buns filled with meat or vegetables.
As Baki ate, he felt several eyes on him. He didn't mind and finished his food. When he was about to pay, a young man bumped into him, making Baki drop his money. The boy apologized several times.
Baki waved him off and crouched down to pick up the money. The apologetic look disappeared from the boy's face, replaced by a twisted expression. He pulled out a machete and swung it toward Baki's head.
Before he could connect, a punch struck his face. It caved in with a sickening crunch. He died on the spot.
Seeing this, people around them started running away. But several men emerged from the crowd, surrounding Baki.
Baki sighed as he took out some money and placed it on the counter. "You know, it was fun at first. Then it got less and less fun. Now it just feels boring. No—it's annoying to have a bunch of mosquitoes buzzing around me."
Baki looked upward, closing his eyes. "Those who want to leave can leave now."
Feeling the killing intent coming from Baki, several men dropped their weapons and ran away. Some were so scared that they couldn't move. But thirteen stayed, either too greedy or too stupid to see the danger.
The first wave came—three men charging together.What followed was a massacre.
Baki moved fast. His fist hit the first attacker in the chest, breaking his insides. The man's eyes went blank as he fell. Baki turned, catching the second man's pipe with one hand, then drove his other hand into the attacker's face. The nose bone broke and went straight into the brain. The third man barely had time to scream before Baki's elbow crushed his throat, cutting off the sound forever.
Two more rushed from behind. Baki spun low, his leg sweeping out. The first man's knee broke backward with a wet crack. As he fell, Baki stood up and drove his knee into the falling man's skull, killing him instantly. The second attacker swung a chain, but Baki caught it, pulled the man forward, and hit his chest with his palm. Ribs broke inward, stabbing the heart. The man was dead before he knew what happened.
Four attacked at once now, trying to beat him with numbers. A knife came from the left—Baki caught the wrist, twisted until bones broke, then used the screaming attacker as a shield against a bat swing. The bat hit the human shield's head, killing him instantly. Baki threw the body at the bat-wielder, knocking him down, then stepped on his throat before he could get up.
The remaining two from this group stopped. Big mistake. Baki closed the gap in a second. His fingers stabbed into one man's eyes, going deep into the brain. He died standing up. The other man tried to stab Baki in the side. The blade cut into flesh, but Baki didn't even flinch. He grabbed the man's head with both hands and twisted. The neck snapped with a crack.
Three left. They were backing away now, finally understanding they were already dead.
One turned to run. Baki grabbed a cleaver from a nearby stall and threw it. The blade spun through the air and stuck in the back of the man's skull, dropping him instantly.
The last two attacked out of pure fear. The first swung a pipe wildly. Baki caught it with one hand, ripped it away, then drove it through his chest like a spear. The man coughed up blood and fell.
The last attacker, shaking, raised his knife with trembling hands. Baki walked forward calmly, caught the man's knife hand, and drove his fist into the attacker's chest. The heart burst from the hit. Baki let go, and the body fell to the ground.
Silence filled the marketplace. Bodies lay scattered everywhere. At the end, Baki stood among the dead, his clothes soaked in blood.
He walked toward a nearby juice stall. The owner was missing, probably having run away long ago. Baki grabbed some premade juice and gulped it down, leaving money on the counter. Suddenly his ears twitched. Sirens—police sirens wailed in the distance. They'd be here soon.
His eyes landed on a bike nearby. He glanced at the pile of bodies and found one wearing a biker's suit. He pulled the body out and rummaged through it, finally finding a key.
He got onto the bike and left the area. At this time, all of Shanghai PSB was on red alert. News of a slaughterer had arrived. No one knew who posted it first, but a video of a red-haired man crushing another man's head with a single punch was going viral.
But Baki didn't know any of this. He was on the bike, speeding through traffic. In his left hand, he held his phone, trying to contact the White Tiger Job Centre. They didn't answer.
Baki's immediate goal was to find whoever put the bounty on his head. He'd like to meet this kind person.
Baki clicked his tongue. "Was this mission a trap? Why would the old man intentionally push me into one? Even the client seems to be fake. This whole mission was either sabotaged or a trap from the beginning."
To find information about the bounty issuer, he'd have to locate the Black Market branch in Shanghai first. Though White Tiger Job Centre and ARES had defeated the King of Black Market, that didn't mean the entire Black Market had collapsed. Most of their members were spread throughout the world. Now he just had to find the ones in Sanghai.