Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 744 - 7: The Bloodstained Baseball Bat

Chapter 744: Chapter 7: The Bloodstained Baseball Bat

"Holy shit, the Brother Tang you’re talking about, it couldn’t be him, could it?" The hooligan who had slapped Yao Feng suddenly realized, directing his gaze at the adolescent boy.

"What do you think? But why did Brother Tang change his car? His previous ride was a tank." Yao Feng could never forget the sight of Tang Zheng driving a tank, speeding up and knocking over dozens of war chariots.

On hearing this, the young men standing by hissed in unison. This kid sure knows how to boast.

"Can a tank even be privately owned? Your head must be full of holes, you must be the product of inbreeding, right?" sneered the hooligan. Anyone with a sane mind would not believe him.

"Some lowlife like him knows a wealthy sports car owner? That seems too far-fetched to me. Do you think you’re a pretty girl?"

The hooligans, for one, didn’t believe this, and secondly, they were trying to reassure themselves. They couldn’t afford to be outdone in terms of bravado. If they were, they might as well say goodbye to hanging around this place.

As Tang Zheng pushed the door open with his baseball bat, he saw everyone inside turning their eyes towards him, then quickly looking away, attempting to pretend like observers waiting for a show.

Yao Feng’s face bore a handprint. He and his six companions were surrounded by a group of hooligans. On seeing Tang Zheng, he immediately shouted.

"Brother Tang, I’m here."

"Holy shit, you actually know him?" The hooligans’ hearts skipped a beat. They didn’t have the nerve to deny it any longer. Their fancy car alone was enough to stifle them. It was clear they were not on the same level. The hooligan with the huge dragon tattoo would have begged for mercy right on the spot if he wasn’t concerned about saving face.

"What happened?" Tang Zheng stood firm, his eyes coldly surveying these middle-schoolers with dyed hair and ear studs. There was a flicker of displeasure on his face. After all, having experienced bloodshed and rampaging games, there was an inevitable chilling aura to him.

At this moment, within the midwinter Internet cafe, everyone fell silent, listening to Tang Zheng scold these middle school students.

"Go home and clean yourselves up. Then go to school." Tang Zheng spoke sternly. Then he glanced around the entire Internet cafe. As suspected, there were still some students playing truant. "Anyone below 16, get out. Go to school."

"Sir, if you do this, it will affect our business." One of the young webmasters mustered up the courage to step forward and confront him. With the students leaving, they would lose at least half of their revenue. If the boss found out, he would definitely be furious and dock their wages.

"If there’s a problem, have your boss come talk to me." Tang Zheng didn’t want to waste time on someone with no authority. He looked at the middle school students again. "What are you waiting for? Get moving!"

If Tang Zheng hadn’t run into them today, he might not have interfered. But since these students were skipping school, he felt it was his duty to chase them out, out of sight, out of mind.

Yao Feng squeezed through the hooligans, drawing his companions along to Tang Zheng’s side. The seven hooligans exchanged glances but did not dare to stop him.

"Brother Tang, I got beat up." Yao Feng looked at Tang Zheng, who had the presence to silence everyone, and became even more smug. He wanted Tang Zheng’s help in seeking revenge.

"What’s the matter with you guys? Explain yourselves." Tang Zheng was annoyed. Having such team members was indeed a disgrace.

"Well, that girl bumped into Dongzi and spewed obscenities. We just asked for some medical expenses." The hooligan explained hurriedly, fearing Yao Feng would exaggerate the situation and make things worse.

"You guys really know how to make up stories, Brother Tang, he said I ruined his kidney." The girl who was playing the dancing game squeezed past Yao Feng and sidled up to Tang Zheng, naturally attempting to encircle his arm.

Tang Zheng blocked her hand with the baseball bat, appraising her briefly. Her natural beauty was completely obscured by makeup. She exuded a strong scent of perfume which stung his nostrils and made him want to sneeze.

Blocked by Tang Zheng, the girl seemed a little disappointed. However, noticing his gaze on her, she quickly straightened her developing chest.

"How much do you want?" Tang Zheng didn’t want to argue about who was right and wrong. It was too much trouble.

"Not much, just a thousand." The hooligans hadn’t expected this outcome and were thrilled. Their faces soon broke into smiles - clearly, they assumed the other party was willing to pay money for peace.

"A thousand bucks isn’t much? That’s half of what my dad makes in a month!" A middle school student exclaimed in dissatisfaction.

"Yao Feng, go to the car and get a stack of money from the travel bag." Tang Zheng remained calm, his mind occupied with what gift to bring for his visit to Chu Baichuan.

The young webmaster made a call to the boss, informing him of the conflict in the Internet cafe. After a brief acknowledgment, the boss hung up.

Yao Feng, with trembling hands, took a hold of the sports car’s door. Not wanting to keep Tang Zheng waiting, he picked up a travel bag and ran back inside, simultaneously opening the bag’s zipper to make ready the money.

The bag was hefty, and with the money packed in full, Yao Feng lost grip of the bag as soon as he entered the Internet cafe. Bundles of hundred-dollar bills tied with white paper spilled onto the floor, instantly dazzling everyone’s eyes.

Yao Feng was stunned. He had never seen so much money in his life. It was all lying at his feet, and his heart began to thump, recalling what Brother Tang had promised him.

The hooligans looked at Tang Zheng and dared not make any more trouble.

"What are you dawdling for? Pick it up," Tang Zheng frowned. High school students were really unreliable. He bent down to pick up a stack and tossed it to the hooligans.

"This, this?" The tattooed hooligan found the money burning his hands. He didn’t dare to take it, but he couldn’t suppress his greed.

"Now that the compensation is settled, let’s talk about their injuries," Tang Zheng wouldn’t let Yao Feng be beaten for nothing.

The seven hooligans were excitedly considering how to spend this windfall of ten thousand yuan when they heard Tang Zheng speak. Suddenly, they broke out in a cold sweat despite the midwinter chill. It seemed he wasn’t planning to let them go.

"Boss, we don’t want the money. We were wrong. I’ll apologize to the high schooler." The tattooed hooligan handed the money back, his attitude respectful. He could not afford to offend the young man standing in front of him. Having spent some time in detention, and exposed to its miseries, he was no longer the clueless youth he once was.

"Keep the money and use your hospital stay to reflect. Do you really intend to live like this, as hooligans, for the rest of your lives? Take advantage of your youth and learn a trade that can support you. Find a job." Tang Zheng had no intention of showing these habitual offenders any mercy. Without some scars to serve as reminders, they would always carry a sense of false hope and forget the lesson they had learned.

"What the hell are you talking about? Dongzi, what are you afraid of? Let’s beat him up together," snorted one of their comrades.

There is no shortage of fools with short fuses. A hooligan with a pierced ear glared at Tang Zheng, as did four others. Their enmity was clear. After all, Tang Zheng had made it clear that he intended to incapacitate them. If they did not fight back, they would be no better than idiots.

"Is there really no room for leniency?" asked the one called Dongzi, his tone going soft.

"No. If you want to fight, go ahead. As a reward, if you can land a hit on me, you can take the ten thousand yuan." Tang Zheng did not want to prolong the situation, so he tempted the guys to get the fight started.

As expected, one of them couldn’t wait and pulled out a baton, rushing toward Tang Zheng. Using a spring knife was too risky; a baton was more practical.

The conflict suddenly escalated. The onlookers hurriedly retreated, afraid of getting involved. Even though Tang Zheng had a baseball bat and looked cool, no one thought he would win. After all, there were seven of them, and they were all seasoned fighters.

The expectation of seeing Tang Zheng defeated satisfied some of their frustrations, but what happened next left them in a state of shock.

When faced with the attack aimed at his head, Tang Zheng swiftly reached out with his left hand, firmly grabbing the hooligan’s right hand. With a sudden twist, the hooligan cried out and dropped his baton; Tang Zheng’s right hand then swiftly brought the alloy baseball bat crashing down onto his calf.

The hooligans’ screams pierced the internet cafe, accompanied by the clear sound of bones breaking. The hooligan’s calf bent at an unnatural angle as he crumpled to the ground, unable to support his weight.

Another two hooligans approached as Tang Zheng grabbed the baton that had been dropped and swung it at one of them, hitting him square in the face and knocking him backward. As his foot shot out and snapped the hooligan’s leg with a crunch, he cried out. Before he could fall, Tang’s baseball bat became a windmill in his hands and crashed into the face of the unfortunate one to his right.

A spray of blood spurted out from the hooligan’s mouth. Tang Zheng had clearly pulled his punch, otherwise, all his teeth would have been knocked out.

Seeing Tang Zheng’s fierce offensive and how swiftly he had toppled three guys, one of the charging hooligans was scared to death. He tried to stop in his tracks, but he was too late. An alloy baseball bat whizzed by his ear and crashed into his companion’s nose, sending blood splattering everywhere.

Tang Zheng took a step forward, stretching out his arm like a harpooning whale, deftly catching the baseball bat mid-air, and swung it powerfully into the arm of the hooligan next to him, sending him flying.

In less than thirty seconds, the hooligans planning to gang up on Tang Zheng were blown away, five of them incapacitated. The onlookers stared dumbfounded at Tang Zheng, as if they were looking at a prehistoric beast.

Tang Zheng was about to throw the baseball bat aside, but Dongzi and the other remaining hooligan didn’t show any intent of fighting back. Instead, they fell to their knees, arms over their heads.

"We were wrong." Seeing the sorry state of their comrades, they wouldn’t dare lift a finger even if their lives depended on it. They began to whine and beg for mercy, their faces a far cry from their previous bravado. Who would want their leg broken and to stay in a hospital for months?

"Would you rather slap each other in the face or have me break your legs?" Tang Zheng suddenly changed his mind. Looking at the high school students, still engrossed in their games at the computers, completely lacking self-control, he realized he needed to put them on a leash. Their lack of self-discipline was appalling.

The two hooligans hesitated for a moment before slapping each other. That was significantly better than having their legs broken.

The crisp sounds of slapping filled the room, echoing with a shock of power, and sending a chill through the people in the internet cafe.

"That’s enough." Tang Zheng’s intention was not to humiliate them. It was enough to show they were sincere. "I have a job for you now. Keep an eye on this internet cafe. If you see any minors, stop them.

"Absolutely not. You’re asking us to oppose the owners of the local internet cafes. They have connections too," Dongzi shook his head vehemently. "And why do you care about those high school students? If they want to waste their lives, let them. One more loser in society is one more job opportunity for those who are willing to work hard. In a way, they’re making a contribution to society." To be continued... (If you like this work, please vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)