Yama Reborn
Chapter 58 - 56: Fear!

Chapter 58: Chapter 56: Fear!

[Sorry, sorry, I’m out and about, just remembered I forgot to set up a timed release, and I rushed back as quickly as I could to update.

It’s a bit late, everyone, my apologies. I’ll definitely pay attention next time.]

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Chapter 56: Fear!

Li Qingshan hadn’t lived a life without witnessing fighters.

In his youth, when he first got involved in the underworld, he followed a very famous boss who had started out with a sand boat on the river.

That boss was trained in Sanshou, proficient in martial arts. Li Qingshan had personally seen, during a conflict with another sand boat captain, how his own boss charged alone into a crowd. In the ensuing brawl, he single-handedly knocked down seven or eight men.

That boss could devour half a kilo of dumplings and two bottles of beer in one sitting, was loud-mouthed, and built as sturdy as a bull calf.

Yet, what of it?

Three years later, he was hacked to death on his own sand boat, his body slashed with over a dozen wounds, mangled beyond recognition. His corpse was tied to a stone and dumped into the river.

At forty, Li Qingshan went to Myanmar to trade jade.

Back then, there was a boss who had a genuine master of combat—truly a master.

Li Qingshan saw with his own eyes how the master could leap onto roofs and vault over walls, with a flurry of punches that roared with power. With a single palm strike, he could break a thick wooden stick the size of a bowl’s rim.

In the mines of Myanmar, after a conflict arose, that master single-handedly routed over a dozen armed men, scattering them like a flock of ducks.

Yet, what of it?

Two years later, that boss was cornered in a mine, and the master was held at gunpoint with two double-barrel shotguns, blasting him into a honeycombed corpse!

Li Qingshan had always thought that in today’s world, being "able to fight" simply wasn’t any great skill—just a minor path! No matter how high your martial skill, you fear the kitchen knife. However good your kung fu, one shot brings you down! In today’s world, what matters is power, connections, tangible strength, and brains. An individual, no matter how capable in combat, is merely a knife to be utilized in the eyes of the truly powerful.

Before this evening, Li Qingshan had always believed this. Even the day he was thrown into the river by that youngster, Li Qingshan felt he was just caught off guard. But if I were truly prepared, couldn’t I, Hall Master Li with my wealth of billions, handle a lone wolf? With enough manpower, I could even crush him!

However, this time, Li Qingshan realized he was wrong.

·

Wind Shelter Hall was a new establishment opened by Li Qingshan two years ago. Spanning four floors with a five-thousand-square-meter space, it offered a comprehensive entertainment experience.

Apart from the salaried waitstaff and, to say nothing of the girls in the flesh trade, the men who truly followed Li Qingshan for a living certainly included fighters. There were those who had served time, those known for their combativeness, and those who had inflicted injuries. Of course, there were far more who simply waved flags and shouted encouragement.

But all together, there were at least thirty or forty of them.

And the result? In less than a few minutes, within the largest resting lounge on the top floor of Li Qingshan’s building, Li Qingshan, over fifty, felt he had witnessed the supernatural today. This wasn’t an exaggeration; I truly encountered a ghost. For a moment, I thought the youth before me might not be human at all, but truly a ghost.

More than twenty men, armed with knives and sticks, were trapped in a room with the doors closed.

Yet they couldn’t even touch a corner of the youth’s shirt!

There were no flailing limbs, no rivers of blood.

Even now, the vast room was as silent as a haunted house!

Though brightly lit, the youngster moved among them like a phantom, lightly weaving through the crowd. Regardless of whether they wielded knives or sticks, no matter how tightly they swung, the youth seemed to weigh nothing at all, his feet barely touching the floor, drifting through the crowd.

Wherever he passed, simply touching someone made them immediately collapse to the ground! They could breathe, but were utterly unable to move an inch!

The backup plan Li Qingshan kept was useless; holding Sun Keke hostage did nothing. The thug with the knife at the girl’s throat didn’t even get a chance to threaten before Chen Nuo floated over and lightly touched him, making him fall flat.

A few minutes later, in the vast room, only three people were left sitting or standing.

Chen Nuo stood in front of Li Qingshan while Sun Keke sat on the floor in the corner—the campus belle was dumbstruck, either from fright or shock.

Li Qingshan had never been so scared in his life!

For decades, he had traveled far and wide. He had tunneled through mountains in the south, carried gold and mined jade. He had crossed snowforests in the north and bartered with Russians for tractors using canned food.

He had seen knives, guns, corpses, and blood.

But precisely because of his broad experiences, he was even more terrified now!

Li Qingshan realized. This person could kill me as easily as squashing an ant.

In the grand rest lounge on the top floor, more than twenty men lay sprawled, none able to move.

Li Qingshan faced the youngster as if not facing a person, but an ancient beast, a man-eating ghoul.

He actually had a trump card.

The trump card was a gun tucked inside his coat.

But at this moment, Li Qingshan felt his palms, forehead, and back drenched in sweat. The hand that reached under his coat had clutched the gun, but he couldn’t muster the courage to draw it!

As if a deeper sense inside him was telling him: Drawing it would be pointless!

Chen Nuo stopped and looked at Li Qingshan with a smile.

"You have a gun in your coat?"

Li Qingshan clenched his back teeth, silent.

"Take it out," Chen Nuo’s tone was very sincere, "You’re quite a figure in the underworld. Surely you have your pride. If I don’t let you draw your gun today, you’ll never be satisfied. Come on, draw."

Li Qingshan’s eyes twitched uncontrollably.

Finally, still a kingpin who had risen from nothing through decades of bare-knuckle fighting, Li Qingshan’s pride was challenged to the extreme. The fear weighing on his mind was compressed until it forced out a fierce spirit!

At this moment, Li Qingshan seemed not the Li Qingshan in his fifties. The Li Qingshan now, eyes locked onto the guy wearing the motorcycle helmet in front of him, had his mind flashing with scenes of himself in his twenties, fighting blood-splattered battles in crowds following a sandboat boss, and in his thirties in the jungles of Myanmar’s mines, fighting over ores with blood flowing into rivers!

Finally, the gun was drawn!

BANG!!!!

A gunshot!

This gunshot carried all of Li Qingshan’s pride, decades of ferocity, and all the traces of boldness left from half a lifetime!

After firing that shot, Li Qingshan felt as if all his strength had been drained, and he slumped onto the sofa.

His mind was a complete blank!

The young man before him raised his right hand slightly, holding it out in front, rubbing two fingers together.

Chen Nuo looked at Li Qingshan, then slowly took a step forward. He bent down slightly, extended two fingers over the coffee table, and let the object between them drop.

DING.

A brass-colored bullet fell into the ashtray in front of Li Qingshan!

"..."

Li Qingshan’s face turned ashen, unable even to summon an expression of fear on his old features.

He was completely drained.

THUD. Li Qingshan fell to his knees, as if all the bones in his body had been extracted.

Chen Nuo smiled softly, his tone very calm, "Do you submit?"

"...I submit!"

·

Chen Nuo nodded, his tone still even, "I gave you a chance to shoot, and you did. It’s time to settle the next matter."

"There’s nothing more. Whatever you say goes," Li Qingshan shook his head, his face expressionless.

"Good," Chen Nuo nodded, "I won’t meddle in underworld affairs, nor will I bring up your issues with Bald Lei. But you’re not a fool: you know what to do next. As for the rest... On second thought, there’s no need to say it. Someone like you isn’t stupid."

"Yes, from now on, you are the sky; whatever you say, goes," Li Qingshan said, his eyes hollow and dazed.

"Good." Chen Nuo nodded. He approached Li Qingshan, looked down at the underworld kingpin kneeling before him, and smiled lightly. "You can’t just get away with shooting at me."

As he spoke, the young man bent down and gently tapped each of Li Qingshan’s legs.

"Spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair."

·

Li Qingshan was paralyzed.

Outside, nobody knew what had happened that night in Wind Shelter Hall, the well-known stronghold of Hall Master Li.

Over ten minutes after Chen Nuo left with Sun Keke, those lying all over the room began to move, slowly starting to crawl and sit up. Their bodies, previously like clay, gradually regained mobility.

Then his subordinates saw their boss, kneeling there, rigid, hands on the ground, staring straight at the floor with a blank expression, silent.

Li Qingshan was taken to the hospital that very night. His body bore no wounds. Thorough internal and external examinations were conducted, CT scans and all imaginable tests done.

They even found two cysts on his kidneys and an enlarged prostate, but nothing else seemed to be the issue!

His legs, however, just wouldn’t move!

Not the slightest sensation!

Underlings from other branches came rushing, eager to stir up action. But Li Qingshan, after a moment of silence, waved his hand and ordered them all to disperse.

He then decreed that the three establishments of Wind Shelter Hall close for a month, and regarding the events of tonight, everyone was to keep their mouths shut, not a word to be spoken.

·

Chen Nuo carried Sun Keke in his arms as he walked out the back door of Wind Shelter Hall. Across the street, Zhang Linsheng was secretly watching from behind a sycamore tree.

Zhang Linsheng hadn’t left. He certainly didn’t have the nerve to go back into Wind Shelter Hall. After much thought, though he couldn’t quite pinpoint his own reasoning, he just kept standing behind that sycamore tree across the street.

He didn’t even know what he was waiting for.

Anxious and afraid, he paced restlessly. A few times he mustered the courage to go over, but each time he reached the edge of the road, he shrank back.

Finally, when Chen Nuo emerged from the alley by Wind Shelter Hall’s back door, carrying Sun Keke on his back, Zhang Linsheng breathed a sigh of relief.

After exhaling, his heart was even more shocked!

How... how did he do it?!

·

Chen Nuo got on the motorcycle, holding Sun Keke in front of him. One hand on the handlebars, the other wrapping the girl in his embrace, he then started the motorcycle and drove away.

Before leaving, he turned his head back towards Zhang Linsheng across the street and waved his hand gently.

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[Happy weekend! BANG BANG BANG! Asking for votes.]