Chapter Nineteen: Brother Xiao Liang

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Lu Yang had no idea that Zheng Yuan already hated him. After taking off the gaming headset, he shifted his position and immediately fell asleep.

It wasn’t until one in the afternoon that Lu Yang woke up. After a simple lunch, he began to exercise. His father had been a soldier and had imposed very strict demands on him since childhood, so his foundation was quite solid.

Before his rebirth, Lu Yang had trained for five years under the professional guidance of his father’s military comrades to kill Liu Jie. Unfortunately, by then he was already 26 years old, past the prime training age. Still, despite that, Lu Yang had made a name for himself in the mercenary world under the nickname “Bloodfire,” a name that inspired fear throughout Southeast Asia.

Now, given a second chance at life, Lu Yang resolved to first restore his physical condition to its peak before seeing how far he could go.

He tried practicing a set of martial arts taught by his father. After loosening up his muscles and tendons, Lu Yang began training according to a secret method passed down by his master.

This training method was a secret technique used by a South Asian organization to train warriors willing to sacrifice their lives. Following this method could rapidly improve physical fitness as long as one could endure it. However, it came with one enormous drawback: it was excruciatingly painful. Less than ten percent of ordinary people could persist through it.

After two hours, Lu Yang collapsed to the ground, every muscle in his body feeling as if it would snap. But even so, if he wanted to improve, he had to force himself to stand again.

That year, the reason that kept Lu Yang going was to kill Liu Jie. In this lifetime, that reason remained unchanged.

After enduring for another half hour, with a roar, Lu Yang completed today’s training. Wiping the sweat from his brow with trembling arms, he leaned against the bathroom wall, struggling to take off his clothes before turning on the shower and letting the ice-cold water pour over him.

At times like this, Lu Yang always plunged into deep memories. But last time, those memories were filled with regret. This time, they were different.

There is a saying: “Among the righteous are many scoundrels; among the heartless, many are scholars.” Lu Yang knew this well. The people who betrayed him in his last life were his so-called “brothers” from four years of college dorm life. Yet when Lu Yang was at his lowest—drowning in debts of over ten million—the one who never betrayed him was a boy named Xiao Liang, a simple-minded young man who hadn’t even passed the college entrance exam and had little education.

As brothers, Xiao Liang’s loyalty was beyond reproach. Back then, when Lu Yang’s parents had gone to work at construction sites, Xiao Liang followed to help earn money and repay debts. Later, when Wang Teng came to kill Lu Yang, if Xiao Liang hadn’t taken that bullet for him, Lu Yang would have died long ago. He owed Xiao Liang his life.

But Lu Yang couldn’t recall having done anything to deserve such loyalty.

In this second chance at life, the first person Lu Yang wanted to find was Xiao Liang. After washing up and changing clothes, Lu Yang took his bank card and bought another virtual headset near the school before heading toward Xiao Liang’s home in the urban village.

The urban village was synonymous with dilapidation and poverty—a place where the lowest strata of society lived. The name was fitting; only rundown bungalows existed here, with apartment buildings being a rare sight.

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Lu Yang weaved through the streets and alleys until he reached an old brick-walled courtyard—that was Xiao Liang’s home.

Just as Lu Yang was about to enter, he suddenly heard angry voices coming from inside the courtyard.

“Kid, you looking for a beating? I gave you 50 bucks today, where’s the money?”

“No, no, don’t you dare steal it. If you don’t steal, then what the hell are you looking for?”

The voices were familiar. Lu Yang flipped over the wall and jumped into the courtyard, just in time to see a group of thugs beating a young boy—Xiao Liang.

“Stop!” Lu Yang shouted.

The group turned around and burst into laughter when they saw Lu Yang.

“Well, well, another one here to hand out money. Today’s my lucky day,” said the leader, a man with a pockmarked face, pressing his foot against Xiao Liang’s face. “Lu Yang, haven’t seen you in a while. Got any money? If you can cough up a hundred bucks, maybe I’ll let you go today.”

Lu Yang recognized the speaker immediately. Though it had been fifteen years since they last met, this man had left a deep impression on him. His name was Guan Dahai, a local thug about ten years older than Lu Yang. Since childhood, he had bullied Lu Yang and Xiao Liang, relying on his physical strength.

Lu Yang was clever and usually managed to avoid Guan Dahai, but this time, he wasn’t going to run.

“Guan Dahai, let Xiao Liang go,” Lu Yang said firmly.

“Oh? This kid actually dares to order me around?” Guan Dahai’s arrogance flared. Without waiting for his men, he strode toward Lu Yang alone.

“Kid, you’ve been itching for a beating lately, haven’t you?” Guan Dahai stepped close and aimed a kick at Lu Yang.

Just as Guan Dahai imagined sending Lu Yang flying with a single kick, he suddenly felt a tightness in his chest. Looking down, he saw Lu Yang had twisted his body aside and delivered a precise spinning back kick straight to his chest.

Though Lu Yang had just finished training and was not very strong, his 140-pound frame combined with the rotational force was more than an ordinary man could withstand. Guan Dahai clutched his chest and fell to his knees.

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The other thugs watched the scene unfold like spectators, expecting Guan Dahai to thrash Lu Yang. But when Guan Dahai unexpectedly went down, the four remaining thugs grew anxious and charged at Lu Yang one by one, eyes blazing.

“Lu Yang, you bastard, you’re asking for—”

Before he could finish, a brick slammed into the face of one thug with a loud thud. Xiao Liang, who had just raised his head, stared without blinking as Lu Yang ducked under the first thug’s punch, then accurately smashed a stone into the side of the second thug’s face.

He followed with a kick to the side of the third thug’s knee joint, causing a scream of pain as the man collapsed.

The first thug turned back to see his three companions lying incapacitated on the ground, eyes filled with terror as they stared at Lu Yang.

“What... what did you just do?”

Lu Yang picked up a brick from the ground, silently staring at the thug as he advanced step by step.

The thug, already terrified by Lu Yang’s bloodthirsty gaze, panicked and fled with a scream.

Guan Dahai, just regaining his breath, saw this and cursed, “What the hell are you running for? Get back here!”

But the others didn’t dare to look back.

“Damn it, a bunch of cowards,” Guan Dahai grumbled, clutching his chest as he stood and turned to face Lu Yang, sensing something sinister about him today. He wanted to leave a harsh warning and come back later with reinforcements. But before he could speak, a whooshing sound came—

“Bang!”

A brick struck Guan Dahai’s cheek with precision, knocking him to the ground. Blood poured from the wound as he touched his face.