Chapter 123: [Tearing up the ticket?]

Tear up the ticket?

For these kidnappers, they were truly cold-blooded characters. It wasn’t like they had never torn up a ticket before, but...

But being a kidnapper to this extent—this was truly their first time in their entire lives!

It was the first time they had ever seen a hostage's family actively raise the ransom price! And it was also the first time they had heard of the other party suddenly changing their mind and refusing to pay the ransom altogether.

Right, what else did that woman on the phone say?

Do whatever you please, kill or carve us up as you wish?

My ass! More arrogant than yours truly!

The boss of the kidnappers was furious to the extreme. Once he finally regained his senses, he roared repeatedly, "Someone come here! Damn it, tear up the ticket! Tear! Tear! Tear up the ticket!!"

"Boss? Are we really tearing it up?" Subordinate A, one of the kidnappers, couldn't help but chime in, "That's twenty million!"

Slap!

A five-finger handprint instantly appeared on his face!

"What are you spouting nonsense for! Go dig a hole for me and bury this kid! If you dare talk back again, I'll bury you along with him! Damn it, you two idiots, who told you to bring this kid back and provoke my anger! Let me tell you, when I fly into a rage, even I am terrified of myself!"

The subordinate didn't dare to say another half a word. He quickly stepped forward, gave Chen Xiao a push, and dragged him toward the outside of the abandoned factory. While pushing him, he lowered his voice and barked, "Hey, kid! Don't blame me on the road to the netherworld! Your own family refuses to pay the money, so we have no choice but to take your life! It's just your bad luck!"

Chen Xiao didn't budge an inch after being pushed, standing right where he was. His face was filled with a bizarre smile.

He looked at the kidnapper boss and smiled slightly, "Sorry, I actually wanted to play with you guys a bit longer, but as you heard just now, the Big Sis-in-charge of my family ordered me to go back early, so I can't afford to waste any more time with you here. If my Big Sis gets furious, it's even more terrifying, oh."

The kidnapper boss stared at Chen Xiao in shock. His face was full of absurdity, as if he were looking at an idiot, or as if a flower had suddenly grown out of Chen Xiao's nose.

After a moment, the kidnapper boss couldn't help but burst into loud laughter, pointing at Chen Xiao's nose as he laughed mockingly, "Are you guys saying this kid has been scared out of his mind? Hahaha!! Do you think this is playing house? You want to go back? Fine! I'll send you off to the western paradise!"

He was also enraged to the extreme. He snatched a gun from the hand of the subordinate beside him, aimed the muzzle at Chen Xiao's head, and clicked off the safety. He grinned hideously, "Kid, your luck has run out!"

With that, his index finger hooked onto the trigger, about to press down...

Yet the very next second.

Whoosh! The kidnapper boss felt a blur before his eyes, and when he lowered his gaze, he saw that his hands were empty—the gun had somehow miraculously ended up in Chen Xiao's grip!

Looking at Chen Xiao, he seemed to still be standing in the exact same spot, except now he was holding a gun and fiddling with it.

Chen Xiao swiftly ejected the magazine, and then popped out the single bullet already chambered in the barrel. Holding the empty firearm in his hand, he tossed it about twice and couldn't help smiling, "A replica Type 54. Do all modern kidnappers use this kind of firearm? Seems a bit outdated, don't you think?"

What the hell!!

The kidnapper boss's expression shifted drastically. The numerous subordinates around him also reacted. Seeing that the gun was now in the hands of this hostage kid, their complexions changed in panic. Those with quick reflexes had already drawn their own guns and aimed them at Chen Xiao.

"Are you all brainless! Take this kid down for me!" the boss ordered.

Several subordinates were just about to pull the trigger when they suddenly felt an invisible, immense force fiercely tugging at the weapons in their hands...

Whoosh...

With a series of sharp clatter-clatter sounds, all nine handguns in the possession of the nine kidnappers suddenly flew out of their grips, autonomously darting toward Chen Xiao and landing squarely in his arms!!

And so, a group of kidnappers stood empty-handed, staring at each other with wide eyes and expressions as if they had seen a ghost. Meanwhile, Chen Xiao, holding a large bundle of guns in his arms, casually tossed them onto the ground with utter indifference.

"Woah!! Boss, this kid's a monster!!" Subordinate A shrieked with a pale face!

"A monster?" The kidnapper boss was also starting to panic. Having made a living in this line of work his whole life, was he facing divine retribution today?

Yet...

"Monster my ass!" The kidnapper boss hardened his heart. A surge of fierce bravado was triggered within him, and he yelled angrily, "Are you idiots! With over a dozen of us, are we really going to be afraid of this kid?! Damn it, so what if this kid knows some crooked sorcery? Everyone, grab your gear and go together! Break his bones!!"

The kidnapper boss thought to himself: Even without guns, with over a dozen of us dealing with a single kid, surely we can take him down? Besides, this kid is wrapped in bandages, and one of his arms is tied up like a Chinese rice dumpling—only one hand can move. Damn it! Can my dozen or more brothers not even beat a semi-crippled guy?!

"Hack him to death!!"

The boss let out a weird scream, and the numerous kidnappers immediately sprang into action. These fellows were truly desperate scoundrels; at the command, a good half of them whipped out daggers, short blades, or other lethal weapons from their waists or clothing.

The rest turned around to search for weapons. Such items weren't hard to find in this abandoned factory, and soon the remaining kidnappers armed themselves with wooden clubs, iron pipes, or machetes. A dozen men surrounded Chen Xiao in the center.

Chen Xiao remained completely calm, without the slightest trace of surprise or fear. Looking at the dozen or so kidnappers around him, he sighed, his tone sounding remarkably benevolent.

"Actually... I really didn't want to hurt anyone."

Swish!

One kidnapper lunged forward with a knife first. Chen Xiao shifted slightly on the spot, causing everyone's vision to blur as the kid's figure simply vanished into thin air! The very next second, he appeared right behind the knife-wielding kidnapper.

"Woah! This kid knows lightness kung fu! Boss!!" Subordinate A cried out with a fuss.

"Lightness your ass! Hack him!!" The boss was also getting scared.

Having teleported behind that kidnapper, Chen Xiao raised his hand and slapped him squarely in the back.

As a Class-B powerhouse, even though Chen Xiao hadn't exerted his full strength, how could an ordinary person withstand such a strike?

The kidnapper let out a miserable scream and flew straight backward, soaring seven or eight meters through the air before slamming into the factory wall, vomiting blood, and immediately collapsing limp to the ground.

The group of kidnappers were dumbfounded!!

What the hell! Is this a martial arts movie?

They had seen people who could fight, but they had never, ever seen someone *this* capable of fighting! That was a living, breathing human being, not a mosquito! He just slapped him away like that? He actually flew?!

One kidnapper who had originally lunged forward with a dagger now froze in place, subconsciously blurting out, "What... what kind of kung fu is that?"

Chen Xiao looked at the dumbfounded fellow before him, feeling amused internally. Suppressing a smile, he put on a stern face and barked, "The Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms: Regretful Dragon!"

The lackey beside the kidnapper boss immediately shouted again, "Boss, this is bad! This kid's from the Beggar Sect!"

"Beggar your head!"

The knife-wielding kidnapper in front was stunned for a moment, but immediately realized this kid was just toying with him. As he raised his dagger to stab forward again, Chen Xiao directly grabbed his wrist. With a slight tightening of his fingers, a crisp *crack* echoed—the kidnapper's wrist was broken!

Chen Xiao snatched the dagger, weighed it in his hand twice, and hurled it toward the nearest kidnapper. Pity that kidnapper; upon seeing the dagger fly right at him, he suddenly let out a loud shout of "Well met!"—this fellow must have read too many water-margin novels, picking up some reckless bravado from somewhere unknown.

He actually possessed a bit of skill himself. Holding a machete, seeing the dagger flying toward him, he nimbly leaned his body to the side, slid his feet, dodged past, raised his machete, and aimed a fierce downward chop right at the incoming dagger!

It was clear this kidnapper was someone who had trained, and his underlying skills weren't weak either!

It was just that... the dagger Chen Xiao threw wasn't meant to be used as a thrown weapon to stab someone...

The kidnapper had clearly chopped down accurately onto the flying dagger and was feeling quite pleased with himself, thinking to himself that it was fortunate he had practiced blade techniques for a few years...

Yet the moment that thought flashed through his mind, the situation went completely wrong!

Boom!!

The flying dagger suddenly exploded!!

The explosive flash of fire instantly engulfed the blade-dancing kidnapper and two or three of his nearby companions.

When the gunsmoke cleared, several kidnappers lay flat on their backs, charred black from head to toe. That blade-wielding hero still wore an expression of grievance in death, staring fixedly at Chen Xiao as he squeezed a few words through his teeth: "What... what kind of kung fu is this?!"

"Jiangnan Thunder Sect! Thunder Fire Thunderball!"

That blockheaded Subordinate A still refused to believe it and chimed in, "That's not right, kid! You used the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms just now, which clearly belongs to the Beggar Sect. How did it suddenly turn into the Jiangnan Thunder Sect?"

Chen Xiao found it amusing: "Moonlighting, is that not allowed?"

The kidnapper was about to argue further when the kidnapper boss beside him was so infuriated he nearly vomited blood. He viciously kicked his blockheaded subordinate in the leg, knocking him over, and charged forward brandishing a long saber himself!

It had to be said that the kidnapper boss was truly a ruthless character. The blade he swung down was both fast and fierce, but Chen Xiao couldn't even be bothered to dodge. With a single local teleportation, he materialized several meters away!

Several meters off, before the other kidnappers could react, this kid had already arrived by their side! Chen Xiao raised his legs and kicked out left and right, instantly sending two more kidnappers flying sideways. They vomited blood mid-air, crashed to the ground, and couldn't get back up again.

Employing his spatial teleportation ability, Chen Xiao was simply untouchable to the pack of kidnappers. After a few blinks, not only had they failed to touch even a hem of his clothes, but Chen Xiao had closed in on them and dispatched them all with a few casual punches and kicks. With his monstrous strength, although he held back enough to avoid taking any lives, it was still more than ordinary flesh and blood could endure. Anyone who took a blow from him either vomited blood or suffered broken bones—in short, none of them could remain standing.

In the end, as if deliberately doing so, Chen Xiao left only the kidnapper boss and the slow-witted Subordinate A standing.

By this time, the kidnapper boss was truly terrified! In all his life, he had never witnessed anything so... so supernatural!!

He wasn't unfamiliar with tough fighters! But to be as ghostly and elusive as this kid... was he even human?!

Seeing all his subordinates sprawled on the ground, and despite still holding a knife in his hand, he completely lost any shred of confidence. Hesitating in his heart, he thought about simply throwing the knife away and fleeing, but looking at the kid's movement speed, he probably couldn't outrun him anyway...

Finally, he let out a howl, raised his saber high, and as if resigning himself to fate, blindly slashed down with a wild chop.

Chen Xiao couldn't even be bothered to use teleportation for this strike. Utilizing a "short-strike" technique taught to him by Old Tian, he sidestepped the blade's edge, slipped directly into the kidnapper boss's embrace, twisted his waist, and delivered an uppercut...

Bang!

The kidnapper boss's jaw instantly warped to the side, most of his teeth flying out in a shower, and his entire body rocketed straight up into the air. With a *thud*, his head jammed straight into the makeshift wooden ceiling panels of the factory, leaving him stuck right up there while his legs flailed frantically, completely unable to get down.

The very last remaining subordinate, Subordinate A, swallowed hard, looking at Chen Xiao as if gazing upon a deity.

He swallowed his saliva and wailed with a tearful expression: "Hero! What kind of move is this?"

Chen Xiao tilted his head in thought and answered with a straight face, "The Rising Dragon of Lu Shan!"

Subordinate A finally broke down completely!

"You're playing with me! I quit! I'm not doing this anymore! One minute it's the Beggar Sect, the next it's the Thunder Sect! And now the Rising Dragon of Lu Shan has popped out! Damn it! Even though I'm a bit slow, I'm not an idiot! A gentleman would rather die than be humiliated!"

With that, a trace of fierce resolve flashed in his eyes. He abruptly grabbed the iron pipe in his hand...

Bang!!

Instead of smashing it at Chen Xiao, he glared at him with sorrow and indignation, and fiercely smashed it against his own head. His head tilted to the side, he collapsed straight to the ground, rolled his eyes, and passed out cold.

Watching the final kidnapper engage in self-harm and keel over, Chen Xiao wore a look of profound regret.

"Sigh, why bother? I... I still haven't unleashed my true move: True • Nine Dragons Flash and Pegasus Meteor Fist."