Chapter 158: Control

Wujue could not help smiling as he said, "Seeing you sitting there motionless, I guessed it might be you. Well, did you find out that Ah Hu was not dead, and manage to squeeze some secret out of him?"

Huron smiled and replied, "You could say that. After you left, we were clearing out the suburbs and unexpectedly found a dying Ah Hu and Ah Dan, who were on their way to defect to Boss Wu. So, after a brief discussion, we decided to play along and come to your rescue."

Xiao Han patted him on the shoulder and said, "You scared me to death! I really thought Ah Hu was that formidable, actually daring to face us head-on."

Wujue sensed someone pushing against the heavy door behind them, likely hearing the commotion inside and wanting to break in.

Huron and the others caught on immediately. With a single punch, Xiao Han knocked Liu Xian unconscious. They swiftly stripped the two men, dressing Huron in Boss Wu's clothes, Liu Xian in Huron's clothes, and dressing Boss Wu in Liu Xian's clothes before smudging his face with dirt and tossing him into a corner.

Then, they flung the door wide open. Huron, disguised as Boss Wu, barked at the men outside, "What's all the shouting about? We had a bit of an accident just now. That idiot Liu Xian led wolves into the house, and Ah Hu tried to assassinate me. Fortunately, these two brothers stepped in to help."

With that, he gave a vicious kick to Liu Xian, who was disguised as Ah Hu, and cursed, "You ungrateful bastard, playing dirty like that! And here I was, kindly taking you in."

Seeing this, the South China Gang members quickly chimed in, "Boss, you scared the hell out of us! Where's Liu Xian? We saw something was off with him earlier, let's drag him out and beat him to a pulp."

They hauled Boss Wu's body outside, and a few eager troublemakers even subjected the corpse to a ritual beating.

Noticing this, Wujue signaled Xiao Han to go out and handle the people outside so they could safely remain undercover within the South China Gang.

After a flurry of activity, peace was finally restored. The fake Boss Wu arranged quarters for Wujue and Xiao Han, and they began discussing their next steps.

Taking temporary refuge within the South China Gang was by no means a long-term plan. Wujue's idea was to sniff out their true strength and then find a way to uproot them entirely.

As it turned out, the South China Gang committed every conceivable evil, and they truly deserved a harsh punishment. Xiao Han expressed his agreement while asking about the individual named Wu Yang, whom Boss Wu had mentioned earlier, noting that he seemed to be the second-in-command.

Huron said it did not matter, as they would find out in due time, and suggested they first raid the South China Gang's supplies.

Led by Huron, they headed to the South China Gang's armory and warehouse to see what treasures these people had hoarded.

To be fair, the South China Gang was living quite comfortably in this place. Taking advantage of the apocalypse, they had looted a vast amount of food and goods from the city, alongside weapons seized from nearby military units—including over a hundred machine guns, hundreds of pistols, and endless ammunition.

Most critically, this place held a large cache of communication equipment, likely plundered from a police station. All of them were police-issue radios, making them the most convenient tools for communication within the same city.

Wujue and Xiao Han stood on ceremony with no one; each tucked a radio into their belts before grabbing several firearms. Wujue jokingly asked Xiao Han if he had been practicing his marksmanship lately and whether he wanted to learn the art of gun-fu.

Xiao Han replied, "No need. I move too fast; why practice shooting when I can just turn myself into a flying bullet?"

While they were tallying their gains, a woman walked in, lowered her head, and whispered to Huron, "Boss, some of the brothers reported that the people from Three Kings Village are detaining our men and refuse to let them return. How do you want to handle this? A few of the brothers are unhappy and want to go out and settle the score with them."

Huron gave a cough and asked, "Who all wants to go? They never give me a moment of peace! By the way, what was your name again? When is Wu Yang coming back? Any word from him?"

The woman bowed her head even lower and answered, "You can call me Xiao Hua, Boss. Big Brother Wu Yang said before he left that he would be back in a couple of days, so it should be soon. However, it's time to visit Elder Sister Gui again; she has been cooped up in the south for quite a while. Do you think we should...?"

Elder Sister Gui? A flicker of intuition stirred in Wujue's heart. It seemed the internal dynamics of the South China Gang were quite complicated. He stepped forward and said, "Leave Three Kings Village to me. Boss, you go handle matters with Elder Sister Gui."

He immediately led Xiao Han outside. At that moment, several armed men were shouting and clamoring to go out and fight Three Kings Village to the death, arguing that their brothers had been bullied and they could not let it slide—they had to wipe those bastards out.

Seeing this, Xiao Han could not help sneering, "Look at you lot, don't make me laugh! Didn't Liu Xian just make a fool of himself?"

"Who the hell are you?!" A heavily overweight man stepped out, his face contorted with fat as he glared at Xiao Han with dissatisfaction. "Is this any place for you to talk? You just got here and you're already trying to act like a big shot? I, Old Yin, said we're going, and no one dares stop us."

Seeing the burly, thick-fleshed man aggressively chest-bumping him and displaying genuine brute strength, Xiao Han flickered his figure, instantly sending the fellow staggering. "What's wrong? Want to throw hands? Come on, let's trade a few moves!"

Without another word, Xiao Han zipped in circles around Old Yin, leaving the large man nearly gasping for air. Finally, the big man reached out a desperate hand, trying to grab Xiao Han and smash him to pieces.

Yet Xiao Han's movements proved unexpectedly nimble and crisp. With a sharp, sudden turn, his body somersaulted gracefully through midair and landed effortlessly behind the fat man. Channeling a faint gleam of mirror-like light into his palm, he abruptly hoisted the massive body into the air.

"Want to throw me? Try tasting it yourself first!" With a deafening crash, he hurled the heavy man down. The impact shook the ground like an earthquake, nearly punching a crater through the floor.

The others scattered in alarm, and one man snarled in anger, "Punk, you're pretty tough! Let's see what you've got!"

A tall, thin blonde youth whipped out a dagger, preparing for a life-or-death brawl with Xiao Han. Walking up as if nothing were the matter, Wujue grabbed the dagger from the youth's hand and casually twisted the thick steel blade into a pretzel.

"Can you really call this a weapon?" Amidst the youth's stunned and gaping stare, Wujue pried open the fingers one by one and relieved him of the dagger.

With a sharp *clang*, he tossed it onto the ground. It was truly more brittle than a twisted cruller.

These gangsters were sharp-eyed veterans who could readily tell that Wujue and Xiao Han were forces to be reckoned with. Just as the standoff peaked, a middle-aged man in his thirties stepped forward with a mature expression and a hint of seniority, smiling as he intervened. "Everyone, let's not lose our tempers. We're all on the same side from now on; everything is open for discussion. Am I right, you two?"

Noticing the speaker possessed a weathered composure, Wujue smiled and replied, "Whether we can discuss depends on whether everyone is willing to show some respect. Tell me, are you folks still planning on going out to cause trouble?"

Xiao Han pulled over two chairs. He and Wujue took one each and sat down right in front of the crowd.

Knowing the time had come to awe these thugs into submission, Wujue sat with an imposing posture and said, "Shall we have a proper discussion on how to resolve this?"

"How are we supposed to discuss this? Those stubborn peasants are always working against us! They won't even donate their food supplies—aren't they just trying to starve us to death?" Someone immediately began recounting the historical grievances between the two factions, rattling off a long list of complaints.

After listening for a moment, Wujue grasped the crux of the issue. It all boiled down to food. Three Kings Village had grain, and the gang had weapons; neither side wanted the other to gain the upper hand, so they stubbornly refused to cooperate.

He smiled lightly and remarked, "You keep raiding them—who would ever want to cooperate with you? Fine, let's take a step back and say you slaughter everyone and take all their food. This is the apocalypse; food only decreases as we eat it. What will you do when it runs out? Will you all go out and farm yourselves?"

"Besides, we have the latest intelligence suggesting the zombie crisis might soon be resolved," Wujue continued, pressing his advantage. "If the day comes when wandering zombies no longer threaten the world and we all need to rebuild paradise, how do you expect to survive without the farmers who grow your crops?"

"Think about it, everyone!" Wujue stood up to rally them. "Perhaps we can try a different approach—win them over and make them willingly offer up their food. Well then, who is willing to take a gamble with me?"

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" swayed by his words, some of them began to ask.

Wujue smiled. Exchanging a glance with Xiao Han, he turned and began walking out of the bomb shelter. Huron emerged from behind, speaking with the authority of Boss Wu's persona: "Go with him. We have no choice but to try this gamble."

At Huron's command, seven or eight men followed Wujue and Xiao Han out of the bomb shelter, heading toward Three Kings Village to demand an explanation regarding Liu Xian's ordeal.

As the dozen-odd men marched aggressively toward Three Kings Village, one of them asked Wujue along the way, "You two are so formidable, yet we've never heard of you before. Are you mercenaries or martial arts experts?"

Xiao Han chuckled, "Experts is a stretch. I'm just quick on my feet, but my big brother here is the real deal—there's no martial art he doesn't know."

Wujue, however, calmly replied, "Practicing martial arts is useless; having a gun in your hand is what truly matters. Of course, mastering a few martial techniques combined with exceptional marksmanship certainly makes things run a lot smoother."

The remark filled the listeners with deep envy, and they all declared that they would rely entirely on the two brothers from then on.

Wujue and Xiao Han merely smiled in silence. This trip was akin to closing the door to beat a trapped dog; these men had no idea how many of them would survive the day, so they might as well let them revel in their ignorance a little longer.

As they walked closer to the village entrance, Xiao Han suddenly halted and said, "Wait here. I'll go scout ahead and be right back."

He darted off like a gust of wind, yet returned at a speed so astonishingly swift that no one could have believed he had just made a full round trip.

"I took a quick look near the village gate; the other side hasn't caught on yet. They probably hid after the earlier commotion, so we must proceed with caution," Xiao Han reported with a serious expression.

Wujue stated, "Then let's go invite them out."

With that, they strode into the village and began searching all around.