The "master" had a physical stature that was equivalent to one and a half Yu Yan. His leg was broken and he was also uncooperative.

The three of them—Yu Yan, his colleague and Han Dongsheng—pulled and pushed until they were sweating from the effort. "What on earth is going on?"

Even if they had caused a ruckus when they charged in to catch this person, it had been less than five minutes from start to end. How could these hoodlums and tramps gather so quickly?

If they were so capable, why were they still local ruffians? Wouldn't it be better to go protect the country instead?

Han Dongsheng was really not good at running. His wig was already so soaked with sweat that it could not stay on. He pulled it off and tucked it under his arm, and panted as he replied, "Maybe… Maybe I was exposed. When I came in just now, I bumped into a colleague…"

Yu Yan had to admit defeat. "Why would your colleague be here?"

The other police officer said softly, "Probably to make a pilgrimage… Yu-ge, this place is called Sweethearts Street, it's quite popular. Plus, if you bump into someone you know here, both of you would definitely not say hi, since… you know."

Yu Yan was exceptionally grieved and angered at heart. What would a sad single like me know?

Right then, the Travellers' Sect people who were the fastest were already charging towards them, waving all sorts of clubs and sticks. Han Dongsheng could not shirk his responsibility and took on the duty of cutting off the pursuers. He let out a low roar and suddenly pushed the qigong master in his hands forward.

The three of them had been carrying the qigong master. Who knew where Han Dongsheng got the strength from but the energy in his palms could unexpectedly be transmitted through the qigong master's body to the two police officers. The three of them added together were about 500 pounds in weight but with just this push from him, all three of them were propelled up quite a few steps.

Then, his hands empty, Han Dongsheng met the other party's clubs and sticks.

Han Dongsheng held his arms up on either side of his forehead and took a direct hit. Following that, his shoulder moved in an arc and with a push and a bump, he snatched the other person's club.

The staircase of the guesthouse was very narrow. Han Dongsheng alone with the club could nearly block the whole staircase.

He was so robust and sturdy, his back that never seemed to be straight on a typical day was like a mountain.

Yu Yan came to a stop with much difficulty, and turned his head back in surprise.

He had interacted with Han Dongsheng a few times because of Old Mr. Zhou. His impression of this man was "an honest man with a mild temper." In a T.V. series, the "honest man" was either a toad dreaming of eating goose or the faithful backup guy. This character usually lacked a spirit, was short on intelligence, and because he had no charming points at all, was only suited to being a tool for creating conflict in the story.

Nowadays, the two words "honest man" was basically an insult.

Even when there were outsiders, there were times when his hot-tempered wife could not keep her temper and threw a fit. In private, she must have called him a "spineless good-for-nothing" a few times.

If she could see this back profile now, she would definitely no longer say those words.

Yu Yan clutched his police baton tightly, his voice changing in pitch. "Master Lan, take care of this man!"

"Nope."

"Yu Lanchuan!"

Yu Yan's shout was still in the air when a shadow suddenly brushed past him, so quick that he couldn't see it clearly.

The stairwell was so narrow that Han Dongsheng could block it on his own but when Yu Lanchuan was there, for some unknown reason, it seemed to be very wide. Like a gust of wind, he flew past Yu Yan and the others, not even touching the edges of their shirts, like a person without any width to him.

At the same time, Yu Yan's hand became empty. Someone had grabbed his police baton.

Yu Lanchuan said, "Move aside."

Han Dongsheng heard the sound of the wind coming from behind him and he twisted his body to dodge. A stainless steel trash can about a meter tall brushed past him with a whoosh, crashing against those few people who were charging ahead of the pack and bringing down the group behind them. A few Travellers' Sect members inched around their companions on the ground and ran up. Yu Lanchuan reached out to clap his hand on Han Dongsheng; at the same time, a baton struck out, jabbing right at the person's chest. The other person naturally blocked but the police baton suddenly swung upwards, hitting him viciously on the chin.

Han Dongsheng said, "Nice swordwork."

"Practising the sword puts one at a disadvantage." Yu Lanchuan shook out his wrist—the police baton was too heavy to be used as a sword and was extremely unwieldy. "For example, your words just now made me feel as though you were cursing me^[1]… and swords can't pass security checks."

"You don't take the subway anyway!" Yu Yan cut in.

"They have metal clubs…" Yu Lanchuan sent someone flying with a kick.

At this time, the Travellers' Sect members had wisened up. From the back, a large group carrying wooden stools as shields charged forward with the stool legs facing out, colliding with them head-on. The stool legs were naturally longer than human arms or the police baton. Yu Lanchuan was forced to run up a few steps. Then, he turned his body abruptly and leaped down. "...but I have a metal sword with a sharp edge —"

The police baton in Yu Lanchuan's hand swung down on his opponent's head like a bolt of lightning. The one bearing the brunt of his attack couldn't lift his stool in time and thought that his head was going to be split open. Involuntarily, he closed his eyes.

But unexpectedly, the police baton didn't smash open his head. When it swung down, it slanted to the side, tearing past his ear to fall near his collarbone, and abruptly changed from a smash to a horizontal sweep. Two bloody molars immediately flew out.

Yu Lanchuan asked coolly, "When the time comes, are you able to differentiate clearly between legitimate self-defense and excessive self-defense, Comrade Officer?"

Yu Yan was first torn between laughing and crying. Then, for some reason, he suddenly couldn't laugh anymore.

The so-called "a person on the right path" was a title that encompasses the glory a person could achieve and all the results they could get if they worked hard, and they were all according to the values that underpins a society—one's TOEFL score was achieved mark by mark, one's thesis written word by word, one's salary toiled for by working countless extra hours.

Yet, the results of a person's hard work for half their life could fall apart completely due to the words "excessive self-defense." When fighting against these hoodlums with no bottom line in anything they do, they had no choice but to sheathe their claws.

"Leap up high and smash the police baton down" and "sweep across with one's arm strength"—these two methods differed in force by several levels. The former could smash a person's head open like a burst watermelon; the latter could at most daze him for a while, and he could even still move.

Furthermore, this civilised Mr. Yu Lanchuan was already holding back a lot in his attacks, yet he still had to spare part of his mind to be careful not to be "excessive" in his self-defense. Both his body and his mind were fully occupied while the other side had strength in numbers. Very quickly, he could not hold them back anymore.

Yu Yan said, "Let's get out of here first! This street isn't good for us, everyone here is their people. They know they have backup. I don't believe this pack of hoodlums would dare chase us all the way to the main road and have a gang fight!"

"Head for the roof," Yan Hao said. "There's an iron door at the roof! Follow me!"

"Comrade Spiderman, good job!" Yu Yan said.

Yan Hao's face turned red.

All this while, he had been very afraid of interacting with other people. He had always felt that the way other people looked at him and talked to him was like a file whittling him down non-stop. Even when other people gave him polite compliments, he would panic because he could feel that the other person's words were not sincere.

This was the first time he had gotten encouragement from someone else's words. He earnestly felt that he was doing something useful, that he was helping everyone.

This was like a shot of a new and strange kind of bravado that went right to his heart. Yan Hao rushed to the very front, a little like he was playing up to the crowd, and volunteered himself for the mission. "I'll go pick the lock!"

While Yan Hao rushed to the front to pick the lock, the two police officers restrained the qigong master who was like a live fish while Yu Lanchuan and Han Dongsheng covered their backs. The whole procession fought as they retreated. On the scene, stool legs, long clubs and trash cans were flying all around. It was incredibly chaotic.

Yan Hao's lock-picking skills weren't very good. His face red from the exertion, he poked randomly at the lock and also twisted and pulled with brute strength. He was just a step away from biting it with his teeth. Finally, when they had no more space to retreat, the lock and the chain fell down together with a clang!

Yan Hao was greatly relieved, even his hands felt rather weak. "This way!"

Then, after he had taken barely two steps past the small door, he came back.

Yu Yan pressed on his back, panting harshly as he asked, "W-What-"

Yan Hao didn't answer but Yu Yan had already seen them—seven or eight Travellers' Sect people, machetes in their hands, were already waiting for them on the roof. The tip of the machetes were pointing at Yan Hao's nose.

They were trapped in that tiny stairwell.

The qigong master they had cuffed was secure in the knowledge that he had backup. "If you let me go now, I'll only break one of your legs later and leave you with one good leg to hop back on. Otherwise…"

Right then, the few people on the roof who were wielding machetes started attacking, slashing at Yan Hao's head.

Amidst the glinting and flashing of the blades, Yan Hao dodged right and left, trying to block the little door to the top of the stairs to stop them from coming down. But he only had the metal hooks for climbing walls on his hands. They were extremely unwieldy, and he came to numerous close shaves as he dodged. There were a few times where his clothes were nearly slashed.

"Stop! Stop!"

Yan Hao's metal hook and a machete collided with a clang. Both his and his opponent's hands went numb simultaneously and they both retreated. The voice reverberated around them and the chaotic scene quieted down. Both sides looked towards where the voice came from.

The person who had shouted "Stop!" turned out to be Liang-ge.

Right then, Liang-ge's face that always carried a look of "fearing neither Heaven nor Earth" had an expression of utmost fear. A hand bound in a black cloth strip was hooked around his neck and between the fingers of that hand was a small blade.

The person seizing him was around his height and was wrapped securely in a long coat. They did not speak and the other people could not tell whether the person was a man or a woman.

This person had the hood of the coat up and was wearing a face mask. Their hair fell forward, covering half their forehead. Only one eye was revealed and that eye, for some unknown reason, was reminiscent of a king cobra. When the eye looked past the crowd to land its gaze on Yu Lanchuan, the corner of the eye curved a little, like the person was smiling.

Yu Lanchuan was instantly stunned. He recognised that eye.

Right then, the hostage-taker gave Liang-ge a light kick.

"Move aside, move aside. All of you, move aside," Liang-ge immediately said. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his forehead and fell into his eye. The Traveller's Sect people around him looked at each other and, out of suspicion, did not immediately move.

Liang-ge's eye swiftly rotated to look out of the corner, as though he wanted to see clearly the face of the person behind him. He wanted to say something and had just opened his mouth when suddenly, he let out an inhuman, blood curdling shriek. The person holding him hostage had, without giving him any prior warning, bent his right arm with force and a terrifying cracking sound had come from it.

Yu Lanchuan's face immediately changed. "Ga… What are you doing!"

Meanwhile, Han Dongsheng retreated half a step, his face turning grave. He muttered in disbelief, "Wei Xiao?"

Yu Lanchuan asked, "Huh? Who?"

Before Han Dongsheng could reply, Liang-ge's blood curdling shriek had ended and he was shouting in a sobbing voice, "All of you move aside! Are you deaf? Let them go! Go!"

Not everyone could immediately recognise a "passing acquaintance" by looking at just one eye. Other than Yu Lanchuan, the others only felt that the person holding Liang-ge hostage looked a bit familiar.

Yu Yan wasn't sure what was going on and asked in a whisper, "Master Lan…"

Yu Lanchuan flexed his hand. It had been a long time since he had done any physical labour and it was quite tiring to wield a baton. His hand was trembling a little. "Take your suspect and go."

Nervously and warily, with Yu Lanchuan leading and Yan Hao bringing up the back, their group slowly headed downstairs.

When they passed by Liang-ge, Yu Lanchuan suddenly stopped. Out of nowhere, he said, "Tens of hoodlums attacking the police with lethal weapons—if this matter blows up, it's enough to put all of you behind bars for a few years."

Even though Yu Yan didn't understand why Yu Lanchuan was inciting Liang-ge at this time, he knew that despite the fact that his childhood friend was unreliable at times, he definitely did not like causing trouble for no reason. He definitely had a reason, so Yu Yan backed him up. "Our target today was this swindler. But you won't be able to get away with organising an attack on the police!"

But Liang-ge had no reaction at all to this threat from the police, and was even looking forward to it.

His entire person was muddled like he had just been fished out the water, his whole body hanging from the arm that was wedged before his throat, and he could not speak. Yu Yan saw his expression clearly and felt that it was strange—the fear on this Liang-ge's face wasn't the fear of being hit or the fear of being cut by a blade; he looked like he had seen a ghost!

Hence, he took a closer look at the person wearing a face mask. A few seconds later, his ability to recognise faces that was honed by years working as a police officer came online and Yu Yan was shocked. "You… You are…"

The person holding the hostage blinked at him. Then, they tilted their head slightly and lifted their chin, indicating that they should hurry up and leave.

But right at that moment, Yu Lanchuan suddenly reached out past Liang-ge and grabbed the person's wrist.

The person had a knife between their fingers. With this touch, the tip of the blade immediately drew a thin line of blood on Liang-ge's neck. Liang-ge screamed, his mouth wide open and panting, and he even pissed his pants right on the spot.

The Travellers' Sect people around them were once again greatly shocked.

Han Dongsheng cried out, "Little Master Yu!"

"Thank you for helping us break out," Yu Lanchuan said to the person, enunciating each word slowly and clearly, "but let me say once more—send this person to the police station."

At this time, he was like the monk Tang Seng^[1] who did not grasp the severity of the situation and, instead of running away, was even picking a fight with an "ally"!

For some reason, Han Dongsheng was even more nervous than when they were surrounded just now. Softly but urgently, he said, "Little Master Yu, quickly let go of this… this friend. Let's leave first!"

Yu Lanchuan turned a deaf ear to him. "You go ahead."

The hostage-taker seemed quite resigned. Yu Lanchuan's fingers gripped their wrist with force and the heat from his palm very quickly permeated the thin cloth wrapping, warm yet demanding.

The two of them stood in a deadlock in the middle of the club-wielding crowd.

The colour drained from Han Dongsheng's face.

Right then, the person chuckled and then sighed. As though they could not put up with Yu Lanchuan, they yielded.

"I don't trust you. Come with us." Yu Lanchuan signalled his companions to retreat outside and, at the same time, held the person in a tight grip and pulled them along.

The corner of the person's eye had been curved in a smile; now, the curve disappeared: Brat, I give you an inch and you want a mile.

Yu Lanchuan slowly raised the police baton that was held in his other hand. He seemed to really not differentiate between enemy and ally, and would fight an "ally" at a time like this.

Fortunately, the hostage-taker's face was very cold but ultimately, they did not attack. Under Han Dongsheng's fearful gaze, they seized on to Liang-ge while being pulled by Yu Lanchuan. The three of them maintained this strange position and inched their way out.

If an outsider who didn't know what was going on were to see this scene, they probably wouldn't be able to tell who was on whose side.

In this manner, they exited the savage love hotel. The person holding Liang-ge hostage suddenly sensed something. They loosened their grip on Liang-ge's throat and, at the same time, crooked their finger and jabbed Yu Lanchuan's meridian point. They threw the half-dead Liang-ge into Yu Lanchuan's arms, then turned and left immediately. The next second, an ear-piercing police siren sounded. The reinforcements the police officers guarding the entrance had called were finally there.

The hoodlums small and big saw that things were not looking good. Like cockroaches, they scattered in all four directions, hiding and dodging.

Yu Lanchuan was fussy about cleanliness. When the hostage-taker suddenly threw the piss-stink Liang-ge at him, he didn't want to catch him but also couldn't not catch him. For a moment, he was flustered, caught in a difficult situation. When he looked up, the person had disappeared.

Liang-ge lay unmoving on the ground, his right arm hanging limply. Blood soaked through his sleeve.

Han Dongsheng quickly crouched down and tore his sleeve open.

Yan Hao took a look and let out an ah. "The tendons on his arm… are ruptured."

Han Dongsheng and Yu Yan turned towards Yu Lanchuan in unison.

Han Dongsheng said, "Little Master Yu! Do you know who that was, how could you dare to-"

Yu Yan said, "Oh my god, Master Lan, I didn't get the wrong person, did I? That was my Teacher Meng-Meng-"

Both of them opened their mouths at the same time and also closed them at the same time. They looked at one another and even the air seemed to come to a standstill.

T/N:

[1] "Nice swordwork" is 好剑 hǎo jiàn in Chinese. It sounds exactly like 好贱, so it sounds like Han Dongsheng is calling Yu Lanchuan cheap or despicable.

[2] Tang Seng is a reference to the monk who is a central character in the classic Journey to the West. My memory of all the events in the story is rather hazy, but this is likely referring to how he's constantly hunted by demons who want to eat him but rather than running away at the first sign of danger, he tends to believe their words and tries to talk reasonably with them.