104 Ah Xing (Seeking Your Subscription)

In Shanghai during this era, the rampant rule of the underworld gangs was no idle talk.

As one of the most powerful gangs in Shanghai, the Crocodile Gang's boss's woman carrying herself with some arrogance was a perfectly normal thing.

In the eyes of the onlooking crowd, what was truly abnormal was the two police officers making the arrest.

Ridiculous, wasn't it?

How could two low-ranking cops dare to arrest the woman of a gang boss?

Especially when the Crocodile Gang's arrogance and tyranny were already known to the entire city of Shanghai.

Since when did you two develop such a sense of justice?

No matter what the bystanders thought, the two police officers paid them no mind. They had their own troubles—when orders came down from above, how could they dare not to carry them out? Offending the Crocodile Gang might not get you killed, but offending your superiors would seal your doom.

So on the surface, they paraded around looking like righteous avatars of justice, while inside, they were already planning to make a run for it and lay low the moment they got the perp to the station.

Li Da Niu had been following behind the whole time. After two streets, he watched the two officers drag their captive into the police station.

Dusk was falling. Li Da Niu didn't know whether this next stretch of the story would play out at night like in the movie, or whether the Crocodile Gang's boss would show up soon. So he slipped around to a secluded spot and leapt straight up onto the roof of the police station.

Bored on the rooftop, he watched the sky shift from clear to dark, watched the streetlights flicker to life along the avenues, until he heard the roar of three car engines and the sudden screech of brakes.

Although cars were no rarity in Shanghai in these times—they were a common sight on the streets—three of them pulling up arrogantly all at once right in front of the police station's main gate was hardly an everyday occurrence.

Li Da Niu craned his neck to look below and saw more than a dozen people climbing out of the three cars. One of them, dressed head to toe in style at the very cutting edge of the era's fashion, made Li Da Niu can't help but laugh. This cameo character actually looked exactly like that famous director from his previous life.

The Crocodile Gang boss swaggered into the police station, led by his underlings.

Before long, lines drifted out from inside the station that felt eerily familiar to Li Da Niu.

"A woman this beautiful, just because she spat on the street, you drag her into the police station—is there no law anymore..."

Just from the voice alone, Li Da Niu could picture the scene unfolding inside the station. After all, he'd watched this movie far too many times in his previous life.

Unlike the commotion within the station, the street outside was being cleared of pedestrians with startling speed. Before the two Crocodile Gang members left to guard the cars could sense anything amiss, a few plainly dressed men, passing by them in that same instant, pounced simultaneously.

Some clamped hands over mouths, others drove dark blades home. In less than twenty seconds, the two were swiftly dragged away. Someone even brought water and a rag, wiping the smears of blood clean from the pavement.

Then more men appeared and drove off the Crocodile Gang's three vehicles.

"Pretty professional," Li Da Niu remarked, stretching his neck to take in every detail from above.

Soon, the farce inside the station came to an end, and the Crocodile Gang's boss swaggered out with his woman and his men.

Unlike the plot of the movie, the moment the boss stepped out of the station doors, he realized something was wrong. Not only was the street empty, but his cars were gone too.

He spun around to dash back inside, but in that very instant, the station's doors slammed shut tight behind him.

At that point, groups of men converged from both sides of the street. Each wore a little black suit with a white shirt, clutching axes that looked thoroughly mismatched with their attire.

The Crocodile Gang's first instinct was to draw their guns. These men were the boss's most trusted confidants, so a few of them were armed.

But then, unexpectedly, the doors of the cinema across from the police station burst open, and two men stepped out wielding submachine guns, opening fire on the spot.

The Crocodile Gang's boss reacted with remarkable speed, yanking his woman to the ground with him. Unfortunately, a bullet caught him in the leg, and he collapsed.

Li Da Niu had never expected anyone to come out of the cinema—this differed from the movie. But on second thought, it made sense.

If they'd followed the film and fired from both sides, how could the bullets possibly hit only the Crocodile Gang members in the middle? Bullets don't have eyes. The Axe Gang's own men would've caught stray rounds too.

Of the Crocodile Gang, only the boss remained, sprawled on the ground, and the cheongsam-clad woman beside him, frozen in terror.

Only then did Brother Chen step out from behind the ranks of Axe Gang members, swaggering over to the fallen Crocodile Gang boss.

Just as in the film, he ignored the boss's plea—"I even treated you to a meal once."—took the axe handed to him by one of his underlings, and with ruthless brutality, hacked the Crocodile Gang boss to death.

Then he turned to the cheongsam woman and said, "I don't kill women."

Her legs trembling, she was just about to turn and leave when Brother Chen shot her from behind, the blast sending her flying.

Was a shotgun really necessary? Li Da Niu curled his lip. After living through the world of *I Am Legend*, scenes like this no longer rattled him. If he'd encountered something like this right after his first crossing, he might not have pissed himself, but his legs definitely would've been shaking.

As for saving people?

Li Da Niu wanted to ask: save who, exactly?

The Crocodile Gang went without saying—if they could act this arrogantly even inside a police station, how tyrannical were they in ordinary life? You could even call them unrepentantly evil!

And the cheongsam woman, as the boss's woman, wasn't any better. You could tell from the way she'd picked a fight with that street vendor purely because of her status, with no justification at all—clawing up his face and smashing his stall over some trivial matter. You can judge her character from that. Call her deserving of death, and no one would argue.

One of Brother Chen's men shouted toward the police station: "Police! Come wash the streets!"

Li Da Niu knew that this stretch of the plot was over. Watching the Axe Gang depart, he turned and leapt straight through a rear window into the second floor of the police station.

And as luck would have it, he landed directly in the police commissioner's office.

Before the commissioner, who was busy counting his money, could even cry out, Li Da Niu knocked him cold with a single punch.

"Scum!" Li Da Niu spat, then sat down at the commissioner's desk as comfortably as if it were his own home. Staring at the stack of cash piled on the desk, he felt a genuine urge to just kill the man outright.

But then he reconsidered. Even if he killed this police commissioner, it would do no good. The next one would be just as useless and corrupt, drawing a salary without lifting a finger—maybe even greedier. That's just how the whole environment was. The life or death of one police commissioner wouldn't change a damn thing.

Still, letting the commissioner off scot-free left a bad taste in Li Da Niu's mouth.

He found a bag in the office, stuffed the cash from the desk, along with the money and gold bars from the safe, then started stripping the police commissioner's clothes.

Don't get the wrong idea. Li Da Niu had no interest whatsoever in this fat, greasy tub of lard. He just wanted to write something on the man's belly.

"One who commits many injustices courts his own doom. If you continue your wicked ways, I will surely claim your dog's life."

After writing the message, Li Da Niu found a small knife on the desk and carved the character "死"—death—into the commissioner's belly.

Seeing the carved wound begin to bleed, Li Da Niu grabbed a bottle of ink and poured it straight over the wound. This was Li Da Niu's method of tattooing. Naturally, it was only for other people.

Though he wasn't sure how well it would turn out, even if it washed off, it didn't matter. If the commissioner kept committing his misdeeds, Li Da Niu could always come back and do it again—or just kill him outright.

Hoisting the police commissioner up, Li Da Niu hurled him directly at the closed office door.

With a thunderous crash, the corpulent commissioner smashed straight through the door and went flying into the outer office hall, even slamming into a patrolman who'd been on his way to see him.

Li Da Niu paid no attention to the station plunging back into chaos over the commissioner's unexpected airborne arrival. He simply leaped out through the window.

There was a song called "Night in Shanghai," and its lyrics hit the mark precisely. The Shanghai of the night was the *real* Shanghai. Unlike the war-torn chaos that gripped most of China at the time, Shanghai's nights were extraordinarily prosperous.

If Li Da Niu didn't know with absolute certainty that he was in 1940s Shanghai, he'd have sworn this was some modern tourist attraction.

People came and went in an endless flow; the streets were clogged with traffic. Not just Chinese—foreigners could be seen everywhere too. What difference was there from a modern tourist spot?

The difference was that these foreigners all carried themselves with an insufferable sense of superiority.

"What are you looking at?" Li Da Niu glared at a foreigner who was regarding him with a contemptuous gaze.

"Trash!" The foreigner looked at the worn-out bag on Li Da Niu's back and sneered, spitting out the word.

Holy shit, you dare insult me?

Li Da Niu knew English now, and he wasn't having any of it. He stepped forward and kicked the foreigner clean across the street, sending him flying four or five meters away. And that was with him pulling his strength—otherwise, the bastard would've been dead from a single kick.

As the onlookers stared in dumbfounded shock, Li Da Niu turned and strolled away, utterly unbothered. He needed to find a place to stay first, so he could set out tomorrow to search for that old Shanghai shantytown—the one where the landlord and landlady lived.

He hadn't gotten far when he heard the rapid patter of footsteps catching up from behind.

"Are you all forcing me to go on a killing spree?" Li Da Niu thought to himself—though in truth, he still hadn't actually killed anyone with his own hands to this day.

He turned around and froze. This was... Master Sing?

Chasing up from behind were two men. One was Master Sing, someone Li Da Niu knew intimately—though in this world, he went by Ah Sing, a small-time loser and street punk. The other was a fat man whom Li Da Niu was also very familiar with, because in his previous life, he'd constantly seen this fat guy on web pages, hoisting some weapon and shouting things like "Dragon-Slaying Saber, one hit to level 99!" and the like.

"Master! Please accept this disciple's bow!"

Ah Sing had seen with his own eyes just moments ago how Li Da Niu sent a man flying four or five meters away with a single kick. This was absolutely a master of kung fu.

In this world, Ah Sing was utterly obsessed with martial arts. Why else would he have taken the money he'd saved for school and spent it on a copy of the Buddha's Palm manual, actually practicing it diligently?

"Master? What the hell is this?" Li Da Niu hadn't even processed why Ah Sing was here when he saw the man kowtow at his feet.

Damn. What have I ever done to deserve Master Sing bowing to me? Even though Li Da Niu knew this was a movie world and this man merely looked like Master Sing, his heart was racing with excitement all the same.

"Get up, quick—" Li Da Niu moved forward to help Ah Sing to his feet.

"If you accept me as your disciple, then I'll get up—" Ah Sing didn't even finish the sentence before Li Da Niu pulled him upright. His heart raced even harder, because he'd just put his full strength into resisting, yet Li Da Niu had lifted him up with one hand, seemingly without any effort at all.

Take on a disciple? Li Da Niu thought it over. If he accepted Ah Sing as his student, would the Fire Cloud Evil God still make his appearance? Or maybe, he could get the Buddha's Palm manual from Ah Sing? (To be continued.)