185: Chapter 182: Great Earthquakes

"Nine more? No, that's not right. One person's footsteps are exceptionally heavy, doubling in sound compared to before."

Li Changsheng kept his eyes closed, listening intently. He was fighting for survival, but also constantly honing this sense.

This ability was not limited to locating positions by sound; through visual observation, he could even better predict the opponent's next move.

Especially when fighting other experts one-on-one, though it was clearly not a one-on-one situation at the moment.

To reach the level where one could truly face firearms and remain indifferent, Li Changsheng felt he either needed a Breakthrough in his footwork or a Breakthrough to the Transformation Realm.

There were precedents for Breakthroughs in footwork, such as the late Qing Dynasty martial artist Gong Baotian, an imperial bodyguard of the final dynasty and the second-generation successor of the Eight Trigrams Palm.

He served as a bodyguard for Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu, and was the final chief bodyguard of the Qing imperial court.

He once served as a martial arts instructor for the Fengtian Army and dodged two bullets fired by Zhang Zuolin within twenty paces.

This perfectly validated the saying, "Of all the martial arts in the world, none are unbreakable; only speed is unbreakable."

Besides that, during the chaotic times of war, the Eight Trigrams Palm Great Master Cheng Tinghua, who refused to leave the capital, clashed with armed German soldiers on the street. Facing firearms, he knocked down several people before easily leaping onto a roof.

He intended to pull off a hit-and-run, but unfortunately, his queue got caught on the roof tiles, and he was shot to death by subsequent indiscriminate gunfire.

From this, it is evident that when footwork is trained to a supernatural Realm, firearms can indeed be dodged.

Furthermore, Li Changsheng judged that these two must have also reached the point of predicting subsequent attacks through muscle movements.

And among the three major Internal Martial Arts, the Eight Trigrams Palm indeed possesses the fastest and lightest footwork.

"If I can survive this time, I must find a way to make up for this shortcoming!"

Li Changsheng secretly resolved. He didn't know when he would achieve a Breakthrough to the Transformation Realm.

But here, his footwork had to be improved. Otherwise, what good would the Martial Arts Longevity System do even if it brought him longevity? A single bullet, and everything would be reduced to nothing.

Rat-tat-tat!

Suddenly, four or five exceptionally swift sets of footsteps rang out simultaneously. Li Changsheng paused for a moment, then quickly flicked his hand.

Whoosh!

One person fell to the ground. Just as Li Changsheng wanted to continue shooting, he realized that these few people seemed to have agreed beforehand, and they began to bolt out of the factory from different directions.

After shooting down two or three, Li Changsheng helplessly gave up.

"Why did they run?"

Li Changsheng opened his eyes, a look of surviving a disaster appearing on his pale face.

He was truly at the end of his rope. His right arm, used for throwing, could no longer be lifted, and every inch of his muscles was crying out in agony from being overwhelmed.

"Huh!"

Suddenly, Li Changsheng paused, only to see a person still struggling while lying on the back of one of the corpses.

Dragging his heavy feet forward, he struggled to pull the object out of the person's mouth.

"No... don't kill me... don't kill me! I'm just doing a job for money! I'm a mercenary, my name is..."

Bang!

Kicked, Chris Parkman winced in pain, and his words were cut short.

"Speak, who exactly sent you?"

Li Changsheng was truly exhausted and in immense pain all over. He had used his left leg, which had exerted less force earlier, to kick the guy. He felt that after consecutively unleashing Dark Qi, his right leg was almost ruined.

"I'll talk! I'll talk! It's..."

——

The night in San Francisco was as bustling and chaotic as ever; chaotic districts became more chaotic, and safe districts became safer.

However, beneath this seemingly routine calm, there were already undercurrents surging.

"Are you sure you didn't see wrong?!"

Master Wen roared at the other end of the phone.

"I... I... I didn't see wrong, Master Wen. I really saw Brother Li. He... he has returned..."

The voice on the other end was Old Seven's, his voice trembling as if he had just seen a ghost.

"What is his condition? Is he there with you now?"

Master Wen frowned, his face full of disbelief. He could not imagine how Li Changsheng had managed to return alive.

Those guys realized it wasn't him, so they let him go?

What a joke!

That's the same logic as believing there is no racial discrimination in America. Nonsense!

"He's not here with me. He looks quite alright, as if he just cleaned himself up, though his complexion isn't great. He is now in Chinatown, at... at..."

"What is he doing?!"

Master Wen was somewhat anxious.

"Eating. Yes, we saw him enter a buffet restaurant."

"Eating?"

Master Wen fell silent. After a long while, he instructed, "Tell the brothers to keep an eye on him. Do not disturb him. I will go over there personally!"

——

Li Changsheng had indeed returned at this moment, back to Chinatown.

He had killed that so-called mercenary boss and obtained the information he needed.

He should have returned in the afternoon, but he couldn't hold on any longer and found an alleyway to collapse and sleep.

This was his body's alarm mechanism completely triggering. Perhaps because he felt a lack of safety there, he woke up slowly at dusk.

He stole clothes from a mugger, washed up with some clean water by the street, and only then did Li Changsheng appear in Chinatown, clean and tidy.

He appeared inside this American-style Western buffet restaurant.

——

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Police Department was completely shaken.

At dusk, they received a report from several youths doing graffiti, who had discovered a large number of corpses and military equipment in the old factory district.

In an instant, dozens of police cars roared through the streets and arrived at this old factory district.

Police Commissioner John Beals felt his eyelids twitching uncontrollably. Even before entering the factory district, he had a bad premonition.

"Commissioner, do you think it could be that matter?"

Deputy Commissioner Doug Hall also inexplicably felt panicked.

He was already very obese, and after years of eating American food, combined with a lack of exercise, his weight of nearly 230 pounds brought him a great burden.

He was very afraid that the excessive stimulation would trigger various cardiovascular diseases.

"Don't be nervous, Mr. Doug Hall. Those people made it very clear; the person they wanted to deal with was just one individual, wasn't it? Those who died here are likely just Gang members.

You know, those Gangs are just rats in the gutter; they are hard to catch and extremely difficult to control. However, after this, those people promised that they would maintain the order of the entire city from the shadows in the future.

Those vicious incidents will henceforth depart from us."

Police Commissioner John Beals had always been a master of rhetoric; Doug Hall always felt that the other party could easily persuade everyone, including himself.

"Mr. Doug Hall, you take some men in to take a look first. Once the inspection is confirmed, bring these corpses back."

John Beals said with a smile.

Hearing this, Doug Hall nodded. If they were Gang members, it would be easy to resolve. Bringing them back for simple documentation would be enough to close the case. As for how to handle the corpses afterward, that was not something for high-level officials like them to manage.

Doug Hall waved his hand, and soon, fully armed police officers cautiously headed toward the factory district, which was pitch black due to the onset of night.

"Oh my God!"

"Shit!"

"Ugh!"