25: Chapter 25 The Magician in the Night

"Ah! Brother Zhang, my... my ear! ~"

In an instant, blood splattered. Wang Ziling clutched his ear in pain—or rather, the base of his ear—for half of it had been sliced off.

Damn! What was that?!

Zhang Pingwei was shocked. What on earth was attacking them?

His gaze couldn't help but fall on the mysterious figure not far away who was now facing them.

The dim alleyway emitted a faint, pungent stench of sewage; it was the smell from the drainage ditch beneath their feet. The field of vision was very dark, with only a little light shining from the street lamp at the exit of the alley.

And that person happened to be facing them. The light made their slender, straight silhouette very striking, but their face, hidden beneath a hood, was unclear in the backlight.

A cop?

That was the first thought in Zhang Pingwei's mind, but he hesitated the next moment because he hadn't heard a gunshot, and he didn't see any firearms in the other person's hands.

But the next moment, the person's wrist flicked, and a playing card quickly dropped from their sleeve into their hand, which they caught and nimbly flipped between their fingers.

A playing card?

Was that what just happened because of a playing card?

Are you kidding me? A playing card can slice off someone's ear?

Zhang Pingwei felt he must be overthinking it.

"Friend, what is the meaning of this? We are just passing by; there is no need to make things difficult for us, right?"

Zhang Pingwei wasn't sure about this person, so he could only test the waters first.

After his words fell, a full few seconds passed before a slightly young voice rang out in the dim alley.

"Put the child down, and you can leave."

The silent alley had echoes, causing the voice to sound slightly distorted.

The child?

He saw it?!

Zhang Pingwei's heart skipped a beat; the thing he least wanted to happen had happened.

This caused Zhang Pingwei's face to darken; letting the child go was impossible.

This batch of goods is very good, conservatively estimated at a starting price of 100,000, and if he runs into a wealthy patron, it could be over 200,000.

Such a large sum of money is worth five or six jobs. After finishing this one, the few of them could live it up for a long time; how could they give it up?

Scanning his surroundings with his peripheral vision, he confirmed that there was only this one person in front of him, and his eyes flickered slightly.

"Lingzi!"

He whispered, giving him a look.

Wang Ziling, whose pain had eased quite a bit, naturally understood; they had often encountered situations where they were discovered before.

"Brother, you want the child? I can give it to you. I will give the child to you right now."

"Just put it on the ground; don't come over."

The cold voice sounded again.

Tch!

Zhang Pingwei snorted coldly and slowly put down the sack, while under the cover of the sack, a butterfly knife had already been quietly pulled out.

Although Wang Ziling's encounter just now made him somewhat wary, seeing that the other person didn't even have a decent weapon in their hands, that concern lessened quite a bit.

After all, he still didn't believe that a playing card could do this.

"Attack!"

The moment the sack hit the ground, Zhang Pingwei gave a low shout and rushed over with his body hunched low. Almost simultaneously, Wang Ziling also sprinted from the other side.

People who could do this kind of business were no good people. In some obscure places, they had also taken out a few guys, just because they were clean and they hit and ran, they had never been discovered.

Zhang Pingwei sneered. The two brothers rushed over at the same time; he didn't believe this kid had three heads and six arms.

Eighteen meters, fifteen meters, ten meters!

The other party still hadn't made any moves, and the two felt relieved. Although they didn't understand what had just happened.

But even if the other party had a gun, from taking it out to firing, it was too late at this distance.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Then, in Zhang Pingwei's bewildered gaze, the kid in front of him suddenly flicked his right arm, and the playing card in his hand shot out rapidly like a boomerang.

The angle was like a boomerang, but the speed was exaggeratedly terrifying, disappearing from view in the blink of an eye.

Ah~

Wang Ziling's scream came from his ear, and Zhang Pingwei was astonished.

Before he could react, he saw this person flick his left arm again, a playing card fell into his palm, appeared at his fingertips with a flip, and was flicked again.

Swoosh!

It was the same boomerang motion again. The next moment, Zhang Pingwei felt a pain in his right ankle, and that leg felt like it had lost its support.

The sudden loss of strength in his right leg, combined with the inertia of his forward rush, caused him to crash to the ground.

Bang! Bang!

Two muffled sounds of bodies hitting the ground, one after the other, finally sounded.

How... how is this possible?

Until he crashed to the ground, Zhang Pingwei's brain was still a bit dazed. When he looked at his ankle, his eyes widened instantly.

He saw a gruesome bloodstain on his ankle, and he could see something broken at the cut.

Feeling it carefully, he knew his foot tendon had been severed.

"Bro... brother... this time we didn't recognize Mount Tai. We were wrong. We'll leave now."

As he said this, Zhang Pingwei struggled to prop himself up with his hands, and limped away on one foot. Wang Ziling behind him was the same.

Both of them were terrified now. Where did this god come from? A playing card could do this?

What terrified them most was that this person had been concise and extremely cold from beginning to end.

The two supported each other and walked while vigilantly watching this mysterious person.

The alley was quite spacious. They didn't dare to get too close to the other person, staying about two meters apart. In the dim environment, they still couldn't see the other person's face clearly.

Seeing the two brothers pass by the other person, and the other person still didn't make a move, Zhang Pingwei and Wang Ziling both let out long sighs.

But a glance back made their spines cold again.

The other party had already turned around and was standing there quietly. He didn't move, and they didn't know if the eyes under the hood were staring at them.

This feeling of the unknown was the most terrifying.

It was like taking an exam; if there were two invigilators, one without glasses and one with sunglasses, you definitely wouldn't dare to cheat in front of the one with sunglasses.

Because you didn't know where their eyes were looking; they might be staring right at you.

Fear stems from the unknown.

At this moment, both of them understood this deeply.

Walking to the end of the intersection, they were now more than thirty meters away from that terrifying guy. The light at the intersection finally dispelled some of the chill.

They had walked the short alleyway in fear and trepidation.

If the other party could cut their foot tendons, they could also cut their carotid arteries.

"Sigh, why are you two like this? Where is the child?"

Just then, a person suddenly rushed out from the corner. By the looks of it, it was their eldest sister, Aunt Mei.

Aunt Mei was a woman in her fifties or sixties, looking very deceptive. Those who didn't know would think she was the kind of kind-hearted old lady, but only those who knew her well understood that she was a ruthless old lady.

"There was an accident, Big Sister. We'll talk about it when we get back."

Zhang Pingwei didn't want to say more. At this time, that guy behind them was still staring at them.

"What do you mean talk about it when we get back? Did you run into the police?" Aunt Mei clearly didn't intend to let them go just like that. They had been scouting this job for a long time.

"No, it's not the police, just a small accident."

"If it's not the police, why are you like this? Where is the child?" As she said this, Aunt Mei was stunned. She stood on tiptoe to look, and her eyes lit up instantly.

"Who is that? You just watched someone take the child away?"

Seeing someone actually open the sack and try to take the child away, Aunt Mei became anxious.

"Big Sister... this..."

Zhang Pingwei mumbled, wanting to explain, but Aunt Mei was anxious and had already rushed over.

Oh no!

Seeing this scene, Zhang Pingwei was shocked. Big sister, stay steady, don't go to your death!

However, the next moment, he saw his big sister with her hands on her hips, jumping up and down like a shrew, cursing at the terrifying guy.

The next moment, swoosh! Swoosh!

Bang!

They watched their big sister, who was jumping high and cursing a second ago, fall down like a broken kite the next second.

The two clearly saw two white things stuck in their big sister's left and right ankles, respectively.

Seeing this scene, they were both about to pee their pants. They hadn't seen it clearly before because they were running, but now they had really seen the special skill.

The two supported each other and were about to limp away, but the next moment, swoosh! Swoosh!

This was the last sound they heard before fainting, because the next moment their heads collided violently with the curb.