289: Chapter 289 Lack of Martial Morality

Chapter 289: Disregarding Martial Ethics (22, Extra Chapter Requesting Monthly Votes)

Fang Cheng reviewed the battle process of last night.

The reason why he didn't choose to fight to the death with the people from the Special Investigation Team...

On the one hand, he thought it was unnecessary; on the other hand, he was indeed harboring apprehensions.

The strength of that officer surnamed Gao after transforming was already enough to pose a fatal threat to him.

And as the Special Investigation Team of an official institution, since they dispatched such an Advanced search officer, judged by common sense, there must be other team members nearby, or even follow-up support troops.

If a few more experts of this caliber came, or if the opponent used more powerful weapons and equipment.

Given that kind of unknown situation at the time, if it dragged on, it would be hard to predict who would win.

Although Fang Cheng was confident, he was never conceited; instead, he always acted with extreme caution in his daily life.

Not to mention that too many things had happened recently, and they were too sensitive.

Although the treasure-robbing storm on Miwu Mountain had come to an end, the subsequent impact was obviously still fermenting.

Coupled with the several conflicts with the Noah Organization earlier in the year, and that Ghoul King "Jiang Chen" who vanished into thin air like the human world evaporating, they were all like sharp swords hanging over his head, hidden hazards that could not be ignored.

More importantly, it was now clear that someone was investigating him in secret.

Fang Cheng was not clear about who this guy hiding behind the scenes was, or which force he belonged to.

It was just from the attitude and words of that Officer Gao that some basic judgments could be made.

The other party mistook him for some "White Owl", and also said that he tracked Xu Hao here to work his life away for the Noah Organization.

From this perspective, the changes that happened to Xu Hao were one hundred percent inseparable from the Noah Organization.

Extrapolating further from this, the purpose of the Special Investigation Team kidnapping Xu Hao overnight and taking him away secretly should also be related to this mysterious organization.

The question was: the one investigating him in secret...

Could it be the Noah Organization guessed previously?

Or the Special Investigation Team encountered head-on last night?

Or perhaps, were there other hidden forces that had not yet surfaced?

Various possibilities intertwined in Fang Cheng's mind, and he only felt that the mist in front of him was heavy and he could not see clearly.

Just as he was deep in thought, a whistling sound carrying the wind suddenly came from behind the back of his head!

Almost out of combat instinct, Fang Cheng did not even turn his head, his body slightly leaned to one side like a conditioned reflex, and his right hand reached out backward like lightning.

Clap!

Accurately and steadily grabbing the incoming object—

However, the feeling when it entered his hand was soft and quite elastic.

Fang Cheng looked closely and saw that it was a blue and white striped football.

Then he turned around and saw a few seven or eight-year-old little boys running toward this side not far away.

When those children saw that the ball was caught by someone so easily, they were all obviously stunned, and their footsteps also stopped.

It seemed they were startled by the sudden and swift reaction of this big brother in front of them.

Fang Cheng weighed the football in his hand, casually tossed it into the air, and at the instant the ball fell, he lightly cushioned it precisely with his right toe.

The ball immediately drew a just-right arc, crossed a distance of more than ten meters, and landed squarely back on the sandy ground in front of that group of children.

"Wow—"

"Big brother is so awesome!"

"I know, he must be a star player on TV!"

The children were first startled, then burst into excited cheers and applauds, discussing all at once.

After getting the ball, they laughed and frolicked as they ran far away.

Fang Cheng looked at their carefree backs, a faint smile curling up the corner of his mouth.

This little episode temporarily interrupted his thoughts, but it also dispelled a part of the haze in his heart.

Amidst the gazes cast from all around, Fang Cheng turned around with a calm expression and continued taking a walk.

His gaze was inadvertently attracted by a scene not far away.

On a flat sandy ground near the shore, a girl wearing a white dress and waist-length long hair was trying hard to stand up from a wheelchair.

She looked seventeen or eighteen years old, with a tall and well-proportioned figure, a pure and pretty profile, only her complexion was slightly pale.

The girl held onto the wheelchair armrests, her legs trembling.

Hardly standing firm, she took a step cautiously, but before the second step could land, her body lost balance and fell sideways.

At this moment, a tall and straight young man guarding nearby rushed over with quick eyes and steady hands, and firmly supported her.

"Slow down a bit, don't rush."

The man's voice was gentle, carrying concern.

After being supported, the girl seemed somewhat unwilling, stubbornly biting her lips and shaking off the man's hand.

Then she took a deep breath and tried to walk independently again.

Her eyes were bright, revealing a tenacity that did not match her frail appearance.

It seemed that this girl had suffered some misfortune, her legs had been injured, and she was currently undergoing difficult rehabilitation training.

Fang Cheng watched silently for a while, then withdrew his gaze, his thoughts returning to calm.

Life is always so impermanent, and no one can completely control their own destiny.

But no matter who was spying on him in secret, and no matter how the future situation changed, one thing was very certain—

Before the situation became completely clear, keeping a low profile, silently building up strength, and improving oneself were the safest choices.

Thinking of improving strength, Fang Cheng naturally thought of the newly acquired skill effect.

The potential-huge ultimate Move "Infinite Combo", what its actual combat effect and limit power actually were, urgently needed to be verified.

But this kind of high-power Move was obviously not suitable for testing in a room or a bustling beach park.

He must find a place remote enough and safe enough to properly test it out and figure out the secrets of its use.

Only then could it truly play a role at a critical moment and become a reliable trump card in his hands.

Amidst his surging thoughts, he thought of the promise made by that officer surnamed Gao.

If the purpose of the Special Investigation Team kidnapping Xu Hao was indeed to handle some "internal affairs".

Then once the matter was done, Xu Hao should... be released back by now, right?

No matter what trick the Special Investigation Team was playing up their sleeve, he needed to get accurate intelligence about "who is investigating him" from Xu Hao as soon as possible.

This was the reason why he approached Xu Hao in the first place, and it was also the most urgent problem to be solved right now.

Thinking of this, Fang Cheng's gaze condensed, and a decision had already been made in his heart.

It was time to contact Xu Hao once again.

However, before that, he had to first solve a very important image problem.

His current bald look, although it could be covered with a hat, was still too eye-catching for activities in the urban area and easily caused unnecessary attention.

Especially after just having a conflict with the official Special Investigation Team, who knows if they remembered his physical features and were already searching everywhere.

It seemed that he had to go get a suitable wig first and do some other disguises.

Having made up his mind, Fang Cheng did not linger on the beach, turned around and walked towards the direction of the urban area.

The sea breeze still blew, and the waves still surged.

Fang Cheng's steps were steady, and soon he merged into the city's crowds that were gradually starting to become noisy.

...

In the daytime of Dongdu City, the sunlight tried hard to penetrate the clouds, but was cut into mottled light and shadow by the towering skyscrapers.

The "Midnight Forest" bar located in Wenchuan District.

At this moment, the front doors were tightly closed, and a wooden sign reading "Closed for Rest" hung on the door, appearing exceptionally quiet.

It seemed as if nothing had happened here last night.

However, inside a lounge on the second floor of the bar, the atmosphere was not relaxed at all.

The air was filled with a pungent smell of disinfectant water.

Xu Hao was shirtless, lying face down on the sofa, with blue and purple bruises all over his body, and new gauze wrapped around his arms and head.

Xiao Qing was holding a cotton swab, carefully helping him treat a wound on his upper back.

Her movements were gentle, but her eye sockets were slightly red, and tears seemed to be swirling in her eyes.

Last night, watching Xu Hao being besieged by those two fierce-looking men in jackets with her own eyes, she was knocked unconscious.

After waking up, she was extremely anxious, staying here all along and not sleeping all night.

The cotton swab stained with alcohol touched the torn skin and flesh, bringing a wave of intense sharp pain.

Xu Hao didn't even frown, just grinned and said in a nonchalant tone:

"Alright, alright, stop acting like you're doing embroidery; this little injury is worth shit. Hurry up and finish, I'm still waiting to go out and handle business!"

His voice was still rough, but he didn't mean to blame Xiao Qing; instead, it was like emphasizing that his little injury was no big deal at all and there was no need to make a fuss over nothing.

Hearing him put it this way, Xiao Qing's voice instead carried a trace of trembling even more:

"Brother Hao, you bled a lot..."

"Hey, a real man doesn't have a few scars on his body, he's even embarrassed to greet people when he goes out!"

Xu Hao waved his hand indifferently, and when his gaze swept across Xiao Qing's worried face, a trace of imperceptible softness flashed in his eyes.

But immediately he returned to that fearless look and urged:

"Hurry up, be quick with your movements, don't delay things."

Xiao Qing then bit her lip and focused more intently on disinfecting and applying medicine for him.

In the room, for a moment, only the subtle sound of the cotton swab rubbing against the skin remained.

The lighting was dim, and the two were very close.

The faint fragrance on Xiao Qing mixed with the medicine smell made Xu Hao couldn't help feeling his nostrils tickle, wanting to sneeze a little.

Just at this moment, a somewhat rude voice broke this brief peaceful atmosphere.

"Brother Hao, you're finally back! What on earth happened last night? It scared the brothers to death!"

The one speaking was Xu Hao's trusted subordinate, a burly man with a buzz cut and a scorpion tattooed on his neck.

As soon as he spoke, Xu Hao looked towards the entrance of the lounge as if he had just noticed.

Dozen or so heavily tattooed, rough-looking men stood outside, each of them peeking in and looking over with solemn expressions.

Being watched by so many pairs of eyes, Xiao Qing's face instantly turned red with a "swoosh", and she quickly lowered her head and accelerated her work.

Xu Hao raised his eyebrows, his face immediately returning to that rebellious look, deliberately coughed once, and said in a loud voice:

"Damn it! Don't mention it, isn't it just those blind bastards from the Dongcheng Association playing dirty tricks!"

"Those bastards don't care about martial ethics, taking advantage of when I wasn't paying attention to launch a sneak attack, and didn't even bother to ask who I am! Thinking that having more people makes you awesome? Bullshit!"

He naturally wouldn't be stupid enough to talk about the Special Investigation Team.

That kind of official violent organization was simply not something a Gang like theirs could provoke.

Throwing the blame onto their mortal enemy, the Dongcheng Association, could both explain why he was injured and missing, and unite them with a shared hatred of the enemy to rally morale.

Sure enough, upon hearing that it was done by the Dongcheng Association, the surrounding younger brothers instantly blew up.

"Fuck! Those scum of the Dongcheng Association have eaten the gallbladder of a bear and leopard!"

"Daring to Move people of our Red Tiger Gang? I think they're tired of living!"

"Brother Hao, give the order! We'll take the brothers and charge over right now to slice them up."

"Right! Flatten the Dongcheng Association!"

For a moment, public anger was high, and clamoring sounds came one after another.

The boss being humiliated meant the face of their entire Gang branch was humiliated, and no one could swallow this breath.

Xu Hao looked at these howling subordinates, but felt a little awkward inside.

If they really fought over, wouldn't his lie be exposed?

He hurriedly waved his hand magnanimously:

"Alright, alright, all of you fucking shut up for me, stop making a fuss! Revenge is not urgent; let's put this matter aside for now, pending discussion, all of you put it on pending discussion!"

That trusted subordinate didn't shut up immediately, but stepped closer and whispered:

"Brother Hao, you had no news all night yesterday. Fearing that something big happened to you, I sent brothers to search everywhere for your whereabouts at the very first moment, and also reported this matter to the Gang leader..."

His expression carried a bit of flattery, and his words had the nature of taking credit.

Hearing this, Xu Hao felt a "thud" in his heart.