116: Chapter 116 Wounded

Riding my beloved little scooter, my whole body is trembling...

Lin Ning gritted his teeth, controlling his trembling arms. Although Li Chao had worked him so hard that his very bones ached, the thought of the code name "Tianchang" made him smile.

"Hehe!" Lin Ning couldn't help but chuckle out loud.

He rode his little electric scooter wobbly. Seeing the entrance to an alley, Lin Ning didn't hesitate to take the shortcut; this was a personal skill unique to delivery drivers.

Weaving between several old residential areas and alleys, the afternoon sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, dappling the buildings that bore the marks of time, creating a serene play of light and shadow.

Lin Ning really loved these corners of the city; passing through them felt like being inside those old movies.

In the back alley of a factory area slated for demolition, Lin Ning had just turned in when he smelled the sour mix of rust and garbage in the air.

Then.

Seven or eight red names appeared vividly in his field of vision, surrounding a faint, almost weak green halo.

Lin Ning frowned and hit the brakes.

In the corner not far away, a group of students in school uniforms had formed a circle.

In the middle was a girl, her school uniform shirt torn open, revealing a thin shoulder. A girl with dyed yellow hair was holding scissors, cutting her hair, snip by snip.

Black hair fell in clumps to the ground.

A boy nearby laughed: "Shave it all off and make her a nun!"

Another girl with a cigarette in her mouth was laughing hysterically in the shadows of the sunlight.

Lin Ning's temper flared instantly.

He parked his scooter and walked forward a few steps, roaring: "What are you doing?"

The group turned around in unison.

They looked like students, the oldest being seventeen or eighteen, but none of them were short.

Lin Ning scanned their faces—still childish, yet their eyes were filled with malice and indifference.

These underage little bastards were the most lawless.

Lin Ning immediately pulled out his phone, preparing to call the police.

"None of your damn business!" The boy with the buzz cut closest to him stepped forward, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing a crooked tattoo on his forearm. "Get lost, mind your own business."

That Lin Ning didn't resort to violence immediately was a sign of his growth; these little shits were truly arrogant.

He endured and endured; he wasn't their parent, and hitting them might just be giving them an opportunity!

Lin Ning took a deep breath, shot him a cold glare, and continued dialing his phone.

The boy with the buzz cut saw what Lin Ning was doing and yelled back, "Sister Jingjing, he's calling the police! Damn it!"

The girl with the cigarette took it out of her mouth.

She was the shortest, wearing her school uniform jacket loosely over a black camisole. She didn't look at Lin Ning, but instead looked down at the girl on the ground.

Then she leaned down halfway and pressed the cigarette butt onto the girl's exposed shoulder.

"Sss—"

The girl's body convulsed violently, but she couldn't make a sound; her mouth was taped shut, and she could only squeeze out painful whimpers from her throat.

Lin Ning's fists clenched suddenly; the string in his brain was about to snap.

The voice of the 110 dispatcher came through his ear. He stared fixedly at the group, speaking at lightning speed: "The back alley of the old cotton mill, multiple people are committing assault, the victim is a student, hurry..."

Before he could finish, three of the boys rushed over.

The first one swung a fist at his face.

Lin Ning sidestepped, dodging the attack.

He pushed off the ground with his right foot and landed a low kick on the boy's shin bone; the boy screamed and fell to the ground.

The second one lunged at him. Lin Ning drove his left elbow backward into the boy's ribs, then seized his arm, twisted, and threw—a shoulder throw.

The boy crashed into a pile of waste cardboard boxes, collapsing them.

The third one hesitated and stopped his attack.

But Lin Ning didn't let him off, landing a kick directly to his chest, sending him stumbling backward and falling.

A look of pain flashed across Lin Ning's face; his muscles and joints were all protesting.

The soreness from training made every movement feel like struggling through a quagmire.

But his eyes remained sharp as he stared at the group surrounding the girl. "Come on, all of you!"

The girl called "Sister Jingjing" watched Lin Ning, straightened her body, and threw away the cigarette butt in her hand.

"Uncle," her voice was surprisingly sweet, "We were wrong. Please don't hit us anymore."

She walked forward, hands raised to her chest in a gesture of surrender.

The other two girls and two boys exchanged glances, lowered their heads, and followed behind her, moving slowly.

Lin Ning watched them inch closer; an anxious inquiry came from his phone.

Lin Ning raised his phone again and said to the dispatcher, "The female student is injured. There are eight assailants, they are also stud..."

At that very second.

Lin Ning's Psychic Power set off an alarm.

The Fan Jingjing opposite him suddenly accelerated, pulling something from behind her waist with her right hand. A cold glint stabbed straight at Lin Ning's flank.

A switchblade.

Lin Ning's pupils constricted, his body instinctively retreating.

But his sore muscles were ultimately half a beat too slow.

The knife tip sliced through his shirt, carving a stinging wound into his waist.

It wasn't deep, but blood gushed out instantly.

The pain was like a basin of ice water that jolted all his nerves awake.

The girl tried to stab again, the tip aiming for his kidney area.

Lin Ning's left fist came up from below—he didn't hold back.

Bang!

A punch slammed into her chin.

The girl threw her head back, hit the wall, and slid down limply.

The knife clattered to the ground.

"Sister Jingjing!" The boy with the buzz cut rushed over, his eyes red.

Just as Lin Ning was about to engage, the roar of an engine suddenly came from the alley entrance.

A yellow flash of lightning charged straight over—the front of the scooter slammed into the group of students without slowing down.

It was so fast that the crowd didn't have time to react.

The electric scooter knocked two of them down instantly.

The rider also fell but climbed up from the ground without pausing.

She took off her helmet and gripped it in her hand.

Jiang Yu???

She swung the helmet and smashed it into the nearest boy.

The hard shell struck his head, and the boy screamed, stumbling backward.

"You little shits!" Jiang Yu's voice was shrill. "Stabbing people with knives, huh?!"

She smashed it into another one.

Lin Ning froze for a second, but the pain in his waist brought him back to his senses.

He rushed over and grabbed Jiang Yu by the waist from behind: "Enough! Don't hit their heads! If you keep hitting them, something bad will happen!"

"Let go!" Jiang Yu struggled, the helmet still swinging in the air. "If they don't want to be human, I'll fulfill their wish!!"

"Jiang Yu!" Lin Ning tightened his arms, lifted her off the ground, and dragged her back a few steps.

Jiang Yu kicked her legs in the air twice and finally stopped.

She panted heavily, turned to look at Lin Ning, and her gaze fell on his waist.

Her eyes were bloodshot.

"Did you... was the stab deep?" Her voice was trembling slightly.

"A scratch, not deep." Lin Ning let her go.

Jiang Yu lifted the hem of his shirt. The wound was about ten centimeters long, the flesh turned outward, and it was still bleeding, but it hadn't damaged any internal organs.

She let out a breath, took out a pack of tissues, tore it open, and pressed the whole pack onto his wound.

Lin Ning winced silently from the pain.

Jiang Yu's hands were shaking.

"It's okay," Lin Ning gripped her wrist. "Really, it's okay."

Jiang Yu looked up and glared at him, her eyes rimmed with red, but her tone was fierce: "You didn't get hurt by the guys, but you got stabbed by a little brat? The ancestors all said that the elderly, children, and women are the most dangerous. If you're not careful, is your head stuffed with chicken feathers?!"

Lin Ning wanted to laugh, but the wound twitched, turning it into a grimace.

Eight students lay scattered on the ground, some unconscious, some groaning.

The sound of sirens approached from the distance.