Chapter 30 — The Tide Turns

This sudden turn of events left the three remaining thugs on the bus utterly dumbfounded. What on earth had just happened? In the blink of an eye, two men were down, and one of them was their boss, Baldy. Most unbelievable of all, Baldy's gun had actually blown its barrel—how could anything be that uncanny?

Since he had already made his move, Yang Shuoxuan had no intention of letting them off now. Otherwise, wouldn't he have acted for nothing? His philosophy was simple: either don't do a thing at all, or do it to perfection.

Yang Ce rose to his feet and, giving no thought to how Baldy or the fourth man felt, simply stepped over their heads and walked toward the front of the coach. Fortunately, both men were out cold, so being trodden on by Yang Puqi caused them little pain—except that a huge footprint now adorned Baldy's shiny bald pate.

"Get him!" One of the three thugs up front saw Yang Ce approaching and shot a glance at the other two.

To be honest, they had never taken Yang Ce seriously, regarding him as nothing more than a jock. The only reason he had taken down the fourth man was that the lecherous fool had been too hot-headed and fallen for the kid's trick.

As for what had happened to Baldy, these three were convinced it had nothing whatsoever to do with Yan—the man had simply been unlucky enough to have his gun blow its barrel. So they weren't particularly afraid now. Seeing Baldy on the ground, and the fourth man knocked unconscious by this kid as well, only made them angrier.

"Hey, kid, got a death wish, have you?" The second brother glared, jabbing his wooden club at Yang Ce. "Daring to hit the fourth brother that hard—I'd say you want to die!"

"Wait." Yang Ce suddenly raised a hand and cut the man off.

"Wait—wait for what? Realized you're scared now?" The second brother leered at Yang Ce. "Too late! If you'd known this day would come, you shouldn't have done it in the first place. Young people are so impulsive—impulse is the devil, and one slip leads to eternal regret!"

"Stop." Yang Xutang was getting a headache from all the rambling and cut in hurriedly. "I don't think you've grasped the situation here."

"What situation?" The second brother blinked.

"Your boss is lying on the floor right now, life or death unknown, and you've still got the leisure to stand here jawing with me?" Yang Ce sneered. "Delay much longer, and I'm afraid your boss is going to croak."

"Second brother, he seems to have a point. We'd better get the boss to the hospital fast!" another thug reminded the second brother.

"Third brother, don't listen to his nonsense. The boss just blew up his hand, he's in no danger of dying," the second brother said. "First let's beat this kid to death, then we'll talk."

Yang Ce was speechless. Were these guys really this stupid? Half their boss's hand had been blown off, and they thought he was fine? Give him a little longer and the blood loss alone might finish him off.

But he had already warned them—whether Baldy lived or died now had nothing to do with Yan.

"Mengyan, call the police. Have them wait at the expressway exit," Yang Minlan instructed Chen Shutang at the back of the coach.

Chen Shutang nodded and hurriedly pulled out her phone to call her father.

"Motherf—, you dare call the cops?" Seeing Chen Shutang pull out her phone, the second brother panicked at once. He lunged to shove Yang Ce aside and stop her, only to find that Yang Ce wouldn't budge—and the next instant something cold pressed against his neck.

"Move and you die," Yang Ce said coldly. In his hand was a Swiss Army knife, its tip pressed right against the second brother's throat.

"W-what are you doing?" The second brother nearly jumped out of his skin, staring at Yang Ce in disbelief. He had never imagined this young man could be so ruthless as to threaten him with a blade.

"What am I doing? You tell me. Try moving and you'll find out," Yang Linyue said flatly.

"Y-you—you wouldn't dare kill someone?" the second brother asked, half disbelieving. In his eyes, Yang Yongjin was nothing but a student—how could he possibly use a knife to kill? So he bluffed, "Kill me and you won't come out of it well either. If you know what's good for you, put that away."

"Heh, so what if I kill you? I don't mind telling you—not long ago I already did in a mugger, so one more won't make a difference." Yang Ce laughed unconcernedly. "See anything wrong with me?"

"You—you—" The second brother's eyes went wide, and his earlier bluster deflated considerably. It wasn't that he hadn't considered Yang Ce might be bluffing, but seeing that calm, composed expression, he felt a chill of fear. The way this kid carried himself—maybe he really had done exactly as he said. The second brother's heart began to waver; he didn't dare gamble with his own life so lightly. Getting hauled off by the police meant a few years at most, but death meant losing everything.

*Whoosh.* A gust of wind suddenly reached Yang Juehuan's ear. Yang Yongjin smiled contemptuously and reached out his left hand to grab the club swung at him by the third thug behind him.

The fifth brother, however, was elated. With Yang Ce's left hand gripping the third brother's club and his right threatening the second brother, he surely had no spare hand to deal with him. If he attacked now, Yang Ce would have to pull back his right hand to block—and that would give the second brother his chance to escape.

The fifth brother's calculations were fine in theory, but in practice, things turned out a little differently. He swung his club furiously at Yang Ce, only for Yang Ce to suddenly yank hard on the third brother's club, sending the third brother stumbling.

The result: *bang*—the fifth brother's club came down with full force on the third brother's head, splitting it open and sending blood everywhere. The third brother crumpled crookedly to the floor, dead or alive unknown.

Yang Ce glanced at the third brother's condition and gave a cold laugh. A blow like that—if he wasn't dead, he'd be a vegetable.

"Nice work you've got there," Yang Ce mocked with a smile.

"You cheated!" The fifth brother's eyes went red at the sight of the fallen third brother. "If you've got guts, fight me one-on-one!"

"Heh, one-on-one, I haven't got the time. But if you still want to come at me, be my guest—my knife's pressed right against your second brother's throat. If you don't mind hitting him by accident again, go right ahead," Yang Yongjin said contemptuously.

"..." This time the fifth brother truly didn't dare move. Yang Yanzhou was right—if he charged in, the one who'd suffer might well be the second brother.

"Fifth brother, don't stir up more trouble—this kid's bad news," the second brother said, having regained his composure. "Friend, I, the second brother, admit defeat. Let me go, and I'll take my brothers off this bus right now."

With Baldy, the third brother, and the fourth man all down, the second brother now had the most say—so it was up to him to negotiate with Yan.

"Admit defeat? Let you go?" Yang Ce laughed in sheer fury. "You think a single 'I admit defeat' settles it?"

"Then what more do you want, brother?" The second brother glared furiously at Yang Ce. "Several of my brothers are hurt!"

"Heh, what's that got to do with me? I only knocked out your fourth man—he's fine, he'll come round in a bit. As for Baldy and the one whose head just got split open, you did that to yourselves." Yang Ce neatly shifted all the blame away from himself; he didn't want any observant person taking notice of him, which was why he had engineered those little coincidences that looked like mere accidents.

A student, no matter how capable, beating five ferocious thugs was simply too incredible to believe. So Yang Ce decided it was better to keep a low profile and avoid any troublesome complications.