Knock them down first and talk later

Using his cell phone, Xiao Cheng lured Yun Shisan to the balcony of the corner room, while he hid in another unit to wait. The distance between the two balconies was nearly four meters, face-to-face and within sight. A handgun provided enough deterrence, but if the other person wanted to cross over, they would have to run downstairs and come back up through another unit's entrance.

This was the most secure plan Xiao Cheng could devise.

Much like watching tigers fight from a safe distance on that previous occasion, the terrain here was rather complex. If more than one person came after him, he could at least slip away silently.

"Don't move. Turn around. Answer my questions, or else I won't mind firing a shot."

Xiao Cheng's tone was calm and unruffled, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that he would actually do it.

In the scorching heat of midsummer, amidst overgrown weeds, at an unfinished construction site with two abandoned small buildings, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy was pointing a gun at him. This scene reminded Yun Shisan of that classic rooftop confrontation in Infernal Affairs. However, he felt no fear; instead, he tilted his head and smiled.

Yun Shisan did not turn around. He simply raised his hands. In the earpiece, Seventh Master vaguely caught the mention of a shot being fired and asked anxiously, "Shisan! What's going on?"

Looking quite helpless with his hands raised, Yun Shisan muttered, "That monstrous kid you admire is currently pointing a gun at my head..."

"What? How many of them?"

Lord Qi asked this because Yun Shisan had undergone professional training and possessed formidable martial arts skills. Even if someone were genuinely pointing a gun at him, he had a high degree of certainty that he could disarm and counterattack before the other person could react. The fact that he was submitting so obediently over the phone meant there was clearly more than one person.

"Just one, but this guy is brilliant! He tricked me out onto a third-floor balcony, and now he's pointing a gun at me from the opposite balcony!"

Lord Qi frowned on the other end of the line. "Forget everything else. Safety first. If you're confident, run for it quickly. If you're not sure, surrender. I'm almost there!"

Yun Shisan licked his lips, a hint of a smile still playing across his face. "Surrender? That's not my style!"

"Shisan! What are you planning to do? Don't be reckless!"

"What am I going to do? What else can I do when someone's pointing a gun at me? Knock him down first and explain slowly later, right?"

Having said that, Yun Shisan suddenly exerted force, sprinting forward with a few strides and pushing his speed to the absolute limit. As his body cleared the balcony edge, he kicked off the wall with his right foot, used the edge of the balcony for leverage with his left, and soared through the air like a giant bird!

A distance of over four meters was nothing remarkable in a long jump; average middle school students could achieve it. However, this gap was suspended between two buildings, some eight or nine meters above the ground, not to mention the waist-high railing of the balcony that alone would deter ordinary people. Yet Yun Shisan did not hesitate for a fraction of a second, hurling himself straight across the gap right into the muzzle of the gun.

Xiao Cheng could have shot him out of the air, but the thought merely flashed through his mind. Seeing the other man coming, he took a step back to clear the space, shook his head with a bitter smile, and said, "Why are you so sure I wouldn't kill you?"

That remark was pure bravado. Saying he wouldn't, when in truth, he didn't dare—and more importantly, even if he dared, he lacked the lethality to do so. The purpose of the statement was to mask why he hadn't pulled the trigger while maintaining whatever deterrence the weapon still held.

Yun Shisan bared his teeth in a grin. "That's a toy gun. I can tell."

Deterrence level: zero...

A slightly bitter taste lingered in Xiao Cheng's heart. If this guy could spot it at a glance, how could those police officers who busted Nezha back then have missed it? Yet, fake gun or not, Nezha had served a full six months in prison because of such a pathetic piece of plastic!

Damn it, he hadn't expected even a lowly lackey to be this professional! Xiao Cheng had not only put a lot of thought into selecting the terrain, but he had also meticulously calculated the timing. He chose dusk, an angle where the setting sun was at its most blinding, making it difficult to tell whether a gun beyond four meters was real or fake. Yet unexpectedly, today he ran straight into a reckless daredevil who simply ignored the barrel of a gun and leaped across a four-meter gap from the third floor!

That single jump completely obliterated Xiao Cheng's prior advantage!

"Wen Xiaocheng, right? I'm Yun Shisan. I think there's some misunderstanding between us. Can we go somewhere else and talk?"

Xiao Cheng frowned. That sentence held zero value to him because whether there genuinely was a misunderstanding or the guy was just trying to bluff him, anyone in his position would say the same thing.

"If you had turned around just now, I might have been interested in listening. But as for now..." Xiao Cheng paused. "I won't believe a single word you say!"

With that, Xiao Cheng raised his hand and fired a shot directly at Yun Shisan's face. Being a replica firearm, the projectile it emitted possessed a kinetic energy of only about two joules per square centimeter—at close range, it could at most pierce a sheet of cardboard. Striking a face, it would leave nothing more than a red welt and cause a momentary sting that would vanish within an hour.

Still, it would hurt for a moment.

Having fired the shot, he turned and ran.

Clutching his face with a curse of "Damn it!", Yun Shisan instinctively gave chase. The unfinished building was a maze of irregular small partition units. As a residential building with three apartments per floor, each level featured a mix of two-bedroom and three-bedroom layouts with vastly differing floor plans. Once fitted with doors and windows, it might have felt ordinary, but right now, with every room open to the elements and interconnected in all directions like a labyrinth, Yun Shisan had barely chased him two steps when a brick came flying toward him. He ducked to avoid it, and the moment he straightened up, another shot hit him squarely in the face.

Yun Shisan had jumped over from the balcony side and was entirely unfamiliar with the interior layout, whereas Xiao Cheng had surveyed the terrain thoroughly before choosing his position. A complete mental map existed in his head, allowing him to lead Yun Shisan on a dance of twists and turns through the skeletal building—darting out of this room and into that one. Not only were there relentless ambushes and sneak attacks, but verbal taunts kept coming, proving utterly maddening.

"Watch your left foot!" the voice called from the left. Just as Yun Shisan looked left, Xiao Cheng materialized suddenly on the right, landing a heavy kick to his back. As Yun Shisan whirled around to pursue, Xiao Cheng raised a hand; fearing another shot, Shisan hurriedly dodged aside. But Xiao Cheng was merely feinting, and taking advantage of his evasion, he vanished around a corner with a few quick shuffles.

"A pound and a half of radishes cost a buck fifty, you have three dollars and forty cents in your pocket—how many pounds and ounces of Chinese cabbage can you buy at most?"

"You just stepped in dog shit..."

"Damn it! A dead end!"

Yun Shisan was cursing a blue streak in his mind. Why was this kid acting like a rat? Slipping away smoothly while pulling every dirty trick in the book. Though none of it inflicted any substantial harm, seeing the target right in front of him yet failing to catch him no matter what was infuriating.

By doing this, Xiao Cheng simply wanted to test Yun Shisan's true caliber. After running a couple of loops, he had a fair measure of him. The man's agility and flexibility were likely no less than Foreigner's, but his reaction speed still couldn't match his own. As for physical strength, when he had taken the opportunity to ram into him earlier—charging with a running start while the other man was unprepared—even so, he hadn't gained any real advantage. Estimating from that, this guy's physique had to be at least on par with Lü Qi or Luohan, combined with Foreigner's agility.

Lü Qi's bulk plus Foreigner's agility—that was boss-tier territory! Xiao Cheng felt a surge of eagerness; Yun Shisan's leap across the buildings had thoroughly stirred his fighting spirit.

"Buddy, why bother? Even though you're already formidable in single combat, strategy remains your weak point. Why pit your weakness against someone else's strength and pick fights out of stubborn pride? If you want to practice, go beat up Foreigner instead!" Wen Xiaocheng's voice popped up in his head.

Xiao Cheng shook his head with a wry smile. Of course he understood that logic, but the purpose of luring him out was to extract useful information. Right now, being chased around like a stray dog felt terribly humiliating. Better yet to do as he had originally thought: knock him down first, pin him flat, and ask whatever questions came to mind afterward!

——————

Xiao Cheng versus Yun Shisan—did you really think I, the Alliance Leader, wouldn't torture the protagonist? Any guesses on how I'm going to torment Shisan? Leave a comment in the section below, and I'll send out red envelopes in the group to anyone who guesses correctly.