Laughter erupted from the crowd below, and Sitou Meixin smiled from the stage, patting Cao Yang's shoulder."Your turn," she said lightly.
Cao Yang took the microphone, his eyes scanning the gathered men."All of you are out here trying to make it. Since none of you respect me yet, let's follow the rules of the streets. Mark a line, and let's settle this!"
"I respect! I respect!" Ah-Tiger raised his hand high, shouting.
"Respect my ass! You believe your own lies now?"Ji Mao slapped Ah-Tiger across the head, then looked at Cao Yang.
"If you want to be our boss, it's simple. Outshoot Chen Wei, beat Du Hao in a one-on-one, outsmart Wu Xin, and we'll follow you!"
"Fine." Cao Yang nodded, smiling faintly."Call them up."
The crowd scanned for the three men—only Wu Xin and Chen Wei were present. Du Hao hadn't arrived yet.
"Wu Xin, go test his brains."
Wu Xin adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses. Gentle-looking, almost like a corporate white-collar rather than a street fighter."How do I 'test brains'?" he asked.
No one could answer. Skills in literature, martial arts—fine—but how do you measure brains?
"Give him some math problems. If he can't solve them, his brain is no good."
"Bullshit! Being good at math doesn't make you smart. Might as well pick an accountant as our boss!"
"Then let Chen Wei go first—one shot, kill him!"
Chen Wei, around thirty, was ushered to the stage. Two identical pistols were placed before him.
"Brother, how do we compare?" Chen Wei smiled at Cao Yang.
"How do you want to do it?" Cao Yang asked.
"Just shoot at targets—whoever scores higher wins."
"Yeah! Target shooting is fair!"
The crowd nodded in agreement.
Cao Yang shook his head. "Targets are boring. Our opponents move. Our environment changes. We face real threats. Let's make it real."
"How do you mean? Moving targets? We don't have that setup here."
"Simple. Shoot each other. You shoot me, I shoot you. First to kill wins."
The words made Chen Wei gasp. This guy's guts were insane—was he some kind of gun god?
The crowd fell silent. A friendly shooting contest had turned into a life-or-death duel.
"Brother, you're playing with fire.""All of us out here? We've been playing with fire our whole lives.""If you're scared, just step down."
Chen Wei looked to the crowd. They started egging him on:
"Don't be afraid! He's just bluffing. If he can't outshoot you, he's trying to scare you!""Yeah, don't fall for it!""They're all hyping it up. Get on with it!"
Chen Wei didn't want to duel, not because of fear—like Cao Yang said, everyone here has risked their lives. Showing up proves they've already fought for survival.
But this duel was not worth it. Win and what? Bragging rights? Lose and… death.
His eyes flicked to Sitou Meixin, hoping she'd intervene.But she didn't look at him, only at Cao Yang, smiling all the while.
She didn't know Chen Wei's skills, but she knew Cao Yang had spent nearly a million dollars at the shooting range. She trusted him—he wouldn't kill unnecessarily.
"Ready or not?" Cao Yang urged. The crowd pressed as well, leaving Chen Wei with no choice."Fine!" He gritted his teeth.
The staff handed them identical pistols. Sitou Meixin counted down:
"One.""Two.""Three!"
On three, both men fired.
BANG!
Only one shot rang out. Both men held guns, motionless, facing each other.
"What… happened? Is it over?""Who won?""Neither of them hit!"
"Yeah, no blood anywhere!""Where did the bullets go?""Holy shit—Chen Wei's hand is trembling!""Damn! Look at his gun—it's blown apart!""Unfair! There's cheating!"
"No cheating! Look closely—Chen Wei's gun barrel was struck by Cao Yang's bullet!"
Chen Wei froze. He was slower by a fraction of a second—he lost.
He had expected to be hit, but never imagined Cao Yang's bullet would enter his moving gun barrel.
At such close range, with eyes closed, Cao Yang still hit the mark. He won.
Chen Wei wanted to argue—losing speed doesn't equal losing skill. But this… this was undeniable.
A bullet-width gap. Cao Yang's bullet entered the barrel while in motion. He couldn't describe it—it wasn't luck. Gun gods didn't have skill like this.
The pain in his hand—shattered and bleeding—confirmed it.
"Good!" Sitou Meixin applauded. The crowd followed, realizing what had happened.
Cao Yang lit a cigarette, blew a smoke ring, and calmly said:"Next."
"Damn! This guy is too extra!""Yeah! His shooting is crazy, but this is insane. Get Du Hao here—he needs to put him down!""Where's Du Hao?""Coming. Someone already called him."
A man in his late twenties, wearing casual athletic gear, entered the hall. His temples protruded slightly—a result of years of hard external martial arts training. He was a mainland Sanshou champion.
"This Cao Yang's done for! Du Hao can take ten of him at once!""Seriously?""Yes! I saw him fight those blacks recently. No lie."
Du Hao smirked. This wannabe boss needed a reality check. But seeing Cao Yang on stage, he hesitated. Something told him this wasn't going to be easy.