Chapter 57: Not Enough to Fill a Gap Between Teeth

Hearing this, the bald man froze for a moment, then turned his head to look at Zhou Yi in utter disbelief.

"Well, well, I almost forgot about you, you little punk. Why don't you go ask around about Eighth Brother's reputation on the streets?"

The bald man brandished the watermelon knife in his hand and strode toward Zhou Yi.

Zhou Jianjun, lying on the floor, seemed to have caught a lifeline and screamed, "He... he is my own nephew! He's a police officer!"

Upon hearing this, the bald man paused his steps and looked Zhou Yi up and down.

Suddenly, he spat heavily onto the floor. "Bah! So what if he's a cop? I've beaten up plenty of cops in my time."

"Have you punks never heard of our Boss Du? Forget about a rookie cop like you; even your police chief has to respectfully offer our boss a cigarette when he shows up."

"Today, I'll let you see just how many eyes Lord Mawang has!"

The bald man raised his watermelon knife and viciously slashed it toward Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi did not panic in the slightest. He had grown thoroughly accustomed to such scenarios before his rebirth; after all, the scars on his body were the best proof of his experience.

Besides, swaggering bullies like this bald man were ultimately not to be feared; most of them were just putting on a brave front to intimidate others with bluster.

The truly terrifying criminals were the quiet ones with murderous glares in their eyes.

Zhou Yi had once encountered a murderer who had raped and killed three underage girls. The man looked solid, honest, and completely like a hardworking migrant worker. Despite being on high alert, Zhou Yi had almost died at his hands.

No one could have anticipated that a man already trapped like a turtle in a jar, with a dull, resigned expression on his face, would suddenly pull out a snapped half of a disposable wooden chopstick hidden in his hand and viciously stab it into Zhou Yi's neck.

Fortunately, that strike missed the carotid artery; otherwise, he would have been buried six feet under by the time he was thirty-five.

Even so, his trachea was damaged, and he barely survived the rescue. The doctors had to perform a tracheostomy and insert a tube into his neck to supply oxygen and save his life.

Although the slash from the bald man's knife was fierce, its trajectory was remarkably easy to predict.

Zhou Yi simply sidestepped, taking a single step to the side, and easily dodged the blow.

"Huh?" The bald man missed completely and froze in astonishment.

"I'll f*ck—"

Before the fourth word could escape his mouth, Zhou Yi's right hand struck out like lightning, grabbing the bald man's wrist. Simultaneously, his left foot swept at the bald man's lower base.

The bald man instantly lost his footing and crashed to the ground. However, his knife-wielding wrist was still firmly held by Zhou Yi, who smoothly twisted it, wrenched the man's arm up behind his back, and pinned him flat to the floor.

With a loud clatter, the watermelon knife dropped to the ground.

The bald man cried out in agonizing pain, "Ouch, ouch, ouch!"

His lackeys were dumbfounded. Their boss had been taken down in a single move, leaving them momentarily clueless about whether they should step in to help.

After all, where had they ever seen such technical martial prowess? Street fighting usually consisted of wild flailing or brawling, where victory went to whoever was more ruthless, could take a harder beating, or had better luck.

Martial arts, grappling, and combat were mandatory courses for criminal police officers. Furthermore, Zhou Yi had already completely adapted to the physical sensations of this youthful body.

"Big brother, let's talk this out! Let's talk!"

The bald man lay flat on the floor, slapping the ground with his free hand as he shouted.

Because his arm was currently locked in a reverse-joint position, just a tiny bit more force from Zhou Yi would snap his arm completely.

To everyone's surprise, before Zhou Yi could even speak, Zhou Kai—who had been whimpering like a sick chicken just moments ago—suddenly lunged forward, launching a flurry of kicks and punches at the bald man on the ground.

As he hit him, he cursed, "Let you hit me! Let you hit me! Now you know how tough my cousin is, huh? Hahaha, let's see if I don't beat you to death today!"

The bald man shrieked in pain under the onslaught, but constrained by the grip on his arm, he was too intimidated to fight back.

Zhou Jianjun immediately rushed forward to pull his son away, dragging and hauling until Zhou Kai was finally dragged back.

*Sigh,* Zhou Yi thought to himself, shaking his head. What a hopeless bunch of trash this family was.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi released the bald man's arm.

In an instant, a chilling, dead silence descended upon the room.

Everyone was stunned. No one expected Zhou Yi to suddenly let go.

The bald man didn't dare move because he couldn't figure out what Zhou Yi was planning.

The lackeys didn't dare move because their boss was still pinned near the stranger's feet.

The uncle's family was even more bewildered. Why would he just let the man go out of nowhere?

Especially Zhou Kai, who had been shouting arrogantly just moments before; his face turned ashen white, and his lips trembled uncontrollably. His mind was filled with only one giant character: *Death*.

Finally, Zhou Yi broke the silence. He picked up a pen from the floor and walked over to Zhou Jianjun.

"Second Uncle, I'll ask you one last time: did you guys really have nothing to do with Grandpa falling down?"

Zhou Jianjun clutched at the opportunity like a drowning man grasping a straw, pointing to the sky and swearing frantically, "Zhou Yi, your Second Uncle swears to God, absolutely not!"

Zhou Yi narrowed his eyes, still looking somewhat unconvinced.

Zhou Jianjun yelled, "I swear on my mother—your grandmother! If I ever did something so heartless and devoid of human conscience, may my entire family die a horrible death!"

Hearing this, Zhou Yi patted him on the shoulder.

First, even with such a terrifying curse invoking a horrible death for the whole family, Wang Cui'e didn't fly off the handle.

Second, daring to swear on his deceased mother meant Second Uncle was likely telling the truth.

Zhou Yi pulled a written commitment form out of his pants pocket.

"Even if you didn't deliberately harm Grandpa, standing by and watching him die while forging a will are both undeniable facts. This matter cannot just be swept under the rug. Sign this paper, and I'll take care of today's mess for you. Consider it my last favor to you, out of respect for Grandpa and my father," Zhou Yi said coldly.

Seeing that the man was still hesitating, Zhou Yi shook his head helplessly and pointed at the group of thugs behind him.

"If you don't sign, I'm leaving. As for them, you can figure it out yourselves."

"I'll sign! I'll sign!" Zhou Jianjun snatched the paper and pen, trembling as he scrawled his name across the bottom.

"Zhou Yi, look... is this okay?"

Just as Zhou Jianjun tried to hand the paper back, Zhou Yi jutted his chin forward and said, "Put your thumbprint on it too."

"Th... thumbprint? There's no ink pad here."

Zhou Yi reached out, grabbed Zhou Jianjun's thumb, and wiped it across the corner of Wang Cui'e's mouth to smear the blood left behind from the slap the bald man had given her earlier.

Zhou Yi smiled faintly. "This will do just fine."

Zhou Jianjun felt a shiver run down his spine. He realized that the person before him no longer viewed them as family at all.

He hurriedly pressed a bloody thumbprint right over his signature.

Zhou Yi took the paper back, inspected it with satisfaction, then folded it up and tucked it away.

"As for you three, I expect you to move out as soon as possible. By the end of this month at the latest, I'm coming to take possession of the apartment."

"I don't want to see any more drama when that time comes. Let's leave each other some dignity, alright?"

Wang Cui'e and Zhou Kai were completely shell-shocked, while Zhou Jianjun could only nod repeatedly with a face full of despair.

By this time, the bald man had climbed back up from the floor, massaged his nearly-fractured arm, and picked up his watermelon knife.

"Hack them to death! Especially that big guy, I want him dead!"

The bald man roared in fury, barking orders at his subordinates.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from the doorway behind them: "Well, looks lively in here."

The lackey standing closest to the doorway glared as he turned his head, assuming it was just another nosy neighbor sticking their nose where it didn't belong.

Just as he opened his mouth to hurl an insult, he saw an iron-tower-like figure standing in the entrance.

The corners of Zhou Yi's mouth curved upward slightly. His backup had arrived.

The clueless lackey at the door raised the iron rod in his hand and swung it viciously toward the newcomer.

With a loud, resounding *bang*, the lackey was sent flying backward through the air, crashing hard and smashing a cabinet to pieces.

Wearing plainclothes, Jiang Biao stepped into the room, dusted off his hands, and said to Zhou Yi, "How come there are only a few of them? They're not even enough to whet my appetite."

Zhou Yi chuckled. "Ah, Brother Biao, I didn't expect there'd only be this many either. If I'd known, I could've handled it myself."

"E... Eighth Brother, wh... what do we do?" one of the lackeys asked the bald man.

The bald man hesitated. To say he wasn't intimidated would be a lie, but if he ran away now, he wouldn't be able to show his face on the streets ever again.

Finally, gritting his teeth, he yelled, "Kill them! There's five of us against two, there's no way we can lose!"