123: Chapter 122: Pick the Soft Persimmons to Squeeze 123: Chapter 122: Pick the Soft Persimmons to Squeeze After the Killing Fiend’s neck made a crisp crack, he immediately collapsed to the ground, motionless.
His head twisted backward in an unnatural angle, dead beyond any doubt.
With a kick that had broken the Killing Fiend’s neck, Li Jinfang looked proudly over the crowd.
Amid the excited cheers of Gao Yang and the others, mixed with curses from mercenaries who had lost money, he casually walked back.
Coming to stand before Gao Yang, Li Jinfang said with disdain, “F**k, performing handstands in front of me, did he want to die faster or what?”
Tan Leg emphasizes keeping kicks below the knee, and whether it was Li Jinfang himself kicking or teaching Gao Yang, while not strictly limited to below the knee, the highest he would go was a kick to the groin, and that was mainly used for sneak attacks.
Those powerful high kicks looked impressive but were absolutely prohibited.
Li Jinfang had practiced Tan Leg for half his life, and attacking the lower body had become instinctual for him.
When he saw the Killing Fiend performing a handstand, presenting the ideal position for a kick, and basically offering up his face under Li’s foot, how could Li not take the opportunity to kick?
Gao Yang laughed loudly, “The moment I saw that Killing Fiend do a second handstand, I knew he was done for, haha, awesome.”
Harris also yelled at the top of his lungs, “F**k, Frog, you’re too awesome, I freaking love you, we’re rich, haha, let me go get the money.”
Excited, Harris rushed to the Gambler who had taken the bets and stretched out his betting slip, shouting, “Ninety thousand, with five-to-one odds, pay up!”
The Gambler shrugged and began stacking wads of cash into Harris’s hands until they could hold no more, after which two people accompanying Harris also grabbed a large handful of bills.
The Gambler was happy too, because there were only Harris and the lieutenant colonel’s combined hundred thousand US Dollar bets on Li Jinfang.
Everyone else had bet on the Killing Fiend, with stakes ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands; in total, more than the half a million the Gambler was due to pay out.
So even though it was a five-to-one payout, the Gambler still stood to pocket over a hundred thousand.
As the Gambler handed out the money, he excitedly said to Harris, “Where did your guy come from?
How come I’ve never heard of him, haha, you’ve made a killing this time.”
Shrugging, Harris replied, “What do you mean you’ve never heard of him, they’re from the Satan Mercenary Corps.
That guy is Frog, you’ve mentioned him before, haven’t you?”
The Gambler stopped handing out cash and said in disbelief, “Are you saying HAMA is Frog?”
“That’s right, HAMA is just what the Huaxia people call Frog, you just didn’t understand, haha, don’t just stand there, hurry up and pay me.”
The Gambler also burst into laughter and said, “That’s great, if it were Frog against the Killing Fiend, we wouldn’t have made anything, right?
But if it’s HAMA against the Killing Fiend, amazing, we’ve made a fortune.”
After Harris gave him a knowing look, he happily proceeded to throw down the wads of cash in front of Gao Yang and the others, declaring triumphantly, “Guys, after deducting our initial ninety thousand, we have four hundred and fifty thousand here, which means twenty-two thousand five hundred each.
As we agreed, Frog takes six shares, and everyone else one, grab your money, guys.”
Making twenty-two thousand five hundred out of the blue delighted only Gao Yang and the others from the Black Fire Mercenary Corps, as well as the lucky Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim.
Those who won money were happy, but those who lost simply swore a few times without looking too distressed, for after all, whose hands the money would end up in was still uncertain.
If they couldn’t even save their own lives, what use was money to them?
Harris took out a hundred and thirty-five thousand for Li Jinfang from the pile, then handed the rest of their share to Gao Yang to divide.
After that, Harris and his group happily sat down to divide their earnings.
Gao Yang took out a share of the money and, nodding toward Frey, said, “Come and take it, this is your share.”
Surprisingly delighted, Frey pointed at his own nose and asked, “I get a share too?
But I didn’t do anything, did I?”
Gao Yang, losing patience, said, “This is a bonus, not a salary.
Bonuses are for those who are present, of course you have a share.
All you need to do is thank Toad for letting you earn some money.”
After Frey happily pocketed the money, Gao Yang and a few others pocketed their shares, leaving Li Jinfang still surveying the crowd and saying, “Hey, why isn’t anyone from the Killing Fiend’s mercenary group coming to make trouble?
Their buddy got killed and they’re just taking it lying down?”
Gao Yang, thrilled, said, “The Killing Fiend wasn’t popular, so who cares.”
No sooner had Gao Yang finished speaking than he realized he had celebrated too soon.
Someone loudly called out, “Who is Ram from the Satan Mercenaries, come out, I want to challenge you to a duel!”
Hearing the call, Gao Yang turned around in surprise only to see a white man standing beside the body of the Killing Fiend, shouting in their direction, “Which one of you is Ram, come out, I want to challenge you to a duel.”
Li Jinfang, who had been happily counting his stack of money, now wore a grim expression upon hearing the man’s challenge.
He dropped the money into Cui Bo’s arms and shouted at the white man, “What are you yelling for?
So you want to fight our boss, do you?
You have to get through me first.
Come on, I’ll let you use one hand.”
Seeing the situation change, Harris hurriedly ran to Gao Yang and said anxiously, “This guy is with Killing Fiend, but I don’t know if he’s any good.
Ram, how’s your close combat?
I mean, compared to Frog.”
Gao Yang forced a bitter smile and said, “He could take me down using just one hand.”
That’s when Gambler began shouting, “Guys, guys, let me announce, HAMA, that is Frog from the Satan Mercenary Corps, and Ram is…
do you know who the sniper boss of Satan’s is?
Now someone from the Perverted Mercenary Group has challenged Ram, let’s see if Ram has the guts to fight.”
Everyone looked at Gao Yang.
Even though Gao Yang knew his close combat skills weren’t great, he didn’t want to lose face in front of so many people.
For a mercenary, it’s all about reputation.
If he backed down, the entire Satan Mercenary Corps would be unable to hold their heads up high.
Li Jinfang knew Gao Yang’s weakness, so he took two more steps forward, staring at the white guy who had challenged Gao Yang, and said, “You coward, if you have the guts, try me.
Our leader is very busy and doesn’t have time to bother with a coward like you.”
The white guy looked at Li Jinfang and calmly replied, “I am a sniper, and your leader is also a sniper; I will only fight him.”
Li Jinfang angrily said, “Then you guys should just compare shooting skills, do you dare?”
“But I only want to compare close combat with him.
If he’s afraid, let him step forward and say so himself.
It’s not like we have to fight.”
After handing everything on him to Cui Bo, Gao Yang took two steps forward and said to Li Jinfang, “Stop it, I’ll fight him.
I can’t afford to lose face if I don’t accept the challenge.”
After hesitating for a moment, Li Jinfang whispered, “Remember what I taught you.
Don’t rush to kick; greet him with your fists, and when he’s off guard, aim for his vitals.”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “Got it.
If I can’t compete with him in skill, I’ll play dirty.”
After that, Gao Yang patted Li Jinfang on the shoulder and walked to the center of the field.
Seeing Gao Yang’s actions, Gambler excitedly shouted, “Looks like Ram has accepted the challenge.
Guys, place your bets.
Pretty Boy from the Perverted Mercenary Group likes to hit people in the lower body, that’s a pervert for you, while Ram of the Satan Mercenary Corps likes to hit people between the eyes, seems like a righteous guy to me, but I’ve got intel that both aren’t good at close combat.
Looks like it’s going to be an evenly matched fight, with the odds at one to one.
Place your bets, guys.”
Gao Yang and his opponent stood opposite each other, waiting for the people to finish placing their bets before they got started.
In the meantime, Gao Yang was observing his opponent, hoping to find some advantage he could exploit.
Gao Yang’s opponent, as his name suggested, was indeed a Pretty Boy, with a head of flowing long hair, quite handsome, and about 1.85 meters tall, looking strong and fit.
From the outside, there seemed to be nothing obvious to take advantage of.
As Gao Yang was observing his opponent, Gambler spoke up again, loudly saying, “The latest intelligence, Pretty Boy is a Taekwondo master; some have seen him sparring with Killing Fiend and he seemed quite formidable.
Meanwhile, Ram has never shown any capacity for close combat.
Some say he performed very poorly in a fight against the Scimitar Mercenary Corps.
Hence, the odds have changed.
It’s now one to three.
Place your bets again, ladies and gentlemen, place your bets!”
After hearing Gambler’s words, Pretty Boy’s face turned pale; he seemed to have not expected his trump to be revealed early, and Gao Yang was indeed quite relieved.
Gambler’s words offered him a precious hint; knowing the opponent practiced Taekwondo was greatly beneficial to him.
Gao Yang put on an indifferent expression and yelled to the people behind him, “Rabbit, put all my money on me.
One to three odds, I’m going to make a fortune again.”
At this moment, Harris also yelled, “Ram, we support you, take down that Pretty Boy bastard, take him down!”
When the odds adjusted to one to three, the people who needed to bet again hesitated, creating a noisy commotion that took quite a while before the betting was complete.
Gao Yang had repeated his warm-up exercises several times, and amidst the chaotic crowd, the bets were finally placed.
Waiting for Gambler to shout the start, Gao Yang immediately alerted all his senses, carefully observing Pretty Boy’s movements.
Having trained with Li Jinfang for a month, what Gao Yang actually learned was the method of force application.
He only learned two techniques: the Half-Step Collapse Fist from Xingyi and the Whip from Tan Leg.
These were the two, and he hadn’t learned anything else, like specific moves or footwork.
However, under the constant real-life training of Li Jinfang, responding to an enemy’s attacks had become an instinct for Gao Yang.
Gao Yang didn’t even know how to do a proper stance, so after taking a position that suited the Half-Step Collapse Fist, he stood his ground, waiting for Pretty Boy to attack.
And Pretty Boy didn’t make Gao Yang wait for long; with a loud shout, Pretty Boy aimed a high kick at Gao Yang’s face.
Ps: Thanks to Daidai Seawolf, Fa Jin, and Old Snake for the rewards.
Whew, finally finished writing.
Here’s the third update, task complete.
Also, shouting out once more, asking for favorites and all the support.