Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 522 - 18 What’s your problem?

The hawk-nosed man turned his head, saw Chang Yu’s face, and spat disdainfully.

He tried to pull his hand away from Chang Yu, but Chang Yu remained unmoved, deftly pulling Yanzi behind him.

"Do you have a problem, worm?"

Sturdy and a full head taller than Chang Yu, the hawk-nosed man, emanating the smell of alcohol and saliva, jabbed a finger into Chang Yu’s chest. Whistling could be heard from the surrounding crowd. A few muscular Caucasians at the nearby tables laughed and jeered, obviously companions of the hawk-nosed man.

Chang Yu said nothing, simply shielding Yanzi. Seeing the situation worsening, the brothel’s madam, Mrs. Qin, approached with a cup of cheap sparkling wine. She coquettishly raised her glass to the hawk-nosed man: "Sir, why trouble a tender young girl? If you’re in the mood to play, we have plenty of lovely girls here."

"..."

First, the hawk-nosed man glanced at Mrs. Qin’s crumbling powdered smile, then at the two gaunt but bulging-sleeved thugs at the door. After weighing his options, he leaned in close to Chang Yu, his nose almost touching the latter’s forehead, "Lucky you, shortie."

With that, the hawk-nosed man roughly snatched the sparkling wine and turned to leave.

Mrs. Qin hastily signaled Chang Yu with her eyes.

"Let’s go upstairs."

Chang Yu grabbed her wrist and marched towards the stairs without a word.

"Hey, buddy. That Chinese girl isn’t into you,"

one of the hawk-nosed man’s companions mocked as he sulkily returned to his sofa.

"Bullshit, that’s not true,"

the hawk-nosed man muttered something under his breath, clearly embarrassed.

On the upper floor, Chang Yu’s jaw clenched, but he made no move.

Amid the laughter, the hawk-nosed man, not paying attention, knocked over his glass, spilling a good amount of drink. Cha Xiaodao just happened to be passing by and got splashed on one shoe.

Cha Xiaodao stopped, looked down at his shoe, locked eyes with the hawk-nosed man for a brief moment, then suddenly asked with a grin, "What’s the matter with you?"

Before the hawk-nosed man could respond, Cha Xiaodao swiftly raised his foot, and his wet shoe struck the man’s nose square on. Mud splattered between the shoe and the face, mixing with the wine and blood. After a clear sound of bone breaking, the man saw stars and toppled backward in his chair, flying over two meters away.

The companion sprung to his feet with a curse, his anger palpable as he swung a chair.

Cha deftly pulled a prostitute aside and stepped back gently. Then he delivered a side kick that shattered the airborne chair and contorted the raised hand of the man, his flesh turning inside out, eliciting a painful scream as he fell back.

Though Cha Xiaodao had not exerted much force, his formidable skill had already frightened the others. He was unrelenting, but Hesheng’s men rushed to hold him back.

"Sir, sir, if someone dies here, it will be a big issue."

Upon hearing this, Cha Xiaodao reluctantly backed down, muttering, "Wasn’t I just holding back?"

"Let me handle this, sir."

The man from Hesheng said, steeling his nerves.

Cha Xiaodao placed his shoe on the table and wiped it clean with a towel. After stamping his foot, as if nothing had happened, he proceeded upstairs. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Chang Yu and Yanzi had witnessed the entire altercation. Seeing Cha Xiaodao approaching, Yanzi instinctively felt a trace of fear.

Chang Yu stared at the chaos downstairs, tightening Yanzi’s palm, "It’s okay, it’s my friend."

Sure enough, Cha Xiaodao came up and casually draped an arm around Chang Yu’s shoulder, whispering in his ear, "Do me a favor."

"You’re going to get into trouble, Cha."

"And you’re going to be taken advantage of, Chang."

The three of them walked upstairs together.

"Just tell me if you’re going to help or not,"

Cha Xiaodao said.

"Help, you say."

"Get me a Tri-Orb Device."

"What do you need that for? Even the cheapest basic Tri-Orb Device costs over a hundred US dollars."

"Just tell me if you’re helping or not."

"...I’ll think of something."

After hearing this, Cha Xiaodao raised an eyebrow and reached out to Yanzi, "Cha, Chang’s colleague."

Yanzi also reached out with her soft palm, her face slightly red, "Yanzi."

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Giant Lake Theater

Backed against a huge rock, Li Yan stretched lazily. In front of him was a steel structure resembling a giant wooden box, patched together with iron sheets and standing over forty meters tall. Giant open-air boilers loomed around it, occasionally revealing guards climbing up and down. The "wooden box’s" doors were perennially shut, and people entered and exited through a massive steam-powered lift. The iron frames churned up and down, spitting out soldiers in groups of twos and threes.

The soft red soil surrounded the "wooden box", with guards in steam exosuits patrolling the area. The lights of the Royal Palace glowed in the distance.

"This should be the place."

Jane’s "Unicorn" exosuit had been stored in the Royal Arsenal, which displayed weapons and armor passed down from the kingdom’s nobility through generations, as well as a collection of various steam-powered weapons. The surveillance support for the Royal City’s guards also came from here, issued only after being reported to the King.

One could imagine that the security here was extremely strict.

Unfortunately, the people of this age seemed not to have invented the flying surveillance Li Yan had once seen in San Francisco. All security operations were reliant on fully armed exosuit patrols, and even mounted troops were used, making the possibility of detecting Li Yan in the depths of the night not very high.

Boom...

Suddenly, a tremendous explosion tightened everyone’s nerves. A soldier had just climbed down the ladder when the ten-meter-tall boiler in front of him cracked. The copper dial also began to tremble under the strain. The soldier screamed and ran off into the distance, until finally, the boiler exploded with a thunderous boom, drawing the eyes of all onlookers.

"Fire!"

Someone shouted, and oddly enough, despite the surroundings being nothing but red soil, towering rocks, and lumps of iron, the raging flames soared into the sky. The alarm bells rang loud, and the guards collided with each other like headless flies.

The main gates flung open, and steam-powered vehicles on tracks rushed out, some trying to organize a firefighting response, while others abandoned their armors in panic, fearful of being caught in an explosion from the arsenal.

In the midst of the chaos, Li Yan landed on top of the lift and with two leaps, somersaulted and rolled into the arsenal, designed like a treasure chest.