The man with the knife

  The sky has darkened, and the wind is getting stronger and stronger, blowing the leaves on the trees to make a rustling sound. The street is cold and deserted, with occasional passersby hurrying by with their collars turned up.

  Autumn has ended, but the wild grass in the mountains has not withered and turned yellow yet, which means it will be another warm winter.

  Shi Li didn't go home, but instead chose to stay in the laboratory of Liu Ke with Sun Xiangshu to discuss what ghosts are. Both of them were single and had a house of over 200 square meters, so it was hard for them to bear the loneliness at night, therefore they got used to working overtime or staying out overnight.

  "Look at this, we've done it according to your theory, and experimented on mammals. I don't know if the soul can be transplanted, but memories definitely can. Unfortunately, the boss doesn't allow human trials, or else I'd love to give it a try. Just thinking about having an extra person's memories is thrilling!"

  Sun Xiangshu had a look of a scientific madman, Shi Li looked at her thoughtfully, with an evil glint in his eyes from time to time.

  "That theory was actually proposed by me many years ago, and now I have a brand new idea. The human brain is a precise recorder, and the spiritual electricity, or what you call the soul's electricity, passes through it, giving people the ability to think and act. If we can create an instrument equivalent to the human brain, then we can create something similar to a soul. From another perspective, if such a thing can be created, then it would be possible to transplant the soul into it."

  Sun Xiangshu slapped his case and got up, with a look of surprise on his face.

  "Huh? We said the same thing, did you guys communicate with each other? She even found a few stupid computer experts to study it, those idiots wouldn't even admit that souls exist. I'm telling you, genius, why don't you come to our Sixth Department instead? The sisters will definitely treat you well, and their skills are no worse than your wife's."

  Sun Xiangshu twisted her plump waist, and Shi Li's face suddenly turned pale.

  "Haha, just kidding, what's wrong with you?"

  Sun Xiang held his belly and laughed, Shi Li forced a smile, but his face was still pale with fear. His hands had been shaking since earlier, even when he clenched his fists.

  "It's getting late, I have to go home, can I take these materials with me?"

  "That's not allowed, except for feces that can be taken away, not even a fly is permitted to leave."

  Historically disappointed, he got up and hesitated for half a day before leaving Liu Ke.

  "Why bring up my wife?"

  Shi Li thought to himself, calmly leaving the Public Security Bureau building, calmly walking on the road, calmly turning into a pitch-black alley, and then seemed to merge with the darkness. After a long time, beast-like panting sounds came from the darkness, getting more and more urgent, revealing anxiety and restlessness. Finally, a shocking wolf howl echoed through the city's night sky, waking up who knows how many people's beautiful dreams, or becoming the origin of someone's nightmare.

  At this time, Zhang Haiyang had just gotten out of bed. He had slept for a whole day and his eyes no longer hurt. The wound was also recovering well and didn't hinder his movements. Lily was sleeping soundly beside him, her brow furrowed as if something was bothering her.

  On the dinner table there was food, and a stack of papers, which were Lily's records of suspicious events that appeared in today's news.

  "What? Yang Ming was shot?"

  Zhang Haiyang's eyebrows also furrowed.

  After finishing dinner, Zhang Haiyang thought for a long time and decided to go out and gather information. Wang Nian hid this time, and it won't be easy to find him again. There's also the matter of Pi Guang, which should be looked into tomorrow, there must be some explanation.

  Lily was still asleep in her bedroom, her eyebrows relaxed and a faint smile on the corner of her mouth, no one knew what she had dreamed about.

  Zhang Haiyang stood at the door for a while before turning around and leaving.

  "Perhaps we should first investigate Lily's identity."

  Zhang Haiyang thought as he jumped over the wall of the villa district, so his destination tonight was the headquarters of the Qifeng Group.

  It was a quiet night, but for some people it was a bloody night.

  The angel of death leaned against the dark shadow on the street corner, with an unlit cigarette in his mouth, taking a hard drag. He had quit smoking many years ago, but still retained the habit of holding a cigarette, every time before he killed someone, he would bite it for a while, re-familiarizing himself with the route. But for some reason, today he felt a sense of unease, an almost instinctual sense of danger.

  "Grant me courage and faith, for light will dispel all evil, Amen."

  The angel hesitated for a moment, prayed for the first time before killing someone, and then stuck to the wall root and sneaked into the building.

  On the other side of the building, Xupeng had already pinched his nose and flipped into the toilet through the window.

  This building was built in the 1970s and is a typical tube-shaped apartment, old and worn out. The toilet is at the end of the corridor. It used to be a dormitory for bank employees, but now it's mostly occupied by migrant workers from other places, with chaotic management.

  Xu Peng crawled into the toilet and lit a cigarette. It was now 12:30, and the building was quiet and still. The only sound in the bathroom was the faucet dripping. Xu Peng pulled out his hidden knife and swung it twice under the dim light of the bathroom, but he couldn't stop shaking all over. The cigarette quickly burned to the end, and Xu Peng's eyes turned red as he used a handkerchief to tie the knife to his hand. As someone who had been in the underworld for a long time, he knew what would happen if the knife fell into the opponent's hands.

  Wang Nian was in a room on the second floor, reportedly seriously injured, and he went up to chop him a few more times.

  Xu Peng had always been suspicious of the information sent by Gao Tian, hiding in this building with so many people and mouths, would Wang Nian be so stupid? But if Gao Tian didn't send a message and let Xu Peng find it himself, the week's time would soon be wasted, and all he could wait for was death.

  Xu Peng didn't want to die, so he used all his strength to make others die, even if that person was the legendary King of Fighting.

  "If I can't kill you with my axe, I'll at least take a few bites out of you!"

  Xu Peng thought viciously and casually pulled down the clothes that others had hung in the toilet, wrapped them around his feet, and silently made his way to the second floor.

  At this moment, Wang Nian was sitting in the room practicing a set of internal skills passed down from his ancestors. This skill had been lost since his father's generation, but when Wang Nian was young, he coincided with the domestic qigong craze, and his father suddenly took out this skill. More than a dozen people in the family were practicing it, but only Wang Nian practiced it to feel the qi. Others gave up, but Wang Nian persisted, slowly experiencing the wonders of this skill. He could see more clearly than others, move more agilely, have more energy, and had an almost eerie premonition. Wang Nian had been in the Jianghu for many years, and he had survived countless life-and-death battles unscathed, all thanks to the benefits brought by this skill.

  Later, the qigong craze receded due to some charlatans' pseudo-sciences, but Wang Nian continued practicing, and his nightly meditation had become a part of his life.

  Big Brother Wang went to find the dead man's bones and will be back soon.

  Wang Nian was about to finish his meditation when he suddenly heard footsteps coming from the stairs at both ends of the corridor. The steps were not loud and clear, but rather stealthy and cautious, as if trying to avoid making any unnecessary noise.

  "Hitman?"

  Wang Nian's first thought was that his elder brother Wang had betrayed him. He opened his eyes, silently got out of bed and put on his sports shoes, calmly walking to the window to look outside. On the opposite building, there were indeed several flashing points, which were the positions of the snipers.

  "Then let's have a head-on confrontation!"

  Wang Nian pulled out a Tang knife from under his pillow and inserted a short knife into his waist.

  At this time, the person on the east side had already arrived at the door.

  Inside the door was dead silence, and outside it was equally deliberately kept quiet.

  Wang Nian held the Tang knife lightly, swishing it gently in the air. The pale blue blade emitted a cold glow, as if it could cleave through anything. Wang Nian was waiting; the assassin outside couldn't maintain his murderous intent indefinitely - he would take action soon. And when the door opened for an instant, all that awaited the assassin was death.

  Xu Peng had already reached the second floor, but when he looked out, he found a figure standing outside Wang Nian's room. So he hid at the corner to observe. He wondered who this person was, whether it was Wang Nian's helper or someone else who came to kill him? Either way, now wasn't the time for Xu Peng to appear. Therefore, he chose to continue observing.

  Five or six minutes have passed, and the person outside the door still hasn't made a move. Wang Nian's hand gripping the knife has also stopped shaking, he's starting to get anxious. This is a good opponent, if it were when Wang Nian wasn't injured, he would be very excited. But now it's different, because in order to maintain his physical condition, Wang Nian's wound is starting to throb, that's the precursor to it splitting open.

  Whether to continue waiting or break through the siege is a problem.

  Just as Wang Nian was in a state of distraction, the door suddenly burst open and he instinctively swung his knife forward, only to find that what he had cut through was something light and weightless. He had been deceived - it was just a piece of clothing. Wang Nian's heart skipped a beat as he instinctively flipped over onto his back, allowing the blade to pass in front of him once again, still cutting at nothing. Wang Nian's heart continued to plummet, and he truly felt the call of death.

  The sound of gunfire with silencers rang out, continuous and unhurried, like a skilled sniper performing point shooting.

  Wang Nian finally saw the position of the figure after falling to the ground, and it was actually crouching on the side of the door. No wonder both knives had been swung in vain. As soon as Wang Nian clearly saw the location of his opponent, he immediately pushed off the wall with one hand, flipped over and rolled away. The gunshot rang out, and sparks flew in the darkness, dazzlingly bright. Wang Nian felt a numbness in his waist, but he didn't have time to carefully feel where he was injured. With one hand supporting himself on the ground, his foot pushed off the wall again, borrowing force as he charged straight at the killer.

  The man has not arrived, but the blade is already near.

  With just one encounter, all the bullets in the gun were fired. The Blazing Angel had never seen anyone with such agile movements before. Last time, he thought Wang Nian's escape was just a coincidence, but now he no longer thinks so.

  The King of Fighting, this title is indeed not exaggerated at all.

  The angel thrust the pistol at Wang Nian and retreated, just as the blade was about to pierce his abdomen. The angel also drew a combat dagger from his waist and parried Wang Nian's blade with a spark. The two deadly weapons clashed in the darkness, striking out a burst of fire, sounding like a bell ringing.

  Although he avoided the fatal blow, Archangel's abdomen had been cut open, and blood was gushing out. The archangel no longer hesitated, pulled out another combat dagger and plunged forward with his body.

  The corridor is too narrow and Tang Knife is too long to be of use. The only chance for the Blazing Angel is close combat.

  Wang Nian also saw the idea of Chi Tian Shi, Tang Dao in his hand turned once, and changed to reverse grip, from chopping to slashing and sweeping, and the short knife was already in his hand, meeting Chi Tian Shi's stab.

  An inch longer is an inch stronger; Wang Nian uses both long and short blades at this moment, attacking from afar and defending up close, gaining the upper hand.

  Xu Peng was hiding at the corner, shaking all over. Although he often fought and boasted that his fists were invincible in the East District, now he truly understood what a real fight looked like. Compared to those two men in the corridor, he was nothing; probably one punch would send him flying.

  But Yang Ming also had to give an account, either Wang Nian died or he died.

  Xu Peng wiped away a cold sweat, gritted his teeth and rushed out from the corner, holding up his hidden knife to slash at Wang Nian.

  Xu Peng didn't notice that behind him, a sinister gaze was following closely, with Big Brother Wang Zheng quietly holding a 30-centimeter long leg bone.

  Wang Nian had already identified the killer, Zuo Tian Shi, as the one who had been pursuing him non-stop since he first appeared. Now that he had reappeared, Wang Nian decided to kill him no matter what. He struck with ruthless precision, each blow aimed at a vital spot. In just over a minute, Zuo Tian Shi was covered in wounds, and if not for his quick reflexes, he would have died more than a dozen times already.

  Wang Nian was getting anxious about not being able to solve the problem of Zhu Tian Shi, and just then, footsteps suddenly came from behind. Wang Nian used a short knife to hold off Ge Dou's dagger and pulled Zhu Tian Shi to one side. Tang Dao slashed towards Zhu Tian Shi's neck, forcing him to retreat backwards. Wang Nian took advantage of the opportunity to slash Tang Dao fiercely towards his back.

  However, he split empty air again because the newcomer had already fallen to the ground with a white leg bone inserted into his back.

  Wang Nianyi was stunned and suddenly realized that his older brother Wang had returned, he hadn't betrayed himself.

  "Be careful!"

  Big Brother Wang shouted loudly, but unexpectedly, the fierce heavenly messenger threw out a fighting dagger and did not take advantage of this opportunity to kill Wang Nian. Instead, he chose to turn around and escape towards the stairs.

  In the VIP room of the hospital, Yang Ming was hugging his shoulders and watching the surveillance video on the computer. The angel fell into the stairs, Wang Nian didn't chase after him, but instead pulled Xu Peng's body into the room with his brother Wang.

  That room couldn't be installed with surveillance cameras, so Yang Ming didn't know what Wang Nian was doing.

  Yang Ming's hands were shaking, and he wasn't the only one; Gao Tian beside him was also shaking violently.

  "You're indeed the king of assassins!"

  Yang Ming said, his hands were pressed tightly on the position of the heart, as if not doing so would cause the heart to jump out of the chest cavity.

  "Let's all go up together!"

  Gao Tian asked, and Yang Ming nodded slightly.

  "Go and take care of it, get rid of that useless angel too. This time you're not allowed to slip up again, Wang Nian is too dangerous."

  In the dilapidated room, Wang Nian was drawing a red line around Xu Peng's corpse, then stuck the black jade and the leg bone smeared with fresh blood together. After thinking for a moment, he cut open a wound on his own arm, letting the blood drip between the jade and the bone, muttering to himself.

  Big Brother Wang was puzzled, wondering what Wang Nian was doing when he suddenly saw the blood on the leg bone disappear. Then, Xu Peng's corpse started to convulse violently, emitting a blue glow all over his body, as if the corpse had come back to life or was being electrocuted.

  After a burst of intense light, the room was filled with a pungent smell of burning.

  But strangely, Xu Peng's body disappeared, replaced by a virtual shadow floating in mid-air.

  "From today on, I am your master!"

  Wang Nian held the black jade yin symbol in his hand and said to the illusory shadow with eyes shining brightly.

  "It turns out, another corpse is needed..."

  The big brother Wang beside him seemed to be thinking of something and suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.