A dozen or so minutes later.
"S-Sir, it was all Xu Peng's idea."
The two Rock Gang members squatted in the corner with their hands on their heads, their faces pale as they spoke in trembling voices.
All the arrogance they had when they first arrived was gone. Now, whenever they looked up and met Lu Chao's calm, scrutinizing gaze, a flicker of terror would rise in their eyes. They were utterly terrified.
"Ever since he failed to collect the protection fee last time—because he got taught a lesson by Brother Hao of the Hongyi Society—he's been dead set on getting revenge."
"We didn't mean for it to get this big at first! It's all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding…"
As they explained in quavering voices, Lu Chao narrowed his eyes.
He glanced toward a corner of the workshop. Xu Peng was lying there in a pool of black oil, his head covered in blood, his breathing faint.
The other man, a burly thug in a tank top, had a shattered jaw. His thoracic spine was broken, his ribs were fractured, and his modified lung glands were ruptured. His face was a swollen, distorted mess as he lay unconscious on the ground.
He hadn't held back. Unless these two could afford expensive surgery to repair and implant new cybernetics, it was doubtful they would ever walk again.
"What else?"
Lu Chao asked calmly, continuing to press for useful information.
Revenge was a decent motive. 'But wasn't Xu Peng afraid of Brother Hao?'
Waiting a full three months before suddenly showing up to specifically target Zhao Yuanqing… 'Something about it feels off,' he thought.
"Right! I remember now!"
One of the cowering Rock Gang members nodded eagerly. "Xu Peng has been getting close with the Iron Blood Gang lately. They often gamble together at night…"
'The Iron Blood Gang?'
Lu Chao's gaze sharpened, and he mentally filed the name away.
For some reason, it reminded him of the bodies he had seen at the cleanup site. Rumor had it that those men had ties to the Iron Blood Gang.
As the thought crossed his mind, he heard footsteps approaching from the side. Zhao Yuanqing, still in his black and blue work uniform, strode over, holding several items.
There was a stack of cash, about three or four thousand Alliance Coins. He also had two small, syringe-like vials of a pale silver liquid. Each was about a finger long and three fingers thick.
The former had been taken from Xu Peng, while the latter was found in the modified motorcycle he hadn't ridden away.
"I can't believe it. That bastard Xu Peng was actually carrying neuro-stabilizers."
Zhao Yuanqing handed everything to Lu Chao, clicking his tongue in amazement. "This stuff isn't cheap. Almost ten thousand a pop. They must have belonged to him and the other guy."
"Oh?"
Slightly surprised, Lu Chao took the vials and looked them over.
'I really didn't expect this kind of haul tonight,' he thought.
"What are you going to do?" Zhao Yuanqing asked, a worried look on his face.
Xu Peng was a minor leader in the Rock Gang, but they had another boss, a Fighting Level master named Rock.
If this wasn't handled properly, they would likely face retaliation.
"Don't worry."
Putting away the vials, Lu Chao had already come up with a plan.
Judging from the Rock Gang's style and the interrogation just now, Xu Peng and his partner didn't have any close friends in the gang.
On top of that, they were crippled now, completely useless. In a gang, their fate was all but sealed. It was unlikely anyone would stick their neck out for them.
The Rock Gang might even dispose of them to recoup the costs of their cybernetic implants and maintenance.
As for whether the Rock Gang would get humiliated and come for revenge…
"Brother Hao won't let them get away with it."
Lu Chao said softly, pointing to the smart watch on his left wrist.
He had already informed Brother Hao of the situation.
The Rock Gang had defied his warning by coming to the repair shop for revenge. This wasn't just an attack on Zhao Yuanqing; it was a slap in the face to Brother Hao.
"I see."
Understanding dawned on Zhao Yuanqing's face as he pieced things together.
Brother Hao was usually easygoing with them, but he was a genuine "red stick" of the Hongyi Society. There were even rumors that he was about to take over as a Hall Master, a time when he needed to establish his authority.
Clearly, the Rock Gang had just walked into the line of fire.
"Let's leave it at that, then."
Having a good idea of the outcome, Lu Chao said, not too worried.
Even if the worst happened, as long as the difference in Life Energy wasn't too great, he wasn't afraid of another Fighting Level master.
With that thought, he looked at the two men cowering with their hands on their heads.
"Take them and get lost."
"Huh? Y-Yes, sir!!"
The two Rock Gang members felt as if they'd been granted amnesty. They scrambled to their feet, ready to leave.
But their relief was short-lived.
"Wait."
At the sound of his voice, both men froze.
They turned their heads to see Lu Chao giving them a meaningful smile.
...
CLICK!
Back in his room on Factory Street that night, Lu Chao closed the door behind him and shook his head with a slight chuckle.
'Those two guys weren't so bad. They really were carrying some cash. Almost four or five thousand in total.'
'This way, I can pay Yuanqing back.'
Lu Chao felt no guilt about taking money from the Rock Gang. They were just bullies who preyed on the weak and specialized in extortion.
'Consider it robbing the rich to feed the poor,' he mused.
Then, he glanced down.
The back of his hand was wrapped with a few layers of gauze, a simple treatment for his injury.
'A basic civilian-model bionic prosthetic. It can generate over a hundred kilograms of force.'
'If I hadn't broken through to Fighting Level, that would have been a tough fight.'
He gently clenched his fist. The injury wasn't serious and didn't affect his combat ability; it was just a superficial wound.
Only now did he truly understand the difference between a fighter and an ordinary person, especially the importance of a technique like Rock Hide.
A mere clash with that metal prosthetic would have been enough to severely injure an ordinary person, maybe even break their bones. But he had used his Martial Arts Power to withstand the brunt of the impact, emerging almost unscathed.
Thinking of this, Lu Chao began to review the day's events.
From the moment he heard the commotion to when he made his move, everything had happened in a flash.
Xu Peng and the burly man in the tank top actually had some skill; they were very close to Fighting Level. If he hadn't caught them by surprise, the outcome would have been uncertain.
'Goes to show, you can never let your guard down.'
'Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit. You have to stay vigilant, even when you're stronger.'
His understanding of actual combat deepened. Finally, Lu Chao took out his spoils of war from his pocket.
A full thirty-one Alliance Coin bills, each stamped with a blue planet.
And the two junior-grade neuro-stabilizers.
These were also vials produced by the Biotechnology Company. Even sold on the black market at a discount, they would fetch a good seventeen or eighteen thousand.
After some back-and-forth, Zhao Yuanqing had adamantly refused to take them, so Lu Chao kept everything.
'All together, it's over twenty thousand.'
'This should be enough to buy plenty of supplements and Exotic Beast Meat. Maybe I can even try to get a Life Potion?'
Lu Chao considered how to best use this windfall to maximize his strength.
After weighing his options, he finally looked at his panel.
[Potential Progress: 99%]
He was just a sliver away from completion, which would activate a new talent.