Sin Becomes a God

Chapter 36: The Friends Were Stunned

Under the incredulous gaze of Kamben Ichiro, Onimaru Jiro—known as the second-best fighter in the Sumiyoshi-kai—clutched his neck and collapsed to the ground. Especially with the five glaringly bright, blood-red holes in Onimaru Jiro’s neck oozing dark-red blood—this scene made it clear to Kanben Ichiro that today was no April Fools’ Day. As Lu Renjia’s cheetah-like figure closed in, a wave of mortal fear caused Kanemoto Ichiro to cry out in panic, “Stop him… stop him…” The third-in-command of the Sumiyoshi-kai, who was usually so confident and in complete control, now looked like a panicked young girl—even as the fearless Sumiyoshi-kai gunmen at his side continued to pull the triggers. But to Lu Renjia—a martial artist at the peak of the second tier—even the fastest ordinary person moved as slowly as a snail. Even though his opponent was armed with a gun, Lu Renjia could predict the bullet’s trajectory based on the slightest shift in the man’s shoulders. Thus, a single sidestep was all it took to dodge the shot. Although he couldn’t understand Japanese, Lu Renjia’s eyes remained fixed on his target, Kambon Kazuo. The man let out a stream of shrill screams, sounding just like the cries for help from the cowardly Japanese high-ranking officers in those over-the-top anti-Japanese war dramas. Lu Renjia shouted with malicious glee, “Scream all you want… even if you scream your throat raw, no one will pay you any mind…” “Swish, swish, swish…” His claws slashed out in rapid succession; his white fingernails, each about ten centimeters long, were as sharp as surgical scalpels. Two more Sumiyoshi-kai gunmen clutched the bleeding wounds on their necks, convulsed, and collapsed to the ground. Jimmy—the illegitimate son of Gao Laowen, the boss of the He Sheng Gang—was already in a state of shock. Although he usually acted brazenly and arrogantly, relying on his gang’s reputation, how could the back-and-forth brawls among triad members compare to the one-sided slaughter carried out by Lu Renjia? Jimmy, who had long since cowered in a corner, was relieved by one thing: Lu Renjia’s target wasn’t him, but Kōben Ichirō, the third-in-command of the Sumiyoshi-kai. “Gulp…” Ichio Kanemoto swallowed nervously. The elite Sumiyoshi-kai gunmen who had accompanied him now lay dead on the ground. Watching the man in the casual suit walk slowly toward him, Kamben Ichiro’s legs trembled so violently that he didn’t even have the courage to flee. As for the He Shenghe faction, not only had seven or eight of their gunmen been killed, but even now—with Lu Renjia with his back to them—these ordinary men, their courage completely shattered, didn’t even have the nerve to fire a shot at his back. After all, in the world of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Demon Cult Leader*, Lu Renjia—whose soul had traveled through time to possess Song Qingshu—had slaughtered well over a thousand people. The faint yet palpable aura of murder he now inadvertently emitted would make even the fiercest beasts freeze in their tracks, let alone humans. “Don’t… don’t kill me… he… how much did they pay you… I’ll pay double… I, Kang Ben Yifu, will pay ten times that…” In his haste, Kang Ben Yifu actually pulled out a checkbook. Lu Renjia was taken aback and couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh? You speak Chinese? You should’ve said so earlier… You know, what’s most lacking between people is communication… I’m actually quite easy to deal with… But unfortunately, a loser’s integrity is priceless…” He spread his fingers wide and clamped them directly onto Kamben Ichiro’s forehead; his sharp fingernails pierced the skin as easily as a knife cutting through tofu. Under Kamben Ichiro’s incredulous gaze, the sound of shattering glass—“crack… crack”—echoed in his ears. “Pop, pop, pop…” He withdrew his fingers, and his fair, jade-like nails were not stained with a single drop of blood. Jimmy, who had grown up immersed in all kinds of comics, couldn’t help but gasp at the scene before him. “No… no way? The Nine Yin White Bone Claw?” To his surprise, Lu Renjia turned around with an air of swagger, raised his sharp nails at the petrified Jimmy, and grinned menacingly, “Kid… want to give it a try?” The gunfire—which had lasted no more than two or three minutes—and the screams of passersby had long since alerted Gao Laowen, who was waiting inside the Hongyun Restaurant. Gao Lao Wen’s heart skipped a beat. This deal with the Ji Society involved a partnership worth over 100 million, and next year was the triennial leadership election for He Sheng He. If this partnership succeeded, he might stand a chance at re-election. “What’s going on! Ah Long… Ah Hu! Go check it out…” Gao Lao Wen barked in a deep voice. Just then, a panicked Jimmy stumbled and scrambled his way inside. “Dad… Dad… um… that… that Kamben Kazuhito’s been taken out…” In his panic, Jimmy actually blurted out the name that Gao Laowen had forbidden him from using. Gao Laowen’s eyes flashed with fury, and he slapped him across the face. “Smack…” “What did you just say! Damn it… What are you standing there for… Hurry up and see if Ichio Kanemoto can still be saved! Call an ambulance!!!” Rubbing his burning cheek, Jimmy felt deeply wronged. In the underworld, bringing family into the mix is the worst taboo,a principle Jimmy understood all too well. Moreover, He Sheng He wasn’t like Xin Ji—a gang passed down from father to son. If the wrong people found out he was Gao Laowen’s illegitimate son, not only would rival gangs use him to blackmail Gao Laowen, but when the time came to elect a new boss, other contenders within He Sheng He might even try to take him out. Sighing, Jimmy shook his head and said, “It’s hopeless, Boss. Ichio Konben’s brains were literally squeezed out—calling an ambulance wouldn’t have helped… It’s terrifying… Not only did every member of the Sumiyoshi-kai get killed, but even on our side, seven or eight of us are dead… Thank God that guy wasn’t targeting us; otherwise… Boss, we’d better get out of here fast, or the cops will be here any minute…” The shrewd and calculating Gao Laowen felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing Jimmy’s words. To be able to kill Ichio Kanemoto with over twenty gunmen present—an assassin with that kind of skill is practically one of a kind in all of Asia. And given that the target was Ichio Kanemoto, the mastermind behind this could only be the Yamaguchi-gumi or the Inagawa-gumi. After all, while Japan’s three major yakuza groups appeared to coexist peacefully, the open and covert struggles between them had never ceased. “Let’s get out of here first… Have all the brothers investigate! We must find out where this assassin came from—at the very least, we owe the Sumiyoshi-kai an explanation…” With that, Tall Man Wen led Jimmy and his men out through the back door of the Hongyun Restaurant. Far away in the server room of the “Seeking the Way” Internet café in Shendu, a grin spread across Fatso’s face like a freshly steamed bun. “Hahaha… I’ve struck gold… I really, damn it, struck gold… Good thing I went all out with the charade—I even filled up the motorcycle’s tank. Otherwise, I’d be in big trouble…” “Fei… Fei Lao… the motorcycle is full of gas, but Lu Renjia didn’t ride it away like you told him to…” Xiao Bai said, pointing at the motorcycle still parked in the alley behind Hongyun Restaurant on the computer screen. Following Xiao Bai’s finger to the image on the screen, Fatso’s laughter came to an abrupt halt. He froze for a moment, then cried out nervously, “Th—then where did he go? The streets are swarming with cops right now… It probably won’t be long before even the He Sheng He gang gets involved… That kid—where the hell did he go…” After all, ever since the death of “Ghost Shadow”—whom he had painstakingly groomed—Fatso had been desperate to find a successor. Now that he’d discovered Lu Renjia’s abilities actually surpassed those of the original “Ghost Shadow,” that feeling of having found a lost treasure—how could Fatso possibly give up on Lu Renjia, his cash cow? Just as Fatso was about to have Xiao Bai use all the surveillance footage in Tsim Sha Tsui to track down Lu Renjia, Xiao Bai said hesitantly, “It’s no good… Fatso, the cops over in Hong Kong have already caught on and sent out a few top agents to track us back…” “Well… first, delete every single frame of Lu Renjia from all the surveillance footage… We absolutely can’t let him be exposed…” “Don’t worry about that. It’ll take them at least twenty minutes to use my Trojan to track me down… but it’ll take me less than ten minutes to destroy all footage of Lu Renjia from the surveillance feeds…” As he spoke, Xiao Bai’s hands flew across two keyboards simultaneously. “Click…” After hitting the Enter key, Xiao Bai let out a long breath. “Done…” Just then, the desk phone rang abruptly. Fei Lao saw the caller ID and hurriedly answered the call. “Hello… Lu Renjia, where are you right now? Why didn’t you follow the route I sent you? The streets are swarming with police looking for you…” Before the other person could finish, Lu Renjia’s icy voice came through the phone: “I remember when we first met, you said that trust is the most important thing between people. Yet during our first collaboration, you betrayed the trust I placed in you… Do you really think I’d trust the escape route you arranged for me? Thirty or forty gunmen, plus a martial arts master… 500,000? Are you messing with me, you fatso!!! Do you think I won’t go back to Shendu, smash your internet café… and then flay all that fat off your body to make gutter oil?” Lu Renjia’s words left the fat guy momentarily speechless. The man he’d originally thought of as a scapegoat had turned out to be a killing machine—and his prowess was something even “Ghost Shadow” would find hard to match. “Don’t… don’t get mad. The 500,000 is just a down payment; there’s still 4. 5 million USD left to collect… As soon as the money clears, I’ll transfer it to you immediately… This time, I won’t even take a commission—that settles it, right? You’re in serious danger right now… I reckon it won’t be long before the whole of Hong Kong is hunting you down. Do you know who you killed? That’s…” “You fat bastard… I don’t care about any of that, and I don’t want to know the identities of the people I’ve killed. All I know is that if I find even one zero missing from that account, once I get back to Shendu, I’ll make sure you’ll wish you were dead… As for how I’m getting back, that’s none of your business…” With that, Lu Renjia let out a cold smile, and the power of the Bone-Crushing Palm surged forth, instantly reducing the cell phone in his palm to dust. Hearing the busy signal on the other end of the line, the Fat Guy could only sigh helplessly. “Ah… looks like this guy’s not going to be easy to control… I wonder if we’ve hit the jackpot or just landed ourselves in trouble…” “What should we do next?” Xiao Bai asked. “What else can we do? We’ll just have to wire the money to that kid… He already knows we ripped him off, and if we shortchange him on the commission… I don’t think he’ll let us off that easily…” Fei Lao said helplessly. Compared to the rollercoaster of emotions Fatty and Xiao Bai were going through, the entire city of Hong Kong was destined for a sleepless night. After all, Kamben Ichiro was the third-in-command of the Sumiyoshi-kai, and he’d been brutally murdered right there on the street in broad daylight. As an international crime syndicate, the Sumiyoshi-kai simply couldn’t let this slide. In an instant, every police officer in Hong Kong was mobilized, and the incident even alerted the mysterious Chinese organization known as “Gatekeeper.”