Chapter 7 Street Fighting

In a remote and deserted alley, several figures were gathering. The alley was so dark that their faces couldn't be seen clearly.

"You are Marcus Haywood, aren't you? Someone asked me to have a 'nice talk' with you." A lewd voice sounded.

Marcus took a few steps backward until his back hit the wall. He crossed his arms over his chest leisurely even as the men surrounded him.

"Someone asked you to talk to me? Who could that be? And what did they tell you?"

Marcus and Shawn were on their way home from school when a group of hooligans blocked their way and took them to this alley.

"Don't you know who you have offended? You know what? If you come clean and cooperate with us, I might consider letting you go without a scratch."

The leader of the thugs was tall and strong. His eyes sparkled with malice.

Shawn waved at them. "Hey, guys! You can see me, right? Why have you all just completely ignored me?"

"And who the hell do you think you are? You are just a sidekick. Shut up!"

The leader shot Shawn a murderous glare. His cohorts waved their clubs, intending to beat him up if he did anything stupid.

Shawn's eyes darkened. He turned his head to Marcus and said, "Stop wasting our time with them, dude. Let's just beat them up!"

With these words, he threw a punch at the abdomen of the person closest to him. A loud thump was heard. It was obvious he had exerted a lot of strength in that punch. The attacked thug collapsed to the ground immediately.

Marcus also started fighting. He tried to snatch the club from the leader's hand. Unfortunately, his effort failed. The leader managed to dodge his advance.

Interesting! It seemed this guy was well-trained. Marcus then threw more punches at the leader, who dodged again and even fought back.

In an instant, a fierce battle began. The sound of bodies dropping and of blows cracking bones, could be heard clearly. The stench of blood and sweat also filled the air.

The longer Marcus and Shawn fought, the deadlier they became. Their minds were set on defeating this group. As youngsters who grew up in a military base, they had been trained to fight. People with ordinary fighting skills had nothing on them.

However, this group of men were no ordinary hooligans. Each of their punches and blows was ruthless. They aimed to kill.

Shortly after, the two boys looked at each other as they realized something was terribly wrong.

Before they could figure out what it was, Marcus received a big blow on his back. It came from one of the thugs.

He staggered forward and almost fell to the ground.

"Marcus!"

Shawn held his friend's body. After propping him up against the wall, he stood up and stared at the erring thug with killing intent. He was just about to charge forward when someone kicked him from the back. He fell to the ground with a thud.

The men quickly surrounded them. Both Shawn and Marcus couldn't move a muscle now.

"Who on earth sent you here?" Although Marcus was in pain, he still had a calm expression on his face. He looked down on these hooligans even though they had beaten him up and were holding him hostage.

"Didn't you hear me the first time? Someone you offended hired me to teach you a lesson!" The leader chuckled and squatted.

When their eyes met, Marcus' pupils shrank. He saw that there were calluses on the man's palm and index finger. It was obvious that these men often held guns. They weren't just ordinary street bums.

It appeared that these guys were out to spill blood today. Marcus began to think of a way out.

"Mr. Haywood, what are you thinking about? You are planning to escape, right? Newsflash! You can't get away, and no one will save you today!" The man had nothing to fear.

Marcus' eyes narrowed. He suddenly had a theory of who had hired these men to deal with him. It seemed to him that their employer was one of those from the capital.

"We have been waiting for you here for so long. Now, we have to get down to business. Should we start with breaking your leg?" An evil smile appeared on the man's face.

"You know who I am, but you still had the guts to harm me. It seems you were paid well for the job. Let me guess. It can't be one of those gutless losers from the inferior families. So, a member of the Haywood family must have hired you. Judging by your look, I'm right." Marcus smiled back at him. He had come to Bluabert because he couldn't handle the drama back in the capital. Now, it appeared that those guys still didn't want to let him be.

Shawn stopped wincing in pain and said, "They have gone too far, Marcus."

"Well, there's no point interrogating me, Mr. Haywood. I was paid, so I intended to do my job well. I can't let you go just like that." The leader snapped his fingers at one of his men, who immediately stepped forward with a hammer. He then aimed at Marcus' leg.

"Don't you dare!" Shawn shouted.

The leader chuckled and raised his hand to signal his subordinate to carry on with it. Marcus was about to fight his way out when—

Click! Click!

A clicking sound came from a close distance.

The silhouette of a girl suddenly appeared in the alley. She stood against the light so they couldn't see her face.

"Hey, little girl. I'm sure you don't want to see what's going on here. I advise you to turn around and take another route." The gang leader assumed that the girl was just an oblivious passerby.

"I'm sorry. I really want to take this path today. Please excuse me." The girl took another two steps forward. At this moment, a chink of light fell on her. She was wearing an ordinary sportswear and looked a little weak, but she definitely had a delicate and beautiful face.

This girl was none other than Emberly! She had better hearing than the average human being. She was just passing by the entrance of the alley when she heard the words, "the Haywood family". A handsome face then flashed through her mind. She then turned around and walked towards them.

"Oh, it's you, Marcus and Shawn?" What a coincidence! Emberly didn't expect to see her classmates here. She was surprised since she was thinking about the Haywood family in Esabury. Then it suddenly dawned on her Marcus' surname was also Haywood.

Both Marcus and Shawn were shocked. Wasn't this their new classmate? Oh God! Why was she here? Marcus' heart sank. As far as he was concerned, he had a good chance to escape with Shawn. But now that Emberly was here and they had one more person to take care of, the chance became extremely slim. He feared that she would be harmed since she already showed that she knew them.

Sure enough, the leader of the gang became even more annoyed when he learned that these three were classmates. It seemed like he wasn't going to let Emberly go.

He winked at his subordinates. Two of them quietly sneaked up on Emberly from behind, holding their bloodied sticks.

"Watch out!" Marcus and Shawn shouted in unison.

Emberly had already sensed the danger. She dodged the blows swiftly. While she was down, she kicked one man in the leg and hit his back with her elbow. She dealt a blow to the back of the other man's neck. In the blink of an eye, both men fell to the ground.

The alley suddenly became as silent as a graveyard.

Shawn's mouth was wide open. How did Emberly do that? Wasn't she from the countryside? Come to think of it. Why did a country bumpkin read the Wealth of Nations? And where did she learn to fight like that?

Could it be that she got the skill while hunting wild animals in the bushes? What was going on?

The gang leader couldn't believe his eyes. He was shocked to see that a weak little girl took down two of his men. He waved his hand, and the rest of his men rushed forward. Marcus and Shawn took the opportunity to put up a fight again.

The alley turned into a battleground again. Emberly fought the men, skillfully aiming every strike at the right spots.

She put her knowledge of the human body into good use now. Her seemingly light moves had great impacts.

The three high-schoolers worked together to defeat the enemy. In a matter of minutes, the men were all groaning on the ground. Marcus squatted and said to the leader, "Go and tell whoever sent you that... This is not over!"

He then picked up the hammer from the ground, raised it over his head, and brought it down on the man's knee.

"Ah!" The leader's bloodcurdling scream was heard. A second later, hatred gleamed in his eyes. He reached for the purse strapped on his waist.

"Are you looking for this?" Emberly looked at him with a smile. A gun with a silencer appeared in her hand magically. It seemed dark and cold.

The man's heart was even colder than the gun. He gritted his teeth as he glared at Emberly. Who was this girl? When did she steal his gun? Why didn't he notice?

Emberly slowly put the gun against the man's forehead.

The man began to shake like a jellyfish. His arrogance vanished into thin air. He was scared for his life. When he saw that Emberly was smiling at him with murderous intent, he wished he could just overpower and strangle her on the spot. But he couldn't. Instead, he was the one on the chopping board right now.

"Hmm. A Glock 17 is hard to come by. You got it from a military arsenal, didn't you?" Emberly pulled the gun away from his head. Her fingers moved swiftly. Before anyone knew what was happening, the pistol was disassembled into parts.

The hitman's eyes widened as he saw the parts crashing to the ground. This swift disassembling technique was only known to those who had used guns for years. How did this girl, whose hands were as smooth as that of a baby, know how to do that? It was unbelievable!

Meanwhile, Marcus was shocked by what Emberly said. The pistol was gotten from a military arsenal? Which one of his uncles got this man a gun, and sent him to get rid of their nephew?

As Marcus was lost in thought, he sized Emberly up. It was said that she came from a remote village in the countryside. She not only knew how to fight well, but also knew how to handle a gun. There was no way she was just the daughter of a farmer. Marcus wanted to interrogate her, but he decided against it since she had just saved his life.

The Emberly who grew up in the countryside knew nothing about guns or fighting, but the Emberly who once lived in the Star Age in her another life knew all about it. She had gone to war even.

Marcus quickly knocked all the men out.

"I don't think we have introduced ourselves. I'm Marcus Haywood. If you need anything, don't hesitate to inform me."

"No, thanks. I didn't do this for you anyway," Emberly said casually and walked out of the alley.

Both friends exchanged confused looks. "What did she mean? Does that mean she came to save me, not you?" Shawn uttered jokingly again.

Marcus slapped him on the head. "Dude, don't talk nonsense!"

"Ouch! What else was she trying to say if not that? After all, we are the only ones she knows here!" Shawn said with grievance.

Marcus replied, "Stop being dumb. Perhaps she meant that she only did it out of the goodness of her heart."

"Well..." Shawn was speechless.

He still wanted to protect, when Marcus' phone suddenly rang.

Marcus picked it up. "Hello, Uncle Austin." His tone became respectful.

"Turn around." A deep and nice-hearing male voice sounded.

"What? Are you in Bluabert?" Marcus looked back with joy.

A black luxury car was parked at the entrance of the alley. The window was wound down. A man's handsome face came into view. He had a sharp jaw, bushy eyebrows, and deep blue eyes. He exuded a noble aura.

"Uncle Austin." Shawn called out respectfully as well. The Haywoods and the McCoys had been friends for many generations.

The handsome man nodded slightly. He was Austin Haywood, the most powerful member of the Haywood family even though he was only twenty-three years old. He was the fifth son of the patriarch. As the eldest grandson of the family, Marcus had been extremely stubborn and disrespectful. The only person he respected in the family was Austin.

No one knew the extent of what Austin was capable of, but they never dared to step on his toes. Everyone in the Haywood family and the other top families in Esabury was respectful to him.

"What the hell happened to you two?" Austin asked, taking a look at the boys, whose clothes were torn and bloodied.

Marcus explained, "Just now, a group of deadly men cornered us and tried to smash one of my legs. They are from Esabury. I suspect that... They're behind this." He was talking about his two other uncles.

A hint of coldness flashed through Austin's eyes when he heard this. "Ungrateful bastards. Ian, find something to keep them busy. Maybe start with the land in the western suburbs." His tone was lazy, but his words were ruthless.

"Yes, sir!" Ian, the driver, answered respectfully.

"Did you get hurt?" Austin asked casually, expecting a negative answer. He knew both boys could fight well.

"No, a classmate passed by and helped us." Marcus was a little bit ashamed to admit that they were saved by a girl.

"A classmate helped you? Was it that girl in white?" Austin grew curious. He remembered seeing a girl walking out of the alley just as he arrived. He had noticed that she was of average height and had a beautiful face.

"It should be her." Marcus pursed his lips.

Austin stared at his nephew in disbelief.

After a while, he said slowly, "Marcus, last time I checked, you were still a good fighter. Don't tell me you forgot all that you learned for years just because you have been away for a while. You know what? You must return to the training base with me. Shawn, you are coming along."

"Okay, Uncle Austin." Marcus nodded. He didn't want to stay inferior to a girl.

"You have no idea what happened, Uncle Austin. It's not that we have forgotten all the skills you taught us. That girl is just a creep!" Shawn pouted as he got implicated.