Chapter 420

Chapter 420 The Craft Takes Shape!

At that moment, Su Rui and Zhang Ziwei stood side by side on the deck, gazing at the vast expanse of blue ocean and seagulls soaring in the wind, feeling completely refreshed, all the exhaustion of the past many days having melted away.

After a good night’s rest, Zhang Ziwei looked remarkably well. The voyage from the East by ship back to Huaxia took only two short days. She turned her head, looked at Su Rui’s profile, and suddenly felt something stir within her — a wish that these two days of travel could stretch into two months, or even two years.

People all live in this mortal world, and it’s impossible to stay removed from it forever. Life can’t always go the way you want it to, and there are always too many burdens to carry — ones you can’t run from or hide from. It’s rare to have a chance to truly unwind, and moments like these are so hard to let go of.

Zhang Ziwei laughed at herself with a self-deprecating smile, mocking herself for having such an unrealistic thought. She and Su Rui were people from two different classes, even two different worlds. Her one-sided feelings for him were like an ugly duckling falling for a white swan — and that ugly duckling was her.

Better to just focus on managing and running the Qinglong Gang well. That might at least help close the distance between them a little.

“Looks like we’ve fallen behind on our schedule getting back.” Su Rui squinted against the sea breeze and said with a smile, “I’d guess the gang’s ten-year tournament has already marked me as a forfeit.”

Today was the round of 16 elimination matches. The opponent who had been preparing to face Su Rui had probably already braced themselves for a forfeit, but Su Rui never showed up at the venue. This unexpected surprise was probably enough to make that guy ecstatic.

“The Yuanwei Gang, the Heroes’ Association, and the Desert Wolf Gang have all withdrawn. This ten-year tournament has lost the meaning it was supposed to have. With Yinglaji and Zhou Xianwei there, the Qinglong Gang should be able to take the championship without much trouble.” Zhang Ziwei said, a faint trace of regret showing in her eyes.

Such a beautiful view, such a wonderful atmosphere, and yet Su Rui was talking shop with her.

“Once we’re back, send out all of Xintang’s people and focus your efforts on investigating the connection between the Desert Wolf Gang and the Yamamoto Group. The fact that the Yamamoto Group was able to send assassins to take out the Yan father and son means there must have been some secret between them that couldn’t be made public.”

“I’ll get on it right away once I’m back.” Zhang Ziwei nodded. Such a lovely view, and talking about work was really killing the mood.

After they finished talking, the two fell silent again, leaning on the railing and taking in the scenery.

Not far away, a few men smoking cigarettes were leering in their direction. “Hey, that babe over there is something else — slim figure, nice chest, great ass. She’s top-tier.”

The man speaking wore black-framed glasses and looked dark-skinned and scrawny, with slicked-back shiny hair, but his flashy designer outfit made him impossible to ignore.

“I always say, taking a ship back is way more exciting than flying. Think about it — out here on the open sea, what kind of chance encounter can’t happen? You might just run into a Titanic-style one-night stand. Flying is so boring — it’s only a two-hour flight, what can you even do? Not even enough time for a quickie in the bathroom.”

The men’s conversation was utterly crude, their eyes roaming up and down Zhang Ziwei’s figure, seemingly not caring at all that Su Rui was standing right beside her.

“That girl is something, alright. What, you thinking about making a move? Can’t you see she’s already taken?”

“So what if she’s taken? We boys specifically love going after women who are taken — there’s a special thrill to it, you know?”

“Exactly, Jiaming is great at that. Last time this guy went to a friend’s wedding, he locked the door while the bride was changing into her toast dress and had his way with her — she was still in her wedding gown at the time.”

It turned out the dark-skinned, scrawny man was called Jiaming. Hearing his friend’s words, he smiled smugly, his tone full of self-satisfaction. “You only know half the story. When I was with the bride, the makeup artist was watching from the side — and then I went ahead and did the makeup artist too. Neither of them were much to look at, but it was exciting enough.”

“Aren’t you afraid the groom would find out and come after you?”

“So what if he does, he wouldn’t dare. The name Bai Jiaming carries some weight around here — does he really have the guts to come settle scores with me? Besides, the bride wouldn’t say anything to protect her own reputation, so that’s exactly why going after married women is so thrilling.”

“So how about we go take care of that girl right here and now?”

“Of course — it’s rare to come across someone this top-tier. We have to make a move. More fun when the brothers all get in on it.”

Bai Jiaming took a cheerful drag of his cigarette and said with a lecherous grin, “Once the guy next to her walks away, that’s my cue.”

For him, this kind of behavior was so routine it was more normal than eating or sleeping.

When mealtime came, Su Rui and Zhang Ziwei went to the restaurant to eat, after which Su Rui said, “You head back to your room and rest. I’m going to check on Jin Taizhu.”

Zhang Ziwei held a cup of hot coffee, shook her head, and smiled. “I’ll go up to the deck and get some sea air.”

Su Rui walked to Jin Taizhu’s cabin, and the moment he opened the door, a thick, heavy smell of blood hit him, nearly choking him.

“Good grief, you could at least air the place out a bit.”

Su Rui was just venting though — he wouldn’t actually open the window, because if the other passengers caught a whiff of this smell, there was no telling what kind of panic it would cause.

Jin Taizhu hadn’t left the room all day, working with complete focus on finishing that “work of art.”

This Sun God Guard, known for his seriousness, was strictly carrying out Su Rui’s orders — meticulously “processing” every joint, every tendon, every piece of cartilage, and every inch of skin on Yamamoto Gokusen’s hands. And he had also remembered Su Rui’s other requirement — slow.

Every movement he made was as if slowed down many times over, and under these conditions, the slower the pace, the more intense the suffering. Slow it down by half, and the pain doubles accordingly.

The saying that the fingers are connected to the heart is absolutely no exaggeration. Throughout this process of being “meticulously crafted,” Yamamoto Gokusen had been jolted awake by pain many times, only to pass out again many times. Looking at the silent, utterly unmoved man before him, he finally realized that his own so-called ruthlessness was not even in the same league as this man — not even close.

After all the skin and flesh had been stripped away, the right hand that Yamamoto Gokusen had used to wield his blade all his life was reduced to nothing but bare white bone.

The white bone was streaked with lines of blood, making it all the more horrifying to look at.

What made it even more gut-wrenching was that Jin Taizhu had not severed the hand before “processing and sculpting” it — that skeletal right hand was still perfectly attached to Yamamoto Gokusen’s wrist. Just the sight of it was enough to make your scalp crawl.

And now, having stripped all the flesh from the right hand, Jin Taizhu had actually begun carving the bone itself.

It was hard to imagine just how iron-nerved this man was — faced with a scene this grotesque and horrifying, his fingers didn’t so much as tremble.

Seeing Su Rui walk in, Jin Taizhu paused what he was doing, stood up, and said, “My lord.”

“Don’t stop, keep going — pretend I’m not here.” Su Rui gestured.

“Understood.”

With that, Jin Taizhu lifted Yamamoto Gokusen’s right hand, and the sharp blade resumed its intimate contact with the bone, producing a sound that set your teeth on edge.

Remember that maddening, skin-crawling feeling when your fingernail accidentally scraped across a blackboard in school? The sound of scraping bone was ten times worse than that.

All the nerves in the fingers had already been stripped away, so Yamamoto Gokusen felt no physical pain now. But being forced to watch someone do whatever they pleased with his own right hand right before his eyes was truly worse than being killed outright.

As a top-ranking jonin from the East who had made his name across the world with his long blade, seeing the hand he used to wield that blade reduced to this state — could he feel anything but utter despair?

“Before you ever came to Huaxia, you should have anticipated this outcome. The moment you raised your blade against a Huaxia person for the first time, you should have been prepared for the consequences.”

Yamamoto Gokusen looked at his skeletal right hand, then looked at the expressionless Jin Taizhu and Su Rui, and couldn’t help but cry out in a hoarse voice, “You’re all nothing but demons!”

“We’re demons?” Hearing this, Su Rui reacted as if he’d heard the funniest joke in the world, letting out several cold laughs before saying, “We’re not demons. We’re flesh-and-blood human beings. But when faced with creatures like you who have no humanity whatsoever, we’d rather become demons.”

Su Rui’s tone was calm, but hearing those words, a strange chill rose inexplicably in Yamamoto Gokusen’s heart. That chill spread rapidly through his entire body, sinking into his very bones, and he couldn’t help but shudder uncontrollably.

“Yamamoto, you may not know this, but in our Huaxia, there is an old saying.” Su Rui looked at Yamamoto Gokusen’s face, twisted with hatred and venom, and said coldly, “Fight fire with fire. Blood for blood, tooth for tooth.”

Boom.

With those words from Su Rui, the chill that had been building inside Yamamoto Gokusen’s body suddenly erupted, raging through him without restraint, sending him into a fit of trembling he could not stop.

Although Yamamoto Gokusen was a jonin, due to his particular status, while his willpower was strong enough, he did not possess the kind of resolve that embraces death.

If it had been an ordinary ninja or assassin in his place, they would likely have found a way to end their own life long ago.

Su Rui stared at Yamamoto Gokusen, who no longer looked like a human being, his gaze blazing with fierce intensity.

If the people of the East wanted to play at cruelty on Huaxia soil, then he would be crueler than them. If they were twisted, then he would be more twisted than them.

Huaxia people had always been known for their benevolence, but that depended on who they were dealing with. Since these people thought Huaxia people were easy to push around, then Huaxia people would show them exactly who was pushing whom.

Killing one Yamamoto Gokusen was nothing significant, and flying a plane into the Yamamoto Building was only the beginning.

He would use Yamamoto Gokusen as his breakthrough point, and step by step unfold his plan of retribution, making the Yamamoto Group regret what they had done for the rest of their lives.

“Jin Taizhu, strip the other hand for me too.” Su Rui said coldly.