Chapter 554

Chapter 554 True Gold Fears No Fire

This scream wasn’t from pain — it was more like sheer fright!

A woman like Nightingale, who didn’t even fear killing people — what could she possibly be afraid of?

Su Rui had no idea what had happened, and without a second thought, he charged forward in one swift stride!

At that moment, Nightingale, wearing nothing but a bra on her upper body, had already backed away several meters!

Su Rui rushed over and grabbed her by the shoulders, asking, “What’s going on?”

“Just now… there was a snake.” Nightingale said with great difficulty.

“You’re actually afraid of snakes?” Su Rui was a little incredulous.

He really couldn’t imagine that this cold-blooded demoness who killed without blinking would be afraid of a snake!

Su Rui looked toward where Nightingale had been standing — it was just an ordinary black rat snake, hanging down from a tree, head raised and tongue flickering, looking to be nearly 3 meters long.

“That kind of snake isn’t even venomous, what’s there to be afraid of.” Su Rui mocked, then picked up a rock from the ground and tossed it casually — hitting the snake’s head with pinpoint accuracy.

Whether the snake was dead or just knocked out was unclear, but it dropped straight down from the tree.

Nightingale said nothing, but seemed to let out a quiet breath.

“Next time I’ll catch a few more snakes to scare you.” Su Rui chuckled.

In truth, it wasn’t really her fault. Any normal person, in the dead of night, suddenly coming face to face with a scaly, tongue-flickering snake head, would scream and bolt as their first instinct — even if she was a skilled fighter.

Especially because — women naturally have a lower resistance to this sort of thing than men, and it has nothing to do with how strong they are. Nightingale’s coldness and Lin Aoxue’s coldness were still a little different. If it had been someone like Lin Aoxue, who embodied the iceberg persona to its absolute extreme, she probably wouldn’t have screamed at all — she would have coolly stepped back two paces, instantly identified the species of snake, and then calmly asked Su Rui for help.

“You should apply the medicine quickly. If it’s not treated soon, it won’t be good if it leaves a scar.” Su Rui glanced at Nightingale’s chest.

Certain areas looked particularly pale in the darkness of the night.

Nightingale covered herself with her hand, shot Su Rui a cold glare, and said, “Move!”

“It doesn’t really matter whether I move or not — have you forgotten? That time you tried to assassinate me in the South Sea, you were wearing a bikini.” Su Rui couldn’t be bothered to step aside this time. Besides, when it came to trading words, Nightingale was no match for him.

Nightingale also recalled that rather ridiculous assassination attempt, and beneath her mask, a faint blush crept across her face.

She simply stopped avoiding Su Rui and cleaned her wound right there in front of him. With her bra still on, there was nothing to worry about him seeing.

After cleaning the wound, Nightingale looked at her shirt, which had been sliced open, hesitated for a moment, then put it on backwards — that way it would look like her back had been cut instead.

Su Rui was speechless. He had actually been about to take off his own shirt and offer it to her, but now there was no need.

“With a wound like this, it’ll definitely leave a scar. I used to have a solution that could remove scars, but I’ve run out of it.”

Su Rui couldn’t help but think of that wandering old traditional medicine doctor. If he ever ran into him again, he’d definitely stock up on more of that solution — not necessarily to heal people, but selling it for good money wouldn’t be bad either.

Yes, Su Rui was just that unambitious.

“Save me a bottle next time.” Nightingale said.

No woman doesn’t care about her appearance, and no woman would be indifferent to having scars on her body — even if, in Su Rui’s eyes, she was an unreasonable “violent woman.”

“Shouldn’t you be by Bai Qinchuan’s side? How did you end up here?”

Su Rui was puzzled by this. Nightingale’s appearance made him feel like something was off.

“I took some time off to go back to Cuisong Mountain. I happened to pass through here.” Nightingale replied in her usual icy tone.

“Passed through?” Su Rui’s expression looked a bit strained. “Going from the capital to Cuisong Mountain in the south — would you really pass through Ninghai?”

Nightingale said nothing and turned to leave.

“Hey, don’t go.” Su Rui stepped forward to stop her. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

“I came to Ninghai to see a friend.” Nightingale kept walking.

“A friend? What’s their name?”

Su Rui pressed on relentlessly. He was wary of Bai Qinchuan, and although Nightingale was fairly straightforward, it wouldn’t be good if someone was using her.

“None of your business.”

Nightingale turned to face him, looked at Su Rui seriously, and said, “I’m going back to Cuisong Mountain now. Don’t follow me.”

“I have one last question.” Su Rui spread his hands in a helpless gesture.

“Your second senior brother Wang Feizhi came to Liantang Town to assassinate me and was badly injured by me before being sent back to Cuisong Mountain. I wonder if your master flew into a rage?” Su Rui said. In truth, Wang Feizhi wasn’t a bad person at heart — he had simply been tempted by the allures of the outside world.

“I don’t know.” Nightingale said that with her mouth, but beneath her mask, the corners of her lips curved ever so slightly.

She hadn’t been at Cuisong Mountain, but she had heard from her fellow disciples that when second senior brother Wang Feizhi was brought back to the mountain, their master had been furious and ordered Wang Feizhi to face the wall in reflection for 3 years, forbidden from ever descending the mountain again in this lifetime.

“Alright then. Since you’re heading to Cuisong Mountain, I can arrange a car to take you.”

“No need. Remember — you still owe me a bottle of that solution.” Nightingale left those words coldly behind her, then accelerated and vanished into the forest.

Su Rui didn’t give chase. He rubbed his nose and said, “What a baffling woman.”

…………

After the large contingent of Qinglong Gang members joined the battle, the Twelve Divine Guards withdrew one by one. There were still several dozen ninja warriors left undefeated, but leaving them for the Qinglong Gang to train against wasn’t a bad thing at all.

With their sheer numbers, a single volley was all it took to easily kill 2 mid-level ninjas!

If Yamamoto Taichiro ever found out that the mid-level ninjas he had spent a fortune carefully cultivating were killed off like this, he’d probably have no time even to cry!

Li Yang personally took command on the front line this time, while Zhang Ziwei stood beside Su Rui.

Since returning from the island nation, the two of them hadn’t seen each other in a long time. That day on the ship, she had acted on impulse and given away her first kiss. Now that they were face to face again, Zhang Ziwei couldn’t help feeling a little awkward.

Su Rui was also a bit uneasy. He cleared his throat twice and said, “How did the Decennial Tournament end up?”

Zhang Ziwei was at a loss for words. It was obvious Su Rui was just making conversation — Li Yang had long since reported the results of the Decennial Tournament to him, and she didn’t believe he wouldn’t know about something that important.

Still, despite thinking that, Zhang Ziwei said, “Yuanwei Gang, Molang Gang, and Yingxiong Hui all withdrew from the competition. There are almost no gangs left that could pose a threat to Qinglong Gang. In the end, Yinglaji and Zhou Xianwei competed in the final, and Zhou Xianwei conceded outright — Yinglaji is the champion.”

This Decennial Tournament could be called the most absurd in the history of China’s underworld. Yingxiong Hui sold out the country by bringing in Eastern fighters for backup, the Molang Gang’s leader and his son were bound and put on public display, the powerful Yuanwei Gang abruptly withdrew, and someone even conceded in the final — the sheer ridiculousness of it all was practically worthy of going down in history!

“Uh, alright.” Su Rui said awkwardly. He had already regretted the question the moment it left his mouth — he genuinely knew the answer, and it was a complete brain lapse that made him say it.

So he continued making conversation: “Qinglong Gang is the overall champion of the Decennial Tournament. That means they now have one opportunity to issue a command to all of China’s underworld.”

“That’s right, though we haven’t figured out yet how to use that opportunity.” Zhang Ziwei said.

She understood all too well that power unused is power wasted, which was precisely why she was being so careful.

“That’s fine. Talk it over properly with Li Yang later, and think carefully about how to use the prize money — it’s quite substantial this time.” Su Rui said.

“That’s already been decided — put all the prize money into developing the Battle Hall and the Intelligence Hall.” Zhang Ziwei said without hesitation.

“The Battle Hall handles combat, the Intelligence Hall handles gathering information — that’s a solid plan.”

After witnessing the combat strength of the Eastern warriors, Su Rui had come to feel deeply that Qinglong Gang’s fighting power was truly lacking and needed to be greatly improved in a short period of time.

As for why he wanted to build the Battle Hall into an elite force, only Su Rui knew the reason. So Zhang Ziwei’s answer was very much to his liking.

Zhang Ziwei stood slightly behind and to the side of Su Rui, watching this man standing in silent thought amid the night breeze, and felt her heart going weak.

She had never fallen for any man before, and now that she had, it was completely out of control.

Zhang Ziwei, who appeared so composed on the surface, actually had a heart burning with passion.

Since returning from the island nation, she had never once seen Su Rui, nor had she reached out to him on her own — because she didn’t dare disturb him, afraid of shattering that tiny thread of something beautiful she held in her heart.

That kiss had truly been impulsive, but Zhang Ziwei didn’t regret it for even a moment.

She had been waiting for Su Rui to reach out to her first, but no matter how long she waited, there was never any word — and so, disappointment slowly filled her heart, little by little.

Zhang Ziwei could only work hard to do her part well, hoping that one day he would finally notice her.

This time, Zhang Ziwei had finally received Su Rui’s instructions — but they had been passed along indirectly through Li Yang. Although Zhang Ziwei understood the reasoning behind it, she still felt just a little bit let down.

“Tomorrow…”

“Tomorrow…”

Zhang Ziwei was about to say something, and Su Rui spoke up at the same time — and they had even said the exact same word.

“You go first…”

“You go first…”

They both spoke at the same time again.

“You go ahead.” Zhang Ziwei said with a light smile. This small coincidence made her heart feel genuinely happy.

She was a woman who was very easy to please.

In truth, what she had wanted to say was — are you free tomorrow, could we have a meal together?

“Alright, I’ll go first then.”

Su Rui didn’t hold back at all, and said, “Tomorrow I’ll arrange a location and send the Battle Hall members over in batches for training.”

Hearing Su Rui say this, a quiet wave of disappointment washed over Zhang Ziwei’s heart. One was about asking someone to dinner, the other was about going to train — they couldn’t have been further apart.

Still, she quickly composed herself: “Where are you sending the Battle Hall members for training? Do you need me to lead the group?”

“No need.” Listening to the sporadic gunshots still ringing out, a cold glint passed through Su Rui’s eyes. “This training will be brutal. Everyone needs to be prepared — before they leave, they must sign a life-and-death waiver, because there is a very real possibility of losing their lives during the process.”

Su Rui’s words made Zhang Ziwei draw a sharp breath, because she saw on his face an expression of gravity she had never seen from him before.

“Understood. I’ll handle the arrangements. True gold fears no fire.” Zhang Ziwei said with equal resolve.