CHAPTER 26: CHAPTER 24: WHO CRUSHES WHOM

Feeling Xiao Tian’s gaze, Hu Dong’s violent temper immediately boiled over: "You’re really asking for it. If you won’t kneel, watch me break your leg."

With that, Hu Dong’s face turned sinister, and he instantly lashed out with his leg, aiming a fierce kick at Xiao Tian’s knee.

The speed was absolutely unparalleled, coupled with powerful force, Xiao Tian had reason to believe that if this hit a common person’s knee,

the knee would shatter instantly, resulting in an incurable disability.

"Such a ruthless heart! As expected, none of the Long Pavilion members are decent people." Xiao Tian watched the leg speeding toward his knee but didn’t react at all.

"Kick him to death, make him kneel!"

"Dong’s power is mighty, kill that stupid cop."

"Look! That foolish cop, scared silly by our Dong!"

......

All around, the Long Pavilion goons wore expressions of schadenfreude, as if they were on drugs.

Seeing Xiao Tian standing motionless before him, a trace of disappointment flashed in Hu Dong’s eyes. He had originally thought Xiao Tian could exchange a few blows with him.

Unexpectedly, he couldn’t even dodge the first move. But that moment of disappointment was quickly replaced by viciousness.

Even though he felt disappointed, Hu Dong was more furious at Xiao Tian for being so arrogant despite lacking any real skill.

So he had already decided to end Xiao Tian’s life in the most ruthless manner possible.

"Once I shatter your kneecap, I’ll slowly crush your head! Hahaha."

Hu Dong seemed to already see himself covering Xiao Tian’s head with his palm, gradually squeezing it until it exploded, just like that watermelon smashed on the ground.

"Naive, not knowing who will end up like the watermelon."

"Gentle Wind Butterfly Shadow Step"

Suddenly, Xiao Tian tapped lightly with his toes, and his figure appeared behind Hu Dong like a butterfly among flowers, ghostly.

Hu Dong’s kick missed; the immense force immediately threw him off balance.

Terrified, he watched Xiao Tian appear behind him, mimicking Hu Dong’s earlier move.

Lifting his leg fiercely toward Hu Dong’s knee with such explosive speed that it was nearly impossible to see how Xiao Tian extended his leg.

"No!" Hu Dong tried desperately to change position, hoping to dodge the kick, but it was evidently in vain.

"Crack!"

A crisp sound, and he felt his knee as if struck by a heavy hammer.

The bone in his knee shattered instantly.

With a "thud," he lost his support, falling to his knees in the center of the hall.

This all happened in an instant; the Long Pavilion members had originally anticipated seeing the foolish cop Xiao Tian with a shattered knee kneeling in the hall.

But now, stunned, they saw the one kneeling in the middle wasn’t Xiao Tian but Dong, whom they believed to be unstoppable.

So much so that their mouths, which had been open in cheers, remained frozen, unable to close, uncomfortable like a fly in their mouth.

At this moment, the Hu Village hall was silent, so quiet one could hear a pin drop.

The only sounds were their heavy panting and Hu Dong’s trembling voice.

"Ah! My leg!" After a few brief seconds, Hu Dong finally screamed from the immense pain.

"I told you, I want you to kneel before me!" Xiao Tian now had a faint smile on his face, then lifted his head to look around at the encircling Long Pavilion members.

When the group met Xiao Tian’s gaze, their faces showed fear, and they stepped back, expanding the circle around him.

"Dong, since you’re already kneeling, why not knock your head?" Xiao Tian patted Hu Dong’s face.

His face now covered in sweat the size of beans because of the intense pain in his leg.

Hu Dong looked up at Xiao Tian, his eyes filled with venomous hatred:

"Xiao Tian, don’t get cocky. I still have nearly a hundred brothers here. Even if you disable me, my brothers can still keep you here."

The nearly hundred Long Pavilion members, upon hearing Hu Dong’s words, thought: That’s right! There are so many of us, why should we fear one man?

Their encirclement immediately shrank back to its original size, and they began pulling out their respective weapons.

Seeing the goons surrounding him, the corner of Xiao Tian’s lips curled into a cold smile, his eyes betraying undisguised contempt.

"Are you threatening me?"

Having once been of Soldier King caliber, how could Xiao Tian see these thugs as a threat? However, he wasn’t here to eliminate them today.

He came to arrest them, so Xiao Tian slowly drew a Type 54 pistol from his waist: "If any of you take a step forward or backward, my bullets won’t have eyes."

When Xiao Tian actually pulled out a gun, the Long Pavilion members suddenly remembered that he was a cop.

How could a cop be without a gun? That dark muzzle, wherever it pointed,

the lackeys in that direction broke into a cold sweat, fearing that Xiao Tian might twitch involuntarily and a bullet would fire accidentally.

After all, nobody wants to die, but everyone was staring at Xiao Tian, ready to jump at any moment and kill him.

Xiao Tian took in all their expressions but pretended not to see them.

"What do you want to do?" Seeing Xiao Tian take out a pistol, all the underlings were intimidated, but Hu Dong was arrogantly unshaken.

"If you dare mess around, Long Pavilion will never let you go! Even your family and women won’t have a peaceful life."

Seeing the venomous hatred in Hu Dong’s eyes, which seemed almost tangible, the killing intent in Xiao Tian’s heart erupted suddenly.

"I hate being threatened, especially when it comes to threats against my family and women!"

Feeling the murderous intent in Xiao Tian’s eyes, Hu Dong immediately sensed something was wrong and hurriedly shouted, "I was wrong, I kowtow..."

"Too late!"

Xiao Tian didn’t even give Hu Dong a chance to speak. He slammed his right hand down on Hu Dong’s head, and with the grip of his five fingers, a powerful force suddenly burst forth.

Hu Dong felt his head being clamped by a giant pincer, with tremendous pressure constantly increasing on it.

Finally, unable to withstand the enormous force, his skull shattered under the enormous pressure.

Blood and brain matter splattered all over the place as a headless corpse fell limp to the ground.

Seeing the once-overbearing Hu Dong get his head crushed by a small cop, everyone was horrified.

The underlings all looked in shock at Xiao Tian in the center of the hall, who was now covered in a crimson hue, resembling a Demon God.

Although they had seen Hu Dong crush watermelons before, they had never seen someone actually crush a human head.

For the first time, some of the weaker-minded began to vomit on the spot.

A Long Pavilion member with a sharp face, hiding on the outskirts, tried to slip away while everyone was distracted, but just as he turned around—

"Bang!" A gunshot rang out.

A bullet zipped out of the scorching gun barrel, tearing through multiple lackeys’ ears.

"Ah!..."

A series of screams erupted, then abruptly stopped, as they all drew sharp breaths.

The bullet had pierced the man’s back, killing the sharp-faced Long Pavilion member on the spot.

"I said, don’t move an inch, or he’ll be your fate. Don’t test my marksmanship again."

Xiao Tian didn’t even look at them, nonchalantly blowing away the smoke from the gun barrel.

At that moment, all Long Pavilion members were utterly subdued.

Xiao Tian first crushed someone’s head with bare hands, then shot a fleeing person through a crowd. These feats left them with no thought of resistance.

They were thinking to themselves: who is really the gangster here? How could this cop be more ruthless than us?

"Go! Bring the rope from outside!" Xiao Tian ordered a lackey, who obediently complied and brought the rope over.

"Line up one by one, tie your hands with the rope, and get on the bus outside!" Xiao Tian said systematically.

Indeed, there was a bus in the manor, which Xiao Tian noticed when he came in.

It seemed the Long Pavilion members used it for group transport, conveniently helping Xiao Tian.

Xiao Tian thus took all the Long Pavilion lackeys out of Hu Village.

"Does anyone know of other Long Pavilion hideouts?" Xiao Tian asked calmly, still holding the pistol.

The lackeys looked at one another before one sharp-looking young man stood up.

He was nearly 180 centimeters tall but excessively thin, looking like a stick.

"Officer, I know!" Zhang Ming, a veteran member of Long Pavilion, was familiar with all its hideouts.

City headquarters, Ministry of Public Security meeting room.

At that moment, heads from every precinct in Shanghai were present, nearly twenty or thirty people in total.

Bai Tao was in the main seat, with Jiang Chao and Yang He on either side.

Jiang Chao, as the head of the criminal investigation team, was naturally seated next to Bai Tao, but Yang He being arranged next to Bai Tao today took even him by surprise.

"Today, I’ve gathered you all here to discuss the Long Pavilion issue!" Bai Tao said, seeing everyone was present, and got straight to the point.

Upon hearing it was about Long Pavilion, the precinct directors and deputy directors began whispering among themselves, some seething with indignation, others looking helpless.

As Bai Tao’s confidant, Jiang Chao had already guessed the matter and was the first to speak:

"Long Pavilion is a major scourge in Shanghai, and I believe it must be eradicated. Furthermore, I suggest that Yang He’s subordinate Xiao Tian, the criminal investigation officer, be fully in charge of this operation."

Due to Xiao Tian’s outstanding performance in rescuing Lan Xiujie, he was known to leaders across various precincts.

But Long Pavilion was different, and for a moment, everyone was engaged in a heated debate.

And just then, a sudden and loud car horn outside the city headquarters nearly toppled the entire building.