Chapter 54: Fierce Battle

"What do you have in that bag?" Jiang Zheng suddenly asked.

"Nothing, nothing at all!" The two of them looked nervous, their voices flustered as they hastily denied it.

"Oh, is that so? But it looks to me like you’re carrying something rather unusual in there," Jiang Zheng remarked.

"Unusual? Absolutely not. It’s just some ordinary stuff," they replied.

"Then would you mind opening it up and letting me have a look?" Jiang Zheng pressed.

At once, one of them snapped angrily, "Why should we show you? Who are you? What right do you have to look at our things?"

Despite the man’s furious outburst, Jiang Zheng remained calm and spoke slowly, "Today there was a case of child trafficking."

"What are you getting at? You don’t actually think there’s a child in here, do you?"

"I didn’t say that. I’m just curious. If you have nothing to hide, you can show me," Jiang Zheng said.

"Ridiculous! Who do you think you are? We have nothing to hide, but why should we show you? This is our privacy, and you’re infringing on it," one of them snapped, their bravado tinged with uncertainty.

Jiang Zheng responded, "I know it’s private, but your behavior is too suspicious. Open the bag. If there’s nothing wrong, I’ll apologize."

"Hmph! Are you insane? Come on, let’s go. Ignore this lunatic," one of them said.

The other nodded in agreement.

"I advise you to give up. Without my permission, you’re not going anywhere," Jiang Zheng said.

"Get lost, you idiot! Move, now!" one spat, his expression twisted with rage.

Jiang Zheng blocked their path, stopping them from leaving.

Without another word, one of the men swung a punch at Jiang Zheng. To Jiang Zheng, the strike was sluggish and full of openings. He dodged it easily and then delivered a swift kick to the attacker’s body.

"I told you, just open the bag for me. If there’s nothing wrong, you can go," Jiang Zheng said.

With his current strength, ordinary people couldn’t hope to defeat him.

But these two men didn’t know that.

Still confident in their own fighting abilities, they attacked again, only to be quickly overpowered by Jiang Zheng.

The man holding the bag set it down gently and then charged Jiang Zheng, his face contorted with menace.

He was tougher than the first, but still didn’t last long before Jiang Zheng threw him to the ground with a single over-the-shoulder throw.

"I already said, you’re not getting away. Why bother struggling?" Jiang Zheng said.

Suddenly, a blade flashed coldly—accompanied by a shout of "Die!"—as a knife stabbed straight at Jiang Zheng.

For an instant, Jiang Zheng’s mind went blank. He had no time to think and twisted away in an uncanny motion, barely avoiding the thrust. Even so, the blade grazed him, leaving a shallow cut.

Fury surged through him—this man had tried to kill him!

Dodging that first attack, Jiang Zheng righted himself swiftly. The man with the knife lunged again, his face twisted in a terrifying snarl.

Faced with a knife-wielding assailant, Jiang Zheng could only avoid the blows, dodging again and again.

He no longer remembered his old fighting techniques; trying to disarm someone barehanded was out of the question.

But his physical abilities had been greatly enhanced—strength, speed, reflexes. Simply evading the attacks, he could hold out for now.

He was stronger than his opponent; if he could keep this up, victory would be his.

But things never go so smoothly.

The other man joined the fray—not with a knife, but his interference made the situation far more dangerous.

Realizing the peril, Jiang Zheng no longer held back. Every time he saw an opening, he struck with everything he had.

Soon, both of his opponents bore bruises and wounds from Jiang Zheng’s fists and feet.

Jiang Zheng, too, had suffered a few knife wounds. They looked gruesome, but in truth, none were as serious as the injuries he’d inflicted on them. His cuts were mostly superficial, the blade never biting deep.

After a bout of grappling, Jiang Zheng suddenly spotted an opening. With a sharp elbow, he knocked the knife from his assailant’s hand.

Disarmed, the two men were no longer a threat.

Jiang Zheng, on his own, easily overwhelmed them. Under his fierce and relentless assault, both men were soon incapacitated.

But Jiang Zheng himself was left breathless, panting heavily.

"Brother, stop, please! We were wrong, if you keep going, someone’s going to die," one of the men whimpered from the floor.

Their hearts were full of bitterness; what bad luck, to run into such a meddlesome lunatic.

They’d had a knife and outnumbered him, yet had lost so utterly.

Jiang Zheng, hearing their plea, stopped and warned, "You two stay put, and don’t try anything stupid."

With that, keeping a wary eye on them, Jiang Zheng went to open the suitcase lying on the ground.

When he saw what was inside, his pupils contracted. There, curled up inside, was a small child.

Jiang Zheng checked—the child was still breathing, but hadn’t woken up, not even after all the commotion. Even when Jiang Zheng touched him, there was no response.

Something was very wrong.

Clearly, these two had given the child something—probably sleeping pills. Otherwise, how could a child sleep through such chaos?

Children never sleep so deeply; the slightest noise can wake them.

Many substances are unsafe for children—their bodies are too fragile, and certain drugs can do great harm.

But these two couldn’t care less. As long as the child didn’t make a fuss and stayed alive, that was enough for them; they never considered the rest.

Jiang Zheng turned to glare at them, suddenly thinking he’d gone too easy on them.

"Now, do you have anything to say?" Jiang Zheng demanded harshly.

Their faces changed. One of them whimpered, "Brother, we had no choice!"

"Spare me! No choice, huh? Just wait here and face the law!" Jiang Zheng looked at them, his eyes full of contempt.

For scum like this, he almost wanted to beat them to death—alive, they were nothing but a menace.

But he couldn’t do that. Justice had to be left to the law.

It would be satisfying to kill them, to vent his anger. But if everyone took justice into their own hands, the world would descend into chaos.

The two men lay on the ground, bitterly resigned, knowing what awaited them.

But what could they do?

This maniac had beaten them so badly they couldn’t even run. Their bodies ached all over; even getting up was a struggle.

If they hadn’t lost all ability to move, they’d have fled long ago—wait for Jiang Zheng to call the police? Impossible.

Worried they might try something, Jiang Zheng used their belts to tie them up.