"Sakuragi Hanamichi, aren't you quite arrogant?" A hooligan blocked his path, his tone unfriendly.
"I'll say it again, I don't want to fight, let me pass." Sakuragi Hanamichi clenched his fists, a vein throbbing in his temple.
"Don't want to fight? What a huge joke! Have the delinquents from Wako Junior High School changed their ways? Or are they scared?" The hooligan sneered, stepping aside to reveal the person behind him. "This is Heiguang Sunlong, the number one enforcer under Brother Iron Man. How about it, scared now, aren't you?"
"I give up, let me pass, I'm begging you." Sakuragi Hanamichi's voice was tight as he looked at the hooligan. "Fukasawa, my dad is sick, we were classmates once, after all. Can we deal with whatever it is tomorrow? I'll wait for you here tomorrow, and you can beat me all you want, I won't fight back. Just let me pass, okay?"
Gu Jin, who had rushed over, felt his heart sink.
He had already altered the plot last time, but from Sakuragi's words, Sakuragi Zhe Xiong's situation was still critical.
This plot was strikingly similar to the last time.
However, last time it was just a few small fry blocking the road, but this time, the leader was Arlong, who later participated in the Shohoku battle – that iconic striped T-shirt, those sinister triangular eyes, there was no mistaking him.
"Sakuragi!" Gu Jin quickly stepped forward.
"Gu Jin? What are you doing here?" Sakuragi Hanamichi clutched at him like a drowning man, his voice trembling. "Quick, go save my dad, his heart condition has flared up again!"
"Didn't he bring his medicine?" Gu Jin frowned. The doctor had specifically warned them last time, Sakuragi Zhe Xiong wouldn't possibly be unprepared.
"When my dad got off work, his colleague accidentally wore his clothes... The medicine is in those clothes!" Sakuragi's eyes turned red with urgency.
Is this a plot kill? Are some things in this world truly irreversible? Not only did Sakuragi Zhe Xiong accidentally lose his medicine, but even the "roadblock monsters" had upgraded.
No, I will never allow such a thing to happen.
"Sakuragi, take my bicycle." Gu Jin made a swift decision, pushing the bike to him. "Remember, go to the pharmacy first to buy medicine, and use the pharmacy's phone to call an ambulance. Don't try to find a doctor yourself, let the pharmacy staff help you call. Once you have the medicine, go straight home. Leave this to me."
"But you..." Sakuragi looked at the hooligans surrounding them, his eyes full of worry.
"Don't worry about me, go!" Gu Jin's tone was unyielding.
"Then be careful!" Sakuragi gritted his teeth, took the bicycle, and pedaled off fiercely.
"Don't you dare leave!" Fukasawa Ichiro reached out to stop him, but Gu Jin blocked him firmly.
"Fukasawa, I know you have a grudge with Sakuragi, but his dad is critically ill right now, don't make things worse." Gu Jin tried to appeal to his conscience.
"Gu Jin, mind your own business!" Fukasawa Ichiro gritted his teeth. "He made me lose face in front of Keiko, I have to settle this debt today!"
Heiguang Sunlong (Arlong) chuckled ominously: "Trying to leave? It's not that easy."
Gu Jin grabbed Arlong's arm and, with a casual flick, threw him directly away: "Little punk, I already called the police before I came. If you don't want to get caught, scram."
Arlong fell to the ground and roared, "You guys, stop him! Don't let that redhead get away!"
Gu Jin stepped forward, kicking two people aside, blocking their path firmly, his face as cold as ice: "Do you people have no humanity?"
"Humanity? What does his old man's life or death have to do with us!" Fukasawa Ichiro stuck out his neck, his face filled with the ferocity of being blinded by a grudge.
"Bastard!" Gu Jin's eyes suddenly sharpened. "With me here today, none of you are getting through!"
"Kid, I was careless just now." Heiguang Sunlong climbed up from the ground, flexing his aching arm, his triangular eyes fixed on Gu Jin as if poisoned. "Do you really think you can stop so many of us?"
"Gu Jin!" Shimamura Yoko's voice suddenly rang out. She had clearly been worried about Gu Jin and had followed him. Seeing the scene before her, her face turned pale, her eyes filled with worry.
"Yoko, don't come over!" Gu Jin's heart tightened, and he instinctively wanted to shield her behind him.
"Oh, this chick is pretty good-looking, she's my type." Heiguang Sunlong's gaze immediately stuck to Yoko, a malicious smile playing on his lips.
"Brother Long, I like her too!" A hooligan nearby immediately echoed, his eyes darting over Yoko.
"Count me in!" Another hooligan joined in the jeering.
"You... you're practically asking for death!" Gu Jin's voice was as cold as ice, and the air pressure around him instantly dropped.
Seeing this, Fukasawa Ichiro quickly tried to dissuade them: "Brother Long, don't touch her, she's my junior high classmate..."
"Smack!"
With a sharp sound, Arlong backhanded Fukasawa across the face.
"Screw you!" Arlong spat, his voice vicious. "We're here to help you beat people up, not to listen to your orders! If you say another word, I'll take care of you too."
In an instant, Gu Jin shot forward like an arrow, grabbing Heiguang Sunlong's collar and, with a powerful single arm, lifted him completely into the air!
His physical abilities in this life were not only far beyond ordinary people in athletic talent, but this brute strength was also ridiculously immense.
"Let... let go of me!" Heiguang Sunlong's feet dangled in the air, choked and gasping for breath, his face bright red, his limbs flailing in futile struggles.
Gu Jin's eyes were cold. He shook him in the air, his voice filled with undisguised anger: "Just a few small fries like you, do you really think I can't do anything to you?"
Gu Jin held Heiguang Sunlong in mid-air with one arm, the guy's feet flailing, his striped T-shirt stretched out of shape, his triangular eyes filled with disbelieving terror.
The surrounding hooligans instantly fell silent. The ones who had been jeering earlier were so scared their mouths hung open, their playful smiles frozen into expressions of shock.
"You damn well let go of Brother Long!" A hooligan with green hair yelled, clenching his fists, but his feet involuntarily shuffled backward. "Don't think a little brute force makes you great, there are so many of us..."
Before he could finish, Gu Jin cast a cold glance at him, the ruthlessness in his eyes like an ice-tempered blade. The green-haired man's throat tightened, the latter half of his sentence stuck in his throat, and his palms were drenched in cold sweat.
Another short, fat hooligan gritted his teeth and picked up a wooden stick nearby: "Brothers, let's fight him! If Brother Long goes down, we won't be able to explain ourselves when we go back!"
But just as he raised the stick to charge, Gu Jin flicked his wrist, and Arlong, who was being held, was thrown like a broken sack, smashing into him.
The short, fat hooligan frantically tried to dodge but was squarely pinned underneath Arlong, letting out a muffled groan of "Ow!" as the wooden stick flew out of his hand.
"Go!" The remaining hooligans bravely surrounded him, punching and kicking at Gu Jin.
Gu Jin sidestepped the punch from his left, then grabbed the arm coming from his right. With a crisp crack, the hooligan screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground.
Someone behind him lunged to tackle him, but Gu Jin, without looking back, elbowed backward, hitting the person squarely in the chest.
The hooligan crumpled like he'd been hit by a heavy hammer, clutching his chest and falling straight down, unable to catch his breath for a long time.
Fukasawa Ichiro watched, his legs turning to jelly, and tried to sneak away along the wall. Gu Jin caught him in the corner of his eye and hooked his ankle with his foot.
Fukasawa fell face-first into the dirt with a "thud." Just as he tried to get up, Gu Jin stepped on his back, pressing down with such force that his face was pushed into the ground, his nose even bleeding.
"What do you say now?" Gu Jin's voice was as cold as ice, and he added a little more pressure with his foot.
Fukasawa yelled in pain but gritted his teeth, refusing to give in: "When Sakuragi made me lose face, why didn't I see you help me? Now, why are you stopping me?"
Gu Jin couldn't be bothered to argue with him, so he kicked him two meters away, sending him crashing into the wall.
Fukasawa slid to the ground, clutching his waist, unable to stand up for a long time.
At this moment, Arlong had just gotten up from the ground, clutching his stomach and glaring at Gu Jin: "Bastard, I'll never let you get away with this."
He said, lunging forward, but Gu Jin met him, sidestepped his punch, and twisted his arm backward.
Arlong screamed in agony, his arm bent at an unnatural angle, and he writhed on the ground in pain.
In just over ten seconds, the alley was littered with groaning hooligans.
Gu Jin stood in the middle, his chest rising and falling slightly, his gaze sweeping over the people on the ground. Not one of them dared to make a sound.
"Scram." Gu Jin uttered a single word, his voice not loud, but carrying an undeniable deterrence.
The hooligans, no longer daring to act tough, helped each other up, dragging Arlong and Fukasawa along, and ran out of the alley without looking back, even forgetting to pick up the things they had dropped.
The chaotic alley was now left with only Gu Jin and Shimamura Yoko, who had run over.