Chapter Eighty-Nine: Clash of Abilities

Late at night, though the lights still blazed, there were few cars on the road. Xiao Tianci's convoy roared along the broad, empty avenue.

Xiao Tianci spoke with rare gentleness. "Meg, don't be afraid. If anything happens in a moment, hold tight to Uncle Lu Man, all right?"

Meg seemed to know nothing of fear at all. She nodded, clutching her little handgun. When Xiao Tianci saw how she was, he was delighted, and had Lu Man load the bullets for her so she could feel as though she were fighting side by side with them.

Once the bullets were in place, little Meg became visibly excited, gripping the gun tightly. Xiao Tianci hurried to soothe her and told her to relax. Then he turned and looked at King Kong, who had already entered his first transformation and now sat in the car looking most wronged.

"Do you know who the people who came just now were?"

They must have been sent by the state; otherwise they would not have struck so ruthlessly. But which country could have reacted so quickly, and sent so many men?

King Kong hesitated for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure. It's been so many years, after all. But the feeling they gave me... was... people from the Ghost."

"The Ghost again. So it's the Ghost. He really does know how to choose his timing. Once, it's my wedding; once, it's when I'm running for my life." Dealing with such a man was truly troublesome. He never showed himself, yet he constantly stirred up trouble from the shadows. He concealed himself with such iron discipline. If this went on, it would not do.

No wonder Father had once sent King Kong to infiltrate him from the beginning, and had spent such a long time on it.

And now he was more cunning than before. It was impossible to send anyone in again, and there was no time for that either. So how was he to deal with him?

Screech...

A violent emergency brake tore through the night, the tires grinding hard against the ground, the smell of scorched rubber spreading through the air.

The driver in the escort team cried, "Boss, there's someone ahead..."

Three people stood in the middle of the road. They all looked to be in their twenties. The one in the center was the tallest, around six feet three or so; the other two were probably around five feet seven.

All three of them had that deliberately cool, aloof look. The center one's hair covered half his face, and even that hair was dyed in several different colors. On the left, one big man wore earrings, not just one but two huge rings, which swayed back and forth with his head in the light. On the right, another had both hands in his pockets, while a chain as thick as a thumb wound around his upper body like a serpent.

Anyone who dared block the road like this was certainly no ordinary person.

"Boss, we have to get out at once, or we'll be easier to attack." Turning, he said to Lu Man and his four men, "Protect the boss. I'll deal with them. Be careful, all of you. These ability users are very strange."

The group hurried out of the vehicles. Xiao Tianci, naturally, was the one who had to be protected. Suddenly, however, he felt a little unaccustomed to something. For a moment he could not tell what had gone wrong, but soon he understood.

The chief steward, Lin Jian, and King Kong, Fang Meng, were not by his side. He had grown used to them being there all this time, and with them suddenly absent, it felt as though something were missing.

Having heard King Kong mention ability users, Xiao Tianci asked Lu Man beside him, "Are ability users people with special powers?"

Lu Man watched as King Kong walked forward. The burden had now fallen on him. Carrying Meg on his back, he kept his guard up carefully. He too had learned martial arts, but regrettably he lacked both talent and opportunity, and without a proper guide his skill could only be called mediocre. Originally, it should not have been his place to step forward, but with Xiao Lin and the others caught in disaster, the experts of the Xiao family had all suffered as well. If King Kong had not had a mission, he too might not have escaped unscathed. His virtue lay in his loyalty.

Hearing the boss's question, Lu Man quickly answered, "Yes. Ability users are people who possess special powers. They are recruited by countries or organizations. However, such people are extremely rare, far fewer than martial artists or body-tech users, who enhance their physical strength through medicine. Because their abilities are not fixed from the start; only after they reach a certain stage and undergo a mutation are they discovered to be different from ordinary people. For example, they may be able to control objects or breathe fire. Once such a person is discovered, he is immediately recruited, and then he vanishes. And even among ability users, not all of them have offensive power. Some people can only do things like see through walls. Since ability users cannot be cultivated, they are very few in number."

Xiao Tianci was already quite clear about body-tech users, because when he had once spoken with King Kong about martial arts, the subject had come up. They called those who had been modified through medicine or surgery to enhance their potential and muscle strength body-tech users. But they had never encountered the matter of ability users before, so he had never asked about it. He wondered, "Doesn't our Xiao family recruit ability users?"

"Yes, and all of them are extremely formidable. But... when that last disaster happened, they were all there too..."

Xiao Tianci understood. It seemed they had all been caught up in the same calamity. While they spoke, King Kong had already reached the three strangely cool-looking foreign youths.

"Who sent you? Speak, then get lost at once. If you don't, you'll die."

The one with the big earrings and the swaying head snapped his fingers with a bright click. He seemed very excited. "Cool! King Kong really is King Kong, even his way of talking is so handsome. Ha-ha... Uncle King Kong, I'm Stan, and I really admire you!"

Then he hurriedly added, "Oh right, I forgot to introduce everyone. These two, and the one in the middle, that's our boss, the handsome and cool Michel. The one beside him, the steady one, is John. We're the Hunting Trio."

"Shut up," Michel said in a low voice.

Stan stuck out his tongue and made a face, but did not dare say another word. Michel raised his head and looked at King Kong with the one eye visible beneath his hair, his gaze icy.

"King Kong, our master misses you very much. He specially sent us to capture you and..." He looked toward Xiao Tianci, who was surrounded in the distance. "Bring him back with you. Right now you have two choices: one, go with us by yourself and take him with you; two, we'll take the two of you with us."

On hearing this, King Kong knew it was indeed the Ghost's people, and he grew even more cautious, even somewhat worried. After the last catastrophe, all of the Xiao family's original experts, except himself, had perished. That left the boss with no one capable at his side once he and the chief steward, Lin Jian, were away.

No one else knew how terrifying the Ghost was, but King Kong knew better than anyone. In this world, aside from the old master, there were probably not many who could stand against him. Merely recalling the methods he used made King Kong feel a chill run through his body.

After the Ghost was first defeated by the old master, he became even more formidable, and because he lurked in the shadows, not even the old master could do anything about him. That was why King Kong had to infiltrate him as a mole, and the entire process had been long and fraught with danger.

It was precisely because he had been the Ghost's most trusted and least expected piece that the old master won against the Ghost a second time.

But now that the Ghost had reemerged, what had he become? And with the Xiao family's strength now greatly reduced, could they still deal with him?

Seeing that these men dared to step up directly, King Kong understood that the situation was serious. Even when the Ghost possessed formidable aides like the ones King Kong had once been among, he would never dare confront the Xiao family head-on; he could only strike in secret.

Because the Xiao family had been too powerful then: martial arts masters, ability users, body-tech experts, and even masters ranked among the Gun Kings. Back then, the men by Xiao Lin's side were enough that even if ten King Kong-level fighters went there, they would never return. They were stronger than the elite recruits of many nations by who knew how much.

It seemed the Ghost knew the Xiao family's current situation very well. But King Kong thought to himself that trying to seize people with just these three youngsters was simply wishful thinking. Decisive battle. In the instant Michel spoke, many thoughts flashed through his mind, and then, just as Michel finished speaking,

King Kong's fists were already crashing out, dozens of punches striking at the three men at once. Michel lifted one hand and opened his palm. King Kong immediately felt that, within half a meter of them, his fists had struck cotton instead.

King Kong was rich in combat experience. When the blow failed to land, he changed in midair at once, flipping his body to leap upward. This time all his force concentrated on attacking Michel, but the result was the same. It seemed this was Michel's protective barrier.

Using the slight rebound from his fists, King Kong flipped back to a distance, while Michel and the others remained in the same positions as before, only Stan wearing that sly, wicked smile.

"King Kong, you can transform three times now, can't you? Come on. Otherwise you won't even be able to break my defense, and that would be far too boring."

Hearing Michel, Stan also laughed. "That's right, that's right. Hurry up and show your real skill. You're the most gifted warrior in the master's eyes."

"Hmph..." John let out a cold snort, clearly very displeased with the title of King Kong.

Indeed, they were strong. No wonder these young men were so arrogant. But youth was youth. Thinking this, King Kong had already entered his second transformation.

He did not realize that, in fact, his own age was not much greater than theirs. Only his heart had grown old.

"Waaah..." After seeing King Kong's second transformation, with his clothes bursting apart and his body swelling larger, Stan cried out exaggeratedly, "My God, it's really King Kong!"

Michel could not be bothered with this idiot. His mouth never shut every day, and if he had not possessed some real ability, Michel would have dealt with him long ago, just to spare himself the annoyance.

After transforming, King Kong was entirely different from before. His strength and all other aspects were no longer merely doubled. He was no stranger to ability users and had fought them many times before, so he did not even need to take up a starting stance.

With a blur, his massive body vanished from everyone's sight.

Bang...

A muffled impact rang out. Michel was sent flying, while Stan and John hurriedly dodged aside. But King Kong would not give them the chance. Before they could activate any ability, his explosive fists came crashing down like a mountain avalanche.

The update is here, the update is here. Everyone, throw in your votes and show your support.