Chapter 18 - 18: A New Man (2)

He already fixed the door which was rammed by the overflowing coins that he accidentally duplicated weeks ago. But now, the chains that he was using as a lock were split into two.

Yun Hao's thoughts were completely in disarray, especially as he saw a man exiting his house. He could feel a heavy pressure suddenly weighing down on him, causing his chest to tighten. It was as if he could feel a sharp pain every time his chest lifted up. It was different from the pressure that he felt when he faced Cultivators like the one who blinded his eye and Song Jian.

Although it wasn't as heavy, it was more suffocating. One of the worst things that could happen finally happened. The number of coins he had now was nothing compared to what it was a week ago. But still, it should still amount to somewhere more than $80,000…

...and someone finally saw it.

"W… what the!"

The man could not help but slightly take a step back as he finally noticed Yun Hao's presence. "What… what are you doing here!?" The man said.

"What do you mean what am I doing here?" The erratic beating of Yun Hao's heart made his voice tremble, "This… is my house."

Yun Hao's breaths turned heavier by the second. It was impossible that the man did not see the coins. It was, after all, just clumsily scattered on one side of his house.

Why? Just why? Just 3 more days and Yun Hao was sure that he would have cleared all the coins already. More than a year he had lived in this house made of thin metal, and not even once did any of the scrapyard's workers visit him… they have not even greeted him once and even tended to ignore him as much as possible. So why now?

"!!!"

And then, Yun Hao's already hammering chest jumped as soon as his eyes caught something-- the man was holding a smartphone. If it wasn't for the encroaching night, then he probably wouldn't have seen the light on the man's hand.

"Give me your phone and get out of here," Yun Hao quickly bared his teeth as he slowly approached the man. Yun Hao could only think of one reason why the man's smartphone could be out-- he took a photo of the coins inside his house. Or maybe even worse, he already called someone.

"Did you call--"

"Don't come any closer, man!"

And not even a single step was taken, and Yun Hao got his answer. The man stretched his hand towards Yun Hao, showing his smartphone towards him… and on the screen, was the inside of Yun Hao's house and the coins that littered it.

Fuck. Fuck! Yun Hao wanted to scream in frustration, but doing so might garner the attention of the other workers a distance away. How confident and stupid was he to just leave his coins unattended? No, in the first place, no one should be here except for him. So why now? Why now did one of the workers suddenly decide to visit him?"

"Man," the worker let out a small breath as he shook his head, "The others were talking about how weird you've been lately, but to think you were hiding something like this. I knew I had to check what you were up to. Just where did you get all of this, man?"

"That's none of your concern. Give me your phone and walk away while you still can," although Yun Hao's tone was as cold as it could be, the tremble that it carried gave away his restlessness.

The man let out a short whistle as he heard Yun Hao's words, "The young master said you were feisty, but all I see is an arrogant boy."

"Young-- Long Yazhu?" This was perhaps the final nail that caused Yun Hao to finally realize that his situation was even more dreadful than he thought it was. If this man was under Long Yazhu's thumbs, then he would definitely show the photos to him, whatever happens after that, Yun Hao knew that he was in trouble.

"Wait 'til the young master sees this," the man let out a slight cackle.

"Take it."

"Hm?"

"Please, you can take all the money. But leave the phone here," Yun Hao said. This time, the tremble in his voice was completely gone. Instead, it was replaced by a somewhat sedated tone, "There's almost $80,000 worth of coins there. Just take it and we can forget all of this, please."

"Hahaha!"

The man heard the desperation in Yun Hao's voice and he could not help but burst out in laughter. "Are you stupid?" He then said, "If I show this to the young master, I am sure he would give me even more than that!"

And in that split second, it was as if a string snapped inside Yun Hao's mind, causing a high-pitched noise echo through his ears.

The man then slowly took a step forward, "I don't know why the young master hates you so much. But I don't care as long as I get--"

But before the man could finish his words, he felt something hard hit his face.

"Kh…?"

The man had been working in the scrapyard for years, his body was tougher than normal. This was also perhaps the reason why he didn't immediately lose consciousness as his brain was rocked by Yun Hao's fist.

But still, the strength of Yun Hao's punch was enough to almost spin his whole body in the air, causing the man to fall headfirst on the ground.

"Grakh…" The man wanted to speak, but his broken nose and dislocated jaw deemed it impossible. His body as well was no longer following his commands. The only thing he could do was move his eyes, his eyes that were currently staring at Yun Hao as he stood on top of his body.

"I… I told you to just walk away."

The man could once again hear the tremble in Yun Hao's voice. But this time, it was different. It was different in the way because he saw a tear trailing down on Yun Hao's cheek.

"Why… why couldn't you just walk away, man?"

"Hmgh!?"

The man tried to wiggle his body as Yun Hao suddenly kneeled on top of him. But sadly, before his already uncooperative body could crawl away, Yun Hao's knees already locked him in place.

"I… I'm so sorry," Yun Hao's sedated whispers entered the man's ears.

"!!!" Seeing the frenzied look on Yun Hao's face, the man wanted to scream. But before he could do so, Yun Hao gripped his neck.

"Fuck…" Yun Hao once again whispered, "Fuck!"

And following Yun Hao's contained scream, his fist started hammering down the man's face.

"Wkh--"

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

With each hit, Yun Hao let out a stuttered gasp; perhaps even almost a whimper.

Yun Hao's fist repeatedly smashed the man's face. The blood on the man's face, showering almost everywhere. If it wasn't for the ambient noise of the scrapyard masking the sound of the man's flesh being mangled, then the other workers would have probably heard it even from far away.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Crack.

Truly. After this day is over...

...Yun Hao would be a new man.