Chapter 122 - The Murderer

Chapter 122: 杀人魔

Chapter 122: The Murderer

Translated by: kevin1782

Edited by: Isalee

Every eight out of ten mercenaries loved to gamble and at least nine out of ten of them loved free duels. The result of such a union was one where barely anyone could resist such temptation.

Aziziyah Camp was like a volcano vent; whoever jumped in would have to wait up until the moment the volcano erupted. As Gaddafi’s rule weakened, it was a matter of time before the Opposition would annex his rule. As one of the main signatures of Gaddafi’s reign, Aziziyah Camp was bound to suffer the heaviest attacks from the Opposition.

Barring any accidents, staying in Aziziyah Camp was synonymous to awaiting death. Even though a huge sum was paid every day, with all foreseeable consequences being so pessimistic, the mercenaries at Aziziyah Camp saw no way of spending their money. So they took out all their money and placed heavy bets for some ecstasy amidst the despair.

All fifty-two mercenaries gathered at one corner of the grassy plain, not a single one of them missing. There were even quite a few Libyan officers sticking their noses in, waving notes in their hands and shouting in Arabic.

In an empty spot in the middle of the crowd, a white man in his forties was yelling excitedly.

“My friends, there is finally someone who has initiated a challenge against the maniacal scum, Murderer. We can continue with our dueling contest. Anybody can participate, anybody can place bets. Now let me introduce to you, the maniac and the scum, Murderer. I need not say any more, you all know him. Let me ask this brave challenger. Greetings, my friend, how may I address you?”

Harris stepped forward. He was about to speak when Lee Jin Fang who was by his side pulled him back and announced, “Toad, I am Toad.”

He spoke in English, except for his nickname. He said Toad in Mandarin.

“Hama? Alright, this guy, Hama, wants to challenge the Murderer. Let us hope he can kill the Murderer. However, since this guy here is a nobody, odds will be at five to one. Come place your bets. If I were you, I would bet on Hama and win back five times the amount.”

“Hama, kill the Murderer, I don’t like his face!”

“Dude, kill the Murderer, we support you.”

After the Gambler announced the commencement of betting, the mercenaries there all verbally supported Jin. However, the notes they were waving about all went to the Murderer. Nobody dared to place their bets on Jin.

Harris whispered to Jin, “You should have said you were Toad. You said Hama, nobody knows what that means.”

Gao Yang stared at Harris, rolled his eyes, and muttered, “If we tell them that Hama is Toad, how would you get such high odds?”

Harris came to his realization and promptly smiled in glee, “That’s right, five to one. Haha, even if I get only one part, that would be a huge gain.”

After finishing, Harris immediately grabbed two stacks of cash and shouted, “I am betting on Hama to win. God d*mn it, record it down, I bet on Hama.”

After changing the money on hand to a piece of paper, Harris smiled and looked over it. Just then, he heard ten or so Libyan officers chattering in Arabic, trying to place bets. They then asked the few English-speaking officers to place bets on their behalf.

Seeing that Ibrahim was excitedly placing bets, Harris frowned and approached the officer. He pulled him aside and whispered, “Who did you place your bets on?”

“Obviously on the Murderer, why?”

Harris glanced around to make sure nobody was ;around and whispered, “Listen to me, bet on our guy, I promise you will win.”

“I already placed twenty thousand dollars though. Are you really confident that your guy will win?”

“Of course, we are all in this together. Why would I trick you?”

“Alright, I will place ten thousand dollars on your man. Hopefully your information is accurate. God d*mn it, I have always been on the wrong side. I hope you don’t disappoint me this time.”

When Harris and the Lieutenant Colonel were murmuring to each other, the Murderer took to the stage. He was a white man in his thirties, around six feet tall, and he had a harmless smile on his face. At first glance, he looked like he would not kill even a fly, not to mention look like a maniac.

The Murderer stood in the middle of the crowd, smiling while hooking his fingers at Jin. Just then, Gao Yang patted Jin’s shoulders and said loudly, “Go, do him in.”

Jin flexed his neck muscles a bit and walked up to the Murderer. The two of them faced each other. The Murderer sized Jin up and smiled, “Japanese? Korean? Chinese?”

“Chinese!”

“Very well, I will use Chinese martial arts against you since you’re Chinese.”

The Murderer finished with a smile and put his palm over his fist to salute Jin. It was very accurate. Jin was taken aback briefly before he also returned the traditional Chinese martial artist salute.

The Murderer acted courteously and was nothing like a maniac, causing Jin to start doubting what Harris had said. Just then, the Murderer said calmly, “I will kill you with Chinese martial arts even though I consider it to be the closest to trash among all the combat styles I have learned.”

Jin’s expression changed as he said, “Come, strike.”

The Murderer went into the initial stance of Wing Chun and rapidly closed in on Jin with every small step. His fist struck out towards Jin with blinding speed as he roared. With such speed, he had shown the mastery of the basics in Wing Chun.

Jin blocked with both of his fists, but his opponent’s aggressive tactics and proximity was tough to defend against. The Murderer soon found an opening and landed a heavy blow on his chest.

After taking a punch, Jin quickly backed off and momentarily avoided attacks from the Murderer. Even though he took a punch, Lee Jin Fang was at ease. Without an instantaneous explosive force, Wing Chun could not even be considered Wing Chun. If he had suffered a punch from a true Wing Chun master, the pain would be the least of his concerns.

Jin had a good idea of what he was up against and taunted the Murderer. The Murder yelled and pounced again, but this time Jin preemptively struck out. He struck out with his fist once the Murderer got a little closer.

In Chinese martial arts, there was no such thing as the strongest punching technique. It all depended on the mastery level of the martial artist. Jin mastered the form and the will of striking, but the Murderer only scratched the surface of Wing Chun — it could not even be considered Wing Chun as aforementioned.

Jin’s fist was as fast as greased lightning, the Murderer had no way of evading it and had to block with both his fists. With a soft crackling sound, the Murderer stumbled a few steps backward before he regained his balance from taking a blow to the left arm.

Jin did not continue to strike after his successful blow. Instead, he stood right there and shook his index finger while saying in disdain, “You call this Chinese martial arts? Don’t let our Chinese martial arts down. This is not Wing Chun, you are just scratching the surface of kung fu like a three-legged cat.”

The Murderer forcefully waved his left arm a bit, and with a smile still hanging on his face, he said, “I told you before, Chinese martial arts is crap compared to the other combat skills. Now, I will use karate. I will break your four limbs and let you die in agony.”

Murderer moved into a karate stance with another roar. This time, Jin lashed out first, but he failed to gain an advantage after two punches and a kick. The Murderer was no longer restraining his movements; he had brought his strength to the next level.

Real fights were not like the ones in the movies where people exchanged one blow at a time, lasting for ages. The results could be obvious after merely a few blows. Jin evaded instantly after failing to land a hit to defend against attacks from the Murderer. The two of them cautiously probed each other and there was no obvious victor.

The Murderer was really a fair match for Jin. The two of them temporarily reached a stalemate, but Jin was confident he could emerge victorious. This was because he found that the Murderer was really capable of executing techniques from multiple martial arts disciplines, but the problem was, although he was a jack of all trades, he really was a master of none. He did not truly master any one of the techniques nor did he integrate multiple techniques together.

Meanwhile, the crowd crazily cheered on while waving their gambling tickets. Some were rooting for Jin, others for the Murderer. As for Gao Yang and company, they were pushing the limits of their vocal cords, hoping that Jin would quickly finish off the Murderer.

Finally, the Murderer struck again. He feinted with both his fists and lashed out a high kick straight for Jin’s skull. Jin was already waiting for this opportunity. He ducked, and with a leg sweep, he hit the Murderer’s other leg and caused him to topple over. He then followed with a stamp.

He totally missed his stamp and instead almost got kicked in the chin by a spinning kick from the Murderer who then flipped himself upside down. Jin had never seen such a technique before and almost succumbed to it.

Harris yelled, “This is capoeira from South America, beware.”

Jin had no idea what capoeira was, and the Murderer spun one round before he stood back up. He bounced around a bit and said menacingly at Jin, “You are strong. I will kill you and eat your heart.”

Jin actually did not have the intention to kill before this as he was fooled by the Murderer’s appearance. Upon hearing that the Murder wanted to eat his heart, however, he immediately went in with a punch without a word.

The Murderer sidestepped to dodge his fist and immediately flipped back over, supporting himself with one arm in a beautiful posture. Both his legs rapidly struck Jin. He could tell that Jin was unfamiliar with capoeira and therefore wanted to repeat the same tricks, but this time his attacks were ineffective against him.

Jin had been waiting for this moment. He did not dodge, and with a roar, he forcefully blocked the kicks with both his hands. His upper body was still while his right leg explosively lashed out. It landed squarely on the face of the upside down Murderer.