Chapter 58 - Lois's Provocation

“Both of you, I’m very interested in this news, and wonder if we could sit down and discuss it further?” Lu Hong said with a smile after hearing the gossip, sitting down next to the two men.

“Kid, get lost!” The burly man said as he tried to shove Lu Hong away.

“What are you doing!” Lock Fan wouldn’t stand by and see someone lay hands on his boss, and immediately scolded loudly.

“I told you to scram!” Another burly man grabbed Lu Hong’s clothes and yanked hard, but instead of moving him, he completely tore Lu Hong’s shirt open.

“Can’t we sit down and have a good talk?”

Seeing the vicious scars on Lu Hong’s chest, the two burly men swallowed their saliva, stunned.

What had this young man gone through to have so many wounds?

They had only participated in a few monster hunting activities and thought highly of themselves, but in comparison to this young man, they felt like nothing.

Since his clothes were ruined, Lu Hong yanked them off.

His body, which even Lando could not resist, immediately attracted the attention of the wandering women nearby, who walked over, holding their glasses.

“Lock Fan, don’t let anyone disturb my conversation with these two,” Lu Hong spoke.

“Ladies, my brother is busy right now, so if you need anything, just come to me,” Lock Fan earnestly stopped the women who were trying to flirt.

“Little boy, you won’t do,” the women refused Lock Fan’s offer.

“Hey hey, then you’re not allowed to go over there either, didn’t you hear what my boss just said?

He doesn’t want to be disturbed,” seeing the women pushing him aside to get closer, he stood in their way again.

“I just want to get to know him, I won’t disturb him, now get out of my way!” One blue-haired woman scolded Lock Fan, but he didn’t back down and continued to block their way.

“My boss’s name is Tu Kulu, I’ll introduce you,” Lock Fan said to the woman, not taking offense at her rudeness.

“What a nuisance!” The blue-haired woman snapped and grabbed Lock Fan’s wrist, attempting to throw him out.

“Lois, give me some face, he’s my friend,” in that moment, Bo Kana pressed down on Lock Fan’s form, preventing a potential spectacle of him flying through the air.

“Well, since you’ve asked, I’ll let it go,” Lois released Lock Fan, returning to her seat with evident reluctance.

“Are you okay?” Bo Kana looked at Lock Fan’s wrist, which Lois had reddened, and asked.

“It’s okay, just hurts a bit.

Bo Bro, who is she?” Lock Fan asked nervously, having felt that when the woman grabbed him, he had no chance of breaking free, and even with her own strength, she had overpowered him, a young guy.

How could a woman who looked so delicate and frail have such strength?

“She is the deputy commander of the third group of our War Scar Mercenary Group stationed here,” Bo Kana said with a wry smile, “If it weren’t for respect for the gifts your boss has given me a few times, I would not want to offend her.

In this town, there’s nobody who dares flick her brow, and you’re the first.”

“Ah?

She’s that formidable?

Thanks so much for saving me, Bo Bro!” Lock Fan quickly exclaimed his gratitude.

“I didn’t really save you,” Bo Kana shook his head, “That woman is vindictive, be more careful later.

I might be sent on a mission soon, and won’t be able to protect you.”

As soon as Bo Kana finished speaking, two mercenaries burst into the bar, addressing Bo Kana, “The leader orders that unusual activities have been detected around the Adventurers’ Market, and requests the fourth squadron leader, Bo Kana, to accept the command to investigate!” The mercenary handed him an official dispatch letter from the War Scar.

“I knew it would come quickly,” Bo Kana knew this was Lois’ arrangement, but the dispatch letter bore the leader’s official seal, and he absolutely could not disobey.

“Take care of yourself!” Bo Kana patted Lock Fan’s shoulder, “Go back soon and be careful.”

Lock Fan stood watching Bo Kana leave, wondering if his newly acquired amulet would have warmed up a bit before being sent off?

Glancing at Lois, the blue-haired woman was coldly staring at him, squatting beside two burly men, seemingly instructing them.

Hurry up, boss!

Lock Fan turned to look at Lu Hong, whose face was clouded, and couldn’t help but start praying.

“So what is the current situation with Princess Fina and Prince Fidel now?” Lu Hong asked gravely.

“Um…

I’m not very sure either, but his information should be a bit more accurate,” one of the men said, pointing to the other.

“Can you tell me?” Lu Hong’s gaze shifted to the other man.

“I heard it a few days ago while chatting with a merchant who had escaped from afar.

He said the empire is now in chaos, Konstantin the Great Emperor has fled to another plane to escape being hunted by the Eight Great Families, but the eldest prince has been captured by the Eight Great Families and could be beheaded at any time.

As for the second and third princes, it seems they were rescued from Jinrui City, then he mentioned the fourth prince, Fidel, saying he and the fifth princess, Fina, were trapped in Stone Moss City; however, Stone Moss City backs onto Nansha Great Forest, so Princess Fina and Prince Fidel likely escaped into it.

Otherwise, the Eight Great Families wouldn’t have sent a large number of people to search the forest while besieging Stone Moss City,” the man detailed the information he knew.

“Is Stone Moss City far from here?” Lu Hong continued.

“Very far, from here to Stone Moss City, even traveling all night, it may take more than a month to get there.”

“How did this merchant arrive in the small town from a place as far away as Stone Moss City?” Lu Hong threw out his doubt.

“I’m not sure about that, but it’s said that the merchant has a life-saving teleportation scroll, presumably he came over through the scroll.”

“Is this merchant still in the Adventurers’ Market?” Lu Hong finally asked.

“No, he left this morning, the merchant and the previously arrived rebel army from the Adventurers’ Market left together.”

Upon hearing this news, Lu Hong couldn’t help but curse silently, clearly the merchant knew more about the matter, yet it was unfortunate that he missed it.

Lock Fan, seeing the two sturdy men clenching their fists and walking towards him, looked extremely anxious, “What are you going to do?”

“Get out of my way!” barked the burly man on the left, and the bar, which had been noisy until that point, suddenly fell silent.

A big space was quickly cleared for Lock Fan and the two strong men.

“Kid, your friend over there is too ostentatious.

He’s upset our boss a lot, so you guys need to learn a lesson,” sneered another, clearly under Lois’s orders.

“Come on, by the rules of the bar, no weapons or skills, just fists,” the two men said as they took off their shirts, revealing their bronze muscles and causing an uproar around them.

“You go first,” the man on the left stepped forward, gesturing contemptuously at Lock Fan.

“Can we not fight?” Lock Fan gulped, asking quietly.

“No, you can’t,” the bar’s female owner called out from the second floor.

“Them’s the rules of the bar.

If there’s a challenge, it has to be met until one side is completely down.

If one side refuses the fight, then the bar won’t protect either side from using weapons or skills.”

Refuse to fight, and they get to use weapons and skills?

That’s even more of a losing proposition.

These guys are clearly part of a mercenary group, and you need the strength of a Second Transition to join.

Looks like I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t.

“Then I’ll accept the challenge.” No sooner had Lock Fan spoken than he dashed toward the burly man in front of him, landing a punch on his chest.

“Is that all you’ve got?” The burly man didn’t budge, his chest muscles hard as rock.

“Have you been augmented?” Lock Fan sensed something was amiss.

“Right, I’m a Rock Lizard,” the man said as he grabbed Lock Fan’s fist and twisted hard.

Although Lock Fan was less strong than the adult man, his agility proved advantageous.

He rolled with the direction of the man’s force to avoid having his arm crushed, which might have been awkward.

However, this roll gave the strong man an opening.

He kicked out, sending Lock Fan flying several meters back into the crowd.

“Your turn!” The strong man then turned his eyes toward Lu Hong, who was still talking with people, coming toward them with a huge fist aimed at Lu Hong’s head.

“Alright, thanks for your answers,” Lu Hong said after asking some more questions, nodding in satisfaction.

He casually tossed two silver coins onto the table in front of the men.

“Watch your back!” Seeing the fist coming, the men quickly rolled under the table, too panicked to even care about the silver coins.

What a way to court death!

At this moment, Lu Hong, concerned about his friend’s uncertain fate, had also kept an eye on the development on Lock Fan’s side.

Since they’d drawn his attention, they’d better brace for hardship!

The bar’s rules seem tailor-made for him.

Lu Hong turned sharply, his fists colliding forcefully with the opponent’s.

The moment their fists touched, a cry of pain erupted from the burly man, who then flew like a cannonball, smashing into a table right in front of Lois.

“Archer!” shouted the other burly man in anger, charging forward.

Lu Hong kicked a chair aside and met him head-on.

“How dare you hurt Archer!

You’re asking for it!” the man launched a violent attack, which Lu Hong blocked by catching his fist.

“You’re looking for trouble, aren’t you?

Who sent you?” Lu Hong grunted as he squeezed hard.

The man felt as if his fist were clamped in an iron vice, the pain of his shattered fingers making him scream out loud.

Lu Hong released the now mangled fist and kicked the man away, smirking.

“You were quite the hero hitting my buddy just now, weren’t you?

Whose dog are you?

If you want to start something, do it yourself instead of sending these useless goons.”

“Big Lu is awesome!” Lock Fan emerged from the crowd behind, always knew his boss was a formidable!

“Told you before, you need more practice, but you didn’t believe me,” Lu Hong took the opportunity to rib him.

Magic Fighters indeed excel in magic, but having a robust physique to confront other professions without using magic power is the ultimate in their profession.

“Big Lu is right, I’ll definitely work on my fitness,” Lock Fan said, now fully convinced by Lu Hong, silently vowing to build his muscles if not to his big brother’s level, at least halfway there.

“You’re really something special,” Lois said with a smile as she stood up, holding a sparkling, translucent glass and swaying the dark red wine within as she approached Lu Hong.

“Do you need something?” Lu Hong asked indifferently, looking at the blue-haired beauty in front of him.

Although the woman’s scent was enticing, he was a man with a girlfriend and couldn’t mess around.

“Just wanted to get to know you, is that okay?” Lois leaned in, her breath tickling Lu Hong’s cheek.

“No, I’m not in the mood,” Lu Hong pushed Lois away and was about to leave with Lock Fan.

“You can’t defy me here!” Lois’s face darkened immediately.

“I believe my buddy just did,” Lu Hong scoffed.

“And you couldn’t do anything about it.”

“People, kill him!” Lois shouted in anger, and suddenly over forty mercenaries surrounded Lu Hong and Lock Fan.

“Lois!

Remember the rules,” the bar’s female owner called out from the second floor, unconcerned about the unfolding events, a mild reminder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll follow them.” Lois looked upstairs at the owner and then shouted, “Attack!”