Chapter 349 - Do it again

Chapter 349: Do it again

Ren Maohua's lips quivered in anger, and he clenched his fist so tightly that the joints in his fingers made a cracking sound. Overcome by rage, he flung the bouquet of flowers to the ground and dashed madly toward Xiao Luo screaming. The moment he got in range, he immediately attempted to strike Xiao Luo's back with his right hand, adopting the deadly eagle claw style.

A fierce aura emanated from his hand, and the five fingers gleamed—they were as sharp as a well-honed knife!

Xiao Luo sensed the cold, hostile energy behind him and was alerted. He reacted purely by instinct, turning around with his right hand, ready to defend himself. Everything happened within a split second—to Xiao Luo's eyes, Ren Maohua's movements slowed considerably, but his intent to cause injury remained. With his right forearm defensively positioned in front of his body, he swept aside Ren Maohua's claw hand attack.

POW!

Two powerful forces clashed against one another—the attack as fast as a raging gale and the defense equally swift, resulting in an explosive impact that shuddered both combatants.

The force of the blow forced Xiao Luo to take a step back, but he steadied himself by planting his right foot. So heavy was the blow that Xiao Luo's foot submerged several inches into the bare ground.

Ren Maohua was slightly caught off guard as he had not expected Xiao Luo to display such strength and ability. He was thrown back almost ten steps before he finally managed to steady himself, looking rather surprised.

"If you're looking for a fight, then you are picking on the wrong person!"

Xiao Luo snarled at his attacker, infuriated as he glanced at the cuts on the back of his hand caused by Ren Maohua's claws.

Ren Maohua laughed and swaggered as he strode toward Xiao Luo again. Casting a glance at Ji Siying, who looked stunned, he said, "Siying, I've got to admit that his strength is rather impressive, but if you think he's so strong that I should not be provoking him, then I'll have you know that he's far from my level. Today, I'll show you what it means to be a real man!"

His eyes turned cold as he readied to launch another attack, staring ominously at Xiao Luo. Suddenly he lunged forward and got right in front of Xiao Luo again and immediately aimed a blow at Xiao Luo's neck with his right fist, striking so fast that it made a whistling sound.

BOOM!

Xiao Luo barely had the time to evade the attack, and all he could do was bring his arms up to intercept Ren Maohua's fierce punch. The force of the blow was tremendous, and the crunching impact of the fist resulted in a thunderous report. Ren Maohua was attacking like a raging bull, and Xiao Luo's expression changed instantly.

"Don't force me!" Xiao Luo warned.

"So, what if I force you? You are a coward! What makes you think you deserve a woman like Siying?… PTUI!"

Ren Maohua laughed and sneered with contempt, spitting on the ground. He charged forward again, executing a series of strikes with his fists, and went at Xiao Luo like a furious storm. Ren Maohua was throwing at least seven to ten punches per second, aiming for Xiao Luo's head, chest, and abdomen; every punch was packed with unrestrained power. Each punch that was directed at Xiao Luo was accompanied by a howling wind, and the air around them was stirring up in eddies like a small tornado.

There was no expression on Xiao Luo's face as he kept his focus on dodging and parrying as many of the strikes as he could. Xiao Luo chose not to retaliate as he was reluctant to draw any unnecessary attention to himself, being the first time he was visiting the NSA headquarters. Of course, that depended very much on how much the other party was trying to provoke him.

KAPOW! POW! POW!

Cracks started to appear on the dry ground underneath their feet, and dust was stirred up like a sandstorm was about to brew. The battle was heating up, and the scene was attracting many onlookers.

A large number of NSA soldiers, both men, and women had now gathered around the fighters forming a large circle. When they first realized that a fight was going on, they immediately took a keen interest and headed over from the training ground. They were not there to stop the fight but were excited to watch the contest between Xiao Luo and Ren Maohua.

"This dude doesn't look familiar… I think that he's on par with Brother Hua. With his abilities, I'm sure he is Grade-A as well."

"Yeah, I've never seen that face before, probably just been transferred here by headquarters."

"Brother Hua has always been chasing after Miss Ji, and they're likely fighting over her by the looks of it. This is the first big show of the year!"

Everyone was just casually exchanging notes amongst themselves, and by the looks of it, they were just there to enjoy the show.

Ji Siying was livid, standing by the side and urging the men to withdraw. "Stop it, both of you stop fighting! Stop right now!"

As a Grade-C soldier herself, Ji Siying was not equipped with the necessary skills to intervene in a battle between Grade-A combatants.

Xiao Luo had no wish to prolong such a meaningless fight and chose not to counter-attack, but Ren Maohua, on the other hand, was relentlessly trying to take him down simply to prove himself in front of Ji Siying.

"Hey, brat, did you hear that? Siying is telling us to stop. You just have to kneel down in front of me and kowtow three times, call me grandpa once and I'll let you off. Because of her request, I'm willing to stoop to your level, how about that?"

Ren Maohua sneered even as he continued his assault, taunting Xiao Luo to retaliate. Of course, his main aim was to make Xiao Luo lose his face with the intention that Ji Siying would cast him aside.

"Are you an idiot?"

Xiao Luo was losing his patience, and he shifted his stance to break Ren Maohua's momentum, then thrust both palms to push him back.

Ren Maohua appeared to stumble backward but made a breathtaking recovery, twisting his body suddenly and getting under Xiao Luo's palm thrust. Before Xiao Luo could react, Ren Maohua suddenly appeared on Xiao Luo's right side, and with a sinister grin, he flashed his right hand toward Xiao Luo's face.

SLASH!

His claw hand swiftly found its mark, and he drew blood.

The force of the blow threw Xiao Luo back, and he fell onto the hard ground about two meters away.

"Hah, you are pathetic! I have yet to use my full strength, and you're already on the ground!"

Ren Maohua deliberately raised his voice and berated Xiao Luo. He wanted to embarrass and degrade Xiao Luo's in the presence of Ji Siying.

"That was a strong blow. Hopefully, it didn't scratch his face."

"Even if he didn't scratch it, I'm afraid there will be a permanent scar."

"Brother Hua is so cruel with the way he does things, is he not afraid that the higher-ups are going to blame?"

The NSA soldiers watching the fight were whispering among themselves, but none of them came to Xiao Luo's aid or attempted to stop the brawl. Despite being highly disciplined NSA agents, they were first and foremost, warriors and admired strong competitors with fighting mettle. They appreciated watching a fight like this.

Seeing Xiao Luo lying on the ground, Ji Siying was starting to get apprehensive, and she had a bad feeling something really bad was about to happen. Ren Maohua was intent on provoking Xiao Luo, and Ji Siying was afraid that Xiao Luo had probably run out of patience…

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Xiao Luo clenched both his fists tightly, and the sound of his cracking knuckles was ominous.

He stood up to his full height and stared at Ren Maohua. The expression on his face was cold and threatening. He limbered up, turning his neck from left to right and shrugging his shoulders, then he snarled, "Do it again!"

Those three faint words seethed with a raging fury.

The NSA soldiers stared in silence and had a strange feeling that something nasty would soon happen.

Ren Maohua froze for a moment, but in the next second, he laughed and said, "Interesting… interesting. It seems like you can take a beating. Alright, your grandpa here shall fulfill your wish!"

His face turned dark with malice and clenching his fists, he dashed at Xiao Luo once again, unfurling a hefty blow directly into Xiao Luo's chest. One strike was all it would take to end the bout.

But, moments later, Ren Maohua was shocked. Xiao Luo had vanished right in front of him, just like a ghost, and his fist only connected with thin air. In the same instant, his pupils dilated, and a cold sweat broke out because Xiao Luo suddenly appeared right beside him.

What kind of speed was this? Why wasn't he able to track Xiao Luo's motion?

These two questions popped up in Ren Maohua's head.

Before Ren Maohua could react, Xiao Luo was already swiveling on his left leg and delivering a tremendous kick with his right, which slammed heavily into Ren Maohua's neck.

POW!

Ren Maohua felt like his neck was broken. All he heard was a dull thud before he was thrown by the force of the kick into the crowd of onlooking NSA soldiers.

…