Li Feng adjusted his stance slowly, eyes moving across all four of them.
"Who are you?"
Silence.
He shifted his bag slightly to the side. "If it's money you want, you can have it."
None of them moved. None of them spoke. They stood with their planks held loose at their sides, watching him from behind their masks.
Then one of them tilted his head. "Don't blame us," he said. "Blame your luck."
He charged forward, plank raised high above his head.
Li Feng didn't move until the last possible second. He stepped aside cleanly, letting the plank cut through empty air. Then his foot came up swift and precise.
*Crack.*
Like an egg hitting the edge of a bowl.
The masked man's scream bounced off every wall in the alley. He folded in half so fast it looked like someone had cut his strings, both hands clutching himself as he hit the ground and stayed there making sounds no grown man should ever make in public.
Li Feng straightened his collar and looked down at him.
Feng Liang hadn't stayed at the top for nothing. The threats on his life over the years had been real and frequent. He had served in the military. Knew almost every form of hand to hand combat for self defence.
Did that make him Batman? No.
But he sure wasn't losing a street fight.
The three remaining figures looked at their companion on the ground. Then all three charged at once.
Li Feng exhaled slowly.
The two in front came fast, planks swinging wide. He didn't back away. He stepped forward instead, closing the distance before either swing could build momentum. The first plank whistled past his ear as he ducked under it, driving his elbow hard into the man's ribs. The crack was clean. The man staggered sideways gasping.
The second was already on him.
Li Feng caught the incoming plank with both hands, twisted his body and used the man's own force against him, sending him stumbling forward into nothing. Before he could recover Li Feng drove the back of his heel into the side of his knee.
He went down hard.
The third — the one from behind — hit him across the shoulder before he could turn.
Li Feng grunted. Took a step forward to absorb it. Turned slowly.
The masked man swung again. This time Li Feng caught his wrist mid swing, stepped inside his guard and drove his forehead straight into the man's nose.
The crunch was immediate. The plank dropped. The man dropped with it.
Li Feng rolled his shoulder slowly, feeling the sting from the hit he had taken. He looked around the alley.
Four men. All on the ground.
He walked slowly toward one of the masked men still conscious. The man looked up at him. Whatever courage had brought him here tonight was completely gone. He scrambled backwards on his hands until his back hit the alley wall.
"Please. Please." His voice cracked. "We were just doing what we were told."
Li Feng stood over him, looking down without expression. Then he brought his foot down hard on the man's hand.
The crack echoed through the alley. The scream that followed was raw and immediate, bouncing off the narrow walls.
Li Feng leaned down slowly, bringing his face close. "Who sent you," he said quietly in a chilling tone.
"Ch— Chen Long—" the man gasped. "Someone from Chen Long—"
Li Feng pressed his foot down harder. Another scream tore through the alley.
"I asked who."
"I don't know!" Tears were streaming down behind the mask now. "I don't know I swear please"
Li Feng didn't move his foot. "We were just — we were just told to rough you up. Enough to put you out for months. That's all. That's everything I know. I swear that's all."
Li Feng slowly lifted his foot and straightened up. He looked down at the man quietly.
"Go home," he said to all of them. "Get a life."
He picked up his bag and walked away. A smile curved on his lips as he turned back onto the main street.
*They are getting nervous already.* He adjusted his bag on his shoulder. *Well. You are not taking me out that easily.*
---
"I'm home," Li Feng announced as he closed the apartment door slowly behind him.
Zhao Lihua was seated on the sofa, Xian asleep on her lap. She looked up at the sound of his voice. "Welcome home," she said quietly.
Li Feng's eyes moved across her face immediately. He could see it. The slight redness around her eyes. The way she had composed herself just a second too late.
She had been crying.
*Why?* he thought. *Things were finally changing. Weren't they?*
He stood there for a moment, bag still in hand. "Hmm." He cleared his throat lightly. "I got ice cream." He held up a white bag. "I'll put it down."
He set it on the counter and stood in the small kitchen for a moment longer than necessary.
*Was he supposed to ask her why she was crying?*
He moved to the bedroom and closed the door behind him. He dropped his bag and crashed onto the bed hard, staring up at the ceiling.
*What am I doing wrong.*