Chapter 92: I’m Sorry
When Lin Huai and her squad arrived, the men hadn’t noticed them yet. They were still flushed red from drinking, laughing and bragging loudly at their table.
“By the way, are we really not going to help Young Master Is Jungler?”
“Why even call him ‘Young Master’? Calling him ‘Xiao Ye’ is already giving the brat too much face. He’s just a little kid! Who does he think he is, trying to order us around as our boss?”
“Exactly. I just saw the system notification on the screen. Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice told the Zone 444 players to pull back because the merger was done. The brat is probably already dead.”
“Oh, he’s definitely dead. Any woman who can climb to rank one across the entire server has to be a vicious monster. She’s probably an ugly, bitter old hag that no man would ever touch! Hahaha!”
One of the men, sporting bright red hair and a tacky “Forget Me Not” tattoo across his forearm, puffed out his chest. “Once Xiao Ye is officially in the ground, I’ll take over as the leader of our zone. Thanks to all of you for backing me up. Sticking with me will be ten times better than following some clueless kid!”
“Hell yeah! You’re the real boss!” the others cheered, raising their glasses.
Standing in the shadows near the entrance, the young man had still tried to comfort himself earlier in the square, making excuses in his head. He had told himself that his brothers only hid because Zone 444 had too many people.
Now, listening to their drunken mockery, the cold truth hit him like a bucket of ice water.
They had never respected him. They had never considered him a friend.
Just minutes ago, he had looked down on Lin Huai simply because she was a woman. Now, karma swung right back around, and he was being cast aside and ridiculed simply because of his age.
The boomerang struck him square between the eyes. For the first time in his life, he truly understood how much it hurt to be judged and rejected for something beyond his control. In a world where raw strength was supposed to reign supreme, his own achievements were discarded just because he was young. Only now did he understand why Lin Huai and her squad had been so furious with him.
Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes. Turning toward Lin Huai, he bent his back and bowed deeply from the waist.
“I’m sorry, Boss Bone Ash… I’m so sorry. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have looked down on you because you’re a woman. I’m truly sorry.”
Lin Huai didn’t say a word to him. Instead, she stepped forward into the lantern light, making enough noise to startle the gang of loafers still running their mouths.
Her gaze was frosty, her voice cutting through the smoky tavern like a razor: “Good afternoon, gentlemen. I believe I am the hideous, bitter old hag you were just describing. How about it? Would you like a personal lesson?”
Dragon Emerging from the Sea cracked his knuckles, the joints popping like firecrackers. “Zone 444, Rank Two—Dragon Emerging from the Sea. Requesting permission to educate them!”
If You’re Bad, Practice More gripped her long spear and lunged forward, her eyes blazing. “You useless pieces of trash! Today, you’re going to die at the hands of the women you despise!”
Lin Huai’s silhouette blurred in the dim light. She barely raised her hand, but her violet war scythe whipped out in a whisper of wind.
The first man who tried to scramble to his feet had his throat slit in an instant. Letting out a choked, wet gasp like a slaughtered chicken, he slumped onto the floorboards, his eyes frozen wide in terrified disbelief.
The entire tavern went dead silent.
The men, who had been shouting and boasting seconds earlier, froze like animals caught in a trap. The drunken flush on their faces vanished instantly, replaced by sheer, sickly terror.
The red-haired man with the tattoo stared at the corpse, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks. The ceramic cup in his trembling hand slipped and shattered on the wooden floor, splashing cheap wine across his boots.
“Y-you… who are you people…?” His throat felt like sandpaper, his voice cracking.
Dragon Emerging from the Sea didn’t give him time to breathe. He plowed into the crowd like a heavy tank.
His combat style was built on brutal military training—direct, efficient, and merciless. His fists were lethal weapons. Every blow tore through the air with a heavy rush of wind, followed by the sickening crunch of breaking bones and desperate wails of pain.
Another thug tried to draw a machete from his belt, but Sister Cai’s spear swept through the air, knocking the blade spinning into the ceiling. The steel tip flickered with cold gleams, each thrust drawing a fresh spray of blood.
This wasn’t a fight. It was a one-sided, absolute execution.
Sister Cai spun her spear in a tight flourish, pinning the last two thugs who were trying to crawl away on their hands and knees. The broad spearhead drove straight through the collars of their shirts, pinning them together to the wall like candied fruit on a stick.
She spat on the floor in disgust. “Pathetic trash!”
In less than thirty seconds, the entire gang was sprawled across the floor, groaning and clutching their broken limbs.
Only the red-haired man remained standing. His face was drained of color, and his knees knocked together violently as he shook like a leaf in the wind.
Lin Huai walked toward him at a slow, steady pace. Her combat boots made soft, sticky sounds against the floor, stepping through the pooled wine and fresh blood.
In the dead quiet of the room, each footstep sounded like a death knell tolling inside the man’s chest.
She stopped right in front of him, tilting her head slightly to eye the ridiculous “Forget Me Not” tattoo inked into his skin.
“Are you the one who wanted to become the new boss of the district?” she asked softly, her voice calm yet dripping with freezing malice.
The man’s knees gave out completely. He collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud, slamming his forehead against the boards again and again in frantic bows:
“I’m sorry! Boss Bone Ash, please! We were stupid! We were blind! Please, just treat us like foul air and let us go! Spare my life! Have mercy!”
Lin Huai’s eyes remained flat, showing only cold disgust.
“Looking down on women?” she asked in a quiet murmur.
“N-never again! I swear to god, never again!” the man sobbed, tears and snot smearing across his face.
“Backstabbing your leader and abandoning your brothers?” she pressed, her gaze shifting to the teenage boy standing nearby with red eyes and clenched fists.
The red-haired thug nearly fainted from pure fright. He scrambled on his knees, clutching blindly at the teenager’s pant leg: “We were wrong… Xiao Ye! Brother Xiao Ye, please save me! For the sake of our old friendship…”
“Shut up,” the boy choked out. His voice was thick with suppressed tears and burning fury. “The second those words came out of your mouth, you stopped being my brother.”
Lin Huai turned around, looking at the young man.
The boy forced his back straight and scrubbed hard at his face with his sleeve, trying desperately to keep his tears from falling. Yet his red-rimmed eyes and trembling lips laid his grief bare.
The sting of betrayal and the harsh reality of this world had delivered a brutal blow, stripping away the last traces of his childish naivety in a single afternoon.
Lin Huai looked at him for a quiet second, then turned toward the exit. “He’s all yours. Deal with him however you see fit.”
Leaving the boy and the groveling thug alone among the groaning men on the floor, the Elite Squad followed Lin Huai outside, stepping into the fresh air of the street.
Peace and Violence pushed up his glasses, a slight frown on his face. “Boss, do we plan to keep that kid around?”
Lin Huai thought it over, then glanced at her teammates. “What do you all think? Should we bring him into our circle?”
Cute and Sparkling shook her head without hesitation, her cheeks puffed out in annoyance. “No way. I don’t want him on our team.”
Dragon Emerging from the Sea looked equally reluctant. “The players ranked second and third on the server leaderboard are still hunting for your coffin, Boss. Our enemies are getting stronger by the day, and our squad needs to level up as fast as humanly possible. That kid is still too green, emotional, and easily swayed. Sure, he could learn over time, but we don’t have the luxury or the duty to babysit someone while he grows up.”
Jiangzhehu Inheritor nodded in total agreement. “I’m with Brother Long on this one. We’re running on borrowed time; we can’t afford to wait around for a kid to figure himself out.”
Seeing that everyone stood on the exact same page, Lin Huai smiled with deep satisfaction.
This time around, she truly had gathered a crew of exceptional, clear-headed companions who were completely in sync with her.
