Lu Ren let out a muffled groan as he instinctively fell to the ground, then rolled away without stopping, swinging his baton.
Got him!
Lu Ren glanced quickly out of the corner of his eye, seeing the guy holding a dagger drop his knife, frowning and clutching his hand silently, which made Lu Ren feel a great sense of relief.
He quickly stood up and, instead of retreating, advanced. He put all his strength into a swing, striking the opponent's waist and ribs with his baton.
Bang!
"Arrgh!!"
The opponent staggered, the intense pain making it impossible for him to straighten his waist for quite a while. He let out a scream but couldn't muster any strength, staring at Lu Ren with wide eyes.
Still want to act tough here?!
This is what Li Cunyi just told him: the soft ribs at the waist. If hit accurately, it can momentarily disable someone's combat capability.
Clenching his teeth, Lu Ren raised his left hand again, gritting and bearing as another guy's bat came crashing down, then he aimed his baton fiercely at the head of the guy who was still bent over and clutching his ribs.
Thud!
With full force, the swing directly knocked the opponent to the ground, fainting him.
Ten seconds later, Lu Ren watched the last man fall to the ground, shaking his left hand repeatedly. Taking those two hits made half his body go numb; he even wondered if his left hand might be fractured.
Luckily, the system hadn't indicated any severe trauma to his body.
The last guy seemed to be cowed by Lu Ren's ferocity. Before he could react, Lu Ren delivered a gut-wrenching kick that left the other gasping for air, followed by a baton swing to the face. Despite suffering two heavy strikes, Lu Ren, who had a constitution of 6 points, didn't suffer any fractures.
However, his shoulder and arm quickly became red and swollen, with a puffy red mark appearing. The intense pain from the friction with his clothes surged through him like electric shocks.
Despite everything said, the entire incident actually ended in less than thirty seconds.
Lu Ren then went forward to give each of the three a couple more hits, ensuring they had temporarily lost their combat abilities. He leaned against the wall, twisting his left side, the hits he'd taken earlier now causing him to tremble with pain since his adrenaline levels had dropped.
"Ding, due to your continuous use of the baton, your Strength Proficiency +1."
"Ding, due to being attacked, your Constitution Proficiency passively +1."
"Ding, due to constant dodging, your Agility Proficiency +1."
"Ding, you suffered a bat attack, your left shoulder sustained a minor injury, severe soft tissue bruising, your Constitution Proficiency passively +1."
"Ding, due to..."
Going through the system notifications in his head for several minutes, Lu Ren finally stood up straight, walked over to the side, and took off the hats and masks of the three, pulling out his phone to take their pictures. Then, he looked at one of the guys who was trembling and gasping for air.
"Who are you? Where are you from? Why are you attacking me?"
Seeing the opponent still silently holding his wound, Lu Ren wasn't surprised. He looked around, confirmed there were no passersby, and began searching their bodies, finding the opponent's phone.
When it required facial recognition to unlock, and the guy flinched and moved, Lu Ren skillfully swung his baton again, hitting the guy. Then, during the moment of pain-induced shivering, he unlocked the phone, checking the recent call history and messages.
Once confirming it wasn't on this phone, he searched another person's phone, meanwhile giving another two baton swings to prevent the guy from regaining his breath and ambushing him.
"You bastard..."
The guy cursed angrily, just as a wailing wind sound was heard, followed by intense pain in his mouth, and his teeth began to leak...
Lu Ren glanced at him, waving the baton.
"If you curse again, I'll knock out your teeth one by one."
What Li Cunyi told him about the human body's vulnerabilities really worked. As long as you stay calm, exert solid force, and hit the right spots, if the opponent hasn't been specially trained, one hit can render them incapable of fighting.
Listening to the opponent's cries of pain, Lu Ren remained indifferent. From the leader, he retrieved a phone, checked a call record from an hour ago, and glanced at the now color-changed guy before dialing out.
The phone was answered after just one ring.
"Hello, is the task done?"
A sharp voice came from the phone, causing Lu Ren to raise an eyebrow.
He slowly spoke: "Aunt Meng, long time no see!"
The person on the other end was Luo Zixuan's mother, Meng Xian, a very doting mother to Luo Zixuan.
Lu Ren could only comment that no matter what Luo Zixuan asked for, this indulgent mother would try her best to satisfy it, which turned Luo Zixuan into a rather arrogant second-generation heir.
If it weren't for Wang Gang's persistent invitation, Lu Ren would never have agreed to accompany him, ultimately leading to that incident.
The other end of the call was silent for a long moment, followed by an exceptionally venomous sharp voice.
"You little brat, you're actually still alive!!"
Lu Ren: "Thanks to you, I will live well."
"You're dead! I'll do everything in my power to avenge my son. I will..."
Lu Ren hung up the call expressionlessly, looking at the automatic call recording on the phone in his hand.
He stood up, looked at the three lying on the ground, pondered for a moment, then took out his phone to make a call.
"Hello, police station? I was attacked by someone. They were carrying daggers and intending to kill me. I want to report a crime. The location is..."
An hour later, Lu Ren looked at Chen Wen and Song Jingxian in front of him, both with unpleasant expressions, and couldn't help but spread his hands: "Officer, that's how it is. This is a premeditated murder. All evidence indicates that Meng Xian is the mastermind. Please arrest her immediately."
Chen Wen frowned and said: "It's difficult."
Putting down the transcript, Song Jingxian said: "From the call recording, the other party asking if the task was completed does not explicitly mention hiring someone for murder. Even if the insults and threats to kill you that followed occurred, the most we could do is detain them for twenty-four hours. Legally, your claim of attempted murder doesn't stand."
Lu Ren didn't get discouraged. During his time in the hospital, he'd studied the law and knew that without sufficient evidence, they indeed couldn't arrest anyone. Moreover, because he'd protected himself well, the claim of attempted murder was tenuous.
Lu Ren decisively said, "Then detain her for twenty-four hours. I've suffered emotional harm and strongly request the police detain her!"
Chen Wen and Song Jingxian exchanged a glance, Chen Wen asked: "Are you sure?"
Lu Ren: "Since they're blaming Luo Zixuan's death on me, even if I can't do anything to her, at least I can annoy her."
A dog fighting a dog, it's a mess.
The phrase came to both Chen Wen and Song Jingxian's minds simultaneously.
"There's one more thing."
Song Jingxian stared at Lu Ren and said: "Three against one with planning, and you only suffered minor injuries?"
Lu Ren raised an eyebrow: "Officer Song seems very keen for me to be hurt, should I take that as you're perhaps one of the accomplices?"