VESSEL - Extinction Countdown 931: Bull’s Roar

Led by the worker surnamed Wang, the group reached the unloading area at the construction site, already teeming with people, divided distinctly into two camps.

Lu Zhengwu’s crew—construction workers in uniforms and yellow hard hats, clutching hammers, clubs, spades—stood seething, their patience long exhausted by relentless harassment.

Opposite, a dozen vans lined up. Out stepped a gang in white T-shirts, wielding iron rods and baseball bats, tattooed, with dyed hair and gaudy chains, marking them as troublemakers.

In the fray’s heart, men jostled fiercely. Ye Shisan and Yi Qing recognized two: the foreman surnamed Wang, father of the young messenger, and the captain surnamed Li, the site’s security chief.

As tempers flared toward violence, a commanding shout pierced the air.

“Stop it, all of you!”

The workers glanced back and instinctively drew back, parting to clear a path for Lu Zhengwu’s arrival. His presence bolstered Foreman Wang and Captain Li, both towering and robust, who shoved the punks back several meters with forceful ease.

Lu Zhengwu strode to the forefront, his eyes sweeping the scene before he bellowed. “Pang Niu! I know you're hiding in the car. What's wrong? Too many dirty deeds to show your face?”

A sinister laugh rose from the mob as a burly bald man stepped forward, his shaved head gleaming, twin scars on his forehead resembling the stumps of sawed-off horns.

“Boss Lu, it’s been a while!”

“Hmph! A while? Your thugs trashed my site last Sunday!”

“Come now, my crew’s large, all needing to eat. A few hotheads causing trouble? I can’t control them all! ”

“Want to eat? Get honest work. This path’s a dead end!”

“Dead end? My boys need cash. Someone’s choking our funds—no cash, no peace. If some folks don’t back off… even a cornered rabbit bites!”

“No need to threaten an old man, Pang Niu. I gave your brother Pang Hu face, offering his crew work here—better pay than most! You don’t just want food; you want the whole table!”

Lu Zhengwu was impervious to both carrot and stick, his eloquence was astonishing. His unyielding wit left Pang Niu speechless, forcing a pivot: “Enough talk. My boys’ are here for the goods—Boss Zhang sent them to your site by mistake. They’re ours!”

“They’re here, signed for!” Lu snapped. “If it’s a mix-up, that’s Boss Zhang’s problem—deal with him, not us!”

“Hah! Hah! You’re absolutely right. Look, Boss Zhang’s here too!”

Pang Niu jeered, waving a hand as a few thugs dragged a middle-aged man—bloodied and trembling in fear—out of the car.

Pointing at the supplies on the construction site, Pang Niu chuckled, “Boss Zhang, is it you sent the wrong shipment?”

Overwhelmed by fear, Boss Zhang collapsed onto his knees, his body quivering without end. “Yes! My mistake! These were for Pang’s site…”

One glance was all it took for Lu Zhengwu to grasp that Zhang had been thoroughly subdued. Then and there, he said, “Boss Zhang, if it’s a mix-up, get more from your warehouse. No need to rob us with Pang Niu. I've paid for these!”

Head bowed, Boss Zhang avoided Lu’s gaze, “Boss Lu, I’d supply Third Brother if I could, but… my warehouse burned. All gone…”

As the third Pang son, Pang Niu was “Third Brother” to all in town, a testament to their clan’s dominance.

He roared with laughter, “Hear that, Boss Lu? This is the town’s last batch—more’s five days away, and my brother’s racing a deadline!”

Lu Zhengwu caught Pang Niu’s wicked smirk, piecing it together.

Burned? Ha, isn’t it obvious that Pang Niu had it torched. All this effort just for materials? No—the true aim was to sabotage his project’s timeline.

Rumors spoke of an imminent inspection by high officials; if Pang’s site thrived while his lay dormant, loans, land policies, and investment deals could tilt in their favor.

Pang’s out to drive me from Pang Family Town for good!

“Boss Lu, at your age, you deserve a rest. I’ll take the goods, Boss Zhang will send you some more in five days. Boys, move the cargo!”

At Pang Niu’s order, his crew surged like unleashed hounds, scrambling eagerly.

“Who dares?” Lu Zhengwu roared, stepping defiantly forward. “Robbing in broad daylight? Is there no law left?”

Lu Zhengwu barely had time to finish his words when, without warning, a brick sliced through the air and struck him squarely on the forehead.

In the blink of an eye, the old man felt a sudden force from behind, catapulting his entire body into the air before he landed heavily in the muddy ground.

It was Ye Shisan, who had pulled him back, now shielding him, one hand outstretched, clutching the brick precisely.

Stricken with panic, Fang Ling let out a sharp cry, "Uncle!" and in just a few steps, leapt forward to shield Lu Zhengwu.

Ye Shisan weighed the brick—heavy, not a common red brick but a solid green one, deadly in force.

Scanning the menacing mob, he knew the throw’s precision ruled out these thugs; the assailant lurked behind them.

With a wry smirk, Ye Shisan taunted: “In my youth, fights were head-on, no tricks. Now society’s scum resort to cowardly ambushes, eh?”

Pang Niu, having sized up Ye Shisan, mistook him for Lu’s latest bodyguard.

“Kid, heed this—Boss Lu’s burned through four guards. Care to know their fates?”

Ye Shisan clenched the green brick in his palm, tossing it lightly, “Guard? I’m just a passerby who spotted a robbery and stepped in.”

Pang Niu’s teeth gritted in a cold sneer, “Hey, kid, remember—This is Pang Family Town!”

Ye Shisan smiled faintly, “Ah, turns out this is my old stomping ground. All the more reason not to let scumbags run wild!”

“Damn it! You’re dead—”

Mid-sentence, Pang Niu grabbed an iron rod, but before he could raise it, Ye Shisan flung the brick, striking his chest with a dull thud. The tremendous shock blasted him off his feet, leaving him sprawled on the ground in all directions.

“What’re you staring at? Kill him!”

Pang Niu struggled to rise, but as he straightened, his eyes bulged, vision blackening, chest searing with pain.

What’s even stranger—there wasn’t the slightest sound of battle around him, and his gang remained frozen like statues.

Fury surged as he glared around, “What’re you waiting for?! This batch is mine today!”

A wiry thug darted from the mob, whispering in Pang Niu’s ear, “Third Brother, Young Master Hua warns of a master here. Let us Pull back.”

“Young Master Hua?”

Pang Niu’s face abruptly shiftedas he struggled to his feet, his gaze piercing through his men to a distant van. Teeth clenched, he growled: “Boys, out!”