The Moment Steel Meets Fear
The gate collapsed inward with a heavy crash.
Dust and splinters filled the air.
For a split second, everything froze.
Then the enforcers rushed in.
Zhao Cheng moved first.
He didn’t wait for them to fully enter.
He stepped forward like he was meeting them halfway, not defending, but intercepting.
The first man swung a stick-
Zhao Cheng caught it.
Barehanded.
A sharp twist.
The stick snapped in two.
Before the man could react, Zhao Cheng drove his elbow into his chest and shoved him back into the others.
The group staggered.
Lin Shu’s heart dropped.
This wasn’t a fight.
This was suppression.
Efficient.
Controlled.
Terrifying.
But there were too many of them.
“Now!” the leader shouted.
“Surround him!”
Three men broke off instantly, rushing toward the side of the house.
Zhao Cheng noticed-but didn’t chase.
His eyes flicked once toward the doorway.
Toward Lin Shu.
“Run,” he said again.
This time, it wasn’t calm.
It was final.
Lin Shu’s body refused to move for half a second.
He saw Zhao Jun inside the house, holding Zhao An tightly.
He saw Zhao Mei trembling but still trying to stay composed.
He saw Zhao Cheng alone outside-already facing multiple men closing in.
And he understood something clearly.
If he ran now…
He might survive.
But the house would fall anyway.
And so would they.
“No,” Lin Shu said.
Zhao Cheng’s eyes snapped toward him.
“What did you say?”
Lin Shu’s hands shook-but he stepped forward anyway.
“I said no.”
Zhao Cheng’s expression darkened.
“This is not the time to prove anything.”
“I’m not proving anything,” Lin Shu replied quickly.
“I just… I can help.”
A bitter laugh came from one of the enforcers nearby.
“Help? This pretty thing?”
He lunged.
Lin Shu barely had time to react-
But Zhao Cheng was faster.
He intercepted mid-step and slammed the man into the ground.
“Don’t look away from me,” Zhao Cheng said coldly.
Then another attacker rushed from behind-
Zhao Cheng turned-
Too slow this time.
A blow landed on his shoulder.
He staggered slightly.
Lin Shu saw it.
For the first time.
Zhao Cheng was not invincible.
Something inside Lin Shu snapped into focus.
He grabbed a broken piece of wood from the ground.
Not a weapon.
Just debris.
But it was something.
He rushed forward before thinking.
The moment an enforcer reached Zhao Cheng’s blind spot-
Lin Shu struck him hard on the arm.
It wasn’t powerful.
But it was enough to break momentum.
The man turned angrily.
“Little bastard-!”
Lin Shu didn’t wait.
He ran.
Not away.
Toward Zhao Cheng.
“Behind you!” he shouted.
Zhao Cheng pivoted instantly and knocked the attacker away.
His eyes flicked briefly to Lin Shu.
A sharp glance.
Not approval.
Not anger.
Something more complicated.
“Stay close,” he said lowly.
Lin Shu nodded quickly.
The battle became chaotic.
Dust.
Noise.
Movement.
But slowly, the enforcers started realizing something.
Zhao Cheng wasn’t just defending.
He was controlling the battlefield.
Pushing them into narrow spaces.
Limiting their movement.
But even strategy had limits.
There were too many.
And Zhao Cheng was starting to slow.
A cut appeared on his arm.
Then another near his ribs.
Lin Shu saw it and felt panic rise.
He couldn’t let this continue.
Not like this.
Then he saw it.
The leader.
Standing slightly back.
Not fighting.
Watching.
Waiting for an opening.
Lin Shu’s eyes narrowed.
Without thinking too much, he moved.
Quietly.
Carefully.
Circling behind broken furniture.
Ignoring the chaos.
Ignoring Zhao Cheng’s voice calling something-he couldn’t hear it clearly anymore.
He focused only on distance.
The leader’s back.
Unprotected.
Lin Shu’s hands trembled.
He wasn’t a fighter.
He wasn’t strong.
But he remembered something from the original owner’s memories-
A hidden knife.
Kept under a loose floorboard near the storage area.
Lin Shu had found it days ago.
He hadn’t told anyone.
Because he wasn’t sure he should.
Now he understood why it existed.
He pulled it out.
Cold metal.
Real.
Heavy.
His breath shook.
Then-
He ran.
“Behind him!” someone shouted.
Too late.
Lin Shu reached the leader.
The man turned-
Eyes widening slightly in surprise.
“You-”
Lin Shu didn’t let him finish.
He swung.
Not perfectly.
Not skillfully.
But with everything he had.
The blade cut across the man’s arm.
The leader roared in pain, stumbling back.
For the first time-
Fear appeared in his eyes.
Zhao Cheng saw it.
And in that moment-
Everything changed.
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