Chapter 78

Just now, the old woman who had pitied the child heard the thugs coercing Jiang Junming. She didn’t dare to turn her head and hurriedly left. People nearby, seeing that some kind of dispute seemed to be happening, quickly took a detour. Not only was there no one to speak up for Jiang Junming, but there wasn’t even a single onlooker around.

"You guys are really unreasonable," Jiang Junming said, looking at the two thugs with disgust and scolding them.

"Huh? You’re getting angry? If you don’t give us the money, you’ll learn what reason is today," one of the thugs said with a laugh, waving his fist at Jiang Junming. To him, Jiang Junming was just a teenager in his teens, and he could be knocked down with one punch. The twenty copper coins this teenager definitely couldn’t come up with, and the thug hadn’t really wanted the money. Instead, he was prepared to beat Jiang Junming and loot all the valuable items from his body.

Seeing that there was no point in arguing, Jiang Junming didn’t say much more. He held the child in his arms, dug his toes into the ground, and suddenly lunged forward.

After the fundamental transformation of his fast and slow muscle fibers by the light brain, Jiang Junming’s endurance was still unknown, but his explosive power had greatly improved. Even with a child in his arms, he still moved like a cheetah, leaving several afterimages behind as he approached the two thugs.

Just as he reached the front of the thug, Jiang Junming’s forward momentum came to an abrupt stop, which was quite sudden. The two thugs didn’t even react to such a sudden stop.

Jiang Junming’s left foot firmly planted on the ground, he raised his right knee and rammed it into the thug’s abdomen. Then, he smoothly side-kicked the other thug’s right knee joint.

His movements were smooth and natural, without any hesitation or pause. The two thugs didn’t even blink before they fell to the ground, clutching their injuries and wailing.

Amidst the thugs’ wailing, Jiang Junming heard a faint footsteps. His perception, enhanced by the light brain’s first-level modification, was enough to detect such subtle, hard-to-notice sounds. The people in the slums, seeing the dispute, all tried to avoid it. At this moment, the person sneaking up on him could only be a thug’s accomplice.

Seeing that the two thugs had lost their fighting ability, Jiang Junming turned around with the child in his arms and looked in the direction of the footsteps. A slightly shorter, fierce-looking man was quietly approaching him. The thug held a dagger, ready to stab him from behind.

Jiang Junming smiled and said, "You guys came together?"

The thug was taken aback by the question and hadn’t seen what had just happened. He only saw a blur, and his two companions fell to the ground, wailing in pain. Instinctively, he drew his knife and prepared to sneak up behind Jiang Junming to give him a hard hit, but he didn’t know how the teenager had noticed him.

Looking at Jiang Junming with a dazed expression, his steps slowed slightly. In a moment of distraction, the Jiang Junming holding the child in front of him disappeared. Before he could even think about what had happened, he felt a sharp pain in his ribs, couldn’t catch his breath, and fell to the ground.

Feeling the power of his explosive movements, Jiang Junming reflected on the fight. Perhaps it couldn’t be called a fight, but he tried to feel his changes, adapt to them, and get used to them. The hardness of his knee and elbow joints was still insufficient, but it was enough to deal with ordinary thugs. Ordinary strong men had no chance to counter his quick movements. Even without the light brain marking the weak points of his opponents, Jiang Junming could still easily defeat them.

But if he had to face stronger warriors, paladins, or the followers of evil gods he had encountered on his way, his current changes wouldn’t be enough.

If the light brain lets me choose to modify my body again, should I modify my elbow and knee joints? Jiang Junming, holding the child, looked at the thug who was groaning in pain, but his mind was on the idea of modifying his body.

"Who has the nerve!" A voice came from the alley. Jiang Junming turned to see a short, stocky man wearing a half-robe, his chest hair exposed like weeds. His face was fierce and aggressive, looking more like one of the strange and exotic monsters from the Beast Forest or the Beast Mountains, ready to prey on someone.

The short, stocky man was followed by four or five people, each holding a weapon and looking at Jiang Junming with a fierce gaze. Seeing that their opponent was just one person, a child, they grew bolder and were ready to attack.

"It’s me," Jiang Junming said calmly, facing the several armed men.

The thug leader, seeing Jiang Junming clearly, his face turned dark. A few days ago, a fiery-figured priestess from the Care Church had brought back a teenager, who was the person in front of him. The thug leader, who had been in the slums for a long time, knew who he could bully and who he couldn’t provoke. Otherwise, he would have been eliminated long ago for offending someone he shouldn’t.

Who can’t be offended? The teenager in front of him was definitely one of the few people in the slums he couldn’t offend. The thug leader stared at Jiang Junming with a fierce gaze, not saying a word, as if pondering what to do.

"You’re asking for death!" A man behind the thug leader shouted, waving an iron bar and rushing at Jiang Junming.

"Get lost!" The thug leader didn’t even look back, slapping his subordinate in the face, causing him to stumble and crash into the roadside stone.

The subordinates didn’t know what had happened. Why would the boss hit one of his own?

"Hmph! Let’s go!" The thug leader’s fierce gaze was like a knife, filled with reluctance, but he ordered his subordinates to leave. Although the other thugs didn’t know why, the teenager in front of them seemed easy to deal with. Under the thug leader’s authority, they didn’t ask questions, helped the three fallen thugs up, and disappeared into the alleys of the slums.

Seeing their demeanor, Jiang Junming found it somewhat amusing. They must have suffered greatly under the hands of Priestess Ilene. The image of Priestess Ilene’s slender figure appeared in his mind. He wondered if she had the same graceful posture when she hit people. Being hit by Priestess Ilene, these thugs were quite fortunate.

Seeing the thugs disappear, the surroundings were quiet. Jiang Junming didn’t waste time and returned to the Care Church with the child.

Several women were cleaning the courtyard, washing and mending clothes. Seeing Jiang Junming return, they greeted him warmly. The old women then saw the child in Jiang Junming’s arms, who was barely alive, and gathered around.

"This child is in bad shape," one of the old women said, looking at the child in Jiang Junming’s arms with pity.