The keys to the sidecar motorcycle weren't long; when gripped in the palm, the part protruding past the fingers was only about a centimeter or so.
But when that length was jabbed into someone, it was just enough to neutralize their fighting capacity without reaching the point of killing them or causing severe injury.
As the keys in Wang An's hand jabbed into the third person's back, the boy's body stiffened, and Wang An's right hand already swung a punch toward the boy's side ribs.
The reason Wang An specifically targeted the ribs was that these people were facing away from him, and the ribs are a very fragile area; one punch would leave them unable to recover for a long time.
If the opponent happened to be frail, a single punch could even break their ribs.
Just like that, under Wang An's violent output, the several people who had been circling and kicking Qiao Xiaohu were all knocked down by Wang An.
However, although Wang An's speed was fast enough, he still drew the opponents' attention. Just as Wang An hauled Qiao Xiaohu up from the ground, several more people split off and rushed toward him.
In the past, if Wang An wanted to fight multiple opponents, he would have had to use guerrilla tactics—running while fighting and taking them down one by one.
But since practicing the Eighteen Hands of Grappling, Wang An was brimming with confidence in his fighting abilities; he didn't give a damn about the five people currently rushing him.
Two or three seconds later, the opponents reached him.
Upon contact, Wang An executed a "Strange Python Flip," driving an elbow into the temple of the first person to rush in, while his left hand swung out, aiming for the second person's throat.
Siding away to dodge the third person's attack, he used a "Green Dragon Probing Claw"—essentially a bare-handed blade snatch—and directly seized the pickaxe handle from the third person's hand.
Although Wang An's Eighteen Hands of Grappling had reached a level of minor mastery and was fully applicable in actual combat, he still preferred having a tool in his hand when fighting.
As the old saying goes, "No matter how high the martial arts, one still fears the kitchen knife." Thus, with the pickaxe handle in hand, Wang An immediately felt a sense of invincibility.
Keys in the left hand, pickaxe handle in the right, combined with Wang An's ruthless and cunning moves, made him look as if a God of War had possessed him; he was incredibly fierce.
Saying that knocking down opponents was as simple as slicing melons and vegetables might be an exaggeration, but Wang An could generally neutralize any one of them within three moves.
Consequently, after only thirty or forty seconds, the five people who had just rushed in were all lying on the ground, left with nothing but wails of agony.
Truth be told, the Eighteen Hands of Grappling was indeed a bit too ruthless. Sometimes, if Wang An didn't hold back his strength, he was genuinely afraid he might actually kill the opponent.
Especially the "Leg Kick Throat Lock" and "Dragon Coiling the Jade Pillar"—the former specifically targeted the throat, while the latter aimed straight for the skull.
Including the people who had been kicking Qiao Xiaohu earlier, Wang An had taken down nine people in succession, and it hadn't even been two minutes.
This scene left Qiao Xiaohu completely stunned.
It wasn't that Qiao Xiaohu didn't know Wang An had always been a good fighter, but Wang An's current combat power was truly baffling to him.
This was no longer a question of whether he could fight or not; this was clearly invincibility!
After knocking down all nine people, Wang An stopped. He simply couldn't tell which of the people still brawling were Qiao Xiaohu's helpers.
Thus, Wang An gestured with his chin toward the people still fighting and asked Qiao Xiaohu
"Which of these are your buddies?"
Suppressing the confusion in his heart, Qiao Xiaohu spoke very quickly
"The one in black, the one in the jacket, and..."
As soon as Qiao Xiaohu finished speaking, Wang An walked over clutching the pickaxe handle.
Essentially one strike per person, Wang An knocked down the opponents of those few men.
This time, it wasn't so much that Wang An was incredibly skilled, but rather that he was sneak-attacking with a pickaxe handle; no one's head could withstand a blow from that.
Once the fighting was over, Wang An was a bit tired; for one, his breathing had become much heavier.
There was no helping it; fighting was absolutely the most physically draining of all activities.
Only then did Wang An frown and ask Qiao Xiaohu
"What's the deal here? Who do these bastards run with?"
Ever since Duan Tiger's gang had been forcibly broken up by Wang An, and following Qiao Xiaohu's boasting, no gang in DJ County dared to bully Qiao Xiaohu without reason.
Because everyone in the county's underworld knew that Qiao Xiaohu was now working for the "Big Lunatic" Wang An.
When Wang An was just drifting, he might not have been the most powerful person in the county, but he was the kind of existence that no one wanted to provoke.
The term "Big Lunatic" explained a lot; put simply, who wants to provoke a psychotic madman?
Furthermore, Qiao Xiaohu had always been tactful in his dealings and rarely offended people, so Wang An was quite puzzled as to why Qiao Xiaohu had been jumped.
Hearing Wang An's question, Qiao Xiaohu said with a bitter face
"I don't know where this bunch of people popped up from. They came up to me and demanded I sell all the goods to them, and then they had no money and insisted on credit. Those sons of bitches, fuck them."
Despite having been beaten, Qiao Xiaohu's state was actually quite good. Having traveled far and wide for so long, his character had been tempered significantly; at the very least, he was no longer the timid person he used to be.
Upon hearing Qiao Xiaohu's account, Wang An immediately understood what was happening.
It was nothing more than the other party seeing money and wanting to get into the small commodity trade.
To put it nicely, their behavior was "asking for credit," but to put it bluntly, they wanted it for free; to put it even more severely, it was daylight robbery.
However, Wang An wasn't angry after hearing this, mainly because such things were far too common in this era.
Of course, such things weren't uncommon in later generations either, but by then, the methods of such people had changed, and they didn't seem as barbaric as they did now.
Wang An nodded, then pointed to the group of people on the ground and said
"Go ask them who they run with."
As he spoke, Wang An handed over the pickaxe handle.
If you wanted to ask these people questions, asking politely was useless; you had to add a bit of "incentive."
Qiao Xiaohu took the pickaxe handle and walked straight up to one person. Before he even asked the question, he swung the handle and struck the man's thigh.
Amidst the man's screams, Qiao Xiaohu bared his teeth and glared, saying
"Fuck you, talk! Who the fuck sent you?"
Before the man could answer, the pickaxe handle in Qiao Xiaohu's hand swung out again, making the man wail once more.
Qiao Xiaohu's performance still surprised Wang An. Truth be told, this change was truly quite significant!
(End of Chapter)