Someone behind him suddenly pressed up and pushed him forward. At this moment, the people inside hadn’t entered yet, and he was immediately squeezed to that spot.

Although this was the first time Ethan Brooks had experienced such a situation, he had seen it many times online—being wedged in... interesting. Sure enough, almost at the same time, a hand slipped into Ethan Brooks’s pocket. For most people, in this kind of situation, they wouldn’t notice at all, and even if they did, it would be too late to react, let alone turn around.

But for Ethan Brooks, this was far too easy. He gently reached down and had already grabbed the hand that had slipped into his pocket.

“Ow... ah...” A painful scream instantly brought the crowded bus to a standstill, and everyone both inside and outside the bus turned to look.

The people squeezed on either side of Ethan Brooks clearly hadn’t expected him to react in such a situation. The hand Ethan Brooks caught had come from the side, not from the person directly behind him who was pushing him.

But just as that guy’s hand was caught by Ethan Brooks and everyone was looking over, the person behind Ethan Brooks suddenly grabbed Ethan Brooks’s hand.

“Damn it, you little punk, trying to steal from me?” A man in his thirties, with a small bag under his arm and a thin mustache, grabbed Ethan Brooks’s hand.

Interesting, reality really is more exciting than reading posts and articles, Ethan Brooks thought to himself with a secret smile. This guy reacts fast—trying to turn the tables!

“Dare to steal? I’ll beat you to death!”

“Beat you to death...”

The two accomplices beside them immediately moved to attack. It seemed they were well prepared for this kind of situation. With their shouting and commotion, anyone who didn’t know better would really think he was the thief. After turning the tables and beating him up, they could just walk away.

“I... I’m not... you’re the real thieves...” Ethan Brooks looked very simple and innocent, speaking as if he’d suffered a huge injustice.

The two men beside him didn’t care at all and raised their hands to strike.

“Ah...” Ethan Brooks looked very frightened, hugging his head with both hands. The mustached man behind him suddenly felt his hand jolt, and Ethan Brooks had already pulled his hand back to hug his head.

At this point, chaos broke out at the door. The two men’s hands struck Ethan Brooks, but it was like hitting an iron plate. That wasn’t all. In the confusion, Ethan Brooks’s feet “accidentally” stepped on theirs several times. The sound of bones cracking couldn’t be heard in the chaos, but the intense pain left the two men lying on the ground, clutching their feet, unable to get up.

“Shit...” The mustached man, who seemed to be the leader, didn’t know why his two underlings had suddenly gone down, and threw a punch at Ethan Brooks.

“Don’t hit me...” Ethan Brooks dodged in the crowd at the door, and “accidentally” caught the mustached man’s fist with both hands.

With a scream, the mustached man inexplicably collapsed in front of everyone. As he fell, several wallets and phones suddenly fell out of his pocket.

Someone sharp-eyed shouted, “That’s my wallet...”

“That’s my phone...”

“So they really are thieves...”

“These people must be a gang. They tried to frame someone when their theft failed.”

“But why did they all suddenly collapse like they were possessed?”

“Young man, this is called evil meets its own retribution.”

There was nothing more to say. As people came to retrieve their wallets and phones and the crowd buzzed with discussion, Ethan Brooks quietly slipped away.

Phew... He took a breath of fresh air outside and quickly hailed a taxi. Big cities really are different. In Fresh Town, you wouldn’t encounter so many new things in a whole year. Looking back from the taxi at the crowd behind, he figured those pickpockets would never be able to do this again in their lives. Although he couldn’t practice cultivation or inner energy, Ethan Brooks’s external martial arts had reached a level that would shock most martial artists. Ordinary people wouldn’t even understand what had happened when dealing with these petty thieves.

But Ethan Brooks knew there were countless capable people in the world, not to mention those from the cultivation world. Although they rarely set foot in the mundane world, Ethan Brooks was very clear about one thing: before having absolute strength, never show off, or you’ll definitely get struck down. So Ethan Brooks’s principle was: grab every benefit you can, but keep a low profile.

Chapter 4: Even Playing Go Can Cause Trouble

Ethan Chess Club

This was run by Ethan Brooks’s uncle-in-law, Matthew Hill. The location of Ethan Chess Club was also quite good—an oasis of calm in a bustling city, occupying half a floor of a five-star office building. Ethan Brooks only looked it up after deciding to go. Although Matthew Hill himself was only a professional third-dan player, Ethan Chess Club was still quite famous.

The reason, on one hand, was his passion for Go; on the other, his children had successful careers abroad, so he didn’t run the club for profit. Because Matthew Hill wasn’t after profit, had a wide circle of friends, and spent his money on nurturing newcomers, making friends, helping others, and inviting people, Ethan Chess Club achieved its current success.

Although it was in an office building, as soon as you stepped out of the elevator and turned left, you saw a scene of classical elegance: square frames, round doors, and on either side of the doorway, large black and white Go stones with inscriptions.

On the left, black stone with white characters: “The affairs of the world are like Go; a single move can win a legacy for a thousand years.” On the right, white stone with black characters: “Tenderness is like water; when will it flow away all the spring of the Six Dynasties?”