Almost immediately after the students entered the private room, Xu Mo was surrounded by seven members of the gang. Whether it was beer bottles or knives, all of them were aimed at Xu Mo's vital points.
The small lounge outside the corridor was originally just for customers of the restaurant to take a break or smoke. It wasn't very large. At first, both groups stood at the door of the private room, and nothing seemed off. However, now with these seven people blocking him, Xu Mo had no room to maneuver. They had completely forced him into a corner, making it clear they wanted him to fight them head-on.
Xu Mo hadn't intended to escalate things, but given the circumstances, he couldn't back down now. Since they clearly wanted to kill him, he wasn't about to just stand there and let them take a swing at him. Even if this led to someone dying, he would consider it self-defense. Besides, these gangsters weren't in a position where they could expect the police to help them if things went wrong.
He guarded his head and vital areas with his arms, activating his ability "Immovable as a Mountain". In an instant, he transformed, seeming as if he were made of indestructible steel. Several beer bottles of various types smashed against his head and body, instantly shattering into countless sharp glass fragments. While a few of the gangsters suffered cuts from the flying shards, Xu Mo's skin wasn't even scratched.
Just as Xu Mo was about to counterattack, he suddenly felt a slight pain in his waist. One of the gangsters had sneaked up behind him and thrust a knife into his back. Xu Mo was startled. "Immovable as a Mountain" immediately deactivated, and he kicked the attacker down the nearby stairs.
The knife dropped to the floor, the tip stained with a bit of blood. It hadn't pierced deeply—no more than half a centimeter—but it was enough to make Xu Mo realize that "Immovable as a Mountain" wasn't perfect. While it provided excellent protection against blunt force, it was far less effective against stabbing weapons.
Thankfully, Xu Mo had noticed this flaw in time; otherwise, things might have gone horribly wrong.
To prevent another attack like that, Xu Mo immediately left the group in front of him holding beer bottles and turned to face two other gangsters armed with knives.
These guys were no match for Xu Mo. When it came to physical strength and endurance, there was no way they could compare to him—let alone his lightning-fast reflexes, which were almost beyond human limits. In the blink of an eye, Xu Mo launched a fierce assault, striking both of them under the chin with brutal force, knocking their teeth out and sending them sprawling.
Even without using his "Zero Eruption", Xu Mo's punches were heavy enough that these thugs couldn't handle them. A single strike to a vital point was enough to incapacitate them.
Xu Mo's fighting style appeared chaotic, but the weight of his punches made the gangsters hesitate. Within five seconds, three of them were down, and the remaining four began to look nervous, their movements slowing down.
This kind of hesitation was deadly in a fight, and Xu Mo didn't show mercy. From his experience in the End Times illusion, he knew that any moment of hesitation could lead to a fatal outcome. Taking advantage of the gangsters' uncertainty, Xu Mo launched a "Zero Eruption" from the ground, shooting forward with lightning speed. The two gangsters didn't even have time to react before Xu Mo grabbed their faces and, using the inertia from his "Zero Eruption", sent them flying nearly two meters, their heads smashing violently into the wall.
The back of the head is one of the most vulnerable parts of the body, and these two gangsters, who hadn't practiced iron head techniques, collapsed instantly, their eyes rolling back as they lost consciousness. Whether or not they would remain in a vegetative state was unclear.
The moment Xu Mo's feet hit the ground, his peripheral vision caught sight of a cylindrical object, about 40 centimeters long, coming at him. He instinctively tried to activate "Immovable as a Mountain", but then he realized—someone had thrown a hot water bottle at him!
These gangsters, clearly familiar with online games, had shifted to using physical attacks as a joke and switched to attribute-based attacks.
Xu Mo cursed under his breath, grabbed a large serving tray from a nearby waiter, and raised it to block the incoming hot water bottle.
The gangster who had thrown the bottle thought to himself that Xu Mo had made a foolish mistake. The tray might block his head, but the hot water would surely scald him.
The hot water bottle crashed against the tray, but to the gangster's surprise, the tray strangely softened on impact, absorbing the bottle's inertia and softening its blow.
"Go back!" Xu Mo sneered, releasing the "Gentle Touch" from the tray, which immediately snapped back into its original state. He then pushed the tray outward, sending the hot water bottle flying back in the same direction.
The gangster, still expecting to see Xu Mo in agony, didn't flee. Realizing too late what had happened, he instinctively raised his hands to protect his face and chest, but the bottle's impact sent scalding water pouring down on his chest and groin. He screamed in pain and rushed downstairs to find a bathroom.
There had been seven attackers, but in less than two minutes, only one remained.
Without anyone else in the way, Xu Mo recognized that the remaining gangster was the one who had been the first to provoke the group attack.
This guy was a real coward—charging in first, but now the last one standing.
"You... don't come any closer!" the gangster stammered, his earlier bravado completely gone. He kept retreating, pressing his back against the wall, until there was nowhere left to go. In a panic, he grabbed a small fruit knife from a nearby counter, trembling as he pointed it at Xu Mo.
"What's going on? Who dares to make trouble on our Northern Dao Gang's turf? You want to die, huh?"
At that moment, more than thirty low-ranking members of the Northern Dao Gang rushed up the stairs in a disorderly fashion. They had been shouting threats like "chop him up!" But when they saw the chaos on the second floor, they froze, eyes wide open in shock.
"Little brother," the bald man said, finally finding his footing after his subordinates had arrived, "I didn't know who you were earlier. Now my people have been beaten, and your friends aren't seriously hurt. How about we forget about this? I'll cover all your expenses tonight, and this will be my apology..."
Seeing his subordinates finally show up, the bald man regained some confidence and spoke with more authority. While he wasn't afraid of Xu Mo, he realized this wasn't a fight he wanted to pick. They had no deep hatred—there was no reason to provoke such a terrifying opponent.
Xu Mo glanced at the bald man, his expression flat, as if he hadn't heard him speak. He walked toward the gangster holding the fruit knife, slowly raising his left fist.
The bald man was alarmed. He shouted urgently, "Friend! Leave a way out! Let's not make things worse!"
Boom!
The entire floor seemed to tremble from Xu Mo's earth-shattering punch. The chandelier above flickered and swung violently as dust from years of buildup rained down.
"Ah... Ah..."
The gangster dropped the fruit knife at the moment Xu Mo raised his fist, and for a moment, he thought his life was over. But when he opened his eyes, he found that Xu Mo's left fist had merely grazed his right cheek and slammed into the wall behind him.
Though it was just one punch, the wall cracked in dozens of places, the longest crack stretching to the ceiling. A few millimeters wide, black gaps began to spill dust and debris, exposing red bricks.
"Th... Thank you..." The gangster stammered, thinking Xu Mo had spared him, only to see Xu Mo raise his right fist again. Terrified, he lost control and wet himself in fear.