I feel right at home in the world of the courtyard house.

The evening sunset painted the asphalt road outside the factory area with a warm gold color. The flow of people leaving get off work surged out of the steel rolling mill gate like a tide. Li Jing'an pushed his old-fashioned bicycle and had just stepped out of the factory wall when he habitually glanced in the direction of the bus stop.

That one glance made him abruptly stop in his tracks.

Seven or eight shady-looking young men were huddled together by the bus stop, each with their necks hunched and their eyes furtive. They moved back and forth among the crowded waiting passengers, their fingers occasionally brushing against the pockets and bags of passersby—they were known in the underworld as "Buddha," which is to say, pickpockets.

Two of them had already pressed themselves against the back of an elderly woman carrying a cloth bag, their fingertips already probing the gaps in the bag, and they were about to succeed.

Li Jing'an's brows furrowed instantly. He gripped the handlebars tightly, mustered all his strength, and shouted loudly:

"Stop! Stealing in broad daylight! You're asking for death!"

The shout, delivered with unwavering force, exploded like thunder across the platform, instantly silencing the previously noisy crowd. The pickpockets trembled, their hands jerking back as if to steal something. Turning around, they saw only Li Jing'an, a young man, and their menacing demeanor flared again. However, their fear overwhelmed them; the leader cursed and waved his hand, shouting, "Run!"

The seven or eight people immediately scattered like birds and beasts, running wildly through the alleys and streets.

Li Jing'an wasn't about to give up. He pulled his bicycle to the side of the road, not even bothering to turn the lock, and took off after them. His physical abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people; he possessed twice the strength and explosive power of an average person. He ran with light and swift steps, closing the distance in just a few strides and forcing the panicked group into a narrow dead end.

The alley is lined with mottled old brick walls, and the end is blocked off, with only one path leading to the entrance, making it a natural cage.

Li Jing'an stopped at the alley entrance, not rushing in rashly—though he wasn't afraid of trouble, he wasn't reckless either. He first glanced around, then shouted at the top of his lungs, "Stop thief! There's a pickpocket here, everyone come help!"

The shouts attracted many passersby, who gathered in twos and threes at the alley entrance, peering out and discussing the scene. Only after confirming that there were witnesses outside and that the thieves' desperate escape route was cut off did Li Jing'an stride into the alley.

The seven pickpockets, cornered, looked panicked and vicious, glaring at him: "Kid, mind your own business, or we'll cripple you!"

Li Jing'an's lips curled into a cold sneer, his eyes calm and unwavering. In his eyes, enhanced by his superhuman physical abilities, the movements of the people before him were laughably slow—raising a hand, taking a step, throwing a punch, every minute movement seemed to be slowed down, clear enough to see everything clearly.

He had never learned any fighting techniques, and knew nothing about grappling or Sanda. He relied entirely on his physical instincts, overwhelming strength, and extremely fast reflexes.

The first one came at me cursing and swinging his fist. Li Jing'an easily dodged to the side, then raised his arm and punched the other man squarely in the chest with the force of a whirlwind.

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, a person was struck as if by a heavy hammer, flying backward, crashing into the wall and sliding to the ground. Clutching his chest, he couldn't even groan before passing out.

The remaining people were startled and rushed forward like madmen. Li Jing'an's steps were steady, neither dodging nor avoiding. His punches and kicks were the simplest and most direct movements, yet each one was powerful and heavy.

A man lunged at him from the left, and he delivered a side kick that struck the man squarely in the stomach, sending him sprawling to the ground in a groin-like position. A man on the right swung a punch at his face, but he dodged it by tilting his head and then delivered a powerful backhand punch to the man's cheek, causing him to bleed from his mouth and nose and fall flat on his face.

One punch, one kick, one kill—clean, efficient, and without any hesitation.

In just over ten seconds, five people had fallen to the ground in the alley, groaning and unable to resist. Only two of the thinnest young men remained standing, hiding in the back and too afraid to approach. Their faces were pale and their bodies were trembling.

Li Jing'an stretched his wrists, a surge of triumphant satisfaction welling up inside him. He glanced again at the crowd at the alley entrance; they must have all seen his dashing figure by now.

But just as he relaxed his guard and slightly raised his chin, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a dark shadow abruptly lifting up—

One of the remaining two men, without anyone noticing, picked up a half-sized blue brick from the ground and, taking advantage of his smugness and distraction, gritted his teeth and smashed it hard against the back of his head!

"Thump!"

A dull thud rang out, and Li Jing'an felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, the world spinning around him, and a sharp pain exploding from the back of his head. Warm liquid instantly flowed down his neck.

He swayed, his vision blurred, and he almost fell to the ground.

Damn, this wasn't part of my calculations.

The crowd at the alley entrance had grown larger and larger, with shouts and gasps rising and falling. The two thieves were completely panicked. They no longer cared about their accomplice on the ground. Clutching blood-stained bricks, they rushed past Li Jing'an like madmen, waving bricks as they weaved through the panicked crowd and disappeared into the alley in the blink of an eye.

Li Jing'an leaned against the wall, his head spinning, his vision growing increasingly blurry, until finally everything went black, he lost consciousness, and slumped to the ground.

……

A group of police officers rushed over on bicycles.

Police Chief Zhang personally led a team to the scene and immediately saw Li Jing'an leaning against the wall, bleeding from his head and unconscious. His expression changed drastically.

"Jing'an?! It's Li Jing'an!"

Chief Zhang rushed forward, knelt down, gently patted the man's cheek, and checked his breath. He breathed a sigh of relief, but his brow furrowed even more. He looked up at his officers and sternly ordered, "Cuff all five pickpockets on the ground and take them back to the station for interrogation! Quickly!"

Several police officers immediately stepped forward, handcuffed the five wailing individuals behind their backs, and took them away.

Director Zhang carefully helped Li Jing'an up and carried him out, half-supporting and half-carrying him.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Jing'an slowly woke up to the smell of disinfectant.

He lay on the hospital bed, his head still throbbing and dizzy, the back of his head wrapped in thick gauze, oozing a faint trace of blood. The doctor, having just finished treating the wound, stood by the bed and instructed, "Young man, you have a blunt force trauma to the back of your head, a mild concussion. You must stay in the hospital for observation for two days. Don't move around too much, and get plenty of rest."

Li Jing'an nodded weakly. After the doctor left, he looked at Director Zhang, who was standing guard by the bedside, and forced a smile: "Director Zhang, thank you for your trouble."

"What trouble? You're really courting death, kid!" Chief Zhang said admiringly, handing him a glass of warm water. "What exactly happened? You dared to chase seven pickpockets all by yourself?"

Li Jing'an took a sip of water to calm himself down, and then recounted in detail what had happened: encountering a thief at the bus stop, chasing him into an alley, taking down five people with his bare hands, and being ambushed. His tone was calm, without any attempt to claim credit, simply stating the facts.

As he finished speaking, he seemed to suddenly remember something, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he added, "Director Zhang, I suspect that these people are involved in this matter."

Director Zhang was taken aback upon hearing this, and the ease on his face vanished instantly, replaced by solemnity. He had heard about the theft of the steel rolling mill blueprints, but the incident occurred outside his jurisdiction, and the factory had deliberately controlled the spread of the news, preventing it from being widely disseminated. Ordinary people shouldn't know the details at all.

He glanced at Li Jing'an instinctively and casually asked, "Jing'an, how do you know they're involved in the theft of the blueprints?"

Li Jing'an's heart skipped a beat, his fingertips curled slightly, but his face remained calm as he replied naturally, "Hey, it was at the bus stop. I overheard these people talking about it, and I felt something was off, so I mentioned it to you."

Without asking any further questions, Director Zhang immediately made a decision: "I'll organize a surprise interrogation as soon as I get back to the station tonight, pry them open, and see if they have any accomplices behind them!"

He paused, then patted Li Jing'an's arm, his tone softening: "Focus on recovering first. Leave everything else to us, don't worry."

After saying this, Director Zhang gave a few more instructions before hurriedly leaving the hospital to rush back to the police station to arrange the interrogation work.

The ward quieted down again. Li Jing'an leaned against the headboard, rubbing his still dizzy head. He had just closed his eyes to rest when the ward door was pushed open, and a noisy commotion rushed in.

They are the neighbors of the courtyard house.

The incident occurred during the evening rush hour. Many neighbors who knew Li Jing'an were present at the scene, and the news spread quickly, reaching the courtyard house. Uncle Yi Zhonghai, Uncle Liu Haizhong, Uncle Yan Bugui, Sha Zhu, and Qin Huairu, along with several other neighbors they didn't usually interact with, crowded the house together.

"Brother Jing'an, you scared us to death!"

"Are you alright? Are you badly hurt? You're really brave, going head-to-head with a thief!"

The crowd greeted him with a cacophony of concern and admiration. Li Jing'an leaned against the headboard, responding with a smile to each greeting, his gaze sweeping over the group without betraying his feelings. He looked around, but didn't see Xu Damao.

He silently snorted in his heart, adding another mark against Xu Damao.

Little did he know that Xu Damao was more wronged than Dou E at this moment—he had been sent to the countryside to show movies by his work unit early yesterday morning and had not yet returned to the city. He had no idea what was happening here and had been unfairly blamed by Li Jing'an.

Li Jing'an politely declined the neighbors' enthusiastic offer to "stay overnight and take care of him." He wasn't seriously injured; he only had a concussion and needed rest. He didn't want to trouble others, and even less did he want to be surrounded by the people in the courtyard asking him all sorts of questions, which would only cause more trouble.

"Thank you all for your concern. I'm fine. The doctor said I just need to rest for a couple of days. There are nurses here to take care of me. You can all go home and not interfere with cooking or taking care of the children at home."

His attitude was firm, and although his tone was polite, it did not allow for refusal. Seeing this, the others could not insist any further. They gave him a few more words of advice on taking good care of his injuries before leaving the ward one after another.

The ward door closed, and finally, silence returned.