The news soon reached everybody, and it became the talk of the town in not less than two weeks.
"Hey, did you hear what happened?" one man said as Liam passed by.
"Yeah, I did. The current owner of Maddox Corporation tried to scam the owner of Lambo, the oil company," the other replied, twisting his head in shock.
"That wasn't good of him. The Maddox Corporation has a very strong relationship with Lambo. Looks like he has weakened their relationship a lot, and even the public knows about it now," the other responded.
"I wasn't expecting this from them, such a disgrace," he muttered, his expression saddening.
The other nodded. "A bad move indeed."
Liam then continued walking, slipping through the large crowd at the market square.
"Hmm," he scoffed, almost smirking. "He didn't think about it before he started attacking me."
"I'm low in society, so anything he does wouldn't really affect my reputation. But him? He's so high in society that almost everyone watches his movements and actions. Sadly, he didn't think about that before sending in Carl to scare me," he thought.
He slid through the crowd as he walked by. "Got to focus or I'll forget why I came here," he said.
He had come here personally to meet with someone who would aid him in taking down Kieran and the current Maddox Industries.
As he walked, he noticed a group of four men tagging along behind him. At first, he thought they came for something else until he noticed they had been following him all the way from the gate.
"What do they want?" he thought. "If I stop now, it might be a bad move. I should just continue moving and hopefully shake them off," he said, increasing his pace.
But they seemed to increase their pace as well. He turned and stared at a crowd. "Perfect spot to hide," he smirked.
He immediately went toward the direction of the large crowd, hoping to shake them off.
It was a bit suffocating inside the crowd due to a large sale that day.
He turned back and noticed they were lost. "Finally," he said, now going back to the direction he was headed to.
In a matter of minutes, they managed to catch up to him. He glanced back a bit as he walked, noticing all their features.
They were all wearing black hoodies and face masks in pretence to escape the dust. They walked with their hands in their pockets, probably hiding a weapon of some sort.
"Such a pain in the ass right now," he muttered, then turned into an alley.
He saw an opening ahead of the alley and decided to make a run for it, but another group of hooligans crept out of it.
"You've really got to be kidding me right now," he muttered, slight frustration on his face.
He turned back to escape, but the other group that was tailing him emerged as well.
"Tsk!" he sighed.
"If you won't let me out, I'll just have a way out myself," he muttered before he sprinted toward the first batch of hooligans that had tailed him.
"Good thing the system unlocked that skill," he thought as he sprinted toward them.
With a thought, the system responded:
[Skill active: Instinctive Combat]
He smiled.
They all brought out their daggers from their pockets as he reached them.
The first one struck. He staggered back, clutched his wrist, and knocked the dagger out of his hand.
Another attacked from behind, which he simply flipped over, landing on one of them.
He spun and kicked the third one in the face. He saw four teeth fly out as he spun.
He took the advantage and kicked the second one in the nuts, making him shriek and fall down in pain.
"You bastard!" he screamed.
Liam immediately turned, stepped on the wall near him, and gave him a leg kick on his head, knocking him out.
He noticed the other thugs were taking their time, walking up to him as he fought, which was a good thing for him.
He ran toward the first thug and punched him several times in the gut, making him vomit blood. Then he face-slapped him.
"That's for following me without my permission."
Then he kicked him on the side. "That's for not introducing yourself."
Then he jumped up, spun, and slammed his face into the ground. "That's for attacking me."
He turned to the other three from the first thugs who only seemed to watch as their comrades got knocked out one by one.
"So you took out the soft ones, right?" the biggest one said, picking up a metal rod beside a trash can.
"Let's see if you can take us out," he smirked, staring at the other before they ran toward him.
Liam didn't wait for a cue. He spun and back-kicked him, making him stagger back. Then he turned to the others.
He ran back toward the wall, and they followed suit. He hit the wall and did a smooth backflip over them, then slammed a trash can over their heads, making one slump, then smashed it over again until the other two fainted as well.
"Damn!" he sighed, breathing heavily, staring at the other group that was still walking slowly.
He turned to the boss, who was still recovering from his kick. "At least it's only remaining this guy and then I'll face the other batch," he thought.
Then he turned to the boss. "You sure you wanna fight me?" he said, gesturing for him to look around.
He shrugged, then attacked him. "I am not weak like the others."
He smirked. "Fell right for it," he thought, then jumped up, kicked the trash can cover he picked up, and landed back down.
The cover glided through the air. At first, he thought it would miss, but surprisingly, luck was on his side today and it struck hard on his forehead.
He staggered as mild drops of blood dripped down his forehead, then fell to the ground with one knee.
"Who sent you?!" Liam immediately asked, clutching his collar.
"I would never speak," he muttered, breathing heavily.
Then Liam slammed his face to the ground. "Indeed, you're not weak," he muttered before turning to the others who just seemed to walk past him.
"Huh?" he said, turning to them as they walked out of the alley without saying a word or attacking him.
He smiled. "Must be my lucky day," he scoffed, then walked out of the alley, staring one more time before he walked out.
As he came out from the alley, he dialled 911 and immediately informed them about the assault.
This time, he would use the police to get the information out of him and then react smartly toward the situation.
It didn't take much time before the police arrived at the scene, causing a mild crowd.
Liam stood amongst the crowd, not wanting to physically indulge with the police to avoid unnecessary drama.
"I'll just keep in touch with them virtually," he said, then walked out..