Original and most updated translations are from

volare

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TL: Zhao

Editing: Krisaia

Bang!

A loud thud was heard as the employee’s body flew past Chen Quan and hit the wall of a small, dark room located in the back of Merry Couples Jadeware.

"Chen Quan?" Li Yiming was surprised at seeing him when he burst open the wooden door.

"To whom do I have the honor of speaking?" Despite the sudden incident, the leader of the organization held his composure.

Merry Couples Jadeware was where everything started for the leader, and there were normally a few dozen thugs patrolling outside of the shop. If Li Yiming managed to make his way all the way to the back of the shop, then it must have meant that the underlings have all been defeated.

Ignoring the gang leader’s question, Li Yiming focused his senses and realized that whatever was blocking his perception was slowly fading away.

Li Yiming could tell from a single glance that the gang leader was not a guardian, which made things rather simple. After a quick scan around the shop, he found nothing more than a few antiquities and imitations.

Li Yiming stopped right in front of a stand putting an antique sword to display. He pulled it out and examined its thick blade. It would have been a deadly weapon if not for the rusted specks.

"To whom do I owe the pleasure of...?" The gang leader lost his patience. He had never suffered such a humiliating treatment, but refrained himself from making a move due to Li Yiming’s strange behavior.

Before he finished his sentence, Li Yiming suddenly planted the sword straight into his right thigh, nailing him to the wooden table.

"You! Agggh!" The man did not expect the sudden aggression, thinking that Li Yiming was simply an unsatisfied customer. Owing to his years spent doing shady work, he quickly calmed himself down to avoid exacerbating Li Yiming’s mood. If Li Yiming was someone who had the right connections, he would simply apologize with a cup of tea. If not, then he would conveniently bring up the fact that the door Li Yiming had just destroyed was worth a fortune.

The man clenched his teeth and continued to endure the continuous waves of pain that came through his leg. He could not help but wonder how such a rusty sword was able to pierce through the solid wood table with ease.

Turning towards another weapon stand, Li Yiming picked up a decorative sword that could do very little harm despite its intimidating-looking blade.

"Hey, who gave you the order to..." The gang decided to buy time for negotiation. Once again, however, Li Yiming interrupted his sentence and lunged his sword in his direction.

The sound of a sword piercing through flesh was heard as the blade pierced through the man’s left shoulder and was planted into the wooden chair.

"You...!" The leader was aghast, as the sword was only a few centimeters away from his heart. ’This guy’s crazy! What kind of negotiation starts with two stabs?’

Just as the thought ran through the leader’s mind, to his horror, Li Yiming picked up a third sword.

"Please... please..." The leader pleaded.

Li Yiming stopped briefly, frowning as he looked at the man and immediately thrust the blade into his right shoulder.

"Ahhh!" The excruciating pain, and, above all, the terror was too much even for a man that has braved through many tribulations. The leader began to cry loudly.

"So, can we talk now?" Right as the man had given up all hope to resist, Li Yiming sat down on a wooden chair and said in a cold voice.

When Li Yiming ran into a gangster over a year ago, his first thought was to intimidate him and hope to change him into a better man. Today, however, he had no patience for such things — his first thought was to use a blade to solve his problems. The first strike was to vent out his anger and fury at seeing his close ones kidnapped. The second one was to seek vengeance for all those who had previously suffered the same fate. Finally, the third strike was, in reality, simply motivated by a twisted pleasure to make the leader suffer.

"I’ll tell you everything... Please..." The man said between quick breaths, not daring dare to moan in pain in front of someone as cruel as Li Yiming. He knew from the eyes of the latter that he was one step away from losing his life.

"Where are the two girls you’ve just kidnapped?" Li Yiming asked as he stared at the man’s gaping wounds, from which blood drops that looked like liquid gems slowly seeped out. The crimson liquid slowly rolled down the metallic blades of the swords and converged into a small pool on the floor.

"The two girls?" With his mind too preoccupied with fear, the leader did not quite understand what Li Yiming was talking about.

"The two who were taken from the accessory shop." Li Yiming frowned as he forced himself to look away from the gory scene to avoid arousing his predilection for blood.

"Oh, those two... Those two girls have been brought to Dreamy Waterland." The leader finally understood what Li Yiming was talking about.

"Dreamy Waterland?"

"It’s a sauna center in the north of the city." The leader was not in a position to concoct a lie.

"A sauna center?" Li Yiming’s countenance sank, knowing exactly what that implied.

"Don’t worry, they’re fine! My subordinates won’t touch them until I arrive!" The leader knew that he needed to reassure Li Yiming that his friends were safe and sound. All that he wanted now was to make it out alive without riling up Li Yiming’s emotions any further.

"If anything happens to them... I’m going to make you regret being born in this world..." Li Yiming said as he stood up.

"Uh..." Chen Quan, who was laying on the ground prostrate, still dumbfounded by the gory scene he had just witnessed, gathered all of his courage and uttered. The moment he saw Li Yiming, he recognized him as being the man who had appeared multiple times in his dreams.

"Is that your stone tablet?" Li Yiming looked at Chen Quan.

"Uh... Yes..." Chen Quan answered.

"Bring it along and come with me." Li Yiming quickly made for the exit after one last word. Being on a timer to hurry to the other side of the city, he could not investigate the object right away.

Chen Quan let out a long sigh, but he soon picked up the tablet and chased after Li Yiming.

"Don’t worry, the police will be here right away." Li Yiming said as he looked at the unconscious thugs laying on the ground and the still-bleeding gang leader.

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"I’m coming." Chen Quan looked at glanced at his friends apologetically one last time and quickly followed. He shuddered when he saw the pile of bodies on the ground outside of the room. The weak moans indicated that they were all still alive, but their limbs had been twisted into bizarre and frightening angles.

"What happened here?" The question came from National Security agent who initially offered to accompany Li Yiming. He had wanted to enter the shop along with the latter, and finally chose to come in out of worry, only to witness such a scene of horror.

"You take care of the mess. I need to go find them before it’s too late." Li Yiming told the agent as he rushed toward the exit.