Chapter 431

"Huff, huff......"

On the ground, the burly man gasped heavily, his chest rising and falling violently.

Unwilling!

He was unwilling!

More than twenty of his brothers were dead; only four of them remained!

If he didn't avenge them, he would never be willing!

But the endless pain coursing through his body, and the gradually weakening qi and blood,

made him realize his grievously wounded state could not sustain another major battle!

More crucially, the enemy hovered in the air—he had no way at all to counter him!

After a moment of silence, the burly man exhaled deeply and said in broken Daya language:

"Fine, I agree to sit down and talk!"

"Excellent. A very wise choice."

On the half-air, Xu Jingming's resolute face broke into a smile, and the Yao Lei Zhang suddenly blazed with light!

Sizzle!

Another thick bolt of Lei Ting slammed into the burly man, instantly draining more than half of his already weakened aura!

"You!" The burly man glared furiously at Xu Jingming.

Yet his entire body bled profusely, making him look utterly pitiful and gruesome...

"Now I can feel more at ease."

Xu Jingming nodded in satisfaction, then unleashed a Tian Lei Shu on two of the remaining three sixth-rank mid-tier adepts.

As for the remaining elemental master, he did nothing.

After all, elemental masters had weak physiques; one Tian Lei Shu might kill them outright.

"Damn, feels like we didn't do a thing—Captain handled it all by himself..."

When the dust settled, Lin Hui retracted his wind ability with a murmur of wonder and moved closer.

Xia Lan's slender figure slowly reappeared from the air.

"Alright, speak up—who are you, and why did you ambush us here?"

Golden Lei Guang flickered, locking all four remaining sixth-rank adepts inside a Thunder Prison.

Xu Jingming and Lin Hui and the others stood outside the prison, interrogating them.

To prevent any sudden counterattack, Xu Jingming did not exit Lei Jitai.

"We are the Blood Scar Mercenaries, hired by Lu Qi.

Our mission: kill you all. The reward is 300 billion Myan currency."

The burly leader replied without concealment, his Daya speech slightly awkward.

"Mercenaries?" Xu Jingming frowned.

This was the most troublesome scenario—pure hired contracts offered no trail to the mastermind.

As for the 300 billion Myan currency reward, at the current exchange rate of 300:1, it amounted to roughly 300 million Daya currency.

For a mercenary group with a sixth-rank peak adept, this didn't seem like much.

Yet Myan and Daya economies differed; earning 300 billion Myan from a single mission

was already substantial for most mercenary groups.

"Looks like we'll have to start with this guy."

Xu Jingming's brilliant golden dragon pupils fixed on Lu Qi, unconscious on the ground.

Lin Hui beside him immediately understood, his mind stirring—a searing crimson flame shot toward Lu Qi.

Leaving a blackened wound on his chest, over ten centimeters long and three or four deep!

"Ahh!"

In agony, Lu Qi snapped awake from his unconscious state.

"Li Xiang, extract every piece of information from him!"

Professional work for a professional—Xu Jingming spared the words and directly summoned Li Xiang.

"Leave it to me."

Li Xiang, the usually stern, expressionless man, finally showed a smile.

But it wasn't warm—it was the smile of a hunter spotting prey.

Lu Qi sensed something wrong and, before he could react, felt a searing pain in his skull!

His consciousness plunged into chaos; his expression turned vacant.

S-Class Technique—Mind Manipulation!

A unique S-Class technique of spirit-type adepts; one misstep and you become their puppet!

But this technique wasn't guaranteed to succeed—it carried a risk of failure.

Li Xiang was sixth-rank low-tier; Lu Qi was only fifth-rank mid-tier.

With spiritual force crushing him, the S-Class technique activated flawlessly.

"First question: why did you betray? Who did you betray?"

Li Xiang's cold voice rang out, his eyes locked on Lu Qi.

"Six days ago, our martial arts branch was ambushed and destroyed. I fled with all survivors to this place.

The next day, I went out to scout. But when I returned to the city center, I ran into the very people who ambushed us.

With no choice, to save my life, I became a traitor and led them here."

Lu Qi's expression went blank as he replied, "As for who they are, I seem to remember..."

"Can't remember?" Xu Jingming's brow furrowed tightly.

This had happened only a few days ago—how could Lu Qi, a fifth-rank ability user, possibly not remember?

Could his memories have been tampered with?

At that moment, Li Xiang offered the same speculation: "Captain, compared to an ordinary mid fifth-rank ability user, his spiritual force seems somewhat disordered.

It looks like it was forcibly invaded recently, and the related memories were probably erased at that time."

He'd seen similar situations several times when he was still at the Security Bureau.

This means the team that raided the martial hall branch had at least one high-rank psychic-type ability user among them!

"Can the altered memories be recovered?" Xu Jingming asked.

"Hard to say, I can only do my best to try." Li Xiang didn't speak too absolutely.

Human memory is like a hard drive—once data is destroyed, it's very hard to recover.

He could only use the existing memories to see if he could reconnect this portion.

"Alright, give it a try then. By the way, first ask where the martial hall's survivors are."

After the martial hall branch was raided, aside from Lu Qi, no one else had contacted headquarters.

Xu Jingming had found it strange before; now it seemed Lu Qi must have cut off all their means of contact.

"You said there were 17 survivors from the martial hall, so where are the other 16 besides you? Where are they?"

Li Xiang asked in a low voice.

"The survivors—after I brought that group here the next day, they were all killed.

That group destroyed all the bodies and evidence, gave me a sum of money, and told me to hire the Blood Mark Mercenary Corps and set a trap.

Wait for headquarters to send people, then wipe them all out..."

Lu Qi replied dazedly.

But those words made Xu Jingming's face change drastically.

They're all dead?!

In other words, in this raid, the martial hall branch had over a hundred and thirty people.

Apart from Lu Qi, not a single survivor was left?

Xia Lan and Du Wan nearby, hearing this, also had their pretty faces turn slightly cold.

A traitor deserves no sympathy anywhere, especially one who trades companions' lives for his own survival!

PS: Three updates today (begging for gift support!!)