Chapter 325: The Calamity of Death

A man with healthy wheat-colored skin and a burly, sturdy build walked straight over from the distance with steady, hurried steps.

Yan Luo's eyes narrowed instantly; unless it was a matter of extreme importance, Guli would never come to disturb him rashly.

"Brother Wei, wait for me a moment, I will be back shortly." Yan Luo wore an apologetic expression.

"Brother Yan, please go ahead, handling official business is more important." Wei Xiong smiled indifferently.

"Good." Yan Luo gave a wink to the few women by the poolside, then stood up and walked toward that man.

"What happened?"

"Brother Yan," Guli said, "I am afraid something has happened to Wang Deye."

"What?" Yan Luo was startled, his gaze subconsciously looking toward the pool.

Seeing Wei Xiong surrounded by a group of women and playing with great interest, he then turned his head and asked in a lowered voice:

"What is going on? Where is he now?"

"I am not sure. Ever since he left early yesterday morning, he has not returned until now, his phone is not being answered, and those who went with him have also had no news."

"I always feel something is wrong; just a moment ago, a few people came to the door..." Guli recounted the sequence of events briefly and clearly.

Yan Luo's expression grew increasingly grave as he asked, "Where are those people now?"

"Right in the villa, I brought them all over. Looking at them, they do not seem to be lying."

"What a piece of trash!" Yan Luo could not help but curse.

With the departure to harvest the Heavenly God Fruit only two days away, Wang Deye had to have something happen at such a critical juncture.

It was not that the plan could not proceed without Wang Deye; with his current strength, even if he encountered an Elite-level Fierce Beast like a Fire-scaled Pig, he would have the power to fight.

But it would ultimately add a lot of trouble.

"By the way, Brother Yan, there is one more thing." Guli hesitated to speak.

"More bad news?" Yan Luo's brows furrowed tightly.

Guli nodded.

"Speak, it is not like one more matters."

"Our Merchant Guild has had an incident." Guli lowered his voice and leaned into Yan Luo's ear to say: "In broad daylight, someone broke into the Merchant Guild, killed several Martial Artists, and the manager Sheng Yuan is missing. He has likely been abducted by the perpetrator and is probably in grave danger."

"What!" A surge of anger instantly welled up in Yan Luo's heart.

To be honest, if Wang Deye were not still of some use, he would not bother with the other party's life or death.

But for the Merchant Guild to have an incident, this was simply slapping his face in public! Who did not know that the backer behind the Merchant Guild was none other than him, Yan Luo?

"Do you know who did it?" Yan Luo asked, suppressing his rage.

Guli shook his head, "No one saw the perpetrator's appearance, but judging from the traces left at the scene, it should be a Vein Refining Realm Martial Artist, and the weapon used was a saber."

"A Vein Refining Realm Martial Artist?" Yan Luo laughed out of extreme anger; a mere Vein Refining Realm Martial Artist dared to be so presumptuous on his turf—did they really think he was easy to bully?

"Let's go inside first." Having said that, Yan Luo took long strides and walked forward.

At this moment, in the living room on the first floor of the villa.

Several figures stood on the carpet, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

Dai Shiyun, Qiu Liang, and Yang De, who had rushed over from the Zhou Family Fort, were among them, along with two or three others whose faces were as pale as paper.

Not until a burst of footsteps sounded did the group's bodies jolt violently, and they all raised their heads in unison.

They saw two men walking toward them.

"City, City Lord!"

"Greetings, City Lord!"

"City Lord!"

With a "thump," the group knelt down in unison.

In their eyes, an Awakened was already a high and mighty existence they had to look up to, let alone this City Lord of Yongan City; even other Awakened in the city held him in awe.

"Speak, what exactly happened?" Yan Luo's face was as dark as water, his gaze sweeping coldly over these people, his eyes as if he were sizing up a few insignificant insects.

"Repeat what you just said," Guli said sternly from the side, "if there is any discrepancy with what you said before, your lives will be forfeit."

"Yes, yes, yes." The group exchanged glances and nodded hurriedly, then poured out the whole story from beginning to end in detail like beans from a bamboo tube.

After finishing, Dai Shiyun and Qiu Liang looked at each other, a glimmer of expectation flashing in their eyes.

Things were indeed as they had expected; they had successfully met the City Lord in person, so they should surely receive some rewards, right?

Like a Top-grade Blood Qi Pill, a treasure that only a Transformation Energy Martial Artist was qualified to obtain in the Merchant Guild.

With the City Lord's status, giving only one bottle per person seemed a bit stingy; at the very least, it should be two or three bottles each, right?

If there could be some other good things, that would be even better.

However, Yang De's mood was like fifteen buckets hanging in a well—tossing and turning.

He really did not want to get involved in this kind of trouble, but being in the world of martial arts, many times one cannot help oneself.

At this moment, he only hoped that this City Lord of Yongan City would let him leave safely.

As for the two or three people from the Merchant Guild, their faces were pale as paper, their heads hung low, and they did not dare to even breathe loudly.

After all, Sheng Yuan had met with an incident at the Association, and they were completely unaware; the charge of dereliction of duty was definitely unavoidable.

Of course, if they had discovered the perpetrator at the time, their fate would likely have been no different from those corpses at the Merchant Guild.

Thinking of it this way, not discovering the perpetrator seemed rather fortunate.

After listening, Yan Luo's brows twisted tightly into a "chuan" shape.

It matched the situation Guli had reported earlier, just with many more details.

Synthesizing various pieces of information, it could be inferred that the reason Wang Deye had hurriedly taken people out of the city early yesterday morning was likely because he had received a call from Zhou Chengsong, learned the news of his younger brother's death, and was therefore anxious to take people to seek revenge.

Both sides went to the Lu Family Stockade together, and as a result, dozens of people, fully armed with guns and artillery, including several Vein Refining Realm Martial Artists and even a C-Class Awakened, had all gone missing.

"Hahahaha." Thinking of this, Yan Luo suddenly burst into inexplicable laughter.

Dai Shiyun, Qiu Liang, and the others were so frightened they nearly collapsed to the ground.

What is there to laugh about? Shouldn't you be flying into a rage?

"Trash, you are all a bunch of trash! With so many people, you actually couldn't even handle a small Zhai!"

Yanluo suddenly stopped smiling, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes as he stared fixedly at them and roared: "And you lot, you are trash too! I have raised you for so many years, and the Pill I gave you to consume is something even people from the Martial Arts Association would envy, yet this is how you repay me?"

Dai Shiyun, Qiu Liang, and the others were stunned; before they could even react, a ball of raging fire suddenly ignited on their bodies.

Almost instantly, the flames Devoured their entire bodies, and heart-piercing agony surged over them like a tide.

"Ah! Spare us! Spare our lives!"

"City Lord!"

"Spare our lives!"

The few of them let out heart-rending screams, begging desperately for mercy.

Dai Shiyun and Qiu Liang were even more filled with disbelief; they never imagined that instead of receiving the rewards they had anticipated, they had invited a lethal disaster upon themselves.

Their eyes were filled with fear and despair, and they could only struggle helplessly in the raging fire, hoping that Yanluo might show mercy and spare their lives...

They had been full of anticipation, believing that presenting such important intelligence to the City Lord would surely earn them a generous reward.

After all, in their view, the news they brought concerned key clues regarding Wang Deye and the Merchant Guild incident, which was undoubtedly of extreme importance to the City Lord.

Yet reality was like a resounding slap, ruthlessly striking them across the face.

Yanluo not only lacked any sense of gratitude, but his cold gaze and contemptuous attitude clearly showed he regarded them as useless trash to be discarded at will.

The corners of Yanluo's mouth curled up slightly, outlining a cold arc, and his eyes revealed a cruel sense of pleasure, as if he were thoroughly enjoying the sight of the few people before him struggling in agony within the flames.

In his eyes, the lives of these people were as insignificant as ants; if they dared to make a mistake on his turf, they had to pay a painful price.

Guli, standing to the side, pretended not to see and kept a calm expression.

A dozen seconds later, the few had been burned into charred remains, falling to the ground with a thud and emitting billows of thick smoke.