Chapter 55: Perverse... One Slash

Thump. Lin Yang, who had just dealt with a bodyguard, felt his heart clench at these words. He leaned out to peer outside. What he feared most was that Leng Nini would be caught by the enemy; if that happened, he'd lose all chance to strike from the shadows.

He crept out of the room, moving silently, and from behind a corner he saw the young bodyguard who had shouted. Only then did Lin Yang breathe a sigh of relief—it wasn't Leng Nini who had been caught, but Wu Peng, one of the five bodyguards in the villa. Wu Peng was now covered in wounds, his right hand twisted grotesquely out of shape—a clear sign of a brutal struggle in which he had suffered terribly.

The bodyguard who had seized Wu Peng threw the battered man to the ground without ceremony, stepped on his head, grinding his face into the floor, and then turned to the young man sitting on the sofa—Leng Qing, whom Lin Yang had been muttering about. He opened his mouth and asked, "Young Master Leng, this one refuses to talk. How should we deal with him?"

"He won't talk? I want to see how tough he really is." Leng Qing, with dark circles under his eyes, snuffed out his nearly spent cigarette, rose, and strolled over to Wu Peng. Seizing Wu Peng's gleaming dagger from the bodyguard, he squatted down, tapped Wu Peng's face with the blunt side of the blade and interrogated coldly, "I'll ask one last time—where is the girl hiding? Speak honestly, or you know the consequences." As he spoke, the tip of the knife hovered, ready to punish any hint of dishonesty.

"Bah! I’ll tell your mother—if you’ve got the guts, just kill me!" Wu Peng was a man of loyalty. Even with a blade at his throat, he refused to beg or betray a friend.

"Good, very good, stubborn to the end. I want to see just how tough you are." Leng Qing’s face twisted with anger. He’d met many hard cases who dared defy him, the young master of the Leng family, but none who hadn’t eventually begged for mercy under his methods.

The sinister smile on Leng Qing’s lips seemed to foreshadow the cruelty to come. As the blade pressed harder against Wu Peng’s face, it easily pierced the flesh, blood gushing forth unchecked. Wu Peng’s anguished screams rang out, and flecks of blood splattered onto Leng Qing’s face.

"Well? Will you talk now? There’s still time. Otherwise, your face will soon be unrecognizable." Leng Qing wiped the blood from his face, savoring the metallic tang. He did not frown in disgust; instead, he seemed to revel in it. Coupled with his twisted smile, the effect was profoundly evil.

"Hmph, even if you kill me, I’ll never tell," Wu Peng growled, gritting his teeth so hard they cracked. Despite the agony tearing across his face, he remained silent, a true man to the last.

No one had ever dared defy him again and again. Leng Qing was now fully enraged. With a grim chuckle, he slashed a large X across Wu Peng’s once-handsome face. Blood welled in two vivid lines; the sight was shocking and brutal.

Hidden far away behind the corner, Lin Yang watched, his fists clenched so tightly his nails bit into his flesh. Even he, who fancied himself ruthless, felt Leng Qing’s actions were excessive.

Just as Lin Yang prepared to fire a shot to distract everyone, fate intervened with something unexpected.

"Stop! Leng Qing, you bastard, stop! You devil!" Hearing that her protector was suffering on her behalf, Leng Nini could hide no longer. Guilt-stricken, she burst out from the study on the second floor, her voice trembling with righteous fury.

She had hidden herself inside a secret compartment behind the bookshelf; her small frame had allowed her to evade the bodyguards’ destructive search. Wu Peng, however, was less fortunate. With nowhere suitable to hide, he had squeezed himself into the washing machine, but had still been dragged out by the marauding bodyguards, with predictably dire results.

Leng Nini, dressed in a pink nightgown, now stood on the upstairs landing. Tears as large as pear blossoms streamed down her cheeks. Her breathing was ragged with emotion, her chest heaving with each inhale and exhale, drawing even more attention to her already striking figure.

"Hahaha! Little girl, what’s this? Not hiding anymore? I haven’t finished playing with you yet, have I? What should we do?" Leng Qing’s wicked face was enough to stir hatred in anyone. No number of kicks would be enough to vent one’s anger on such a detestable visage.

Leng Nini knew all too well the cruelty of her uncle’s son. He was rotten to the core—a ruthless, lawless man, indifferent even to his own blood. A year ago, in their battle over succession, he had coldly orchestrated the death of his own sister. His inhumanity knew no bounds.

"You... I... I’ll go with you. Just let him go." Defeated for the first time in her stubborn life, Leng Nini realized the truth: if she resisted even a little, her five loyal protectors would lose their lives because of her. She could not bear such a cost.

Wu Peng, his head still pinned underfoot, turned his gaze to Leng Nini, who wept like a rain-drenched blossom. After spending time with her, he had come to see her as a little sister. Now, knowing she had been forced out to save him, he was racked with guilt.

With a fierce bite of his lip, he seemed to make a monumental decision. Bloodied and battered, Wu Peng suddenly struggled, throwing off the bodyguard holding him. He swung a fist with all his might at Leng Qing’s despicable face. Had he landed the blow, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Lin Yang, meanwhile, was quietly edging toward Leng Nini. Seeing this, his heart lurched. Wu Peng’s last-ditch attack was clearly a death wish, but in his eyes Lin Yang saw only a profound sense of release.

"I can’t let him die. Absolutely not." The thought burst within Lin Yang like a curse. He could no longer worry about Leng Nini being caught. He decided to act.

The main hall was close. After a quick calculation, Lin Yang launched himself at the bodyguard who was pinning Wu Peng. Kill—that was the only word in his mind. In that moment, Lin Yang was a primordial beast, utterly without mercy. The moment the guard set his foot on Wu Peng’s face, he was already a dead man in Lin Yang’s eyes.

After an intense night with Tang Yixue, Lin Yang had discovered a surprise: the fourth blade, long elusive, had broken through miraculously after their tryst. His internal energy had multiplied several times over, doubling from before—one of the reasons he dared to act now.

His speed was already a match for Olympic sprinter Bolt; with the boost of his internal energy, it became downright terrifying.

Lin Yang flashed forward like the wind—just a shadow. The bodyguard, who had intended to shoot Wu Peng, stared in disbelief, clutching his neck where there was neither blood nor wound. He turned slowly to look at the figure who had appeared before him out of nowhere, and, with countless questions swirling in his mind, finally collapsed to the floor, dead before he hit the ground.

The fourth blade—Shao Tian Dao. Only after wielding it did Lin Yang realize its true terror.

What is a sword to the throat compared to this? In the face of the Shao Tian Dao, such things are insignificant. The Zhi Xue Dao could deal a fatal blow without any visible wound, but the Shao Tian Dao was so precise that even under a microscope, no injury could be detected. It was as if a bolt of lightning annihilated the throat’s organs in an instant—killing in a flash.

The bodyguard who had trampled Wu Peng was struck down in a single, lightning-fast blow to the throat. Lin Yang acted so openly because he knew that even if a forensic expert examined the corpse, they would find no cause of death—and so no witness could ever pin it on him. Such is the flaw of modern science.

Having dispatched one bodyguard, Lin Yang did not relax. The hall was swarming with the most vigilant of the guards. The moment he struck one dead, the others reached for their silenced pistols. These killers, specially trained and utterly ruthless, were always primed to react to the slightest disturbance, and every move was a kill shot.

Wu Peng, lunging at Leng Qing, was lucky—at the critical moment, Lin Yang pulled him back just in time to avoid a fatal knife strike from Leng Qing.

Unlike other rich scions who wasted their youth on pleasure, Leng Qing had endured the most brutal training in the Wild Wolf Special Forces just to secure his family’s inheritance. He was a formidable fighter, ruthless and merciless.

Wu Peng’s desperate punch may have been powerful and accurate, but to Leng Qing, it was slow and weak.

Leng Qing’s dagger, however, was deadly. He swept it up from his side and slashed across at Wu Peng’s neck—a blow meant to kill instantly and leave no trouble behind. If not for Lin Yang’s timely intervention, Wu Peng would have died on the spot.

On the second-floor landing, Leng Nini watched as Wu Peng was dragged away, her heart finally settling though she was drenched in cold sweat.

From Lin Yang’s attack to pulling Wu Peng to safety, the whole sequence took less than a tenth of a second. Luckily, Leng Nini was not caught by any of the other bodyguards roused from their rooms by the commotion.

With his target suddenly gone and his deadly blow wasted, Leng Qing’s face grew ever more sinister, his eyes filled with murderous intent. He roared at the newcomer, "Where did you come from, brat? Are you looking for death?"

Lin Yang was speechless. This guy was as arrogant and domineering as ever, cursing people to die the moment he opened his mouth. Disgruntled, Lin Yang cursed him silently: You’re the one looking for death. Your whole family is looking for death.