He twisted his clothes into a rope and whipped it hard.
*Snap!*
Da Bao's footsteps halted. He clutched his right hand, surprised.
How was this guy so fast?
"Die, for your grandpa!"
After a brief pause, Da Bao's speed erupted, at least doubling from before!
Li Chonglou's mind echoed with Old Lin's urgent cry, "Be careful!"
Li Chonglou had never expected the man before him to be a martial artist. This technique of suddenly bursting with speed had a unified name among practitioners: martial arts skill!
Ordinary people generally couldn't master martial arts skills. It required not only a certain physical strength but also a grasp of internal energy.
In essence, even if a martial arts manual was placed before someone who hadn't practiced, it would be no different from a useless book.
However, this was no time to ponder such matters. Da Bao's speed had far surpassed the limits of an ordinary person. With Li Chonglou's cultivation power gone, he could barely track the man's movements.
Even as Old Lin shouted, he felt a cold touch against his skin.
Just moments ago, they had been at least four to five meters apart!
Yet, at this critical juncture, Li Chonglou's muscular reflexes saved his life.
His body instinctively contracted and shifted back, his shoulder tilting slightly to the left. The short blade, aimed directly at his heart, buried itself into his shoulder instead.
Simultaneously, Da Bao's figure appeared before him.
His expression was one of shock.
A golden opportunity!
Li Chonglou, far from panicking, was elated. Ignoring the searing pain in his shoulder, he wrapped his arm around Da Bao's neck.
Shoulder throw!
With a dizzying spin, Da Bao, unable to react, felt a sudden, sharp pain in his head, followed by a complete blankness.
His body went limp.
One move, and it was done!
Li Chonglou yanked the short blade out. A jet of blood sprayed forth, dyeing the wall crimson.
He didn't even groan. Gritting his teeth, he tore off a piece of his clothing, hastily bandaged his arm, and then moved to Da Bao's side.
That throw had nearly snapped his cervical spine. Without his prior training, he would have been dead already.
Even so, Da Bao had lost consciousness and lay on the ground, groaning in pain.
"Don't worry, I won't let you die so easily."
He understood the killer's mindset when taking on a contract. In a normal scenario, Li Chonglou might have even considered recruiting him.
But killing was one thing; torture was an entirely different matter. For someone worse than a beast, devoid of basic humanity, he would show no mercy!
However, the most pressing matter now was to find the antique.
Li Chonglou began searching Da Bao's body. Soon, his expression brightened.
He pulled his hand from the man's chest, holding a small box.
Opening it, he found a scroll of an ancient secret order!
A character signifying 'secret' was affixed to the seal of the scroll, though it looked somewhat loose, clearly indicating it had been opened before.
"Looks like I'm still lucky," Li Chonglou grinned.
Just then, a large hand suddenly grasped his wrist.
Li Chonglou looked down.
"In such a hurry to die?"
The owner of the hand was Da Bao, who was supposed to be unconscious.
"Take the thing and don't kill me."
Despite the soul-piercing pain in his head, Da Bao, being a trained individual, knew that if he didn't speak now, he might truly perish!
"Not kill you? When you were torturing that young girl, you didn't say that, did you?"
Then, Da Bao's next words made Li Chonglou's expression freeze.
"I didn't kill the person?"
Huh?
Li Chonglou's first thought was that he had the wrong person. But glancing at the secret order in his hand, he sneered.
"Do you take me for a fool? The item is with you, and you tell me you didn't kill the person?"
Da Bao held Li Chonglou's wrist with one hand, while the other pressed against his head, appearing as though he hadn't recovered from the shoulder throw.
However, he forced himself to speak through the pain.
"I killed the person."
Li Chonglou's brow furrowed.
"But I didn't torture them."
His brow furrowed even deeper.
"You didn't torture them? Don't tell me you did that afterward."
The corpse of Sister Feng's informant in the room was mangled beyond recognition, especially in the nether regions. The word 'gruesome' couldn't even begin to describe it.
If this wasn't torture, then nothing in this world was!
At this moment, Da Bao seemed to regain a sliver of his senses, taking deep breaths of air and letting out a long sigh.
*Crack!*
Li Chonglou suddenly slammed his head onto the ground.
Da Bao frantically pleaded, "Don't kill me, I'm telling the truth."
"I killed the person, but to avoid suspicion, I let the guide I hired do some... things. I didn't know he would do it like this."
Li Chonglou's expression faltered for a moment, but he quickly spotted a flaw in Da Bao's words.
He had closed the deceased's eyes himself! It was clear the person died in extreme agony, not in a quick kill!
"You're trying to deceive me? I saw the body. Do you think I'm a three-year-old child?"
With that, Li Chonglou twisted Da Bao's arm.
A crisp crack of bone echoed through the alley, followed by Da Bao's piercing scream.
However, before it could last a second, Li Chonglou clamped his hand over his mouth.
"Don't worry, I'll make you experience the pain of others."
His voice was cold and ruthless. Da Bao squirmed, making muffled noises.
They sounded less like pleas and more like a desperate attempt to explain.
Li Chonglou's brow furrowed slightly again, but he released Da Bao's mouth.
"I'll talk, I'll tell you everything!"
Fearing another assault, Da Bao quickly recounted the events of that day in full.
According to him, he had indeed killed the person, and they had been tortured. However, the one who performed the torture wasn't him, but the driver who guided them.
Da Bao had been afraid to say anything earlier because he was the one who controlled the situation and had instructed the driver to act.
He just hadn't expected the other party to resort to such a perverse method of torture!
"Are you trying to pin the blame on someone else?"
Li Chonglou didn't entirely believe his words. He felt that an ordinary person wouldn't be capable of such acts, whereas a killer's account carried more credibility.
However, Da Bao's expression didn't entirely seem like a lie.
There was a hint of grievance mixed with his desperation.
"It's true! That guy was a lunatic! If you don't believe me, go and capture him for interrogation!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Chonglou twisted his other arm.
*Crack.*
Before Da Bao could even let out a scream, Li Chonglou covered his mouth preemptively.