# Chapter 63: Speak Honestly, or You'll Get Beaten
"Wow! So many rooms!" The taxi stopped in front of a villa, and the Painting Woman let out an exclamation of text at the rows of windows.
"A house is only comfortable when it's big," Yuan Yao said with a smile. "Feel free to pick whichever room you want to stay in later."
They had agreed in the car that tonight they would stay at his place.
As soon as they entered, the Painting Woman rushed into the bathroom to try on her newly bought clothes. Yuan Yao poured Xu Huo a cup of tea, then brought over a computer and started working.
"Is this account address still encrypted?" After fiddling with it for a bit, he also became interested. "In a situation like this, this person is definitely not simple."
Xu Huo watched his fingers fly across the keyboard and figured it would take a while to get results, so he got up and inspected the three-story villa from bottom to top.
Standing at the third-floor window, he saw from afar a number "5" floating above an old tree several dozen meters away, and it was still rising, quickly reaching "9."
Full of killing intent.
Xu Huo closed the window and went downstairs.
"Got it!" Yuan Yao called out from the living room. "This guy is definitely a novice. The firewall was probably done by someone else. Everything in the computer is unencrypted. I found something interesting."
"Holy Sword Society?" Xu Huo looked at the triangular pattern made of three swords on the computer screen. "A cult?"
Yuan Yao scrolled through the chat records on the computer. "Looks like a player organization. This guy has been trying to join, and recently submitted some kind of pledge of allegiance. He's now an official member."
"What kind of pledge?"
"Something like items, tickets, that sort of thing. To join, you have to offer something recognized by the Holy Sword Society."
Yuan Yao paused. "This guy was actually posting bait messages... Is this Holy Sword Society hunting players?"
Xu Huo glanced out the window. "It's getting late. We'll talk about it tomorrow."
The two went to their respective rooms. Soon, the lights in the villa were turned off one by one, plunging the entire building into darkness.
An hour later, a cat-like figure silently slipped into the villa. With both palms touching the ground and his back arched high, he crawled along the wall like a real cat to the window of Xu Huo's room. Pushing open the window, he landed silently and aimed his claws at the shadowy bulge on the bed!
Just as he was about to strike, a patch of darkness suddenly peeled off the wall and wrapped around his head like a gust of wind!
The shadow was startled, but upon touching it, realized it was just a piece of paper. Knowing he had been discovered, he tore it apart with a claw and lunged at the big bed!
At that moment, the blanket on the bed suddenly flew up, wrapping around his front!
The shadow abruptly stopped his momentum and tried to retreat, but a leg suddenly shot out from the middle of the airborne blanket, striking him square in the abdomen!
This kick sent blood spraying from his mouth and nose, slamming him hard against the opposite wall. Before he could land, a thin thread shot across the room, catching his right wrist and pinning him to the wall!
The shadow's nails extended long, but he couldn't cut the thread. Just then, the lights in the room suddenly came on. He squinted, only to realize that Xu Huo wasn't alone in the room. Besides a tattered woman standing in the corner, another person was crawling out from under the bed.
Yuan Yao, his face covered in dust, coughed and complained about the landlord's poor cleaning. When he looked up at the wall, he immediately grinned. "Got him!"
"Is this the guy who's been following us all the way from the mall? I don't even know him. Why is he following us?"
"There's always a reason." Xu Huo got off the bed, studying the thin, small man. "So you have animal traits. Are you from the Holy Sword Society?"
The thin man kept his mouth shut, his eyes scanning the three of them. Suddenly, his pupils contracted vertically, and then his entire body flipped upward with cat-like flexibility. As his hand slipped free from the thread, he hung upside down on the wall, his long nails digging deep into the wall like claws!
"What the hell! He's turning into an animal!" Yuan Yao shouted and stepped back.
The thin man let out a beast-like growl from his throat and lunged at him!
"Never learns." Xu Huo leaped forward, pulling Yuan Yao aside. He grabbed the man's hand in midair and swung him forward. As the man crashed face-first onto the floor, Xu Huo raised his foot and stomped down hard!
"Boom!" The floor was crushed into a footprint-deep dent. The thin man, who had rolled away just in time, jumped onto the bed. Seeing the footprint, he couldn't help but feel a chill of fear. Looking up at those cold eyes, his beast instincts screamed at him to run!
But Xu Huo, who had been waiting for him in the villa, wasn't about to let him escape so easily. He swept his long leg, flipping the man onto the bed, grabbed his left arm, and pulled. With a crack, the entire arm hung limp!
"Ugh!" The thin man grunted in pain, swinging his other claw at Xu Huo's face. But Xu Huo caught his wrist mid-swing. The man lifted his upper body, kicked Xu Huo away with both feet, and without looking back, leaped toward the window.
Just then, Yuan Yao, who had appeared from who knows where, quickly set up a stool. The thin man, caught off guard, got stuck right in the stool, his head trapped against the window!
"Brother Xu! Quick! I've got him!"
Xu Huo came to the window, about to pull the man back, when several black snakes suddenly slithered out from under the window frame and viciously bit the back of his hand!
The stinging pain made him pull his hand back quickly. Looking down, there were no wounds on his hand.
In that moment, the thin man was dragged out of the room by several overly long black snakes.
"Trying to leave?" Xu Huo pulled out his dagger and jumped out after him. With a flash of cold light, he cut through several black snakes in midair.
He landed, pinning the thin man down, but noticed that the black snakes that had fallen to the ground had turned into several strands of hair.
"Elder Medusa!" A female voice sounded from ahead. He looked up sharply and unexpectedly met a pair of lantern-like crimson eyes. A giant python opened its massive mouth and lunged at him!
Xu Huo narrowed his eyes, catching sight of the person hidden within the snake shadows approaching him. He kicked the man at his feet away and threw his dagger!
Two small snakes intercepted the dagger in midair, hissing threateningly at him.
Xu Huo grabbed the two small snakes, ignoring the giant python descending from above. He yanked hard, pulling the person across from him closer. Just as he seized their throat, the giant python's phantom enveloped them both, but upon touching the ground, it turned into dust-like ash, vanishing in an instant.
"Hair." Xu Huo casually tossed away the two strands of black hair, looking at the woman struggling in his grip. "I'll ask again. Are you from the Holy Sword Society? How did you find out I'm a player?"
"What Holy Sword Society? I've never heard of it!" The woman with a long black braid reaching her ankles gasped for breath, desperately clawing at Xu Huo's hand, her eyes filled with hatred. "You're the one who captured my brother! Where did you take him?!"
"If you killed him, I won't let you get away with it!"
Xu Huo used his other hand to pinch her cheeks, preventing her from speaking. "You're already in my hands. How exactly are you not going to let me get away with it?"
"Speak honestly, or you'll get beaten."