Chapter 253: Between Two Gunshots
The iron door was slammed shut with force. Xu Huo was about to go over when the three players who had been driven back by the flames returned, all blocking his path. "If we let you take Young Master Yang away today, how can we still hold our heads up in this circle?"
Xu Huo swept his gaze over their lower bodies. "Given the way you're showing your bare asses today, you're definitely not going to make it in this circle. Might as well step aside and save your own lives."
The trench coat man from earlier wiped the black soot off his face, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. "You think you're the only one with items?"
As he spoke, a bowling ball materialized in his hand. He lightly tapped it on the ground, and it bounced toward Xu Huo!
Xu Huo swung his sword to block, but the bowling ball was incredibly elastic. When struck, its center caved in, wrapping around the blade like soft mud before sliding downward.
He immediately withdrew the sword back into his item slot. Losing its support, the bowling ball fell to the ground, reverted to its spherical form, and shot toward his face!
Leaning back to avoid the bowling ball's attack, Xu Huo casually flipped open the Adult Fairy Tale Book. As the blood-red characters flowed out, the two players who had been advancing on him recoiled as if they had seen something terrifying. Though the trench coat man didn't retreat, the piano wire that had been lurking on the periphery accurately looped around his neck, hoisting him up to the ceiling!
The Crimson Sword was once again in his hand. Xu Huo swiftly dispatched the trench coat man, then kicked the fallen bowling ball toward the fat player on the side. The fat player instinctively raised his hand to block, but was knocked to the ground by the ball, which then softened and enveloped his head.
Glancing briefly at the one suffocating and struggling on the ground and the other flailing wildly in the air, terrified by the fairy tale book, Xu Huo kicked open the iron door and chased after the direction Yang Chao had taken.
Over here, Yang Chao and the shirtless player hadn't gone far. They had just left the underground market when Yang Chao started the car, ready to take off. He told the shirtless player to stay and help the other three.
"Remember, take him alive. I want to turn Xu Huo into my dog..."
Before he could finish, the shirtless player's face changed drastically. He grabbed Yang Chao by the head and slammed it against the steering wheel. Dazed and dizzy, Yang Chao covered his bleeding nose and was about to curse when he saw Xu Huo emerge from the underground market. Embedded in the ground not far from his car was a dart, sunk completely into the earth!
"Hurry up and stop him!" Yang Chao shouted in terror, shoving the shirtless player out of the car before speeding away himself.
But Xu Huo wasn't about to let him escape so easily. The piano wire shot out, yanking him straight out of the vehicle. The accelerating sports car crashed into a nearby boxing ring, instantly triggering a chorus of screams. Yang Chao, dragged by his neck, was hauled back!
"Young Master Yang!" The shirtless player knew that directly trying to rescue him wouldn't be faster than using items, so he turned to attack Xu Huo instead. His muscles, nourished by ample potions, bulged section by section, and his fists struck out like stones!
Xu Huo took the punch head-on, stumbling back several steps into the underground market. He shook his numb hand, sizing up the shirtless player. "You don't seem like a cannibal player."
The shirtless player sneered. "I'm a Black Player, so what? With just my fists, I can still beat you chickens to death!"
"Is that so?" Xu Huo replied coldly. The moment the man stepped into the underground market, the flying arrow lurking in the darkness pierced straight through his skull!
The shirtless player's knees gave way, and he collapsed to the ground, his burly body falling stiffly.
Without even glancing at this dead man who had tried to defeat him with brute strength, Xu Huo walked out and dragged Yang Chao inside.
He retracted the piano wire and waited for the man to stop coughing before asking, "Talk now, or do I beat it out of you first?"
Yang Chao knelt on one knee, coughing as he spoke. "Xu Huo, if you dare do anything to me, my dad won't let you off. My uncle-in-law is from Jing City..."
Xu Huo slapped him several times across the face, then pinned him to the ground with his foot. "I know your uncle-in-law is an official. Don't worry, after I'm done with you, I'll pay him a visit tonight."
"I'll ask you one more time. How did Xu Zhi die?"
"I... I don't know... Ah! Stop stepping on me!" Yang Chao clutched at the foot pressing on his chest, speaking in pain. "I really don't know!"
Xu Huo applied more pressure.
"I really don't know!" Blood trickled from Yang Chao's mouth as he howled. "I was just making it up!"
Xu Huo increased the force, his voice icy cold, each word deliberate. "I don't believe you!"
"I'm not lying to you..." Yang Chao gritted his teeth. "That rainy day, I never caught up to you... My car skidded on the curve and got stuck on the roadside. After the gunshot, when I ran over, Xu Zhi was already dead. You were right next to him..."
"What else?" Xu Huo eased up slightly.
"I heard you shouting at someone..." Yang Chao gasped for breath. "You said the loser was you, and you'd accept the consequences... The gun fired twice in total... I really don't know anything else..."
In the darkness, Xu Huo slowly stepped back twice, then suddenly covered his eyes, letting out a hoarse voice. "It's different..."
No wonder Yang Chao thought he had made a bet with someone that led to Xu Zhi's death. But in his memory, it wasn't like that at all. Xu Zhi had indeed been shot, but not because of any bet. Xu Zhi had come out looking for him late at night and accidentally encountered drug dealers fleeing on the mountain road, dying from a stray bullet...
There was no bet, and there weren't just two gunshots...
"Xu Zhi is already dead. What's the point of asking all this?" Yang Chao said. "No matter who killed him, wasn't it because of you?"
"I heard that in the year he died, he was about to get his second doctorate. No wonder your parents don't like you. If it were me, I'd rather it was you who died..."
Xu Huo snapped his neck.
He set a fire in the underground market. With his back to the flames and the screaming crowd, he randomly grabbed a car and sped back to the city at top speed.
By this time, the incident at the underground market had already alerted the local armed forces in Jing City. Cars kept passing Xu Huo in the opposite direction. After ignoring several calls from Team Leader Wu, he first went to burn down a few of the Yang family's warehouses. Taking advantage of the chaos in the city, he tossed the firearms, ammunition, and a cannibal evolver he had found in the warehouses into the home of Yang Chao's uncle-in-law, then casually called the police.
By the time the police brought the items and the person out, the Yang family was also under investigation. The patrol team had found a large quantity of evolution agents developed by the state but never officially released in the underground market.
Even after all this, Xu Huo didn't stop. He raided several underground trading dens that secretly imprisoned evolvers, filmed the places where evolvers were being raised, and uploaded the videos online along with the footage from Yang Chao's uncle-in-law's house. Then he set another fire on the spot.
"May these sins be burned clean by the flames," Xu Huo said, tossing away the phone he had picked up. He found a random hotel and went to sleep.
In one night, the entire Jing City was turned upside down. Sirens wailed everywhere. Ordinary citizens who couldn't sleep logged onto the internet and were shocked by the uploaded videos. By the next morning, the incident had already spread across the entire network.
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