# 1163
Chapter 1164: You Can't Afford to Touch
Lin Qiye didn't speak. He simply watched Li Jianbai in silence.
"Are you a kidnapper or an assassin? Who sent you? How much did they pay? I'll give you double… no, triple!"
Li Jianbai was a seasoned veteran of the business world. Even though what was happening before him had completely exceeded his understanding, he quickly regained his composure and tried to change the situation by leveraging his advantages.
"Who I am is not important."
Lin Qiye spoke calmly. "I'm not interested in your money…"
He walked forward slowly, squatted down, and those cold eyes stared into Li Jianbai's flickering gaze.
"Then what do you want?"
"I came here only to give you a warning." Lin Qiye's eyes narrowed into a dangerous arc.
"That land in the old city district… you can't afford to touch it."
"The old city district?"
Upon hearing these three words, Li Jianbai froze in place.
Before this, countless possibilities had flashed through his mind—murder, extortion, kidnapping, even sexual assault… but never in a million years did he expect the target to be the old city district?
"Are you sent by a competitor? Is it the Zhao family or the Hengyu Group?" Li Jianbai asked, puzzled, then shook his head. "Impossible…"
If it wasn't about money, then the only explanation for someone targeting the old city district had to be competitors fighting over interests. But thinking carefully, although the development value of the old city district was decent, it wasn't high enough to warrant sending assassins to issue warnings.
The Li Group had developed many highly potential tracts of land before, and nothing ever happened. Why now, of all times, when they were developing the old city district, had someone come after them?
What was so special about that place?
Lin Qiye reached out and drew the White Slash halfway from its sheath at his waist. A blade's gleam swept past Li Jianbai's ear, slicing through a strand of his side hair and, beneath it, two heavy wooden stands, cutting them all to pieces!
A chilling wave of terror instantly seized Li Jianbai's heart!
"I'm going to say this one more time." Lin Qiye sheathed the White Slash and spoke with an icy edge. "The old city district… you can't afford to touch it. Do you understand?"
Li Jianbai's back was already soaked with cold sweat. He lay stiffly amid the scattered wood fragments, nodding repeatedly.
"I understand, I understand! I won't touch the old city district! Absolutely not!"
"There's more…" Lin Qiye said slowly. "I hear you've been bribing some thugs to harass and beat people who refuse to relocate…"
"I won't dare! I absolutely won't dare anymore!!" Li Jianbai immediately understood Lin Qiye's meaning and begged for mercy quite promptly.
Upon seeing this, Lin Qiye gave him a casual glance, turned around calmly, and vanished into the darkness.
Although the Li Group had used violent means to force people to relocate and their methods were despicable, they weren't exactly wicked beyond redemption. Lin Qiye had come this time primarily to warn them. First, to make them abandon the old city district, and second, to serve as a wake-up call to prevent any more elderly people or children like Old Liu from being targeted by gangsters.
Since Li Jianbai had already submitted, his purpose was achieved. If in the next couple of days he received news that the Li Group hadn't given up on the old city district, he would pay another visit.
At that time, a warning wouldn't suffice.
Watching Lin Qiye's figure disappear like a ghost, Li Jianbai's eyes bulged wide. It was a long while before he came back to his senses. He stumbled up from the ground, let out a long breath, and cursed.
"What the hell…"
Li Jianbai cursed as he climbed the stairs from the wine cellar to ground level. He straightened his clothes and was just about to push open the mansion door when two voices came from behind him.
"Oh? Old Cao, look—isn't that Li Jianbai?"
"Looks like it. Same as in the online photos."
"Why is he crawling out from underground?"
"Doesn't matter… Let's get him!"
Li Jianbai: ???
Before Li Jianbai could react, he felt a chill at the back of his head and lost consciousness entirely.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself hanging upside down from a crooked old tree.
Li Jianbai rubbed the back of his head, wincing in pain. He looked at the inverted world before him, and his gaze finally landed on the two masked figures beneath the tree.
One was Zhu Bajie. One was Sand Monk.
Li Jianbai's eyes gradually widened.
Holy shit… no way?!
"Li Jianbai, right? I heard you're quite something?" The figure wearing the Zhu Bajie mask sneered. "Beating up old folks, bullying kids… At your age, have you lived all these years for nothing?"
The figure wearing the Sand Monk mask delivered a flying kick to Li Jianbai's abdomen, sending him swinging on the branch like a swing. Li Jianbai groaned in pain, clutching his stomach.
"Good sirs… I know错了! I've already confessed my mistakes! Please let me go…" Li Jianbai begged for mercy once more.
After Lin Qiye left, Li Jianbai thought the matter was over. But never in his wildest dreams did he expect this to be a group operation?!
They were going to beat and warn him in shifts?
Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Sand Monk… If anyone told him they weren't working together, he wouldn't believe it even if they killed him.
"Know your mistake? That quickly?" Sand Monk's eyes narrowed slightly. "I don't believe it…"
He delivered another kick to Li Jianbai's body, sending him flying and swinging again. His screams were drowned out by the heavy rain.
"That's enough, Old Cao. If we go back too late, Qiyè will notice." The Zhu Bajie mask lowered its voice.
Sand Monk nodded. He grabbed the dazed Li Jianbai and stabilized him in a vertical position, speaking coldly:
"I'm warning you… Don't touch the old city district. If you send anyone again, I'll chop off one of your hands… Understand?"
"Understood… I under… 呕! I understand…"
Sand Monk flicked his hand casually, cutting the rope above Li Jianbai. The latter dropped like a sandbag, his face slamming hard into the ground.
By the time Li Jianbai painfully pulled himself off the ground, the two figures had vanished without a trace.
"Bastards… you bunch of bastards…" Li Jianbai tried to wipe the rainwater off his face, only to discover that his nose had been crushed flat, throbbing with pain that made his mouth twitch. "There's no justice in this world, no law at all!!"
"I'm calling the police!
"You really think Li Jianbai is some pushover??"
While cursing, Li Jianbai walked to the mansion building. He took out his phone with trembling hands and dialed a number.
"Hello? Director Han? It's Li Jianbai. I want to tell you something…"
"Shhhhhhhhh…"
"Hello? Hello? No signal?"
Li Jianbai frowned in confusion.
Click—!!
Just as he was shaking his phone in puzzlement, all the lights in the estate suddenly went out. Then, the silhouette of a white-robed specter was outlined on his phone screen.
A hair-raisingly cold female voice came through the phone:
"Li Jianbai… are you seeking death?"
"The old city district—is that something you dare to covet?"