# 612
Chapter 613: The Rescue
While Hongyan and Black Pupil cleared the room, Lin Qiye calmly walked toward Yuzuri Nana in the center of the warehouse.
Empty Tarou, who stood beside her ready to slice her finger, frowned. Gripping his short blade, he rushed Lin Qiye with vicious eyes.
Lin Qiye glanced at him. The instant the knife was about to pierce him, he drifted sideways a hair’s breadth, rammed his knee up, and sent the short blade flying. In the same motion he kicked the two-hundred-pound man like a sandbag; Tarou smashed into the far wall, thudded to the floor, and lay still.
It had happened so fast that Yuzuri Nana only blinked and the hulking man was already motionless in the corner.
By the time Lin Qiye reached her, Hongyan had finished the cleanup. Besides the three of them, no one remained standing; a single pool of blood slowly spread by the door.
Even without using their Forbidden Ruins, they had needed less than five seconds to deal with the thugs.
Watching his men die, Iwamori Yusuke’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. Frozen on the black leather sofa, he stared at Hongyan and Black Pupil, lips trembling.
“W-what kind of monsters are you?!”
Lin Qiye and Black Pupil had killed in ways still within human comprehension, but Hongyan’s display had shattered every notion of what a person could do. Add those golden vertical pupils—being called a monster was only natural.
Lin Qiye ignored the question. He looked down at Yuzuri Nana, offered his hand, and asked softly, “Are you hurt?”
She gazed at the masked man in a daze, then, after a moment’s hesitation, took his hand and stood.
“Just a scratch, I’m fine.” She studied him. That outfit… why does it look so familiar?
Before Lin Qiye could speak, his brow twitched.
On the sofa, Iwamori’s eyes flashed cruelly; his hand shot to his jacket—
“Watch out—he has a gun!” Yuzuri Nana shouted.
Iwamori pulled the revolver, aimed at Lin Qiye, and smirked as he squeezed the trigger.
BANG!
An orange bullet burst from the muzzle, straight for Lin Qiye’s head.
Lin Qiye merely tilted his head; the round whispered past his ear. Then his form blurred—ghost-like—until he stood before Iwamori, gripping the revolver’s barrel and twisting.
Before Iwamori could savor the shot, the gun became a metal pretzel.
A fierce palm caught his cheek, hurling him off the sofa.
Lin Qiye flicked his wrist and strode unhurriedly toward the fallen man.
Clutching his swelling face, Iwamori’s ears rang; vision swam, thoughts scattered.
“Like slapping little girls?” Lin Qiye crouched, hauled him up by the collar. Behind the Sun Wukong mask, his eyes were ice. “Try it on me.”
SLAP!!
Iwamori flew ten-odd meters, rolled twice, and lay still as a dead dog.
Lin Qiye had held back; otherwise the first slap would’ve killed him. But death could wait.
He turned to Black Pupil. “Pry his mouth open. See if he knows anything useful.”
Black Pupil, possessing the yellow-haired thug, grinned. “Leave it to me.”
He dragged the unconscious Iwamori into the small room that had held Yuzuri Nana, shut the door; moments later, shrill screams leaked through.
Yuzuri Nana jumped.
Lin Qiye glanced at the corpses and blood, then at the warehouse door. “Let’s talk outside.”
She looked at the scream-filled room, then at his strange mask, and finally nodded.
Outside, fresh air and warm sun hit her lungs; her taut muscles loosened.
“Who are you? Why save me?” she asked, looking up.
Lin Qiye swept the area with mental power, found no cameras, then removed his mask and smiled.
“You?!” Yuzuri Nana’s mouth fell open. “Aren’t you… deaf?”
Lin Qiye: “…I got better.”
Realizing her blunder, she hurried to apologize. “S-sorry, I didn’t mean—”
He waved it off. “I went to the containers to find you. Granny Crane said you’d vanished; I followed the trail.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “Those two… your friends?”
He considered. “My subordinates.”
Her jaw dropped again.
Those two monsters worked for this young man?
Who exactly was he?
Reading her shock, Lin Qiye changed the subject. “Tell me—how did you end up with these people?”
She pressed her lips, then slowly explained.
“They grabbed you to pay your father’s debt?” Lin Qiye raised an eyebrow. “But you’re just a kid—no job, no assets. Why hound you? They must know you’re broke.”
“They think my parents left me something valuable,” she said angrily. “They keep demanding I hand it over. But there’s nothing—only the house, and they’ve torn that apart already.”
Lin Qiye pondered.