Interrogation

"Young master, he's dining at the restaurant up ahead. That red sedan that just pulled over by the roadside is his. The one driving is his chauffeur, named—"

On a bustling street in Sokovia, Xiao Liu pointed at a restaurant ahead and gave Li Chuan a rough rundown of the situation.

Li Chuan nodded, pushed open the car door, and got out.

"Alright, you and the others should pull back first. I'll handle the rest."

"Yes, Boss!"

Xiao Liu did not ask how Li Chuan planned to handle it, nor did he ask what his plan was. He simply nodded and used his communicator to order all the brothers nearby to withdraw, himself included.

To them, Li Chuan was their boss, their master, and the benefactor who had pulled them out of a life of despair three years ago.

Therefore, carrying out any order from Li Chuan flawlessly was the very least they should do.

"Transformation Technique!"

After getting out of the car, Li Chuan did not head over immediately. Instead, he circled the area, entered an empty alley, and activated the Transformation Technique, turning into the traffic officer he had just seen on the street.

Only then did he stroll over to the red sedan while few people were around and knock on the driver's side window.

"Get out. Your car is illegally parked!"

"Illegally parked? Are you kidding, sir?"

The window rolled down, and a young man in his twenties looked at Li Chuan with an impatient expression.

"Of course I'm not kidding!"

With a curl of his lips, Li Chuan pulled a small bottle from his pocket. In a flash, he thrust it through the window and sprayed the young man directly in the face before he could react. The man's eyes rolled back, and he immediately passed out.

Sometimes, making proper use of technology was far easier than charging in with his fists.

During the three years since his rebirth, he had not spent all his time practicing martial arts. He had also paid a hefty price to hire professional mercenaries to teach him about all kinds of firearms.

And sure enough, with his physique and reaction speed, equipping himself with various guns had truly increased his killing power considerably.

At the very least, it had greatly improved his efficiency when wiping out hostile forces.

He pressed the button to unlock the car, tossed the unconscious driver into the passenger seat, drove into the nearby alley, and skillfully placed him in the trunk. Li Chuan then activated the Transformation Technique again, took on the appearance of the young driver, and drove back to the original spot.

Ten minutes later, a potbellied middle-aged man emerged from the restaurant under the protection of several bodyguards and got into Li Chuan's car.

"Back to the company!"

"Yes."

Li Chuan pretended to agree, but quickly turned around, took out the small bottle filled with sedative again, and accurately sprayed it in the middle-aged man's face.

"Transformation Technique!"

After transforming into the middle-aged man, Li Chuan got out and sent away the bodyguards in the two cars behind them. Then, with the unconscious man in the car, he drove out of Sokovia City and into a sparsely populated mountain region.

The middle-aged man was named Hades. He was the owner of a Sokovian food conglomerate. He was not particularly well-known and could only be considered third-rate in Sokovia's business world.

However, according to Uncle Li's investigation, this man had actually been cooperating with the Hydra Base in the mountains. Every month, he sent trucks from his company to deliver crates upon crates of supplies to the base, and he had been doing so for more than a decade.

If this guy had nothing to do with Hydra, not even a ghost would believe it.

Of course, just to be safe, he still needed to test him.

Li Chuan dragged Hades out of the car and threw him onto the ground, then took out a bottle of mineral water and poured it over his face.

"What's going on?"

Hades abruptly sat up from the ground, wiped the water from his face, and looked around in confusion.

"Hail Hydra! Hades, your crimes have been exposed. You dared betray the organization. The Baron sent me to deal with you!"

Li Chuan drew his gun and pressed it against Hades's temple, frightening him fully awake in an instant.

"Hail Hydra! Mike, listen to me. This is a misunderstanding, it must be a misunderstanding! I never betrayed the Baron, and I never betrayed the organization! I want to contact the Baron directly!"

He had never imagined that the chauffeur who had served him for years was actually someone the Baron had sent to watch him.

Nor had he imagined that, despite his unwavering loyalty to the organization, he had been framed as a traitor and was about to be executed here.

Who was it? Who had framed him?

"The Baron's orders were to execute you immediately!"

Li Chuan shook his head, cocked the gun, and put on a cold expression.

Hearing the gun being cocked, Hades panicked and pleaded incoherently.

"Mike, Mike, you have to believe me. I really didn't betray anyone. Have you forgotten? When you killed that female college student last time, I was the one who helped you dispose of her. I haven't treated you badly all these years. Just let me call the Baron myself and explain..."

"Looks like you're not someone with firm faith. That makes things easy."

Seeing Hades so terrified that he was nearly wetting himself, Li Chuan revealed a faint, cruel smile.

This simple test was enough to completely confirm that the man before him was a Hydra member—and not one of those brainwashed agents who would kill themselves at the slightest provocation to protect secrets.

"Mike, wh-what do you mean?"

Looking at Li Chuan's expression and hearing his words, Hades finally realized that something seemed off.

However, it was already too late. Li Chuan did not answer him at all. Instead, he stepped forward and crushed the bones in his hand with one grip before saying coldly,

"Now, you answer whatever I ask. If you hesitate even slightly, or if I get even the slightest feeling that you're lying, then I'll let you experience just how wonderful it feels to have every bone in your body crushed bit by bit!"

"I'll talk... I'll tell you everything..."

Hades let out agonized screams and nodded frantically, his face filled with terror.

By then, he understood that Li Chuan might not be a Hydra member at all. He might not even be his chauffeur, Mike.

But he did not want to die, nor did he want to suffer like this. So he could only confess honestly.

Twenty minutes later, after crushing every bone in Hades's body, Li Chuan snapped his neck with one twist, then clapped his hands and stood up.

In truth, once he had crushed a third of Hades's bones, there had been no more discrepancies in Hades's answers. Li Chuan could basically confirm that he was no longer lying.

But in order to be one hundred percent certain, he had continued crushing Hades's bones without pause, repeating every question over and over again.

There was no helping it. In a moment, he would be entering the Hydra Base alone. If Hades had concealed even the slightest detail, or deliberately tried to lead him into a trap, Li Chuan might expose his identity and end up facing the danger of being surrounded by a large number of elite Hydra agents.

"You weren't a good person either."

After snapping Hades's neck, Li Chuan dragged the unconscious chauffeur, Mike, out of the trunk and snapped his neck as well without hesitation.

"Earth Style Ninjutsu: Earth Burial!"

He formed hand seals with both hands and pressed them against the ground. The earth automatically parted and swallowed the bodies of Hades and Mike.

Earth Burial, an E-rank Earth Style Ninjutsu, had no offensive power whatsoever. It was merely an auxiliary ninjutsu used for burying corpses.