At night, a banquet was still underway at the Li family residence. But in a study on the third floor, Li Le and his father, Li Hui, were chatting about the day's events.
"Father, we're short on people right now. Someone with B-rank Combat Talent is actually a pretty good prospect, and his family background is fairly clean. If we control him with 'Happiness' and get him to sign a loan agreement, we should be able to keep him completely in hand, right?"
Li Le thought of what the dead Yosef had tried to do. Yosef had been killed by those Wish Power Creatures; otherwise, he really would have succeeded.
The new settlement was in desperate need of people. Relying on the few young members of the family to build things up gradually would be a real struggle.
"If your talent were C-rank—even C-minus—I'd arrange to bring him in. But your D-rank Monstrous Strength, while theoretically about on par with ordinary B-rank Combat Talent, doesn't give you a sure advantage."
Li Hui spoke earnestly.
When Li Le had first met Winuo, he'd also played down his talent by one rank, claiming he had only E-rank Monstrous Strength. In truth, he had D-rank!
Monstrous Strength was indeed a special kind of Combat Talent, two tiers above ordinary Combat Talent. And with the family's Knight's Breathing Technique on top of that, Li Le was sure he could keep the other man in check.
But his father wouldn't allow it. He wanted to eliminate every possible problem, which made Li Le feel somewhat underestimated. He said unhappily, "So what if he's only Tao Hu's nephew? Even if he were Tao Hu's son, what would that matter? How could someone with the same-rank talent compare to me?"
At least in the Outer City, Li Le still had the confidence to back himself.
Yosef had wanted to make that guy his lackey. Why couldn't Li Le?
"Heh. Our family's Monstrous Strength is a fine talent, and it was the foundation that let us establish ourselves in the Inner City. In a head-on fight, you could crush him with ease. And the family has given you far more support than he's ever had."
Li Hui didn't argue. He rose casually, walked over to Li Le, and patted him on the shoulder.
"But Dynamic Vision is a skill suited to shooting and even ambushes. If he puts a bullet through your head, what good will all your strength do? You'll still die."
Li Le wanted to argue, but for a moment, he didn't know what to say.
"If we still had the strength we did in the Inner City, fine. But there's no need to take risks now. We can take our time."
As he spoke, Li Hui clasped his hands behind his back, a knowing smile appearing on his face.
"Plants have their own growing cycles. We have time to wait. Within six months, seven people in the family can choose the New Frontier. With you eight as our foundation, once we've established ourselves, we can gradually bring in newcomers."
Li Hui paused.
"Once we've reaped a few harvests and can no longer keep things under control, we can use the reputation we've built to make a direct offering to the two bigwigs in the Floating City and secure the resources for advancement."
"Fine. But is it really appropriate to send those two cousins over tonight? Things aren't exactly peaceful at night, either."
Li Le slowly accepted his father's reasoning. It did make sense, but sending the two cousins over in the middle of the night seemed like overkill.
"Just to be safe. If the man starts talking, that could be a real headache. With someone capable, either leave him alone or make sure you crush him in one go.
"Otherwise, he'll call in his friends, bring Tao Hu into it, and then Tao Hu will call in his own friends. The mess will just keep growing, and the trouble that follows will be endless."
At that, Li Le's thoughts stirred. He asked worriedly, "Could he have already told Tao Hu? He spent all day in the settlement today, but yesterday we don't know what he did for half a day."
"So what if he did? Does Tao Hu know where we are?"
Li Hui gave a scornful laugh and said quietly, "You said it yourself: he's only Tao Hu's nephew, and not even a close one. The only reason their relationship has lasted this long is his talent. Tao Hu might risk something for a living genius, but..."
"Once he's dead, there's nothing left."
Then Li Hui gave Li Le a meaningful smile.
"Learn from this. You'll have to stand on your own in the new settlement. You're the leading figure of the Li family's New Life..."
Splurt~
Li Hui's smiling head shot into the air. Blood sprayed from his neck, leaving Li Le completely dumbfounded.
Through the gap between the flying head and the neck spurting blood, he saw Tao Yu's figure, his blade sweeping past.
Like an ink painting that had just appeared, Tao Yu's body still bore traces of distorted Black Mist.
"Well, Brother Li. We meet again."
Tao Yu grinned, a few droplets of blood spattered across his face.
Tao Yu?!
How could this be?
How was it possible?!
Why was he here?!
His father's head?
Fake!
It was all fake!
That was the last thought in Li Le's mind.
As he opened his mouth, Tao Yu—who had just recovered from stacking his skills—raised the pistol in his other hand.
Bang~
The bullet passed through Li Le's mouth and blew the top of his skull away, spraying blood everywhere!
The sudden gunshot brought the banquet outside to a halt. The music stopped, and footsteps came from the stairwell.
The wooden stairs and floor trembled faintly beneath their feet, while indistinct voices drifted over.
"Was that a gunshot?"
"What happened?"
"Go take a look..."
"Uncle's study? What's going on?"
"..."
They were all important members of the Li family. Even after withdrawing from the Inner City, the Li family was still a large clan with considerable prestige and influence throughout the southern Outer City.
The banquet was meant to bring all the key figures together and set the course for what came next!
The family needed to coordinate logistics, resources, and future support.
Li Le alone couldn't keep the whole operation running, even with his decent talent.
The other core members, who couldn't enter the New Frontier, would mainly coordinate resources and trade for useful Wish Power items.
"Uncle, Le, what's going on? We heard gunshots."
"Patriarch."
"Did something happen?"
Knock, knock~
While they knocked, Tao Yu calmly searched the two bodies and found several Wish Power items. Then, in the next instant, he slipped back into the shadows.
Bang~
The crash came soon after. Against several Li family elites, the study door gave way after only a few blows. Inside, they found the two men lying in pools of blood.
Everyone who rushed in went pale at once.
What happened?
How could this be?!
"Seal off the scene at once! Contact the Security Team!"
An elderly man with a head of gray-white hair stepped forward, his expression grave.
Someone spotted the hand-cranked telephone in the study, a true symbol of status that could connect directly to the Security Team.
But when a man hurried forward and picked up the phone, he slammed it down again. He tugged at the cord and found it had been cut.
"Damn it! Two of you, come with me. We'll go straight to—"
Just then, the lights in the room suddenly went out, as if the power to the entire house had been cut.
"What happened?"
"The killer hasn't left!"
"Everyone, be careful!"
"Back to back!"
"Turn on the lights!"
"Fire! Light a fire!"
Having power lines run in from the city wall and electric lights throughout the house was a clear symbol of status.
When the lights they were used to suddenly went out, everything descended into chaos.
Soon, the first scream came from downstairs, followed by frantic attempts to light fires and anxious questions.
Gunshots rang out one after another amid the confusion!
"The front door's locked! Break it down! Aaah!"
A flash of firelight. The man ramming the door took a bullet to the back of the head.
"Get out through the windows!"
Bang, bang~
Two more shots rang out as the window shattered. The men who crashed through hit the ground dead.
Whoever ran first, died!
"Help!"
"Damn it! Fight back!"
"Where is he?"
"..."
Screams, pleas for help, and angry shouts rang out one after another.
On a night when the Gray Fog hid the stars, there was no proper lighting—only a few hastily lit oil lamps and fires. Inside the dark, three-story Western-style house, all that could be seen were the intermittent flashes of gunfire, accompanied by screams.
The Li family!
They possessed the advanced Knight's Breathing Technique and the foundation of an Inner City clan. Without mechanical modifications or becoming an Altered, they had still managed to make one of the four deputy captains of the Security Team.
Yet now, they were being slaughtered in the dark, utterly outmatched.
There were more than one or two Li family elites whose overall physical abilities surpassed Tao Yu's.
But in these conditions, it didn't matter.
A bullet through the brow, a blade across the throat—either one was enough to take their lives.
Tao Yu kept replenishing his stamina and mental strength with Wish Power. As he fought on without pause, he was like a grim reaper in the darkness, each appearance claiming the life of another member of the Li family.
The screams grew fewer and fewer, until at last, silence fell.
The entire Li family compound was plunged into deathly stillness.
The detached little mansion still looked just as grand, though several windows were broken and a few corpses hung from them.
The dozen or so buildings outside were just as silent, as if not a trace of life remained...
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