Thug 13

Almost the instant Wen Li was kicked away, a violent force swallowed the spot where she had been standing.

Fu Qian watched helplessly as Wen Xiuxian's head swelled like a balloon, until his entire body exploded into a cloud of red mist.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. After kicking Wen Li away, Fu Qian stepped forward to block the angle and took the full force of the storm of flesh and blood.

A deafening rumble shook the air. The violent impact made his internal organs tremble.

That wasn't all. The storm seemed to contain countless tiny spikes, which tore through everything around them with the force of its momentum.

Three seconds later, the storm dissipated.

Fu Qian lowered his head and raised his left hand.

From the shoulder down, his skin had vanished completely. The flesh beneath was riddled with holes, and in some places, stark white bone showed through.

Even in Mortal Kombat, I've never taken a hit this bad!

This thing packs quite a punch!

Nothing within range of the storm remained intact. Even half the wall, which had been caught in the blast, now looked like a block of honeycomb coal.

These assassins really had all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. They'd actually come up with something this destructive!

The injuries were severe, but they weren't fatal.

Without changing expression, Fu Qian straightened the exposed blood vessels.

The next moment, he kicked through the wall, which was on the verge of collapsing.

Gathering his strength and using the violent force's recoil, he shot through the opening and appeared beside someone outside, driving a kick at them.

Got you!

Whether or not that had really been Wen Xiuxian, a hypnotized ordinary person couldn't have made an attack like that.

Fu Qian didn't believe these assassins were so dedicated that they'd risk their lives just to complete a mission. Someone nearby had to be controlling them remotely.

So, while being engulfed by the storm of flesh and blood, he'd opened all his senses and missed no trace. In the end, he'd managed to lock onto an aura.

Now, the owner of that aura was mingling with the bodyguards who'd rushed over and heading outside.

BOOM!

His kick, backed by a violent force, was as swift as lightning and terrifying in its power.

His target could no longer keep up the act. The man twisted, his body suddenly stretching longer, then dodged the deadly strike with an unnatural movement.

But what met him was a mangled hand.

SPLAT!

Like a tomato being crushed, Fu Qian's nearly fleshless left hand landed a genuine Nine Yin White Bone Claw on the man.

[Thug: Assimilation Progress 1/3]

[Fierce as fire, swift as thunder. Congratulations on beginning to grasp the essence of the Thug.]

When the target in his hand finally stopped struggling, a notification sounded in Fu Qian's ear.

At the same time, a wave of heat coursed through his body.

The sensation he'd felt the first time he used Thug Form returned, only this time it was even more intense.

After a violent surge of blood and energy, even the exposed bones seemed to take on a faint metallic sheen.

The next moment, flesh grew back and his wounds healed rapidly. In the blink of an eye, his bones were covered again.

Assimilation Progress one-third?

Fu Qian took a deep breath. He was absolutely certain he'd undergone another transformation.

If he got another chance, he was sure he could finish off Mr. Ji in ten seconds.

But if that was how it worked, his Thug Form had only just begun to develop. Even now, he'd only assimilated part of it?

Did "fierce as fire, swift as thunder" describe how he'd just taken out that assassin?

It could also refer to everything he'd done before.

And those were called the essence of the Thug.

If so, the way to assimilate Thug Form was to become a thug himself.

Interesting!

If one-third had already strengthened him this much, he wondered what he'd become after fully assimilating it at three-thirds.

Fu Qian looked forward to finding out.

He dropped the corpse on the ground and retraced his steps into the house.

He glanced at Miss Wen Li. She was struggling to get up from the floor.

The storm of flesh and blood hadn't covered a very large area, and Fu Qian had been standing in front of her. She hadn't suffered any serious injuries.

But there seemed to be blood on her forehead. Could she have hit it when he kicked her away?

He couldn't expect too much. He wasn't a professional caretaker. He couldn't guarantee she'd come through every time without a scratch.

The one who'd died outside had to be a skilled operator. The disguise had been extremely convincing, too.

He'd only thought Wen Xiuxian seemed a little strange, so he'd taken another look at Wen Li.

The young woman could sense the emotions of people around her, and she'd been Wen Xiuxian's daughter for years. She should have been more likely to notice something was wrong.

Sure enough, Wen Li might not even have realized it herself, but her puzzled expression showed that, on some subconscious level, she'd sensed something was off about Wen Xiuxian.

"Are you all right?"

Wen Li managed to brace herself against the wall and stand. Her voice trembled as she asked Fu Qian.

"That was..."

"Probably an assassin."

"But he looked like my father."

"It's possible he really was your father."

Considering that the assassins specialized in hypnosis and disguises, there was a decent chance they'd caught Wen Xiuxian after he left home that morning, dealt with him, and sent someone in his place.

Wen Li wasn't stupid. There was no need to comfort her with a lie.

"No... Father shouldn't have come back so soon..."

Wen Li murmured to herself. Suddenly, she froze. Her body stiffened as she bent down and picked something up.

It was a watch, deformed by the explosion and riddled with tiny, honeycomb-like holes.

A pained wail rang out, and a familiar notification sounded in Fu Qian's ear.

[Containment Failed]

[Mental collapse. Wen Li has lost the possibility of advancement.]

What the hell? That counts, too?!

Back in the Warehouse, Fu Qian stared blankly at the sky for a minute, feeling that the joy of leveling up had been somewhat diminished.

Wen Li hadn't even died, and it still counted as a failure?

It made sense that she'd break down emotionally after discovering the dead man really was Wen Xiuxian.

But mental collapse—did that mean she'd gone completely insane?

He silently selected the event replay, watched the journey he'd just taken at high speed, and finally reached a conclusion.

I really shouldn't take Escort Missions!

Looking back, this mission hadn't involved any of the werewolves or evil gods he'd faced before, but it had been even more dangerous.

The Wen Family looked prosperous on the surface, but their home was rife with danger. Wen Li herself was fragile as glass, and keeping her alive was no easy task.

Now there was even a way to fail without her dying.

Protecting two people at once was far more difficult than protecting one.

Besides, neither Wen Li nor her father was the sort to let others tell them what to do. Even getting them to follow instructions would be difficult.

The situation was complicated.

Fu Qian stared at the black-and-white cocoons clustered over the Mist Door.

When something was tangled in a thousand knots and riddled with pitfalls at every turn, the best solution wasn't to press on stubbornly. It was to change your approach.

For example, Shura Mode.

[Spend 1 Sanity Value to attempt containment again]

[...1%...3%...10%...50%...98%...100%, Containment Scene loaded]

"Stop looking around!"

Captain Gu's familiar voice rang out.

Looking at the Wen Family's immaculate mansion, Fu Qian took a deep breath.