The Killing in Progress

The next day, Lu Hao headed to the local police station early in the morning. After identifying himself and stating his purpose, he was assigned a squad of officers to assist with the investigation.

The police were very cooperative; after all, having a criminal martial artist hiding in their jurisdiction had kept them in a state of constant anxiety, and they had been hoping for someone to come and resolve the issue.

Upon learning that someone had accepted the mission yesterday, the entire station felt a sense of relief, as they knew that, as ordinary people, they were far too fragile compared to a martial artist.

With the assistance of the police, Lu Hao's search speed increased significantly. After various investigations and inquiries, he finally found a lead in the evening.

Shi Kang had appeared at a restaurant yesterday. Having received the news, Lu Hao messaged his mother to say he wouldn't be home that night, intending to capture the culprit tonight to avoid alerting him.

Eight o'clock in the evening, at the police station.

Lu Hao reviewed all the surveillance footage from the vicinity of the restaurant, searching for traces of Shi Kang. Finally, with the help of several officers, he successfully tracked his movements.

By tracing back from where Shi Kang had appeared and checking further surveillance, the final result showed that Shi Kang had disappeared into a residential complex in the Beiding District.

Lu Hao immediately set off with his team. Upon arriving at the Tianhua Residential Complex and conducting a brief investigation, he finally locked onto room 201 in the last building as Shi Kang's hideout.

However, the main problem now was that while the complex wasn't fully occupied, it was close enough; basically, every building had several households living in it.

In particular, there was a family living in 204, on the same floor as Shi Kang's 201. Lu Hao was confident he could take down Shi Kang, but it would be a disaster if a resident accidentally got caught in the crossfire.

Lu Hao still remembered the warning the staff gave him when he first accepted a mission.

"It is best not to make arrests in public or crowded places, as it can cause negative repercussions."

"The existence of martial artists is meant to stabilize the public heart, not to act recklessly and disrupt social order."

"If it truly comes to that and the impact is severe, you will face fines at best, and legal liability at worst!"

Therefore, he had to find a way to evacuate the residents on that floor first, but this process absolutely could not alert Shi Kang, or he might take hostages.

After expressing his concerns to the police, they proposed a method: cut the power to 204, then send a message to their phones emphasizing the urgency of the situation, prompting them to come out under the guise of the power outage. Once the residents of 204 were downstairs, he would make his move.

Lu Hao agreed to the plan. With the cooperation of the officers, half an hour later, they successfully called down all the residents of 204, who were a young couple.

They were quite cooperative, mentioning the power outage in the hallway before heading down, and there was still no movement from 201.

Seeing this, Lu Hao knew it was time for him to act. He had the officers clear the area, and then he walked up.

Arriving at the door of 201, Lu Hao did not hesitate for a second and kicked the door in. The moment he entered, he saw Shi Kang lying on the sofa.

Shi Kang reacted instantly.

"Hmph, a martial arts university student? And a genius, by the looks of it? How about you let me go, and I'll give you ten million?"

Shi Kang quickly said while getting into a defensive stance.

"Hmph, do you think I'm short on that kind of money?"

Lu Hao sneered as he slashed toward Shi Kang. Was he short on ten million? What he was short on were the Slaughter Points that killing Shi Kang would provide.

"We have no grudges between us, why not take the ten million for nothing?"

Shi Kang said while dodging, trying to survive.

After all, Shi Kang was not an ignorant martial artist; he knew the prowess of martial arts university students. If a whole squad of four or five had come, Shi Kang might have had a chance, as those students often lacked individual combat power, and he could have tried to capture one to escape.

What Shi Kang feared most were individual martial arts students like Lu Hao. Such people were either fools who didn't know their own limits, or true powerhouses who were confident they could handle the situation alone.

Seeing Lu Hao's murderous aura, he knew he had run into a powerhouse, so Shi Kang decisively gave up and begged for mercy.

"Hmph, a life for a life is only natural."

Seeing his first strike blocked, Lu Hao realized Shi Kang had some skill. He didn't immediately unleash his trump card, but instead began attacking Shi Kang with leg techniques.

Seeing this, Shi Kang knew he was doomed. He glared at Lu Hao with burning, vicious eyes.

"You forced my hand!"

After being kicked by Lu Hao, Shi Kang let out a roar and quickly swallowed a pill. He immediately felt an endless surge of blood vitality, suddenly feeling as if he were omnipotent.

However, Shi Kang knew that if he didn't kill Lu Hao quickly, he would surely die, so he charged forward to attack.

Lu Hao saw Shi Kang take the pill and wanted to interrupt him, but Shi Kang wasn't severely injured, so he moved too quickly for Lu Hao to stop him.

"This is going to be troublesome."

Watching Shi Kang charge over with his surging blood vitality, Lu Hao guessed what pill he had taken.

The Blood Explosion Pill burns through all the user's blood vitality at once, leading to death once it is exhausted. However, if the enemy is killed quickly and the blood vitality surge is stopped, taking enough Blood Vitality Pills might prevent death, though severe damage to one's foundation is inevitable.

With Shi Kang's entire body being overdrawn and converted into blood vitality, he likely had seven or eight hundred units of power. Even if he couldn't utilize it all perfectly, the sheer force of those strikes alone could cause significant damage.

Lu Hao didn't hesitate and unleashed his second strike. The blade collided with Shi Kang's fists, causing an explosion of blood vitality that knocked both of them back several steps.

It had to be said that the effect of the Blood Explosion Pill was terrifying; relying on that blood vitality, Shi Kang was actually able to block Lu Hao's trump card. However, his blood vitality wasn't infinite—once it was drained, he would naturally die.

Lu Hao utilized the reserve Slaughter Points he had been saving to restore his blood vitality, and without pausing, he continued to slash at Shi Kang.

Shi Kang was shocked by the previous exchange. He had truly never seen a First Grade martial artist with such high damage output; if not for the buffer of his massive blood vitality, he might have been killed in one hit.

Shi Kang comforted himself, thinking that such an attack must have consumed a massive amount of Lu Hao's blood vitality and that he couldn't possibly keep it up. Yes, that had to be it.

Lu Hao swung his blade. This strike was the first move of the Blood Battle Mad Blade, not as powerful as his trump card. Shi Kang's eyes lit up instantly, as he saw this as proof that Lu Hao was running low on blood vitality, given that the power of this strike was far inferior to the last.