The next day, Lu Hao headed to the local police station early. After stating his identity and the purpose of his visit, he was assigned a squad of officers to help with the investigation.
The police were very cooperative. They had been living in fear with criminal martial artists hiding in their jurisdiction, and had long hoped someone would come and deal with them.
When they learned the day before that someone had accepted the mission, everyone at the station had been in much better spirits. After all, ordinary people like them were far too vulnerable against martial artists.
With the officers' help, Lu Hao's search sped up considerably. After making inquiries and conducting various investigations, they finally found a lead that evening.
Shi Kang had been seen at a restaurant the previous day. After receiving the news, Lu Hao had already messaged his mother to tell her he wouldn't be coming home that night. He planned to catch the criminal that evening before Shi Kang could catch wind of them.
At eight that night, at the police station.
Lu Hao was pulling up footage from every camera near the restaurant, searching for signs of Shi Kang. With the help of several officers, they finally managed to track him down.
They then worked backward from the places where Shi Kang had been seen, pulling up more surveillance footage. In the end, they determined that Shi Kang had disappeared inside a residential complex in Beiding District.
Lu Hao immediately set out with the officers. They arrived at Tianhua Residential Complex, made some inquiries, and eventually pinpointed Shi Kang's location: Room 201 in the last building.
The main problem was that although the complex wasn't completely full, it was close enough—there were several families living in nearly every building.
In particular, a family lived in Room 204, on the same floor as Shi Kang's Room 201. Lu Hao was confident he could take Shi Kang down, but if a resident accidentally got caught up in the fight, things would get complicated.
Lu Hao still remembered the warning he'd received from a staff member when he first accepted a mission.
"Try not to make arrests in public or in front of a crowd. It could cause a negative impact.
"Martial artists are meant to reassure the public, not act recklessly and disrupt social order.
"If things come to that and the consequences are serious, you could face anything from a fine to legal liability!"
So this time, they needed to evacuate everyone on the same floor first. But they absolutely couldn't alert Shi Kang during the evacuation, or he might take the residents hostage.
After Lu Hao explained his concerns to the police, they came up with a plan: cut power to Room 204, then send the residents a message on their phones explaining how serious the situation was and asking them to come out under the pretext of the power outage. Once the residents of Room 204 were downstairs, they could make their move.
Lu Hao agreed. With the officers' help, half an hour later they had successfully brought everyone from Room 204 downstairs. The residents were a young married couple.
They were cooperative enough. They said in the hallway that the power was out, then came downstairs. There had been no movement from Room 201.
Seeing this, Lu Hao knew it was time to act. He had the officers clear the area, then went upstairs.
When he reached the door of Room 201, Lu Hao didn't hesitate for a moment. He kicked it open and, as soon as he entered, saw Shi Kang lying on the sofa.
Shi Kang reacted at the same time.
"Hmph. A Martial University student? And a genius, by the looks of it. How about you let me go? I'll give you ten million."
Shi Kang fell into a defensive stance as he spoke quickly.
"Hmph. You think I need your money?"
Lu Hao scoffed and charged at Shi Kang with his blade. Did he need that ten million? What he needed were the Slaughter Points he'd get for killing Shi Kang.
"We have no grudge against each other. Why turn down ten million when it's offered to you?"
Shi Kang dodged as he spoke, trying to talk his way out of this alive.
Shi Kang wasn't an ignorant martial artist. He knew how formidable Martial University students were. If a whole squad of them had come—four or five students—he would have had a chance.
He'd spent a long time at the peak of First Rank and had studied fragments of various combat techniques. Martial University students in a squad weren't strong enough individually, so if he could find a way to take one hostage, he could escape.
What Shi Kang feared most was a solo Martial University student like Lu Hao. Such a person could only be one of two things: an idiot who didn't know his own limits, or a powerful fighter confident he could handle the job alone.
From Lu Hao's murderous aura, Shi Kang could tell he'd run into the latter. So he immediately backed down and begged for mercy.
"Hmph. A life for a life. That's only right."
Lu Hao saw that Shi Kang had blocked his first strike and figured he had some skill after all. Instead of following up with his killer move, he began attacking Shi Kang with kicks.
Seeing this, Shi Kang realized he was doomed. He glared at Lu Hao, fury burning in his eyes.
"You forced me into this!"
After Lu Hao kicked him, Shi Kang roared and quickly swallowed a pill. An immense surge of Vital Blood flooded through him, and he suddenly felt as though he could do anything.
But Shi Kang knew that if he didn't kill Lu Hao quickly, he would die. So he charged at Lu Hao and attacked.
Lu Hao saw Shi Kang take the pill and tried to stop him, but Shi Kang wasn't badly injured and had moved too quickly. Lu Hao hadn't had time to intervene.
"This is going to be a problem."
Looking at Shi Kang charging toward him with his Vital Blood surging, Lu Hao immediately guessed which pill he had taken.
The Blood Explosion Pill burned through all the Vital Blood in the body. Once it was gone, the user would die. But if they killed their enemy quickly and stopped the surge, then took enough Blood Vitality Pills, they might survive—though they would inevitably be left severely weakened.
Shi Kang's entire body was being converted into Vital Blood. He probably had seven or eight hundred units of it. Even if he couldn't use it effectively, that much Vital Blood could still do considerable damage.
Lu Hao didn't hesitate. He brought down his second strike, and his blade collided with Shi Kang's fists. Their Vital Blood exploded, knocking them both back several steps.
The Blood Explosion Pill really was terrifying. With all that Vital Blood behind him, Shi Kang could actually withstand Lu Hao's killer move. But his Vital Blood wasn't unlimited. Once it was used up, he would die.
Lu Hao used the Slaughter Points he'd been saving to replenish his Vital Blood, then immediately pressed forward and struck at Shi Kang again.
Shi Kang was stunned by the last attack. He'd never seen a First Rank martial artist hit so hard. If he hadn't had all that Vital Blood to cushion the blow, he would've been killed by that one strike.
Shi Kang tried to reassure himself that Lu Hao must have spent a huge amount of Vital Blood on that attack and couldn't possibly strike again. Yes, that had to be it.
Lu Hao swung his blade. This was the first strike of Blood Battle Mad Blade, not as powerful as the killer move he'd used earlier. Shi Kang's eyes lit up at once. To him, this was proof that Lu Hao was running low on Vital Blood; after all, this strike was much weaker than the last.
Before you continue