Answer

After a brief silence, the tavern erupted in laughter.

"Little Wu just left, and now there's another one. Officer Ma really is sincere!"

"You've got the nerve to say that? If you hadn't gone so crazy yesterday, would Little Wu have been scared off? That kid was so honest. It would've been great if he'd stayed a few more days..."

"But this one looks even better than yesterday's. He's quite handsome."

"Go easy on him today. Old Qian said that if we scare this one off too, there won't be anyone left..."

"Run? He won't be running this time." A gaunt man slowly rose to his feet, his deeply sunken eyes fixed on Chen Ling like a corpse's. "Not bad. Young, healthy-looking. The parts on him should fetch a good price."

"Bone Knife, you're going too far. It'll be hard to clean up afterward..."

"Hmph. Calamity slaughtered Ice Spring Street. It was these Enforcers' dereliction of duty to begin with. What, we're not allowed to demand a little compensation?" the gaunt man called Bone Knife sneered.

Everyone in the tavern looked Chen Ling over at the doorway, like a pack of greedy, starving beasts sizing up prey delivered right to their door.

Chen Ling simply stood there as if he hadn't heard a word. He took out a pen and tapped it against the form.

"Bone Knife, right?" Chen Ling wrote down the name.

"Let's start with you... Where were you on the night Ice Spring Street was massacred?"

Seeing that this boy still dared to question them, everyone exchanged astonished looks. Yesterday, Wu Youdong had been so frightened by this scene that he couldn't even speak... Was this kid really bold, or just stupid?

Bone Knife narrowed his eyes, rose to his feet, and slowly walked over to Chen Ling.

"Where was I?" Bone Knife blew on his black fingernails, then his pale fingers shot toward Chen Ling's throat like an eagle's claws!

"I was in your mother's bed!!"

In the flash of an instant, a cold glint flashed through Chen Ling's eyes. His right hand, still holding the pen, stabbed backward, the tip instantly piercing Bone Knife's palm!

Wracked by searing pain, Bone Knife screamed. Before he could react, a palm rapidly filled his vision, seized his head, and smashed it down into the floor!

War God Path, Judgment path, third tier—Slaughter Waltz!

Bang—!!

Wood chips flew, and scarlet blood flowed.

Everyone's vision blurred. Bone Knife had been slammed into the floor one-handed by the youth, whose heavy cotton coat fluttered slightly as the entire tavern fell deathly silent.

"Assaulting an Enforcer is a serious crime," Chen Ling said blandly.

He slowly straightened up, brushed his bloodstained palms together, and swept his gaze across the crowd.

[Audience Expectation +2]

[Audience Expectation +2]

[Audience Expectation...]

After the brief dead silence, the people in the tavern finally came back to their senses. The shock and astonishment in their eyes were swallowed by furious killing intent. Three of them immediately drew their guns and aimed them at Chen Ling!

"Damn it, a tough one?!"

Chen Ling had known they had guns. The moment they drew them, he flipped over the nearby table!

The huge table spun through the air, forcing several figures to retreat to either side and throwing the front of the room into chaos. At the same time, Chen Ling ducked out from beneath the table, swung a bottle, and smashed it into the face of the nearest gunman!

Smack!

The bottle shattered, its sharp fragments slashing across the man's cheek and leaving several bloody marks.

Chen Ling followed with a backhanded elbow strike, knocking him unconscious on the spot.

In an instant, two flashes of muzzle fire burst in the distance, and whistling bullets shot straight toward Chen Ling!

In the darkness, Chen Ling moved as nimbly as a phantom. His heavy cotton coat danced and twisted, pierced by two bullets, yet not a single one struck his body.

This was Chen Ling's first time using Slaughter Waltz. The clearest sensation was that his body seemed weightless, like a ghost's.

In this cramped, chaotic tavern, he moved through it like a fish in water. As long as he could observe an enemy raising a gun in advance, he was confident he could evade the bullets... Of course, that was only if there were not too many gunmen.

And after he dealt with the first gunman, the remaining two immediately felt the danger of being locked onto by a beast.

Their eyes tried to track Chen Ling's position, but with Chen Ling repeatedly overturning tables and chairs to block their view, it was nearly impossible. They only heard a whistling sound by their ears before their heads were struck hard, and they lost consciousness.

Chen Ling took down another gunman, seized his gun, and repeatedly pulled the trigger at several burly men rushing him with knives.

Bang bang bang—!

Several blood blossoms burst across their legs. They screamed and collapsed one after another.

Wails, curses, gunshots, and the crashing of tables and chairs rose and fell without pause. Less than thirty seconds after Chen Ling entered, the entire tavern had been reduced to a mess. Of the fourteen people originally inside, thirteen had been beaten down!

Chen Ling casually tossed aside the empty pistol and stepped over a burly man whose four ribs had been kicked broken. As the man screamed, Chen Ling leisurely walked over and sat in the only intact chair in the room.

"Boss, a glass of whiskey." Chen Ling kicked the burly man again, making him scream once more. "Put it on his tab."

The one-eyed owner behind the counter finally came back to his senses, his eyes filled with terror as he looked at Chen Ling.

To run a tavern on Ice Spring Street and make it the gathering spot for most of the residents, the one-eyed owner was naturally no ordinary man. He had traveled through all seven districts and seen countless people, but this was the first time he had encountered a young man as decisive and ruthless as Chen Ling.

This is a Reserve Seat?!

You could tell me this guy was a Law Enforcer, and I'd believe it!

The one-eyed owner wisely put away the revolver he had been secretly gripping, lowered his head, took out a glass, and began preparing the whiskey.

"Name." Chen Ling crossed one leg over the other, placed the form on his thigh, and spoke indifferently.

No one answered in the silent tavern.

"I'm asking you!"

He kicked the burly man's broken ribs.

"Ahhh... Li Mang! Li Mang!" The burly man immediately gave in.

"Where were you on the night Calamity invaded?"

"I-I was in this tavern."

"Did you see what that Calamity looked like?"

"I think I did... I happened to come out to relieve myself, and I saw it flash past on the street... It should have been humanoid." The burly man trembled as he told the truth.

Chen Ling said nothing more. He stood up, took the whiskey from the counter, and gently swirled it twice. The clear ice cubes clinked against the glass.

Then he lifted the glass and slowly poured it over the burly man's bloody wounds...

"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" A gut-wrenching scream echoed through the street.

"What I said was true!! It was all true!!!"

"Do you know? Without solid evidence, reporting information to an Enforcer using words like 'I think' and 'should have'... counts as spreading rumors." Chen Ling narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I'll ask you one more time... Did you see it?"

"I-I... I really..."

The glass in Chen Ling's hand gradually tilted, pouring more and more liquor over the wound until the burly man's entire body trembled from the pain!

"...No!! I didn't see it!! I didn't see anything!!!"