Answer

After a brief silence, the tavern erupted in laughter.

"One Little Wu just left, and now another one comes along. Officer Ma sure is sincere!"

"You've got the nerve to say that? If you hadn't gone so crazy yesterday, would that Little Wu have been scared off? That kid was honest enough. It would've been nice to keep him around for a few more days..."

"But this one looks better than yesterday's. Quite handsome, too."

"Take it easy 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 eye sockets fixed on Chen Ling like a zombie's. "Not bad. Young, healthy-looking. The parts on him should fetch a good price."

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

"Hmph. Ice Spring Street was slaughtered by Calamity. It was these Enforcers' failure to begin with. What, we can't ask for a little compensation?" the gaunt man called Bone Blade sneered.

Everyone in the tavern looked Chen Ling over at the doorway, like a pack of greedy, starving beasts inspecting prey that had delivered itself to their door.

Chen Ling simply stood there as though he had not heard a word. He took a pen from his coat and tapped it against the form.

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

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

Seeing that the youth still dared to question them, everyone exchanged astonished glances. Yesterday, Wu Youdong had been so frightened by this scene that he could not even speak... Was this kid really that bold, or simply that stupid?

Bone Blade narrowed his eyes, rose to his feet, and slowly walked up to Chen Ling.

"Where was I?" Bone Blade blew on his black fingernails, then his pale knuckles clawed toward Chen Ling's throat like an eagle's talons!

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

In the flash of an instant, a cold gleam flickered in Chen Ling's eyes. His right hand, still holding the pen, suddenly thrust backward, and the pen tip instantly pierced Bone Blade's palm!

Bone Blade let out a scream of unbearable pain. Before he could react, a hand rapidly filled his vision, seized his head, and smashed it heavily into the floor!

War God Path, [Judgment] path, Third Tier—[Slaughter Waltz]!

Bang—!!

Wood chips flew, and scarlet blood spread.

Everyone's vision blurred. Bone Blade had been smashed into the floor one-handed by the youth. The heavy cotton coat fluttered slightly, and the entire tavern fell silent.

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

He slowly straightened up, patted the blood from his hands, 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 disbelief in their eyes were swallowed by furious killing intent. Three of them immediately drew their guns and aimed them at Chen Ling!

"Damn it, he's a tough one?!"

Chen Ling had known they were armed. The instant they drew their guns, he flipped over the nearby table!

The massive table spun through the air, sending several figures retreating to either side and throwing the front of the tavern into chaos. At the same time, Chen Ling darted out from beneath the table in a half-crouch and swung a liquor bottle at the face of the nearest gunman!

Smash!

The bottle shattered, its sharp fragments slicing across the man's cheek and leaving several scarlet streaks.

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

In an instant, two flashes of gunfire burst from the distance, and whistling bullets shot straight toward Chen Ling!

In the darkness, Chen Ling moved as nimbly as a ghost. His heavy cotton coat fluttered and twisted as two bullets tore through it, yet neither struck his body.

This was Chen Ling's first time using [Slaughter Waltz]. The most obvious sensation was that his body had become weightless, like a phantom.

Even in this cramped, chaotic tavern, he moved through it as freely as a fish in water. As long as he could spot an enemy raising their gun in advance, he was confident he could avoid the bullets... provided there were not too many gunmen.

And once he took down the first gunman, the other two immediately felt the danger of being targeted 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 sharp whoosh by their ears before a heavy blow struck their heads, knocking them unconscious.

Chen Ling took down another gunman, seized the gun with a backhand motion, and repeatedly pulled the trigger at the burly men charging at him with knives.

Bang bang bang—!

Several blossoms of blood burst across their legs. They screamed and collapsed to the floor one after another.

Wails, curses, gunshots, and the crashing of tables and chairs rose one after another. Less than thirty seconds after Chen Ling entered, the entire tavern was in ruins. Of the original fourteen people in the tavern, thirteen had been beaten down!

Chen Ling casually tossed the empty pistol aside, stepped over the body of a burly man whose four ribs had been kicked broken, and, amid the man's scream, calmly walked over to the only intact chair in the room and sat down.

"Boss, a whiskey." Chen Ling kicked the burly man again, drawing another scream. "Put it on his tab."

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

To open a tavern on Ice Spring Street and turn it into the gathering place for most of the residents, the one-eyed owner was naturally no ordinary man. He had traveled through all Seven Districts and met many people, but this was the first time he had seen someone as young as Chen Ling act with such ruthless decisiveness.

This is a Reserve Seat?!

I'd believe it if you told me this guy was a Law Enforcer!

The one-eyed owner wisely put away the revolver he had secretly been 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 knee, 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 right here in this tavern."

"Did you see what that Calamity looked like?"

"I think I did... I happened to come out to relieve myself and 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 rose and took the whiskey from the counter, giving it two light swirls. The clear ice cubes clinked against the glass.

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

"AAAAAHHHH!!!!" A heart-rending scream rang through the street.

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

"Do you know that, without concrete evidence, reporting to the Enforcers based solely on 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 shook from the pain!

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