Jia Lie Ao trembled with rage, glaring at Xiao Li with bloodshot eyes as though he wanted to swallow him alive and flay him with his gaze. He lunged at the side of the cage, seized the cold iron bars with both hands, and shook them madly, producing a deafening clatter.
"Xiao Li! You bastard! Let me out if you've got the guts! Fight me one-on-one! If I, Jia Lie Ao, so much as flinch, I'm no man!"
However, he had not been sleeping properly, and prolonged mental strain had taken its toll. Aside from being somewhat stronger than an ordinary person, he was no different from one now. The iron bars did not budge.
Watching his impotent fury, Xiao Ding's smile deepened. He reached out, patted Xiao Li on the shoulder, and spoke calmly.
"Enough, little brother. Stop teasing him before you anger him to death. Let's go. We have real business to attend to."
Xiao Li pursed his lips at that, but ultimately swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue. He cast a contemptuous glance at the bloodshot-eyed, heavily panting Jia Lie Ao inside the cage, then shrugged, conceding his elder brother's point.
The two walked out at an unhurried pace. Behind them, Jia Lie Ao's trapped-beast roar erupted once more, filled with the vilest curses and bitter vows.
"Xiao Ding! Xiao Li! Just you wait! As long as I, Jia Lie Ao, have a breath left in me, I won't spare you even as a ghost! Sooner or later, your Xiao Clan will pay in blood for what you've done today!"
Yet no one paid any attention to those fierce but hollow screams as they echoed through the tiny cell.
The two had barely left the detention area when a man in the Desert Iron