The moon hung high overhead, curved like a hook,
as though draping this land of sin in an eerie veil of silver.
Li Qingshan stood alone atop a hill, his gaze burning like a torch
as he stared at the telecom fraud compound in the distance, surrounded by high walls and electrified fencing.
A Transformation Jin grandmaster's senses allowed him to perceive clearly
the movement of Qi within the compound, the guards' lazy pacing,
the victims' faint sobs,
and the elusive scent of blood mingled with the smell of despair,
lingering over the land as though they were tangible.
The mental realm of the Entering Stillness Third Level allowed him to perceive subtler details, such as where the guards' attention was focused and the precise locations of blind spots in the surveillance,
and even gave him a faint sense of the emotional fluctuations of the people inside the compound.
"Tonight, it's time to settle the accounts."
Li Qingshan murmured to himself and slipped into the darkness like a ghost.
He chose to infiltrate from the compound's northwest corner, where a blind spot made it the place patrolling guards were most likely to overlook.
His Transformation Jin cultivation allowed him perfect control over every inch of muscle,
letting him land without a sound, like a drifting feather.
The perimeter wall stood three meters high, topped with electrified wire fencing,
but to Li Qingshan, it might as well not have been there.
With a gentle leap, he swept over the wall like a great roc spreading its wings, dissipating the force as he landed.
The entire movement flowed like drifting clouds and running water, without making the slightest sound.
Li Qingshan knew compounds like this were bound to have tight surveillance, so his first priority was to cut off their "eyes and ears."
Without breaking stride, he followed the wiring and the layout of the buildings like a roaming dragon, heading straight for the central surveillance room.
He burst into the room, and before the technicians inside could react,
swift finger strikes hit their vital points, snuffing out their lives in an instant.
His gaze swept across the wall of screens, taking in the entire layout of the compound.
The compound was brightly lit, and several guards had gathered to play cards,
with beer and peanuts beside them, plainly off their guard.
They talked and laughed loudly in the local language, completely unaware that death had arrived.
Li Qingshan approached like a shadow, delivering precise killing strikes from Xingyi Fist straight at their throats.
They died before they could even cry out.
He dragged the bodies into hiding, making sure they would not be discovered too soon.
As he did so, he used the abilities of his mental realm to subtly influence the subconscious minds of the guards nearby,
making them unconsciously avoid the area and giving him more room to operate.
With the first guard post dealt with, Li Qingshan moved swiftly toward the main building.
His steps appeared slow, but were in fact extremely fast, the essence of Bagua Step displayed to perfection in the night.
Every step fell in a blind spot; every turn took him out of the surveillance cameras' view.
A Transformation Jin grandmaster's senses allowed him to predict the guards' patrol routes in advance, calculating every move as precisely as if he were playing chess.
As he approached the main building, he discovered a concealed sentry dozing in the shadows.
Li Qingshan approached soundlessly and used a mental hypnosis technique to send the sentry's consciousness into a deeper sleep,
then severed his carotid artery with a precise chop of his hand, killing him quietly in his sleep.
Two armed guards stood at the entrance to the main building, smoking and chatting.
One complained in the local language about the boredom of guard duty,
while the other enthusiastically recounted his visit to a prostitute in town the previous night.
Li Qingshan emerged from the shadows. The two had only just noticed him
when a Taiji killing move caught them, sending force through their bodies and shattering their heart meridians.
The whole process took less than a second, impossibly fast.
Li Qingshan dragged them into a corner and took their walkie-talkies and weapons.
Upon entering the main building, he was hit by a smell of sweat, blood, and despair.
Li Qingshan frowned slightly. His mental realm let him clearly sense the negative emotions accumulated here:
fear, pain, and despair, lingering as though they were tangible.
He followed the sensation down to the basement, where those who "wouldn't obey" were held.
The corridor walls were covered in stains, and cigarette butts and empty liquor bottles littered the floor, showing the chaos and depravity of the place.
The basement's iron door was locked tight, but that was no obstacle to Li Qingshan.
He circulated his Transformation Jin and struck the lock cylinder with a Xingyi Crushing Fist, shattering the steel like tofu,
yet making little noise.
He pushed open the door, and a terrible stench hit him. More than twenty people were locked inside,
every one of them covered in wounds, some already at death's door.
A person lay in the corner, a festering wound on their leg giving off a foul smell.
"Don't kill us."
A young man cowered in the corner in terror, clearly mistaking Li Qingshan for one of the compound's enforcers.
"I'm here to save you."
Li Qingshan spoke in Chinese, his voice gentle yet carrying a reassuring strength.
At the same time, he released soothing mental waves, gradually calming the terrified people.
He quickly tended to the badly wounded,
his Transformation Jin cultivation allowing him to control Qi and blood with precision and temporarily stabilize their injuries.
A middle-aged man haltingly recounted what had happened to them:
he was from Fujian and had been lured here with the promise of a high-paying job. One of his legs had been broken when he tried to escape.
A young girl beside him sobbed quietly, saying she had been tricked into coming by an online romance and had been here for over a month.
Li Qingshan listened in silence, the chill in his eyes growing.
He used his telepathic abilities to gently soothe their traumatized minds, giving them hope and courage.
Then he left a few people to care for the injured and continued upstairs to clear the building.
In the main operations area on the second floor, over a hundred people were "working" through the night, forced to commit telecom fraud.
Guards patrolled with electric batons, occasionally punishing those whose "performance was poor."
Li Qingshan descended like death itself, his Bagua Step weaving through the room like a roaming dragon. Guards fell dead wherever he passed.
Some did not even see what had happened before they felt a pain in their throats and lost their lives.
In the process, he used his mental power to create a localized barrier against attention,
making the victims who were "working" unconsciously overlook his presence and preventing a commotion.
"Everyone, stay quiet and follow me."
Li Qingshan did not speak loudly, yet his voice reached every person's ears clearly, carrying a convincing authority.
The victims were frightened at first, but soon realized he had come to save them, and hope appeared on their faces.
A young programmer stood up excitedly and volunteered to help maintain order.
Li Qingshan used telepathy to convey a few simple instructions to the programmer,
so he could better help organize the evacuation.
The top floor housed the compound's management, its luxurious decor a stark contrast to the misery below.
Leather sofas, marble coffee tables, and expensive liquor cabinets stood in sharp contrast to the dilapidation downstairs.
When Li Qingshan broke through the door, several managers were drinking and reveling, accompanied by several women who had been forced to be there.
Drugs and cash lay scattered across the table, and the air was thick with extravagance and depravity.
"Who's there?"
A fat middle-aged man, both startled and furious, reached for his gun.
Li Qingshan flashed forward, closing in like a ghost,
and shattered his heart meridian with a Baji killing move.
Before the others could react, they were killed by precise, lethal strikes.
One manager tried to sound the alarm,
but a wineglass thrown by Li Qingshan struck him squarely in the temple, killing him on the spot.
Throughout the encounter, Li Qingshan used a mental shock technique to briefly disrupt their thinking and reactions,
slowing their movements by half a beat.
"Where's the compound's boss?"
Li Qingshan asked coldly, his gaze sweeping over the women like a blade.
One woman, trembling with fright, stammered,
"The b-boss doesn't come often. He's usually in the city."
Li Qingshan snorted coldly and asked no more.
He quickly freed the women from their restraints, then began organizing the evacuation.
He used his mental perception to rapidly scan the entire compound,
making sure he had missed no victims or hidden threats.
When he returned to the main square, the scene was moving. The people who had escaped wept and gave thanks.
They were all pale and emaciated, covered in wounds, but the light of hope had rekindled in their eyes.
Li Qingshan said little and quickly began making arrangements.
He instructed several of his fellow Chinese who were less seriously injured and had some organizational ability to help,
dividing all those rescued into groups and counting them.
The count came to 376 people rescued in total. Most were Chinese,
but there were also victims from Europe, the Americas, Japan, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian countries.
"Those who can still walk, help the seriously injured. We have to leave as soon as possible."
Li Qingshan's voice was steady and strong, giving the anxious people someone to rely on.
"The compound's guards have all been dealt with, but their reinforcements could arrive at any moment."
He used his mental power to convey confidence and courage to everyone,
allowing the exhausted group to maintain order and discipline.
He personally led the group toward the nearest city under cover of darkness.
The presence of a Transformation Jin grandmaster and the mental power of Entering Stillness naturally radiated from him,
allowing the exhausted group to remain miraculously orderly and quiet.
Li Qingshan walked at the front, his senses fully extended, alert for danger at all times.
Throughout the journey, he continued releasing soothing mental waves,
keeping the group's panic under control while also disrupting the senses of any pursuers who might be out there.
By the time they reached the outskirts of the city, the sky was beginning to lighten.
Li Qingshan hired several large local trucks and paid the full fare, instructing the drivers to take the people to the Chinese embassy and the embassies or consular offices of their respective countries.
"Make sure they arrive safely, or else-"
Li Qingshan did not finish, but the chill in his eyes made the drivers assure him repeatedly that they would.
He also used mental suggestion to plant a powerful conviction in the drivers' minds: "They must arrive safely."
Afterward, he followed in secret until the convoy arrived safely in the embassy district
and the people were received and given shelter by diplomatic personnel. Only then did he quietly leave.
Standing in the darkness before dawn, Li Qingshan watched the convoy recede, a cold light flashing in his eyes.
He knew this was only the beginning. There had to be a larger network behind the telecom fraud compound,
and what he had to do was follow the vine to the melon and tear this evil out by the roots.
He had noticed that documents in the compound manager's office showed
that the compound was only a small node in a vast network, with an international criminal syndicate of staggering size behind it.
"You're next."
He murmured to himself, his figure once again melting into the morning mist.
His mental realm had improved further during this operation,
his understanding of Transformation Jin had deepened, and his use of mental power had grown more proficient.
Meanwhile, in a luxurious villa dozens of kilometers away, a middle-aged man was on the phone, his expression growing uglier by the moment.
He wore a silk robe and held a glass of red wine, but his trembling wrist betrayed the panic in his heart.
"What? The whole compound was wiped out? Who did it?"
A trembling voice came from the other end of the phone:
"I-I don't know. It was like a ghost. The brothers who went to make a delivery said everyone inside was dead."
"Useless trash!"
The man viciously slammed down the phone.
He strode to the safe and took out an exquisite pistol, his expression turning savage.
But just then, he suddenly felt a chill rise up his spine, as though some terrifying presence had fixed its gaze on him.
He looked around in panic, but found nothing.