Interrogation

The streets were deathly quiet late at night.

The Jiayuan Residential Complex was surrounded by layer upon layer of yellow-and-black police tape, and nearby residents had moved away one after another.

The area was deserted as a result, making it seem even more lifeless.

Su Han came out of his building and followed the path toward the entrance to the complex.

Just as he reached the entrance and was about to step over the police tape,

he suddenly stopped.

He slowly turned his head and looked to the left.

Two figures were emerging from the shadows.

A man and a woman.

The woman had short hair and looked to be in her twenties. Her eyes were fixed on Su Han, overflowing with disgust.

The man was younger. He followed close behind her, frowning as he studied Su Han.

Both wore the black uniforms of the Earth Dispatch Bureau, with its distinctive badges on their chests.

All of this made their identities clear.

They were Bai Xue and Zhou Ming, who had tracked him down using data and hurried over without stopping.

"Finally caught you," Bai Xue said through gritted teeth, staring at Su Han.

"Let's see where you can run this time."

Su Han said nothing.

He merely watched the two of them in silence.

They seemed to be new law enforcement officers.

Bai Xue stepped forward, blocking Su Han's path.

"Su Han."

"We're law enforcement officers from the Earth Dispatch Bureau. I have a few questions for you first, and you'd better answer honestly."

Zhou Ming moved around to the side to keep Su Han from escaping, joining Bai Xue to trap him between them.

"First question." Bai Xue raised one finger and began her interrogation.

"Why did you murder Zhang Qu and the others?"

Su Han looked at her without a word.

"Second question, why did you murder those forty-three patrol officers?"

Bai Xue's voice grew louder as she spoke.

"Third question, why did you wipe out the entire Red Fist Sect?"

"More than two hundred lives, and you didn't spare a single one!"

"Su Han, are you fucking human? You're worse than a beast."

Faced with the crimes Bai Xue listed and her rebukes,

Su Han wasn't angry. He simply fell silent for a few seconds.

At last, he spoke, his tone calm.

"Then do you know the reason behind it all? Do you know-"

"I don't need to know the reason." Bai Xue cut him off.

"I've looked into your file. Even before that, you murdered your parents and seriously injured your sister. Your crimes are monstrous, and you deserve to die."

"I didn't kill my parents." This was the only point Su Han disputed.

"But the evidence is conclusive," Bai Xue said condescendingly.

"Fingerprints at the scene, surveillance footage, witnesses and physical evidence... they all point to you. Even your girlfriend Xu Li identified you."

"What else do you have to say?"

"Su Han, let me tell you this: whatever your reasons, a crime is a crime, and murder is murder."

"Perhaps those patrol officers really were in the wrong, even if you were falsely accused."

"Someone in your position has no right to pass judgment!"

Bai Xue grew more worked up as she spoke, her tone haughty and self-righteous.

Standing on the moral high ground was even becoming a little addictive for her.

Once she had said nearly all she wanted to say, she delivered her ultimatum.

"Surrender yourself at once."

"Come back to the Earth Condemnation Bureau with me and stand trial. Cooperate obediently, and we might even treat you with leniency."

"Otherwise..."

Bai Xue revealed her mechanical arm. It reflected a cold gleam under the streetlight, a clear threat.

But Su Han merely watched the woman before him chatter on and said nothing more.

He wanted badly to explain, to demand an answer: when his parents were murdered, his sister was seriously injured, and he was falsely accused and left to await death,

where were these people?

But none of that mattered anymore.

Any explanation in words would be weak and pale.

And to think he had actually wanted to prove his innocence just now.

As Bai Xue spoke, she raised the electronic combat-power watch on her wrist and scanned Su Han with a disdainful glance.

The watch face lit up, and a string of numbers appeared.

[Combat power: 55000]

"Fifty-five thousand?" Bai Xue paused, then snorted coldly.

"No wonder you dare act so arrogantly. You do have some ability."

She glanced at her own data.

Her combat power was 108,000. She could easily crush a criminal like this.

And this would be her first great achievement at the Earth Dispatch Bureau, one that belonged to her alone.

The thought made Bai Xue even more eager.

She now regarded Su Han entirely as prey she could use to claim credit.

She stepped forward and spoke one last time.

"Su Han, I'll give you one last chance. Surrender now and come back with me, and you'll be spared some pain. If you wait until I personally make the arrest..."

Before Bai Xue could finish,

"Boom!"

The thunderous report was especially piercing on the empty street.

At that moment, dark-red blood flames shot skyward from Su Han's body.

Su Han couldn't be bothered to reason with these people. He found them noisy.

Since talking was no use, he would settle it with strength.

He instantly fused his gang qi with his blood qi, then unleashed it completely.

Half a meter, one meter, five meters, ten meters...

The dark-red flames shot straight up to a height of more than ten meters.

Like a giant burning pillar, the blood flames instantly lit up the entire front entrance of the complex.

A wave of searing air burst outward, releasing terrifying heat.

The asphalt on the ground began to melt, giving off acrid black smoke.

Stranger still,

something seemed to be writhing on the surface of the enormous flames.

Countless dark-red threads bared their fangs and brandished their claws, fluttering like innumerable strands of hair.

They were packed densely together, thousands upon thousands of them.

Reflected on the ground, they looked like countless twisted tentacles, burning and contorting in the flames.

They grew wilder as the blood flames rose, a terrifying and eerie sight.

Su Han's qi and blood, fused with his force, erupted, and his strength rose wildly in an instant.

The number scanning Su Han's combat power on Bai Xue's wristwatch also jumped and soared wildly.

Past sixty thousand, past seventy thousand, past eighty thousand, past ninety thousand...

Until it

broke through one hundred thousand!

[110000]

The number finally stopped at 110,000.

After Su Han unleashed his full power, his combat power doubled outright, breaking through the 100,000 mark.

"Th-that's impossible..." At the sudden turn of events, Bai Xue couldn't help crying out in shock.

She had just measured this criminal's combat power at only a little over 50,000.

How could it have doubled in an instant?

It had even broken through the 100,000 mark, reaching the same level of strength as a semi-cyborg like her.

Zhou Ming was dumbfounded too.

"One hundred and ten thousand? Wasn't he only at fifty-five thousand before?"

Looking at the strange qi-and-blood flames, Bai Xue finally understood why every corpse in the Red Fist Sect had borne scorched black marks.

"That's the Ten Thousand Immortals Cult's Qi and Blood Immortal Martial Arts." Bai Xue gritted her teeth.

She had recognized the source of Su Han's qi and blood.

Tempering qi and blood, explosive combat power, releasing flames.

These were all hallmarks of cult disciples in battle.

Bai Xue stared fixedly at the eerie blood flames and fine threads surrounding Su Han.

"Su Han, you actually joined a cult too!"

"That adds to your crimes! You're beyond forgiveness, and you deserve ten thousand deaths!"