The old man collapsed onto the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood, his face a mask of terror and despair. He kept muttering something, but nothing was intelligible before he quickly breathed his last.
Yu Shuang looked up at the building, muttering involuntarily to herself.
"How is this possible? Elder Song is a Rank 9 Martial Artist!"
"How could he just die like this?"
A Rank 9 Martial Artist was already the ceiling for ordinary mortals. Anything higher was at the Grandmaster level, which could no longer be classified as human; those beings belonged in the realm of cultivators.
Yu Shuang refused to believe that an underground gang could possibly have a Grandmaster in its ranks.
Moreover, before coming here, they had conducted a thorough background check. They had thought this mission was foolproof, never expecting a Rank 9 Martial Artist to be killed.
Frustration washed over Yu Shuang's face. Realizing she had fallen into a trap, she hurriedly messaged the other martial artists to retreat and leave the area immediately, as ensuring her own safety was paramount.
Yu Shuang opened the Special Investigation Department's custom walkie-talkie and said frantically, "We've been baited! There is a Grandmaster in this gang! We are no match for him. Any team members who can hear my voice, fall back immediately!"
The other team members were equally shocked upon hearing this news. After all, they were battle-hardened veterans, and they knew very well just how terrifying a Grandmaster could be.
"Fall back!"
"Move!"
Having given the order, Yu Shuang was just about to leave when she saw that Lin Dong was still standing right where he was, showing no intention of leaving and actually wanting to go inside.
Though they had shared intimacy, Yu Shuang couldn't really say she liked Lin Dong. Even so, as a member of the Special Investigation Department, she couldn't just leave him to his fate.
She rushed over to Lin Dong's side and, with a heavy-handed demeanor, prepared to drag him away forcibly.
"You still want to go in and save your sister? Do you have any idea that you're walking to your death?!"
Lin Dong looked up at the North Point building before him; he could already sense his sister's presence.
His older sister was his only living relative in this world; there was no way he wouldn't save her!
Lin Dong turned to look at Yu Shuang and said calmly, "I'll hand you a special-class merit."
Yu Shuang was utterly bewildered, failing to understand why Lin Dong would say such a thing.
Lin Dong smiled and explained, "There's a Grandmaster inside. If I take him down and let you carry his head back with you, not only will you escape punishment, but you'll have achieved a massive victory!"
Yu Shuang looked at Lin Dong as if she were staring at a complete idiot.
A Grandmaster—what kind of figure was that? Was that someone you could just kill whenever you pleased? With Lin Dong's abilities, he probably didn't even have the qualifications to catch a glimpse of one!
Assuming Lin Dong had lost his mind, and coupled with her own urgency to retreat, her attitude grew increasingly impatient. "You? A Grandmaster's toenail is stronger than you! You want to kill a Grandmaster? I think you're still sleepwalking from last night's dreams!"
Unwilling to waste any more breath on Lin Dong, Yu Shuang moved directly to drag him away.
When they first met, Yu Shuang had pinned Lin Dong to the ground with a single hand and even stripped him of his virginity.
Therefore, in Yu Shuang's impression, while Lin Dong wasn't completely devoid of strength, he shouldn't possess much martial prowess either.
Yet when she actually reached out to grab Lin Dong's arm, she found that he stood rooted to the spot like a mountain, immovable no matter how hard she pulled.
Lin Dong gave a slight smile and said calmly, "I made it very clear when we first met: if my master hadn't suppressed my cultivation, you wouldn't even have been able to get near me!"
A look of utter astonishment crossed Yu Shuang's face. She was a Rank 9 Martial Artist—even when facing another Rank 9, she was fully capable of putting up a fight. Yet right now, she couldn't shake Lin Dong in the slightest. Could it be that Lin Dong was also a Grandmaster?
"Just what are you?!" Yu Shuang demanded.
Lin Dong smiled and replied, "I'm just a villager whose first time you took."
With that, Lin Dong ignored Yu Shuang altogether and walked straight into the building.
Meanwhile, the Rank 9 experts summoned by Yu Shuang had already realized the danger posed by the Grandmaster and were fleeing in a panic.
Lin Dong had become the sole person moving against the current inside the building.
Watching Lin Dong's retreating figure, Yu Shuang's gaze suddenly grew dazed.
"He..."
Several Rank 9 experts who had already managed to escape noticed that Yu Shuang was still standing at the entrance of the building, and they rushed over anxiously.
"Yu Shuang, why are you still here?!"
"There's a Grandmaster in this gang! If he actually comes out after us, we won't stand a chance!"
"Old Song is already dead! Are you planning to die here too?!"
For reasons unknown to herself, as she watched Lin Dong walk inside, Yu Shuang's previously terrified and restless heart suddenly calmed down.
She glanced at the Rank 9 Martial artists and said slowly, "It seems we don't need to leave."
The Rank 9 martial artists looked at each other in dismay, feeling as though Yu Shuang had lost her soul. Just as they were about to try persuading her a little longer, they felt a terrifying wave of energy ripple out from the building.
"Oh no! He's coming after us!"
"Fall back!"
At this critical juncture of life and death, they no longer had the bandwidth to care about Yu Shuang, scattering to retreat on their own. Only Yu Shuang remained standing at the entrance of the building.
After entering the building, Lin Dong quickly tracked the energy fluctuations of the Grandmaster all the way to the top floor.
"Xiaodong!"
The moment he stepped onto the rooftop, Lin Dong heard his sister's voice calling out to him.
"Hurry up and run!"
"They won't let you go! Run!"
Lin Dong turned his head and saw his sister tied to a chair, with a bald middle-aged man standing right beside her.
The bald man chuckled. "Run? It's too late."
With that, the bald man stood up and walked toward Lin Dong with a smile.
"Lin Dong, you're still too young. You actually didn't guess that the reason the Sanlian Gang went to your parents' graves to collect money was to draw you out!"
"Kidnapping your sister was all meant to lure you here!"
"From the very beginning, everything about you has been under our control. You can't escape my grasp!"
Lin Dong smiled and countered, "Then have you ever considered that the reason I pretended not to know was precisely to play along with your game and turn the tables?"
In truth, Lin Dong had figured it out long ago.
The Sanlian Gang was an underground syndicate that ruled Muye with an iron fist; why would they ever go to a graveyard to collect protection money unless they were dirt poor?
The only reason Lin Dong hadn't exposed them, or even assigned a bodyguard to protect his sister closely, was to draw the mastermind out into the open.
Hearing Lin Dong's words, the bald man froze for a moment before bursting into loud laughter.
"Ha!"
"You mean you planned for this? Then do you care to tell me what your plan is? Is it to hand yourself over on a silver platter and die?"
"You piece of trash, tell me—how on earth do you plan to beat me?"
Lin Dong smiled faintly. "Beat you? No, I'm going to kill you!"
Hearing this, the bald man's wild laughter grew even more arrogant.
"Ha! Lin Dong, do you know who I am? My name is Tong Tiexin, the youngest Grandmaster! Just you? A piece of trash who has barely scraped by for four years, and you want to kill me?"
"Can a fly kill an elephant?!"