CHAPTER 425: CHAPTER 425 I’M WRONGED!

The Clown didn’t get angry because of the provocation in Lu Luo’s tone; her time was extremely limited. This operation could almost be said to be conducted right under the Inspection Department’s nose. If it took too long, personnel from the Inspection Department would surely arrive. The fluctuation of the Sequence was the best bait to lure the Inspection Department, and the Clown was very clear about this.

"Ignorant fool, if time permitted, I would definitely give you a thorough beating."

Suddenly, the Clown made her move. Among those at the Sixth Tier, her speed was already extremely fast. In Lu Luo’s memory, only Yang Liya could firmly suppress the Clown. However, Lu Luo could feel that the other’s speed came not only from physical strength but also from the enhancement of her Sequence.

"A speed-type Sequence, huh? Let me have a look!"

To the Clown, Lu Luo’s calm appeared as pure sluggishness. How could someone who couldn’t even react to her attack dare to come here, to mock her at such a distance?

BANG!

Her fingers formed into a fist, striking heavily against Lu Luo’s chest. But the expected scene of Lu Luo spitting blood and flying backward didn’t happen. Her hesitation and doubt allowed Lu Luo to seize her wrist in turn.

"Nice punch! Women who throw punches are just fierce."

The Clown was bewildered. Lu Luo’s fingers were already reaching for her mask, but the Clown knew she couldn’t reveal herself here.

This guy? she thought. She quickly drew the blade from her waist and slashed directly at Lu Luo’s fingers. He should dodge, right?

The Clown’s failed strike had already sparked her retreat; the Lu Luo before her was too bizarre. She didn’t have the confidence to win, and if the tussle went on, it was very likely that the Inspection Department would arrive. The boss of the GuiXi branch was Zhang Changming, and he was not someone she could handle. Her thoughts were all very well, but the Clown was disappointed again.

Lu Luo didn’t even glance at her blade. The blade, thin as a cicada’s wing, struck Lu Luo’s hand. Lu Luo indeed made a sound, but it wasn’t a scream, nor did he withdraw his hand. His response was crude. "Damn, that hurts. My skin’s broken."

The Clown was utterly baffled. This guy... he’s doing this on purpose, right?

She wasn’t a slow-witted person; by now, if she couldn’t understand that the Lu Luo before her was a master, then she had no business in this line of work. The smoke and flash grenade in her sleeve had already slid down automatically. The moment the flash grenade exploded and Lu Luo was blinded would be her chance to break free.

Then... Lu Luo actually closed his eyes at that moment.

BANG!

Flash, shock, and smoke—all erupted at the same time. But Lu Luo’s fingers, like a pair of iron pincers, still gripped the Clown tightly, showing no intention of letting go.

"Damn it! This guy is so weird," the Clown exclaimed in frustration. She didn’t have the resolve to slash off her own arm to escape, and even if she did, it wasn’t certain that she could break free from Lu Luo’s grasp.

"Li Ji, what’s the situation?" A dull voice came through the walkie-talkie, carrying a touch of authority. Judging by his tone, he must hold a high position.

The Clown, referred to as Li Ji, quickly responded, "The mission has failed. You guys go first."

There was silence on the other side of the walkie-talkie for a while; mission failure was always a possibility. Clearly, they had made preparations for failure as well.

"Alright, take care of yourself. If necessary, use ’that’."

"I know."

Lu Luo had heard the conversation. Their ’that’ must be some kind of trump card, right? he mused. Afraid of trump cards? Of course not. On the contrary, I was quite looking forward to it!

After Li Ji sounded the alarm, the other men in grey had already begun an orderly evacuation. But Lu Luo didn’t care. The two Sequence holders who appeared in this building were both on the 21st floor, and Lu Luo had no interest in clubs, factions, or anything like that. If he kept an eye on these two Sequence holders, he would find out everything he wanted to know.

The smokescreen bombs were very effective, and the billowing smoke never dispersed. The woman opposite him, Li Ji, lowered her voice and asked Lu Luo, "Who exactly are you? Why did you capture me?"

"Why do you possess a Sequence? And why were you trying to capture him—was it because he also has a Sequence?" Lu Luo’s questions surprised Li Ji.

"You know about Sequences?"

"Shouldn’t there be an order in asking questions? You haven’t answered my questions yet, girl."

"Why should I answer your questions? Who do you think you are..."

Lu Luo suddenly turned hostile. With a palm strike to Li Ji’s chest, a tremendous force sent her flying instantly, crashing hard against the wall. "I consider myself your creditor. You owe me your life now. If you don’t want to die, just answer the questions honestly."

Li Ji spat out a mouthful of blood, her expression somewhat panicked. Although the fight between her and the fat man had consumed a lot of her energy, it shouldn’t have left her powerless, to be knocked away with a single palm strike. What kind of monster is this guy?

"Did you come to save the fat man?"

Lu Luo narrowed his eyes slightly. At this point, this woman still dared to ask. Is she ill-bred, or just lacking in social experience?

SLAP!

Lu Luo couldn’t be bothered to continue the nonsense with such a woman; if a woman doesn’t listen, she needs to be hit. That slap also dazed Li Ji, who had never been struck like this in her life.

"You..."

SLAP! Another slap.

WHIMPER!

Li Ji covered her already burning cheek and dared not make another sound.

"What exactly do you want?"

"I just asked, didn’t you hear me? Why do you possess a Sequence? Is your mission to capture Sequence holders like that fat man? What’s the purpose of capturing Sequence holders? And what is your relationship with the Inspection Department?"

Li Ji looked at Lu Luo and finally confirmed that he was not from the Inspection Department. "You’re not with the Inspection Department? Whatever price they’ve paid you, I can double it. Just let me go."

SLAP! BANG!

This time, Lu Luo didn’t just slap Li Ji but also punched her. Li Ji knelt on the ground, clutching her stomach. A Sixth Tier master, a genius among geniuses, she had always been pampered from childhood. When had she ever been treated like this! He won’t even give me a chance to negotiate?

"Why are you being so difficult? Do I need to break your limbs before you’re willing to talk?" The tone in Lu Luo’s voice began to turn icy, and Li Ji shivered. She was genuinely afraid that Lu Luo might actually harm her. After being beaten several times, she finally realized that Lu Luo had no other demands; he simply wanted information. This man... he’s so strange!

"My Sequence is innate. Our mission this time is indeed to capture Sequence holders. As for the purpose of capturing Sequence holders, I can’t tell you that. And as for the Inspection Department, we have no connection with them."

Great, Lu Luo thought. After all that questioning, only her first answer had any substance; the rest was useless.

"You really can’t grasp the situation, can you!"

Just as Lu Luo was about to make his move, the fat man who had been defeated by Li Ji shakily got to his feet. "The kindness you showed today will always be remembered by Da Jing!"

Lu Luo turned his head, looking at the standing fat man, his lips curling slightly upwards. "Kindness? Heh."

Four steel wires suddenly shot out, carrying Lu Luo’s unique Qi He spiral. Before Da Jing could react, they had grabbed him. The wires pierced through his calves and wrapped around his leg bones, forcibly dragging Da Jing over.

"You were saying kindness? I’m quite practical, you know. Since it’s kindness, you ought to repay it, right?" The masked Lu Luo, his age unapparent, seemed even more oppressive than usual.

Da Jing looked at him with a face full of terror. This man had just stepped in to block the woman, why had he turned on him now? "I don’t know her, okay?"

"I see. Then you really are useless now." Lu Luo delivered a hand-chop to the chest of the fat man, Da Jing. His hand-chops weren’t meant to knock someone out but to completely incapacitate them. A Qi He force of strength level four, combined with Lu Luo’s immense power, shattered Da Jing’s entire ribcage with that single strike. Some of the fragmented bones even pierced his lungs.

However, a Sixth Tier was a Sixth Tier, possessing formidable strength. Such injuries would be fatal for an ordinary person, but for a Sixth Tier master, it wasn’t as critical. At most, they would be incapacitated but not dead.

Li Ji, who was nearby, was too scared to make a sound, afraid that Lu Luo would do the same to her as he did to Da Jing, rendering her crippled.

"I, I, I..."

"Enough with the ’I’s. I won’t do that to you."

"Ah? Why not?"

"You being able to lead a team on such a mission indicates your status is somewhat special. Your value is higher than that of this fat man. So, I won’t cripple you for now. Come with me!"

"Oh, okay." At this point, Li Ji seemed to have had a change of heart, or something, as she became much more compliant.

Lu Luo tied her hands with steel wire, the Qi He constantly rotating on the wire as a warning. The smoke from the smoke grenades was already dispersing. Li Ji followed behind Lu Luo, her eyes darting around. It was clear she was already thinking about how to escape. However, she didn’t notice a small red eyeball hovering above her head, staring at her. Every move Li Ji made was within Lu Luo’s sight.

Lu Luo broke a window and grabbed Li Ji, leaping down with her. The shrill sound of sirens was already emerging; Lu Luo knew that the Security Office should be on their way. Fortunately, leaving at this time meant they probably wouldn’t run into them.

Standing in the alley behind the building, Lu Luo watched the vehicles of the Security Office coming and going. Some indeed stopped at the front door of the building, but others were headed towards other parts of the city.

"Your operation isn’t just in this one place, is it? How many mission coordinates are there exactly?"

Li Ji wanted to keep silent for a while longer, but Lu Luo was no longer indulging her, kicking her squarely in the buttocks. "Speak up!"

Li Ji wanted to cry. If she ever got the chance, she would definitely capture this man in front of her, put him through the ten most gruesome tortures of the Imperial, and torment him to death.

"You, grinding your teeth in impotent anger, unable to do anything to me, are just like a mouse I’ve caught. Other than making squeaking noises, you can’t even fart. Once you’re done fantasizing, you’d better start talking." Lu Luo dragged her along as he continued forward, urging her to answer his previous question.

After hesitating for a while, Li Ji finally opened her mouth: "Yes, this operation isn’t isolated to a single location; there are a total of nine spots."

"Nine? That many?" Lu Luo was somewhat surprised; his astonishment wasn’t due to the existence of Sequence holders at nine places. It was that the organization behind the Clown actually had such tremendous power. A mere district capital city, yet able to simultaneously command so many forces to act. The mobilization ability of the supporting organization was indeed impressive. This kind of power, Circular probably couldn’t manage now. This isn’t a small faction!

"I didn’t expect your backing to be this substantial," Lu Luo remarked.

"Sigh... How did you know my backing was so substantial?" Li Ji replied.

The two had already reached the depths of the alley, one after another. The place was somewhat filthy; it probably had frequent public urination incidents. Although the environment here was very suitable for doing some shameful deeds, the foul smell was still too pungent.

"Why have you stopped? You’re not going to do something to me, are you?"

Lu Luo suddenly turned around and ripped off Li Ji’s mask. A relatively young, still quite pretty woman appeared. Remarkable? Just average. In any case, I’m not the least bit interested, he thought. What really interested Lu Luo was her strength. Setting myself aside, Li Ji might be a bit older than me, but a Sixth Tier master of her age is still outrageous!

"You..."

Before Lu Luo could finish, a red shadow swiftly descended. The blade light cut through the steel wire between Lu Luo and Li Ji, flinging Li Ji away with its immense impact.

This power... Zhang Changming? Lu Luo realized. As soon as he looked up, Zhang Changming had already gripped his battle sabre, swinging it down onto Lu Luo’s head.

DING!

Wrist and blade collided, and Lu Luo’s legs instantly sank into the ground. The tiles around him spread out like a giant spider web, and even the buildings on both sides trembled with the strike.

"Zhang Changming! Holy shit, this person can fight Zhang Changming; he must be Seventh Tier!" Li Ji exclaimed. Seeing Zhang Changming and Lu Luo fighting, she quickly backed off, pulling out a blue bead from her pocket and clutching it in her hand.

Lu Luo, resisting the Slash Strike, had a premonition that Li Ji was planning to escape. Not wanting to give up such a fine prize, he twisted his head to look at Zhang Changming. "Minister Zhang, what exactly do you mean?"

"What do I mean? Do you still have the audacity to ask me? What on earth do you intend to do to this city?"

Lu Luo looked down at his ash-white clothes, roughly figuring out what Zhang Changming might be thinking. A misunderstanding! This is a huge misunderstanding! This is just too screwed up!

"No, Minister Zhang, can’t you hear me out?"

"No!"

"But that woman behind me is very important!" Lu Luo pointed to Li Ji’s position, but Li Ji had already crushed the bead in her hand, waving at Lu Luo.

"Bye-bye!" The space around her twisted, and her figure vanished instantly from their sight.

With Li Ji gone, Zhang Changming could fight Lu Luo without holding back. "Lu Luo, you’ve gone too far! You shouldn’t take advantage of your relationship with Bai Yuetong to be so unrestrained. You shouldn’t trample on the laws of the Imperial, and you certainly shouldn’t ignore me!"

Zhang Changming’s rage was uncontrollable, but Lu Luo didn’t want to fight him. He felt this matter could still be salvaged. "No, the incident in the building just now was done by that woman! I’m innocent!"