Just as Lin Yu had predicted...

Once the knife was pressed against her neck, even though Almond didn't believe this was Swift Blade, she was still so frightened her legs went weak and her body stiffened.

Originally she had been putting on a tough big sister act while threatening Fu Luo, but now she was completely caving.

Her first words nearly made Lin Yu burst out laughing.

"Spare me, hero!"

Almond raised her hands and shouted.

Lin Yu held Almond hostage, struggling to suppress the smile at the corner of his mouth as he glared fiercely at the two burly men inside the room who were also holding knives to Fu Luo's neck.

Because of this... Fu Luo was also nearly scared out of his wits.

He was even more terrified than Almond.

"Don't kill me! Big brothers! Please don't kill me!"

According to what the "blood text" said, the condition for entering the Death Game was a strong unwillingness to die...

Lin Yu could clearly see that these two definitely met the criteria perfectly.

In contrast, the two burly men who were Almond's subordinates and Lin Yu remained very calm as they began negotiations.

"Who are you?"

The darker-skinned burly man on the left asked.

Lin Yu responded loudly: "Your granddad is from Jiang'an Hall. I know who you are - Marauders... How dare you cause trouble in Jiangcheng territory today?"

"And you dare lay hands on my friend!"

The slightly paler, chubbier man on the right became agitated upon hearing Lin Yu's words: "Jiang'an Hall? Damn you, release our big sister immediately!"

"Otherwise your friend is dead!"

Lin Yu sneered coldly: "If I release her, this guy will really be dead for sure."

After speaking, Lin Yu pressed the knife tighter against Almond's neck.

Almond quickly cried out: "Hey, hey! We can talk about this!"

"We didn't mean to harm your friend!"

Although Jiang'an Hall was deeply cooperative with Order, they ultimately weren't Order itself.

So...

These medium-sized organizations leaning toward the "righteous path" didn't have the same kind of kill-on-sight relationship with Marauders that Order did.

"Then what did you mean? You brought people to my friend's door just to chat with him?!"

Lin Yu demanded sharply. Almond spoke up.

"Actually, yes," she said very quickly, "We just wanted to get some information, we absolutely didn't mean to harm him."

"What information?"

Lin Yu pressed again.

"It's about his other friend, that very prominent First-Tier Doctor... We really didn't hurt him, even though he kept refusing to talk, you can see he doesn't have any injuries on him."

Almond said helplessly.

Fu Luo also shouted: "I'm really not being stubborn, I've already said everything I know! May and I are mostly just online friends, how would I know about his situation, strength, or relationships?"

Lin Yu understood clearly.

They really were after him!

So he sneered again: "What a coincidence, I know that guy too... Looking at things now, I definitely can't let you leave."

"You're here for revenge, right? Quite a few Marauders have died by his hand!"

Almond immediately refuted: "Absolutely not, absolutely not... Although some people in the organization hate him to the bone and plan to take revenge, I'm not among them."

As she spoke, she looked toward the two burly men.

"We came here just following an assignment delegated by the organization, completing a distributed task," Almond sighed, "Someone is investigating him!"

Hearing this answer, Lin Yu immediately understood why Almond would act separately from Heavenly Artisan.

Even though Heavenly Artisan was reliable, bringing him along would likely escalate a simple investigation mission into direct confrontation.

This was definitely not what Almond wanted to see.

She was just a Driver, and this was an organization-assigned task... why risk her life?!

But for Lin Yu, although this explained things, he felt very uneasy.

Someone among the Marauders was trying to investigate him?

From Almond's use of the word "commission," this person must be quite high-ranking.

And it wasn't a public commission - if it were, he would have been able to see the posting using Heavenly Artisan's phone.

This meant someone had contacted Almond directly.

Not just investigation, but secret investigation.

Lin Yu immediately became concerned and pressed urgently.

"Who's investigating him?"

"I don't know either. Last night our Zheng City Branch leader directly told me that someone wanted us to investigate this Doctor," Almond spilled everything rapidly, "He just told us to come to Jiangcheng first, that we could intercept Furbollo tomorrow, then try to force information about that Doctor from him... strength, rank, commonly used items, relationships."

"But who the commissioner is, I really don't know!"

Although Almond was still frightened at this moment, her strong survival instinct made her report everything to Lin Yu very logically.

Lin Yu exhaled: "Why did they approach you?"

"I don't know that either. I'm just a very ordinary member among the Marauders... maybe because I've had some interaction with him before - the rest of the people are ones I recruited."

Almond said honestly, having basically confessed everything.

Lin Yu could tell she wasn't lying - the One-Statement Lie Detector confirmed this too.

In other words, this Almond really didn't know anything.

"There's nothing left to ask."

Lin Yu made his judgment internally, then spoke slyly: "So that's how it is... seems there really was some misunderstanding."

"I didn't plan to fight to the death with you anyway, but I still recommend you surrender peacefully - after all, this is our territory!"

Lin Yu said seriously. Almond sighed.

"Can't we both take a step back... you let us go, I let you go, and we pretend this never happened?"

Almond's words were very sincere;

she hardly seemed like a Marauders member.

"I don't think so," Lin Yu still insisted, "If I let you go, it would cause big problems for me."

Before Almond could respond, the dark-skinned burly man spoke coldly.

"Don't get too arrogant, kid... even though you've got our big sister under control, trying to keep all three of us here won't be easy!"

"Besides... you came alone. Do you think there are only three of us? If you make a move, do you think you'll walk out of here alive?"

As his words fell, the temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.

Lin Yu let out a long breath.

"Why would you think I came alone? Do I look like that kind of idiot to you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the door was pushed open again.

A man with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, wearing a black jacket and baseball cap, with stubble covering his face, walked in carrying two unconscious thugs.

"Hello, Old Yao from Jiang'an Hall."

"Let me introduce myself, I'm from Order's Jiangcheng Branch, codename Good Night... I'm here to help after receiving the message."

He spoke with a somewhat strange accent, then tossed the two men to the ground.

And the moment he finished dumping them.

"Thump, thump!"

Almond in Lin Yu's grasp and the two burly men all collapsed to the ground.