Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
The walls that could even withstand the heavy artillery were as fragile as tofu before Qin Fen’s palm. Before they could even have the chance to feel the strong impact, the walls were disintegrated into nothing by a wave of true energy oscillations originating from Qin Fen’s palm resting on the wall.
The concrete reinforced with iron bars collapsed with a crash. Qin Fen, carrying his hands behind his back, raised his legs and stepped over the hole in the wall as leisurely as he was walking in his own backyard; his eyes calmly looking at the Zuo Lin. “You can give it a try and see if you can press the button faster, or see if I am faster.”
Zuo Lin’s finger that had snuck up to the inconspicuous button under the table trembled suddenly. Immediately after, he heard Qin Fen’s confident voice, “Lee Myeong-Jeon tried to compete in speed with me but lost, so he had to forfeit his life. If you think you are stronger than Lee Myeong-Jeon, you can stake your life with me.”
Zuo Lin slowly withdrew his stretched finger and interlocked his ten fingers with each other. He had already recovered from his initial surprise and nervousness. He narrowed his eyes with a smiling intent as he watched Qin Fen making his way into the room. “You came so quickly. I am surprised that you actually found me. It seems I underestimated you a bit.”
Qin Fen, looking at Zuo Lin’s smiling expression, furrowed his brow slightly. Taking a step, he rushed to Zuo Lin, smashing the table between the two and punched Zuo Lin’s abdomen with a beautiful uppercut with his right hand.
This punch was way too sudden; Qin Fen didn’t show the slightest sign of making a move. Zuo Lin instinctively crossed his arms to protect his abdomen but he could only watch Qin Fen as his fist passed through the block and punched ruthlessly into his abdomen with the slightest mercy of using the strength of fourteen-star level.
BANG!
A loud bang that sounded like a wooden stick hitting pork resounded in the room. The uniform at Zuo Lin’s back rose up before a hole of the size of a fist burst out, revealing his skin. A red spot immediately appeared on his white skin. The subsequent sharp pain was like a hundred thousand blades tearing and cutting his abdomen and internal organs at the same time. In the next moment, a powerful strength lifted his ass off his seat.
In a flash, Zuo Lin’s handsome face turned pale as drops of cold sweat of the size of beans dotted his forehead and face. Even his colonel’s uniform that was a good water-absorbent seemed as if it had been drenched in heavy rain in the blink of an eye.
So painful! Zuo Lin couldn’t remember the last time he felt an excruciating pain like this. The severe pain spread through every nerve in his body, as if the Yangtze River had broken a dike and flooded his entire body, rampaging everywhere. He felt as if his entire stomach was being stirred back and forth with a stick.
The pain spread like a CPU was sending information everywhere. The pain from the initial source spread through the entire body along the meridians, making him feel as if tens of thousands of worms were tearing through his flesh everywhere.
BOOM! Zuo Lin left his seat and flew high up into the air before crashing back into his seat heavily. His facial muscles twitched again and again. His face was now devoid of that usual steady-as-Mt. Tai-smile. Only an endless pain spread through every millimeter of his facial muscles.
In the blink of an eye, the convulsions spread from Zuo Lin’s cheeks to every muscle of his body.
Zuo Lin raised his head with difficulty; his eyes laced with surprise and anger apart from pain. Qin Fen dares to hit me, me!? Moreover, he only used the strength of the fourteen-star level; so to say, a fair battle in its own right!? And not only was I unable to defend myself from his attack at all, but the Indestructible Guardian Deity Divine Art that I bought using a fortune also didn’t play even half of its role, it was smashed through by the opposite party completely.
Qin Fen, slowly withdrawing his fist, grabbed Zuo Lin by the back of his collar like he was holding a prawn, lifting and throwing him just as easily onto the guest’s sofa. Then, he himself sat down on Zuo Lin’s boss chair leisurely.
“I hate the smile that you just had.”
Qin Fen watched the ashen-faced Zuo Lin, who was all curled up, tolerating the pain.
“Huff… huff...” Zuo Lin tried adjusting his breathing as he blinked lightly, squeezing out the cold sweat that rolled down his eyes. Then, he controlled the corner of his lips that were twitching from pain and said with a bit of surprise, “You really killed Lee Myeong-Jeong of the State of Korea?”
Qin Fen began to have a bit of regret. Back then, Qin Fen had killed Lee Myeong-Jeong so cleanly that he hadn’t even left any clues for others to discover, leaving everyone to their guesses. Even Zuo Dongting’s grandson could only rely on previous events to make speculations.
“So.” Qin fen interlocked his fingers and rested his palms on his thigh. “You should know me by now.”
Zuo Lin nodded slowly. “I understand.”
“Very good.” Qin Fen raised his palm lightly, making an inviting gesture.
Intelligent people didn’t need too much explanation. Zuo Lin wasn’t a fool. He had just miscalculated Qin Fen’s ability. Even in his dreams, he had never expected Qin Fen to appear here instead of going to Hohhot to rescue Mourad.
Zuo Lin raised his wrist on which he was wearing his holocall watch. It had already been a minute since Qin Fen walked in but no guards had come to his rescue. Zuo Lin knew that the guards outside were probably unconscious if not dead by now. Since Qin Fen is sitting here peacefully, without a single worry, it seems someone is on a lookout. Only then could he have such a relaxed attitude.
As the rescue he was waiting for was no longer possible and he was unable to delay any longer, Zuo Lin directly made the call to Hohhot.
“Young Master, you…”
In the projection screen, a middle-aged man with a purple beard and green robes was very surprised by Zuo Lin’s appearance on the screen.
Zuo Lin’s usual demeanor of having planned with every conceivable possibility taken into account could no longer be found on his handsome and suave face now. The young man on the projection screen was very decadent; obviously, he had been a little abused.
“You don’t need to keep maintaining the ambush anymore. Qin Fen won’t go there.” Zuo Lin’s powerless expression was bearing a bit of resentment. “He found me here.”
“What…”
“Uncle Li, you don’t need to worry, I’m his prisoner for the time being.” Zuo Lin sat up with difficulty, leaned again the soft back of the sofa and gasped for breaths. “He won’t kill me for the time being because I am of little use to him, I can be exchanged for Mourad. That’s my use.”
Zuo Lin turned and twisted his body, peeking a glance at Qin Fen through the corner of his eyes. Recalling Qin Fen’s punch, his heart was filled with surprise yet again. I was punched with the same strength of the fourteen-star level as I have, but even after having rested for so long and circulating the family’s restorative arts continuously, I do not feel even a little bit better.
“I am going to switch the camera to Qin Fen now. You can talk with him yourself, hear what he wants to say, okay!?”
Zuo Lin turned his watch with his finger. In the next moment, an angry middle-aged man surrounded by a light purple aura and with blue veins protruding around his neck and forehead appeared before Qin Fen’s eyes.
“Kid! You’ve really got guts-”
BAM! Before the middle-aged man could finish talking, his opened mouth suddenly stopped moving, and his roaring voice with that. A sense of surprise and disbelief flashed in his angry eyes as he stared at Qin Fen’s movement in the office.
Before the middle-aged man could finish his threat, Qin Fen had abruptly made his move. He darted to Zuo Lin without saying so much as a word and directly kicked Zuo Lin’s face, stepping on his head, pushing his head into the sofa.
Uncle Li hadn’t expected that just as he opened his mouth to threaten him, the opposite party would express his attitude with the fastest action.
“How are my guts?”
Qin Fen, carrying his hands behind his back and stepping on Zuo Lin’s head, proudly and coldly responded to Uncle Li’s murderous eyes. “I hate hearing nonsense, get straight to exchanging hostages.”
With one side of his head stuck to the sofa and the other to Qin Fen’s sole, Zuo Lin’s eyes flickered with endless resentment. In his heart, he hated himself for being too careless. In order to catch Qin Fen alive and make him work under him willingly, he had sent all his chips to Hohhot, ignoring his own safety and defenses to counter Qin Fen’s ability.
As Zuo Lin raised his eyebrow and peeked a glance at Qin Fen, even more resentment filled his heart. He felt a bit wronged by today’s ambush. How could the descendants of the Zuo family compare with these lieutenant generals? Yet much to Zuo Lin’s surprise, Qin Fen had directly broken into his house and held him hostage, completely ignoring the consequences!
A feeling of shame coursed through Zuo Lin’s body through his blood like boiling magma.
“Okay! No problem!” Uncle Li didn’t dare to hesitate. He had sensed the sliver of expectation in Qin Fen’s eyes. As long as he hesitated or tried to bargain, even a bit, Zuo Lin would definitely bear the brunt of Qin Fen’s attack and abuse.
Qin Fen paid no more attention to Uncle Li. He turned his gaze to the Zuo Lin under his foot and asked suddenly, “How much money do you have?”
“Ah!?” Zuo Lin was stunned. Right then, he felt Qin Fen’s feet pressing his cheeks hard, almost pushing his head into the sofa. His eyes immediately flickered with hate and resentment. “Fifty million!”
An aggrieved Zuo Lin reported all the money he could mobilize in a short period of time. Fifty million was nothing for the Zuo family, whose net worth was simply unimaginable. But most of their assets weren’t in liquid currency. Plus, Zuo Dong Ting was still the current in-charge of the Zuo Family. As such, Zuo lin couldn’t really manage many liquid assets.
Qin Fen raised his head and looked at Uncle Li on the projection screen. “I want to see Mourad…”
“He is now in…”
“Now, immediately!” Qin Fen’s voice didn’t have any room for doubt. Zuo Lin’s head under his feet sank deeper into the sofa, filling his blood with boundless humiliation.
“Okay!” Uncle Li growled and ran. “Give me a second! It will be done immediately!”
Qin Fen lowered his head and looked at Zuo lin, whose head he could smash any time. The corner of Qin Fen’s eyes twitched several times imperceptibly. Despite the hostile standpoint, this Zuo Lin could be considered to be as hard as a bone. From the beginning to the end, he had not even let out so much as a groan, let alone scream in pain.
The projection screen turned again, showing an exhausted Mourad tied to a super electric chair using all kinds of metal fixtures inside an iron prison in the basement. His eyes were lacking their usual sharp look.
“I remember his wounds.” Qin Fen said indifferently. “If any more wounds appear on his body before the exchange, I will cut Zuo Lin’s head.”
“You…” Blue veins bulged across Uncle Li’s forehead in anger as if they would jump our of that bronze-colored skin any moment. His bones and muscles creaked as they churned and rotated like hundreds of unoiled gears. In his life of so many years, he had never seen such a rampant young man who dared to hold the grandson of the Sleeping Lion, Zuo Dongting, hostage, and even say that he would kill Zuo Lin so casually.
Uncle Li looked at Zuo Lin under Qin Fen’s foot and took a long, deep breath. Only after having suppressed the fiery anger in his heart did he look at Qin Fen and nod. “Okay! But you must guarantee…”
Uncle Li stopped himself from proposing his conditional terms immediately. In the projection screen, Qin Fen had already lifted Zuo Lin up and started kicking and punching Zuo Lin in all kinds of places mercilessly.
In the blink of an eye, Zuo Lin’s handsome nose had collapsed. His entire face was black and blue from the beating. More than half of his neat teeth fell before he crashed into the ground like a sack filled with sand.
“You…” After having been stunned for a moment, Uncle Lie lashed out in anger. “Are you looking for death?!”
Qin Fen glanced at Uncle Li before he kicked right in the middle of Zuo Lin’s stomach, sending him crashing into another intact wall directly. The vibration from the strong impact caused the valuable paintings hanging on the wall to crash on the ground. Zuo Lin rolled along the ground several times before coming to a stop. He tried opening his swollen eye but could only open up a thin slit.
Uncle Li’s flames of anger vanished in a flash as if they had encountered the strongest rainstorm. Anger could only be seen flickering in his pupils. He was too far away from the real Qin Fen. His anger would only make Qin Fen continue beating Zuo Lin mercilessly.
Uncle Li calmed his anger down as a puzzled look appeared in his angry eyes. “Why?”
Qin Fen pointed at the Mourad on the screen as his face turned colder, so cold that it could condense the moisture in the air into ice. “He didn’t have such heavy injuries the last time I saw him.”
Uncle Li felt his blood pressure rising. Mourad was a fifteen-star martial dao master. Had he not been injured seriously, even this special chair that could inject poison and release a high voltage current instantly would not be able to hold him.
“Prepare fifty million and an intact Mourad.” Qin Fen lifted Zuo Lin and said indifferently, “I will inform you where we will hold the exchange. If you think he has a long life, you can try sending someone to his rescue. We will see if you guys are faster or if I can behead him faster.”
“Okay, young man.” Uncle Li regained his calmness as a rare gentleness appeared in his eyes. “I can agree to your request but I must remind you that maybe you don’t know what you’re doing, or the man behind him…”
“My name is Qin Fen.”
Five simple words that didn’t even need two seconds to speak were spoken and Uncle Li’s face sank immediately.
Qin Fen! It was currently regarded as one of the most famous names in the world of martial dao master. Qin Fen, a martial dao master who still killed two powerful martial dao master on Hallasan even when he fought them back to back.
Qin Fen! The figure who dared to go to the Qilin Mountain alone to propose marriage.
Qin Fen! The figure who caused the main peak of the Qilin Mountains to collapse just a short while after he climbed the Qilin Mountain. A martial artist who walked safely out of the Qilin Mountains!
Uncle Li knew very well the real significance of Qin Fen reporting his own name. The hidden subtext was like a knife searing into his heart.
“I am Qin Fen! When I just became a martial dao master, I wasn’t afraid to fight a long time famous martial dao master on his home ground. I am Qin Fen! I even dared to oppose Qilin’s decree and run to the Qilin Mountains to propose marriage! If the strength behind Zuo Lin isn’t as strong as Qilin, don’t you open your mouth.”
Zuo Lin closed his minutely opened eyes before he finally gave a regretful look. Just as these five simple words resounded like a clap of thunder, a phrase blasted in his mind, “I am Qin Fen! I will never compromise in the face of any power!”
Zuo Lin began to regret his actions. It would have been better if I had let the matter rest when Qin Fen had agreed to first request without saying anything, right then and there. If I had released Mourad at that time, Qin Fen would not have come smashing the door.
Qin Fen was really angered by his insatiable demands. In his anger, Qin Fen told everyone who knew about this matter with the most violent attitude, I, Qin Fen will go against anyone and will never compromise!
Zuo Lin regretted how things ended today, for the time being, everything was blown out of proportion. If I had known things would end like this, I would have directly used a secret weapon to kill Qin Fen.
Qin Fen turned off the communicator and carried Zuo Lin through the rubble of violently destroyed walls, appearing on the outermost ring of the villa.
Xue Tian, who was sitting on the ground with the katana in his arms, stood up and dusted off his rear. He spat the grass from his mouth and looked at Qin Fen with a roguish expression. “Old Qin, have you thought about the consequences of doing this?”
Qin Fen, looking at the gathering team, nodded gently. “It’s not like we can only go to Saturn through the military.”
A knowing smile appeared on everyone’s face. Military resources were good. A ready-made platform to fight on Saturn was naturally better, but if there wasn’t a ready-made platform, could they really not go to Saturn?
Then how did Elysium and Inferno come to be? Didn’t they start from scratch and gained the status they had today on Saturn?
“If others can do it, why can’t I?” Yang Lie looked up at the sky as if he could really see Saturn. “We should have more leeway without the restrictions of the army.”
Qin Fen glanced at the Zuo Lin he was carrying in his hand. “He has fifty million. Whatever left after Mourad’s medical expenses will be our starting capital.”
“Well done!” Xue Tian happily grabbed Qin Fen’s neck. “Who would have thought that you would have learned to rob and kidnap in the few days we haven’t seen you. The first deal you do involves fifty million!”
Qin Fen smiled and looked at Xue Tian earnestly. “I’m afraid this matter is far from good. I can only repay Zhao Huzi’s kindness in the future. I guess we really have to start from mercenary work.”
Xue Tian, hugging Qin Fen’s neck with one hand and holding the katana in his right hand above his head, let out a happy roar. “Haha! Mercenary! It’s a man’s profession! My dream is finally coming true!”
“Since we are going to Saturn, fifty million probably won’t be enough.” Caesar shook his finger gently. “An organization needs more than our martial strength. It needs business, intelligence, and various human resources at the same time, only then can we make things successful. I heard that the divine beast martial artists before the Great Ensemble will not judge you just by your martial strength; it seems that the other divine beasts will also look at your leadership skills, whether you have the ability to govern the planet. Although we don’t necessarily need the recognition of others, we can’t just go to Saturn and do damage, right?”
Qin Fen nodded his agreement upon hearing this. Caesar shrugged and spread his arms. “So to say, we still need a lot of resources. So, what’s better than controlling a family’s resources in this world?”
“How is a family enough?” Yang Lie’s eyes flourished with a wolfish fierce gleam. He slowly looked to other guys and discovered that his companions’ eyes were radiating similar gleam, that was a robber’s gleam. “If we are going to do it, let’s go for the biggest!”
“You guys…” Qin Fen’s constantly steady eyes flickered with endless surprise. “You want to…”
“That’s right!” Yang Lie took a deep breath; his body trembling constantly as if he was resisting some subconscious fear. He clenched his fists tightly. “The old stooges of the family should retire! Just a few Saturn’s resources obtained with the cooperation with Zuo Lin would just be enough to expand a little bit, that’s all. I think everybody wants to go for the divine beast, am I right?”
Solomon calmly nodded a bit. His eyes that were as deep as a cold lake brightened as if an oil tank was suddenly lit; burning! Boiling! Erupting!
Zuo Lin opened his swollen eyes with every ounce of his force as an endless gleam of shock radiated from within the gap between his eyelids. Two sentences flashed in his mind immediately. “So audacious! They want to take over!”
How crazy! Zuo Lin could only think that Yang Lie and the others had gone crazy. They actually want to return to their families to take control of it! These people have lost their minds. They actually want to rob their own family, snatch the control of the family!
There was no lack of coups in the history of large and ancient families. But very few young people in their twenties had launched a coup.
“Let’s return to Europe first.” The aura of an emperor suddenly broke out from Caesar’s body as he took a step. He raised his chin slowly and looked at the sky. “I was originally the patriarch of the Alexander Family. If we go now, we might be able to catch up with the new patriarch’s campaign.”
Everyone focused their attention on Qin Fen, not because everyone didn’t have an opinion of their own, but rather the final reason for this big event was all because of Qin Fen’s relationship. Furthermore, it was his proposal to leave the military system and go to Saturn alone. So how could they not consider his opinion for a big thing like a coup?
Qin Fen shrugged his shoulders in response to the emperor’s aura in Caesar’s eyes. “Of course, you should get your things back. I will naturally help you get the thing you want.”
“Alright!”
Everyone’s cheers of joy shook the sky. Everyone was at an age when their passion was at its prime; they weren’t afraid to think, they weren’t afraid to do anything! When a group of such people came together, what would they be afraid to do?
Zuo Lin suddenly discovered that he didn’t have any understanding of Qin Fen’s group. The data on paper was quite the opposite of what he had discovered after having come in contact with Qin Fen. This group of people even dare to do something as crazy as a coup. Back then, I should have really used the secret weapon to kill Qin Fen! Now that I am in his hand, everything can only remain in my thoughts for the time being. Once I am really safe, I would use the secret weapon to kill Qin Fen!
Zuo Lin believed that all these young experts had eyes above their heads. Usually, they would turn their noses up at anyone. The only reason why they could walk together temporarily was because Qin Fen’s existence had wound them into a rope. If Qin Fen was killed, this group would break apart. The huge alliance they had formed would collapse in an instant.
—
Shengjing military headquarters…
Zhao Huzi was restlessly walking around the window from time to time, murmuring constantly, “I wonder how is Qin Fen doing now? I wonder who has betrayed him? I hope he could recover from the pain caused by the betrayal of his friends quickly.”
