Vol. 1 - Ch. 27 - Response

After a brief silence, laughter erupted in the tavern.

"Just as one Little Wu left, another one comes in. Captain Ma is really sincere!"

"You don't say? If you hadn't been so crazy yesterday, could Little Wu have been scared away? The kid was honest and straightforward. We could've used him a bit longer."

"But this one looks even better than the one yesterday. Quite good-looking."

"Today, let's be gentle. Lao Qian said if we scare this one away again, there won't be anyone left..."

"Scare away? Don't even think about it this time." A thin man slowly stood up, his deeply sunken eyes fixed on Chen Ling like a zombie. "Not bad, quite young, good complexion. The parts on his body should fetch a good price."

"Bodao, you're going too far. It won't end well."

"Humph, Ice Spring Street was butchered. It's the fault of those law enforcers. What? Aren't we allowed some compensation?" The thin man known as Bodao sneered.

The people in the tavern, like a group of greedy hungry beasts, looked at Chen Ling at the door as if they were examining prey that had been delivered to them.

Chen Ling stood there, seemingly oblivious to their words. He took out a pen from his pocket and tapped it on a form.

"Bodao, right?" Chen Ling wrote down the name. "Let's start with you... On the night Ice Spring Street was butchered, where were you?"

Seeing this young man dare to speak, the others looked at each other in astonishment. After all, yesterday Wu Youdong was so frightened by the scene that he couldn't even speak. Is this kid really bold or just plain stupid?

Bodao narrowed his eyes, stood up, and walked slowly to Chen Ling.

"Where was I?" Bodao blew on his black nails, then his pale knuckles, like eagle claws, reached for Chen Ling's neck!

"I was on your mother's bed!"

Before Bodao could complete his vulgar taunt, a cold glint flashed in Chen Ling's eyes. With lightning speed, he thrust the pen backward, the tip piercing Bodao's palm in a blink.

A bloodcurdling scream erupted as Bodao recoiled. Before he could react further, Chen Ling's hand, a blur of motion, slammed into Bodao's head, driving it into the wooden floor with a sickening thud.

Warrior Divine Path, Third Tier - Slaughter Dance!

Bang!!

Splinters flew. Crimson stained the floorboards.

The people only felt a blur in front of their eyes as Bodao was slammed into the ground by the young man with one hand. The heavy cotton coat fluttered slightly, and the entire tavern fell into silence.

"Attacking law enforcers, serious crime," Chen Ling said lightly.

He slowly straightened his back, patted his blood-stained hands, and glanced at the crowd. The air crackled with a newfound tension.

[Audience Expectation +2]

[Audience Expectation +2]

[Audience Expectation...]

After a brief silence, the people in the tavern finally regained their senses. The astonishment and shock in their eyes were overshadowed by anger and killing intent. Three of them even drew their guns on Chen Ling on the spot!

"Damn, a tough nut?!"

Chen Ling knew that they were armed with guns. The moment a hand hovered near a holster, he acted. With a swift kick, he sent the nearest table flying. The massive table flipped in mid-air, causing a batch of figures to retreat to both sides. Chaos ensued in front, but meanwhile, Chen Ling, bent at the waist, flashed out from under the table and swung a wine bottle towards the closest gunman's face!

Crack!

The bottle shattered, sharp remnants scraping across the man's cheek, leaving several crimson bloodstains.

Chen Ling delivered a backhanded elbow, knocking the assailant unconscious on the ground.

In an instant, two consecutive flashes of fire splintered in the distance, bullets whistling directly towards Chen Ling!

In the dimness, Chen Ling's figure moved as agile as a ghost, his heavy cotton coat swirling and turning. Two bullets pierced through it, but not a single one landed on Chen Ling's body.

This was Chen Ling's first time using the 【Slaughter Dance】His body felt weightless, moving with an unnatural agility. In the cramped tavern, he was like a fish in water. He could anticipate the gunmen's movements, their telltale twitches before raising their weapons. As long as there weren't too many of them...

The remaining gunmen felt a primal fear grip them. They were being hunted.

They tried to track Chen Ling's position with their eyes, but with Chen Ling continuously overturning tables and chairs to obstruct their view, it was almost impossible. Suddenly, a whistling sound came from their ears, and the next moment, their heads suffered heavy blows, losing consciousness.

Chen Ling once again dealt with a gunman, seizing the gun and continuously pulling the trigger at several big men rushing at him with knives.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several blood flowers bloomed on their legs, and they immediately screamed in pain, falling to the ground one after another.

The sounds of wailing, cursing, gunfire, and crashing tables and chairs echoed one after another. Within thirty seconds of Chen Ling entering the tavern, the entire place descended into chaos. Out of the fourteen people originally in the tavern, thirteen were brutally defeated!

Chen Ling casually tossed the emptied handgun aside, stepping over a big man whose ribs had been broken by a kick. As the big man screamed in agony again, Chen Ling calmly walked to the only intact chair in the room and sat down.

"Boss, a glass of whiskey." Chen Ling kicked the big man again, and his screams rang out once more, "Put it on his tab."

The one-eyed boss behind the counter throughout the ordeal finally came to his senses, looking at Chen Ling with eyes full of fear.

Being able to run a tavern in Ice Spring Street, which had become the gathering place for most residents, this one-eyed boss was naturally not an ordinary person. He had traveled through seven districts and seen many people, but someone as decisive and ruthless as Chen Ling, especially at such a young age, was a first for him.

Was this guy even a law enforcer?!

The one-eyed boss wisely put away the revolver he had secretly held in his hand, lowered his head, and took out a glass, preparing the whiskey.

"Name," Chen Ling crossed his legs, placing the form on his lap, and said lightly.

In the silent tavern, no one answered.

"I'm talking to you!"

He kicked the big man's broken ribs.

"Ahhh... Li Mang! Li Mang!" The big man immediately softened.

"On the night of the invasion, where were you?"

"I, I was here in this tavern."

"Did you see the appearance of that calamity?"

"It seemed like I did... I happened to be out relieving myself and saw it pass by on the street... It seemed to be humanoid." The big man stammered out the truth.

Chen Ling said nothing more, stood up, took the whiskey from the counter, swirled it twice, and the clear ice cubes struck the glass with a clinking sound.

Then, he lifted the glass and poured it slowly over the big man's bloody wound, bit by bit...

"Ahhh!!!!" The heart-wrenching scream echoed through the street.

"I'm telling the truth!! It's all true!!!"

"Do you know? In the absence of solid evidence, reporting to law enforcers based on words like 'seemed like' and 'should be' is considered spreading rumors." Chen Ling's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Let me ask you again... Did you see it?"

"I, I... I really..."

As the glass in Chen Ling's hand tilted gradually, more and more whiskey poured onto the wound, causing the big man to tremble all over in pain.

"...didn't!! I didn't see anything!!! I didn't see anything at all!!!”

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