Chapter 610 - 381: Black Market 2

Chapter 610: Chapter 381: Black Market 2

Xie Mingke: "Go ahead."

"Can you use your resources to find out if there are any other places in Ludao City that sell pets, aside from the official pet markets marked on GPS apps?"

Xie Mingke: "I’ll ask my colleagues."

"Thanks." [Handshake]

After sending the message to Xie Mingke, Han Ning closed his eyes and entered a state of Meditation.

...

「Deep in the night.」

WHOOSH~

Suddenly, the faint sound of a curtain rustling disturbed the quiet of the living room.

"What was that?" Han Ning’s eyes snapped open, his mind instantly alert.

The room was dim, lit only by the faint glow of the bedside lamp.

Inky clouds pressed down on the sky, plunging the world into Darkness.

It was not yet dawn.

It had been raining for days. He clearly remembered closing the living room window to keep the wind and rain out.

’Something’s off.’

Beside him, Egg Pancake and Frost Jade, who had been resting with their eyes closed, sensed their Beast Master’s unease and opened their eyes at the same instant.

The small dog hopped to the floor, staring warily at the door.

The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet, making the faint gusts of wind sound jarringly loud.

Han Ning rolled out of bed and padded softly to the bedroom door, his Spiritual Power spreading outwards.

An image of the small living room materialized in his mind, every detail as clear as if it had been 3D-printed.

At that moment, three blurry shadows stood brazenly in the living room. They were floating slowly toward the bedroom.

Behind them stood several figures completely shrouded in Darkness.

Next to one of them, a large, ferocious-looking black dog crouched, its entire body the color of pitch.

’More Extraordinary Beings.’

Han Ning feigned ignorance, waiting quietly for the shadows to draw near.

Two meters, one meter...

Just as a shadow was about to touch the bedroom door and "push" its way in...

BANG!

The bedroom door flew open first.

An ice-cold, ethereal blue fireball shot out, striking one of the shadows directly.

HISS~

Instantly, a sound like air leaking from a punctured balloon filled the air.

"AHH!!"

With a piercing shriek, the blurry shadow dissolved into black smoke and vanished.

It all happened so fast that the figures in the living room only reacted after the shadow had vanished.

"Huh? You little..."

"You’re courting death!"

Just as one of the figures began to speak, Han Ning cut him off with a low shout.

A white shadow darted past. Frost Jade let out a series of low growls and bared its sharp teeth. Three rapidly spinning fireballs materialized around it as it lunged fiercely at one of the men.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Just as the three men were about to act...

Six slightly smaller fireballs, crackling sharply, shot out from behind like a string of firecrackers, silently reaching the men before exploding.

It turned out the small white dog that had charged forward first was just a feint!

The three men’s expressions tightened, but it was already too late to dodge the fireballs.

"AH!"

Instantly, two of the men burst into flames, their bodies consumed by raging blue fire and rapidly disappearing.

Only one man remained. Being further away, he managed to dodge in time and commanded the black wolfhound at his side to charge forward and tear into Frost Jade.

WHOOSH. A slight breeze stirred.

Han Ning had appeared at the man’s side in a flash, delivering a powerful roundhouse kick that swept across his body.

’So fast... This is bad!’

THUD!

The dull thud of impact echoed in the dark.

The man took the full force of Han Ning’s kick. His arms, which he’d thrown up to block, caved inward, and he was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing to the ground.

Though Han Ning had never learned any formal Martial Arts, his adventures in the Purple Crystal World had taught him a few simple and swift combat techniques.

Han Ning pointed his finger, and two fireballs quickly materialized.

SWOOSH!

Trailing long tails of flame, one fireball smashed into the large black dog that was fighting Frost Jade.

The other hovered in front of the sole survivor.

The faint smell of blood spread through the room.

The fight in the living room had ended in the blink of an eye.

In the ethereal blue light of the fireball, Frost Jade’s pale fur was stained red with blood.

A star-shaped gash on its right side gushed blood.

The large black dog was in a much worse state. Engulfed in flames, its face was frozen in a savage snarl as it closed its eyes for the last time.

"Good job, Frost Jade."

"Whine~"

Han Ning gently stroked Frost Jade’s fur, then pinned the sole survivor to the floor with his foot. His voice was cold and severe.

"You’re not with the Foreign Affairs Team, are you?"

"GACK~"

The man retched up a pool of bile, fighting the spasms in his stomach. He slurred, "I... I misjudged you... Never thought... your Power would be this great... at least Tier Eight..."

"Cut the crap. Why are you here tonight?" Han Ning stared at the beads of sweat on the man’s forehead, enunciating every word.

His only answer was a long silence.

’He’s tougher than I thought. His face is all twisted in pain, but he’s still refusing to talk.’

The man’s attitude was a stark contrast to Xie Mingke’s from the day before.

The moment Xie Mingke was in danger, they immediately stated their affiliation to save their own skin.

This man, however, wasn’t begging for mercy. Instead, he just looked furious.

Their fighting styles also revealed how different they were.

It wasn’t that Han Ning went easy on people based on their gender. When his safety was on the line, he would always choose to reduce the enemy’s numbers as much as possible.

If the Foreign Affairs Team had sent three people, he still would have ruthlessly killed two of them to ensure his own safety, leaving one alive for questioning.

Of course, that was assuming they didn’t identify themselves and surrender first.

"Frost Jade!" Han Ning made a cutting gesture to Frost Jade.

"ARF!"

Frost Jade extended its sharp claws and swiped lightly across the man’s thigh.

"HSSS!!"

The man let out a muffled groan of pain, and the color visibly drained from his face.

"Hah... kid... if you’ve got the guts, kill me." He clutched his bleeding right leg, his face contorted and his voice vicious.

Han Ning’s expression was placid, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. "I’ve seen plenty of people like you, with nothing to lose. Some looked like bugs, some looked like fish... I have a lot of experience dealing with your kind."

In that moment, Han Ning’s smile made him look like a Demon straight out of Hell.

"Wh-what are you going to do?" The man was stunned by Han Ning’s words.

"Experience true suffering."

Without another word, Han Ning’s Spiritual Power surged, forming a sharp blade that stabbed straight between the man’s eyebrows.

"AHH!!"

Pain from the depths of his soul contorted the man’s face into an extreme grimace, as though he were living through his worst nightmare.

His pupils dilated and his eyeballs bulged. Unable to even scream, he clawed at his own throat, trying to gasp for air.

Just a single, weakened version of Spiritual Piercing was enough to completely shatter his mental defenses.

"COUGH, COUGH... Hah... hah, I’ll talk. I’ll talk."

He gasped for air, speaking in fits and starts.

"I... I came here tonight... under orders... from my superior... to kill you... extract... your... Extraordinary Traits... and offer them... to my Master."

’So that’s what this is about. I had a feeling this would happen. Because I destroyed that vicious spirit resembling Li Lu, the people behind it have come after me.’

"Who ordered you to do this?"

"The security consultant for the Yongfu Commerce Association, Chen Shaojie."

Han Ning recalled the Yongfu Commerce Association from his predecessor’s memories. Someone named Zhang Lanya had mentioned it before. It was a social club formed by various local business owners in Ludao.

The businesses they ran were rather intriguing. Some were in industries prone to vice, such as bars, private clubs, karaoke lounges, and arcades.

Others were in labor-intensive industries like construction and auto repair.

"Chen Shaojie..." Han Ning murmured the name. He sent out a wisp of Spiritual Power to soothe the pain in the man’s head and continued, "What’s your name? And tell me about the strength of your group."

"My name is Zhang Nengfa. As far as I know, the Yongfu Commerce Association is actually a peripheral organization for the Black God Association. Only the president and Chen Shaojie are official members. The rest of us are just thugs they use to get things done."