Ye Qiu stared at Lei Hu, his eyes icy and devoid of any emotion.
"Tell me — how do you want to die?"
From the moment Lei Hu had slapped Qian Jinglan, Ye Qiu had already made up his mind to kill him.
Lei Hu felt a flicker of fear, but he put on a tough front and snarled:
"Kid, do you have any idea who I am?"
"I don't know, and I don't care," Ye Qiu said. "Lay a hand on my mother, and there's only one end for you — death."
"You're gonna kill me?" Lei Hu suddenly laughed. "Don't you know murder is a crime?"
Crack!
Ye Qiu appeared in front of Lei Hu like a ghost and slapped him hard across the face.
Lei Hu froze, utterly dumbfounded. He had just been hit — by a nobody care worker with no connections at all!
It was nothing short of…
the ultimate humiliation!
Rage. Unbridled rage.
Lei Hu felt his chest burning with fury. He wanted to tear Ye Qiu into a thousand pieces.
"Do you have any idea who I am?!" Lei Hu roared.
"I have no interest in who you are. I'll ask you one last time — how do you want to die?" Ye Qiu's gaze turned even colder.
"If you want me dead, I'll kill you first!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Lei Hu suddenly pulled a glinting dagger from his waist and lunged straight at Ye Qiu.
Lei Hu was fast, closing the distance in the blink of an eye, the dagger stabbing toward Ye Qiu's chest.
Ye Qiu stood motionless and threw a punch.
Bang!
His fist slammed into the dagger. With a sharp clang, the blade snapped in two — yet Ye Qiu's knuckles were completely unharmed.
This…
Lei Hu was horrified. Only now did he realize he had drastically underestimated Ye Qiu. The kid was far stronger than he had imagined.
He had seen a Tiger Rank master pull off the exact same feat years ago — shattering a dagger with a bare fist, leaving the hand uninjured.
Could this kid be a Tiger Rank master?
But he was way too young!
Realizing this, Lei Hu turned to flee, hoping to live to fight another day. But Ye Qiu gave him no chance. He stepped forward and punched Lei Hu in the shoulder.
Crack!
His shoulder blade shattered.
"Aaaaah!"
Lei Hu let out a bloodcurdling scream. In the silent abandoned building, the cry was piercing and bone-chilling.
But that was only the beginning.
Ye Qiu grabbed Lei Hu's right arm and twisted it hard. Another crack — the arm snapped cleanly.
Bang!
Ye Qiu followed with a kick to his knee. Lei Hu dropped to his knees with a heavy thud.
"Please… don't kill me… spare me…" Lei Hu begged, his face twisted with terror.
"You should have thought of that before." Ye Qiu wrapped his hand around Lei Hu's throat.
At the brink of death.
Lei Hu shouted: "If you kill me, the Dragon King will never let you go!"
Ye Qiu frowned. "You know the Dragon King?"
"I do! He's my boss!" Lei Hu hurried to say. "Little brother, I was wrong today. Please let me go. I'll apologize to you and your mother, I swear — just spare me!"
Ye Qiu's frown deepened. The man was actually one of the Dragon King's men. Things just got complicated.
Kill him, and he would be disrespecting the Dragon King. Let him live, and Ye Qiu feared endless trouble later.
When he had beaten Guo Shaocong earlier, Lin Jingzhi had warned him he hadn't been ruthless enough.
The Yama King is easy to face, but petty devils are hard to shake off, she had said — telling him to watch out for Guo Shaocong's revenge.
Ye Qiu hadn't taken it seriously then. He never expected Guo Shaocong to act so quickly, hiring gangsters and even kidnapping his mother just to kill him.
Ye Qiu glanced over at Qian Jinglan. She cried out:
"Qiu'er, promise me — don't kill anyone. Don't do anything illegal, please."
"Alright." Ye Qiu let go.
Lei Hu collapsed to the ground like a pile of mud.
Ye Qiu untied the ropes around his mother's wrists and ankles, tidied her hair, and said guiltily:
"Mom, it's all my fault. I got you into this."
"I'm fine." With Ye Qiu's help, Qian Jinglan stood up.
Just then, rapid footsteps echoed from outside.
Two seconds later, Zhao Yun appeared.
He was dressed in black, his face cold and stern. Four burly men followed closely behind him.
Seeing Ye Qiu and Qian Jinglan unharmed, Zhao Yun let out a relieved breath.
He then scanned the room.
At the sight of a dozen unconscious men on the floor, Zhao Yun's face filled with shock. Before he could speak, Lei Hu scrambled over, knelt before him, and whimpered:
"Mr. Zhao, save me! Please!"
"What's going on?" Zhao Yun asked.
"It was him!" Lei Hu pointed at Ye Qiu. "This kid knocked out all my men and tried to kill me! Mr. Zhao, you have to help me!"
Zhao Yun didn't believe him for a second. "Ye Qiu? With his build? Knock out all of you?"
"It's true! I saw it with my own eyes! He broke my arm too!" Lei Hu insisted. "If you don't believe me, ask Young Master Guo."
Zhao Yun looked at Guo Shaocong, whose face had gone deathly pale. Lei Hu had no idea, but Guo Shaocong knew — Zhao Yun and Ye Qiu were already acquainted, and on good terms.
Is this how I die? Guo Shaocong trembled with terror.
Lei Hu didn't notice the look on Guo Shaocong's face and kept begging:
"Mr. Zhao, please —"
Bang!
Zhao Yun kicked Lei Hu to the ground.
"Mr. Zhao… why?" Lei Hu was confused. Why had Zhao Yun attacked him out of nowhere?
Zhao Yun said icily: "Ye Qiu is my brother. You dare lay a hand on him? You're asking to die!"
What? Ye Qiu is Mr. Zhao's brother? That's impossible!
He's just a bastard with no background!
Lei Hu's mind went completely blank.
"Brother Zhao, watch them for me. I'll be right back."
Ye Qiu nodded to Zhao Yun, then helped his mother walk outside.
Three minutes later, Ye Qiu returned alone.
"Little brother, what do you want to do with these two?" Zhao Yun asked.
Ye Qiu pointed at Lei Hu. "I was going to kill him, but he said he works for the Dragon King, so I held back. Is he really one of the Dragon King's men?"
"He hasn't been for a long time," Zhao Yun explained. "Lei Hu broke the gang's rules and refused to reform. Two years ago, he molested a woman in broad daylight and took photos of her. The woman was so humiliated she jumped off a building. For that, the Dragon King kicked him out of the gang for good."
"So he's just a scum bastard. The Dragon King won't mind if I kill him, right?"
"Not at all." Zhao Yun asked again. "What's your call?"
"Bury them alive."