Chapter 218: A Small Space Becomes a Hostile Nation

Chapter 218: Within a Square Inch, Every Man an Enemy Nation

Hongya Mountain Copper Tower, Listening Wind Pavilion.

Jin Shenghuo, having just departed the Yellow Millet Dream, hadn't even managed to voluntarily inhale a breath of the mundane world's air before a sudden voice from behind startled him.

"Out already?"

Sweat rapidly seeped from the fine pores of his bionic skin, vying to stream down Jin Shenghuo's layered, undulating fat face, finally dripping onto the silk robes at his shoulders, swallowed silently.

A hungry wolf at your shoulder—do not turn back.

Jin Shenghuo dared not move a muscle now, terrified that the slightest twitch would enrage the person behind him.

Thoughts raced through his mind; a moment later, his taut body softened slightly. "Bro, can I ask how you got in?"

"What do you mean?"

Jin Shenghuo slowly drew a deep breath, striving to suppress the sound of the mechanical heart churning in his chest, a smile on his lips: "Though this safe house of mine is in the Hongya Mountain Copper Tower, it cost nearly ten million treasure notes. For you to just waltz in like this... I really ought to know where the security flaw lies, otherwise how do I go back to the seller for an explanation, hmm?"

Jin Shenghuo's question was crafty—probing the terrain while borrowing momentum to intimidate.

But the person behind him didn't seem intent on concealing their identity either, giving the answer straight.

"Picking locks and forcing doors—besides the Yin-Yang Sequence, the Celestial Masters of Longhu Mountain are also quite adept at it."

"Ah, so it's Master Li."

Jin Shenghuo feigned sudden realization, laughing: "Look, why don't we talk face to face? Turning your back on a guest... that's not very polite, is it?"

"As you wish."

*Screech!*

Jin Shenghuo seemed distracted at the moment; as he shifted the rosewood armchair beneath him, the chair legs scraped a harsh screech against the floor.

His movement paused. Seeing no reaction from the person behind, he continued rotating his obese torso.

Li Jun lounged in the chair, hands crossed over his abdomen, one leg crossed over the other, gazing at the cautious, comical Wind General before him.

"This look of yours... doesn't quite match the Wind General He Zangjia described, the one who commanded the winds and clouds."

"A man must learn to read the room, know the times; otherwise, he won't live long."

Jin Shenghuo perched on the chair's edge, a fawning smile on his fat face.

Li Jun spoke coolly: "Since you're a talented man who knows the times, why did you pull the stupid stunt of dismantling the bridge after crossing the river?"

"Master Li, this is surely a misunderstanding."

Jin Shenghuo wore a helpless expression: "From start to finish, I never had the intention to dismantle the bridge. It's just that the brothers under me had too strong an aversion. If I forced it, the 'Card Faction' would fall apart immediately."

"But no matter how you slice it, we were in the wrong. That's why we offered the old nightclub site as compensation, isn't it? That place is a goldmine location; daily profit is guaranteed."

"Take a man's money, you should eliminate his disasters."

"Can't eliminate the disaster, so I'm returning it in full."

Li Jun's brows and eyes were ice. "No honor?"

Jin Shenghuo was sweating profusely, a bitter smile on his face: "Staying alive is priority."

"Since every word is about staying alive, then at this life-or-death juncture, why are you still unwilling to spit it out?"

Jin Shenghuo's heart sank violently, but his face showed only bewilderment.

"What do you mean, Master Li?"

"You wanted to stall for time, I gave you the chance. You wanted to hide the mechanical heart's humming, I pretended not to notice. The reason you can still speak now is because I want to hear just who is pulling your strings from behind."

Li Jun shook his head lightly. "But now it seems... you still don't want to live."

Seeing his every thought laid bare, Jin Shenghuo's face didn't show a shred of embarrassment.

After all, if he didn't have this talent for letting spit dry on his face, he would have died on the road leaving the Siamese Sinner Zone long ago, and never entered the Imperial heartland, never set foot on this Hongya Mountain where every inch of land is gold.

*Hum.*

Jin Shenghuo simply stopped suppressing the mechanical sounds in his chest, scooted his butt back into the chair, gripped the armrests, his fat head leaning slightly forward.

Now, not a trace of flattery remained on his face; instead, he looked Li Jun up and down with great interest.

He had seen Li Jun's image on the Qingcheng Group's bounty before, but this was the first time seeing the man in the flesh.

"Right before I went offline, Vice General Zhao Tong asked me a question."

Jin Shenghuo's heavy eyelids nearly stuck to his lashes, mocking light shooting from the slit-like eyes. "He asked me if doing this today would drive you dogs to jump the wall in desperation. Turns out he hit the nail on the head."

"What a pity though. You warriors may have fallen to this state, but that arrogant, unyielding streak in your genes hasn't dissipated a bit. You actually let me activate my mechanical heart instead of striking a killing blow."

Jin Shenghuo sighed. "The Hongya Mountain Guard Mountain Guards will be here any minute. If you run now, you might still have a sliver of a chance."

But contrary to Jin Shenghuo's expectations, faced with his mockery and threats, Li Jun remained composed, not even lowering his crossed leg.

"So, are you done with the nonsense?"

Jin Shenghuo froze, then stared at Li Jun, grinning savagely: "Still want to kill me? My mechanical heart is active now; we're both Sequence Seven. What makes you think you can still kill me?"

The words barely fell when Li Jun's ten fingers, clasped over his abdomen, suddenly spread.

Just that one movement nearly made Jin Shenghuo explode into violence.

But the next moment, he found Li Jun showed no sign of attacking, merely extending a single finger before his own face, shaking it gently.

"Fatty, ever heard a saying?"

The question came abruptly. Jin Shenghuo blurted out instinctively: "What?"

"Within a square inch, every man is an enemy nation."

*Bang!*

Li Jun's figure vanished from its spot, leaving behind flying wood splinters and drifting blue brick dust.

The sudden neural spike made Jin Shenghuo feel as if time around him had frozen, the frames in his vision playing out in slow motion.

Alas, he could only just barely shift the disdain in his pupils to terror; his mechanical body couldn't react in the slightest.

His entire world was forcibly occupied by the approaching fist peak.

*Boom!*

Jin Shenghuo, along with the chair beneath him, was driven into the ground by a single punch from Li Jun.

*Crash!* Shattered stones and mechanical parts pattered down.

Li Jun pulled a twisted, withered head from the pit below, a sparking mechanical heart dangling from the viscous, white-fluid-coated spine beneath.

*Hum... Hum...*

This mechanical heart, having just climbed to an overclocked state, now sounded like a broken bellows, emitting a intermittent, harsh, grating noise.

Li Jun lifted the head to eye level.

Beneath the cracked skin lay curved mechanical facial bones; a pair of prosthetic eyes had been squeezed from their sockets by the immense force, pink gums flipped outside the lips, not a single tooth visible.

If an outsider were present now, they would never believe this head, more wretched than a street beggar's, belonged to the once high-and-mighty 'Wind General' of the Sichuan-Chongqing Gambling Association.

You set a Hongmen Banquet; I flip the dining table.

When a man of intellect crosses paths with a desperate outlaw, such an outcome is only to be expected.

"I shall ask you but once more: in whose service do you truly labor, the Honghu or the Jinlou?"

Alas, at this moment, Jin Shenghuo remained naught but a head and a mechanical heart. Though a cultivator of the Weapon Path, he yet clung to a final breath, yet speech was no longer within his power.

"If you mean to interrogate him, then drag him off and apply the torture. Why smash him into this sorry state with a single blow?"

The voice belonged to another.

Li Jun turned at the sound, only to spy Wang Xie—unseen for so long—crouched upon the window lattice of the pavilion, regarding him with an expression of exasperated disappointment.