Chapter 432: The One Behind

Just before the dagger touched his neck, Lin Xiao reached out and grabbed it, snatching it from the man’s hand. With a clench of his fingers, he crushed the half-length blade into a lump of scrap metal.

“Tell me who sent you? Wan Shixuan? Jiang Shiliu? Or that mysterious organization, the Purifiers?”

These were all people Lin Xiao had recently offended, and who had the means to hire someone to assassinate him.

He casually tossed the now-deformed dagger aside and coldly stared at the man in front of him.

“You’d best be sensible and not force me to use methods you can’t withstand.”

“If I tell you, will you spare my life?” The man’s face twitched as he sneered.

“No. I have no habit of letting enemies go, but I can give you a quick and painless death,” Lin Xiao said flatly, with no interest in lying. “You’re going to die today either way, the only difference is how.”

“Since you won’t spare me, why should I answer your questions? If I die, you won’t live long either.” The man took a few steps back, a cruel and savage smile tugging at his lips. “This assassination was only the beginning. As long as you live, the killings won’t stop. And not just you, everyone close to you will die. Pray. Fear. Beg. I’ll be waiting for you in hell.”

After unleashing his curses, the man leaped off the rooftop without hesitation, letting out a manic laugh as he fell.

“Hahaha—”

But he hadn’t laughed more than a few times before his voice suddenly cut off, like someone had seized his throat.

A steel-like arm reached from the rooftop like a dragon’s claw, grabbing his calf and forcibly hauling him back up.

“You don’t get to die without my permission.”

Lin Xiao’s eyes gleamed with icy ruthlessness. Looking down at the man from above, he suddenly raised his foot and stomped, breaking the man’s other leg.

“Hiss…”

The man’s body convulsed, his face instantly turning deathly pale, cold sweat beading all over. Yet he gritted his teeth and held back his screams, glaring venomously at Lin Xiao from the ground.

“Judging by your style, I can guess who sent you. That mysterious group, the Purifiers, right? Avenging those two killers from before?”

Ignoring the man’s suddenly widened eyes, Lin Xiao spoke to himself. “I wasn’t even looking for you people, but you came to me. That’s fine. It saves me the trouble.”

With that, Lin Xiao squatted down, stomped on the man’s arm, then clenched his fist and slammed it down on the man’s hand. Lin Xiao smashed the man’s entire palm to a pulp, like a crushed tomato. Blood splattered in all directions, mixed with white fragments of bone.

“Ugh…”

The man’s eyes bulged, and a guttural sound escaped his throat. No longer able to bear the indescribable pain, he began thrashing violently. His remaining arm flailed, trying to break free from Lin Xiao’s restraint.

Lin Xiao pressed one hand on the man’s chest. Just a single hand, yet it pinned him down like a mountain, leaving him unable to move an inch.

“This is only the beginning. I’ve got a hundred more ways to make you beg for death.”

Raising his blood-soaked fist, Lin Xiao let the crimson droplets drip onto the ground like blooming red flowers.

“I don’t want to torture you. Just tell me what I want to know, and I’ll give you a quick death.”

The man opened his mouth wide, fear and despair finally flashing in his eyes. He let out a bitter laugh. “Fine. Ask your questions, I’ll tell you everything. But even if you know, so what? You’re still going to die.”

“No need to worry about that,” Lin Xiao said as he sat cross-legged beside the man. “Was it the Purifiers who sent you?”

“That’s right. You killed two of our operatives and caused the mission to fail. So the leader sent me to eliminate you.” Once he decided to speak, the man answered with surprising frankness. “I thought it would be an easy task. I didn’t expect to underestimate your strength. Dying by your hand… I suppose I deserve it.”

“How did you identify me?”

“Hmph. Our organization’s power is beyond your imagination. Every move you make is under our watch. Finding you was child’s play,” the man said proudly.

“Heh. If your so-called organization is so powerful, why are you the one in my hands?” Lin Xiao’s casual retort left the man speechless. “Tell me the truth. Don’t test my patience.”

“We hacked the police database and found surveillance footage near the incident site. You were seen in the footage. Even though we couldn’t be sure you were the killer, just being a suspect was enough. Better to kill a thousand wrongly than let one go. This is the Purifiers’ creed.”

“Where are your comrades?”

“What, planning to go after them? Hahaha. If you want to walk into death, I’ll generously show you the road to the underworld…”

After finishing the questioning, Lin Xiao decisively twisted the man’s neck, killing him painlessly.

He didn’t leave right away. Sitting where he was, he lowered his head in thought. Flames of rage slowly ignited in his calm and deep eyes.

He ripped open his shirt, revealing his muscular, well-proportioned torso. Eight sharply defined abdominal muscles looked as if they had been carved by blade and axe. But on his perfect V-shaped back, near the scapula, there was a finger-sized bloody hole.

Strangely enough, a wound this severe would’ve rendered any ordinary person unconscious from blood loss, let alone still standing. Yet on Lin Xiao’s body, it seemed to have no effect. Though it bled a little, it wasn’t much compared to the size of the wound.

Lin Xiao flexed his body, his muscles trembling gently. His bones cracked and popped, and his internal energy surged through his body. As the muscles on his back contracted, the bleeding stopped immediately.

This didn’t mean the wound healed. Lin Xiao simply used internal energy to seal the blood vessels around it. While the wound didn’t affect him much, the persistent bleeding was uncomfortable.

After stopping the bleeding, Lin Xiao got dressed again and searched the man’s corpse. He found a bone token and a mask.

The token had the word ‘Black’ engraved on its front, revealing that this man was a Black-level operative within the Purifiers, on the same level as the two killers Lin Xiao had previously encountered. But in terms of danger, this man far exceeded them.