Chapter 198: Escape!

The huge commotion upstairs immediately alarmed everyone in the living room below.

Wan Shixuan continued to recline lazily on the sofa, unaffected, while the middle-aged man in a tailcoat behind him looked upwards.

The middle-aged man tilted his head and twitched his ears, and spoke for the first time, “Young master, someone has broken in upstairs and is currently engaging with our people.”

“How many are there, Uncle Wang?”

“Just one, and he seems quite skilled, rapidly closing in on us,” the middle-aged man replied, his voice steady and unfluctuating. “Would you like me to handle him?”

“Let the butler stay here to protect you, young master. I’ll deal with this intruder,” suggested another voice.

Blood Shadow, who had been sitting beside them, stood up, stretched, and a bloodthirsty glint shone from behind his mask, “No matter who he is, I’ll tear him to pieces.”

Filled with frustration and eager to prove himself in front of Wan Shixuan, Blood Shadow was determined to handle the intruder decisively.

“That’s fine, it’s all yours,” Wan Shixuan nonchalantly swirled his wine glass and waved his hand dismissively. “Take your men with you. Since Uncle Wang said the intruder is skilled, I doubt you can manage him alone.”

Blood Shadow internally seethed with rage, frustrated by Wan Shixuan’s casual demeanor.

After all, he was the leader of the notorious international underground organization, Dark Night, who had once wreaked havoc internationally, even assassinating several leaders of small nations. Yet now, he found himself reduced to acting as a mere enforcer for a scion of a wealthy family, having to endure being lectured without showing any discontent.

Only he could fully appreciate the bitterness of his current predicament.

“Follow me!”

Blood Shadow, not wanting to spend another second in front of Wan Shixuan, waved his hand fiercely and led a group of assassins up to the second floor of the villa.

As Blood Shadow ascended to the second floor, a huge shadow hurled toward him.

Reacting instinctively, Blood Shadow punched out, propelling the shadow away. He felt something was wrong the moment his fist made contact, but it was too late to withdraw.

The shadow, blasted several meters by Blood Shadow’s punch, hit the ground with a thud, twitched a few times, and then lay still in death.

This was an assassin from the Dark Night Order. His eyes were wide open in terror, his face locked in a frightful expression, and blood oozed from his nose, eyes, and ears. He had been killed instantly by Blood Shadow’s punch.

Blood Shadow’s face twitched, his brow furrowed deeply, and his expression behind the mask darkened to an extreme. He swept his gaze across the second floor, quickly assessing the situation, his pupils constricting sharply.

At the top of the stairs stood a young man with an ordinary appearance and indifferent eyes, looking toward him.

The young man wore a black T-shirt and trousers, looking utterly ordinary, much like anyone you might pass on the street.

The muscles on the young man’s exposed arms were smooth and well-defined. They were not as exaggerated as those of a bodybuilder, yet they seemed to be filled with boundless strength. His hands were wrapped in bandages, originally white but now soaked red with blood. It was unclear whether the blood was his own or someone else’s.

At the young man’s feet lay several mercenaries and assassins from the Dark Night Order, some with broken arms, others with broken legs. Their screams and moans echoed through the air.

Blood Shadow felt a sense of familiarity with the young man but couldn’t quite place where he had seen him before.

“Who are you?”

After posing the question, Blood Shadow signaled, prompting the assassins behind him to draw their guns, aiming at the young man at the stairway.

Lin Xiao flicked his toe, hoisting an assassin’s body with one hand to shield himself, and said with a smirk, “Who am I? You don’t recognize me anymore? Your Dark Night is truly gracious, forgetting even those who have invaded your stronghold.”

Lin Xiao’s words struck Blood Shadow like a bolt of thunder.

Blood behind his mask, Shadow’s eyes turned blood red, his teeth clenching audibly, his voice laden with boundless venom, “You’re the Night Emperor!”

The assassins behind Blood Shadow were also stirred, glaring at Lin Xiao with gritted teeth, as if they were ready to tear him limb from limb.

“Correct, it’s me.”

Facing the vicious glare of the assassins, Lin Xiao’s eyes were icy cold, the chill bone-deep. “I originally planned only to capture Wan Shixuan, but encountering you here is a fortunate twist. Since it’s such a coincidence, let’s end this once and for all. One year from today will be your Memorial Day.”

“You… how are you here?!”

Under his mask, Blood Shadow’s face went deathly pale, staring at Lin Xiao in utter disbelief, overwhelmed by fear.

‘Impossible! Impossible! How could this harbinger of doom be here? It can’t be!!’

Although Blood Shadow despised Lin Xiao, wishing he could die right then, reason told him he must run. He was no match for Lin Xiao.

Even though Lin Xiao was unarmed and despite his having over a dozen armed assassins, Blood Shadow knew deep down that all these were mere decorations.

In front of Lin Xiao’s godlike skills, these weapons were merely trash that could be kicked away effortlessly.

At this moment, Blood Shadow’s expression suddenly shifted. He pointed at Lin Xiao and shouted, “Fire! Fire!”

Then, he rapidly retreated, attempting to escape from the second floor of the villa.

Though Blood Shadow was driven by fear, his subordinates did not flee. These assassins were survivors who had been on other missions when Lin Xiao previously raided Dark Night’s stronghold.

They hadn’t witnessed Lin Xiao’s prowess themselves, having only heard that someone called the Night Emperor had significantly weakened Dark Night.

At Blood Shadow’s command, they fired without hesitation. The sound of gunfire was as dense as firecrackers, and bullets swarmed out, riddling the corpse shielding Lin Xiao with holes.

They believed that no matter how skilled, no one could survive such a dense volley of bullets.

If Blood Shadow, now fleeing downstairs, knew what they were thinking, he could only laugh bitterly. If the Night Emperor were so easy to handle, he would have perished without a grave during the raid on Dark Night’s stronghold.

Before being crippled by Lin Xiao, Dark Night was considered a second-tier entity in the international underworld, with a stronghold that was heavily guarded. It wasn’t just small arms they had at their disposal but heavy weaponry and even artillery as well.

And yet, Lin Xiao alone, with nothing but a single weapon, turned it into a massacre.