Chapter 170: Life and Death Struggle

Around nine-thirty, Wang Erjun was the first to leave. He had come today solely to meet Huang Lan. As future partners, they naturally needed to build a rapport. As for the rest of the guests—apart from Jiang Chen—he thought nothing of them.

"President Huang, I'm very much looking forward to our partnership. I hope you'll look out for me. Compared to you, I'm just an uncultured boor. If you ever need anything, just say the word." He offered his hand, and Huang Lan shook it out of pure politeness.

Feeling the soft warmth against his fingertips, Wang Erjun nearly grew aroused. He reluctantly let go, exchanged a few more pleasantries with Jiang Chen, and hurried out.

'Why is he in such a rush to leave? Have I been exposed?' I thought. The room remained filled with cheerful laughter. I glanced inside, genuinely unsure how these successful people managed it. They were clearly just using each other, yet they chatted away like long-lost friends.

As I peeked in, Ye Bing—who had been staring blankly at the floor this whole time—suddenly looked toward the window. Our eyes nearly met.

I instantly ducked out of sight and hurried away.

'What a familiar gaze. Was that him?' Ye Bing wondered. She turned her head to look at Jiang Chen, who was deep in an animated conversation with Huang Lan, then suddenly picked up her wine glass and took a heavy gulp. She pursed her lips. "Why is this wine so bitter? I must really be drunk."

I pulled down the brim of my hat, untied the Black Embroidered Cloth Bag, and took the eyeball into my hand. Keeping my eyes locked on the exit, I slipped into the crowd.

Before long, Wang Erjun emerged from the house. Dressed in a crisp suit, he kept rubbing the right hand that had just shaken Huang Lan's, seemingly still savoring the sensation.

Wang Erjun kept glancing back over his shoulder, watching that graceful silhouette through the floor-to-ceiling windows. His absent-mindedness gave me the perfect opening.

With my hands in my pockets, I casually walked past him, seamlessly slipping the Black Eyeball into his suit pocket without a trace.

'Old Master, this is as far as I can help you,' I thought. 'But I hope you can restrain yourself. Wang Erjun is the guilty one; it has nothing to do with his wife and children.' Upon leaving the Jiang Family Villa, I had assumed Wang Erjun would head straight home. According to my research, he was a family man.

But contrary to my expectations, he hadn't gone far after his hasty exit. He didn't even drive. Instead, he walked a few dozen meters down the street and slipped into another seemingly empty villa on the opposite side.

Ten minutes after he went inside, I quietly approached. A plaque at the entrance bore two words: Wang Residence.

'Could this be his private villa?' I was a little surprised as I looked at the sprawling, standalone estate.

According to my investigation, Wang Erjun's wife and parents all lived in a standard apartment. For him to secretly buy a luxury villa on the side was obviously highly unusual.

I circled the perimeter. After bypassing the security cameras and guards, I vaulted over the wall.

The property was massive and came with its own private garden. The doors and windows on the ground floor were all locked tight, but a light was on up on the second floor, and the window was wide open.

'I'd better go up and take a look. As soon as the Old Master kills Wang Erjun, I'll grab the eyeball and leave.' The Black Eyeball housed a Fate Ghost. If I failed to retrieve it in time, it would likely be bagged as evidence by the police when they arrived to investigate.

With that in mind, I put on a face mask and a pair of disposable gloves. I found a good angle to climb and scaled the wall up to the second-floor balcony.

Crouching in the darkness, I carefully peeked through a gap in the curtains.

The scene inside left nothing to the imagination. A man and a woman were rolling around on a massive bed that could easily fit four or five people.

'He rushed all the way back just to do this?' Wang Erjun had once again hit a new low in my eyes. I listened to the unspeakable sounds echoing through the room.

Perhaps it was a lingering habit from my old days working infidelity cases, but I instinctively pulled out my phone and started recording.

The two inside were completely oblivious. After their intense bout of passion, Wang Erjun was evidently still unsatisfied. He wrapped both hands around the woman's neck and squeezed until her face turned flushed and red.

"Tell me! What is your name?" he demanded.

"My name is Lu Tianxiao."

"That's not your name anymore. From now on, you're Huang Lan!"

Like a savage beast, Wang Erjun grabbed the woman by the shoulders. "Say it! What is your name?"

The woman seemed reluctant. She struggled weakly. "Brother Jun, you're hurting

me."

Wang Erjun showed absolutely no pity. His hands locked around her throat once more. "Fucking say it! What is your name?!"

"Huang... Huang Lan."

Hearing her answer, Wang Erjun grew even more frantic and violent, slapping the woman's delicate body with his coarse hands. "Louder! Tell me, what is your name?"

Crying out in pain, the woman shrieked into the empty room, "My name is Huang Lan! I am Huang Lan!"

The two of them were completely engrossed in their twisted roleplay. Neither of them noticed the Black Eyeball rolling out of Wang Erjun's suit pocket and onto the floor.

'What is the Old Master going to do?' I wondered. I stopped recording and quietly played the role of a bystander.

The eyeball rolled under the bed. A moment later, the two on the mattress froze.

"Brother Jun, please spare me," she whimpered.

"Shut up. Did you hear that?" Wang Erjun pushed Lu Tianxiao aside and pressed his ear against the mattress. "It sounds like it's coming from under the bed."

"Could it be a rat?" Lu Tianxiao scrambled to the headboard, clutching the blanket to her chest. She seemed terrified of the very idea.

Wang Erjun threw on a coat and leaned over to peer under the bed. He swept his gaze across the floor and suddenly spotted something in the dark corner—a black object resembling a marble, just out of the light's reach.

"What the hell is that?" The longer he stared at it, the more uneasy he felt. He reached out to pull it out, but the moment his hand dipped under the frame, a flurry of long, black hair erupted from the Black Eyeball and instantly coiled tight around his arm.

"What the—" Before he could even react, a massive force violently yanked him off the mattress. As his head was dragged beneath the bedframe, he finally saw it: at some point, the entire underside of the bed had become thoroughly overgrown with black hair!

"Help! Help me!" His thrashing hand reached out from underneath. The woman lunged to grab it, but she was too late. A grown man was dragged entirely under the bed.

Dead silence fell over the bedroom. A full two or three seconds passed before the woman finally let out a blood-curdling scream. She scrambled for her phone to call the police, but I had already been waiting. I shoved the window wide open and vaulted into the room.

"Who are you?!" she shrieked, the color draining from her face. I snatched the phone from her hand, tossed it aside, and crouched down to search for the Black Eyeball. But out of nowhere, things went violently wrong. A bone-piercing gust of wind howled through the open window right behind me!

"Who's there?!" I threw myself forward, but a blade slashed a bloody gash across my back. The unseen assailant had aimed a lethal strike, clearly intending to kill me.

Blood poured from the wound. Thankfully, my five senses had been greatly heightened by practicing the Profound Truth Mental Method, or I would have already perished beneath that blade.

"Zimao?" A chill gripped my heart as I looked at the young man who had suddenly appeared before me.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. I had been so busy plotting against Wang Erjun, I hadn't realized that Zimao had been tailing me this entire time, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike me down.

"A pity. I was just a hair off." He stood there clutching his Precept Blade. His eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was strangely twisted.

I had no weapons on me, so my only option was to put some distance between us. "So you're the one who was tailing me this afternoon. Did Lu Xing send you?"

"Don't ask questions you know the answer to. You murdered my brother, sabotaged the Buddha Project, and fought us for the Eight Characters Divine Fiends. Any one of those offenses is reason enough to hack you into a thousand pieces!" Zimao's voice seethed with bottomless hatred. His current state was wildly unstable. He looked like an athlete who had overdosed on stimulants; his explosive strength had been pushed to terrifying heights, but it was actively burning away his own lifespan.

"The one who killed your brother was the Primal Destiny Divine Fiends. I was just defending myself. And I've never even heard of this Buddha Project, so how could I have sabotaged it?" I raised my guard. Truthfully, the frantic Zimao standing before me wasn't my biggest concern. What truly terrified me was the possibility that Lu Xing might be lurking nearby. That cunning serial killer was the most brutal, elusive criminal I had ever encountered.

"Still trying to make excuses? I'm going to slaughter you right here, right now, and offer your head to comfort my brother in the afterlife!"

With that, Zimao charged at me with his blade. His speed was terrifying. I grabbed a nearby coat rack to parry his strikes, but he rapidly backed me into a corner.

I didn't know what wicked arts he was using, but he couldn't even feel it when I landed a solid punch on him. His body seemed utterly numb to pain, and he just kept attacking with the mindless frenzy of a wild beast.

'Damn it, what's wrong with this guy?!' I thought. 'His strength is easily two or three times mine, and he's completely outspeeding me.'

I couldn't run, and I couldn't outfight him. Staring at the bulging blue veins across Zimao's hideous face, my brow slowly furrowed.