Chapter 1617: Yet Another Life Lost

Chapter 1617 -1631: Yet Another Life Lost

Upon seeing Lin Mu, his expression noticeably grew excited, his lips trembling as he tried to speak, but what came out was an unconscious chuckle.

“Damn, just an hour and he’s transformed again?” Cheng Xu cursed, unable to hide his panic.

Lin Mu furrowed his brows and said, “What’s going on, who is he?”

“Big brother, you’ve seen him before!”

Cheng Xu steadied himself, swallowed his saliva with a wry smile, and said, “He’s the boy who was with Liu A Zhen a few days ago, named Zhao Ming.”

“Liu A Zhen?” Lin Mu blinked, and the image of the punk girl with yellow hair quickly surfaced in his mind, followed by the thought of the two extras trailing her, “Oh come on, you’re not joking, right?” Although he hadn’t connected the dots, Lin Mu clearly remembered that the two kids were about seventeen, full of youthful exuberance and in the prime of their lives, surely not related to the old man before him?

“Honestly, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it’s real.”

Cheng Xu swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Last night, when Liu A Zhen brought Zhao Ming to him, apart from being weak, Zhao Ming’s appearance hadn’t changed much. Initially, Cheng Xu thought they were just visiting, so he arranged a private box and warmly received them. But it wasn’t long before a group of burly strongmen burst onto the scene, their target clearly the two kids.

Faced with such a situation, Cheng Xu naturally had to step in. However, the strongmen didn’t respect Bai Wuchang at all. After a round of conflict, seven or eight of Cheng Xu’s men were injured, and the strongmen didn’t gain any advantage either, leaving in a hurry after issuing threats.

Back in the private box, Liu A Zhen told Cheng Xu that the two had offended someone in the underworld and were seeking protection. Cheng Xu, knowing that her relationship with Lin Mu was ‘not ordinary,’ decided to let them stay at the Supreme International Club, thinking he’d deal with it the next day. But he hadn’t expected to wake up and find Zhao Ming aged beyond recognition. Only then did Cheng Xu realize the seriousness of the situation and quickly called Lin Mu.

“When I moved him to the darkroom, his hair was just gray, but now…”

Lin Mu’s eyebrows tightened into a knot and interrupted, “Enough, where’s that little girl? Bring her to me.”

“Sigh, my carelessness.” Cheng Xu sighed regretfully, “When moving Zhao Ming this morning, he saw his appearance, went mad, and injured Ah Zhen. Before you arrived, I dispatched a brother to take Ah Zhen to the hospital for treatment.”

“Get me a few silver needles.”

Lin Mu heard this and asked no more questions. A few minutes later, Cheng Xu arrived with an acupuncture box. Lin Mu knelt in front of Zhao Ming and inserted three silver needles into the top of his head. Zhao Ming’s body trembled, and the small blue spots on his skin miraculously faded. Cheng Xu was about to speak and flatter him when Zhao Ming’s body suddenly deflated like a punctured ball, rapidly shriveling to skin and bones in less than ten seconds, slumping feebly to the floor.

“Big brother, what’s happening to him?”

“He’s dead.”

Lin Mu’s wrist trembled as he picked up the three silver needles, which had turned an eerie blue. Closing his eyes, his expression kept changing, and after a while, he sighed and explained, “His vitality was long gone; his survival until now was solely due to the polluted Essence and True Qi in his body…”

As he spoke, Lin Mu’s brows furrowed tightly. The number of people capable of channeling Essence and True Qi in the world was exceedingly rare, and in Wancheng, it was possibly only himself, because Lin Mu’s Diamond Sutra had reached the Ninth Layer of the White Qi Realm. The so-called White Qi is a kind of Life Qi, which is essentially the body’s Essence and True Qi!

Zhao Ming’s sudden acquisition of this power, albeit polluted Primordial Qi, clearly suggested someone used Shifting Flowers and Grafting Wood techniques… It didn’t take much effort for Lin Mu to think of the mysterious Little Monk atop West Peak.

“No blood, bones blackened, huh, that Monk Huizhi truly turned this child into a Medicine Man.”

Watching Lin Mu attentively dissect the corpse, Cheng Xu suddenly felt the urge to relieve himself, just as he was about to say something to relieve the tension, his pocket vibrated with a phone call.

“…Brother, we’ve got trouble.”

Putting down the phone, Cheng Xu looked like someone with impending constipation about to relieve himself, his expression conflicted and pained.

Indeed, for someone who lives neither fully underground nor in the open, Bai Wuchang dreaded encountering those unmanageable yet unavoidable spoiled brats, like Qi Junwen, who appeared today. He had no real skills, spent all day bird-walking, dog-fighting, hitting on girls at clubs, or picking fights and causing trouble—an idle troublemaker in every sense.

Yet, despite that, this guy strolls onto the street, where few dare provoke him. Why? Because he has good genes—meaning not intelligence, but a super father at the Public Security Bureau. In this era, where making your father rather than yourself famous is the rage, whoever has a successful father is truly unbeatable!

Not convinced, right? Try causing trouble if you dare; it’s easy, just head straight to the detention center! The folks there are particularly fond of playing ‘hide-and-seek’ games.

Cheng Xu isn’t entirely barefoot with no resources; he has his businesses and a crew to feed, so when facing Qi Junwen, he can only cautiously play the submissive part. Today, however, the situation is undeniably unique.

When Cheng Xu arrived, the hall was already on edge, with a palpable tension akin to ready-to-ignite gunpowder. Two brothers lay on the floor with swollen faces, obviously beaten recently. Several serving girls stood disheveled, and one had blood on her face, seemingly hit with a beer bottle. Another seven or eight crew members glared angrily from behind, ready to burst into rage while pushing and shoving the burly men.

“What do you think you’re doing? Everyone, stop this!”

Seeing the situation, Cheng Xu couldn’t help but twitch his eyelids fiercely and hurriedly descended the stairs.

“Big brother, they have gone too far. They keep changing box rooms, nitpicking the girls, and when Liu Zi and Ah San tried to calm them, they barely spoke a word before beaten unconscious…” a punk-haired youngster angrily exclaimed.

Cheng Xu frowned, intending to reprimand them with a cold voice, when a sinister voice suddenly sounded from the crowd.

“Bai Wuchang, such power! Only been the leader for a few days and already disregarding me, even your subordinates dare challenge me now, huh, nice. If you continue like this for some years, Wancheng might truly become your backyard garden, eh?”

A plump young man with small eyes and a flat nose swaggered forward. A cigarette dangled from his mouth, he wore branded clothes with a thick gold chain around his neck, exuding the full vibe of a nouveau riche.

Cheng Xu took a deep breath, forced a smile of flattery and said, “Young Master Qi, you jest. I merely run a small business to earn a living. If there’s anything we’ve done wrong, feel free to mention it, we’re all friends here, no need to harm the harmony.”