Chapter 42: Intense Clash! Narrow Escapes!

"Who are you people?" Zhou Quan looked down at Fu Qingshan and Qin Xue, his expression completely calm.

He glanced at Ni Hao.

Ni Hao surprised him slightly. To remain so stubborn with a blade at his throat and refuse to betray him earned a measure of respect.

"Special Operations Division Nine," Fu Qingshan said, eyeing Zhou Quan.

He spoke slowly, "A series of vicious crimes has recently occurred in Suian City. Four victims, including Weng Lin and Zheng Fei, all died in gruesome ways. Do you have anything to say?"

His sharp gaze roved over Zhou Quan, as if trying to pierce straight through him.

A flicker of realization crossed Zhou Quan's expression.

So they were from the authorities...

With a candid look, he openly and generously confessed to his crimes, "I killed them."

Zhou Quan had never thought of running away.

Though he hadn't committed the murders with his own hands, those deaths were inextricably linked to him!

He! Was the murderer!

Qin Xue stared into Zhou Quan's face, her brows tightly furrowed. "I read your file. You have an outgoing personality, an affluent family background, and excellent academic grades."

"Everyone speaks very highly of you."

"Why would you kill people, and in such cruel ways? Was it to pursue pleasure?"

Zhou Quan shook his head. "I'm sorry, but no comment."

His transaction with the Evil God was his greatest secret. Even on the verge of death, he would never reveal it to anyone.

He called out softly, "Li Muchi."

As the words fell, a small head poked out from the shadow at his feet.

"I'm here, Boss."

Li Muchi emerged from the shadow up to his waist. His voice sounded somewhat nervous, but his eyes held no trace of fear.

Zhou Quan took the Authority from inside his jacket.

He clicked off the safety, cocked the hammer, and handed the firearm to Li Muchi.

This gun had never been fired, and he didn't know its exact power, but anything produced by the Evil God was bound to be exceptional. He trusted the weapon wouldn't disappoint him.

"Help me protect ChangLe," he said flatly.

"Bad guys will only get to ChangLe over my dead body!" Li Muchi declared solemnly.

The Authority was far too big for his tiny hands, but gripping the handle with both hands, he held it with unwavering steadiness.

"Go." Zhou Quan nodded slightly.

Li Muchi swiftly sank back into the shadow, disappearing without a trace.

Watching this, Fu Qingshan frowned.

Tunnelling?

It didn't really look like it—there were no bulges on the ground...

Looking down at Fu Qingshan, Zhou Quan said sincerely, "If you fight me today, you'll definitely be the ones to die. Come back another day."

He had just completed a divination.

The events in the divination had yet to unfold, and he even had a role to play in it himself.

These two people from Division Nine would certainly fail if they tried to arrest him today. If they fought him to the bitter end, they might even lose their lives here.

He really didn't want that.

Yet, to Fu Qingshan's ears, these words sounded like the height of arrogance and provocation.

"Such big words!" Fu Qingshan's eyes flared with anger. "I'd like to see for myself whether your mouth is harder or my blade is!"

He moved the sabre away from Ni Hao's neck and pointed it squarely at Zhou Quan.

Zhou Quan sighed softly.

From the bottom of his heart, he respected the two people in front of him, because in his eyes, they were brave warriors who ventured into the tiger's den purely to solve the case!

But asking him to surrender and willingly march to his death?

He couldn't do that...

Because if he died, his father and mother would have to die too, and with all three of them gone, his adorable younger sister, who suffered from somnolence, would surely meet a grim fate!

He could not die!

The only ones who could die were the people who came to arrest him!

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Accompanied by the sound of tearing clothing, snowy white fur grew at a terrifying speed, and his muscles and bones expanded wildly.

In the blink of an eye, a massive, hill-like werewolf stood in the exact spot Zhou Quan had occupied.

He blocked out the sunlight, casting a huge patch of shadow across the living room floor that enveloped both Fu Qingshan and Qin Xue.

Zhou Quan lowered his head.

His deep pupils projected a dangerous glare, and massive claws hung at his sides like razor-sharp guillotines.

A hazy sacred light drifted down from above his head, making him look like an attendant of the gods, mighty and inviolable.

"Careful!" Fu Qingshan braced himself as if facing a formidable enemy.

Zhou Quan vanished from the spot.

He reappeared behind Qin Xue, his eyes filled with guilt, yet his movements were utterly ruthless.

His razor-sharp claws swept horizontally forward, and Qin Xue was completely unprepared.

Clang!

Just as Qin Xue was about to be reduced to mincemeat, a dark cyan sabre slanted down, blocking the vicious claw strike.

Metallic ringing! Sparks flew in all directions!

"So it's a werewolf who has awakened the teleportation technique." Fu Qingshan gripped the sabre tightly with both hands, his arms trembling slightly as a hint of wariness crept into his eyes.

Zhou Quan remained silent.

Realizing what had happened a beat too late, Qin Xue dashed forward, twisting her body at the same time to loose an arrow at Zhou Quan.

Whoosh!

The arrow embedded itself in the floorboards, its fletching vibrating violently.

Qin Xue froze.

Zhou Quan had vanished into thin air once more, and following right behind was the shadow looming over her and the roaring wind whistling at the back of her head!

In an instant, time seemed to slow down.

Qin Xue opened her mouth, terror washing over her face.

...

Zhao Shuqin was scaling the exterior wall of the villa, using his hands and feet with the agile fluidity of a gecko.

He peered through the windows, checking every single room one by one.

To prevent a protracted battle, he needed to find Zhou Quan's family and use them as leverage to force Zhou Quan to give up his resistance.

Yet the house was so vast that he couldn't find his target for the longest time.

He muttered to himself, "Rich people are so annoying. Why do they need a house with so many rooms? Don't they get lost inside their own home?"

Suddenly, a lively flash of pink caught his eye.

He stared closely.

Inside a warm, pink-toned room stood a large snow-white bed, upon which lay a little girl, sleeping so peacefully she looked like a little princess from a fairytale.

"Haha, found her!"

Energized, Zhao Shuqin struck the window hard, shattering the glass into countless fragments that rained all over the floor.

He vaulted into the room and strode over to the bed.

Zhou Changle was still fast asleep, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly as if she were having a pleasant dream.

"What a cute little girl."

Gazing at Zhou Changle's small face, Zhao Shuqin couldn't help but sigh, "She's so cute. I wish she were my sister."

"She's sleeping right through such a loud commotion. Is it because of that somnolence disorder? How pitiful."

Zhao Shuqin stretched out his hands, preparing to pick Zhou Changle up. But the moment he extended his arms, he caught sight of a tiny extra shadow on the floor.

In a split second, every hair on his body stood on end. Reacting as if he'd been electrocuted, he jerked backward and leaped, plastering himself against the wall at the far end of the room.

Thud!

Accompanied by the crisp sound of a gunshot, a milky-white stream of light plummeted down and struck the floorboards beside the bed.

BOOM!!!!!

It was as if a heavy-duty truck had plunged straight from the ceiling; a teeth-grinding sound of fracturing wood burst from beneath the floorboards, and a spiderweb of cracks frantically spread, covering the majority of the room in the blink of an eye.

"What the fuck..."

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Zhao Shuqin's forehead.

He looked up and saw a little boy clinging to the ceiling.

The boy had half his torso protruding out of the ceiling itself, holding a pure white handgun in both hands as he began turning the barrel toward him.

Alarm bells clanged wildly in Zhao Shuqin's mind, and he whipped his hand back, hurling a flying knife.

The throwing knife moved as fast as lightning!

Before the little boy could react, his eyes widened as a jet of blood spattered from his throat...