Stronger with More Jobs

Chapter 651 - 284: True Redemption

Fang Qingyu looked at the ordinary face at the door, etched with deep wrinkles, someone he’d once encountered at the Old Soldier Tavern.

And above his head, those three glaring, scarlet characters: [???].

Even with his composure, he couldn’t help a slight start.

Old Master Hong Qitian... actually invited this person?!

Just to interrogate a few Tier Two scum.

This lineup... really seems to overestimate those beasts.

However, this astonishment was instantly replaced by a huge sense of relief.

With a presence above Tier Four personally taking action, there was absolutely no worry about extracting the truth.

"Thank you for the trouble."

Fang Qingyu stepped aside to clear the way, his voice low and solemn, "I haven’t asked for your name yet?"

The hunched old man strolled in with a cheerful demeanor, moving leisurely, as if just out for a post-meal walk.

He waved his hand casually, his voice carrying a hint of lazy rasp: "No need to be formal. A name is just a code, as for me... I’ve been on the ice sheet for so long, everybody calls me ’Nan Ji’."

Nan Ji?

Fang Qingyu silently noted this name, nodded, and asked no more.

Closing the courtyard door, he led this unfathomable elder towards the stairway to the underground training ground.

Inside the training ground, on the cold alloy floor.

Those dozen-odd desperadoes were bound by Shenxiao Arc, stiff and frozen like lambs waiting for the slaughter.

Still frozen in expressions of sheer terror.

Their eyes, bulging with fear, couldn’t even move.

Nanji Elder’s murky gaze swept over the row of "human statues" on the ground, his cheerful expression unchanged, as if he wasn’t seeing a group of vicious kidnappers, but simply a pile of roadside stones.

He didn’t even ask what Fang Qingyu wanted to interrogate about.

He just leisurely raised his calloused right hand.

With fingers spread, he casually waved in the direction where the dozen people were.

Buzz—!

A barely audible, light tremor swept through the air.

In that instant.

Soft, cool dots of light appeared out of thin air, like distant polar starlight, floating, as if drawn by an invisible wind, precisely flying towards each captor’s forehead.

These starlit specks were small and swift, and the moment they touched the skin.

They vanished silently into their skulls, like a drop of water into a sponge.

The next moment...

The dozen pairs of eyes, bloodshot from fear, spinning madly, instantly lost all their brightness.

Pupils dilated, becoming empty and vacuous.

As if their souls were instantaneously extracted, leaving only an empty husk.

The extreme fear and twisted expressions on their faces also froze and stiffened, like cheap wax figures.

The whole process was unbelievably fast.

Silent.

Yet it carried an eerie, powerful aura that made one’s heart tremble.

"Alright."

Nanji Elder lowered his hand as if dusting off a bit of dirt from his sleeve, turned to Fang Qingyu, with a calm tone, "In the next two hours, ask whatever you want, they’ll say it all. They absolutely won’t lie."

Fang Qingyu watched this incredible scene before him.

Despite being mentally prepared, his heart skipped a beat.

Indeed, the methods above Tier Four are truly profound!

"Okay! Thank you, elder!"

Fang Qingyu suppressed the shock in his heart, earnestly cupped his fists.

Nanji Elder grinned, showing a few sparse teeth: "It’s a small matter. I’m off for a walk, no need to see me out."

As the words fell, his hunched figure rippled like a reflection in water disturbed by a pebble, suddenly becoming blurry and transparent, eventually disappearing completely with no stir of the wind, as if he had never been there.

"Space Shifting? Or an even more profound method..."

Fang Qingyu’s eyes narrowed slightly, staring with contemplation at where the old man disappeared.

But soon, he refocused his mind.

Because now, there were more important matters at hand.

His gaze shifted to the dozen empty-eyed "husks" on the ground.

The cold intent to kill, no longer needing to hide.

...

Meanwhile, on Spine City’s street.

Red Maple Inn.

The lobby of the inn had already been cleared out, with Wei Banmeng and three others guarding the entrance and staircase, expressions solemn.

In all the rooms and the largest suite of the inn.

Scattered were the dozens of victims who had just begun to recover from the initial shock.

After journeying through the storms and a brief rest, they had escaped from that hellish ice cave, breathing in comparatively safe air once more.

Coupled with the silent protection from Wei Banmeng and the others and occasional comforting words.

The mental state of these Tier Two Grandmasters and Divine Chosen began to slowly recover.

Although their bodies remained weak, scarred, with eyes still haunted by lingering fear and humiliation, the vacant numbness had largely dissipated, replaced by a bewilderment after surviving calamity, suppressed anger, and deep concern for the future.

Among them, Lin Yu and three other male Grandmasters who had reached Tier Two Peak were in relatively better condition.

Among them was Zhang Meng, robust and reticent.

Chen Shan carried a resolute aura.

Li Yan appeared comparatively calm.

Together with Lin Yu, they formed the temporary core for the dozens, striving to calm others’ emotions.

Footsteps approached from the inn’s entrance.

Wei Banmeng and the three immediately looked over, only to see Fang Qingyu’s figure crossing the street and appearing at the door.

His face was exceptionally calm, revealing no hint of emotion.

But the faint chill surrounding him made those familiar with him shiver.

"Captain!"

Wei Banmeng stepped forward to greet him.

Fang Qingyu nodded, his gaze sweeping over his teammates, his voice low: "Let’s talk inside."