strictlysupreme Chapter 44 The Wang Family's Conspiracy Revealed
Chapter 44 The Wang Family's Conspiracy Revealed
The last rays of the setting sun had faded, and the alleyway had darkened. Withered vines climbed the mottled walls on both sides, the ground was an uneven cement path, and the few streetlights were not yet lit, with only a faint light filtering in from the alley entrance. The air was filled with the damp smell of rain, mixed with a faint rusty odor—the smell of blood splattered during the fight.
Lin Chen walked slowly to Black Tiger, his steps unhurried, each step making a soft rustling sound as he stepped on the blood and gravel. His black sneakers left faint footprints on the ground, his shadow stretched long by the last rays of sunlight at the alley entrance. He looked down at Black Tiger, his gaze icy cold, as if he were looking at an inanimate object. His foot was planted on Black Tiger's wrist, the wrist where he held the knife—the veins on that wrist were bulging, the tiger's mouth was split open, and several fingers were twisted unnaturally, clearly broken by Lin Chen's palm strike.
Black Tiger lay on his back on the cold, damp ground, his back against the wall, panting heavily. His two henchmen were already unconscious; one lay beside a trash can, the other half-leaning against the wall, blood still seeping from the corner of his mouth. Black Tiger's left shoulder was dislocated by Lin Chen's star power, his entire left arm hanging limply at his side, his forehead covered in cold sweat from the pain. He tried to pull his wrist out from under Lin Chen's foot, but the foot was as if cast in iron, completely immovable.
"Tell me, what other plans does Wang Hao have?" Lin Chen's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable sense of pressure, echoing through the narrow alley. His eyes narrowed slightly, and a flash of silver starlight flickered deep within his pupils.
"I...I don't know anything!" Black Tiger gritted his teeth, blood seeping from his gums, and forced himself to speak. His voice trembled, and his eyes darted around, clearly weighing the pros and cons. As Wang Hao's personal bodyguard, he knew all too well the consequences of betraying the Wang family—his entire family would be wiped out. But the look in the young man's eyes filled him with a deep-seated fear.
"Don't know?" Lin Chen's lips curled into a cold smile, the smile not reaching his eyes, but instead making his face appear even more stern. He pressed down slightly with his foot, the tread of his shoe crushing the broken bones in Black Tiger's wrist.
"Snap!"
The sound of a wrist bone cracking was particularly crisp in the quiet alley, like snapping a dry twig or crushing a cookie. The sound carried far, bouncing back and forth between the walls.
"Ah—!" Black Tiger let out a heart-wrenching scream, a sharp and mournful cry that startled several sparrows perched under the eaves of a nearby house. His body jerked up violently, then crashed back to the ground, convulsing in pain like a fish thrown ashore. His face turned a deep liver color, his eyes bulged, and tears, snot, and cold sweat mingled and smeared his face. He never dreamed that this boy, who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, could be so ruthless.
"I'll talk! I'll talk! Stop stepping on me! Please stop stepping on me!" Black Tiger's voice had completely changed, sounding like a wail squeezed from his throat. His other hand was slapping the ground wildly, his nails splitting and leaving several bloody marks on the ground.
"You should have said so earlier." Lin Chen loosened his grip, took a half step back, and said coldly. But his gaze never left Black Tiger's face, like an eagle eyeing its prey, ready to pounce again at any moment.
Black Tiger gasped for breath, his chest heaving. He glanced down at his right hand—his wrist was completely collapsed, his palm twisted at an impossible angle, and the tips of several fingers trembled slightly. He knew this hand was ruined; even the best bone-setting medicine couldn't save it. But he couldn't worry about that, because the young man before him could crush his other wrist, or his knee, or his…
"Young Master Wang... Young Master Wang has already laid an ambush in the Northwest Forest Area. During the joint training, he will deliberately lure you to the center of the Twelve Capital Heavenly Fiend Formation." Black Tiger panted heavily, his voice broken and intermittent, each word seemingly squeezed out with all his might. He dared not look Lin Chen in the eye, but stared at the dark red bloodstain on the ground, trembling as he said, "At that time, he will detonate the evil formation, destroy the seal of the evil-suppressing formation, and then take advantage of the chaos to seize your Star Martial Core."
Lin Chen's eyes narrowed slightly. The Twelve Capital Heavenly Fiend Array—he had seen this name on Chen Feng's map of evil arrays. It was a massive evil array that the Wang family had spent decades and countless resources to set up. The array's core was spread throughout the entire Northwest Forest Region. Once detonated, not only would the seal be destroyed, but all living beings within a radius of dozens of miles would be corrupted by the evil energy.
"Anything else?" Lin Chen pressed, his voice even lower than before, like the rumble of thunder before a storm.
"And...and Captain Zhang Tao of the Martial Arts Association is one of our men," Black Tiger hurriedly said, afraid of getting kicked again if he was too slow. "He'll find an excuse to send the other students away, leaving you isolated and helpless. And...and Vice President Liu Kun will also cooperate with us to hold off the reinforcements at the Martial Arts Association. Young Master Wang said that as long as things go well, both of them can get the top-grade pills bestowed by the Evil Clan and break through to the Transformation Realm directly."
As Black Tiger spoke, his voice grew softer and softer until it was almost a buzzing sound. He knew all too well that if this information were leaked, the Wang family wouldn't let him off, and neither would the evil clan. But he also knew that if he didn't speak now, this young man would really kill him—not as a threat, but because he could genuinely see the killing intent in those cold eyes.
Lin Chen felt a chill run down his spine, but his expression remained unchanged.
As expected, Zhang Tao wasn't the only traitor within the Martial Arts Association; even Vice President Liu Kun was a member of the Wang family. Neither Chen Feng's blood-written letter nor Li Mo's testimony mentioned Liu Kun, indicating he was someone the Wang family dragged into the mess later. The Vice President of the Martial Arts Association—this position could mobilize almost half of Qingyang City's martial arts forces. If he were to hold back reinforcements at a crucial moment, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Very good." Lin Chen nodded, his voice eerily calm, as if what he had just heard wasn't some earth-shattering conspiracy, but merely a routine homework assignment. He slowly withdrew his foot, squatted down, and looked Black Tiger in the eye. Those black eyes, in the dim light, resembled two cold, dark jade stones, carrying a chilling pressure. "You can get lost now. Go back and tell Wang Hao that I'm waiting for him. If he dares to lay a finger on anyone around me again, I'll massacre the Wang family and make him pay with his life."
Lin Chen spoke the last few words very slowly, one word at a time, as if he were driving nails into Black Tiger's ears one by one.
Black Tiger felt as if he had been granted a pardon; his body went limp instantly, tears and snot streaming down his face. He didn't know where the strength came from, but he struggled to his feet, his right arm hanging limply at his sides, the pain from his dislocated left shoulder making him grimace with every movement. He dragged his two injured henchmen—first kicking the unconscious burly man, then bending down to pull up the other—and scrambled towards the alleyway entrance. One of the henchmen had regained consciousness, groaning in pain; the other remained unconscious, dragged along by Black Tiger like a sack of potatoes, his head hitting the ground repeatedly. The three figures stumbled and disappeared at the alleyway entrance, leaving only a trail of scattered blood and a lingering stench of blood.