Chapter 794 - 742: Bring Him Home! (3)
Screams continually pierced the air.
Those contorted facial features.
That ferocious visage.
Seeing this, all the assembled big shots couldn’t help but feel their skin crawl with horror!
This—what kind of excruciating torture must one endure to exhibit such an expression? And how did Qin Fan manage to achieve this? How could he induce such agony in Boss Zhou merely by clasping the man’s crown with his five fingers?
The unsettling aura continued to spread.
Despite their many doubts and perplexities, under the mentality that it was better to sacrifice a friend than oneself, all the big shots could do was wait in deathly silence for Qin Fan’s final judgment.
In less than three minutes, Boss Zhou felt as if he had spent three centuries in an agonizing torment worse than death.
During this process, he had considered confessing, hoping to use a confession to end the unbearable suffering at Qin Fan’s hands. But aside from the gasps elicited by the torture, he was no longer able to utter a single word. After all, he was not Chen Tiansheng, nor was he a Martial Artist with Martial Arts Cultivation.
When Qin Fan’s hand finally left his crown, Boss Zhou collapsed onto the ground. He was completely drenched, with sweat dripping from his body onto the floor, a testament to the miserable ordeal he had just endured.
Qin Fan had let go a bit quickly. Otherwise, another minute or two, and King Yan would have certainly claimed his life.
"Qin, Mr. Qin, it wasn’t me, I swear it wasn’t me!" Boss Zhou gasped, his face pressed against the filthy ground as he spoke in spurts.
He thought he had escaped this calamity. However, Qin Fan’s next words thrust him into the depths of Hell.
"That’s right, I know it wasn’t you. It was Ashan, right? Those seventeen cuts were made by Ashan, weren’t they? A Middle Stage Ming Energy expert. Just because you once saved his life, he followed you everywhere, working like a dog in gratitude. Your success in carving out your own territory in Jinling’s Underworld is largely thanks to him, is it not, Boss Zhou?" Qin Fan said lightly, gazing down at the collapsed man. His voice was utterly unaffected, and his expression showed no hint of malice.
But those familiar with Qin Fan knew all too well that when such a demeanor appeared on his face, it often meant disaster was imminent.
"No, no, how could you know? How did you find out?"
In response to Qin Fan’s words, Boss Zhou froze for three full seconds. Then, as if tapping into some latent potential, he jerked his upper body up and used the last of his strength to thrash his head around and wail.
What? Hearing this, the big shots still kneeling on the ground were petrified, utterly unable to believe it. Was it really Boss Zhou who ordered the hit on Li Qiuzhe? He—had he gone mad? Did he think that by killing Li Qiuzhe, he could reclaim his original share of the pie? Even if Li Qiuzhe really died and he somehow escaped this ordeal, what about next time? If Qin Fan could prop up one Li Qiuzhe, he could just as easily prop up a Wang Qiuzhe or a Zhuang Qiuzhe! The root of the problem was never Li Qiuzhe; it was Qin Fan! Foolish, so utterly foolish!
At that moment, the dozens of eyes cast toward Boss Zhou were all filled with pity and sympathy. His fate was already a foregone conclusion; the only question was the manner of his death.
The moment the reflexive cry of "how did you know?" escaped his lips, Boss Zhou became utterly stupefied. Despair and a complete mental breakdown surged forth and engulfed him.
"Mr. Qin, Mr. Qin, I was incited! I had a moment of weakness and he goaded me into it! Mr. Qin, a man’s sins shouldn’t bring disaster upon his wife and children! I acknowledge the evil I’ve done. You can kill me or flay me as you please. I’m begging you, please don’t harm my family, please, no!"
Gripped by despair and his breakdown, Boss Zhou had completely given up any hope for his own life. But on a fundamental human level, he erupted in an unrestrained torrent of tears. A mess of snot and tears, he struggled to drag his exhausted body toward Qin Fan, crawling and wailing.
A man’s sins shouldn’t bring disaster upon his wife and children.
It was a phrase often on the lips of those in the Underworld. Even if the saying had become a joke in this day and age, Boss Zhou still cried it out instinctively. He remembered the precedent of the Bo Family, where all three members were wiped out at once.
Thus, he was terrified—terrified that Qin Fan would make his lovely wife and daughter pay the price for his crimes.
His gaze held not a shred of pity or mercy. Qin Fan looked on, unmoved, as Boss Zhou crawled toward him. Just as the man was about to reach him, intending to grab onto his calf, Qin Fan lifted his foot and stepped on his back, stopping him cold. "Master Hou, is it?" he asked, his expression blank.
"Yes, that bastard! If it weren’t for his constant instigation, I would never have had the courage! GASP... GASP... Mr. Qin, it’s him! It was all because of him that I committed such a foolish crime! Mr. Qin, he’s... he’s at my villa right now! Mr. Qin, I don’t dare ask for your mercy, but I want to see him dead, dead by your hand! Can you grant me this opportunity? Mr. Qin, I beg you, I beg you—WHIMPER... WHIMPER...!"
Endlessly sniffling, his nose running in streams, Boss Zhou wailed like a child by the end. At the same time, he began to slam his head against the ground before Qin Fan.
"Is this your last wish?" Qin Fan asked with a chilling, disdainful smile.
"Mr. Qin, I... I beg you, please!"
Saying neither yes nor no, Boss Zhou could only continue to kowtow, desperately expressing his plea.
"Are you sure you want me to take you back to the villa to find this Master Hou?" Both his expression and tone were laden with sinister mockery.
While scouring Boss Zhou’s memories, Qin Fan had seen the young man known as Master Hou leering at Boss Zhou’s wife and daughter with a beastly, salacious gaze. With Boss Zhou having left the villa to come here to his death, would that man have spared the mother and daughter?
What a joke! Having lived for over five hundred years, Qin Fan had seen far too much Beastly Nature.
"Mr. Qin, please, I beg you!" Boss Zhou was still incessantly kowtowing.
"Fine, I’ll grant your wish! Heh... Who here will be kind enough to escort our Boss Zhou on a trip?"
The mockery in his voice deepened as Qin Fan spoke with a sinister, leisurely tone.
He was never the kind-hearted, Holy Mother sort.
Was simply ending the life of the mastermind behind Li Qiuzhe’s near-death incident enough? NO! Physical torture could never match the agony of mental torture! And mental torture could never match the agony of having one’s soul tortured! He would make the mastermind behind this experience every single one!
Of course, this all depended on things going as he expected. He certainly wouldn’t commit such a beastly act himself. It all hinged on whether Master Hou’s Beastly Nature had already erupted.
If it hadn’t, then Boss Zhou could count himself lucky, as it would spare him the most tragic torment of all: the torture of his soul.
At Qin Fan’s words, an underworld boss timidly spoke up. He had mustered his courage, not wanting to miss the opportunity to curry favor with Qin Fan. "Mr. Qin, what can I do for you?"
"Take him home!"
The previous chill in his voice vanished. Qin Fan’s lips curled upwards into a wicked, demonic smile.