"Are you human or ghost?"
Louis's scalp tingled and his legs trembled uncontrollably as he asked.
"Whether I'm human or ghost depends on whether you behave."
With a 'snap'.
Ning Beichen snapped his fingers. A bullet on the ground instantly flew up and struck Louis's left leg.
A scream of agony!
Louis knelt on the ground, sweat beading on his forehead from the pain. He dragged his injured leg backward, crawling.
'Snap!'
Ning Beichen snapped his fingers again. Louis cried out once more as his right leg was also hit, blood gushing out.
Both legs injured, Louis dared not stop. He used his hands to crawl backward with difficulty, desperate to get away from this man, this non-human devil whom they could not possibly contend with.
'Snap, snap!'
Two more snaps, and Louis's hands were also struck by bullets, pinning him to the ground like a cross.
"You... you devil, just kill me."
Louis wailed in terror. He wasn't usually this weak. He was a top assassin from the Divine Thorn Alliance, a master even without a gun.
But now, this elite assassin was so terrified by Ning Beichen that he lacked the courage to resist, only wanting to flee from this inhuman devil.
No matter how powerful Ning Beichen was, how well he fought, or even if he could dodge bullets, Louis wouldn't have been this terrified. Those were skills that humans could train.
But outside of movies, who had ever seen a human capable of casually stopping bullets, let alone controlling them to attack others? Was this even human?
"I will kill you, but can you tell me where the Divine Thorn Alliance is located?"
Ning Beichen walked up to him and asked leisurely. The edge of the rooftop was behind him; he had nowhere left to run.
"I... I will not tell you, you devil."
Louis roared in fear, then pushed himself up with a surge of strength and plunged from the rooftop.
Ning Beichen's hand had already shot out, but in the end, he did not stop him.
In truth, if Ning Beichen had truly wanted to stop him, Louis would have had no chance.
Ning Beichen stood at the edge of the rooftop, glanced at the assassin who had fallen from the sixth floor and lay in a pool of blood, then shook his head and left.
It wasn't that Ning Beichen couldn't save him, but that he didn't want to. Ning Beichen knew that even if he prevented the fall, he would be hard-pressed to extract any useful information.
Even a rabbit understood the wisdom of having multiple burrows; surely such a vast and ancient assassin organization would not be ignorant of this. Therefore, even if Ning Beichen had stopped Louis, he would have gained little useful intelligence.
Rather than dirtying his own hands, it was better to let him end his own life.
Not long after, Ning Beichen returned to his hotel. He heard the occasional wail of police sirens outside.
Ning Beichen, however, remained calm, withdrawing his gaze from the window.
He had left no evidence connecting him to either the first or second wave of assassins, not even fingerprints, so he had no cause for worry.
What concerned Ning Beichen, however, was not the sirens, but when the third wave of assassins would appear.
He waited for a long while with no sign of activity. Deciding to ignore it, he set up some early warning devices in his room and then lay down on the bed to sleep soundly.
With his current Grandmaster level strength, he would react instantly to any danger, and he had no fear of being caught off guard.
A night passed.
The third wave of assassination did not materialize. Perhaps the failure of the first two waves had led them to abandon the third.
Or perhaps, they were still searching for a more opportune moment.
After waking up and taking a shower, Ning Beichen's phone beeped a few times. He saw a map and an address appear on his screen.
"So this is where you've been hiding. This time, it's my turn to give you a surprise."
Ning Beichen sneered.
These members of the Divine Thorn Alliance thought they were hidden well, that no one could find them.
But they had picked the wrong target.
There was no one the King of Darkness could not find; it was only a matter of time.
If Ning Beichen hadn't had limited manpower here, he would have wiped out their nest last night, instead of waiting for a third wave of attacks.
Not long after, Ning Beichen checked out of the hotel, his whereabouts unknown.
About an hour later, Ning Beichen appeared at an old factory district.
"Found it."
Ning Beichen's face broke into a smile as he spotted a diamond-shaped building.
"You want to kill me? I'll make you disappear from this planet."
Ning Beichen's figure flickered, and he moved like a ghost, entering the building.
"Who's there?"
An assassin inside saw a shadow flicker not far ahead and quickly ran over.
But darkness fell before him as a hand emerged from behind, covering his mouth. His head was twisted, and he collapsed to the ground.
But he wasn't the only one to meet a grim fate.
Ning Beichen moved as if through an empty space, leaving behind a trail of corpses.
Though these were all elite assassins, before Ning Beichen, a Grandmaster, they couldn't even muster a chance to fight back.
"Where is your leader? Take me to him."
Ning Beichen spared one female assassin, disabling her. He then grabbed her by the collar and ordered her to lead him to the leader of the Divine Thorn Alliance.
The assassin had no choice but to comply, unable to refuse or resist. She led Ning Beichen to the leader's office.
Ning Beichen's solo infiltration of the Divine Thorn Alliance's headquarters, with no one able to stop him, had already terrified their leader.
So, he had positioned over a dozen subordinates to lie in wait on either side of the entrance, planning to deliver a fatal blow to Ning Beichen.
The female assassin brought Ning Beichen to the door of the Divine Thorn Alliance leader's office and pointed inside, indicating that the leader was within.
Ning Beichen released her collar and let her down. He flicked a finger at an acupuncture point on her, and the female assassin closed her eyes without pain.
Letting her live was out of the question. Ning Beichen was no great philanthropist, nor would he show leniency because she was a female assassin. Allowing her to die painlessly was the greatest mercy he could offer.
However, Ning Beichen didn't immediately push the door open. Instead, he opened a case and slowly assembled a compound bow.
He had already sensed the breathing behind the wall, and without even entering, he could deduce the assassins hidden there and their positions.