“Pan Yong,” a steady voice penetrated the door, “Lei Laohu wants to see you.”
Lu Shiyan and Xiao Han exchanged glances, and Lu Shiyan nodded. Xiao Han opened the door.
Outside the door, Pan Yong’s uniform was crisp, and the four armed guards behind him exuded a chilling aura.
“You’ve already witnessed Scorpion’s methods,” Pan Yong’s gaze swept over Lu Shiyan, “Lei Laohu wants to see you all immediately to discuss important matters.”
Lu Shiyan stood up: “That’s exactly what I intended.”
Pan Yong: “Please, the three of you, get in the car. The rest of you, stay here.”
Ten minutes later, a military jeep carrying Lu Shiyan, Su Wan, and Xiao Han, personally led by Pan Yong, drove away from the relatively calm A District, heading towards the core power area in the center of the base.
The military jeep sped through the base, with sentry posts lining the windows, the Killing energy almost solidifying. Pan Yong’s expression was serious: “Lei Laohu’s Commander’s office is an S-level restricted zone. Intruders will be killed without mercy!”
The jeep screeched to a halt in front of a steel fortress. Pan Yong showed his metal badge, and the guards scanned the three with detectors, sternly saying: “Military Decision Center. Any unusual movement will result in immediate execution!”
Through layer after layer of checkpoints, the air grew colder with each one. Finally, Pan Yong stopped in front of a heavy alloy elevator door. He suddenly grabbed Lu Shiyan’s arm, “Lei Laohu kills more people than we drink water! Say one wrong word in front of him—death! I can only take you this far!”
As the elevator doors closed, in the confined space, Su Wan’s fingertips were cold, and her voice trembled: “He… he really will…”
Lu Shiyan quirked his lips: “Pan Yong said he kills a lot of people. I’m afraid he’s thirsty and will invite us to drink ‘tea’.”
Su Wan wondered if he was trying to lighten the mood. It was so cold.
Xiao Han, however, grinned: “I think this elevator goes straight to the King of Hell’s palace! When the doors open later, it won’t be Ox-Head and Horse-Face shouting ‘Welcome, three, to your demise’, will it?”
“Pah! Be auspicious!” Su Wan retorted softly.
“Ding!” The elevator stopped on B2. The doors opened, and a strange scent, a mix of sandalwood and strong blood, assailed them! At the end of the long corridor, a huge redwood door carved with a roaring tiger was tightly shut, with two black-clad guards standing like iron towers.
Xiao Han gasped: “This display, even meeting the King of Hell wouldn’t be more grand!”
The black-clad guards were expressionless. One on the left, one on the right, they silently pushed open the massive door that seemed capable of swallowing everything.
“Please enter.”
The voice was not loud, yet it resonated like a great bell in their eardrums! In an instant, a terrifying pressure erupted from within the door, and the room’s temperature plummeted!
Lu Shiyan’s pupils constricted slightly, feeling a chill surge from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head!
A high-backed grandmaster’s chair slowly rotated, a “creak” sounding particularly harsh in the dead silence. A middle-aged man, burly as a bear, appeared, with graying hair and a hideous centipede-like scar slashing from his right eyebrow bone straight down to his cheekbone!
He sat motionless, his gaze like two tangible ice picks, piercing sharply into the three. Su Wan almost suffocated, and cold sweat beaded on Xiao Han’s forehead.
Lei Laohu’s gaze swept across Su Wan and Xiao Han’s faces, finally fixing firmly on Lu Shiyan’s face, a cruel arc forming on his lips.
“Four-element ability user, Lu Shiyan,” his voice was low, “That useless Pan Yong finally did something useful.”
Lu Shiyan stood ramrod straight, without the slightest hint of retreat or humility. “You flatter me, Senior. It was merely luck.”
Lei Laohu’s lips curled into an almost grotesque arc, pulling at the terrifying scar near his eye. The scar, like a lurking centipede, twitched slightly with his expression, making him look hideous and frightening.
“Save the pleasantries. I’m a straightforward person; I don’t like beating around the bush. Speak plainly.” Before his words even finished, he suddenly stood up, his nearly 1.9-meter tall, burly frame casting a deep shadow like an iron tower. The oppressive feeling in the room instantly intensified several times over. Xiao Han instinctively tensed the muscles in his back.
He walked around the redwood desk, pacing closer to the three, “You’ve met Scorpion. I presume you’ve also experienced his ‘charm’?” There was a hint of mockery in his tone.
“If cruelty and distortion count as charm, then he is indeed charming and unforgettable,” Xiao Han scoffed, his lips habitually curling upwards, but his body was as taut as a drawn bowstring.
Lei Laohu suddenly burst into laughter, his voice booming like a bell, making the lamps on the table flicker. “Well said! That madman, Scorpion, loves to toy with people’s minds, relying on those tricks to run rampant.” His laughter ceased, and he stopped less than two meters in front of the three, his gaze like an eagle’s talons gripping Lu Shiyan, “The entire Hyena Squad was wiped out. You are quite capable. Those few useless individuals were still a not-so-small force.”
Lu Shiyan’s expression was calm: “Luck played a larger role.”
“Luck?” Lei Laohu’s smile vanished abruptly, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. “Twisting off people’s heads like bottle caps, was that all due to luck?”
Lu Shiyan met his gaze, his expression unchanged, and spoke calmly: “Commander Lei, whether it was luck or strength, the result is that Hyena Squad no longer threatens A District. I believe this is not a bad thing for the base.”
Lei Laohu grinned, his scar twisting: “’Not a bad thing,’ indeed! Kid, you’ve got guts.”
His sharp eyes scrutinized Lu Shiyan again, thoughts rapidly spinning in his mind: “This person faces my pressure without changing expression, and only attributes the Hyena Squad’s annihilation to luck. This temperament and strength are truly extraordinary. Pan Yong said he is a four-element ability user. If he can be used by me to deal with that mad dog Scorpion, perhaps he truly could be a miraculous force…”
With that thought, he suddenly waved his hand, pointing to the nearby redwood tea table and chairs: “Sit!”
This sudden change surprised Xiao Han and Su Wan.
Lei Laohu sat down grandly in the main seat, picked up a coarse pottery teapot, and directly filled three coarse pottery cups with dark, steaming tea.
“I like dealing with capable people,” Lei Laohu pushed a cup of tea towards Lu Shiyan, “Try it. Aged Pu’er. I don’t offer it to just anyone.”
Lu Shiyan picked up the teacup and took a small sip.
The tea was mellow on the palate, but the aftertaste carried a metallic sweetness like rust, originating from the same faint bloody scent in the air.
“Good tea,” Lu Shiyan put down the teacup.
Xiao Han also picked up his cup and took a sip, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly before he resumed his usual nonchalant demeanor: “It’s certainly strong enough, much better than the filtered water in A District.”
Su Wan held her teacup, feeling the warmth in her palm, but didn’t drink immediately. Her gaze shifted between Lei Laohu and Lu Shiyan.
Lei Laohu laughed heartily, pointing at Xiao Han: “You, kid, are better at talking than him.”
He paused, then turned his gaze back to Lu Shiyan, his tone meaningful: “Lu Shiyan, Pan Yong said you are a four-element ability user. This is unique in the entire base—no, perhaps in all known survivor forces.”
“Someone like you shouldn’t be content to remain unknown in A District, right? Are you interested in helping me deal with some ‘small troubles’ first, so I can see just how sharp your ‘blade’ truly is?”
This was the real test.
Lu Shiyan put down his teacup, leaned slightly forward, and looked directly into Lei Laohu’s eyes: “Commander Lei, let’s be frank. We are new here and don’t understand the base’s situation well, so we naturally need a relatively stable place to settle down.”
“You didn’t invite us here today just to praise us, did you?”
Hearing this, Lei Laohu looked at Lu Shiyan with appreciation: “Straightforward! I like talking to smart people like you.”
He leaned back, sinking into the wide grandmaster’s chair, yet his imposing aura did not diminish in the slightest.
