Chapter 43: Chapter 38 The Li Family
Li Xiang felt a wave of despair in his heart, knowing that he couldn’t escape his fate.
The only reason they hadn’t killed him outright was to extract some information.
Up to now, he didn’t even know who had captured him. The night was too dark, and the lack of oxygen made his vision blur. The person clutching his neck had been behind him the entire time, and he could only sense that their strength was immense.
“Go ahead and ask, just give me a swift end.”
A faint voice emerged from his oppressed throat.
He said that, but whether he would answer truthfully was something only heaven knew.
“Why did you go there at night? What do you all know?”
Tao Yu asked in a raspy and deep tone.
Li Xiang’s heart skipped a beat at Tao Yu’s question. Huh?
The other party didn’t know?
As his thoughts gradually returned, Li Xiang had a new idea in mind.
Yes, he and his companion had been overpowered without a chance to fight back. This wasn’t something that brat and his family could do!
It must be a third-party force!
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Thinking of the youngster visiting the fortress for a day, had he also brought in outside help?
Li Xiang immediately found the best explanation in his mind. Such strength wouldn’t belong to a nobody in the Outsiders!
This was hopeful!
“I don’t know what that kid told you, but whatever secrets he knows, we know too. Our original intention was to take him away and keep him quiet, but unexpectedly, he already spilled the beans.”
The intermittent voice reached Tao Yu, who nodded slightly.
“You know about that thing?”
“Yes, sir. In fact, we are the better partners for cooperation. The South City Li family—sir must have heard of us. What authority does that bumpkin have to promise anything? It would be better to cooperate with us.”
“Li family…”
The deep voice seemed somewhat wary.
“Hmph, you’re lying! You’re from the Inner City. If you really wanted to cooperate, why would you seek out the force of us Outsiders?!”
The voice seemed to be somewhat angry and embarrassed.
Hearing this, Li Xiang felt even more secretly pleased inside.
Pure Outsider forces? That was fantastic! There was a chance!
“Please, don’t be angry, sir. I’m telling the truth. Because there’s a chance this interest could allow us to return to the Inner City, the Clan Leader decided to undertake the development himself this time.
“That’s why the two of us who made the move are from the direct line. The Clan Leader has called back all the important family members eligible to participate, to ensure the success.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely! If we had truly found a connection with the Inner City, we wouldn’t have bothered to capture this youngster. We’d have simply integrated him, given that B-grade combat talent is quite rare in the new Development Zone, and he wouldn’t likely refuse integration.”
Li Xiang, desperate to survive, was being remarkably sincere.
On hearing this, Tao Yu thought it really was the situation—damn it!
Why target himself? Was it not for fear of being unable to control the situation?
With Inner City backing, why worry about such matters? Offering a sum of money for integration would have been perfect.
Normally, would someone refuse it?
And most crucially, the other side’s slip of the tongue also fully exposed their capabilities.
B-grade talent…
Even though only a day had passed, he had never kept it a secret at all, being completely open and aboveboard.
Yet, they still relied on outdated information, which indeed showed their limited abilities.
It had been a good half day since he sold the information to the Starshine Recycling Station and the other party still had no clue, so at least the credibility of this piece of news seemed pretty high.
“To show my sincerity, send some of your Yuan Force over.”
Tao Yu pulled out a magnetic card from his inner pocket, which was from selling stuff; it could be reused and at one time could store more than four thousand points of Yuan Force, much more convenient than those shattered Yuan Force metals.
Under the restrictions of the world’s will, techniques similar to Illusion Techniques and mental control were unable to perform Yuan Force transfer operations, but ‘voluntary’ transfer was possible.
It was rare to catch a live one that could be pressured, so it would be a waste not to make use of him, especially since he had risked it all just for a piece of information.
The barrel spat out from Joseph’s mouth before he died, along with his final self-destruction, still vivid in Tao Yu’s memory; so even though this time it was only dealing with an Outsider, he broke all their limbs and snapped their neck from behind, just to avoid any accidents.
But as Tao Yu spoke, Li Xiang fell completely silent, his face showing a pitiful expression.
“Please be quick,” he pleaded.
Now that Tao Yu was demanding Yuan Force points, Li Xiang, having done this before, felt all hope shatter with those words, giving up any chance of luck; there was no opportunity left!
Why! Why!
“If you don’t give it to me, I’ll throw you alive into a pit of rats, which won’t be quick or painless.”
Tao Yu stopped pretending and outright threatened.
But all he received was an invisible silence.
To give money to his own killer after death? That’s a bitter pill to swallow!
After all, having clawed his way up in the harsh environment of the Outer City, Li Xiang’s plea for mercy was an attempt to truthfully and deceptively give out some information, but now there really was no hope.
Realizing this might be useless, Tao Yu exerted more force and snapped the other’s neck right away.
He then also tossed the body toward the garbage mountain.
Being alive and screaming would only cause trouble. After a scare tactic proved useless, it wasn’t worth the effort anymore…
“Our family has always worked hard, earning a meager three hundred a month, been kind to others, willing to help, so why, why push us…”
Tao Yu, hearing the stirring of the rat pack behind him once more, turned around and walked toward the direction of the Inner City’s wall.
The Li family wants to monopolize and return to the Inner City?
Which means… It’s only you!
…
The Li family, a clan that moved from the Inner City to the Outer City.
Although they could no longer stay in the Inner City, once they came to the Outer City, they still belonged to a rather remarkable force.
Their retreat was mainly due to the clan’s backbone, the strongest member, along with a group of core members, dying in an expedition to a world fragment.
For the Li family, leaving the Inner City was also an act of self-preservation, and overall, it was quite dignified.
Therefore, they quickly steadied their footing in the Outer City and became a strong force.
The contemporary Clan Leader of the Li family, Li Hui, was one of the four deputy captains of the Enforcement Authority, in charge of the South City area.
Also, Li Hui was the only one amongst the four deputy captains without any traces of mechanical augmentation, somewhat similar to the Enforcement Authority captain, Ze Chuan.
The fact that he could maintain his position without any mutations, cybernetic implants, and solely with flesh and blood, was proof enough that his physical body had drastically surpassed human limits, enough to match or even exceed those with mechanical enhancements in the Outer City.
In the Enforcement Authority family quarter, a three-story wooden villa set with a small courtyard, together with twelve other buildings beside it, comprised the Li family’s gathering place in the Outer City.
Compared to the scrap-heap style buildings of the Outer City, each of the Li family’s houses was quite standard, mostly built from uniform timber.
Grouping over a dozen houses together gave this place a different vibe from the rest of the Outer City.
The ground was also covered in compacted gravel, much cleaner in comparison.
While the rest of the Outer City was usually quiet at night, that core three-story wooden house was still brightly lit, seemingly hosting a banquet that had yet to end.
At a time when ordinary people were reluctant to use even oil lamps, this western-style house was illuminated by electric lights, as if living in a different world…