Chapter 62: Chapter 62: Beneath the Torrential Rain

Rainy night.

Old Li glanced at the solitary white van parked by the roadside, with rain falling and no other people on the road.

He puffed and huffed his way into the Hill Grand Hotel and politely knocked on the door.

“Is it Mr. Zhong Chengshi? Your delivery is here. Wish you a delightful meal…”

Before he could finish, the door swung open, and a man with a heavily scarred face grabbed the delivery and cursed:

“Ten minutes! You’re ten minutes late, how am I supposed to eat this crap? Damn it, I’m definitely returning this order. Get ready to lose money on a bad review! Lower-class people are just lower-class…”

’Bang!’

The door slammed shut.

“I’m sorry, it’s pouring outside…” The words that Old Li barely uttered were crushed back into his mouth by the dull sound.

His face was full of bitterness, standing at the door for a full two minutes before hastily entering the elevator.

In the elevator, Old Li silently calculated:

“It’ll cost me sixty or seventy…”

Opening his phone, he hesitated for a moment before canceling the birthday cake he had ordered for himself. There were still small bread rolls at home; add a candle, and it’s basically the same.

“Even when alone, there should be a sense of ceremony!”

Walking out of the luxurious hotel, he returned to the deserted street which was pouring rain.

“Huh?”

Old Li rubbed his eyes, wasn’t there just one white van earlier?

How did it suddenly become two?

Through the dense rain, he vaguely saw an old man standing in the rain. The two white vans opened, and one person after another rushed out.

Then,

Old Li saw the old man smash one’s head with a slap, muttering at the same time:

“Not a Living Buddha.”

Another head smashed.

“Is a Living Buddha.”

With each head smashed, he muttered a phrase, like a melancholic girl picking petals, asking ’He loves me’ or ’He loves me not’.

After smashing the last person’s head, the old man murmured:

“Not a Living Buddha.”

Old Li felt a chill all over and turned to flee, but as his vision blurred, he suddenly appeared in front of the old man.

’Slap!’

Old Li’s head was gone.

“Is a Living Buddha.”

Shi Zhengyuan smiled and nodded, glanced at the corpses of investigators scattered everywhere, two van-loads of people, one monitoring the hotel, the other a hospital, forcibly moved by him.

As for who exactly they were watching?

Shi Zhengyuan didn’t care, just sighed:

“May you find blissful rebirth!”

……

Peace Hotel, top floor.

The youth leaned against the window, watching the intensifying rain outside.

A Tenth-Refined Martial Artist, at the ’Bone Three Refinements’ level,

even at the initial stage of Tenth Refinement, possesses a body of robust muscles and bones, with a strength equivalent to fifty thousand pounds.

What does fifty thousand pounds of force mean?

It can lift a dozen stacked cars, then with a ’ha’ throw them out, smashing through a building.

“Boss Four, two kilograms of One-Horned Giant Rhinoceros meat has been roasted.” Lu Mingzhu, with only six fingers and decaying skin all over, spoke softly.

She was somewhat surprised; how had it suddenly started raining outside?

Just moments ago, there was neither cloud nor rain.

And Boss Four…

Not sure if it was an illusion, Lu Mingzhu carefully observed Boss Four’s silhouette leaning against the window,

always feeling that this frail youth suddenly carried an ethereal aura, yet simultaneously appeared quite substantial.

This seemingly contradictory, conflicting, but harmonized.

“How many Martial Artists are there in the hotel?” Zhang Fusheng asked calmly.

He realized that after anchoring Five Mansions Temple into the Divine Realm, his previously agitated mind seemed much calmer,

as if the violent urges from thousands of times falling into demonhood were suppressed by the temple of giant stone and ancient wood.

“Among the staff, there are a total of ninety-four Martial Artists, eight at Fourth Refinement, and one each at Fifth Refinement, Six Refinement, and Seven Refinement.”

“With just these people, how do you compete with the Green Gang?”

“Boss Four may not know, Mr. Du of the Green Gang never takes action, and the temple offerings, the strongest is also at Seven Refinement.”

Zhang Fusheng silently extended his spiritual will, within ten miles, like observing palm prints.

The four elite Martial Artist squads were no exception, 24 people in total, each with vigorous qi and blood, the weakest of them…

might even be stronger than himself!

Zhang Fusheng’s mind was a whirl, Shi Zhengyuan, that old guy, could be trusted and yet not, the thing that worried him most,

was the old guy’s so-called ’Buddha Country’.

Since anyone in Dragon Boat City who dies would have their residual soul enter his Spirit Divine Realm due to the so-called Buddha Country,

then considering he took thirty residual souls from security officers during the day, how could Shi Zhengyuan not notice?

If he did notice, he should know at least that he’s in Divine Realm Minor Perfection, but previously…

His father taught him a lesson from a young age: trust people but do not fully trust.

The Buddhism in this world, even the relatively pure Ling Mountain sect, still carries some sinister air.

“Notify the hotel to impose a lockdown, all guests return to their rooms, all staff to the top floor.”

“Also, cut the power supply, including backup power for surveillance and elevators.”

“Yes, Fourth Boss.” Although Lu Mingzhu didn’t understand why, she complied without uttering an extra word.

After she left.

Zhang Fusheng called his master.

“Fusheng?” On the other end of the line, Hong Tianbao spoke with some confusion: “Did something happen again?”

“Yes and no.”

Zhang Fusheng said:

“Master, I want to know Shi Senior’s cultivation level and spirit realm?”

“Shi Zhengyuan?”

Hong Tianbao was puzzled:

“Decades ago, he was a Grandmaster, and his spirit realm naturally at Perfection level… now it’s hard to say.”

After some thought, the old man continued:

“I estimate this old guy might have broken through the Spiritual Limit, with his physique possibly ascending to [Sealing Furnace Realm] thanks to Dragon Boat City’s supply…but it’s unlikely he broke the Spiritual Limit.”

Zhang Fusheng: ???

Hong Tianbao laughed heartily:

“Breaking the Spiritual Limit is quite a commotion, that old guy is probably still a Grandmaster… why are you asking?”

“I’m just very curious.”

Zhang Fusheng explained briefly, then his master seemed to have some matter to attend to, and he hung up the phone.

The rain was still pouring.

……

In the downpour, a Maybach raced towards a distant overpass.

The four squads waited silently in the darkness until it completely disappeared,

until the street was utterly silent, just the sound of rain, before they emerged from the shadows.

The four captains exchanged glances, all old acquaintances.

“There’s an extra bonus for chopping off the main target’s head.”

A man built like an iron tower licked his lips:

“That bonus, I want it.”

The other three bounty squad captains snorted coldly, as the long-legged woman in tight clothes, codenamed Beauty Snake, said flirtatiously:

“Giant Stone, the main target is at the top floor, and since we have to ’cleanse’ the entire hotel, why not first compete to see who kills more?”

“Alright.” Giant Stone and the other two captains nodded approvingly.

“So, shall we use the main entrance?”

“Let’s use the main entrance, the power to this street has been completely cut, yet Peace Hotel was already pitch black before the cutoff.”

“But no matter, the employer’s people just sent a message, confirming the target is still in the hotel.”

The four teams, twenty-four people, dressed in black, walked in the rain, a chilling killing intent spreading in the rainy night,

they all headed towards the dark hotel building, footsteps quickly sped up, then rushed!

Codenamed Giant Stone, the two-meter-tall iron tower man, each step cracked the asphalt road,

he roared, stomping heavily, his figure charged forward, blasting a visible wave, shredding the rain curtain!

Giant Stone first arrived at the hotel entrance, and the others quickly followed.

’Squeak~’

The old red wooden hotel door slowly opened,

lights illuminated.

Every light in Peace Hotel turned on simultaneously, in the rainy night, this building stood like a beacon piercing the darkness.

“Playing tricks.” Giant Stone grinned, clashing his fists, an explosive force unfurled, he stepped forward two steps, then suddenly paused, realizing something.

“This street… wasn’t the power cut off?” Beauty Snake suddenly spoke.

Emergency power?

The twenty-four people simultaneously lifted their heads, looking at the fully lit building.

The emergency power cannot sustain power for the entire building.

Someone shivered and instinctively looked back, but saw only dense darkness.

In the raging rain stream, suddenly no one dared to move closer to the wide-open door.

“Heartbeat sounds.”

A captain spoke softly:

“A moment ago, there were many people inside, with intermingling breathing sounds, heartbeats, whispers, and footsteps.”

“But now, the whole building, I hear only one heartbeat, just one.”

“The others… where are they?”

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