togophonebook Chapter 4: He shattered my worldview, and then asked me for 2!
Chapter 4: He shattered my worldview, and then asked me for 2!
The courtyard was deathly silent.
The strong smell of blood and gunpowder fermented together, making people's nasal passages sting.
Fang Qingxue and her two bodyguards stood there stiffly, their bodies as rigid as three newly unearthed terracotta figures.
Their gazes were fixed on the man standing amidst the corpses and carnage.
The man was looking at his courtyard gate, which had been kicked to pieces, with a pained expression.
What exactly happened just now?
That was a team of elite mercenaries armed with heavy firepower.
There were even two powerful superhumans mixed in there.
This force is enough to raze a small military outpost.
But how long did they hold out against this man?
Ten seconds?
It might not even last ten seconds.
There was no fierce firefight as expected, no earth-shattering energy clashes, and not even a single unnecessary harsh word.
The man simply walked a few steps in his own yard.
Take a stroll.
Wherever they went, those fierce and menacing enemies fell like stalks of wheat being cut down.
His movements were casual, more effortless than swatting a few mosquitoes on a summer night.
The fireball that the fire-wielding ability user was so proud of couldn't even touch the hem of his clothes.
The frost ability user's deadly ice spikes lost their target mid-air.
As for the mercenaries carrying assault rifles, under Fang Qingxue's dynamic visual capture, they didn't even have a chance to pull the trigger a second time.
The man's figure swayed and flashed by in an instant.
When it reappeared, it was already very close to them.
Then comes a punch, a palm strike, a finger strike, or an elbow strike.
They are all basic moves, so basic they couldn't be more basic.
There were no dazzling lights or shadows, no terrifying spectacle.
But the result of each move was fatal.
Fang Qingxue came from an extraordinary background and had seen too many powerful figures praised by the world.
Whether it's a master of ancient martial arts with profound inner strength, a genetic warrior who has broken through the limits, or an S-class superhuman with extraordinary talent.
But she had never seen anyone like that before.
His power far exceeded her understanding of the word "battle".
This is not a fight.
This is cleaning.
"Have you had enough of watching the show? Shouldn't you give us an explanation for this mess?"
Lin Fan's voice rang out, forcefully pulling Fang Qingxue's soul back from its detachment.
She met Lin Fan's gaze.
There was no murderous intent, no arrogance, and not even a trace of anger in those eyes.
There was only one clearly discernible emotion.
accurate.
It's the purest form of annoyance when someone makes a mess of your own yard and you have to clean it up yourself.
"You...you..."
Ali, Fang Qingxue's bodyguard, swallowed hard, wanting to say something, but found his tongue tied. He tried to say "you" for a long time, but couldn't utter a second word.
He looked at the twisted corpses on the ground, then at Lin Fan with a look of disgust on his face, and a chill ran up his spine and straight to his skull.
That's something no human could do.
It was an ancient, ferocious beast draped in human skin, irritated by the fact that its lair had been dirtied.
Fang Qingxue forcibly suppressed her turbulent emotions. She knew that she had kicked a rock that could not be measured by common sense.
No, that's not a metal plate.
That is a sacred mountain.
Any arrogance or provocation pales in comparison to the insignificance of this sacred mountain.
She quickly gathered her thoughts, her voice no longer trembling: "Mr. Lin, this is a misunderstanding. These people...we didn't bring them here."
"I don't care whether you were brought here or not."
Lin Fan interrupted her directly, extending a finger and pointing at the pile of sawdust.
"This door of mine is newly replaced, with an antique finish, made of rosewood. The labor and materials cost 50,000."
His finger moved to the ground again, pointing to several bluestone slabs cracked by bullets.
"These floor tiles are old; they were laid by my great-grandfather. Three pieces are broken. You can charge 20,000 for each, making it 60,000. That's not unreasonable, is it?"
Finally, his gaze fell on the flowerbed.
The sight of those few rose bushes charred black by the fireball intensified the displeasure on his face.
"And my flower, 'Juliet,' is a seedling that a friend brought back from abroad, and it has just started to bloom."
"These few plants are priceless."
"However, considering that you are also victims, I'll round it up to 100,000, including my compensation for emotional distress."
Lin Fan counted on his fingers, his face serious as he did the accounting.
"The door costs 50,000, the bricks 60,000, and the flowers and emotional distress damages 100,000. That's a total of 210,000. I'll round it down to 200,000."
"Cash or bank transfer?"
"..."
The courtyard fell into a deathly silence once again.
Fang Qingxue and her two bodyguards' eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.
They had imagined countless possible outcomes in their minds.
The other party might press them about their origins.
They might interrogate the mastermind behind these mercenaries.
They might use this to blackmail the Fang family.
They might even... kill them to silence them.
But no matter how hard they racked their brains, they never imagined that the first thing this terrifying being did after wiping out an elite squad in the blink of an eye was to ask them for compensation.
It's calculated so meticulously... so precisely and with such attention to detail?
The script is wrong!
Where's the legendary master we were promised? How did this art style turn out like this!
"Sir... are you joking?" another bodyguard, Ah Hai, asked in a dry voice. His worldview was being repeatedly shattered and reshaped.
Do I look like I'm joking?
Lin Fan glanced at him, speaking with self-righteousness.
"I'm being reasonable. They damaged my things, but they're gone, and I can't find the culprits. You were the second wave to come in, and you're still alive. Who else should I look for if not you?"
This logic...
It is flawless, yet full of loopholes.
Fang Qingxue's lips twitched uncontrollably.
She forced herself to calm down and analyze the man in front of her.
He's either a mentally unstable lunatic.
Either his realm has reached such a high level that he regards worldly fighting and killing as nothing, and what he truly cares about is only the tranquility of his own life and the flowers and plants in his yard.
Judging from his unpredictable and supernatural skills, the answer is self-evident.
"Okay, two hundred thousand, I'll pay."
Fang Qingxue made a decisive decision without the slightest hesitation.
Money is just a number.
Problems that can be solved with money are never really problems. Especially when facing a powerful figure whose strength you can't even fathom, any attempt to bargain is tantamount to suicide.
She took her phone out of her purse: "Your account."
Lin Fan recited a series of numbers.
Fang Qingxue's fingers flew across the screen, and a moment later, Lin Fan's phone emitted a crisp notification sound.
[Your account ending in XXXX received a transfer of RMB 200000.00 on X month X day at XX:XX. Current balance...]
Upon hearing this voice, Lin Fan's displeasure subsided slightly.
"Very good, payment settled."
He waved his hand, as if shooing away annoying flying insects.
"Now, take your people, dispose of this garbage, and then disappear from my sight. Don't spoil my afternoon tea."
Fang Qingxue frowned as she looked at the corpses scattered on the ground. "Mr. Lin, these people are of unknown origin. Dealing with them rashly might cause trouble for the authorities. Moreover, they are clearly after you; there must be someone behind them..."
She didn't finish her sentence.
A sharp, urgent siren shattered the tranquility of the alleyway as it drew nearer.
The flashing red and blue lights of the police cars jumped and blinked wildly on the courtyard wall through the broken doorway.
Fang Qingxue's expression changed drastically.
Her two bodyguards tensed instantly, their hands instinctively gripping their waists. Their identities made it extremely dangerous for them to have any dealings with official Chinese forces, especially at such a sensitive time as this death.
"Miss, it's the Special Operations Team! We're surrounded!" Ali said in a low, anxious voice.
However, Lin Fan ignored the piercing siren.
He merely glanced outside, then turned back to look at Fang Qingxue, his brows furrowing once more.
"See, trouble's brewing now?"
He said it in a flat tone.
"I hate trouble the most."
Fang Qingxue's heart skipped a beat.
She sensed a chilling murderous intent in those seemingly innocuous words. She had no doubt that if she didn't handle the situation well, this man would not hesitate to include her and her men as part of the "trouble" and "deal with" them as well.
Just then, a commotion arose at the entrance of the alley, and a group of armed personnel dressed in black combat uniforms swiftly cordoned off the area.
Immediately afterwards, a sprightly old man dressed in a Tang suit, surrounded by a crowd, strode into the courtyard with a stern face.
The person who arrived was Li Zhenguo, the president of the Beijing Martial Arts Association.
His pupils contracted violently when he first saw the horrific scene of corpses strewn across the courtyard.
His expression turned extremely solemn as his gaze swept over the residual energy fluctuations on the corpses of the superhumans.
Finally, his gaze settled on the three people still standing in the courtyard.
One was Fang Qingxue, whose face was deathly pale, yet she still tried to remain calm—Li Zhenguo recognized her as the most outstanding young lady of the Fang family, an international martial arts family.
The other one was the young man standing in the middle of the courtyard, wearing shorts and a white T-shirt, his face clearly saying, "You're disturbing me."
Lin Fan.
Li Zhenguo's heart was instantly gripped by an invisible hand, almost stopping.
He stared intently at Lin Fan, then glanced at the corpse on the ground.
An idea that he himself found utterly absurd grew uncontrollably from the depths of his heart.
Is it...
He killed all of these people by himself?