First-Year Internship—And You Went to Site 749 to Contain Monsters?!
Chapter 180: Standing in Front of Your Grave Listening to You Talk

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As the words fell, Lu Ding raised his hand—

A slash burst forth, and he used the recoil to shoot backward through the air.

Two attacks landed where he had just stood.

Smacking the already shattered corpse of Qu Ningyan one more time.

Body Pillar and Flower Pillar landed.

Their faces serious as they stared at Lu Ding.

This guy never plays by the rules—his presence always makes plans fall behind changes.

Body Pillar, crouching, stood up and stepped forward.

Twisting both arms while circulating Qi, the crisp sound of metal rings clinking echoed. Dozens of bronze rings wrapped around his forearms.

Both weapon and armor.

“Iron Thread Fist?”

Lu Ding paced a couple of steps: “You’re Tianli Cult’s Body Pillar, Zhao Jian.”

His expression stayed calm, voice emotionless.

Zhao Jian grew annoyed: “Qu Ningyan’s gone, it’s two against one, and you’re still so chill. I really don’t get what you’re so damn cocky about!?”

Lu Ding raised a fist with a crack of his knuckles.

He suddenly turned his head, not even looking directly at Zhao Jian, smirking arrogantly: “You wanna know what I’m cocky about?”

Lu Ding usually didn’t like talking much. But this one, he wanted to answer.

“District-wide prestige, province-level menace. In this year’s Three-District Trials, out of tens of thousands of investigators—I’m ranked first. You tell me, what’s there not to be cocky about?”

Hearing that, Zhao Jian instantly felt like he’d humiliated himself. Shouldn’t have asked. Just gave Lu Ding a stage to flex.

In a flash, Zhao Jian lunged and struck. The rings on his arms rang out—his style was all about sudden strikes.

But zero-frame openers were Lu Ding’s signature.

Pulling stunts in front of the god of stunts himself.

Of course he was ready for it.

He countered with a delayed strike that still landed first—

A punch smashed straight into Zhao Jian’s cheek. Flesh tore, bones of the cheek and jaw shattered.

If you could see inside, you’d witness his brain slamming against his skull from the impact.

His eyes immediately turned dull. His body slumped and collapsed.

‘He’s so fast, so strong… This isn’t what we expected. How is he even stronger than before…’

“F-Flower… Pillar… run…”

Zhao Jian gasped.

But from the darkness, a cold glint flew out.

Lu Ding raised his hand in a flower-plucking move.

Snatched the flying dagger out of mid-air.

Shhhh!

Puffs of anesthetic gas hissed from the blade’s tip.

Turns out—someone had crawled up from the ground where Zhao Jian fell, scooped him up, and started running.

Flower Pillar’s voice echoed beside his ear: “Run? Of course I’m taking you with me.”

“He… his body’s stronger than mine… I…”

“Don’t worry, remember the test I ran on you last time?”

Zhao Jian’s mind flickered—he remembered Flower Pillar testing a sedative on him once.

Just a tiny bit had knocked him out cold.

Flower Pillar continued: “What I used just now? It was dozens of times stronger than that. No matter how tough his body is, it’ll limit him. We can’t beat him now, but escaping—he definitely…”

Before he could finish—

Flower Pillar came to an abrupt stop.

His pupils shrank violently.

There—by the tree up ahead—

Lu Ding was already standing in their path, holding a flying dagger in one hand, a Tianli Cult member in the other.

He exhaled long, cold breath, fogging the air.

“Hooo……”

The member in his hand, still barely conscious, instantly slumped at the first whiff of that mist.

Lu Ding unleashed a slash.

The cultist in his grasp was shredded—flesh blasted apart, bones turned to dust.

“Anesthetic gas? Laced with poison? What do you think it’s gonna do?”

Lu Ding’s body was far beyond anything that kind of thing could affect.

To him, it was no different than a casual puff of smoke.

Inhale. Exhale.

Watching this, Flower Pillar broke out in a cold sweat.

At this point, it was practically spelled out—Lu Ding’s physical strength was at least dozens of times stronger than Body Pillar’s.

And Body Pillar was famous for his physique—that’s literally why he was called Body Pillar.

Yet Lu Ding’s body outclassed his by this much.

Flower Pillar took a step back.

He tried reasoning with Lu Ding: “Lu Ding, let’s talk. I mean…”

Next second—

Lu Ding’s afterimage still hung in the air—

His real body was already in front of him.

One punch smashed downward like a piledriver.

BOOM！！！！

A punch filled with terrifying force slammed Flower Pillar halfway into the ground like a nail.

Another punch followed.

BOOM！！！

This one finished the job—burying Flower Pillar’s entire body underground, leaving only a misshapen, smashed skull sticking out.

No life signs remained.

Lu Ding kicked some dirt to bury the head and built a small mound.

Standing in front of it,

he responded to Flower Pillar’s last words: “Alright, now we can talk. Go ahead.”

Saying that, he tilted his head, ear toward the mound, as if listening.

Zhao Jian, thrown aside by Flower Pillar earlier, staggered up.

Blood poured from the gash on his face, soaking half his body.

Seeing Flower Pillar dead, grief and rage filled his heart.

All their shared memories came flooding back.

He roared: “Lu Ding!!!”

With a leap, he raised both fists like twin hammers and slammed down.

Lu Ding sidestepped effortlessly, missing him by a hair—pure elegance.

The ground exploded.

Cracks tore open, swallowing every blade of grass and tree within a hundred meters.

Zhao Jian turned his head and saw dark red markings crawling over Lu Ding’s body.

A glowing ring circled his pupils.

For a moment, he felt like Lu Ding was standing atop a mountain, arm stretched to touch the sky.

Inside those clouds—something terrifying stirred.

A monstrous dragon claw tore through the darkness.

And pressed down—

Right on Zhao Jian’s skull.

Dark mist swirled around Lu Ding.

His eyes gleamed with a strange, eerie crimson.

“You have friendship? Bonds?”

His hand clenched tighter, lifting Zhao Jian by the head.

Pain overwhelmed him, but Zhao Jian gritted his teeth and forced the words out, one by one: “Lu Ding! You! Will! Die! A! Miserable! Death!”

At that moment—

Lu Ding unleashed another slash.

Moments later, all that remained in his hand—was Zhao Jian’s head.

Lu Ding paused, then sneered.

“Too bad you died before me. Whether I die horribly or not—you won’t be around to see it.”

With a twist—

Crack!

He flung the blood off his hand, then kicked the remains farther away.

Not even letting the two die side by side.

He vanished from the spot.

Meanwhile, in the forest—over a thousand Yunmeng 749 investigators were tearing through more than a hundred Tianli Cult freaks.

It was a one-sided slaughter.

They even had to compete for kill credits.

Seeing this, Guo Wuji felt… complicated.

Wounded, he turned and glanced at Qiu Si, hands soaked in blood.

Then looked at Lu Ding, completely untouched, standing atop a tree branch.

He sighed inwardly.

If Lu Ding was here, that meant Body Pillar and Flower Pillar were dead—or had fled.

Either way,

he couldn’t stay here.

“Lu Ding, I admit I still underestimated you. But there’s still a long road ahead.

Today, I’m leaving. You won’t be able to stop me.

And in the future—we’ll meet again.”

As he spoke, he noticed the mocking smile on Lu Ding’s face and added, “What are you laughing at?”