Peerless Martial Expert in the City
Chapter 441 - 442

Chapter 441: 442

Unfortunately, he failed to understand Xiao Yi’s sigh and made two critical mistakes. One was that he didn’t know Xiao Yi well—Xiao Yi hated threats the most.

The second mistake was that he severely underestimated Xiao Yi’s strength and greatly overestimated his own. He thought that by capturing Zeng Xiaomei, he could threaten Xiao Yi.

Almost everyone who underestimated Xiao Yi had received their just deserts, including that pale, beardless man whose strength had once far surpassed Xiao Yi’s. To this day, his strength had not recovered.

When Xiao Yi heard that the one-eyed man was still deluded and continued to threaten him with Xiaomei, tightening his grip on her neck as he spoke, a fleeting look of cold harshness flashed in Xiao Yi’s eyes, yet his body did not move. He just stood there, staring intensely at the one-eyed man, and remained silent.

The one-eyed man thought he had successfully intimidated Xiao Yi, making him afraid to move. A trace of joy crossed his face, and he quickened his steps, thinking only of getting as far away from this place as possible.

But he didn’t let his guard down entirely, his gaze fixed firmly on Xiao Yi, fearing any sudden move.

Unfortunately, what he didn’t understand was that the gap in their abilities was too vast. Even his focused gaze on Xiao Yi was utterly useless. Just as he had taken a few steps, his eyes bulged out in an expression of immense fear and disbelief.

His whole body seemed frozen in place, unable to move!

Seemingly out of nowhere, Xiao Yi’s figure, which had been getting farther away, appeared right in front of him, his hand firmly clasped on the man’s neck.

He had not seen how Xiao Yi moved.

He hadn’t even seen a shadow clearly before he felt a piercing pain behind his neck, and then his whole body completely lost all its strength!

This... was simply too terrifying!

Could it be... he truly knew magic, and at that level, could the difference in strength be so enormous?

Xiao Yi ignored the immense horror on his face and the shock within him. Seeing that the one-eyed man had completely stopped, Xiao Yi gently withdrew his hand from his neck. Then, he looked at the face of the one-eyed man, seeing his utterly shocked expression. There was no glee in Xiao Yi’s eyes. Facing such a low-level opponent, even though he had easily subdued him, he felt no pride in his accomplishment.

He just sighed softly and shook his head, then reached out again. He took the one-eyed man’s hand off Xiaomei’s neck and, with his other hand, lifted Xiaomei down.

As he lifted the delicate figure of Xiaomei, Xiao Yi glanced at her and unintentionally furrowed his brow briefly before he lifted his head and looked toward the other men nearby.

The other men had been completely stunned, showing no reaction at all. Their boss had fallen inexplicably, and now, they watched as their boss’s boss was immobilized by Xiao Yi in a bizarre fashion, allowing him to rescue the girl. They had kept their eyes fixed on Xiao Yi the whole time yet had not seen how he had appeared in front of their boss. He seemed to have materialized like a ghost... suddenly there...

"Spare us! Great Hero, spare us!"

Finally, one of the quicker reacting men came to his senses. Feeling Xiao Yi’s gaze on him, his legs gave out, and he immediately knelt down, incessantly begging Xiao Yi for mercy.

"Spare us, forgive us, it’s not our fault..."

"It’s not our fault, we were just trying to help..."

"......"

Hearing their companion’s pleas, the rest of the men finally snapped out of it, each looking at Xiao Yi, their legs weakening as they knelt down and loudly begged for mercy. At this moment, they even forgot the harsh rules of their terrifying organization and began shifting all the blame to their unconscious leader. In these secluded mountains, they faced a being more daunting than any ghost.

The terror was too chilling for them to bear!

"Tell me, what crime have you committed? Why was Officer Zeng chasing you here?"

Xiao Yi looked at the group of men in front of him, their heads banging on the ground as if pounding garlic. He slightly furrowed his brow but said nothing, merely asking in an even tone

"We........."

Hearing Xiao Yi’s question, the expressions on several people’s faces instantly turned pale, they looked at each other, but none dared to speak first.

"What, not talking?"

Xiao Yi slightly raised his brow, a hint of impatience appearing on his face, "If you don’t want to talk, forget it. I’m not very interested in this, but I think there might be others who are."

"Great Hero, spare our lives! I’ll speak... not... I’ll speak!"

Hearing Xiao Yi’s words, especially detecting the impatience in his tone, several men were immediately startled, their faces turning ghostly pale all at once, and they all started kowtowing fiercely. One man at the front was about to start speaking immediately but, after his words began to pour out, his eyes involuntarily glanced towards the man standing motionless beside him, hesitating once again in his tone.

However, in that moment of hesitation, upon looking up and seeing Xiao Yi’s gaze, he gritted his teeth and said timidly with his head bowed, "Great Hero, we... are part of a child trafficking gang. This afternoon, Officer Zeng somehow found out about us, broke in, and has been chasing us down here."

After he finished speaking, he immediately worried Xiao Yi might punish them and hurriedly added, "Great Hero, we are just minor followers, and moreover, we were forced to join them. Please give us a chance to reform!"

"A child trafficking gang?"

Xiao Yi didn’t take in a word of what was said afterwards. At the initial mention, his expression suddenly changed, his gaze, previously very gentle, flashed with a hint of severity instantly, his brows furrowed sharply upwards, and his Qi Mechanism also radiated slightly in that moment.

"I... it has nothing to do with us..."

Feeling the aura emanating from Xiao Yi, the expressions on those men’s faces changed instantly, and although they were already kneeling on the ground, they couldn’t help but tremble uncontrollably, continuing to kneel and bow non-stop.

"Speak, tell me everything you know, all of it."

Hearing their voices, Xiao Yi finally came to his senses, took a deep breath, adjusted his tone, and fixed his gaze intensely on them.

His words earlier were not merely threats or intimidation. Deep down, he genuinely didn’t care much about this matter. He never considered elevating himself to a lofty position of upholding world fairness or justice to meddle in such messy trivial matters, like what laws these criminals might have broken. He simply didn’t want to bother with it; such matters should be handled by the police.

But as soon as he heard the words "child trafficking" from their mouths, everything changed drastically. At that moment, he truly started caring about this issue. Although completely without basis, his intuition told him that this gang, chased here by Officer Zeng, might have significant connections with another gang he had taken down previously.

Moreover, he instantly had the same thought and judgment as Officer Zeng earlier: this gang was clearly not ordinary.

There were even two Bone Tempering experts in their gang!

This was beyond the nature of an ordinary gang!

Last time when he took down that base, he thought he had dealt with them, but it turned out that their background was not so simple.

Everyone felt that Xiao Yi’s gaze had changed; feeling the intense pressure from his eyes made them feel almost unable to breathe.

It was only with great difficulty that they mustered the courage to shakily raise their heads and look at Xiao Yi, tremblingly narrating everything they knew, pouring out all the details without any concealment.

Maybe if they were in a police station, facing possible severe torture or even the death penalty, they could remain tough and choose death over submission.

But now, facing Xiao Yi, they felt a deep-seated fear, not daring to hesitate or withhold anything.

"Do you always contact each other individually? You don’t even know where the children are trafficked to?"

As they recounted their tale, Xiao Yi just stared at them, not saying a word or interrupting them, waiting until they were finished speaking before he couldn’t help but raise his head, frown, and look at the man who was speaking. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation vote or monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)