123: Chapter 123 A Familiar Taste, A Severed Wrist, Deadly Poison Source

Lin Qi's gaze turned cold in that instant.

He didn't even spare a second glance at the transformed zhan ye heavy sword in his hand as he began walking toward the corridor entrance with an air of effortless calm.

Zhang Wei's screams of pain and the verbal abuse from the others were like awls stabbing into Lin Qi's nerves.

"Let go of me! You scumbags!"

"Fatty, you've got quite the mouth! I think you've got a death wish!"

"Kill him!"

At the corridor entrance, several men dressed in matching black martial arts attire were pinning Zhang Wei firmly to the ground.

Zhang Wei's stout body struggled desperately, his face pressed against the filthy ground and covered in dust, while his mouth continued to spew profanities.

A man in black leading them, with a hideous scar across his face and a sinister gaze, was stepping on Zhang Wei's back, pinning him down.

Lin Qi's footsteps came to a halt.

It wasn't because of the menacing appearance of the men in black.

It was because he smelled a familiar scent coming from them.

Cold, bloody, and mixed with a peculiar energy fluctuation.

It was exactly the same as Ghost Hand, who had tried to assassinate him in the alley back then.

The Shadow Guild.

These rats were actually here too.

"Brother Qi! Run!" Zhang Wei saw Lin Qi from the ground and roared at the top of his lungs, his face turning a deep shade of purple from the strain. "Don't worry about me! There are too many of them!"

Scarface followed Zhang Wei's gaze and looked back, seeing Lin Qi standing not far away.

He sized up Lin Qi's unremarkable hoodie, his eyes filled with disdain and cruelty.

"Oh, an accomplice?"

He slowly lifted the foot stepping on Zhang Wei's back and then stomped down hard!

Oof!

Zhang Wei's breath was knocked out of him, and he nearly blacked out on the spot.

"Kid, your friend doesn't know the rules and stood in the way of our business." Scarface grinned cruelly and signaled to a subordinate beside him. "Teach him a lesson."

The subordinate understood, a cruel smile appearing on his face as he raised his palm, preparing to slap Zhang Wei across the face.

Bizarrely, a faint green glow flickered on his palm, emitting a nauseating, sickly sweet scent.

Poison!

They weren't actually after Zhang Wei; he had just happened to block their path.

But as soon as they acted, they intended to cripple him.

This was the Shadow Guild's style of doing things.

Zhang Wei closed his eyes in despair.

However, the expected agonizing pain did not come.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

He peeked through a slit in his eyelids, and the sight before him made his eyes widen instantly.

Lin Qi had appeared in front of him at some unknown point in time.

The man in black who was about to slap him looked as if he had been hit by a freezing spell, frozen mid-swing, motionless.

And his wrist was being held gently by a hand that wasn't particularly thick but was as steady as a steel vice.

It was Lin Qi's hand.

"You..." The astonishment on the man's face hadn't even fully registered yet.

Crack!

A crisp sound of bone fracturing that made one's teeth ache rang out abruptly in the silent corridor.

No nonsense.

No wasted movements.

Lin Qi simply applied a slight pressure with his fingers and, just like that, casually crushed the other man's wrist bone!

"Aaaagh—!"

A shrill scream, like a duck being strangled, suddenly erupted.

The man in black clutched his wrist, which was twisted at a bizarre angle, rolling on the ground in pain as cold sweat instantly soaked his clothes.

This sudden turn of events stunned everyone present.

The remaining men in black snapped out of it, and with a collective 'clang,' they drew the weapons at their waists, their Killing Intent instantly locking onto Lin Qi.

The air seemed to freeze.

"Stop!"

Scarface barked a command to stop his subordinates who were about to swarm forward.

For the first time, his gaze became incredibly solemn.

This was the Black Market.

Minor scuffles were ignored, but if a large-scale brawl broke out and violated the rules here, it would quickly draw the intervention of the Black Market Enforcement Team.

When that happened, no one would have a good time.

More importantly, he hadn't even seen how Lin Qi moved just now!

One second he was over ten meters away, and the next, he was in front of his subordinate.

What kind of speed was that?

Scarface stared intently at Lin Qi's face, which was hidden in the shadows, as if trying to see through him.

"Good skills," he squeezed out through gritted teeth, his voice dry. "We are on Shadow Guild business. Friend, state your path."

Lin Qi ignored him.

He simply leaned down and, like picking up a chick, lifted the two-hundred-plus-pound Zhang Wei off the ground with one hand and patted the dust off him.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm... I'm fine..." Zhang Wei was still shaken. Looking at Lin Qi's back, his eyes were filled with the relief of a survivor and fervent admiration.

Seeing himself being completely ignored, Scarface's face turned ashen.

But he didn't make another move.

He gave Lin Qi a deep look, his eyes like those of a venomous snake, searing Lin Qi's appearance into his memory.

"The mountains and rivers will meet again. Let's go!"

He left behind a parting threat and waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to pick up several large, sealed metal crates on the ground. They hurried toward the depths of the Black Market, taking their still-screaming companion with them.

Zhang Wei watched their retreating backs and cursed with lingering fear, "Damn it, a pack of mad dogs!"

Lin Qi didn't say anything.

His brow furrowed slightly.

His gaze fell upon the metal crates being carried away.

After forging his Silver Bone, his five senses had become exceptionally sharp.

Just now, when that group passed by him, he had smelled an extremely potent scent coming from those sealed metal crates.

It wasn't the smell of ordinary metal or cargo.

It was the smell of 'source matter waste.'

And it wasn't the kind of residue left over after ordinary industrial refining.

This scent... was of extremely high purity, carrying a pungent, toxic attribute, as if it had undergone some special secondary refining.

This kind of thing usually had only one purpose.

To create large-scale biochemical weapons, or... toxic potions specifically designed to target certain professional classes with special Physiques.

A thought instantly flashed through Lin Qi's mind.

He remembered not long ago, at the scrap yard in the west of the city, he had bought out almost all the waste containing essence.

Could it be...

That these people were coming for him?

A trace of alertness quietly rose in Lin Qi's heart.

He turned around and handed the brand-new zhan ye heavy sword to Zhang Wei.

"Take the sword and go back to school first." His voice was calm, devoid of any emotion.

"Huh? Brother Qi, what about you?" Zhang Wei was stunned.

"I have some business to take care of."

After Lin Qi finished speaking, before Zhang Wei could ask more, his body flickered. Like a phantom, he merged into a dark side path and instantly vanished into the crowd.

Zhang Wei stood there dazed, clutching the still-warm heavy sword.

...

The terrain of the Black Market was as complex as a labyrinth.

Lin Qi moved through those dark, damp passages without making a sound.

He activated [Listening Strength].

The noisy sounds of the entire Black Market were filtered and decomposed in his ears. The footsteps and conversations of those Shadow Guild members were clearly locked on.

Like a ghost, he maintained a constant, moderate distance from them, using the complex architectural structures to perfectly evade their sight.

A few minutes later, the group carrying the crates walked into a dead end.

At the end of the alley was an unremarkable iron door.

Scarface looked around vigilantly, and after confirming no one was following, he tapped a special code on the door.

The iron door slid open silently, and the group quickly slipped inside.

Lin Qi's figure slowly emerged from the shadow of a ventilation duct on the ceiling.

Like a gecko, he noiselessly crawled to the vent above that iron door, held his breath, and pressed his ear against it.

Inside the iron door, muffled conversation could be heard.

"...Has everything arrived?" a raspy and somber voice spoke.