48: When number one knocks, does number zero dare to move?

Kunlun City, top floor of the military-exclusive store.

The atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing point after Long Qingtian's follower uttered that insulting provocation.

Invisible sparks seemed to crackle in the air.

Su Mucheng's mature and charming face had, by now, shed all softness and respect, replaced by a cold, chilling expression like ten thousand years of frost.

She slowly put the identity card, which represented Lin Tian's highest authority, back into her storage bracelet.

She looked at Lei Hao, the scar-faced youth before her, whose face was covered in flesh and whose eyes were full of disdain and contempt, and spoke in a cold, emotionless voice.

"Say what you just said again."

"Heh, what? President Su, didn't you hear clearly?" Lei Hao sneered, and several of his followers behind him also burst into malicious laughter.

They deliberately wanted to provoke the other party; they wanted to blow things up!

Lei Hao took a step forward, almost pressing against Su Mucheng's face, and repeated in an aggressive, word-by-word tone:

"I said, this drink, our number one heir, Big Brother Long Qingtian, wants it."

"As for your 'pretty boy' master who only relies on his looks to get by..."

He paused, a look of extreme humiliation on his face.

"—Let him roll over and get it himself!"

"Courting death!"

Su Mucheng could no longer suppress the rage in her heart!

A scholar can be killed but not humiliated!

Moreover, the one being humiliated was the man who had rescued her from the abyss of despair, given her new life and glory, and who, in her heart, had long been like a god... her Sir!

The terrifying aura of an A-Rank Martial Ancestor erupted!

Her figure flickered, her jade hand transforming into a sharp afterimage, carrying a piercing shriek that tore through the air, and fiercely struck towards Lei Hao's ugly face!

However, just a second before her palm was about to touch the other party—

A large hand, like an iron clamp, appeared out of thin air, effortlessly gripping her slender wrist, preventing her from advancing an inch!

It was Lei Hao!

His ugly face was filled with a mocking smile.

As an Peak A-rank Martial Ancestor himself, he clearly had the upper hand in pure strength over Su Mucheng!

"What? Can't win with words, so you want to fight?" Lei Hao violently flung Su Mucheng, causing her to stumble and almost fall to the ground. "President Su, I advise you to recognize your status. You are nothing more than a new dog taken in by Number Zero! How dare you bark in front of us?!"

"You!" Su Mucheng trembled with anger, about to strike again.

Just then—

"Lei Hao, stop."

A flat yet infinitely authoritative voice came from not far away.

Immediately after, a terrifying Sword Intent, several times more powerful than Lei Hao's, like a fierce storm, instantly enveloped the entire scene!

It was the number three heir, Long Ao!

He had arrived at the scene at some unknown point.

He stood in front of Su Mucheng, his once arrogant eyes now cold, locking onto Lei Hao.

"Lei Hao, what kind of thing are you? How dare you speak disrespectfully to Number Zero's direct assistant?!"

"Long Ao?" Lei Hao's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing the newcomer, but then turned into a disdainful sneer, "What? After being beaten like a dead dog by Number Zero back then, now you've become his most loyal dog?"

"You're courting death!" Long Ao roared, and the power of his S-Grade [Immortal Sword Bone] erupted!

However, just as both sides were on the verge of conflict, and a proxy war between heirs was about to completely ignite—

"All of you... stop."

A more powerful, more domineering aura, as if containing the majestic might of Heavenly Tribulation, instantly enveloped the entire store like a king's arrival!

The number one heir, Long Qingtian, dressed in a black Dragon-patterned battle armor, slowly walked out from behind the crowd.

Every step he took seemed to tread upon everyone's hearts, causing everyone present to feel a suffocating pressure from the depths of their Souls!

He first cast a cold glance at his follower, Lei Hao, a look that instantly made the latter feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, causing him to become silent.

Then, his gaze fell upon Long Ao, who was guarding Su Mucheng with a wary expression, and a cold, "elder brother's" authoritative curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Long Ao, you've improved."

"You've learned... to stand up for others?"

He paused, his tone suddenly becoming incomparably chilling!

"It's just a pity, you've followed the wrong master!"

"Your subordinate doesn't understand the rules and offended my subordinate. As the elder brother, today, I will properly... discipline him for you, and for that Number Zero who only hides behind women!"

Before he finished speaking!

He struck out ruthlessly!

Boom!!!

A purple-green lightning, extremely violent and filled with destructive aura, erupted from his body!

SSS-Grade Mutant Talent—[Heavenly Tribulation Body], activated!

He himself seemed to have transformed into the God of Thunder, presiding over the punishments of heaven and earth!

Facing Long Ao and Su Mucheng, who were fighting together, he merely casually launched three moves!

With the first move, he unleashed a punch, and thousands of lightning snakes danced wildly, instantly shattering Long Ao's indestructible Sword Intent storm!

With the second move, he took a step, his figure like a ghost, directly ignoring all of Su Mucheng's energy attacks, and with a close-range palm strike, he shattered her Protective Aura, which was strong enough to withstand an A-Class expert's full-force attack!

With the third move, he shook his arms, and a net of lightning constructed from Heavenly Tribulation divine lightning descended from the sky, crushing Long Ao and Su Mucheng, who had exerted all their strength, simultaneously... repelling them!

Both of them spat out blood, flying backward, their faces pale!

However, this was not over yet!

A cold glint flashed in Long Qingtian's eyes, and he deliberately released a wisp of extremely precise, hair-thin lightning aftershock, bypassing Long Ao, who had already lost the ability to resist, and like the most precise surgical knife, fiercely struck Su Mucheng's smooth, jade-like shoulder!

Sizzle!

A soft sound.

Su Mucheng's expensive assistant uniform was instantly burned with a charred hole, leaving a deep, bone-visible, still-flashing electric scar on her fair skin!

He actually... publicly injured someone!

And it was done in a humiliating and precisely targeted manner!

Having done all this, Long Qingtian slowly withdrew his hand, looking down at Long Ao, whose face was extremely grim and who was struggling to help up the injured Su Mucheng.

He left his final warning in a cold, "instructive" tone.

"Go back and tell Lin Tian."

"Control his people."

"Don't... be too high-profile."

After speaking, he no longer looked at the two of them, and with his group of followers who had long been terrified into silence, he calmly... departed amidst the awed and fearful gazes of everyone present.

The entire store fell into a deathly silence.

Long Ao supported Su Mucheng, whose shoulder was bleeding profusely and whose pretty face was pale with pain, yet she still bit her lip tightly without a word. His once unruly eyes were now filled with endless indignation, humiliation, and... deep unwillingness!

He knew that Long Qingtian's attack was not aimed at him, nor at Su Mucheng.

It was aimed at the face of the "Alpha Heir" behind them!

He looked up, gazing in the direction of Lin Tian's base suite, and murmured in a tone filled with anticipation and pleading:

"All of this..."

"Can only wait... for Number Zero to return and decide..."

The fuse for an unavoidable ultimate showdown between the strongest of the younger generation of the Long family was, at this moment, completely... ignited!