Deeper into the night, not too far from Lin Jin's home, a few men dressed in dark clothes leaped from roof to roof.
At their pace followed various types of pet beasts.
Beside them flew a large bat, crawled a black spider, and leaped a menacing-looking ape.
Once they arrived, the men stopped. Although these men were dressed full black and had their faces covered, one of them couldn't hide his plump figure. The man spoke, "You're all professionals so I won't say much. I only ask one thing of you which is to teach that brat a good lesson. It's better if you beat him up so hard that no one can recognize him. As long as you don't take his life, all is good."
The man obviously spoke with a deep grudge.
It was Dong He of the logistics department who had been played by Lin Jin earlier that day.
The incident of Lin Jin smashing up the spirit stones in public was engraved into his mind. More crucially, that brat made him lose face before his beloved Jia Qian and took away a priceless piece of fire spirit crystal.
With his resentment in mind, Dong He decided to hire men to mercilessly throw hands onto Lin Jin before snatching the fire spirit crystal away.
The men alongside him nodded. "Don't worry. It's not our first time doing this. You can just sit back and watch the show."
"Sure, but I have another request. When you beat him up, strip him down too. I want to watch that rascal cry for his mama, bereaving him of his reputation," Dong He instructed heartlessly.
"No problem. We'll head inside first. Come in after you hear our signal." The hitman agreed to Dong He's request.
Since it was for the money, they would comply with any of their client's requests.
Outside the small yard.
"This is the place." Dong He had managed to track down where Lin Jin lived a while ago.
The hitmen nodded. Without any investigation, they casually went inside because Dong He had informed them that they had a weak target who only possessed a level one beast. Since that's the case, why would they need to take precautions?
After the hitmen broke in, Dong He waited in anticipation.
Inside the house, Xiao Huo's evolution was ongoing. Lin Jin rubbed his hands in excitement as he feasted on this sight.
Xiao Huo's new coat shimmered a silky crimson, its body exuded a scorching heat. It had completely transformed out of that mongrel look from before and its body gradually developed a size.
At first, it had grown up to the size of a regular wolf beast and this itself had presented immeasurable intimidation. Just as Lin Jin thought that this was all to it, to his surprise, Xiao Huo never stopped there.
Its ashy fur disintegrated and a new coat broke through its skin. Its sharp claws, teeth, flesh, and bones were constantly falling off as stronger and sharper versions of the structures renewed in their places. Lin Jin stepped further back, musing on how the strength of this pill eminently surpassed steroids.
As Xiao Huo continued to flame up, Lin Jin caught onto a problem.
Not only were Xiao Huo's claws hooking the floorboards up, but Lin Jin's roof was about to burn down.
Just then, the door of this wooden house burst open, and a gibbon made the entrance, followed by a large bat, and then a black spider. After them, a few men holding malicious grins emerged behind.
Lin Jin was caught off guard.
The men and their pet beasts were also caught off guard.
Upon looking at Xiao Huo, the initially aggressive pet beasts immediately shuddered.
There were times when a pet beast's senses were sharper than a human's. Despite Xiao Huo's evolution being incomplete, its aura was intimidating enough. Surrounded by flames, Xiao Huo swept a glance at them, and the beasts scampered from the scene pronto.
'Beastmaster Deterrence allows a high chance of inducing fear into other pet beasts. Cannot be controlled by blood pact for a short period of time.' This info card suddenly appeared across Lin Jin's mind as he watched the scene in front of him.
As a beast appraiser, Lin Jin savvied that higher-leveled pet beasts had the dominion to terrorize beasts of lower levels to them. In such cases, the opponents would have no means of fighting back.
Well, their pet beasts had all fled. How could they fight back?
Before the hitmen could even sputter a threat, this scene had scared them voiceless.
What was going on?
Did the fight end before it even started?
They weren't idiots. This wolf beast the size of a bull was wrapped in flames. Such a situation was already out of their job scope. So, they turned and prepared to run.
"Stand there!"
Lin Jin finally rebounded to his senses. These hostile-looking men who barged into his house in the middle of the night were clearly up to no good. How could Lin Jin not interrogate them?
The men froze. What else could they do? Lin Jin's pet beast was so scary. Even if they ran, they couldn't possibly get far. The coward of the group cracked and fell to his knees, drenched in sweat. Without Lin Jin even asking, he caved.
"Someone has hired you guys to beat me up? And he even wanted you to strip me before hitting me? That's cruel."
Anger imbibed into Lin Jin upon hearing this. He asked who their client was and the men answered honestly.
"It's a fat guy. I know him. He's from the Beast Appraisal Association with the surname 'Dong'. I'm not sure what his full name is because he never told us."
"Dong He?" Lin Jin easily guessed. It must be him. They had a conflict today and the man was fat and in the association. It couldn't be anyone else but him.
Lin Jin turned hostile. He asked the men while pointing his finger at Xiao Huo, "Do you want to live or die?"
"Live. We want to live. Brother, we were wrong. Please have mercy and let us go. We're willing to serve you, just say the word."
These men of the underground society clearly knew how to read the situation.
Lin Jin nodded. "Alright then. Go back outside, strip your client, and beat him up. Remember, don't stop until he cries."
The men nodded with vigor as they listened. One was a weak fatty while the other was a puissant young man with a powerful pet beast. Did they even need contemplation? Additionally, that fatty had lied to them. Did this young man look weak? Did that blazing, bull of a wolf beast look like it was a Rank 1?
F*cking b*stard. If they hadn't kneeled so quickly, in a snap they would've been deader than a log. Even before Lin Jin's orders, they already had the intention of teaching Dong He a lesson.
During that moment, the unruly flames were far from being contained or put out. Xiao Huo's body growth didn't show signs of stopping. Considering that it was only a wolf beast, this frame was spine-chilling.
As the scorching heatwave smothered them, the men swiftly retreated while Lin Jin managed to swipe some books and clothes before escaping. The moment he got outside, his house crumbled.
Dong He who heard the commotion ran over, exclaiming as he did, "Why did you guys burn the house? But this is good too. Who asked the rascal to provoke me."
Before he could say any more, he was struck to the ground.
Then, a hailstorm of punches rained down on him and Dong He was blindsided, unable to make heads or tails of the situation. His garments had also been stripped away piece by piece. He wanted to fight back, but his pet beast never appeared.
His entire body was bruised all over, with his clothing scattered on the ground. This impulsive attack made Dong He tremble beyond humiliation. But he didn't cry. Instead, he squealed like a pig in the slaughterhouse.
His cries pricked on Lin Jin's skin. He waved to the hitmen, signaling to drag Dong He further away.
As slaves to his word, the men quickly muffled Dong He with his clothes and dragged him away enthusiastically. The hysterical shrieks faded out of hearing.
In a faraway alley, as they dragged Dong He along, one of the hitmen whispered, "Why don't we make a break for it?"
Another man shook his head. "That person isn't someone we should mess with. Let's not take the risk. Continue beating him up until he cries."
"What an unlucky day!" The few hitmen sighed. They had decided to escape the city tonight. This fatty wasn't an easy target either. Now that they've broken the rules by hitting their client, they had to go incognito. As for the guy with that terrifying pet beast, they never dared to provoke him ever again. The murderous gaze of that wolf beast was something that inked into their brains.
Dong He who was weak against a beating, did not cry but simply fainted instead.
"He fainted. What should we do?" One of the hitmen was frustrated.
"What else can we do? Run!"
The hitmen quickly scampered away, leaving the nude Dong He to lie in the alley.
On the other hand, Lin Jin pondered at the ruins that were once his house, then turned to Xiao Huo that had shrunk back to normal size. He stroked its head.
"A level three fire wolf beast!"
Just by hearing those few words, Lin Jin knew that losing a house, heck, even losing ten houses would be worth it.