"Hey, this Kingpin is so lame~ He can't even beat a woman." Qin Li covered his mouth with one hand and waved the other at Kingpin. Kingpin's face darkened, and just as he was about to speak, Jessica seized the opportunity and hit him on the chin with a swing punch, sending him flying.
"Oh~ Look who it is? Isn't this the famous priest of Hell's Kitchen?" Purple Man, Zebediah Kilgrave, said exaggeratedly, then took two steps forward and pointed. "Father, look, this is my perfect partner and my love!"
Qin Li looked at Purple Man with disdain, then turned his head to Kingpin's side and noticed no movement. He said, "Oh, so your love is all about controlling her with your powers, right? That's pretty twisted." Purple Man's expression froze, but he quickly recovered, saying indifferently, "It's fine, she'll understand."
Qin Li smiled. "Is that so? Then let me ask her if you're right?" Purple Man shrugged casually, but Qin Li could feel that he was trying to control him, too. Though Purple Man could control hundreds or thousands at once, his control was weak against someone with more than 200 times the mental strength of a normal person. Control? Not a chance.
Qin Li raised his hand, purifying Jessica. Purification eliminates abnormal conditions in teammates within a certain range. If all went as expected, it would break the control as well. The determination of whether someone is a teammate depends on Qin Li's subjective judgment. So, if Qin Li considered Jessica a teammate, the effect would apply to her.
A purple light enveloped Jessica, and as a circle of golden light spiraled upwards, the purple light shattered. Jessica's eyes shifted from dull to confused, then to anger.
"Jessica Jones, what do you think of the love concept of the person next to you?" Qin Li asked casually, as if watching a play. As he spoke, Jessica began recalling the events of the last two days. Her fists clenched, and her eyes filled with fury as she glared at Purple Man.
Seeing the situation unravel, Purple Man tried to use his powers, but they had no effect. He shouted at Qin Li, "What did you do?! Impossible, I could control her before!"
"Oh~ Just a little trick. Looks like your love isn't deep enough," Qin Li replied indifferently.
Purple Man began to run, but Jessica caught up quickly and twisted his neck, killing him. As he died, the gunfire next door abruptly stopped, followed by shouting, as if people were trying to communicate. Qin Li wasn't in a hurry to check. Instead, he walked to where Kingpin lay and was about to kick him when Kingpin suddenly rose.
"Kingpin, you..." Qin Li realized Kingpin was pretending to be unconscious. "Father Li, we need to check out the situation. Something's happening," Kingpin said seriously, as if the unconscious act wasn't his.
Qin Li slapped his forehead, realizing Kingpin wasn't thick-skinned enough.
"I have nowhere else to go. Can I follow you, Father?" Just as Qin Li was about to follow Kingpin to the last stronghold, Jessica, still stepping on Purple Man's corpse, spoke up. "No problem~ If you don't mind sleeping in the church, I just need a female waiter at my bar," Qin Li said, waving his hand without looking back.
As the three of them arrived at the club, the gunfight had ended. An old man stood at the entrance, talking to the others.
"We don't need war. You can just trade the homeless and useless prostitutes for money. Isn't that better? Why start a war?" The old vampire was confused. He couldn't understand why so many strongholds were attacked tonight without reason. He had no idea their vampire existence had been exposed.
"Send humans to you as food? You really want to?" Qin Li sneered.
"What vampire? What are you talking about?" The old vampire feigned confusion, as if he had no knowledge of vampires. Suddenly, a blood-covered boy, missing a leg, rushed out from the door. Seeing him, the old vampire's face changed drastically, and he rushed to catch the boy. But Qin Li was faster. He threw a floating cross in front of the old vampire. The old man screamed in pain as he collapsed to the ground. It turned out the old vampire was also a high-level count, able to withstand the soft light of the cross.
The boy saw the old man coming and sped up, nearly falling but being caught by Jessica.
"It's hell down there! A sister was bitten to death by two people trying to save me. Everyone else is dead. I'm the only one left!" The boy, missing a leg, tried not to cry. As he spoke of those lost, his tears flowed, and he cried out, "Lucas, Ball, and the others are dead, all sucked dry by those fanged demons."
Qin Li walked up and handed the boy a knife to make him faint. Then, he gave him a slow healing spell. "He's too exhausted. The emotional strain is too much for his body to handle. Let him rest for a bit," Qin Li said, signaling Jessica to take the boy aside while he walked toward the old vampire, who could no longer scream.
"How many of you are down there?" Qin Li asked, his foot crushing the old man's spine. But the old man, writhing in pain, could not speak. Qin Li's question was nothing more than venting frustration. With a casual flick of the Spear of Victory, the old man was obliterated. Qin Li lit a cigarette and walked into the club. He had already arranged for others to surround the area, preventing any "rats" from escaping.
Upon entering, he saw the second floor of the basement, and his anger flared. People were hung upside down, with transparent glass barrels filled with blood beneath them. Each barrel was connected to pipes running upstairs. Humans here were treated like livestock, not simply dying but being drained for their blood. Although Qin Li wanted to save them, their consciousness had already collapsed—they were completely vegetative. He walked back to the ground level in silence and lit another cigarette.
Kingpin seemed to understand something and walked over, lighting a cigar but saying nothing.
"Kingpin, many times I think you're a bastard. But tonight, I didn't expect there to be even worse monsters than you." Qin Li lowered his head, exhaling a puff of smoke. The smoke obscured his face, hiding his thoughts.
"Bastard and scumbag? If I wasn't either of those, I couldn't have become the king of this gang. At least when I ruled, New York's underground gangs didn't have gunfights every day over territory and business," Kingpin replied, unbothered by Qin Li's accusations.
After taking the final puff, Qin Li stood up. The cross floated behind him once more, and his hands faced the club in front. Golden light circled him, and the magic formation below him began to form. Qin Li looked up, his eyes shining with holy light, and roared, "Justice Judgment!"
The area of about a thousand square meters around the club was covered by the golden formation. Thousands of Spears of Victory rained down like meteors, obliterating the five-story club and collapsing the basement. As the Spears of Victory vanished, the ground cracked, and a four-winged angel made of light emerged, brandishing a spear to deliver the final blow. When the angel faded, only a 60-meter-wide, 30-meter-deep crater remained—an imprint of divine judgment.
Having released the full power of Justice Judgment, Qin Li withdrew. Jessica had already been given the address and would follow later. By the time Qin Li woke up the next afternoon, he turned on his phone to see news headlines: Tony Stark had been attacked by terrorists while on his way to show new weapons in the Middle East. His whereabouts were unknown. A message from Black Widow also came through, asking for help to find Tony Stark and clean up the aftermath of last night.
Has it begun? Qin Li stared at the message in his hand, deep in thought.