Hongda Company was one of the larger companies in the area around Xingyang Street, with a four-story standalone office building.
In the lobby on the first floor.
A group of thugs and enforcers were playing a drinking game:
"The chick who took nude photos for a loan a few days ago was really hot. When are we going to bring her over to have some fun?"
"It wouldn't be your turn even if we did. Eat your chicken feet, loser!"
Lu Heng walked into the lobby on the first floor, turned around, and pulled down the rolling shutter door to close it.
The group of enforcers, who were playing the drinking game, halted their actions and looked at Lu Heng with puzzled faces.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" A burly man with tattooed arms stood up, kicked a chair over, and yelled loudly.
After closing the door, Lu Heng turned around and tapped the Pixiu ornament by the door with his Aurora Blade and said, "Call your boss down here."
"It's that kid with the surname Lu!"
The thugs who had gone to his house to smash things up immediately recognized Lu Heng's identity.
The few tattooed thugs playing the game suddenly became interested:
"He actually dares to come here? Is his brain broken?"
"He even brought a sword. Does he think he's in a TV drama?"
"What the hell are you waiting for? Get him!"
A group of enforcers stood up, aiming to take down Lu Heng first and then run to Tang Hongda to claim credit.
The two tattooed thugs in the lead grabbed chairs and violently smashed them towards Lu Heng.
Lu Heng was not at all polite, twirled to dodge the incoming chairs, and then swung his sword. The incredibly sharp blade of the Aurora Blade cut off the two men's heads as easily as slicing through tofu.
Blood splattered, heads rolled.
The entire lobby on the first floor instantly turned into a Shura Slaughterhouse.
"Damn it!"
The remaining thugs saw how ruthless Lu Heng was and were immediately terrified into a panic.
Some ran upstairs while others tried to open the door to run out.
Lu Heng strode forward and used the Aurora Blade like a knife, requiring no technique, chopping each one down with a single cut.
Those who came to smash up his house today, not a single one was spared.
Among these thugs, two had learned some martial arts skills. They immediately rushed to the counter, pulled out large machetes, and leaped at Lu Heng, swinging their blades to chop at him.
But their small amount of skill was nothing in front of Lu Heng.
Lu Heng didn't even bother to dodge; he directly faced them, swinging a circular arc of sword light that cut the two large machetes in half and continued into the bellies of the two men, opening up two bloody gashes.
The two men clutched at their split open wounds, looking at the blood and intestines spilled all over the floor and collapsed to their knees with a "thud."
Even the two best fighters among the enforcers were chopped down.
The rest of the thugs, even more terrified, screamed in horror and fled in all directions.
However, the door was already closed; there was no escape, and they could only run upstairs.
Lu Heng simply launched an unstoppable assault, slaughtering these deeply evil beings without sparing a single one.
Originally, Tang Hongda was in his office on the third floor and was preparing to come downstairs when he was informed that Lu Heng was below.
He had just reached the second floor when he saw several subordinates running up covered in blood.
Tang Hongda immediately realized something was wrong, turned around to run, and wanted to hide back in his office to call for help.
Lu Heng chased after him and chopped off his left leg with a sword.
Tang Hongda fell to the ground, dragging his injured leg towards his office, leaving a trail of blood on the floor.
Lu Heng chopped down the two enforcers who had run up as well, then grabbed Tang Hongda by the back of the neck, lifted him up, and slammed him against the wall with a "bang," his voice icy cold as he asked:
"What were you saying at my house before? Say it again!"
Tang Hongda turned his head slightly and looked back with the corner of his eye, seeing Lu Heng's blood-splattered stern face, his heart filled with panic and confusion.
The current Lu Heng was like a death god who had stepped out of Hell, drenched in blood—an image that could shatter one's courage at a mere glance.
"You... you..."
Tang Hongda couldn't understand how a high school student could be so terrifying.
The thugs he kept were quite capable of fighting, but the ten-plus of them had been completely chopped down by Lu Heng, not sparing a single one.
"I was wrong, please spare me." Although terrified, Tang Hongda knew that being stubborn now would only hasten his death, and he immediately started begging for mercy.
"What did you do wrong?"
"I shouldn't... shouldn't have smashed up your house."
"And?"
"I shouldn't have set up your father."
"I heard your car is pretty expensive, and the insurance isn't enough to cover it, how much is missing? I'll make up the difference."
"No need to make up, no no no, no need to compensate... it's all my fault, let me go, please let me go..." Tang Hongda's back was soaked with cold sweat as he kept begging, snot and tears mixing.
"I can't let you go, blood has already been shed like a river."
"I can handle it, I'll take care of these bodies, no one will know, I'm always very clean with these things."
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"What about that beast of a son of yours? No more talk of revenge?"
"It really was you!" Tang Hongda gritted his teeth, his eyes brimming with venomous hate.
"Looking at how you behave, your son must have followed suit. Unfortunately, no matter how wicked, he couldn't withstand a single cut."
Lu Heng grabbed his hair and dragged him into the third-floor office.
Tang Hongda, seeing the safe in the office, thought he glimpsed hope for survival: "Spare me, and I'll give you the password to the safe. It contains three hundred thousand. Let me go, and it's yours."
"Unfortunately for you, I know the password."
Lu Heng walked over and spun the combination lock, 753951.
With a "click," the safe opened.
Tang Hongda's eyes bulged in disbelief.
He didn't understand how Lu Heng knew the code.
Aside from him, no one else knew the password to this safe.
Lu Heng pulled out a jewelry box from the safe, opened it, and found a Demon Crystal Core.
It was an ordinary Crystal Core—absorbing it could improve energy level strength, but repeated absorption in a short period would suffer from diminishing returns.
"Do you know... what this is..." Tang Hongda uttered in surprise as he saw Lu Heng examining the Crystal Core.
"Ants need not know these things." With a single swing of his sword, Lu Heng sent him into the afterlife, then found a travel bag and stuffed all the cash from the safe into it.
Finally, he set the place ablaze, incinerating that den of scoundrels cleanly.
...
Half an hour later, Detective Bureau Inspector Shao Feipeng led a team to investigate the case at Hongda Company on Xingyang Street.
Sword wounds, flames—the features were nearly identical to the abandoned factory quadruple homicide.
The case seemed increasingly tricky to Shao Feipeng.
While he was surveying the scene, an officer came to report: "Boss, we just found out that this company's boss Tang Hongda went to a residence this afternoon to trash the place, claiming it was for debt collection."
Shao Feipeng mused, "Such debt collection is common for this type of company; this information alone is useless. Is there anything else?"
The officer pulled out a photo and reported, "This company's son is Lu Heng. And the boss of Hongda Company is the father of Tang Guizhe, who was killed in the abandoned factory case."
A spark flashed in Shao Feipeng's eyes as he felt a connection between the two cases: "Find this Lu Heng immediately."
Nine o'clock at night.
Su Muyu, carrying several shopping bags, followed behind Lu Heng as they left the mall.
They were stopped by Shao Feipeng and his men at the mall entrance.
Shao Feipeng's instincts told him that these two were definitely up to something, but he couldn't pinpoint the issue.
"We have a case that requires your assistance. Come back to the Detective Bureau with us," Shao Feipeng said, intending to have his subordinates take the two away.
After surviving the Abyss Battlefield, Lu Heng's demeanor had changed; he glanced indifferently at Shao Feipeng and flatly refused:
"Don't you have more meaningful things to do, Captain Shao? What good does it do to keep hounding me? Will it earn you more bones from your master?"
Lu Heng had already discovered that Tang Hongda could access the Detective Squad's case files, indicating he had connections within the force.
He didn't know if that person was Shao Feipeng, but it didn't matter—the corruption ran deep, and even a blameless captain couldn't escape responsibility.
Shao Feipeng's expression darkened as he repeated, "Come with us to assist with the investigation."
Lu Heng flatly refused, "I'm busy. If you want to take someone in, show an arrest warrant. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll have to decline."
Shao Feipeng frowned and asked directly, "Where were you tonight between 8 and 8:30?"
Su Muyu pointed to the mall behind her and answered, "We... We were shopping in the mall."
Shao Feipeng gasped at this response, sensing trouble.
Just as he had feared.
The officers investigating inside the mall had already pulled the surveillance footage.
At 8 pm, cameras throughout the Five Mile Bridge World Trade Mall captured Lu Heng and Su Muyu out shopping.
In the surveillance footage, Su Muyu was blissfully shopping, occasionally hanging a bag off Lu Heng's arm.
After a while, she wrapped a scarf around him.
Dozens of store cameras in the World Trade Mall caught the two out and about, providing any angle one might need.
This alibi was more than sufficient, smacking Shao Feipeng across the face brutally.
Every camera in the entire mall could vouch for them.
Unless one had the Clone Technique, it was impossible to be in two places at once.
Indeed, Lu Heng had a Shadow Clone.
It was the Shadow Clone who had been out shopping with Su Muyu, hence the entire shopping spree where "Lu Heng" was at Su Muyu's behest.
Because the alibi was so airtight—so crushingly conclusive—
Shao Feipeng, despite his reluctance, waved his hand and let Lu Heng and Su Muyu go.
One of his men whispered in his ear, "Captain, this will be difficult to explain to Mr. Gong..."
"Let him investigate it himself then!" Shao Feipeng punched the mall's entrance door in frustration and glared back at his subordinate.
...
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