The burly man leading the group hadn't fully grasped Xu Nuo's words yet. He only felt a blur before his eyes, and then his body was immobilized. He looked at Xu Nuo in panic, "Why can't I move?"
The people around him were also standing rigidly, their faces showing shock and confusion, clearly in the same predicament. At this point, the burly man was genuinely scared. He hadn't even seen Xu Nuo make a move, yet he was already restrained, which could only mean Xu Nuo's abilities were far superior to his. He regretted choosing this house when there were plenty of others to rob. He just hoped to keep his life this time and get back at whoever had egged him on to rob this place.
Xu Nuo gave him a cold look, finally using his ability. The men who had surrounded them began to stiffly walk away, and the burly man was astonished as he realized he had no control over his own body. He asked in terror, "What did you do to me? Why can't I control myself? Where are you sending me?"
Unfortunately for him, Xu Nuo didn't respond. They lined up and began to collide with Park Su's reinforced door, one after another. Despite knowing it would hurt, none could stop their momentum, and some even passed out from the force of the impact, but they didn't fall to the ground; they just stood there, eyes closed, waiting for the next collision.
Hearing the sound of human bodies hitting his expensive security door, Park Su felt a pang of distress. This was a door he had specially installed at great cost, intended for protection against zombies, not for teaching these thugs a lesson. However, seeing the leader of the group, blood dripping from his nose yet unable to faint due to his ability user's constitution, Park Su found it quite amusing. He decided to let Xu Nuo continue; after all, he had some questions he wanted to ask later, and they needed to be softened up first.
Besides, he only planned to use this door for a month before leaving this place. After he was gone, the door would just be a benefit to whoever came after him. If Xu Nuo wanted to indulge in his sadistic streak, then by all means, let him play.
Park Su had sensed the shift in Xu Nuo's abilities earlier, and he knew that the current situation of the group was definitely related to Xu Nuo's abilities. He boldly guessed that Xu Nuo's ability might be something like "control"? But whether it was control or not, he'd have to ask Xu Nuo, who seemed willing to reveal his abilities in front of him and might be open to explaining them.
What Park Su hadn't anticipated was that even watching from the sidelines would reveal some issues. The burly man who had been talking to him suddenly made a move. He grabbed Park Su, drew a dagger from his boot, and held it against Park Su's throat, shouting at Xu Nuo, "Stop it! Let go of my brothers, or I'll kill your little brother!"
Xu Nuo's gaze fell on the two of them, his eyes filled with cold intent. The burly man, meeting Xu Nuo's gaze, couldn't help but shiver. Xu Nuo's expression was void of emotion, which was quite terrifying. However, the constant banging sound gave the burly man the courage to tighten his grip on Park Su's neck, swallowing nervously as he repeated his threat.
Xu Nuo raised an eyebrow and looked at Park Su, asking, "Have you had enough fun, or do you really want me to intervene?"
Park Su was still debating whether to feign fear since he was the one with a knife to his throat, but Xu Nuo's question made him feel quite sullen. He gave Xu Nuo a look of feigned grievance and said, "Didn't you say you'd handle this? With my delicate physique, are you sure you want me to take action?"
Seeing the two of them chatting casually without a hint of fear, the burly man's heart filled with even more terror. His hand, which was holding the dagger, pressed harder against Park Su's neck due to his nervousness, leaving a thin line of blood.
Park Su winced from the pain, thinking to himself that it looked like he'd have to take matters into his own hands. However, before he could act, the burly man let go of him and plunged the dagger into his own thigh.
The swiftness of the action startled Park Su, making him jump back. He saw the burly man's expression of shock, and Park Su took a sharp breath, the sight was painful to watch. Yet, the burly man, without slowing down, pulled out the dagger and stabbed himself again in the same wound.
This time, the burly man couldn't help but shout, "Sir, please, have mercy! Stop, please! I know I was wrong! I won't dare to do it again! We were only following someone else's instigation. I promise we'll avoid this house from now on, never stepping foot here again. Please, let me go!"
Park Su finally heard the information he wanted, about to tell Xu Nuo to stop, but when he turned, Xu Nuo was already beside him, causing him to jump. Nevertheless, he quickly put on a fawning face, "Big brother, you're awesome, really impressive!"
However, knowing it wasn't the right time to discuss Xu Nuo's ability attributes with outsiders around, Park Su changed the subject, "Maybe you should stop stabbing him. And stop them from banging their heads against the door; they'll all pass out. I heard a woman's voice earlier, and I want to see who's so bold as to keep causing us trouble."
However, Xu Nuo didn't seem to agree. His face darkened as he took out a talisman from his space ring, flicked it with his finger, and it spontaneously combusted into a pile of ashes in his palm. He then carefully applied the ashes to Park Su's wound.
Xu Nuo was very close, his breath brushing against Park Su's face. Park Su hadn't expected Xu Nuo to do this and was startled by the sudden proximity of his handsome face. He couldn't see Xu Nuo's expression, only the fine strands of hair and his broad forehead. Park Su's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stepped back, stuttering, "You, you, what are you doing?"
Xu Nuo raised an eyebrow at Park Su's retreat but didn't say much. Instead, he made a slight motion towards the group, and instantly, all those who had surrounded him before collapsed to the ground, leaving only their leader still standing.
Even after being freed from Xu Nuo's control, the leader didn't dare to act recklessly. He pressed his wound to stop the bleeding while contemplating how to escape this place. Meanwhile, the burly man, now stabbed in the thigh twice, was screaming in pain, his voice quite grating, making Xu Nuo frown, considering whether to silence him with another spell.
On the other hand, Park Su finally noticed the difference in his neck. The slight pain from earlier was gone, and he touched the wound, which had already scabbed over. So, Xu Nuo had been healing him? But how? If he wasn't mistaken, Xu Nuo had burned a talisman. Was he using Daoist magic to heal him? At that moment, Park Su remembered Xu Nuo's other identity—a Daoist! And although those men couldn't see Xu Nuo's actions, Park Su had seen him burn the talisman. He had always thought that despite Xu Nuo being a Daoist, his abilities might not be that strong, but perhaps he had been misunderstanding all along. How could someone with a master of such skill be weak?
Perhaps he had been wrong to keep pressing Xu Nuo about his abilities earlier. He should have asked about his level of Daoist magic instead. After all, in his past life, those hidden ancient sects and Daoist masters in China were highly sought after by the bases because sometimes their destructive power was even greater than that of ability users.
Moreover, Park Su had heard of the fame of a Daoist named Xu Nuo in his last life. In the same year Park Su died, this Daoist named Xu Nuo had single-handedly cleared out half of a county's worth of zombies, which made the leader of the S base who hired him extremely happy. It was said that his Daoist techniques were so advanced that few were willing to test him, but everyone hoped to team up with him because, when with him, the worst that could happen was serious injury; death was rarely on the table.
Furthermore, this man never sought credit; he would only take the amount he was hired for, and he never interfered with how the remaining profits were distributed among his team members. Those who had teamed up with him all acknowledged his extraordinary Daoist techniques, which could be described as dazzling.
One person could handle two-thirds of the attacks, making fighting with him relatively easy while providing both safety and an opportunity for gain. Who wouldn't want such a good thing? Therefore, every time Xu Nuo announced he was looking for teammates, there was a mad rush to join him.
Unfortunately, he rarely teamed up, and he was very mysterious, not one to socialize much. Even after teaming up, he wouldn't necessarily remember you the next time around, and if he did, he'd still be cold when speaking to you. However, in a world where the strong ruled, his actions didn't provoke resentment; instead, many people became curious about him!
Park Su was curious as well, but as a support-type ability user struggling to survive, he could barely provide for himself and Sun Muyang, let alone have the qualifications to team up with such a legendary figure. This person was also very elusive; despite his fame, few had actually seen him!
Park Su had never connected the person beside him with that legendary Daoist, despite the shared name. Perhaps it was because Xu Nuo looked too young. Although Park Su had witnessed Xu Nuo's talismans in action, he had always assumed they were drawn by the high-ranking Daoist behind Xu Nuo, not considering any connection to Xu Nuo himself.
Therefore, seeing Xu Nuo use talismans so freely earlier had made Park Su feel a bit distressed. After all, in his eyes, these people could be dealt with by him alone; there was no need to waste such things on them. However, he had to admit, Xu Nuo's talismans were truly impressive, making Park Su quite envious.
But now, the more pressing matter was dealing with these two individuals. Seeing Xu Nuo's cold demeanor, Park Su knew he wouldn't initiate a conversation, so the task of questioning fell to him.
He crouched down to face the burly man, whose leg was still bleeding, and asked with a friendly smile, "Tell me, why did so many people choose my house?" He then added, "Don't say it's because our lights were brighter. My place is relatively out of the way. I want the truth, or I wouldn't mind adding another hole in your leg."
The burly man, seeing Park Su's sunny smile, no longer thought he was just a simple character. Having experienced the earlier pain, he even found Park Su's smile somewhat terrifying. Additionally, he didn't feel the need to protect the woman or anything, and he vaguely thought that their current predicament was due to her misleading them. So, he came clean, "We met a woman at the village entrance. She told us there were a lot of supplies here and only two people to deal with. We followed her advice. Had we known you were ability users, we definitely wouldn't have targeted you."
"A woman?" Park Su furrowed his brows upon hearing this answer. In fact, he had heard a woman's voice earlier but didn't see her among the group. Initially, he thought she might be their companion, but he hadn't expected her to be the cause of all this.
This made him curious, but he could guess that this woman was likely from the village, as only someone familiar with the area would know that there were only him and Xu Nuo in the house. What intrigued him more was why she would lead these people to his doorstep. Was it merely because he wasn't originally from the village, so she targeted him intentionally?
He had thought that after dealing with Meng Hu last time, he had effectively sent a warning to the villagers. He didn't expect them to still be so bold. Park Su's expression soured at the thought. Although this time they weren't a match for him and Xu Nuo, if there was a first time, who knew if there would be a second or a third? And what if the next group was stronger? They couldn't always be in a position of guaranteed victory.
Park Su rubbed his temples; he planned to stay here for another month, and dealing with these disturbances was not pleasant. He was already irritated enough by having to go out every day to kill zombies, perhaps he shouldn't have cleared out so many zombies around the area, giving these people the leisure to target him.
Xu Nuo, who was usually clueless about how to handle such situations, saw Park Su's headache and walked over to the burly man, asking, "Where is she now?"
The burly man's fear of Xu Nuo was significantly greater than that of Park Su. Seeing Xu Nuo's figure approaching, he felt a shiver run through his body and didn't dare to delay in answering, "She's just outside the door. She can't climb over the wall, so she stayed out there."
Xu Nuo's eyes narrowed as he got up and walked towards the door. Even Park Su, who was beside him, could feel the oppressive aura surrounding him. He quickly stepped forward, grabbing Xu Nuo's arm, and asked, "What are you going to do?"
Xu Nuo raised an eyebrow, "Kill her!"
Park Su was taken aback by how matter-of-fact Xu Nuo sounded. He thought to himself, you're making it sound so righteous, but this is murder. He pulled Xu Nuo back and said, "Are you just going to act directly? What good would that do? Even if it's not this woman today, someone else would do the same thing. If you kill her, the people outside might think we're just bullies, and they might escalate things even more, bringing more trouble our way."