Chapter 268 Next is You

The entire bar was thrown into utter chaos.

Xia Xinyan’s move instantly elevated the situation several notches. After witnessing her split one of her companions in half right before their eyes, the remaining thugs were finally scared out of their wits, losing all fighting spirit and kneeling down, arms raised in surrender.

After all, as tough as they were, they were just a bunch of bullies who were more afraid of hard punches than anything else. Relying on the backing of the Fire Cloud Cult to flaunt their power in the area had perhaps given them the delusion that they were now gods.

It wasn’t until this moment, with blood splattered all over the bar counter, that they suddenly awoke to reality—actually, they were nothing at all, even a small fry in a mowing game could take more hits than they could.

Now, with their pride already shot, keeping their lives was all that mattered.

Anyone who had fallen so low as to become a thug likely couldn’t have the loyalty required to die for their boss.

So the scene quickly calmed down.

The atmosphere, however, was a bit strange.

All the onlookers were huddled in the corners, trembling as they watched, afraid that if the thugs got upset, they might just kill everyone inside. Some even tried to secretly call the police, but once they mentioned the location was Turing Bar, the police just hung up, clearly not wanting to get involved in this mess.

That showed just how chaotic this area had become.

The fat guy was completely stunned.

He came intending to cause trouble, but he hadn’t anticipated that Miss Xia would be this direct—her actions were several times more intense than any plan he could muster.

However, the whole killing business didn’t hit him too hard; he was already used to it from games, just a bit surprised.

But alongside that surprise, he felt exhilarated.

So exhilarating.

If he had some abilities right now, he really would want to jump in and start a brawl.

—Though even without abilities, he had the physical fitness developed from the Game Pod, but strength isn’t quite like in the game. If he truly wanted to fight, he wouldn’t display much strength at all. Only after abilities are brought into reality does a player’s strength match that in the game, becoming a true complete form.

So having abilities versus not having them was like being in two completely different states—he couldn’t just act recklessly now.

As for Ling Mo… he was slightly surprised too.

But only very slightly.

He had no pity for these thugs; it was merely that he hadn’t gotten used to killing in reality yet, so he spared their lives. If it became necessary to kill them, Ling Mo wouldn’t feel much psychological burden at all.

Just like Xia Xinyan had mentioned before—Ling Mo was destined to face such things, and now, the time had come.

The ripening agent was those severely beaten members.

Xia Xinyan surveyed her surroundings, ignoring the thugs kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, and walked straight to Ling Mo: “Is that guy still alive?”

“Alive,” Ling Mo nodded, turning to stand before the thug who had been blasted away.

His punch had shattered the thug’s jaw, and the enormous impact had done significant damage to his head, although he was still technically alive, but barely clinging to that.

The thug weakly struggled on the ground, staring in terror at Ling Mo as he slowly approached, seemingly wanting to plead for his life but unable to form a complete sentence.

Ling Mo crouched in front of him, a faint, friendly smile on his face, as if he was the nice neighbor next door, completely unconnected to the fact that he had just taken down a bunch of thugs: “Do you know who I am?”

The thug instinctively nodded, then quickly shook his head, straining to say something that resembled begging for mercy, but all that came out were broken sounds.

Ling Mo smiled: “I’m Ling Mo—also known as the ‘Soft Rice Guy.’”

At those words, the thug’s eyes went wide with fear, as if he finally understood everything.

Ling Mo was satisfied with his reaction and continued: “Something happened in the back alley of this bar yesterday. Do you have any idea about it?”

The thug obviously paused and then immediately shook his head like a madman.

Ling Mo realized: “What a pity.”

Then he suddenly raised his hand and shot the thug in the head with the freshly materialized gun, which caused a round of gasps from the onlookers.

Until he died, the thug didn’t even have time to react.

Well, that was a kind of relief.

Ling Mo reached into the thug’s pocket, unlocked his phone with his fingerprint, and opened the contacts.

It was quite neat, not a key figure missing—

【Boss】【Cousin】【Ability Enforcer】 and some blah blah blah.

“Xinyan guessed right, this matter is indeed related to the Fire Cloud Cult,” Ling Mo tilted his head towards Xia Xinyan, “Shall we go ask them directly?”

The fat guy that had just come close was shocked: “Wait a minute, damn, you guys are being too ruthless—didn’t you advise me to stay calm and not go overboard? Damn, isn’t this overboard? When did you turn into such a cold-blooded person, Old Ling?”

“I’ve always been like this,” Ling Mo replied, his expression unchanged.

Everyone has a brutal side deep down, but in a peaceful society, people endure and hide that side, sealing it away even. But when the environment allows, that side can eventually emerge.

Ling Mo didn’t care about the lives of these people; actually, even letting the thug go wouldn’t be an issue—but after getting a definitive answer to his last question from the thug’s reaction, he simply didn’t want to let him off.

As previously mentioned, everyone indirectly involved in Xia Xinyan being hurt, one by one, had to pay the price.

The thug was the first.

Next up was the Fire Cloud Cult.

However, Xia Xinyan seemed a lot calmer than Ling Mo: “No need to be overly hasty; when presented with a piece of meat, you shouldn’t overcook it before eating.”

Since she had already taken action, she would leave no potential threats; the Fire Cloud Cult had now become part of the Chicks in her eyes, so there was no need to damage the organization too severely before getting rid of the top brass.

Simply attacking them directly wouldn’t achieve that effect; they had to use some means.

Ling Mo quickly understood Xia Xinyan’s intention and responded by calling the boss.

“Hello? Qiangzi? Causing trouble again?” The voice on the other end sounded quite young and a bit impatient.

Ling Mo didn’t hold back: “Qiangzi? He’s dead.”

“…Who are you?” The voice on the other end became cautious.

“Ling Mo, I believe you’ve heard this name before,” Ling Mo said calmly, “Don’t rush; you’re next.”

With that, he hung up the phone, walked up to the surrendered thugs, and said coldly: “Go back and tell your boss—We don’t pick fights unprompted, but if anyone decides to poke at us, no matter where you hide or how strong you think you are, we will find you and send you to meet God, one by one.”