Chapter 324: Netherworld King, You Are Surrounded

Old Ding recounted his story briefly and quickly, sharing only the parts that could earn Li Yan’s trust, without revealing his entire tale.

The current time and environment did not allow for leisurely conversations.

"Kid, you should know by now, right? Although I was your mother-in-law’s first love, I mean no harm and won’t destroy their family relationship. Right now, I just want to save them. They’re all professional assassins inside. Even though you’re skilled, against them, you’d be heading for certain death! Even if you seem to have the upper hand now, there are still a hundred ways I could kill you!"

Old Ding was somewhat arrogant, even slightly condescending: "If you want to save Zhang Tianyi and them, cooperate with me! Drive your car over and take me inside!"

A hundred ways...

Li Yan laughed; he knew it wasn’t how many ways mattered but effectiveness. If one way works, that’s all you need.

From the previous story, coupled with the knowledge that Old Ding had long been here, his words seemed credible, certainly not aligned with tonight’s assassins.

"Whether you’re Yurong’s mother’s first love still needs verification from her mom. You need to tell me your name." Li Yan had taken control of the situation.

Old Ding was somewhat displeased and said coldly, "I can tell you my name, but you can’t verify it with Yun’Er! Believe it or not!"

Yun’Er... Li Yan felt a chill. His mother-in-law Yang Yun was his elder. Even during their first meeting, he addressed her as Aunt. Hearing Old Ding call her ’Yun’Er’ made him uncomfortable.

"Alright, just let me know what your name is. Since you don’t mind telling me your assassin identity, why care about a name? If you don’t say your name, I have reason to suspect this ’Old Ding’ might be a pseudonym based on ’Nail’."

"..." Old Ding hesitated for a moment, then said, "My real name... is Ding Junqing. No one has called me that for a long time, I even doubt if I remembered correctly."

"..." Li Yan was speechless; couldn’t remember your own name? What are you, some ancient monster?

"Ding Junqing... So did my mother-in-law call you ’Little Qing’, or ’Qing Brother’, or ’Junqing’ back in the day?" Li Yan remembered his recent ’Yun’Er’ remark and couldn’t help but joke.

Old Ding—Ding Junqing scowled.

Regardless, he was still an elder. Even if he ignored Old Ding, it wasn’t right to joke about his mother-in-law. Li Yan chuckled, "Hey... Sorry, I was joking."

Ding Junqing sneered, "Zhang Tianyi and the others are all inside; your wife and another girl also went in, and you’re in the mood to joke? There are first-class assassins inside, even top-notch elite ones. Do you want to wait to collect their bodies?"

"No worries, don’t you think we have you? You continue to confront them here, intimidating them with your presence, while I drive up to the front gate by myself, boldly ambushing them!"

Ding Junqing found him amusing!

If it weren’t for already partially exposing himself, causing the other side to be alert, and needing Li Yan’s cover to go in, he’d certainly knock this cheeky guy out!

"Overestimating yourself!"

Regarding his self-assessment, Li Yan said nothing more and let him go, turning to leave with a parting shot, "Yes, I trust you. No matter first-class or elite assassins, in the face of the ’Netherworld King’, they’re overestimating themselves!"

Netherworld King!

Initially displeased with Li Yan’s attitude, Ding Junqing felt Zhang Yurong was hard done by and slightly suspected this kid might bolt upon hearing about deadly assassins. But the term ’Netherworld King’ in his words left him momentarily stunned.

Netherworld King... How long has it been since I last thought of that term?

After a momentary pause, Ding Junqing’s eyes sharpened as he watched Li Yan’s rapidly retreating figure.

How could he know?!

...

"Netherworld King," which was the code name Ding Junqing used in the past, but in fact, only he himself would say it like that. The external world generally used "Pluto," so when Li Yan suddenly mentioned it, it made him pause for a moment.

Actually, Li Yan was also guessing based on his statement about hitting the assassin’s hand with a nail!

Unlike throwing knives or darts, nails don’t require special crafting and are inconvenient to carry when traveling to different places to kill someone by plane. Even if you could buy them after arriving, others wouldn’t be handy. But nails are different; they come in various models suitable for different ranges. As long as ordinary nails are used, they can be bought at any hardware store, supermarket, or even a general store, no matter where you go.

However, due to the structure of ordinary nails, training them to become lethal projectiles is much harder than practicing with throwing knives. In an era where cold weapons are declining, fewer people dedicate significant time and effort to mastering martial arts, let alone hidden weapons. Therefore, among all the assassins, Li Yan only heard of the "Netherworld King" having the habit of using nails as his weapon. Convenient to carry, they say no one knows how many nails he conceals on his person, significantly outnumbering typical bullets carried.

When Li Yan associated these details, he recollected that "Pluto" Netherworld King, in his prime, was active twenty years ago and had been inactive for at least ten years, belonging to a different generation. Talents appear generation after generation, and names like Netherworld King or Grim Reaper are favored by new assassins for codenames. Thus, without sensing Ding Junqing’s killing intent and seeing his age, together with the detail about nails, Li Yan wouldn’t have guessed it.

Leaving the shocked and suspicious Ding Junqing at the scene, Li Yan had driven back. Everything seemed as if nothing had happened, and he normally drove into the Zhang Family garage.

Everything was as usual, but after he got out of the car, a gun was already pointed at him from behind.

The assassins didn’t want to fire outside, causing police alerts, but they wouldn’t give up using a gun for intimidation.

"Don’t move! Hands on the car!" the assassin behind him said in International language.

From Liu Chen, Li Yan learned that Fang William’s arrangement for him was indeed only castration. Zhang Tianyi and his wife were to be killed, as he needed to vent his anger on Zhang Tianyi and strike Paradise Group by causing the death of its founder, while Zhang Yurong was to be knocked out and handed over to the same place as Li Yan. The rest involved Liu Chen slowly tormenting Li Yan for revenge.

So now that Li Yan, one of the targets, had appeared, he was immediately held at gunpoint, but there was no intention to kill him.

"Calm down..."

While speaking, Li Yan had already moved, and by the time the assassin behind realized something was off, it was too late.

He couldn’t kill Li Yan and didn’t manage to knock him out or use another weapon, so for Li Yan, who wasn’t intimidated and turned around, he could only continue using the gun for face-to-face intimidation. However, as Li Yan turned around, that man felt his pants suddenly fall uncontrollably!

Wearing clothes has been a habit for thousands of years, something every person learns and becomes accustomed to from a young age. Besides primitive tribes, the more civilized the place, the more ingrained these habits become, akin to eating and speaking, inherent to people.

Thus, even being an assassin, when his pants suddenly fell, his instinctual reaction was to use one hand to pull them up. In doing so, he found his other hand free, so he used both to hold his pants up. The gun in his hand, however, was now in Li Yan’s possession!

"As you said, hands on the car!" Li Yan mockingly looked at him, holding a fruit knife in hand, now with a handgun added.

He hadn’t brought any weapons, but anything could become a weapon, including his fists, feet, elbows, and knees. When talking to Ding Junqing earlier, he had already diverted Ding’s attention, and in the last instant of releasing his grip and mentioning "Netherworld King," he had snatched the knife from Old Ding’s hand.

"I could cut your belt with this knife, and maybe slice a little more. Now, the gun is in my hand."

To the humiliated and mortified assassin holding up his pants, it was pure mortification worthy of death. How could an A-grade assassin, with his reputation within his organization and among peers, be disarmed like this, having his belt silently severed and pants dropped! If word got out, his career would be over... Clearly, he’d need a new pseudonym.

Despite the embarrassment, he realized that the changes earlier demonstrated this man was no ordinary person. The client’s provided information and the investigation were incorrect, and this person was deliberately underplaying his strength. The precision and force with which he turned and acted were enough to kill him without using a gun...

Realizing this, understanding he wasn’t a match, he obediently leaned against the car. Without his hands holding, his pants slowly slipped down a notch... Which made the scene resemble Li Yan being a robber.

Damn, even if I were a robber, I wouldn’t rob men! Li Yan cursed silently, kicking directly, causing the assassin to fall, and then stepping forward to knock him out.

Li Yan went outside, and in less than a minute, took care of the other two assassins in the courtyard as well, then proceeded to push open the door.

Inside the Zhang Family first-floor living room, the maid, chef, and security guards had been knocked out. Zhang Tianyi sat on the sofa, with his daughter Zhang Yurong on one side, his wife Yang Yun on the other, and Yue Yao beside Zhang Yurong. They were a group of vulnerable elder and women, and instead of being knocked out, the assassins kept their distance, aiming guns at them.

"Attention inside! You are surrounded, please immediately lay down your weapons and surrender..."

From the doorway came the stereotypical police shout often seen in old Cloud Island films, astonishing Yue Yao, making her feel bewildered and finding it somewhat laughable. Surrounded a house alone? (To be continued. To know the subsequent developments, please log in to www.qidian.com, more Chapters, support the author, support legitimate reading!)