Lan Hui coughed up a mouthful of blood. Looking down, he discovered a gaping hole blasted through his chest. The violent, chaotic spiritual energy had shattered the bones throughout his body into several pieces.
He looked around. A clearing had been blasted through the dense forest, and a distinct fist-shaped crater had appeared on the small hill behind him. Cracks radiated outward from the impact point like a spiderweb.
Could a human really do this?
The power of a single punch had reached such a terrifying level!
Those members of his clan who had been standing nearby or directly in the path of the attack had long since vanished. Only a few scattered fragments remained.
Lan Hui let out a long sigh. He had completely lost the will to live.
He lay on the ground like a lump of rotting flesh, surrounded by fragments of his own organs, bones, and other body parts…
The Scorpion-Tailed people who were still alive stood frozen in terror. None of them knew what to do. A few of the braver ones secretly glanced toward Su Mo, only to feel as though they were being looked down upon by a god of war.
“Spare us! We surrender!”
More and more pleas for mercy rang out, one after another.
Su Mo took a deep breath, enduring the pain in his muscles and bones, then walked toward Lan Hui and communicated with him through telepathy.
“Talk. Where did you come from? Why did you come to our Earth? What exactly are your intentions?”
Lan Hui gave a bitter laugh. “Just kill me if you want. I won’t tell you anything.”
Su Mo glanced at the surviving Scorpion-Tailed people nearby and said indifferently, “Think carefully before you speak.”
Lan Hui flew into a rage. “Using a bunch of elderly, weak, and injured people to threaten me? What kind of strong person does that? I’m ashamed on your behalf!”
Su Mo sneered. “Come on. You’re a prisoner now, and I defeated you with my own hands. Do you honestly think you’re in any position to say that?”
Lan Hui fell silent.
“I’ll give you thirty seconds to think. Don’t try any tricks, and don’t assume I’m a softhearted person.”
Su Mo began counting down in an icy voice, acting just like a villain from a movie or television drama.
Not far away, Xia Qingqing felt a little sorry for Lan Hui. She looked up at Huo Jingshu beside her, but Huo Jingshu simply shook her head.
“Why didn’t he just kill him in one hit earlier? Now he’s barely alive. It’s kind of pitiful. I almost want to put him out of his misery.”
Huo Jingshu’s expression stiffened. She looked at Xia Qingqing rather strangely, as if she were thinking, Well, well. You look like such a harmless little girl, but who knew you could be this ruthless?
“He’s probably interrogating him,” Huo Jingshu said. “I’ve heard that once someone breaks through to Rank B and develops a spiritual sea, they can communicate with others through telepathy.”
“But Qingyi is still only Rank C, isn’t she? How could she have a spiritual sea?”
“Because she’s Qingyi!”
Huo Jingshu said it so casually, without the slightest hint of exaggeration, as though it were simply the most natural and obvious thing in the world.
Xia Qingqing gave her a thumbs-up.
“Fair enough.”
While Su Mo interrogated Lan Hui, the others kept themselves busy as well.
Huo Jingshu and Xia Qingqing took charge of gathering all the Scorpion-Tailed people in one place so they could be kept under control.
The remaining members of the group kept watch over the surrounding area, checking for any other hidden masterminds who might be lurking nearby.
Under Su Mo’s threats, Lan Hui finally relented.
“You have to promise me you’ll spare them.”
“I’ll only guarantee that they won’t be killed.”
“You…”
“What about me? Hurry up and talk! I’m giving you a chance here, understand? In fact, I could just search your memories for the information I want and then kill every last one of you.”
As he spoke, Su Mo activated his Heavenly Demon Eyes: Soul Devour.
Lan Hui immediately felt the agony of his soul being torn away. He instantly believed Su Mo’s claim, assuming that the man was extracting his memories.
In reality, Su Mo was merely devouring his soul. There was no memory-reading ability involved at all…
“Ten, nine… three!”
A countdown could make people nervous and push them into making impulsive decisions. The moment Su Mo reached “one,” Lan Hui finally gave in.
“I’ll talk! But you must guarantee that they’ll stay alive.”
“Fine.” Su Mo readily agreed.
“Our world has gradually run out of resources as civilization has developed. Almost all the wealth that remains is controlled by a tiny number of powerful races. Those of us belonging to the weakest races at the bottom have no choice but to struggle to survive wherever we can.
“Our Scorpion-Tailed Clan was on the verge of extinction. But then a great figure appeared, giving us hope for the future once again. We call this person the Ferryman.
“He was the one who gave us Earth’s coordinates and helped some of the weaker races come here to live. Our clan was one of them.”
“So you’re saying that if they want to, the races in your world can come to Earth at any time?” Su Mo realized that the situation was worse than he’d expected.
“It’s not that easy. Only mighty beings who have reached the Transcendent Realm can open spatial tunnels. They control the interdimensional passages leading to Earth, and we’re treated as nothing more than experimental subjects.
“Fortunately, the Ferryman exists. Thanks to him, small races like ours still have a chance. He appears once every so often and helps some of the weaker races escape here to survive.”
Su Mo’s heart sank.
Does that mean there are already a huge number of alien races on Earth?
“What does the Ferryman look like? How powerful is he? And when did he start doing this?”
Su Mo fired off three questions in quick succession.
“As for the Ferryman, I’ve only heard about him from my elders. I don’t know anything else. All I know is that he’s extremely mysterious. His strength is at least at the Transcendent Realm, and he might even be a Demigod.”
The last time Su Mo had heard the term Transcendent Realm was on Insect Island. Back then, the Immortal Master Bao’er had classified bloodline levels into five ranks: Mortal, Extraordinary, Transcendent, Demigod, and Divine.
“What cultivation realms exist in your world?”
“The Initial Realm, the Extraordinary Realm, the Transcendent Realm, the Demigod Realm, and the legendary realm of the Gods.”
As expected. It seemed that the Immortal Master had also come from that world.
“Does your world have a humanoid race with only one eye?”
“I don’t know.”
From that point onward, no matter what Su Mo asked, Lan Hui gave the same answer: “I don’t know.”
At first, Su Mo thought the man was deliberately playing dumb. Eventually, however, he realized that Lan Hui was on the verge of death and had begun to lose his awareness.
Su Mo tried using the Heart of Life to prolong his life, but it was no use.
Seeing how dazed and barely conscious Lan Hui had become, Su Mo decided to put him out of his misery with a swift death. He then turned his attention to the other Scorpion-Tailed people.
In their eyes, Su Mo was a demon. They were utterly terrified of him.
He approached an elderly-looking member of their group and communicated telepathically.
“I promised him that I’d let you live, so I expect you to cooperate. If you understand what I mean, nod.”
The old man nodded, then repeated Su Mo’s words to the others in a language Su Mo couldn’t understand.
Su Mo monitored the entire process.
Although he couldn’t understand what they were saying, he could judge whether they were plotting anything by observing their eyes, facial expressions, and heart rates.
Once everything was settled, Su Mo looked up at the sky, keeping his eyes fixed on the tiny figure of the drone hovering high above. He made several hand signals, then waited.
About five minutes later, Su Mo waved his hand.
“Let’s go.”
“What about them?” Xia Qingqing asked.
Su Mo smiled.
“The people coming to pick them up have arrived. All we need to do is make sure our contribution is properly recorded.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhuge Zhi pulled out his little notebook and began writing everything down.
At the same time, Su Mo placed a small audio recorder on a half-broken dead branch.
Less than ten seconds after they left, Yang Jie emerged from the dense forest nearby.
He first stared at the mountain, where the massive fist-shaped imprint had been left behind. After examining it for a while, he picked up the small audio recorder resting on the dead branch.
Yang Jie adjusted his glasses, the corners of his mouth curling into a slight smile.
“Looks like they came well prepared.”
