Chapter 66: Blabbermouth

Chapter 66: Blabbermouth With the "leader" out cold, Xu Tao quickly lost interest. There were roughly 500 entities around him, all bearing insignias pointing to a familiar person—the rooster who had attacked Henrietta earlier that day: Carlos. With this much "evidence" gathered, it wasn’t hard to connect him as the mastermind behind tonight’s raid. Cleaning up 500 grown men at once and bundling them together wouldn’t be easy... normally, that is. To Xu Tao, whether it was one or hundreds, it made little difference. What he needed to do was simple. "Alright, you earned it anyway. Sleep for now." With a casual warning, he released his Qi. It was a controlled emission—just a millionth of a millionth of his total Qi. But to those nearby, it must have felt like a wall slammed into them, shattering their meridians and Dantian in one go. Of course, he didn’t outright kill them. He merely knocked them all unconscious, draining the minuscule Qi in their bodies. They might be enemies now, but with Xu Tao’s plans, they could still end up switching sides. And in the first place, he didn’t have the habit of squashing ants just for biting his disciples. Although they were ordered to wipe out Henrietta’s guards and leave her powerless... technically, no real harm had been done yet. And luckily, that was what spared their lives. Without delay, Xu Tao waved his sleeve, causing all five hundred or so unconscious assailants to float into the air. Then he stopped, pondering where to take them. Deep into the mountains, burying everyone up to the shoulders? Or the deep ocean, letting them float around like poop? "No..." Xu Tao shook his head. He turned to the strongest of the bunch—Gula—and pressed a finger to her forehead. Xu Tao closed his eyes, internalizing the scenes he scraped from her memories, then nodded to himself. "I’ll go visit that chicken again. I have a few questions for him." Without hesitation, he turned toward a certain direction. While effortlessly dragging all the bodies behind him, he took a single step forward—Thousand Li Steps: Simplified! ???????????? The silence inside a certain hospital room was broken by a short voice. "Huh?" The next moment, without warning, a figure appeared inside the white room—a room belonging to a certain yellow-haired idiot. He was lying on the bed, scrolling through some "shady" sites on his phone, when he noticed the intruder who suddenly arrived. "Y-You..." he stuttered, staring at the man’s features. "Ugh!" But the moment he did, a sharp, pulsing pain exploded in his head. Suppressed traumatic memories fought to resurface, leaving him in agony. While shaking his head to drive away the pain, he caught sight of something else. "G-Gula?!" His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw the fainted black-haired, sexy woman floating behind the intruder. But that wasn’t all. He realized, albeit too late, that the room was growing crowded—too crowded. Bodies were stacked like bricks, leaning against the wall. It was terrifying, like a mountain of corpses—though all of them were still breathing. "W-What do you want from me, you bastard?!" Carlos growled, his voice trembling. "I-I’m Carlos Campbell! Don’t think you’ll l-live to s-see tomorrow if you mess w-with me!" "I know you," Xu Tao answered flatly, waving his hand. "That’s why I came here in the first place." Suddenly, Carlos floated out of the bed, stunned for a few seconds—before fear finally set in. "L-LET ME DOWN, YOU MOTHERF—!" SNAP! "AA... AAAAGH!" Xu Tao might have spared the guards, but the mastermind? He had no reason to hold back. He began by re-breaking Carlos’s already injured arm. The bones shifted, cracked, and crumbled into dust with such excruciating pain that Carlos nearly slammed his head against the wall just to faint. But he couldn’t—he was frozen in mid-air, immobilized. "Hmmm..." Xu Tao hummed, thinking for a moment, then— "I guess one more will make you obedient." SNAP! Carlos’s left foot twisted 180 degrees, facing the wrong way. "AHK...!" The pain made his vision flash white—but Xu Tao wouldn’t let him pass out. With a snap, he forced Carlos back to consciousness and even enhanced his sense of touch—doubling the pain. Carlos cried, drool dribbling from his mouth, his jaw wide open in a silent scream. His voice had given out, leaving only a pitiful, noiseless wail. "I guess that’s enough." Xu Tao smiled and snapped his fingers. Carlos’s arm and leg returned to normal, healed by an undetectable technique. Though the wounds were gone, the pain still echoed deep in his nerves, like a ghost. Carlos looked at his limbs, panicking, then met the golden gaze that had been fixed on him from the start. "I’ve got some questions—and you’ll answer." Xu Tao said, not asking, but commanding. "First, why do you want to hurt my disciple?" Carlos blinked, parroting the word with a dry tongue. "D-Diship...ple...?" "Henrietta. Who else?" Xu Tao replied flatly. "I di... didn’t... hrth er...!" Carlos stammered. "I... was just... solidifying... my position...!" "Hmmm... So you mean, you were bullying your little sister to keep her from overtaking you, to secure your claim as the rightful heir. Is that it?" "Y-Yes...!" It was cold logic—but a brutal, calculated decision. Xu Tao didn’t scold him. He knew how fierce succession struggles could be. Killing all rivals wasn’t cruelty—it was the price of ensuring a stable reign. He’d done the same in his youth. But targeting Henrietta, his new disciple, was unacceptable. I’ll punish him for that later, Xu Tao resolved, continuing the interrogation. "Just to confirm—you’re not working with the Roamita Family, are you?" Uriel had mentioned the Roamita Family once in passing—just enough to catch Xu Tao’s interest. After asking a few of the guards, he learned they were the Campbells’ long-time rivals—equal in power, but irreconcilable. Their feud stretched back generations, a history soaked in blood. "No way... I wouldn’t... join those bastards... even if the heavens fell!" Carlos’s hatred was so strong, Xu Tao didn’t even need to use a mind technique to know he was telling the truth. In short, the feud between Carlos and Henrietta was nothing but a succession conflict. "I feel like I wasted my time mediating a childish quarrel..." Xu Tao sighed, straightening up. "Anyway, last question." He paused, thinking of how to phrase it, before asking directly: "Henrietta... when is her 20th birthday?" Of course, he wasn’t asking to prepare a present. Well... maybe. But the real reason was the unsettling thought he’d deduced had been bugging her for a long time. Knowing a thing or two, Xu Tao had already figured out why. All that remained was when. Carlos, privy of details that Xu Tao wasn’t told about, knew the weight of the question. He answered solemnly. "One week from now." Xu Tao frowned, glancing downward, and repeated, "One week..." He felt conflicted. After all, he wasn’t sure if he’d still be by Henrietta’s side then.