The comments said I was deeply affectionate, I just added points by using an alternate account.

"This is a big deal." Lin Jiu laughed, her eyes curving into crescents behind her gold-rimmed glasses. "Our flesh and blood have lost something so important, and now they've seen me with you. Who do you think they'll hold accountable?"

He pointed to the three people slumped on the ground, then to the coffin, his smile growing even brighter, the meaning of which was self-evident.

"They'll think we're in cahoots," Long Ao replied in a deep voice. He stepped forward, blocking Chen Guan's path, his muscles tense, adopting a defensive posture.

"That's right." Lin Jiu gave him an approving look. This big guy wasn't as stupid as he looked. "So, you have to take the blame whether you want to or not."

"Who exactly are you? Why are you doing this?" Long Ao's question was filled with anger. Most of the people that Scarface couldn't investigate had one thing in common: they were people who didn't exist at all.

In other words, Lin Jiu is just an alias for the person in front of you; his true identity and purpose are unknown.

Suddenly, the image of Baihu's annoying smiling mask flashed into his mind. Just like him, he was shrouded in mystery.

Lin Jiu said provocatively, "Guess."

Long Aoqi laughed. He was usually quite good at maintaining his composure, but ever since he returned to Jiangcheng, he seemed to have returned to his youth, and an unnamed fire simmered in his chest.

"Quiet down, big guy." Lin Jiu glanced at him, his gaze not lingering for long, his expression unchanged, yet it made Long Ao instinctively feel a pang of fear.

Long Ao gritted his teeth and remained silent, but his protective stance towards Chen Guan did not change.

Chen Guan's brain was racing. Lin Jiu, who claimed to be an appraiser, was someone Scarface couldn't figure out the details of, and could command a five-meter-tall giant tiger. His strength was unfathomable.

Such a person, who actively shifts the blame onto himself and even provides crucial tools, is acting in a very strange way.

Chen Guan was well aware of his own abilities.

"This is too hot to handle, I can't accept it." Chen Guan tried to hand the box back.

Lin Jiu didn't take it, but simply spread his hands: "Once something is given away, there's no reason to take it back. Besides, do you think you can get away by returning it to me now? The people of the Flesh and Blood Embrace have already decided that the item is with you."

Chen Guan looked at Lin Jiu, whose smile was impeccable, like a perfect mask.

Lin Jiu remained smiling and ignored Chen Guan, instead turning to walk towards the three cultists who were embraced by flesh and blood.

"There's some trash that needs to be cleaned up."

He spoke softly, and the white tiger took a step forward, its massive body following silently behind him. Its golden tiger eyes were devoid of any emotion as it looked down at the person on the ground.

The terror in the eyes of the three men was almost overflowing, and their bodies were trembling like leaves.

"No...don't kill us! We won't tell anyone!"

One of them pleaded, his voice distorted.

Lin Jiu squatted down, adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, and said in a gentle tone, "Of course I believe you won't tell anyone."

He reached out and gently patted the man's crown, making a soft "smack".

The man's body twitched, then fell completely still, his eyes wide open, frozen with fear.

"What can a dead man say?"

The other two men felt a heat rising from their crotches, and a pungent, fishy smell filled the air.

Lin Jiu stood up and wiped his fingers with a handkerchief, as if he had only brushed away a little dust.

Without even glancing at the remaining two, the white tiger silently stepped forward, its massive head lowering, its shadow completely enveloping the two men.

There were no screams, only two dull sounds of bones cracking.

In just over ten seconds, three living, breathing third-tier superhumans vanished from the world, leaving not even a complete corpse behind.

The streets returned to silence, with only a few fallen leaves swirling in the night breeze.

Lin Jiu threw the used handkerchief into the roadside trash can, turned around and gave Chen Guan and Long Ao an impeccable smile: "Alright, it's clean now."

"You..." Long Ao's throat went dry, and he could only utter one word before he could no longer speak.

The man before him was elegant and powerful, and Chen Guan watched all of this in silence.

He knew that Lin Jiu was demonstrating his power and also expressing his attitude.

The stench of blood and the faint fishy smell that permeated the air were quickly dissipated by the night breeze of Jiangcheng.

It was as if everything that had just happened was just an illusion.

But the dark bloodstains remaining on the ground, and the two human-shaped dents, silently testified to the loss of three lives.

This person kills as casually as he throws away trash.

Long Ao admitted that he couldn't be so cold-blooded. He was indeed warlike, but he wouldn't take people's lives easily.

"What's wrong, scared?" Lin Jiu seemed not to notice Long Ao's gaze, but instead turned to Chen Guan with interest: "You're quite calm."

Chen Guan did not answer, but simply gripped the black box in his hand even tighter.

He was indeed very calm.

He himself is theoretically dead; he is now a spirit from another world.

He was just thinking.

Consider the man's motives and the probability of you getting something in return.

"The first quality a qualified chess piece must have is composure under pressure." Lin Jiu seemed to see through Chen Guan's thoughts and nodded with satisfaction: "It seems I didn't choose the wrong person."

Long Ao finally couldn't hold back any longer: "What do you take human life for?!"

Lin Jiu's gaze finally fell on Long Ao, but he didn't pay any attention to him, as if he were looking at an interesting ornament.

"Young man of the Long family, didn't your grandfather teach you that anger is the most useless emotion in the face of absolute power?"

He extended a finger and gently pointed it in Long Ao's direction.

hum.

Long Ao felt an irresistible, terrifying pressure squeezing in from all directions, as if the entire space had solidified, imprisoning him firmly in place.

His muscles tensed to their limit instantly, his bones groaned under the strain, and his spiritual energy circulated wildly, yet he couldn't even budge the slightest bit against this force.

He couldn't even move a single finger.

This is... the difference.

Long Ao's pupils suddenly contracted. The power he was so proud of was as fragile as a piece of paper in front of this man.

"Look, you don't even deserve to be looked at by me." Lin Jiu withdrew his finger, and the pressure instantly disappeared. Long Ao staggered back two steps, panting heavily, with fine beads of cold sweat on his forehead.

"I'm not discussing this with you, nor am I seeking your opinions," Lin Jiu said gently. "I'm simply informing you of an established fact."

He looked at Chen Guan, his smile turning playful again: "Those lunatics of the Flesh and Blood Embrace are like rats in the sewers; you can never get rid of them properly, but what if you put deadly poison on their only food?"

Chen Guan's heart stirred, and he looked up at him.

"This box is the food coated with deadly poison." Lin Jiu pointed to the black box in Chen Guan's hand: "It is indeed the medium for summoning demons, but I've tampered with it. Now, it's more like a coordinate beacon. Within a ten-mile radius, the core members of the Flesh Embrace can clearly sense its location."

Long Ao's face turned completely green.

This isn't delivering a gift; it's like delivering a time bomb strapped to your body! And it's the kind with GPS tracking!

"It's no use throwing it away now." Lin Jiu seemed to know what he was thinking and shrugged. "Its aura is already bound to you. Unless you die, or... it gets activated."