Who wants to become a god? Aren't you all forcing me?

#317 - Chapter 316 Lu Xiancong's Whereabouts

The woman in the kimono raised her head in terror, scooting back on her buttocks. "What do you want!"

"What do you think I want?" Li Chenqiu's gaze turned cold. "I came to visit Professor Lu. I finally got into the villa, but I didn't see a single person. What do you think I'm looking for you for?"

The woman in the kimono swallowed hard. "I don't know where Professor Lu is. You've got the wrong person."

Li Chenqiu reached out and grabbed the woman's hair. "While I'm not in such a bad mood, tell me everything you know, clearly, understood?"

The woman's pupils trembled slightly with fear. "I... I'm from the Takahashi Conglomerate. You can't touch me. If you touch me, the Takahashi Conglomerate won't let you go... Ah!"

Li Chenqiu yanked hard, pulling the woman's head close. "I'm giving you one last chance. Will you talk or not?"

The woman in the kimono answered tremulously, "I... I don't know."

"Good, very good." Li Chenqiu smiled, his hand sliding down to grab the woman's neck. Ignoring her struggles, he walked towards the inside of the villa.

"Let me go!"

The woman shouted hysterically.

Li Chenqiu's expression remained unchanged as he casually threw the woman into the empty living room.

"What do you want? This is Takahashi Conglomerate territory. I'm one of them!" The woman's face was pale, her chest heaving violently.

Li Chenqiu ignored her, instead looking at Ye Yu, who was standing to the side. "Ye Yu, go outside for a moment."

Ye Yu raised her head blankly. "Uh... what?"

"Go outside for a moment."

"Okay."

Ye Yu nodded and scurried out of the villa, closing the door behind her.

"I... I already told you, I don't know where Lu Xiancong is." The woman said uneasily.

Li Chenqiu lowered his eyes. "Do you know that I can seek proof from your soul?"

Whoosh—

A wisp of black smoke shot out from between Li Chenqiu's fingers. The next second, a soul soldier appeared behind the woman.

Before the woman could react, the soul soldier directly grabbed her neck, his five fingers exerting force.

Crack!

The crisp sound of bone breaking rang out. The woman's head bent 90° to the right, and her body fell uncontrollably to the ground.

Xiang Nanzhi crossed her arms, a trace of worry flashing between her brows. "You just killed her like that? If the Imperial Guard investigates, it'll be difficult to deal with!"

"Have you forgotten that I have a soul soldier who can possess bodies?" Li Chenqiu reminded her.

Xiang Nanzhi half-clenched her fist and tapped her head. "Forgot about that!"

Li Chenqiu walked up to the woman. At the same time, a wisp of black smoke floated out of her body, transforming into a soul soldier.

"Master."

"Name, background."

"Kouhara Hikari, loyal to the Fourth House of the Takahashi Conglomerate."

"The Takahashi Fourth House again." Li Chenqiu looked rather surprised. "Where is Lu Xiancong?"

Kouhara Hikari shook her head. "This subordinate doesn't know the exact location, but according to this subordinate's guess, Lu Xiancong should still be in Xiyue City."

Li Chenqiu nodded, gesturing for her to say something useful.

"Five years ago, Lu Xiancong and Takahashi Takeno of the Takahashi Conglomerate joined hands to explore Snow Dusk Mountain, a cursed land a hundred kilometers away from Xiyue City.

Later, for some unknown reason, the two had a falling out. The people of the Takahashi Conglomerate imprisoned Lu Xiancong here, sending me here to torture him day and night while ensuring he stayed alive."

"Torture Lu Xiancong?" A hint of curiosity flashed between Li Chenqiu's brows. "What's the purpose of torturing him?"

"I don't know. My superiors only told me to torture him until Lu Xiancong wanted to contact them." Kouhara Hikari answered truthfully. "In the year that followed, I began to carry out my superiors' orders while ensuring he stayed alive.

During that time, I used all kinds of unimaginable tortures on him, using every trick I knew to destroy his dignity, body, and soul, but Lu Xiancong was like a block of wood, enduring it all completely.

His unwavering will filled me with despair. A year later, the Takahashi Conglomerate sent people to take him away, telling me to continue staying in this villa, faking the appearance that Lu Xiancong was still here, until now, when I was granted new life by Master."

"Tsk, tsk!" Xiang Nanzhi clicked her tongue. "Unimaginable tortures, just thinking about it is scary."

Li Chenqiu asked, puzzled, "As far as I know, Lu Xiancong makes video calls with his family every month. How do you explain that?"

"That person is not Lu Xiancong. The Takahashi Conglomerate found someone with a similar appearance and build to Lu Xiancong and gave him a full-body makeover, using a real-time voice changer to talk to his family."

Hearing this, Li Chenqiu's expression instantly turned ugly.

The video calls were fake, which also meant that Lu Xiancong's life or death was unknown.

If he died, at the very least, his nine-star mission would be ruined. At worst, his path to becoming a Division Commander might face more obstacles.

Thinking of this, Li Chenqiu rubbed his eyes wearily.

Xiang Nanzhi saw the frustration in Li Chenqiu's heart and walked over to pat him on the shoulder. "Don't be so pessimistic. The Takahashi Conglomerate could keep Lu Xiancong alive for a year, which means they must have something on him. He won't die."

"Hopefully!" Li Chenqiu lowered his arm and continued to look at Kouhara Hikari. "Your superior is..."

"Someone's coming."

Xiang Nanzhi interrupted Li Chenqiu in a cold voice.

Upon hearing this, Li Chenqiu immediately instructed, "Huang Ping, possess her."

Huang Ping, who was standing in the living room, immediately rushed into Kouhara Hikari's corpse. The next second, a "crack" was heard, and Kouhara Hikari's neck immediately snapped back into place, and she stood up from the ground.

Li Chenqiu said in a deep voice, "Think of a way to make Kouhara Hikari die reasonably."

"Understood."

After saying that, Huang Ping voluntarily fell to the ground, shouting vividly, "What are you trying to do? I'm from the Takahashi Conglomerate. If you touch me, the Takahashi Conglomerate won't let you get away with this!"

Li Chenqiu, Xiang Nanzhi: (lll￢ω￢)

"Your soul soldier is a very good actor!"

"Indeed, not bad. Almost as good as me."

Li Chenqiu nodded in agreement, waved his hand, and took Kouhara Hikari and Huang Jianhua into the Embers, turning around and leaving the villa.

Just as he walked out of the villa gate, Li Chenqiu saw several men and women of different ages walking into the courtyard.

These people were wearing white robes that went past their knees, carrying samurai swords diagonally across their waists, and their chests were inlaid with deep red circular iron plates, like the midday sun.

Leading them was a woman with delicate features, fair skin, and a buzz cut, who looked to be thirty-five years old or older.

Ye Yu retreated to Li Chenqiu's side. "Boss, they..."

Li Chenqiu raised his hand to interrupt Ye Yu, a faint hint of fear flashing in his dark eyes.

The woman with the buzz cut was very strong, even stronger than Huang Jianhua...