Way of the Devil

“Up until year 1133 of the federation, you’ve been sentenced to 731 years and six months of prison in Haske City. As of today, it has been half a century since you were imprisoned.”

Lu Sheng slowly recited a simple summary of the person’s background.

Bach lifted his head calmly. He stared at Lu Sheng silently with his dark and gloomy eyes.

“Young man, those are things of the past. I’ve grown old. Now… I’m just an ordinary old man.”

Lu Sheng smiled. He snapped his fingers.

“Snap!”

The two prison officers before him slowly produced a set of prison keys from their waists.

It was just a simple hypnosis. Lu Sheng, who had an extremely immense spirit, could still easily hypnotize ordinary people through his words, movements or posture with ease even without relying on Deep Blue or ejecting his spirit from his body.

Moreover, he had acquired a new skill which was the Psychological Guidance Healing Art. Regardless whether a person was extremely evil or extremely kind, everyone had some sort of illness. As long as there was illness, he could guide the person.

“Is this hypnosis as well?!” In the prison, Bach widened his eyes. He was also an elite hypnotist. However, the terrifying level of hypnosis displayed by Lu Sheng was unimaginable for him.

There were no intentional hypnotic movements or hypnotic symbols, nor was there any change in his voice. It was merely a snap of the fingers…

“As you’ve seen, this is a healing technique. The objective is to guide a person toward harmony with himself,” Lu Sheng gave a simple explanation.

Bach’s lips twitched. He was amazed that Lu Sheng was capable of describing such a terrifying great weapon in such a casual manner.

“Alright, young man. Why did you seek me out? I’m a man at death’s door. I’m not worth the risk for you to come here.” He had no intention of beating around the bush. He made his statement clearly.

“Of course, I have my own goals.” Lu Sheng smiled. “Bach Henry, do you want to be free?”

Although Bach could vaguely guess at something already, he could not prevent his heart from contracting when he actually heard those words.

****************

“Uohhh!”

The clamor of cheering sounds was deafening.

The arms of the people in the crowd were as dense as a forest as they swayed. Every mouth was calling out the same name.

“Janason! Janason! Janason!”

Lu Sheng stood under the shadows at the meeting place’s entrance. He looked at the huge fatso who landed his heavy blows on his opponent’s body.

His opponent was a super buff guy two meters tall and with a body weight of at least 150 kilograms. However, with the fatso’s punch, the strong man’s body was tossed into the air. He crashed heavily onto the floor of the ring and made no more sound.

“I! Janason! Most powerful!” The victor wore a tiger mask. His body was covered in nothing other than a pair of shorts. His two-meter-wide fat flesh was like white crests of waves that folded and pressed on each other. This fellow resembled a mountain of flesh as he stood in the boxing ring.

“Janason, Flesh Mountain of Death. He’s the defending champion of the underground boxing ring for 13 seasons. Alas… He’s suffering from a serious heart issue at the moment.”

Lu Sheng waited until the match was over. Then, he stood up and walked to the back of the boxing ring.

He stood at the back of the ring and waited for a while. Then, he slowly walked into the contestants’ resting room through the corridor.

Janason, who appeared mighty just moments ago, was currently pale. He was being supported by eight other people, and somehow managed to lean on a wall in the room.

“Take the medicine! Take it!”

“Bring some water here! Quick!”

“Good heavens, his heart rate is shooting up again! We must send him to the hospital!”

“There’s no time! He won’t survive the journey!”

The group crowded around Janason, who resembled a small hill. They were flustered.

Lu Sheng looked on silently as this group of people tried to save Janason, but to no avail.

“Snap!”

There was a crisp snap of fingers.

The movements of everyone at the back of the ring stopped at the same time.

Lu Sheng walked in. He looked at the ghastly pale Janason who could barely speak right now.

“Do you want to live?”

Janason widened his eyes and fixed his gaze on Lu Sheng before him. The desire to live was reflected in his eyes.

“Save… me…” He struggled to utter the words.

“Sure. But it comes with conditions.” Lu Sheng smiled.

***

In an extravagant golden hall, the gorgeous carpet was littered with blood, flesh, torn limbs, and shattered bones.

A beautiful woman in thick makeup carried a bloodied chainsaw. The saw was still sliding, making bone-chilling revving sounds.

A dozen corpses were scattered before her.

Cutting living people and reveling in their wails of pain and the fear they experienced before their deaths was the greatest hobby of Madam Belle.

Unfortunately, this greatest hobby of hers was ended by her beloved son.

Madam Belle lowered her head in shock. She looked at the knife embedded in her chest. The blade had pierced her armor and stabbed through her heart. She could feel life flowing swiftly out of her beautiful body.

“Mother… I… won’t allow you to hurt another person anymore!” Her son Zero’s pained voice came from behind.

“So, you’ve really become a bad boy… my son.” Madam Belle’s expression calmed down.

“Before this, you were like a little lamb, like a harmless flower bud… but now… you’ve learnt to fight back…”

“I’ve grown up!”

“Pcchht!”

The knife was removed. Madam Belle’s beautiful body in her red dress fell slowly to the side. Fresh blood flowed out of her body and stained the carpet.

“Zero! Let’s go! This place is blowing up!”

In her fading consciousness, the madam heard the shouts of a girl as young as a yellow oriole.

She ruled over the underworld of the Aegis Province for 13 years. Today, her rule had finally come to an end.

Ironically, the victor was her own son.

“Are you satisfied with this?” asked a voice beside her.

“Of course not,” Madam Belle replied calmly.

“I can give you new life. Do you want it?” the voice continued.

“What’s the price?” Madam Belle treated this voice as the whispers of the devil. Her heart grew calmer.

She treated the concept of life and death with contempt. Regardless if it was regarding other people or herself. However, this did not mean that she would just willingly accept her own death.

Like the thousands of living people she killed as a hobby over the years, they had their own dreams they wanted to fulfil.

The difference between them was the varying degrees of their strength that resulted in the varying degrees of their wishes’ fulfilment.

Lu Sheng stood before Madam Belle. This peak expert had ruled over the Aegis Province for a dozen years. She was one of the 13 Moon Scar Armor Grandmasters throughout history who were recognized by the federation. She was also the evilest of them all.

If he had not received the tip from the fatso Janason, he would not have been able to plan this series of actions that well.

The successful subduing of Madam Belle was partially thanks to his good luck.

“However, it’s fortunate that everything ended well.” Lu Sheng smiled and placed his palm lightly on Madam Belle’s soft and sexy belly. His Yang Essence slowly surged into her body and started healing her wounds.

…

Throughout the month, Lu Sheng boarded flights to the provinces of the federation and succeeded in recruiting seven exceptionally powerful individuals who could help him settle his karma.

Madam Belle was only one of them.

Among their numbers were psychopathic murderers, psychiatric patients, cold-blooded mercenary leaders, and more brutal and heartless internationally wanted terrorists. These notorious terrorists who had committed various bone-chilling terror attacks could easily shock the entire federation by appearing anywhere in public.

However, under Lu Sheng’s hypnosis, they had all become his subordinates.

Coincidentally, the great forces behind them had also become forces that Lu Sheng could use.

These people had different goals, but they did share the same wish. They all wanted something from Lu Sheng.

Lu Sheng had also received some detailed information about the Iron Screen from them.

This greatest secret organization of the federation finally exposed the tip of their iceberg after the spider threads and horse tracks were put together.

To his surprise, Lu Sheng discovered that the nearest key to the Iron Screen was at the starting point. The clues led him back to the Platinum Academy way back in Platinum City.

There seemed to be an unimaginable secret feud brewing in the shadows.

Whether it was the Bai Family’s influence, the country’s power, the academy’s power, or the Iron Screen, they were all entangled and fighting for some unexplainable secret.

The elites of the Bai Family and the Iron Screen were gathered in the academy already. They were fighting over it to the point of killing each other.

Under such circumstances, Lu Sheng decided to gather all available forces as soon as possible and put an end to the Iron Screen, thereby settling the karma.

****************

Platinum City.

“I should end my journey in this world now.” Lu Sheng stood before the entrance of the Platinum Academy. He was wearing his student uniform now.

Beside him, Esha appeared frightened. In the past month, she had followed Lu Sheng around to many places. However, none of the people she met seemed to be on the nice side.

“Rinrin, can we not leave after coming back this time?” she pleaded softly.

“Don’t worry. It’ll be over soon.” Lu Sheng comforted her with a smile. “Everything’s prepared.”

Esha lowered her head, and said softly, “Somehow, I feel uneasy.”

“Don’t worry. I’m here.” Lu Sheng gripped her hand and strode into the academy.

It was the holidays now. With his student ID, he was allowed to bring a family member into campus grounds. After registering, Esha followed him into the academy.

The two of them walked toward the dormitories.

After being away for a month, Lu Sheng clearly felt that the atmosphere in the academy had experienced a peculiar change.

However, that was no cause for concern. His objective was to deal with the Iron Screen. It did not matter how the results turned out.

The Iron Screen was the greatest matter that gnawed at Jorin’s heart.

The two of them went into the dormitory building and bumped into a female student in a gray wind coat.

“Hey,” she greeted Lu Sheng first.

Lu Sheng flashed her a friendly smile.

He recognized this girl. Quan Shihui. She was the student he met in the elevator the other day. She was a student who seemed mysterious and formidable.

“Is she your girlfriend?” Quan Shihui seemed easy to talk to. However, when she directed her light brown eyes at Esha, Esha could not explain the cold feeling that crept into her heart. She subconsciously moved closer to Lu Sheng.

“Yes. I like her a lot. She loves me as well,” Lu Sheng replied gently.

“That’s nice.” Quan Shihui raised her eyebrows with a smile, and said, “I’ll look forward to our next meeting.” She walked past them into the elevator. Just like their previous encounter, she stuffed her hands in her pockets and leaned back against the wall with her head slightly tilted.

The elevator doors slowly closed shut. A series of hurried footsteps came from the other side of the corridor.

Iron Tower and another bespectacled man ran down from the upper floor, their faces pale.