Descent of the Demon Master

Chapter 689. Exploring (4)

Humanity's imagination verged on being 'limitless'.

Whether in a positive or negative sense, a man's imagination would always, always exceed reality itself. All the limitations restricting reality didn't exist in one's mind, after all.

Anyone with a breath of life left them would have imagined the best version of themselves at least once before. And they would have also wondered about the absolute worst case scenario.

Even if that was true, Da Bao had never imagined a situation like this for himself.

Obviously, he had imagined the worst possible situations he could find himself in many times before. That seemed obvious, considering he plied his trade in the shadows of society. In the darkness of these shadows, targeting others was pretty easy... But others could target him just as easily, too.

A life that could only sustain itself through bloodshed would inevitably meet its grisly end at the hands of another. That was why Da Bao's darkest imaginations would always end in his demise.

Either he was betrayed by his own organization, or the target ended up killing him instead.

In his imagination, Da Bao was stabbed in the back by his so-called allies. Or, his luck ran out, and he'd experience an unceremonious death at the hands of a peak expert. Unfortunately, it seemed his imagination wasn't as limitless as he previously thought. That was because he never imagined finding himself in a situation as peculiar as this one!

'Goddamn it!'

Da Bao tried to squirm and writhe his body a bit. Sitting in a cramped little seat for hours upon hours was suffocating him.

Of course, he knew. He knew that was nothing more than the state of his mind playing tricks on him.

After all, the seat his butt was parked on happened to be the most luxurious, comfy and spacious car seat he'd ever experienced until now. He wasn't feeling suffocated because of the so-called crampedness of the seat itself!

Indeed, what truly suffocated him was the presence of Kang Jin-Ho!

'F*ck!'

Da Bao might have imagined the absolute worst for himself in the past, but this kind of situation still exceeded his imaginations by a wide margin. He thought that a grisly, humiliating death was the likeliest option. He could get captured by those with grudges against him and experience all sorts of hellish tortures before his throat was cut.

However, never before in his life did Da Bao imagine himself getting dragged around everywhere like a little dog by his enemies!

What humiliated Da Bao even more was how that devil-like bastard hadn't even bothered to restrict or seal his movements. His hands and feet were not bound by ropes, and his internal energy was free to circulate.

Da Bao was simply left alone inside the van. That was it.

What if he wanted to escape? Sure, he could've done that. He could've ripped open the flimsy sheet metal covering this van and made his escape from this captivity.

Actually, he didn't even need to go to that extreme since the van's doors weren't locked, anyway! Even if they were, Da Bao was inside the vehicle. It wasn't as if he had really transformed into a dog, so he could've easily unlocked the door and left.

Even so, Da Bao couldn't move a muscle. He was under too much suppression to do that.

What would happen if an animal was confined to a cage and experienced violence every time it tried to escape? At first, it'd still try to escape. However, after repeated violence, the animal would stop and stay inside the cage. Even after the cage was gone, the animal would still be unable to leave.

It'd be 'trained' in fear and powerlessness by then. And that was what happened to Da Bao.

He knew all too well that no one would stop him from escaping. However, the moment he left this van through his own will...! He was too scared of what Kang Jin-Ho might do to him next. And that stopped him from escaping.

He had already escaped thousands of times in his head. It wasn't something difficult, after all. Da Bao could throw the door open and get far away from here as quickly as humanly possible. Obviously, Kang Jin-Ho would sense that. It'd be impossible to fool his senses in this distance, after all!

However, would Kang Jin-Ho try to capture him again? Was Da Bao worth the trouble of dragging around all over the place despite the potential flight risk?

Da Bao couldn't tell. He had no way of knowing.

However, he could at least tell that attempting to escape would be a risky adventure. And, when that adventure inevitably failed, he'd be forced to pay a hefty price. And then...

The existence of a man who paid that price earlier was preventing Da Bao from going on this adventure.

Da Bao cautiously turned his head to look. Guo Liqin was still sitting utterly dazed next to him. That sight caused Da Bao's jaw to clatter.

Guo Liqin! Looking at Guo Liqin's now-gray hair and all the wrinkles covering his face was more than enough to force Da Bao's teeth to clench tightly.

Da Bao didn't have favorable feelings toward Guo Liqin. Rather than favorable, he could even say his feelings verged on being hostile. Even then, he couldn't remain unaffected by Guo Liqin's state. He might be next, after all!

“Listen, Guo Liqin,” said Da Bao.

When Da Bao thought about it, this was his first time talking to Guo Liqin. To clarify, he had not spoken to Guo Liqin ever since Kang Jin-Ho captured them both. The truth was, though... He didn't have the mental leeway to do so. Trying to protect his sanity from the crushing weight of reality was already taking so much out of him, after all!

However, he still tried to talk to Guo Liqin. Was it because he found that mental leeway? Or had he finally given up? Da Bao couldn't tell.

“Hey, man.”

“...”

“What are you going to do, man?”

Guo Liqin's head slowly shifted toward Da Bao.

'Huh. At least he's responding...'

Da Bao wondered if Guo Liqin had devolved into a near-vegetable-like state of being, but the latter was showing some signs of life at the external stimulus.

However, when their eyes met, Da Bao couldn't help but flinch. He was overcome with this creepy chill after looking into Guo Liqin's seemingly-empty eyes.

“Nothing,” said Guo Liqin.

Da Bao flinched again.

'What the f*ck is up with this bastard?'

Guo Liqin sounded far more lucid than Da Bao thought. He figured this dude would moan and whimper like a half-dead dog or beg for death, but this...

'Wait. Maybe he was faking it?'

That seemed unlikely. What Guo Liqin did earlier was impossible to pull off through acting. Not even top-tier actors with multiple acting awards under their belts could convincingly pull that scene off!

Did that mean Guo Liqin's mind had recovered somewhat?

“Guo Liqin? Are you back to yourself now?”

“I'm always myself, Da Bao. Unlike a useless moron like you.”

“What the f*ck...?” Da Bao's expression crumpled unsightly. “Weren't you the one begging for death like some pathetic dog? Should I fulfill that wish for you, then?”

“Yes, that is true. And you're lying. It's true that I begged him like a dog. But you don't have the power to kill me. You're too powerless to kill someone as weakened as I am.”

Da Bao's eyes powerfully quaked.

'What the hell? This guy sounds perfectly fine, doesn't he?'

Indeed, Guo Liqin sounded exactly like his usual self. There was no mistaking it, this was the way he spoke whenever he and Da Bao had a chance to converse in the past. Sarcasm would always drip from his every word back then.

Da Bao was sure of it since he still remembered getting pissed off enough to try and attack Guo Liqin in the past!

Da Bao narrowed his eyes. “If your mind is still working okay, why haven't you tried to escape?”

“Escape?” Guo Liqin smirked derisively. However, only his lips moved while his eyes remained dead-still. A smirk with unmoving eyes had this eerie power to spook all those unfortunate enough to stare at it. “To think you can still entertain such stupid ideas. I always knew you were a useless piece of trash.”

“What the hell...?”

“Tell me, Da Bao. You think you can escape?”

“...”

“The moment you decide to escape, your body will suddenly slam into the floor. And your fate will rapidly degrade into something even worse than an insect's.”

“Then, what are we supposed to do here?”

“As I said before, nothing.”

“Say what?”

“We do nothing. All we have to do is obediently wait until he decides on our fate. Stop trying to rack that dumb brain of yours. We're already in the palm of his hands, you see? A man standing before King Yama has no choice but to confess all of his crimes and obediently wait for the fitting punishment. Although, I'm not sure he sees us as humans anymore...”

Da Bao's expression gradually scowled deeper and deeper.

'This bastard, he... He's totally nuts.'

No, wait. Maybe Guo Liqin's reaction was the expected one here. Da Bao had experienced several similar situations before, after all!

What would a man do after being exposed to overwhelming and absolute power? At first, he'd resist. More correctly, he'd try to resist. However, once he realized that his abilities weren't enough to offer any meaningful resistance, he'd start idolizing, nay, worshiping that power instead.

Before human civilization began taking baby steps forward, people worshiped things they couldn't comprehend or deal with. Sometimes those things were bonfires. Or the sky. Or even... animals.

When humans were faced with a power they couldn't deal with, they would resort to worshiping it, thereby unifying its mysterious strength with their own. As such, it shouldn't come as a surprise to hear Guo Liqin speaking in such a reverential tone regarding Kang Jin-Ho. To him, Kang Jin-Ho must've been like an unstoppable natural disaster. An absolute power that could not be denied!

After realizing all this, Da Bao couldn't bring himself to mock Guo Liqin. Just thinking about Kang Jin-Ho automatically made him hold his breath, after all! Despite being untied, Da Bao couldn't escape due to the fear of not knowing how Kang Jin-Ho would react. In that case, how could he mock Guo Liqin?

If Da Bao had suffered as much as Guo Liqin did, he probably would be saying the same thing as this poor bastard. No, forget 'probably'; Da Bao was convinced that he'd be the same as Guo Liqin. So, what qualifications did he have to ridicule anyone?

'Goddamn it!'

Da Bao angrily rubbed his face. How did things end up this way?

He couldn't figure out where things started going wrong. Was it when he heard about Guo Liqin going missing? If Da Bao hadn't been swayed by his ambitions, he wouldn't find himself in this situ...

Bang! Bang!

That was when he heard loud pounding by the van's door. Da Bao stopped rubbing his face and looked up. He spotted several faces peering inside the van through the windows.

'...Huh?'

Da Bao recognized those faces. His eyes naturally grew wider.

Bang, bang, bang!

It seemed some people from the organization looked into the van and recognized Da Bao and Guo Liqin's presence. At this rate, they might break the door to gain access!

'Blooming hell!'

Although his mind was still in disarray, Da Bao still got out of his seat and reached out to the van's sliding door. Was he trying to welcome his allies? Or did the prospect of Kang Jin-Ho getting angry at the van's door breaking from all the pounding terrify him? Da Bao couldn't tell.

Clunk!

When Da Bao slid the van's door open, the familiar faces stared back at him while cackling like a clan of hyenas.

“Hah, you f*cking loser. Is this where you were?”

“At least he's alive, so there's that, eh? Da Bao, you better count your blessings, okay?”

These hyena-like bastards spoke as if everything was already over. The whole atmosphere had this party-like vibe.

Da Bao was overcome with a powerful sense of disharmony at this scene.

“Hey, you...” Da Bao was about to say something but faltered. What should he even say to them? After forcibly stopping himself from frowning, Da Bao asked a question. “Where are the rest? Did no one else come besides you?”

The men before his eyes were indeed his fellow members of the organization. They probably belonged to the group summoned to Sichuan.

One of the men sneered back at Da Bao. “You think only a few of us showed up here when you got your stupid ass handed to you? Everyone's here now. That son of a b*tch will be dead in no time, so you can relax now.”

“Oh, hey? Is that Guo Liqin next to you?”

“...!” Da Bao's eyes quaked powerfully. “Where... Where is your backup?”

“Eh?”

Da Bao urgently cried out, “I'm asking you, where is your bloody backup?! Did only the lot of you come here?! Is that it?!”

“What the f*ck are you talking about, dude? I told you, everyone gathered in Sichuan is here.”

That was when Da Bao's brain kicked into a higher gear.

'There is no backup? No support?'

Even though these idiots knew he and Guo Liqin were easily defeated? Could it be that those at the bottom of the cliff failed to accurately convey how scary Kang Jin-Ho was? Because of their injuries? Or...

Da Bao mumbled quietly. “...Run.”

“Say what? Speak louder, you idiot. I can't hear you.”

Da Bao suddenly exploded in sheer irritation and rage. “I said, you must run away! You f*cking useless bunch of trash! Hurry!”

Although Da Bao's heart was deserving of all the praise in the world for worrying about his allies' lives, his urgent advice came a little too late to help anyone.

KA-BOOM!

A loud explosion went off inside the diner containing Kang Jin-Ho and Vator. Immediately afterward, the building's wall blew apart to spit out the bodies of several human beings.

“Urgh...!”

Several men covered from head to toe in blood writhed and spasmed on the ground. Understandably, the party-like atmosphere cooled down in an instant. Da Bao's 'friends' crowding around the van froze stiff on their spots like statues.

“...What the f*ck was that?”

Da Bao sighed helplessly at their stupefied reactions. He then angrily slammed the van's door shut before plopping his butt down on his seat again.

Guo Liqin's subtle cackle stabbed into Da Bao's hearing and began scratching and pricking at his nerves.

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