Chapter Fifty-Four: Battle

Kelly Losetti was equally bewildered—how had the murderer suddenly become Huang Chao? This was their sponsor, after all.

Huang Chao showed no sign of panic. He spoke calmly, “Liang Shaoyun, even at this point, you still try to deny it? Your fingerprints are on the sack, and on the body as well. That’s irrefutable evidence! You killed someone, and now you’re trying to frame me?”

After saying this, Huang Chao fell silent.

Li Changqing smiled, sensing a slip in his opponent’s composure. “Mr. Huang, we’re still in the stage of suspicion—how can you be so certain that Liang Shaoyun’s fingerprints are on both the body and the sack?”

Huang Chao chuckled, “I’m simply following Detective Li’s reasoning. Detective Li, this case is obvious now. Let’s inform the Federal Police. Once it’s closed, the money will be in your hands.”

“I do like money, but I never take what isn’t mine. What I earn, I’ll receive in full. What I don’t deserve, I won’t touch.”

“If Mr. Huang hired us to find the true culprit, then we’ll do so. Only after the real murderer is revealed will payment be appropriate.”

Li Changqing’s hand rested against his back, fingers grazing the grip of his pistol. The jade pendant Huang Chao gave to Liang Shaoyun carried a sinister aura; he couldn’t rule out the possibility that Huang Chao possessed strange powers.

“Mr. Huang, where were you the night before last? Any witnesses?”

“Detective Li, are you implying you suspect me as well?”

Li Changqing replied with steady composure, “Since you’re a suspect, it’s only right to clear your name.”

Huang Chao slowly stepped back, his expression souring. “Does finding the true culprit matter so much? Send him to prison, I pay you, and everyone’s happy—isn’t that better?”

“Mr. Huang, are you suggesting—”

At this moment, Huang Chao’s face relaxed unexpectedly. “I had intended to resolve this as an ordinary person. I didn’t expect to be met with suspicion. Fine, I killed the man.”

He admitted it so readily that Li Changqing was caught off guard. He hurriedly drew his pistol, pointing it at Huang Chao. “Mr. Huang, get down, hands behind your head. Don’t move. Xiaoyu, call the police!”

“Alright!” Tang Xiaoyu quickly backed away, pulling out her phone to make the call.

“Heh.” Huang Chao’s voice grew hoarse; his pupils slowly turned blood-red and his face twisted grotesquely.

He transformed into a monstrous creature with a rat’s head and a human body, growing larger, his clothes ripping apart.

“Ah, ah, ah!” Liang Shaoyun’s legs went weak. “M-monster…”

“Don’t move!”

Li Changqing hadn’t expected Huang Chao to morph so suddenly. He raised his gun, shouting, “One more move and I’ll shoot!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Li Changqing fired three shots in rapid succession. Though he was close, the gun’s recoil was considerable and, being his first time, his marksmanship was lacking. The bullets merely grazed Huang Chao.

Meanwhile, Kelly Losetti, calm and collected, fired three shots—each one striking Huang Chao’s head.

“Hiss—” Huang Chao felt a surge of agony from the bullets, and the ferocity within him could no longer be restrained. With a roar, he lunged at Li Changqing with jaws wide open.

“Run!” Li Changqing shouted at Kelly and Tang Xiaoyu, retreating as he fired. His aim, already poor, deteriorated further under panic.

Bang!

Li Changqing took a blow to the chest, slamming into a shipping container. Huang Chao’s strength was astonishing, far beyond what Li Changqing could withstand.

“Li Changqing! I’ll help you!” Tang Xiaoyu had meant to flee, but seeing Li Changqing unable to escape, she steeled herself, clenched her fists, and charged forward.

She punched Huang Chao hard in the face.

Huang Chao casually swatted her aside, striking her in the abdomen. Tang Xiaoyu flew across the ground, rolling several times before stopping.

Kelly Losetti’s nerves were well tempered. Though startled by Huang Chao’s transformation, he’d heard plenty about monsters and demons in the aristocratic circles of the Lamella Empire. There were even underground monster fighting rings among the nobility, where creatures were captured for combat—Kelly had witnessed such spectacles himself. He wasn’t the type to collapse in terror at the sight of a monster.

Yet the situation was dire.

“Humans—their greatest flaw is their obsession with truth,” Huang Chao said, stomping on Li Changqing’s chest. “If you’d just done as I said—closed the case and taken the money—all would be well.”

“But you had to push it this far.”

“Today, none of you will leave here alive.”

For years, following orders from above, Huang Chao had suppressed his monstrous nature and acted as an ordinary person. If Huang Dafeng and his crew hadn’t discovered the secrets of this dock, he wouldn’t have killed anyone so lightly.

But now, with things as they were, he had no intention of letting Li Changqing and the others live.

“Hiss—”

Agony. Near death.

The power Li Changqing had struggled so hard to suppress within himself could no longer be contained.

“Hm?” Huang Chao frowned, sensing something off—Li Changqing’s pupils had turned white.

“Corpse energy—you’re a zombie?”

Before he could finish, Li Changqing suddenly sprang up, landing a punch on Huang Chao’s chest, forcing him back several steps.

“Kelly, take Liang Shaoyun and leave now!” Li Changqing called loudly.

It was a strange feeling. This time, the power within him was not out of control as it had been before. On the contrary, his mind was clear, and he could command it.

His strength, speed, and reflexes were all vastly improved.

“Are you alright?” Kelly Losetti observed Li Changqing’s state—something was clearly off, though as an outsider, he couldn’t pinpoint what.

“I’m fine. Once you’re out, call the police and alert the Federal Bureau.”

“I won’t leave. We’ll fight together!”

Kelly Losetti would never abandon his companions—such behavior went against his noble code. Though he enjoyed cheap spirits and worked as a detective, a profession scorned by the aristocracy, he was still a noble at heart.

He took up his revolver, expertly loading it.

“Liang Shaoyun, you run first—wait, where is he? Damn, he’s fast.”

Liang Shaoyun had vanished long ago, bolting the moment Huang Chao turned into a monster.

“Interesting—a zombie detective?” Huang Chao’s body emitted a persistent, faint aura of demonic energy. “Little detective, you are intriguing.”

With that, he licked his tongue, opened his enormous maw, and lunged at Li Changqing.

Li Changqing swung his fist, aiming for Huang Chao’s face, but the blow missed—Huang Chao seemed to become a phantom, impossible to hit.

Then, the gaping jaws clamped down hard on Li Changqing’s left shoulder, and blood poured forth.