As soon as the Human Emperor Banner came out, I became the Lord of the Old Ones

Chapter 293 Eyes Upgrade
John shook his head frantically.

"I've told you everything I know, and it's all recorded in detail in the weekly briefings!"

He said urgently, "Besides that, I really don't know where Jean-Jacques might have set up the safe house, or where he could get help from!"

Hess Belad sighed.

It was as if they were doubting their own judgment in placing such a pathetic fool to spy on Jean-Jacques.

The hands that were originally gripping John's shoulders moved to the sides of John's head and pressed against his temples.

"It seems you need some pressure to remember more things."

Hess Black smiled gently, “Do you believe that pressure is the most magical force in the world? It can transform ordinary rocks that were once commonplace millions of years ago into radiant, crystal-clear gems of the soul through the catalysis of long years and high temperature and pressure.”

"We humans are the same. No matter how mediocre or forgetful an ordinary person is, as long as they can endure the pain of being tempered and refined, they can awaken profound wisdom and extraordinary memory, and see and think of more things."

John's eyes widened.

He had already anticipated what Hess Belad was up to.

But it dared not struggle, much less run away; it could only plead desperately, hoping that its master would be magnanimous and spare its life.

But his pleas for mercy quickly turned into sharp screams as Hess Belad exerted his slow but steady force.

The chief engineer of Liming Heavy Industry has a pair of large, almost deformed hands, more than ten centimeters thick, covered with calluses like armor.

These large hands can crush rock layers without any tools, and forcefully break off a piece of raw crystal ore from the underground crystal cluster.

They could also pin a vicious ancient monster to the ground, skin it and pull out its tendons with their bare hands, tearing off every strand of flesh clinging to its bones to obtain a complete and exquisite skeleton.

When Hess Black's thumb gently covers John's eyes, the other eight fingers can wrap around John's head and cross together on the back of his head.

John's head fell into his hands as easily as an ordinary person holding an orange with both hands, squeezing out all the juice with a little force.

Hess Belad remained silent.

He closed his eyes, and his face showed the focus and rapture of a musician playing the piano.

With both hands exerting force, they squeezed John's skull, their ten fingers like ten red-hot iron chains, deeply embedded in John's flesh and even bones.

John was able to scream at first.

Soon, accompanied by the cracking sound of his skull being crushed, his screams turned into low moans, like the sounds of a long-dead, lonely ghost from the depths of a collapsed mine.

His limbs convulsed violently, as if trying to push away Hess Belad's arms.

Despite the difference of three to five times in the diameter of their arms, his movements were even more meaningless than scratching an itch with a feather.

Until his limbs drooped limply, and blood and various sticky, almost transparent liquids flowed from his seven orifices.

Hess Blackard relaxed slightly.

However, two thumbs, thicker than a child's arm, continued to press into John's eyeballs.

John screamed again.

It struggled as if it had been re-energized. Hess Belad remained unmoved, patiently and almost enjoying the sensation as he continued to press, rub, and dig.

In the end, they gouged out both of John's eyeballs.

John's eyeballs drooped out of the two bloody holes like flattened purple grapes, suspended by two grayish-white nerve cords, swinging back and forth on his extremely distorted cheeks.

Each swing felt like it was affecting his central nervous system, causing him to jerk violently and his screams to become even more shrill.

Hess Belad squinted, peering through the two bloody holes at the structure inside John's eye sockets. It took him a good ten seconds before he was satisfied and released his half-dead subordinate.

John rolled around on the ground, ignoring the excruciating pain and gushing blood, and shakily reached out, trying to push his two eyeballs back into their sockets.

However, his eye sockets had been severely deformed by Hess Belad.

Like the twisted frame of a car body in a car accident, it is no longer possible to press the car door shut tightly.

Furthermore, his eyeballs were completely destroyed. Even if they could be put back in place, they would only slowly rot inside the eye socket, and it would be impossible to restore even the faintest vision.

John went mad in the darkness of excruciating pain, uttering whimpers that were indistinguishable from crying or hysterical laughter.

"Take him away and give him the best possible treatment."

Hess Belad pulled a beautiful silk handkerchief embroidered with the initials of his name from his pocket and carefully wiped away the blood and what appeared to be brain matter from his fingers. He then said to his several subordinates who had been swallowing hard and fidgeting beside him, "Get him another high-level visual medical card that his brain can handle, preferably one with X-ray vision. Then, go to the area where Jean-Jacques is most likely to be and conduct a thorough search."

"I must see Jean-Jacques or his body within twelve hours."

"Otherwise, I'll have to consider whether I should upgrade your eyes as well?"

The men looked at each other, all feeling a stinging pain in their eyes and an indescribable discomfort as if their brains were being squeezed.

They breathed heavily, nodded in unison, and helped the nearly insane, blind John back out of the room.

One of his men hesitated for a moment at the door before leaving.

He seemed to be asking Hess Belad whether the floor needed cleaning up—the priceless, pristine white wool carpet was now stained with foul-smelling blood, sweat, and even brain matter, resembling a frenzied, savage, bizarre, and evil work of art.

"Need not."

Hess Belad took a deep breath. The lingering smell of blood in the air added a touch of neurosis to his originally warm smile. "Don't you think the original carpet was too plain? Leaving these marks helps me think."

His subordinate's eyelids twitched rapidly, and he didn't dare to stay for even half a second longer, retreating in a panicked manner.

Hess Belad sat down again, his fingers, which had just crushed his eyeballs, interlaced, and he rested his chin on his hand, staring at the blood-red pattern on the carpet, lost in deep thought.

Half a minute later, he sorted out his thoughts and prepared to make a few crucial phone calls.

However, before he could get up, a faint ringtone came from his desk.

Hess Belad raised his eyebrows in surprise.

All the muscles in my body tensed up slightly, and I felt like I suddenly became several times heavier, making the chair creak and groan.

(End of this chapter)