After being poisoned by mushrooms, all the strange creatures became fascinated by me.

Tick, tick.

The body was still dripping blood.

Tang Li resolutely looked away from the corpse that resembled a skinned prey. She clenched the silver in her hand, knowing that it was not good to spend it because it was stained with blood, but she was also unwilling to put it in her pocket so uncleanly. So she had no choice but to bite the bullet and act like an uncouth customer, wiping it on the curtain.

It was only then that she remembered a crucial question.

Since Jun Wenzhi used this restaurant as a hideout for "Shazi's" wife and children, it was clearly a place firmly under his control. In other words, it was most likely the private property of that elder's faction.

Now that Jun Wenzhi has died tragically here, even if he revealed the hiding place before his death, how can she take away "Sand's" wife and children without alerting outsiders?

Is that why Han Zhou increased her martial prowess before leaving?

Tang Li was filled with doubt. She tentatively took a few steps inside the house and felt that her steps were a little lighter, but still far from being able to scale walls and rooftops.

Not to mention taking two people with him as he scales walls and rooftops.

Staying here isn't a solution, so Tang Li cautiously pushed open the door, took a furtive step out, and decided to at least find the mother and child first.

If all else fails, knock the person unconscious and use props.

As a result, Tang Li hadn't walked far when she ran into two waiters.

...Two waiters who died.

The two men fell to the ground, their heads tilted back and necks stretched forward, both killed instantly. The ingratiating smiles they wore when entertaining distinguished guests lingered on their faces, but their eyes, which had not yet closed, were filled with blankness.

Fresh blood was still slowly spreading beneath them.

There were no footprints around the pool of blood; the assassin who had casually ended their lives was long gone.

Tang Li belatedly realized that she had been too petty. How could she have so maliciously assumed about Coach Han? He had clearly arranged everything perfectly before he left.

...In just a short while, he had slaughtered everyone in the restaurant.

This means that...

Tang Li suddenly felt half of her body go numb.

Now, in this "Wind-Filled Tower," besides the mother and child, she is the only living person left.

Tang Li pursed her lips, shocked by Han Zhou's decisiveness, but also feeling a real sense of terror.

She once hated players like Jie Bailing for treating human life like dirt, but wasn't Han Zhou, who was born and raised in this instance, just the same?

At this moment, to make things easier for her, he slaughtered everyone in the entire restaurant. What if, one day... she accidentally blocks his path and becomes his stumbling block...?

Or, what if one day he finally learns the truth: she was just a player within his hunting range from the very beginning, and had been pretending to deceive him the whole time…

Tang Li shuddered and dared not think any further.

When asked, he said he hid the mother and child in the cellar of the Fengman Restaurant.

They spilled everything, including which staircase to take down and where the guards usually hid.

Tang Li then relentlessly pursued her path, slaughtering even the guards at the cellar entrance. Thus, she made her way unimpeded, and with a creak, Tang Li pushed open the door that imprisoned them.

A stench hit you.

Tang Li felt a surge of anxiety, but the stench didn't seem to be the smell of rotting human flesh; rather, it was the fishy stench of shrimp and fish. The restaurant was also using this place as a storeroom.

Tang Li walked around the stack of wine jars and suddenly met a pair of alert and sharp eyes.

Tang Li paused in her steps.

The man was also startled.

"...The child?" she blurted out involuntarily.

Tang Li gazed at the scene before her and pursed her lips.

She hadn't thought of that...

The chains did not bind a frail woman, but a tall, strong, and spirited woman.

She had clearly been subjected to cruel treatment; the once plump and bright features of her face had become faintly gaunt, her high ponytail tied behind her head was a mess, and the clothes she wore had become extremely ill-fitting, hanging loosely on her body.

But her eyes were still bright, and her spirit seemed to be squeezed out of her very bones and flesh, more abundant and full than her scarred body, so you knew that you should not underestimate her.

The woman silently clenched the object in her hand—a shard of porcelain that she had carefully hidden and polished to an extremely sharp edge.

"Who are you?" the woman asked. She wasn't naive enough to believe Tang Li was also a prisoner, but she also couldn't figure out her identity. "Did they send you?"

"It's time to feed them today," the woman said coldly. "Tell them to prepare the food. Even if they want to keep me alive as a hostage, they have to make sure I'm still alive first!"

Such a strong will to survive. Tang Li thought, "A very capable person."

She saw something similar in the woman's eyes to something in Jiang Hui: a vibrant will to seize one's destiny no matter what.

Tang Li stopped peeking. She knew that at this time when friend and foe were still undecided, no rational person would provoke a magnificent lioness who had been in danger for a long time.

How about we appease her with actions?

Tang Li looked around, then went back upstairs, squatted down, took a knife from the guard's corpse, and dragged the knife back to her cell.

The woman's nerves should have been stretched to their limit, yet she maintained her composure upon seeing Tang Li approaching with a knife. The moment she saw the knife, she blurted out, "That's a guard's knife, how could you…"

She stared at Tang Li in astonishment.

Look at the way she drags the knife on the ground as she walks; this little girl clearly doesn't know martial arts.

Then why did she bring the knife? It couldn't be that she was ordered to kill her.

"I'm here to save you," Tang Li finally said. "The guards are dead."

Who killed the guard? Who are you? Why did you save me? Do you know who I am?

The woman didn't ask any of the above questions.

She simply and decisively said, "Okay. Let's go."

Tang Li was equally wary of the woman. She asked, "If I give you the knife, can you figure out how to escape on your own?"

The woman deftly tossed the shards of porcelain she had hidden in her palm into the distance, showing her empty hands. At the same time, she wryly moved her tightly bound wrists: "I can't lift the knife anymore."

"Please take good care of us, young lady," she said gently. "We will be very grateful once we get out of here."

Tang Li had no choice but to take matters into her own hands: should she try cutting the chains with a knife? Only then did she realize Han Zhou's true intention in making her take the elixir. Indeed, no favor this man slipped through his fingers was ever given for nothing.

Tang Li placed the knife against the taut iron chain beside the woman's feet and began to try.

The piercing sound assaulted everyone's eardrums. A moment later, the chains remained unbroken, and the knife gleamed even brighter.

...Tang Li's actions were roughly equivalent to sharpening a knife.

The five-year-old girl frowned in anger.

Filled with resentment, she raised the knife high—

It still needs to be chopped down.

But at that moment, she poured all her strength into the raised blade, leaving her chest and abdomen vulnerable. Just then, her eyes noticed something was wrong before her mind could process it.

The woman's shadow moved.

The shadow that had been hiding behind the woman moved.

Yeah yeah.

Hadn't it already been made very clear? Tang Li's mind finally started working: "Sand's" wife and children were imprisoned here.

Wife, and son.