Startled, Li Haiyang trembled and pointed towards the kitchen, "That ceramic pillow is in the kimchi jar in the kitchen..."
Tiaoma snorted, climbed off Li Haiyang, and headed to the kitchen to search for the ceramic pillow containing the sword qi crystal.
Wen Wen remained in place, curiously looking at the area between Li Haiyang's legs.
Of course, Wen Wen wasn't looking at the smelly quilt, but at the bullet hole made by Tiaoma.
Tiaoma might have felt embarrassed, so he didn't show any unusual reaction.
But Wen Wen saw very clearly that the shot was aimed directly at Li Haiyang's leg. He was prepared to use his abilities to block the shot, but it missed.
As a killer with no emotions, Tiaoma couldn't miss at such a distance. Therefore, the problem lay with Li Haiyang.
"You... what do you want?"
Li Haiyang clamped his legs together, shivering at Wen Wen. Being stared at like this by a man was terrifying.
"Stop messing around."
Wen Wen spread his senses, enveloping Li Haiyang's entire body. He then discovered that what he was looking for was on Li Haiyang's chest and began to pull at Li Haiyang's pajamas.
Li Haiyang looked humiliated, vowing to protect his clothes to the death. Not only did these two perverts want to snatch the ceramic pillow, but they also coveted his body? How base.
But he was clearly overthinking it; Wen Wen wasn't interested in him.
"So that's how it is..." Wen Wen looked at Li Haiyang's chest and seemed to understand something.
On Li Haiyang's chest was a red, inverted flame-shaped tattoo. Wen Wen was quite familiar with the pattern of the flame.
Wen Wen took out the flame emblem on the pendant he obtained from Chai Yun and placed it on Li Haiyang's chest. After a moment, the same flame emblem surged from beneath Li Haiyang's skin.
"Where did you get that thing on your chest? Tell me everything you know. This thing won't miss."
Wen Wen pulled out a rocket launcher and aimed it at Li Haiyang's forehead.
Li Haiyang wanted to cry but had no tears. Threatening him with a rocket launcher was the same as threatening him with a gun; he was going to die either way.
However, under Wen Wen's pressure, Li Haiyang recounted everything that had happened since he obtained the pendant.
By this time, Tiaoma had already found the ceramic pillow and cleaned it from top to bottom. But it was clear that Wen Wen was more interested in Li Haiyang now, so he could only wait on the side.
"Chai Yun was given such a pendant right after joining the company, while his pendant was bought casually at a street stall... This means Red Beard is deliberately spreading these pendants."
"When the pendant's holder encounters a fatal danger, the pendant protects them, but the pendant integrates into the holder's body and cannot be removed..."
"What exactly is Red Beard's objective?"
Wen Wen looked at the sleeping pills on Li Haiyang's table and asked, "Your sleep probably isn't very good. Do you have nightmares at night?"
Li Haiyang nodded and said, "That's right. In my dreams, I am someone who swings a hammer incessantly."
"That person swinging the hammer must be Red Beard. This means the pendant connects the holder to Red Beard..."
"I get it. This is Red Beard's means of blackmailing the association!"
Wen Wen's eyes lit up. He reached out towards Li Haiyang's chest, and strands of black energy bound the pendant. Then, Wen Wen began to slowly pull the pendant out.
As it was being pulled out, Li Haiyang's body trembled uncontrollably as if his life force was being drawn out with it.
After trying for a moment, Wen Wen stopped and muttered, "Just as I thought... this pendant is widely circulated in Baoya City and is hidden so well that it cannot be removed. If Red Beard is moved against, all the people holding this pendant could be buried with him."
"The Hunter Association, whose purpose is to protect ordinary people from persecution by supernatural forces, would definitely find it difficult to act in this situation. They might even have some secret dealings, which is why the association has been so secretive with me."
Wen Wen pondered for a while, a smile curling up on his lips. This might be a good thing for him.
In Wen Wen's opinion, there were likely only two possibilities regarding Red Beard and this pendant.
The first possibility is that Red Beard can control the life and death of these people at will through these pendants. But if he could do that, there would be no need to add the protective function for the holder.
The second possibility is that Red Beard has bound his own life with the lives of the ordinary people who possess the pendant.
If he dies, all the ordinary people with pendants in their bodies will also die. Similarly, if an ordinary person with a pendant dies, Red Beard will also suffer some harm.
If this is the case, as long as Red Beard is alive, the pendant is actually beneficial to those ordinary people.
Apart from these, it's also possible that Red Beard is purely benevolent and gives talismans to ordinary people out of the goodness of his heart. Wen Wen naturally didn't believe Red Beard had such integrity.
Combined with Li Haiyang's dream, Wen Wen leaned towards the second possibility. But no matter which possibility it was, Wen Wen could deal with Red Beard.
He clapped his hands suddenly, his mind made up.
"When dealing with Red Beard, I must adhere to two principles."
"The first is that I cannot reveal my identity as a hunter. I must even appear vicious and ruthless, so Red Beard won't use those ordinary people to threaten me."
"The second point is... I cannot take his life, nor even gravely injure him."
"As long as he is taken to the containment facility, he won't be able to die even if he wants to."
Having figured it out, Wen Wen's eyes turned slightly red. He covered Li Haiyang's face with his wide sleeve, inside which was a memory eraser.
"Forget everything that happened tonight, and then sleep well, sleep until morning..."
The vampire's hypnotic ability, combined with the effect of the memory eraser, was enough to give Li Haiyang a good night's sleep and make him forget everything that happened tonight.
With Tiaoma nearby, Wen Wen did not want to expose himself as a hunter.
Wen Wen took Tiaoma to another room and said, "The item has been found. Let me see it."
Tiaoma placed the ceramic pillow on the ground and tapped it forcefully. The ceramic shell immediately shattered, revealing a piece of special metal about the size of two rolls of toilet paper.
"This metal is a companion metal that has been buried underground for hundreds of years along with the sword qi crystal. The crystal itself is within the metal."
After presenting the metal to Wen Wen, Tiaoma stepped aside, wanting to see how Wen Wen would handle it.
Wen Wen picked up the metal and sensed it slightly. He found that there was indeed a trace of extremely pure and powerful sword intent fluctuation within it.
These sword intent fluctuations were compressed to the extreme. If they were all unleashed, they would likely be more massive than dozens of Wen Wens combined.
And this was only the quantity of sword qi. In terms of quality, this sword qi was equivalent to refined steel, while Wen Wen was like taking random scraps from a junkyard and pressing them together with a hydraulic press.
Even though swordsmanship was only a part of Wen Wen's strength, the gap was still enormous.