What the hell is happening?!

Wild turned around and frantically started running towards the warehouse exit.

Is this the strength that Hawke should have?

Is this the strength a normal B-level should have?

Did this guy really join the Evil God?!

But before he could run far, the flaming skeleton had already arrived in front of him.

The humanoid figure caught by the flaming skeleton, burning with fire, gradually dissipated in Wild’s field of view, turning into drifting ashes.

Only the half-real, half-illusory badge remained, held in the skeletal figure’s hand.

Wild turned around and ran towards the back.

He knew the strength of the Church of the Grim Reaper Priest; when granted the Death God’s power, this priest could exhibit strength beyond a normal B-level.

But this time, it wasn’t just normal Death God’s power, it was with an Illusion Badge, after setting a trap over a long time.

In that instant, the giant skeleton summoned by the Death God Priest had strength beyond a normal B-level.

Not to mention those small skeletons crawling out of the ground.

Those small skeletons, though weak and fragile, had especially strong individual attacks.

A normal D-level would die from one strike, and a normal C-level could also be heavily injured if careless, encountering ten small skeletons could be cut down by countless slashes,

but that giant skeleton was engulfed by the flames in an instant.

Those small skeletons didn’t even have time to attack before becoming the raw material for the sea of fire.

Wild considered the possibility that ’Hawke’ wasn’t as injured as thought and had recovered a lot, or even fully recovered through some prop.

He even considered the possibility that ’Hawke’ wasn’t injured at all, perhaps even grew stronger.

For this, he carefully studied Hawke’s past battle experiences and roughly categorized Hawke’s potential strength level.

He prepared traps far exceeding this strength level.

Clearly, with the Death God Priest’s power and traps that could activate the Illusion Badge, he could easily kill Hawke here.

Why?!

Where did it go wrong!

How did this guy gain such strong power!

Even joining the Evil God couldn’t make him strong so fast, right?!

What exactly did this monster do!

As thoughts spun crazily in his mind, Wild had already run to the side of the wall.

The blazing fire wrapped around the wall, surrounded by small skeletons struggling, but Wild did not pause at all.

He knew, behind that wall, there was an additional escape passage.

It was told to him by the Star Cluster Pharmaceutical Board.

Opening this passage, he could immediately leave the warehouse, activate the self-destruct bombs inside, and bury ’Hawke’ deep in the ground.

He didn’t know if it would work, but if it could leave this monster trapped for a while, he’d have more hope of escaping.

But just as he was about to reach the wall, the flames covering the whole wall suddenly flickered intensely.

Immediately, the raging flames split to the sides, and one by one, tiny flaming skeletons, like blooming petals, spread apart.

Revealing the skeletal figure wrapped in flames inside.

A golden brilliance ignited in the skull’s eyes, like a lion stepping out of blazing fire, lowering its head to gaze at its humble prey.

At that moment, Wild’s huge anticipation fell through; his advancing steps paused instinctively, and he immediately retreated.

But the forward and backward movement quickly threw his body’s balance off.

He stumbled backward and fell, landing on the ground with a thud.

Like a truly frightened humble prey, fallen to the ground.

He raised his head, staring at the flaming skeleton.

The other side did it on purpose! They were deliberately scaring him! Toying with him!

They could easily kill him, but they had to humiliate him this way!

He angrily stood up, looking at the flaming skeletal figure ahead, shouting furiously, "—Hawke, what exactly do you want to do! You might as well just kill me!"

"Your friend has an imprint left in his soul," He Ao calmly looked at him, voice devoid of any fluctuation, the unseen and cold tone echoing in the flames, "if you probe the memories in his soul regarding this event, the tasks assigned to him by his superior, his soul will self-destruct,"

He looked down, gazing at Wild, "I want to know if there is also such an imprint in your soul."

Hearing these words, Wild was initially stunned, not knowing about the Death God Priest’s soul being imprinted.

But he quickly dismissed it, after all, what these Evil God believers had in their minds seemed normal.

Moreover, through Hawke’s words, he suddenly realized something.

Hawke was still concerned about his son; he wanted to know where his son’s remains went.

That was why he was trying to probe into the Death God Priest’s soul, to seek details about this event.

In that instant, the anger from humiliation vanished, replaced by full-hearted joy.

He looked at the fire-wrapped skeleton, shouting excitedly, "You want to know where your son went, don’t you?! You want to find his body, don’t you?!"

He raised his head, laughing, "I know where he is! I know everything! But I won’t tell you!"

He stepped closer to He Ao, "Kill me! Just kill me!"

As he approached, He Ao only looked at him calmly, then slowly raised his hand, gripping the Illusion Badge in his hand.

Raging flames gathered in his hand, wrapped around the illusionary badge, and condensed into a slender fire whip.

A subtle flickering flame manifested within the fire whip, which in that moment seemed to gain life, beginning an erratic flicker.

The entire fire whip also became a blur between reality and illusion.

He Ao raised his hand, swinging the fire whip.

The brilliant firelight sliced through the sky, sweeping over the raging sea of fire, striking Wild on the ground.

Wild didn’t react in time, being struck by the fire whip, his entire body spun along the motion of the long whip, his neat and elegant suit torn apart, revealing bloodstained flesh with faint yellow light seeping from the wounds.

He took a few steps back to steady himself.

"Heh—" He raised his head, looked at He Ao again, and walked forward slowly, sneering, "Kill me, go ahead, kill me."

His laughter grew more intense, as if some long-suppressed emotion had finally been released.

He stepped forward, his whole body standing more upright, as if it wasn’t him being attacked but ’Hawke’ in front of him.

And He Ao continued to watch him quietly, allowing him to laugh wildly. When he reached almost the same distance as before, he raised his hand again.

Smack—

The flaming whip sliced through the air, striking Wild’s body once more.

This time, the force seemed even stronger than before. Wild’s body spun a few times and stepped back further than last time.

A new scar from the whip appeared on his body, crossing the old one, but this time, the mark seemed much lighter, leaving not much of a bleeding wound, barely any blood oozed out.

He Ao still watched him quietly, not saying a word.

Wild raised his head to continue staring at He Ao, sneering, "Why aren’t you saying anything now? You’re afraid to kill me, aren’t you? You still want to know the whereabouts of your son, right?"

He moved forward, pointing to his own neck, walking towards He Ao, "Come on, kill me."

Some invisible force rippled through the void, subconsciously making one want to believe Wild’s words.

But He Ao still did not speak, just quietly watched him.

Wild also watched He Ao and continued forward.

But his body was trembling slightly, without knowing why, an indelible pain was arising from his wounded area.

He tried to ignore this pain, but could not.

He continued moving forward, maintaining his previous pace, and soon, he reached the position he had reached before.

Smack—

This time, the whip lashed out again.

Wild instinctively wanted to dodge, but realized that this time the flaming whip hadn’t hit his body.

Smack—

Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, his body was struck again, with violent, painful whip marks appearing on his body.

This time, the force was even heavier than before, and he retreated even farther, but the scars on his body were shallower than before, barely breaking the skin.

But the pain on his body was more intense than ever.

The flames on the whip seemed to linger on his body, constantly gnawing at his flesh, waves of intense pain crashing through him.

This time, he couldn’t suppress his body’s trembling; his movements became evident.

He raised his head, angrily looking at He Ao, "What did you do?"

Then he suddenly realized, laughed loudly, "You think you can make me confess through this little pain? You’re thinking too simply!"

This time, he didn’t block anything, sped up, and rushed towards He Ao, "If you have the guts, just kill me,"

He stared at He Ao and continued to laugh, "Do you know your son’s manner of death? He was riddled with bullets, do you know how crude those thugs’ work was?"

His laughter carried a touch of insane anger, "I’ve seen your son’s body, those bullets, entering his body, embedding into his flesh, turning his face into a pulpy mess,"

He pressed his belly, his whole body trembling violently, whether from pain or excitement, he pointed at He Ao and continued to roar, "Do you think you’re looking for your son’s corpse? It’s just a heap of rotten meat."

Smack—

He reached the position he had before, and the whip came down to meet him.

This time, his body was whipped and sent flying, rolling through the sea of flames.

This time, the scars on his body were even lighter, but the pain seemed to be more intense.

Then he got up, walked towards He Ao, his body uncontrollably trembling, like a vagrant overdosed on forbidden narcotics, shakily moving towards He Ao.

Yet his spirit seemed to become more excited because of the pain. He stared at He Ao and continued laughing, "You know, I searched through all the data in your son’s residence and found no information related to you, nor any intelligence connecting him to you,"

He lowered his head and observed He Ao, his voice hoarse and trembling, "He never told any of his companions that he had a father in the Menshu Group’s Mercenary Corps as the Captain,"

He looked at He Ao, eyes wide open, veins covering his eyeballs densely with red. "Should I say, you two had a terrible relationship, your son didn’t want to get involved with you at all, or should I say,"

He paused slightly and continued to laugh, "He was afraid of dragging you down, so he cut off all related information."

He moved forward step by step, "I found the friends he organized demonstrations with before, he talked to them about his father. He didn’t like his father, felt he was strong-willed, controlling, conservative, and stubborn,"

He leaned his head forward, further observing He Ao, rasping with laughter, "But he knew, his father had worked hard all his life, for the ’life’ he has now, it’s not easy. He didn’t want his father’s lifelong efforts to go to waste because of him."

He Ao’s previously unchanged head finally lifted slightly, looking at the figure in front quietly.

"What a good child," Wild looked at He Ao, his eyes narrowed slightly. This time, he stopped at a step ahead of the previous position, looking at He Ao, continued, "You can kill me, and never find your son again, or you can cooperate with me, and I can tell you your son’s whereabouts—"

After the recent extreme confrontation, his retreat this time seemed especially ’sincere.’

Talent Sequences 176: Persuader.

Persuader isn’t a combat-related talent sequence, but they can achieve their goals through speech, sowing discord, killing by making others fight each other.

Sometimes, in negotiations, if you have no cards, you can create one out of thin air, showing an extreme ’breakdown’ emotion, consequently making the opponent feel torn and uneasy.

At this moment, the ’concession’ can make the other side feel they’ve gained something.

Especially, when the other party really needs you.

Wild’s character is indeed narrow and emotional, but he has no intention to change. This kind of character will, in turn, make others underestimate him, allowing him to better achieve his ’negotiation goals’.

Wild looked up at He Ao, continued, "I can also tell you the secrets of the Church of the Grim Reaper—"

Smack—

This time, before he finished speaking, the flame-bursting whip struck his body once again.

His body was whipped and flew in the air, tumbling a few times before landing on the ground.

This time, the flaming long whip still tore his clothes but left no scars on his skin.

He struggled to get up from the flames but fell to the ground due to the pain.

He endured the pain, struggled to get up again, lifted his head, and looked at He Ao, "It seems you don’t care about your son at all; you’re just purely insane. If you had any reason left, you’d know cooperating with me is the best choice."

Smack—

This time, before he could stabilize himself, the flaming whip landed on him, sending him flying away.

His body rolled back into the flames, the intense pain tearing at his soul.