Would you like some walnuts

MOMO LiveHouse Bar.

The lighting was dim, with a few beams of deep blue and dark purple spotlights cutting through the smoke to form blurry shapes in the air.

Decades ago, what is now called a LiveHouse was known as a music tea house in Yangcheng, a music hall in Shanghai, and a dance hall in the Northeast. Now it had taken on a trendy foreign name, but its core remained unchanged; it was still a nighttime entertainment spot for urban men and women.

Of course, this was a legitimate establishment.

"The silent kisses invade my heart, I would rather you say you are exhausted..."

On the stage, a resident singer holding a guitar was singing a Cantonese song, his voice carrying a touch of impassioned sorrow.

There were not many guests in the audience. They sat in twos and threes. No one was dancing wildly like in a disco; most simply swirled their wine glasses and let the melody pour into their ears. Some guests even felt they were good enough to go up and sing a song themselves.

In a corner booth, Situ Dingyi took a small sip of the liquor in his glass.

In the thick-bottomed glass, ice cubes clinked against the clear liquid, making a crisp, faint sound. This was ice-cut Baijiu. In the hidden sects, there was no whiskey or vodka, but the families knew how to brew their own alcohol, so they mostly drank Baijiu.

It entered the mouth with a spicy kick, burning a line straight down the throat.

Situ Ding'er, on the other hand, chugged a large mouthful of beer, his brows twisting into a tight knot.

"Tastes like horse piss," he cursed in a low voice, slamming the glass down heavily.

"You say that as if you have actually drank it," Situ Dingyi added.

"I haven't, but it probably tastes the same."

Situ Ding'er clutched an old keypad phone in his hand. The screen emitted a faint blue glow as his thumbs pressed rapidly across the keys.

"You did not use your own SIM card, right?" Situ Dingyi's gaze swept the surroundings, and he did not bother to lower his voice.

"Do you think I am stupid? Those dogs from the Yanhuang Awakening wish they could pull up our entire phone bill history to study it." Situ Ding'er replied without looking up. "Relax, I might be rough around the edges, but I do not do sloppy work."

As soon as he finished speaking, the old phone vibrated slightly.

Situ Ding'er's eyes narrowed. He quickly read the reply message and expressionlessly deleted the content. Immediately after, with a crisp efficiency that contrasted with his rugged appearance, he pried off the back cover of the phone, pulled out the battery, and extracted the tiny SIM card.

Snap.

The card was cleanly snapped in half between his fingers and casually tossed into the beer glass in front of him.

Only after doing all this did he seem to shed some heavy burden. He leaned back against the sofa, staring blankly into space.

"If we succeed, those old fogeys in the clan will still say we acted on our own and showed no respect for our elders."

Situ Dingyi slowly swirled his glass, the water droplets on the side reflecting his calm face.

"Let them scold. Can spit drown a person?" Situ Ding'er snorted coldly, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes. "For the Young Miss, losing our heads is worth it. Do not forget, the Young Miss snatched both of our lives right out of the King of Hell's hands."

Situ Dingyi's movements paused.

That memory, even when recalled now, still carried the stench of blood.

He said no more and simply downed the strong liquor in his glass in one gulp. This plan was originally proposed by Situ Ding'er, and he had no reason to object.

The singing on the stage stopped, followed by scattered applause.

The atmosphere between the two men grew increasingly heavy. Eventually, they looked at each other and sighed in unison.

"Forget it, let us go back. This is boring."

"Alright, I will have someone drive the car over."

Do not drink and drive, do not drive and drink.

Returning to a high-end residential complex, Situ Dingyi sensed something was slightly off the moment he walked through the door.

He furrowed his brows slightly.

"Did you not turn off the lights this morning?" he asked, looking at Situ Ding'er behind him.

"Who in their right mind turns on the lights in the morning? Maybe the cleaning lady forgot to turn them off?"

Situ Ding'er did not pay it much mind. He was just about to take off his shoes when his entire body suddenly froze.

Right at that moment, a faint bubbling sound came from the direction of the living room. It was the sound of the water dispenser running.

Someone was in the house.

Moreover, the intruder seemingly had no intention of hiding their presence. This was no longer an infiltration; it was a provocation.

They had to pass the entryway screen and turn a corner to reach the living room.

However, Situ Dingyi's eyes turned icy cold. With a sharp flick of his wrist, the jade bracelet he had handled for years snapped. The eighteen smooth beads did not fall to the ground; instead, guided by an invisible force, they hovered in his palm, humming softly.

Beside him, Situ Ding'er reached into the cloth bag he always carried and pulled out a pair of lion-head walnuts, which had been handled so much they were reddish, translucent, and smooth as mirrors.

Without a word, the two men lowered their bodies like two cheetahs ready to pounce, charging silently toward the living room.

The moment they rounded the screen, the scene in the living room came into view.

A man was standing leisurely by the coffee table with his back to them, and a little girl was sitting on the sofa nearby.

Without a shred of hesitation, Situ Dingyi swung his arm. Wrapped in fierce true qi, the eighteen jade beads in his palm transformed into eighteen streaks of light, sealing off all of the man's escape routes from the top, middle, and bottom. Every single bead carried a piercing shriek as it tore through the air!

Almost at the exact same time, Situ Ding'er flicked his wrists. The two walnuts spun out, one to the left and one to the right, aiming straight for the back of the man's head.

However, in the next second.

All the beads and the walnuts abruptly came to a dead halt less than half a meter away from the man's back.

It was as if they had smashed into an invisible wall and become embedded within it.

Situ Ding'er's pupils shrank violently.

His walnuts had been thrown with true qi. Their power could pierce right through tank armor!

The man by the sofa did not even turn his head.

He simply said to the little girl, "See, I told you they were back."

Only after speaking did he slowly turn around. His gaze swept over the room, finally landing on the two walnuts.

He crooked his finger.

The two walnuts on the floor seemed to be pulled by invisible strings, floating up gently and landing on the coffee table in front of him.

"Here, Qingcheng," Lin Mo pointed at the walnuts, his tone as relaxed as if he were teasing a pet. "Crack them open and let me have a taste."

"Huh?!"

Ning Qingcheng voiced her confusion but still stood up from the sofa. She placed her hands on the two walnuts and pressed down casually.

Two crisp cracks overlapped!

Those two walnuts, which Situ Ding'er had polished and handled for seven or eight years and were as hard as steel, cracked open effortlessly under the little girl's hands.

The corner of Situ Ding'er's eye twitched violently, his heart bleeding.

Those were his absolute treasures!

Ning Qingcheng pried the walnuts apart and peeked inside, her little face immediately wrinkling into a ball.

The shriveled, blackened walnut meat inside carried a faint, lingering smell of mold.

With a look of disgust, she pinched a tiny bit between her fingertips and held it out to Lin Mo.

"Here, Senior Brother, eat up."

Lin Mo took one look at the lump, which was clearly overflowing with aflatoxins, and wore an expression of polite refusal.

"Forget it, forget it. Even a dog would not eat this."