Only the colorful lights continued to flicker, full of excitement.

Ethan Clark looked at the corpses scattered on the floor, turned on the private room’s ventilator, and expelled the gas outside.

At the same time, he unlocked the door, stepped out, and came around to the street from the back.

At some point, it had started pouring rain outside.

Bolts of lightning streaked across the pitch-black night sky.

Ethan Clark stood in the downpour, closed his eyes, and tilted his head back.

He let the rain wash away the bloodstains on his body and sword.

Blood and rain mixed at his feet, staining the ground red as they flowed toward the drain.

Lightning flashed by.

On the movie poster across the street, a slogan was written in bright red characters.

“Heaven and earth are unkind, treating all things as straw dogs.”

……

A dozen minutes later, Ethan Clark turned and returned to the Challenger Internet Café.

Ether does not dissolve in water.

The rinsing of the rain helped wash away the ether he carried on his body.

Otherwise…

Even though he had taken stimulants and worn a damp mask before Brian Foster entered the private room, he would still have felt dizzy and weak.

Ethan Clark returned to the private room.

The lock had been changed, so there was no need to worry about anyone coming in.

The pungent odor in the room had dissipated, and the smell of blood had faded somewhat.

Ethan Clark squatted down and began searching the bodies of Brian Foster, William Harris, George Baker, and Andrew Cooper.

Cell phones, ID cards, wallets, car keys, a boxing manual.

Some miscellaneous items.

After searching for a while, Ethan Clark found what he was looking for.

A check for ten million.

Brian Foster had prepared two plans.

If Ethan Clark’s side had martial artists as escorts, and they were of significant status, he would use ten million to force a purchase.

If there were no martial artists…

The plan was what he had just witnessed.

After putting everything away, Ethan Clark took out the phones of Brian Foster, William Harris, Andrew Cooper, and George Baker, and unlocked them with their fingerprints.

He browsed through their chat records to understand how they communicated.

After a while, he took the four phones, grabbed the car keys, left the private room, and went to the front desk.

“You guys…”

The cashier naturally knew that Brian Foster and ten burly men had entered the private room and caused a commotion, but didn’t dare to ask.

“Overnight stay.”

Ethan Clark handed over a hundred yuan.

The cashier glanced at him. “What happened to your clothes?”

“I thought the rain wasn’t heavy and wanted to run across to the supermarket to buy something, but ended up like this.”

“The rain is pretty heavy tonight.”

“And the wind is really howling.”

“Heh.”

The cashier replied awkwardly and took the money.

Ethan Clark left the Challenger Internet Café, got into William Harris’s sedan, and drove toward Longquan Gate.

Brian Foster was dead.

Longquan Gate still stood.

Endure, and the winds will calm.

Take a step back, and the sea will open wide.

But when the tree wants to be still, the wind won’t stop.

Brian Foster didn’t give him a chance for peace, so he had no choice but to destroy Longquan Gate.

……

The rain was heavy.

Ethan Clark didn’t have a driver’s license and drove slowly, but fortunately didn’t encounter any traffic police checking licenses or for drunk driving.

The car soon arrived outside Longquan Gate.

Brian Foster’s residence was behind Longquan Gate, a private compound consisting of a main building and two annexes, with a courtyard of about two hundred square meters.

Back when Chris Clark was alive, Brian Foster had invited him over several times, and Ethan Clark had come along, so he knew that Brian Foster’s household only had one housekeeper.

The car soon reached the outside of the courtyard.

Ethan Clark stopped.

He looked at the voice changer app that Brian Foster had downloaded on his phone while on the road, adjusted it to match Brian Foster’s voice, and dialed John Reed’s number.

“Twenty minutes from now, wait for me in my private meditation room.”

“Yes, Master.”

Without waiting for John Reed to ask more, Ethan Clark hung up.

Immediately after, he sent a message to the other three registered martial artists of Longquan Gate.

The content was similar to the phone call, except the times were twenty, thirty, and forty minutes later, respectively.

After finishing these tasks, he drove up to the front of the courtyard.

The license plate was automatically recognized, the barrier lifted, and he entered the courtyard smoothly.

Ethan Clark parked the car, swiped Brian Foster’s card, and entered the annex.

As the lights in the annex came on, the lights in the main building also lit up.

Ethan Clark kept an eye on the time and used Brian Foster’s phone to call the housekeeper.

“Master, you’re back?”

“Mm. Xiaoshu, Aquan, and the other two will come later. Let them wait for me in the meditation room. Don’t disturb me; I have other matters to handle.”

“Yes, Master.”

After a brief exchange, he hung up.

Next, Ethan Clark entered the meditation room, closed the doors and windows, lit three sticks of calming incense, then opened a bottle filled with high-concentration ether, letting the two scents mix.

Then, he left the meditation room and, imitating the speaking style of William Harris and John Reed, used his phone to send a message to John Reed.

“Haha, Old Lu, Master called you, right? Good news, don’t ask, don’t overthink, just wait patiently.”

Soon, John Reed replied: “Brother Li, I’m on my way. What’s the good news? Tell me?”

“Can’t say, can’t say, just wait patiently.”

After sending the message, Ethan Clark turned and sat quietly in the lounge next to the meditation room, his whole body sinking into darkness.