"Cough, cough…"
Seeing Su Tang's movement, Bull-Headed Warrior seemed to want to reach out and stop him. But because his chest had been pierced by the electric eye, damaging his lungs, he coughed twice and failed to lift his hand.
Still, he said in a muffled voice,
"Bull Warrior… never removes his mask…"
"This doesn't count as a mask, does it?"
Su Tang easily pinched the Ox Talisman between his fingers, tossed it up, and let it fall into his palm.
"Or do you mean that without it, you can no longer be Bull Warrior?"
"Hmph. I… am Bull Warrior!"
Bull-Headed Warrior struggled to rise. His nearly bisected upper body twisted together as he bared his teeth.
"Without it, my strength remains unmatched!"
Su Tang stood straight. This time, he did not refute him.
The other party's strength was indeed great. If he competed with humans in the wrestling ring, no one should be able to defeat him.
And not only humans. Even among devils, his strength probably ranked near the top.
Just look at his performance in those few seconds earlier.
One punch had broken through Su Tang's dragon-scale defense, and that had been in midair, precisely when his strength had run out. This kind of pure destructive power seemed even greater than the Dick Devil back when it held the Angel Cock Sword.
This was only the second time Su Tang's defenses had been broken.
Even when he had been crushed down by the Snake Devil's tail before, or swept by dozens of rifles at close range, only a few white marks had appeared on his dragon scales.
More importantly, Bull-Headed Warrior was currently a fiend.
In the entry-level lessons for devil hunters, it was clearly stated that if a devil chose to enter a human body and become a fiend, its strength would be greatly reduced. This could be seen from Power.
Although Su Tang had never seen what the Blood Devil truly looked like or how strong it was, just thinking about the true name Blood meant it definitely could not be weak.
Using that as comparison, then thinking about Power's current performance, one could roughly understand how exaggerated the reduction in power was.
And even in fiend form, the strength he possessed after being enhanced by the Ox Talisman was this terrifying…
Here was a not-so-cold piece of trivia: the Ox Talisman's strength enhancement multiplied based on the holder's original strength.
In other words, the greater your own strength, the greater the strength you gained from the Ox Talisman.
In the original cartoon, even after Jackie Chan obtained the Ox Talisman, he could only fight Shendu, who did not have the Ox Talisman, to a draw.
From another angle, the power of a dragon itself was also extremely strong.
After sighing inwardly, Su Tang held the Ox Talisman and asked curiously,
"What did you say your devil true name was?"
"Hmph. I do not change my name when walking or sitting! I am the Minotaur Devil!"
Bull-Headed Warrior snorted heavily and spoke loudly.
Minotaur… Devil?
Well.
Su Tang was not entirely certain whether this was the "minotaur" he was thinking of.
But if it was that kind of minotaur, then possessing such terrifying brute strength did not seem incomprehensible. After all, outside of doujins and hentai, those who liked that kind of thing were ultimately only a minority.
Wait.
Using Bull Warrior's body and interacting with the fans who once liked him…
Was that not, in a sense, another kind of minotaur behavior?
Thinking of this, Su Tang's gaze turned somewhat strange.
He coughed lightly, threw away the images in his mind, and asked,
"Then why didn't you continue calling yourself Bull Warrior or Minotaur Warrior? Why change your name to Bull-Headed Warrior?"
"You human are truly foolish!"
Bull-Headed Warrior seemed disdainful of answering such a question. However, given the current circumstances, he still spoke in a muffled voice.
"I already told you, I promised this human I would replace him. But I also wanted to become myself. So I took one character away from 'minotaur' and added one to 'bull.'"
"This way, I don't have to wear that heavy mask anymore either."
Bull-Headed Warrior pointed at his thick nose and the two sharp curved horns atop his head.
"I explained that this was my new mask, paired with my new name, to show that I wanted a new beginning."
Su Tang blinked.
How should he put it?
This Minotaur Devil had a bit of intelligence, but not much.
High-intelligence devils like Little Angel and Makima were ultimately a minority.
He had thought of using a method that could both conceal his identity and accomplish his goal, but had overlooked whether such a mask was too bizarre to humans. It was almost fake at a glance.
And his crude way of doing things…
No wonder people insisted he was a bull-headed devil.
Su Tang turned his head and looked at the trench of ruins stretching all the way here from the distance. Shattered stones and rubble lay everywhere, a miserable scene of human suffering.
"Have you killed anyone?"
After several seconds of silence, he suddenly asked in a deep voice.
"Why would I kill people?"
Bull-Headed Warrior seemed puzzled by the question. He once again looked at Su Tang as if he were an idiot.
"I inherited the identity of that fellow Bull Warrior. How could I do something like killing people, which doesn't match the identity? Wouldn't that expose me?"
"Of course, if you mean these houses that were smashed tonight…"
"This was originally my sanctuary. Those are all unoccupied slums. They were going to be demolished and rebuilt sooner or later."
"Sanctuary?"
Su Tang remembered Parker seemed to have mentioned this word earlier too.
He lowered his head and looked at the young boy sitting on the ground, motionless, listening to their conversation. Bull-Headed Warrior's muffled voice rang beside his ear.
"This is a piece of land I bought with the money I won in the wrestling ring. It provides temporary refuge for devils who have just arrived in the human world."
So that was how it was.
Su Tang looked at the Spider Devil lying unconscious on the other side. She had probably just been killed out of Hell and returned to the human world about two days ago.
"Do you want to live?"
He looked at the Minotaur Devil again and asked.
"Hmph. Human, why are you asking that? If you want to kill or carve me up, then come!"
Bull-Headed Warrior raised his head and glared with eyes like bronze bells.
"Since you haven't killed anyone, why would I kill you?"
Su Tang smiled and waved his hand. After thinking for a moment, he explained,
"You should know the Black Hand. I will buy this piece of land in the Black Hand's name and carry out a series of reconstruction activities. You can also join the Black Hand and continue living under the name Bull-Headed Warrior. We will provide protection for devils who pass our review."
"You mean…"
Before Bull-Headed Warrior could finish asking, Su Tang continued,
"In the Black Hand, there are only brothers. There is no distinction between humans and devils. As long as you pass the Black Hand's review, everyone is family. Of course, you are the same."
Bull-Headed Warrior raised his head and looked motionlessly at Su Tang.
"What do you think?"
Su Tang smiled and met his gaze.
He did not have to wait long.
Or rather, he did not have to wait at all.
The Minotaur Devil immediately raised his hand.
"Thank you for your kindness, Lord Black-Robed Man!"
His voice was so sincere that Su Tang was slightly stunned.
"If there is a chance to live, who wants to die?"
Bull-Headed Warrior tilted his head and explained,
"I still haven't completed that human's last wish. You must know, I always keep my word!"
Seeing this, Su Tang laughed.
This fierce bull was not as stubborn as he had imagined. Having intelligence was ultimately a good thing.
"Then all right. Tomorrow, people from the Black Hand will come contact you. In addition, they will send the Spider Devil to Tokyo. There is also a Black Hand branch there, and it is the place she used to stay."
Standing straight and turning around, Su Tang put the black robe he had taken off earlier back on and adjusted his collar.
He held the Ox Talisman in his hand, and the faint shadows of the Rooster and Rabbit lit up in his eyes.
"It's getting late. Rest up. I still have something to do, so I'll leave first."
After saying this, he found the direction of San Francisco. His figure flashed and vanished.
At the same time, America, San Francisco.
Top floor of the Black Hand Building.
"Shendu, my men just sent word. They still have not found any trace of a talisman…"
Inside the brightly lit hall, Valmont stood bowed on the red carpet, lowering his head slightly toward the bronze coiled dragon statue before him.
Shendu's eyes were crimson, as though filled with endless anger.
"Useless! Valmont, are all of your men rice buckets?! They are not even as good as those three from before!"
Valmont, having been cursed out, did not show any particular fear. He merely calmly explained,
"Shendu, you only said two words: south. You did not give a precise location. We do not even know whether it is inside or outside San Francisco, inside or outside America. The scope is too large. My men are no different from searching for a needle in the ocean."
"Then do you mean to blame me?"
Shendu's tone was deep as he stared down at Valmont.
"It is not a matter of blaming anyone."
Meeting Shendu's gaze, Valmont rubbed the top of his cane and raised his head.
"Forgive my directness, Shendu. I have already spent a great deal of money on your grand talisman search. But so far… I have still not seen any return."
Supporting himself with his cane on the carpet, Valmont seemed rather troubled.
"This makes things difficult for me and my men."
…
Silence.
Wind blew in from somewhere, making the chandelier above sway gently.
Shendu's blood-red eyes hid in the darkness, staring motionlessly at Valmont.
And this globally infamous boss of the Black Hand held his cane and met his gaze with composure.
"Haha. Good. Good. Good."
In the end, Shendu was the first to break the silence. His blood-red eyes flickered, and he said "good" three times. A pitch-black shadow drilled out from the ground.
Valmont's gaze was instantly drawn to it.
It was a Shadowkhan ninja. That was not unusual.
But what the ninja held was not a shuriken or throwing dart.
It was a pure-gold vase glittering brilliantly.
And reflected in Valmont's eyes, this scene was like a veiled beauty beneath the moon seducing him.
He could not even wait to walk properly. He jogged directly to the Shadowkhan ninja and reached out to take the pure-gold vase.
But in the next instant, the Shadowkhan ninja and vase sank into the ground again and vanished.
Valmont, whose hands grabbed empty air, turned back in astonishment. Shendu's voice then slowly rang out.
"Valmont, since I told you I would give you the treasure of Jinji Wang, I certainly will not break my word."
"What does a momentary cost count for? That is a lost treasure enough to make you rich enough to rival a nation. In that enormous palace are piles of gold, gemstones, pearls, jade, antiques, enamel, and glass… Think about it. As long as I am resurrected, all of those will be yours."
"So the money you are spending now is not waste. It is investment. Investment in a great enterprise with ten-thousandfold returns. And what you need to do is resurrect me as soon as possible. Only then can you possess that treasure sooner!"
Three sentences. Each more seductive than the last.
Those words jointly constructed a golden, glittering palace inside Valmont's mind. And when the time came, he would become the master of that palace, swimming freely among golden sand and jewels.
This…
This was simply…
A direct hit to Valmont's lifeline.
He coughed lightly and immediately restored his previous humble manner, walking before Shendu and bowing with a hand over his chest.
"Honorable Lord Shendu, I will certainly resurrect you as soon as possible. Those talismans will not remain outside for much longer. I assure you."
As he spoke, he was about to call his subordinates again and tell them to continue searching at any cost.
However, at that moment, Shendu suddenly chuckled.
"Valmont, put aside your work for now. We have a guest."
"A guest?"
Valmont raised his head in some surprise. Following Shendu's gaze, he turned toward the end of the carpet.
There was an elevator there. On its display screen, a string of numbers was rising rapidly step by step.
Frowning, he walked toward the elevator.
"Who would come so late? And I remember there should be men on duty at the entrance. Why wasn't I asked for instructions if a guest came?"
This was abnormal. Valmont trusted his men's competence. There was no way they would be derelict in their duties.
However, he trusted Shendu even more.
With this great demon present, no matter what monsters or ghosts came here, they would only be courting death.
So he stood quietly before the elevator doors, watching the red electronic numbers jump from 97 to 98, then to 99, and finally to 100.
Ding.
The prompt sounded.
The elevator doors opened to both sides, and Valmont looked at the graceful figure inside.
A trace of surprise flashed through his eyes. Clearly, he had not expected to see this person here.
"This is truly unexpected. However…"
Making a gentleman's bow, Valmont removed his green top hat and placed it before his chest with a smile.
"Welcome to the Black Hand…"
"Miss Makima."
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