Chapter 100: The Valois Family

"See that yacht?"

The Count pointed at a luxury yacht docked by the pier.

"The yacht's lower cabin is packed with C4 explosives."

"As soon as I press this button..."

"The entire pier will be blown to smithereens!"

"Including you, including those big shots behind you..."

"Everyone will die!"

Hearing this, Barlow trembled all over.

"You... you're crazy? You put explosives on my pier?"

The Count shot him a cold glance. "Shut up, idiot."

Then he looked back at Leo.

"Now, have your men back off."

"Get a speedboat ready and let us leave."

"Otherwise..."

He raised the remote control, his finger hovering over the button.

"We all go down together!"

However.

Faced with this threat.

Leo's expression didn't change at all.

He simply exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Go down together?"

Leo's lips curled into a contemptuous sneer.

"Are you sure... You can even press it?"

As soon as he finished speaking.

Bang!

A muffled sniper shot rang out from a high-rise outside the pier.

The remote control in the Count's hand was instantly shot away!

Fragments scattered everywhere!

"What?"

The Count's face changed drastically.

Before he could react.

Click.

A cold pistol was already pressed against the back of his head.

Olivia had somehow gotten behind him.

"Shadow squad's sniper can shoot a mosquito's head off from 1,000 feet away."

Leo slowly walked up to the Count, looking down at him from above.

"Did you think I'd give you a chance to press that button?"

The Count's whole body went rigid, cold sweat pouring down his face.

He finally understood.

He had been under their control from the very beginning.

"Kneel."

Leo said flatly.

The Count gritted his teeth, a flash of unwillingness in his eyes.

But the gun in Olivia's hand left him no room to resist.

Thud.

He slowly knelt down.

This top-tier assassin, who wielded power across Europe, was known as "the Count."

At this moment, he was like a dog, kneeling before Leo.

Leo turned his head to look at the scarred assassin hiding in the warehouse.

"And you."

"Come out."

The scarred assassin trembled all over.

He knew he couldn't escape.

"I..."

He gritted his teeth and suddenly pulled out a pistol from his waist!

"Go to hell!"

He frantically pulled the trigger, shooting at Leo!

Bang bang bang!

However.

Before the bullets even left the barrel.

Leo's figure had already disappeared from where he stood.

The next second.

Crack!

Leo grabbed the scarred assassin's wrist and twisted it.

"Ahhh!"

He screamed, and the pistol dropped to the ground.

Leo stepped on his face, stomping him to the ground.

"You just now..."

Leo's voice was ice-cold, like a grim reaper from hell.

"Used civilians as human shields?"

Crack!

He stomped on the scarred assassin's right leg.

Crack!

The sound of breaking bones was clearly audible.

"Ahhhhh!"

The scarred assassin let out a piercing scream.

"Used..."

Leo stomped down again.

Crack!

The left kneecap shattered with a sound.

"Civilians as human shields?"

With each word Leo spoke, he crushed another bone in the scarred assassin's body.

Finally.

The scarred assassin lay on the ground, all four limbs broken.

He was in so much pain he nearly passed out, but Leo stomped him awake.

"Don't pass out."

Leo looked down at him from above.

"This is just the beginning."

"Olivia."

"Yes."

"Take him back and treat him well."

Leo said flatly, "I want him to know what it means to long for death."

"Yes!"

Olivia immediately stepped forward and dragged the scarred assassin up.

Then Leo turned around and looked at Barlow kneeling on the ground.

"...Mr. Ashford..."

Barlow trembled all over. "I... I really didn't know..."

"Didn't know?"

Leo walked up to him.

"You've been in Brooklyn for so many years."

"Don't you know what kind of people to take in and what kind not to?"

"I..."

Barlow opened his mouth.

"Five million dollars."

Leo said flatly, "Your life is only worth five million?"

"No... no..."

Barlow frantically kowtowed.

"Mr. Ashford! I was wrong! I was really wrong!"

"Please... spare my life..."

"I'm willing to give you all my businesses!"

"I'm willing to..."

"No need."

Leo cut him off.

"I don't want your businesses."

"But you harbored Nightfall organization assassins. That debt needs to be settled."

"From today on, all territory in Brooklyn's Red Hook district goes under the Chinese Merchants Association's management."

"You get out of New York."

"If I see you in New York again..."

"Death."

"Yes! Yes!"

Barlow felt like he'd been granted amnesty, kowtowing frantically.

"Thank you, Mr. Ashford! Thank you!"

Leo didn't look at him again and turned to walk toward the pier exit.

Behind him, Leandro and the others respectfully cleared the way.

"Mr. Ashford."

Leandro walked up beside Leo and asked in a low voice, "That Count... how should we handle him?"

"Take him back."

Leo said flatly, "I have questions for him."

"Yes."

Leandro immediately waved his hand.

Several burly men stepped forward and hauled the Count up.

Brooklyn, somewhere in the Red Hook district, an abandoned industrial plant.

Third basement level.

This was originally a nuclear shelter built during the Cold War, later converted by some underground organization into a secret interrogation room.

The concrete walls, two feet thick, could block out all sound.

Even if someone was screaming their lungs out inside, not a peep would be heard outside.

Creak--

The heavy metal door slowly opened.

Leo, hands in his coat pockets, a cigar in his mouth, strode in.

Under the dim yellow light.

The Count was strapped to a specially-made metal interrogation chair, his hands and feet locked tight with heavy alloy shackles.

But even so, this European assassin still maintained a certain arrogance deep down.

He raised his head, looked at Leo walking in, and even had a mocking smile on his lips.

"Leo."

The Count's voice still carried a heavy British accent, elegant and composed.

"I admit, you do have some skills."

"Building such a massive network of power in New York is indeed impressive."

"But..."

He paused, a trace of condescending contempt flashing in his eyes.

"Do you know who's backing me?"

"The Valois family!"

"A true noble family that's been passed down in Europe for hundreds of years!"

"Their wealth--you couldn't count it in your lifetime!"

"Their influence penetrates the entire political and business circles of Europe!"

"Even the British royal family has to show the Valois family some respect!"

The Count grew more excited as he spoke, the arrogance on his face growing thicker.

"You think just because you destroyed a few families in New York, you can compete with the Valois family?"

"Ridiculous!"

"I'm telling you, if anything happens to me, the Valois family will hunt you to the ends of the earth!"

"You'll die miserably! Miserably!"

"Including everyone around you!"

"All of them will die!"

The Count shouted hysterically, his eyes full of madness.

However.

Leo just quietly listened to him finish.

Then exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Done?"

Leo's voice was terrifyingly calm.

"Then it's my turn."

He turned and looked at Olivia standing to the side.

"Give him that."

"Yes."

A flash of coldness crossed Olivia's eyes as she took out a silver metal case from her tactical pack.

Click.

The case opened.

Inside were five specially-made syringes neatly arranged.

Each syringe contained a different colored solution.

"This is..."

The Count saw those syringes and his pupils contracted sharply.

As a high-ranking member of the Nightfall organization, he, of course, knew what this was.

"Sensory deprivation" is torture.

This was one of the most brutal interrogation methods developed by the CIA during the Cold War.

By injecting special neurotoxins, it could precisely strip away a person's sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.

Plunging them into complete sensory darkness.

That kind of terror was a hundred times worse than any physical torture.

Countless strong-willed agents would completely break down in less than a minute under this punishment.

"No... don't..."

The Count's voice began to tremble.

The arrogance from moments ago vanished instantly.

"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"

"Please... don't use that..."

"Too late."

Leo said flatly.

Olivia walked up to the Count and picked up the first blue syringe.

"This one strips away vision."

She said expressionlessly, then inserted the needle into the Count's carotid artery.

"No!"

The Count struggled desperately, but the alloy shackles held him tight.

The blue solution slowly entered his bloodstream.

Five seconds later.

"Ah... I... I can't see..."

The Count's eyes were wide open, but before him was complete darkness.

That terror made his whole body shake violently.

However.

This was just the beginning.

The second one, the red syringe.

Strips away hearing.

The third one, the green syringe.

Strips away touch.

The fourth one, the yellow syringe.

Strips away taste.

The fifth one, the purple syringe.

Strips away smell.

When the last solution entered his body.

The Count completely broke down.

He felt like he'd been stripped of the entire world.

Couldn't see.

Couldn't hear.

Couldn't feel.

Couldn't taste.

Couldn't smell.

Only consciousness remained, trapped in an endless void.

That terror was beyond words.

Thud thud thud!

In less than a minute.

This European noble assassin, who had been so arrogant moments ago.

Now, like a dog, he was frantically twisting his body in the chair, making incoherent pleading sounds from his mouth.

Olivia took out an antidote syringe from her waist and injected it into the Count.

Thirty seconds later.

The Count's five senses slowly returned.

When he could see light again and hear sounds.

He was like a drowning person grabbing a lifeline, frantically gasping for air.

"Talk."

Leo looked down at him from above. "Where is Nightfall organization's European headquarters?"