"Let's play a game."
Li Pu still didn't crush the man's throat; instead he lifted his foot.
"The rules are simple: I ask, you answer."
The captive seized the chance, treating the life-or-death contest with deadly seriousness.
Li Pu learned their boss was called Bloody Pepper, and the Gang itself had taken the same name.
The Bloody Pepper Gang hadn't risen long ago, yet it was making waves—its leader courted powerful allies.
He was even muscling in on Kingpin's business, so the cunning boss had moved headquarters to Long Island for safety.
Normally Bloody Pepper stayed in a luxury Villa in Long Island's rich quarter, running operations by remote.
This time, hassling Li Pu's family had been a favor for a "big shot"—they hadn't expected to kick an iron plate.
He talked in exhaustive detail.
But beneath the groveling was a veiled threat: kill me and the Bloody Pepper Gang will never let you rest.
Apparently it worked; Li Pu was "scared" into letting him drive out of Hell's Kitchen.
The ride felt awful—one hand mangled, the Cadillac Escalade packed like a tin can. Li Pu had tested it: trunk plus back seat plus passenger seat could fit fourteen "people" at most.
Still, he was alive. He floored the accelerator and fled Hell's Kitchen as if demons chased him.
Calling the cops was out of the question.
Clenching his teeth against the pain of a broken hand, he drove the Cadillac stuffed with "good brothers" from Manhattan all the way to Long Island and straight into his boss's yard.
Many bodyguards filled the Villa; seeing the miserable man open the door with a dangling arm, they rushed out.
Even their leader, Bloody Pepper—Brad Pepper—who'd been "playing poker" with a beauty, pulled up his pants and ran outside.
Brad Pepper took one look at his trusted lieutenant's wretched state, then at the overloaded Cadillac where several guards gagged and retched, and demanded, "What the hell happened to you?"
"Boss, it's brutal—"
Before he could finish, his vision blurred—and his boss vanished.
The next second, a Qi blast fell from the sky, and a mansion with its sprawling gardens disappeared forever from Long Island.
That night, the NYPD switchboard lit up; luxury cars filed bumper-to-bumper from Long Island back toward New York City.
It was freaking terrifying!
Someone had flattened an entire Long Island estate with some kind of massive bomb.
Oddly, most of the wealthy refugees didn't head to other homes or hotels.
They phoned their brokers in the dead of night, desperate to unload their Long Island mansions.
Li Pu, the accidental architect of this sleepless night and the collapse of Long Island real-estate prices, knew nothing of it.
He was standing atop New York's landmark, the Empire State Building, surveying the steel jungle below.
"Since you're awake, quit pretending—open your eyes."
Li Pu glanced sideways and nudged the pajama-clad crime boss trembling beside him, nearly scaring the man into cardiac arrest.
"Oh, hell—are you some kind of demon?"
Brad Pepper hugged the eagle-head sculpture at the skyscraper's summit; the street lay fourteen hundred feet beneath.
Fall from here and you'd hit the ground black, blue, and every color in between.
When Li Pu snatched him from his Long Island mansion, the Bukūjutsu burst had topped ten G's; the boss blacked out before he could blink.
Luckily Li Pu flew fast; within seconds they reached the Empire State, so Brad Pepper hadn't died—yet.
Right now, though, death felt imminent.
"I've got goddamn vertigo—get me down from here… no, somewhere safe!"
Li Pu just laughed.
What the hell does your fear of heights have to do with me?
As he spoke, he kicked the fat ass several times for fun, scaring Brad Pepper so badly that something suspicious leaked from his lower half.
Seeing the intimidation had worked, Li Pu skipped the torture altogether.
Truth be told, he didn't know how to torture anyone anyway.
Otherwise he wouldn't have dragged the man here; he'd just stumbled onto a guy scared of heights.
"What kind of lousy name is that—Bloody Pepper? A pepper that's not spicy? Only good for a salad."
Ignoring whether Brad Pepper was stunned, Li Pu went on: "You want out? Fine. Answer two questions.
First, why did you send people to my house, and who ordered it?
Friendly reminder: I'm here because your 'black-bear' lackey didn't know. Don't pretend it didn't happen.
Second, why does your home have so many blood-sucking vermin? Besides your goons, even your cook and maids are Vampires."
Hearing the first question, Brad Pepper wanted to strangle that lackey and toss him to the pigs.
But after the second, he realized this might really be the end.
Anyone who knows Vampires exist is no ordinary person.
If he said nothing, he'd be taking an un-bungee jump off the Empire State Building.
If he talked, he might walk away—only to face the terrifying revenge of his 'money-daddy' backers.
Brad Pepper had started as a Brooklyn Gang boss specializing in human smuggling; in New York City there are fifty to a hundred like him.
Thanks to that business, he'd recently met some Vampires.
Though terrified at first, the Vampires liked his name and decided to back him as their agent.
His Bloody Pepper Gang rose fast, even beginning to rival Kingpin, all because of Vampire support.
As proof of loyalty, Vampires were placed around him—ostensibly for protection, actually to watch him.
He'd been furious about it.
But after a fling with a beautiful Vampire maid, introductions via their 'heaven-and-earth line' to big shots, and a promise of being Embraced, Brad decided being a Vampire Puppet wasn't so bad.
Today, however, that 'luck' ran out.
Under Li Pu's threat, he hesitated a few seconds, then chose possible death later over certain death now.
"There are two groups after you."
Brad figured if he was going to talk, he'd spill everything.
"One is Rand Corporation CEO Ward Meachum; he partners with me in shipping.
Tonight he told me to throw you and your family out of New York.
Seems you've been in touch with someone he doesn't like, and he wanted to send a warning.
The other group is the Vampire Council.
They also told me to send men to talk to you—armed—and ask what you know about what happened around your home weeks ago.
I swear to G*od, I don't know what the Vampires meant; I just followed orders.
I figured your family was unlucky enough to offend both Ward and the Vampires, so I—"
"I believe you."
Li Pu cut him off.
He pressed a finger to his lips for silence.
"But you're praying to the wrong god. I'm not Him. All I can do is send you to meet Him…"