But Ning Tao had no intention to dote on and spare the lady.

A flash went by.

Whoos.h.!.+

Before that woman could aim at Ning Tao, a scalpel was stabbed right into her wrist. With the nerves damaged, an intense pain took over; her right hand was no longer in control of that small revolver. It fell as she lost grip of it.

Ning Tao reached out and seized the small weapon. In the next second, the pistol was pressed against that woman's chest.

The woman was none other than the person named Audrey, who had volunteered to give him a tour. However, it was unknown whether it was a real name or not.

Audrey's face was completely pale. Her blue eyes were filled with fear. She had thought that Ning Tao would climb out of the window, and she could have subdued him then. Yet, little did she expect that, in that very next instant, she would end up being the one subdued. The scalpel was pierced through her wrist; blood oozed out. The intense pain forced her to scream, but she did not dare to. Judging by Ning Tao's emotionless gaze, she was sure that Ning Tao would pull the trigger and kill her with a single bullet through her chest, once she made any kind of noise!

“Why are you here, my tour guide lady?” Ning Tao's voice was very cold.

Audrey gripped tightly onto her right wrist, attempting to minimize the blood loss. “I guessed that you would come, so I've been waiting for you here.”

“Who exactly are you?”

Audrey's lips moved, but no words came out.

“Do you belong to the same company as those five?” Ning Tao asked once again.

Audrey's lips were shut tight.

Ning Tao's voice grew colder. He then pressed the silenced revolver against her chest. “I don't have much patience. Let me ask you one last time. If you still choose to stay silent, I'll kill you.”

Audrey's lips twitched, but she still did not speak.

Ning Tao said, “You all are people of the Black Fire Company, right? Apart from you and those five, how many more of you are here in Florence? Is Nicholas Conway aware of your operation? I'm only giving you three seconds to answer.”

One second had pa.s.sed.

Two.

Three…

Ning Tao's right index finger started pulling the trigger.

Audrey suddenly spoke, “If you kill me, none of your four friends will survive.”

Ning Tao's finger stopped.

He didn't have any friends in Florence, but he knew who she was referring to. Those four she was referring to were Shalim Talman, Harley Poche and those two commando bodyguards.

Shalim Talman's greeting had brought trouble to herself in that church. He made her go back to the hotel, but she had refused to listen to him. At the moment, it seemed that Shalim Talman, Harley Poche and those two bodyguards had fallen into the hands of the enemy.

“Give me the things, and you and your friends can leave Florence alive.” Audrey saw Ning Tao's moment of hesitation, and continued pressuring him.

Ning Tao suddenly s.h.i.+fted the aim downwards and pulled on the trigger. A bullet was shot into Audrey's abdomen.

Audrey whimpered and collapsed on the huge round roof. Her body was slipping downwards. She ignored the pain, and used her remaining strength in her left and right sides, to press against the windowsill, to prevent herself from slipping further.

Ning Tao emerged from the window, kneeling on the windowsill as he watched Audrey who was struggling to climb upwards. He said calmly, “Do you think you could threaten me with those people? What I have the most is people threatening me. I had already given you three seconds, and they are long gone. Let me ask you one last time, do you want to live or do you want to remain silent?”

The Magnum pistol was pointed at Audrey's head, slowly sliding downwards, brus.h.i.+ng across the back of her head and then her pale white neck; lastly, stopping on her nape.

Audrey was desperately grabbing onto the edges of the windowsill, preventing herself from slipping down, while having to endure the powerless feeling caused by the intense pain and blood loss from the knife and gun wounds. She also had to resist against the fear a.s.serted by Ning Tao. She could no longer bear with it, and pleaded, “Pull… me up, I… can't hold on much longer.”

Ning Tao said coldly, “Isn't it a good thing to fall off? You can end your misery that way. I've been wondering, would your head explode like a watermelon after falling from such a high place?”

“We're from the Black Fire Company…” Before she could complete the sentence, Audrey's left hand could no longer hold onto the windowsill; her body slid down along the tiles.

Ning Tao reached out to grab Audrey's hand, pulling her upwards, then placing her on the relatively more s.p.a.cious windowsill.

Audrey was panting heavily; her chest was rising and falling intensely.

Ning Tao inserted a shred of spiritual power into her body, helping her to stabilize her heart rate. “Keep talking.”

“The Black Fire Company has many divisions in many countries all over the globe. I… am only a member of the Italy division… I'm not sure too sure whether Nicholas Conway is here. I only received an order to carry out the operation…”

“What kind of order? I want to know the details.”

“To tail you, then get rid of you once you found that piece of skull fragment.”

“Did the Black Fire Company headquarters send anyone here?”

“They already arrived an hour ago,” Audrey said.

“Where are the hostages?”

“Hotel Iris. We know that those people are of special ident.i.ties, so we didn't detain them, but only have them under control there. If they resist… or try to run away… the snipers would shoot… they would die… you can't escape.”

Ning Tao said, “n.o.body in this world can stop me if I wanted to leave. Listen carefully to what I have to say next. I'll make you do something. If you can't do it, I'll kill you.”

Audrey tensed up instantly.

Ning Tao's voice was icy cold, “Make a call to order your people at the hotel to retreat, then contact the personnel sent by the Black Fire Company headquarters, and tell them you've acquired the things. I will then be able to guarantee that you will live.”

“I can't… I'm only a small fry,” Audrey said. She shut her eyes. “Just kill me. I won't blame you. It's my fate.”

Two teardrops rolled down from the corners of her eyes. Her pretty face resembled a damp petal. Who would bear to kill a poor bewitching beauty like her?

Ning Tao sighed, then looked in the direction of the hotel where Shalim Talman was staying.

A sudden cold sensation was thrusted into Ning Tao's abdomen.

Ning Tao's fingers moved, and then there was the sound of a gunshot. A bullet was shot into Audrey's chest.

Audrey's left hand dropped. She was holding tightly onto an army knife. Just when Ning Tao was looking towards the hotel, she had pulled out the army knife which was strapped to her thigh. She thought she had gotten the chance to get rid of Ning Tao, but little did she know that her every move was within Ning Tao's expectations. He was even more cruel than her, devoid of any hesitation.

Ning Tao sighed and said, “Trying to earn sympathy? Do you think I won't kill you just because you're pretty? Dream on.”

The man who could preserve his chast.i.ty, despite being constantly enticed by two snake demons, already had a stronger self-control compared to more than 90% of men in the world. Playing a trick like that on him was equivalent to performing an erotic dance in front of a blind man. It was completely ineffective.

Suddenly, faint sounds were heard from where the Giotto's Campanile was.

Ning Tao looked over.

A person was standing on the roof of Giotto's Campanile. It was a tall and slim figure with a skinny face, who was wearing a pair of myopia gla.s.ses. He was holding a pistol equipped with a silencer, pointing it at Ning Tao's chest.

After seeing his face clearly, Ning Tao's heart felt like it had been pierced right through. It was precisely because, the person pointing a gun at him, was Lin Qinghua.

He had saved his life, and treated him as a friend. They had also spent many happy moments together. Yet, at the moment, Lin Qinghua was pointing a gun at him.

“Put the gun down,” Lin Qinghua spoke.

Ning Tao smiled wryly, then released the gun. The revolver fell from his hand and onto Audrey's abdomen.

“I didn't expect for you to be so cruel.” Lin Qinghua's voice was cold and totally emotionless.

A shred of pity was in Ning Tao's voice, “You're wrong. The one who has become cruel is you. Qingyu is innocent, and she's your sister, yet you took her away. Where is she now?”

“She's still alive. No need for your concern.”

“You took her to the Black Fire Company? It wasn't enough for you to fall into h.e.l.l? You've even dragged your sister into it?” There was a sense of suppressed anger in Ning Tao's voice.

“I've already said it. She's my sister. You don't have to worry about her,” Lin Qinghua's voice was still cold as he spoke. “Give the skull fragment to me.”

“What if I don't?”

“Then you die.” Lin Qinghua suddenly pulled the trigger.

It was just at that moment when Ning Tao leaped from the windowsill, with his legs fully charged of energy. His entire body was propelled from the round roof, like an arrow released from a bow!

It took some time to pull the trigger, and that brief moment was already enough for a cultivating doctor who was skilled in the art of escape to complete his escape performance.

Poof!

Audrey's body on the windowsill shook. Ning Tao had managed to escape, but she couldn't. The bullet from Lin Qinghua's gun pierced right into her body, but she could no longer feel it.

In an instant, Ning Tao had crossed the big round roof, then descended from it. Before his body lost control, his right feet kicked on the edge of the roof, and his body suddenly accelerated. He then flew towards the rooftop of the building on the opposite street.

Thump!

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With a dull sound of collision, Ning Tao's body collided forcefully into the rooftop. The intense tremor and impact had left him in pain. However, the pain was only minimal, as he had the protection of the spiritual power air sac of Powerful Tolerance to Beating, so his internal organs and bones did not suffer any damages.

In fact, after the two upgrades to the cultivation method for cultivating spiritual power, and with the spiritual power purified by the Taiji core, his Powerful Tolerance to Beating was no longer what it used to be. He used to be insusceptible only to punches and car collisions; at the moment, he could even survive jumping off buildings. It was a more advanced form of Powerful Tolerance to Beating.

Lin Qinghua had moved to the edge of the rooftop, but Ning Tao had already landed on the rooftop of the opposite building. After a brief moment, he had suddenly disappeared. He looked at the ground, and without hesitation, he jumped down.

He jumped off tens of meters in height without hesitation.

Thump! With a dull sound, Lin Qinghua fell to the ground abruptly. His legs were mangled beyond shape. He clearly did not possess the kind of protective air sac of spiritual power like Ning Tao's, but he had his own kind. A second after collapsing, his legs suddenly made cracking noises, and his broken legs returned to normal!

The current Lin Qinghua was no longer the same.

He leaped from the ground, and didn't run after Ning Tao. Rather, he started charging towards the hotel, where Shalim Talman was staying in, at lightning speed.