“Liu Qingqing, what’s going on here? I haven’t even said a word yet—why are you retreating like a mouse spotting a cat? I…”

The unnamed male operative smiled, as if utterly baffled by the woman’s reaction, and deliberately said, “Am I really that scary? I think I’m quite a nice guy. If you’re so disrespectful, aren’t you afraid I’ll get mad?”

He spoke in a nonchalant tone, as though nothing mattered to him at all, but the murderous intent hidden within his words was impossible to suppress.

Liu Qingqing shuddered, taking two more steps backward. Her lips moved slightly, but she couldn’t utter a single word.

For the moment, the man put down the hammer in his hand and stopped playing the tune that had terrified Liu Qingqing. Instead, he gently shifted his hips, sliding the chair beneath him a few steps closer to her, then leaned in beside her. “Liu Qingqing, I won’t kill you. But today, you have to give me an answer.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than a glimmer of hope flashed in Liu Qingqing’s eyes—like someone on the brink of death suddenly spotting a lifeline in their utter despair, desperate to grasp it. Yet she seemed plagued by countless reservations, especially when facing this man before her; those concerns were even greater and more obvious.

At that moment, the man sitting beside Liu Qingqing casually added another line: “Of course, besides that answer, you’ll also have to stay with me and watch a play—right here, right today. If you refuse…”

As he spoke these words, he picked up the hammer again, tapping it lightly, heavily, high, and low, weighing it in his hand.

What on earth did these seemingly unrelated gestures mean? The men present knew full well; and Liu Qingqing, sprawled on the floor, understood even better.

It was a warning—and a threat.

Only then did the man slowly finish the sentence he’d begun earlier, smiling faintly at Liu Qingqing as he said, “If you don’t agree, I’ll just smash you to death with one blow. After all, in my book, that’s the easiest, most effortless, and least taxing way to settle things.”

Having said this, he held the hammer out toward Liu Qingqing. Just as she was terrified beyond measure and tried frantically to back away, his massive foot suddenly slammed down on hers, producing a sharp, crisp sound—the kind that sounded like bones cracking.

Liu Qingqing instinctively opened her mouth to scream, but before she could let out a cry of pain, the cold iron hammer in the man’s hand jabbed straight into her mouth. He said coolly, “Hey, little sister, don’t be so ungrateful! If you dare to make a sound—raise your shrill voice and alert the esteemed guests upstairs or downstairs—I won’t hold back at all. This hammer of mine will crush your skull without hesitation!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Qingqing obediently clamped her mouth shut, beads of fine sweat breaking out all over her body, along with a chilling cold sweat.

Seeing her like this, the man nodded slightly, satisfied, then raised the cold iron hammer and gently lifted her chin, smiling warmly as he said, “Now you’re being good! That’s the way it should be! Very good—very, very good!”

Liu Qingqing felt utterly despondent, her eyes filled with a deep sense of sorrow. Those slightly reddened eyes no longer sparkled; instead, they took on a faint, deadened look. She neither spoke nor nodded, nor even dared to look at the man sitting beside her. All she could do was weep uncontrollably, her very being drained of spirit and vitality, reduced to a living corpse, sitting motionless on the ground, her voice drawn out and weak as she asked the man holding the hammer to lift her chin, “Ming Kai, what exactly do you want? What answer are you after? And what play do you want me to watch with you? I know—you hate me, you hate our Liu family, you hate all of us. If that’s the case, why not just come out and say it plainly? Why drag this out? Why bother with all these tricks? You weren’t like this before!”

End of Chapter 261: Counterattack 188