Ur on the third floor had initially felt a slight sense of relief upon hearing Scarface's voice over the walkie-talkie.
However, after a moment of silence, the sudden renewed explosions and gunshots made Ur's heart pound again.
It wasn't that he hadn't weathered major storms before, but the feeling of being out of his control from the very beginning, like tonight, made him very uneasy.
Ur could only light a cigar, using the smoke to alleviate his tension.
The smell of tobacco quickly filled the entire third floor, which was not particularly large and had no windows, serving as a safe room.
The main door and the surrounding walls were reinforced alloy, impenetrable even by rocket launchers.
There was also a secret elevator in the corner of the room; if all else failed, he could take the elevator to the rooftop and then escape by helicopter.
Exhaling a thick puff of smoke, Ur narrowed his eyes, involuntarily recalling Bill's gruesome death.
Despite only seeing a photograph, Ur could still feel the bloody stench emanating from it.
Ur knew of that kind of torture; he had dealt with a Chinese businessman before, and in a casual chat, the businessman had told him about historical Chinese tortures.
Two particularly impressed Ur: one involved pouring hot water over the prisoner and then using an iron wire brush to scrape off layers of his flesh.
The other involved netting the prisoner with a fishing net and using blades to slice off his flesh piece by piece until he was almost a skeleton, all while ensuring the prisoner remained alive.
He had forgotten the name of the first, but he remembered the second was called Lingchi, or death by a thousand cuts.
Bill's death reminded him of the second, Lingchi. The image of being flayed to a skeleton lingered in Ur's mind.
As Ur's thoughts swirled, the gunfire downstairs suddenly ceased.
This made his heart tighten; he didn't know the outcome.
Ur grabbed the walkie-talkie in front of him and urgently called out, "Hello, hello! Scarface, what's the situation?!"
The call ended, but no sound came through; the raven didn't answer him. This made Ur's heart sink.
Just as Ur was pondering a countermeasure, the walkie-talkie emitted a static hiss, then a voice came through.
"Hiss, hiss ~ Hello, Boss. The enemy has been dealt with. Hiss, hiss ~"
"Repeat, the enemy has been dealt with. Hiss, hiss ~."
Ur's tense heart suddenly relaxed. "Finally, this trouble is resolved."
Ur suppressed his joy and shouted into the walkie-talkie, "Excellent work, Scarface! Bring that damned corpse up here; I want a good look at what kind of scum he is!"
Soon, a knocking sound was heard, and the guard, after confirming through the security door's special peephole, opened the door.
After the door opened, Scarface walked in, carrying a corpse dressed in a black combat suit and a black hood.
Scarface threw the corpse on the ground and said in a deep voice, "Boss, the demon's corpse is here. The opponent was extremely difficult, and we paid a very high price to deal with him."
Ur's gloomy and ugly face showed a relieved smile as he walked towards the corpse, telling Scarface, "You did very well! Don't worry, I won't mistreat those fallen brothers."
"And you, I will give you living heroes generous rewards."
Ur patted Scarface's shoulder as a sign of encouragement.
He knelt beside the corpse, reaching out to try and reveal the demon's true face, while saying to Scarface, "Scarface, your contribution is the greatest. What kind of reward do you want?"
"A house? A nice car? Or a beautiful woman? Or a large sum of money?"
"Tell me, and I will satisfy you."
Ur, who had just placed his hand on the hood, suddenly heard several whooshing sounds from above.
At the same time, a pair of ghastly white eyes suddenly lit up within the dark hood, and a hoarse voice came from the corpse's mouth.
"I think your head would make a good reward, don't you agree, Mr. Ur?"
Ur was startled, falling backward onto the ground. It was then that he noticed Scarface's abnormality in front of him.
Scarface, who had just been speaking, had already hung his head, and at the same time, dozens of tentacles extended from his body, impaling everyone else in the room to the walls, all through their heads, a single fatal blow.
The demon's corpse—no, the demon stood up, and Scarface's tentacles retracted.
Then a viscous black liquid emerged from Scarface's body. The demon reached out, and the liquid seeped into his hand.
Ur saw that the demon's body seemed to have grown a little larger, and a wide mouth full of sharp teeth had split open below its evil eyes. A scarlet tongue extended, and viscous saliva dripped continuously onto the ground from the flexible, slender tongue.
Ur looked at Meng Ran as if he were a demon just crawled out of hell.
Meng Ran looked at Ur, who was trembling, constantly trying to move his shaking legs to increase the distance between himself and Meng Ran. A huge sense of satisfaction rose in his heart.
"That's right, just like this." Seeing Ur's terrified expression, Meng Ran knew that sacrificing some of his coolness was the right thing to do.
Meng Ran wanted to instill the deepest fear in his enemies, making these damned criminals tremble.
Meng Ran smiled, "Mr. Ur, what do you think of my suggestion just now?"
"Using your head as a reward, I will definitely make a beautiful wine glass from your skull."
With that, Meng Ran quickly walked up to Ur, grabbed his head, and lifted him up.
Listening to Meng Ran's terrifying words, coupled with his hoarse and eerie voice, Ur felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
Meng Ran's strong hand gently squeezed, and Ur immediately felt his head about to be crushed. The intense pain made his tears flow uncontrollably.
Ur pleaded in a mournful voice, "Mr. Demon! Mr. Demon!!! I'm sorry! Spare me! Ahhh!!!"
Hearing the piercing wails, Meng Ran only felt a burst of irritation, and he couldn't help but increase his grip, making Ur's screams even louder.
Meng Ran disgustedly threw him aside and said sternly, "Is it a bit too late to beg for mercy now, Ur?"
Ur slumped against the wall, wailing loudly, "I have money! I have a lot of money! Mr. Demon, if you spare me, I'll give it all to you, all of it!"
Hearing this, Meng Ran sat on a chair with interest, lit one of Ur's cigars, and exhaled smoke, saying, "Oh? How much money can you offer for your life?"
Seeing a glimmer of hope, Ur immediately said excitedly, "I have twenty million, and other assets! Cars! Houses! I'll give it all to you if you spare me!"
Meng Ran exhaled a puff of smoke and said coldly, "Transfer the money now. Money in one hand, your life in the other."
Ur immediately sat up and began to operate on the computer.
"Mr. Demon, what is your account number?" Ur squeezed out a smile on his ugly face, fawningly saying.
Meng Ran said, "Xiao Bai, accept the transfer. Remember, I want this money to reach my account cleanly."
"Received." Xiao Bai's electronic voice suddenly came from the computer.
Ur was stunned by Meng Ran's move.
Ur looked at the darkness under Meng Ran's hood; he could only see those terrifying eyes and the flickering red cigarette tip.
"Can I leave now, Mr. Demon?" Ur asked cautiously.
Meng Ran put down his cigar and said, "Xiao Bai, how much time is left on the countdown?"
"One minute and thirty seconds left," Xiao Bai said.
The electronic screen in the room displayed the same death countdown as in Times Square, with one minute and thirty seconds remaining.
Looking at the countdown, Meng Ran said to Ur, "You have one minute and twenty-five seconds to go."
Ur looked at the countdown and finally understood. Dominated by fear, he desperately pleaded with Meng Ran, sparing no expense of his entire fortune, just to grasp the last bit of hope.
But now, Meng Ran extinguished this glimmer of hope, or rather, Meng Ran never intended to let him go from the start.
Ur watched the time continuously shorten, looking at Meng Ran sitting there like the Grim Reaper.
He slumped to the ground, as if all his strength had been drained.
Suddenly, Ur picked up a fallen pistol from the ground and was about to shoot himself in the head.
Meng Ran kicked him away, and the gun in his hand fell to the ground.
Meng Ran grabbed his neck, pressed him against the wall, and roared at him with his terrifying wide mouth.
The hot, damp breath and chilling voice hit Ur's face simultaneously.
Meng Ran roared, "I decide when you die! This is my judgment of you! This is the demon's judgment of you, criminal Ur!"
"Since you're so eager to die, I'll let you enjoy it thoroughly!"
Meng Ran's hand, gripping Ur, suddenly sprouted countless black threads, which burrowed into Ur's eyes, ears, and mouth all at once.
With thirty seconds remaining, Meng Ran used venom to control Ur's brain, inflicting extreme pain, making him repent in agony and fear.
Ur trembled against the wall, and the countdown steadily approached zero.
Finally, at the moment the time hit zero, Ur stopped trembling.
The electronic screens in Times Square and in the room simultaneously reset to zero, displaying blood-red characters.
"Judgment Concluded!"
"Criminal Ur!"
"The Demon Judges Your Sins!"
In the dim room, only the large characters on the electronic screen emitted a blood-red glow, illuminating Ur, who was pinned to the wall, bleeding from all seven orifices. The demon graffiti on the wall grinned, mocking who knows whom.
The demon had already departed, merging into the deep night.