North American detective: From scoundrel to god among men

Chapter 79 The Temple Captures the Elder

Titus and his companion were taken to the temple.

They walked through the antique-style front hall and lifted the curtain to enter the interior.

What's called a temple is actually just a pavilion supported by a few pillars, with a nearly 100-square-meter exotic-style sunshade cloth on top of the red pillars engraved with strange runes.

Under the shade cloth is a cement platform, on which is covered with an insulating carpet. On the carpet are a floor bed, a cabinet, a teapot, a fruit plate, and other household items.

A middle-aged Arab man sat upright on a clothed wooden chair at the innermost part of the temple, wearing a white traditional nomadic robe and with multiple layers of silk scarves wrapped around his head.

The man spoke with a distinctly fatherly air:

"My son, how have you come to be so lost?"

(Why are you so confused, child?)

Titus guessed that the person before him was the elder, and he replied:

"Because I have not yet received your approval, I hope you will remove our guilty conscience."

"Elder?"

The elder nodded, acknowledging the title.

He paused for a moment before speaking:

"I can give you a chance to live; it's up to you whether you can seize it."

"You shall use the remaining years to serve at the high table, without any further entanglements."

The elder looked at the wedding ring on John's ring finger. He beckoned, and his men brought over a thick wooden table more than a meter tall, on which sat a hidden sword.

"John, cut it off and get back into the organization's arms."

"Show me your determination."

In medieval Europe, there was a group of dark assassins who used hidden blades as their weapons.

When the little finger pulls the hidden blade, the ring finger will instinctively bend and block the blade. Therefore, they cut off their ring fingers as an initiation ritual, which also represents their determination to embrace the darkness.

Beneath the hidden blade, all beings are equal; born in darkness, they dedicate themselves to the light—this is the millennia-old tradition of assassins.

Now it was John's turn to express his determination.

John looked at Titus, hesitant.

Titus stepped forward and, without saying a word, kicked over the thick wooden table.

To hell with the legacy!

John doesn't need to use his hidden blade to cut off a man's ring finger!

What an old-fashioned person who sticks to the old ways!

Titus's action immediately alerted the surrounding guards, who quickly stepped forward with their scimitars in hand to shield the elder behind them.

John also looked at Titus, and subconsciously reached for his gun at his belt, but found nothing.

He then remembered that he had been disarmed when he entered the temple.

His gaze locked onto a guard with a knife beside him, and he began to calculate:

If a conflict breaks out, how can we kill everyone in the fastest way possible...?

How to disarm, how many seconds to clear the area after disarming, who to kill first, whether to use a backhand slash to cut the carotid artery or a Jiu-Jitsu takedown to incapacitate him...

And that steaming kettle is only half a meter away from him; he can make use of it.

John is such a killing machine, constantly calculating the best way to kill.

At this moment, all eyes were on Tetus.

He looked at the elder and said calmly:

"I regret to inform you that I refuse your unreasonable request."

The elder looked straight back and replied:

"Then I cannot erase your sins, and—"

"You will all die here today!"

The elder twisted his neck, signaling everyone to make their move.

The head guard swung his sword at Titus, who dodged to the side and kicked the soldier squarely in the chest. The soldier was sent flying into a heavy pillar, and chaos erupted at the scene.

Another guard rushed forward, brandishing his curved sword continuously. The silver blade flashed, fast, thin, and incredibly sharp!

As the main weapon of nomadic peoples, the scimitar, with its crescent-shaped blade, stabs a person, flicks them, and then pulls them out, pulling out the large intestine steaming hot.

If it is a cavalryman, he will lower his scimitar by three-tenths of an inch, turn sideways and plunge the scimitar into the enemy horse's belly, pull it open, and all the internal organs will fall into the dust.

However, the moment the invincible scimitar in the hands of the nomads pierced Titus's abdomen, the tip of the blade snapped off with a dull thud!

In the guard's terrified eyes, Titus gripped the thin, sharp blade. With a slight squeeze, the scimitar shattered into a thousand pieces, emitting a ferocious scream. With a slight exertion, Titus acted like a small hydraulic press. When Titus slowly released his grip, silver-gray sand slipped from his fingertips and scattered.

May your soul return to the golden throne.

"What?"

Before the guard could react, Titus pressed one hand against his face and, with a slight force, knocked the guard to the ground, scattering red, white, and yellow fragments everywhere.

Titus glanced back at John, who seemed completely at ease.

John snatched from you and then from him, used Jiu-Jitsu to throw one person down and then forcefully tackled another, poured hot water on him and threw a fruit platter, seemingly having a great time.

Titus strode toward the elder who was trying to escape. At a distance of about 9 meters, a guard helped the elder to his feet as he attempted to flee.

He leaped with lightning speed, landing on the guard.

With a dull crack of bone breaking, the guard was driven into the yellow sand by Titus's knee and fell silent.

Titus felt as if he had smashed a packaged, watermelon-flavored, Assam milk tea-flavored chocolate.

He slowly rose from the Assam chocolate and stood shoulder to shoulder with the elder.

Knowing that he was powerless to resist, the elder simply stopped where he was.

Thai Tu Plays with Flavors:

"Want to live? I'll give you a chance; it's up to you whether you can seize it."

The elder looked at him with a complex expression, and after a long while, he squeezed out the words through clenched teeth:

"monster……"

"You want me to sign that High Table duel, to give that duel High Table recognition?"

Titus smiled slightly as he faced the endless yellow sand:

"Elder, you're quite reasonable, aren't you? Why did you bring up that old rule about cutting off fingers with a hidden sword just now?"

Titus grasped the hidden blade he had picked up in the chaos, placed it against the elder's neck, and slowly said:

"Don't the elders think the high table needs to be changed?"

"Old and decaying things will eventually be replaced by new things. Does the elder want to be the wave of change? The small fish and shrimp swept up by the wave... or the old fish washed ashore and dried up by the wave?"

The elder slowly closed his eyes and replied:

"You ignorant fools! You're challenging the millennia-old rules of the High Table! You're courting death!"

"Under the Table, Serving the Table, Everything is under the Table."

(Subject to the High Table, serving the High Table, everything is under the High Table's rules.)

Titus scoffed:

"I think you're the one courting death. The old man has a knife to your throat, and you're still clinging to those old rules?"

The elder's closed eyes trembled as he spoke:

"It's just that I'm leaving first. If you kill me, you will face endless pursuit for the rest of your life until you fall into hell."

Titus exerted a little force, and the blade pierced a fraction of the way, causing a small trickle of blood to flow from the soft flesh of his neck.

"Would you rather die than submit?"

"I'd rather die than submit!"

"I admire people like you who hold fast to the old ways."

Titus sheathed his hidden blade and casually tossed it into the endless yellow sand.

Under the elder's questioning gaze, he slowly said:

"I'll hold your hand and have you sign the duel agreement yourself, then stamp it with your personal seal!"

"I will take you back to America and imprison you in a dark basement, so you can't change this order. I want you to witness the high table you've been clinging to crumble and collapse bit by bit!"

"You must spend the rest of your life repenting and atoning for your sins, until your death!"