This scene left Shen San and the others completely stunned.
They never expected Li Dao to deal with the little lunatic using such a method.
Finally, when Li Dao felt it was about enough, he stopped.
After stopping, he also let go of the little lunatic.
Bang!
The little lunatic dropped to the ground on his butt, his eyes staring blankly ahead, completely dazed.
In that moment, it was as if he saw his great-grandmother waving to him from the other side.
After about five minutes, the light slowly returned to his eyes, and the madness in them gradually reappeared.
However, when he saw Li Dao nearby, that trace of madness instantly vanished, replaced by sheer panic.
“Ahhh!”
With a panicked scream, the little lunatic scrambled away to a corner, staring at Li Dao from afar with extreme caution, as if terrified he’d get grabbed and spun around again at any second.
Not far away, Shen San couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up. “Bro, you really know how to handle things.”
Then he looked at Wei Yun and said, “This little lunatic’s been tamed by our brother here. I’d say that counts, right?”
Wei Yun snapped out of it and nodded. He was also surprised by Li Dao’s methods and couldn’t help but feel a bit of admiration.
“Now the only one left is the big guy.”
Speaking of the big guy, Shen San glanced at the towering man nearby and started to chicken out.
He couldn’t even handle the little lunatic—how was he supposed to deal with someone who clearly looked even tougher?
Sure, he had some size on him too, but fat and muscle are not the same. He didn’t stand a chance in terms of quality.
He couldn’t help but look back at Li Dao again. “Bro, maybe… you should handle him too?”
Li Dao shot a look at the cowardly fatty.
But right now, there didn’t seem to be any other option. With Wei Yun unwilling to step in, it seemed like he’d have to be the one to ‘convince’ this little giant.
Suddenly, the dazed little giant moved.
He turned to look at Li Dao, pointed at himself, and said in a muffled voice, “Beat me in strength, and I’ll listen to you.”
Upon hearing this, before Li Dao could respond, Shen San jumped in anxiously.
“Hey big guy, have you taken a good look at your size? You want to compare strength with this brother? Why not compare agility with that little guy in the corner instead?”
He pointed toward the little lunatic hiding in the corner.
When the little lunatic saw that annoying fatty not far away, he bared his teeth and growled. But the moment he saw the person who had spun him around earlier, he instinctively shrank back, too scared to act out.
The little giant completely ignored Shen San and kept his eyes on Li Dao.
“Alright, I accept,” Li Dao finally nodded.
Even though the little giant was huge and clearly built for strength, Li Dao wasn’t weak either.
A physique nearly ten times stronger than a regular person wasn’t just for show.
Besides, he was curious to see just how strong this big guy really was.
“You’re out of your mind,” Shen San shouted.
To him, challenging that big guy to a strength contest was basically walking straight into a loss.
Wei Yun, on the other hand, watched with great interest.
“Alright then, how do we compete?” Li Dao asked the little giant.
“Like this,” the giant replied, placing one hand on the only stone table in the room.
Li Dao glanced at it and nodded. “Okay.”
The two of them approached the stone table and placed their hands on it.
Even though Li Dao’s hands weren’t small, they still looked petite next to the giant’s massive palm. Anyone could see the difference right away.
“Bro, you got this,” Shen San called out.
Although he knew the chances of winning weren’t high, Shen San still moved to the side to cheer on Li Dao—after all, better to support than to discourage.
“I’ll act as the referee then,” Wei Yun stepped forward and took hold of both men’s hands.
“Begin!”
At his command, Li Dao and the little giant exerted their strength at the same time.
The next second, Li Dao felt a terrifying force surge through his wrist.
In just an instant, his hand was pushed toward the opposite side.
He took a deep breath, his muscles suddenly swelling, veins bulging out, and the two hands froze mid-air in a deadlock.
The little giant couldn’t push him down, and Li Dao couldn’t counter just yet.
Even with a body ten times stronger than a regular person, he couldn’t overpower the little giant. One had to admit—this guy was born with freakish strength.
And so, the two remained locked in a stalemate, unable to overpower each other.
Maybe because of their prolonged power struggle, the pressure began to transfer to the stone table beneath them.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the stone table started to tremble, cracks forming from where their elbows rested.
Crack!
Suddenly, the table shattered with a loud sound. Both men instinctively let go, leaving the floor covered in fragments of stone.
“How do we call this? What does this count as?” Shen San quickly turned to Wei Yun.
“Well…” Wei Yun hesitated, also unsure.
At that moment, the little giant spoke up on his own.
Looking at Li Dao, he said in a deep voice, “You’re strong. I acknowledge you.”
After that, he turned and wandered off to stand quietly by the wall again, spacing out.
Hearing this, Shen San lit up and said to Wei Yun, “That means all five of us agree now, right?”
Li Dao just shook his head and walked off to the side without saying anything.
Wei Yun smiled slightly at Shen San and said, “Didn’t I say from the start? I came here today to invite you all to join our Weiwu Battalion. Why would I be against it?”
“Hold on!” Shen San frowned. “If you’re the one inviting us, shouldn’t you be the one convincing all five of us?”
“Exactly.”
“Then how did it end up with us convincing ourselves?”
“Who knows.”
Shen San suddenly turned to look at Li Dao’s calm, unsurprised face and asked, “Bro, you saw this coming, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
In fact, Li Dao had figured it out the moment Shen San came back.
This whole act was nothing more than a cunning commander playing games with a sneaky middle-aged fatty.
Shen San scratched his head and grumbled, “Then why didn’t you tell us?”
Li Dao pointed at the little lunatic nearby. “Did you give me a chance to explain?”
Shen San’s face turned awkward—thinking back, he really had been messing around the whole time.
Li Dao didn’t really care anymore.
Since they were going to work together, it made sense to test the strength of his ‘teammates.’
Now that everything was out in the open, Shen San—who wasn’t exactly stupid—figured it out after a moment of thought.
He looked at Wei Yun and said, “You’re really not human.”
A stick of incense later (a poetic way of saying a short while passed).
All five of them were now seated together.
Shen San, the old man, and the little giant were calm and sat quietly.
Only the little lunatic couldn’t sit still and insisted on causing trouble.
But it all ended with a single look from Li Dao.
Seeing this scene, Wei Yun smiled slightly and said, “As I mentioned at the beginning, I’m asking the five of you to help with three matters concerning the Weiwu Battalion. None of the tasks are suicidal, and once the three are completed, I will return your household registrations and grant you freedom. Sound fair?”
“No—”
Shen San was just about to say “no problem,” but suddenly recalled the earlier events. He quickly covered his mouth and looked cautiously at Li Dao. “Hey, bro, what do you think? This guy’s offer sound legit?”
Li Dao glanced at Shen San and said slowly, “No problem.”
“Sigh…”
Wei Yun looked at Li Dao and couldn’t help but sigh. “If only you weren’t so smart.”
If it weren’t for this 9527 in front of him, the conditions he offered might not have been so simple.
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but ask curiously, “9527, can you tell me how you knew my bottom line was three tasks?”
“I didn’t.”
“You didn’t? Then why did you say it?”
Li Dao shrugged. “Isn’t this just standard bargaining? Who would’ve thought that when I said three tasks, you’d agree so easily?”
“I—”
Facing Li Dao’s sincerely innocent expression, Wei Yun was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Hahaha! So even you can get played, huh?” Shen San burst into loud laughter.
Regaining his composure, Wei Yun took a deep breath and looked at Li Dao. “You tricked me?”
Li Dao smiled. “Commander Wei, don’t take it personally—it was just a joke.”
Wei Yun wasn’t angry. On the contrary, he looked pleased. “Seems like Liu Fuzhang didn’t pick the wrong guy. You’re smart, definitely fit to lead the other four.”
He took out a thin booklet from his robe and handed it to Li Dao.
“What’s this?” Li Dao asked.
“A registry. It contains the profiles of the other four—except yours.”
“Why not mine?”
“You’re different from them. Your identity has been completely erased. To the outside world, you’re already dead. As for the other four, because of their special statuses, they were registered early on, so their data remains.”
At this, Wei Yun frowned slightly and added, “Honestly, with your abilities, you should have been recorded as well. It’s strange that your entire household registration was wiped without a trace.”
Hearing this, Li Dao gained a bit more clarity.
Ordinary people from the Death Convict Camp rarely survived, so being unregistered didn’t matter much. The outcome was the same—once dead, the record was voided.
But someone like Shen San, with exceptional skills, was rare and valuable.
Even if they claimed entering the Death Convict Camp would erase records, part of their information was still secretly retained due to their uniqueness.
As for him—he was a complete anomaly.
Without the system, he would’ve likely died on his first mission and never joined this so-called “special five-man squad.”
Li Dao took the registry and casually flipped to the first page.
Name: Shen San
Gender: Male
Age: 36
Crimes: Theft, extortion, kidnapping
Cultivation: Postnatal Sixth Grade
Skills: Skilled in lightness technique, hidden weapons, lockpicking, and traps
Shen San leaned in out of habit, glanced at it, and immediately protested, “You guys must be mistaken—I’m a master thief! Since when did I ever commit kidnapping?”
Wei Yun replied calmly, “Didn’t you tie up a child during your last theft?”
Shen San’s eyes widened. “I didn’t think that kid would show up! I only tied him up to stop him from screaming—how’s that kidnapping?”
Wei Yun smiled and asked, “Do you know why someone like you, a mere thief, ended up in the Death Convict Camp?”
Shen San was stunned. “Don’t tell me… it was because of that kid?”
“Yep. That child was the emperor’s brother-in-law. Otherwise, someone like you would’ve never been worth the attention of the Jin Yi Wei.”
The emperor’s brother-in-law?!
Shen San’s mind instantly collapsed.
Meanwhile, Li Dao ignored their conversation.
He now understood why Wei Yun handed him the registry—just as he said, Li Dao was expected to lead the five-man team.
Glancing at the other four, he had a strange feeling… being the team leader wasn’t going to be easy.
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