Translator: AnubisTL
The uniformed man hesitated slightly as he looked at the anonymous Star Card before him. Gritting his teeth, he casually slid the card into his drawer, then picked up his official seal and stamped all the landing application forms. With a stern expression, he looked at the perpetually smiling man across the desk and said, each word measured:
"I've stamped them."
"But you need to understand the consequences."
"If this escalates too far, we'll all be finished. If we want to keep making money together, you need to know what you can and can't do."
"Naturally," Li Shangyin replied with a cheerful smile, retrieving the stamped landing application forms from the desk and tucking them into his coat. He lightly tapped his temple in a gesture of respect before saying softly:
"If there's meat, we all share it."
With that, he strode out of the office.
After casually handing the landing application forms to his subordinate waiting outside, Li Shangyin pulled out a necklace hidden beneath his clothes, kissed it lightly, and gazed up at the bright moon overhead. A flicker of ruthless ambition flashed in his eyes as he murmured:
"But when things get tough, we don't necessarily have to carry the burden together."
"Ironclad business, fleeting people."
"Move out. Get the brothers ashore and find out which direction the Albatross gang headed after landing."
"Tonight's already going to be chaos. A little more won't make a difference."
At Central Hospital, one particular ward blazed with light.
Inside and outside the room, countless spotlights illuminated it brilliantly. On the surface, heavily armed soldiers stood guard in the corridor and around the hospital perimeter. Beneath the surface, an untold number of gun barrels were aimed at the ward.
The ward housed an old woman—the mother of Hu Biao, a Class C wanted criminal.
In accordance with the Federation's humanitarian principles, the authorities hadn't harassed the wanted man's mother. Instead, they provided her with excellent medical care and the best attending physicians.
However, to prevent Hu Biao from attempting a rescue, the ward was under heavy guard by numerous soldiers.
Apart from a few patients who couldn't be moved, all other patients had been transferred to other hospitals.
At this point, the only patients remaining in the hospital were Hu Biao's mother and a small number of critically ill individuals who would die if moved.
In addition to these patients, there were nurses, doctors, and a large contingent of soldiers.
By now, the night had deepened.
Tonight, for some reason, the wind was fierce. The window hadn't been closed, and the curtains writhed in the night wind like a prostitute flaunting her body to attract customers.
The howling wind, like pure, noise-canceled sound, plunged the world into a noisy silence.
Lying on the bed, the old woman appeared to be asleep, her body perfectly still in a standard supine position.
She lay flat on the mattress, her head slightly elevated by a pillow. Her arms rested outside the blanket, draped along her sides. Her eyes were tightly shut, giving the impression of deep slumber.
The next moment—
The old woman's eyes snapped open, her cloudy gaze fixed on the clock hanging on the wall opposite her bed.
[01:49]
Almost two in the morning.
Her face was a landscape of wrinkles, the word "aged" etched deeply into her cheeks by time like a sculptor's chisel. The bags under her eyes sagged like an old man's scrotum, yet her expression remained utterly blank.
An unnatural stillness.
Not the serene composure of someone powerful who disdains worldly concerns.
But the stagnant calm of dead water.
Feng Xiao, Hu Yue's political science teacher and the object of her son's affections, had visited her recently and shared some words.
Just casual conversation.
The two women tacitly avoided discussing Hu Yue or the reasons behind the Federal Pension's suspension. Instead, they chatted like ordinary people, exchanging mundane pleasantries.
Yet, through the subtle traces left in the young woman's words, she glimpsed something deeper: a flicker of pity and anger.
Pity for her plight, and anger at the parasites within the federation who would even steal citizens' pensions.
And, most importantly, the federation's next move.
To capture her son, she would be a valuable pawn. But the federation's image prevented them from using her directly. Yet, that only meant the federation couldn't act openly.
Earlier that day, as a nurse helped her to the restroom, she noticed the corridor guards had been completely replaced by a younger, more spirited group.
Unlike the jaded veterans from previous days, these young men radiated vigor. Their faces were etched with visible solemnity and unwavering loyalty to the federation. They stood ramrod straight, neither smoking nor chatting in the corridor.
Seeing this, she understood immediately: the federation was preparing to act today.
These young soldiers, fiercely loyal to the federation, would undoubtedly display greater combat effectiveness on the battlefield than the seasoned veterans. Yet, they were being sacrificed.
She didn't even want to dwell on the reason, it was so obvious.
The federation was made up of people, and people were inherently selfish.
Those veterans might officially belong to the federation, but secretly they had their own powerful patrons—their personal guards.
The young soldiers, on the other hand, were conscripts. While loyal to the federation, their very integrity likely led them to reject the veiled suggestions of these powerful figures.
The rest was simple.
If someone had to die, they'd pull out their own people and send the expendables to their deaths.
The old woman lay in her hospital bed, listening to the howling night wind. Her expression remained calm as she stared at the clock on the wall, saying nothing. The federation thought they could use her to threaten her son.
What a delusion.
Staying alive might be difficult, but dying was far easier.
I wonder where Biao'er is now... Is he safe?
The next moment—
Whoosh!
A piercing sonic boom suddenly shattered the night's silence.
Immediately afterward, explosions erupted in the sky, bathing the entire hospital in blinding light.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The thunderous roar of artillery, a sound utterly out of place in the city, suddenly echoed around the hospital. The staccato chatter of machine guns mingled with flashes of fire as bullets rained down on the building like a torrential downpour.
Ear-splitting alarms blared through the hospital almost instantly.
In the patient room, the energy shield embedded in the ceiling activated, enveloping the entire space. A squad of tense soldiers stormed into the room, weapons raised in combat stances, forming a tight perimeter around the old woman's bed.
In the corridors outside, hurried footsteps pounded like raindrops drumming on lotus leaves, creating a frantic, rhythmic clatter.
Tut-tut-tut!
Rapid gunfire erupted outside the room as the soldiers returned fire, signaling the start of a full-blown battle.
The old woman lay motionless in her bed, seemingly oblivious to the chaos around her. Her expression remained calm as she gazed at the clock on the wall opposite her bed.
The minute hand had just reached 12.
[02:00]
Exactly two o'clock.
Meanwhile, in a bedroom of a residential building several hundred meters from the hospital, Chen Jiang and his companions stood calmly by the living room window, gazing down at the scene unfolding below.
Five to six hundred black-clad figures armed with firearms emerged simultaneously from the dark alleys surrounding the hospital. As if receiving a command, they unleashed a torrential downpour of bullets that blanketed the entire hospital complex.
In the initial moments of contact, the Federal Soldiers stationed at the hospital entrance, caught completely off guard, fell like wheat stalks before a scythe.
Immediately afterward, a piercing alarm shattered the night's silence. Artillery fire, originating from an unknown source, began bombarding the hospital's defensive fortifications.
Meanwhile, dozens of sniper rifles periodically poked out from the windows of nearby high-rise buildings, precisely targeting the panicked rookie soldiers amidst the chaotic battlefield.
Including these hidden snipers and the artillery operators, the Albatross faction had deployed at least a thousand operatives for this operation.
As the Federal Soldiers returned fire, black-clad figures fell steadily, but the battlefield situation was clearly a one-sided rout.
The Federal Hospital was defended by just over a hundred soldiers—a respectable number, but dwarfed by the Albatross's nearly thousand-strong force. With comparable firepower and the Albatross's preemptive strike, the Federal Hospital soldiers had virtually no chance of mounting an effective defense and were forced into a relentless retreat.
"What a lively scene," Scar Dog remarked, standing by the window with a crimson-glowing cigarette between his fingers. He gazed down at the spectacle unfolding below, a grin spreading across his face. "Ever since the ban on fireworks was enforced on Blue Star, I haven't seen such a vibrant display in the city."
"Watching this almost makes me homesick."
"Not bad."
"I wonder how much the federation paid these guys to stage such a massive operation. Sending nearly a thousand people to storm a hospital? Seems human life is cheap these days."
"Maybe it is," Li Hao replied, his eyes fixed on the scene below. "If weapons and transportation weren't so expensive, these Chaotic Factions could probably field a field army of ten thousand men without breaking a sweat."
"After all, the federation has countless inhabited stars. Finding desperate mercenaries willing to do anything for money isn't exactly difficult."
Indeed.
They had once again smuggled themselves onto Orange Red Star using Global Event Design Tokens.
During the previous event's shop, they had purchased ten Global Event Design Tokens, enough for ten smuggling trips.
As for the event itself, nothing had changed—it remained the Hide-and-Seek activity.
And they still didn't bring Zhao Ritian and Wang Defa.
Wang Defa's innate ability destined him to remain apart from the crowd if he wanted to keep it. Perhaps one day, when he no longer needed his ability, he would abandon it and finally integrate into society.
As for Zhao Ritian, to prevent Wang Defa from being lonely in the Ten Thousand Races Arena, they left him by Wang Defa's side out of humanitarian considerations.
(End of the Chapter)
Translator's Corner
1. Firearms in a Fantasy World [1005/1005] FREE
2. Record of a Demon's Cultivation [1196/1380] FREE
3. Martial Fist [645/645] FREE (Has big chapters upto 3.1k words)
4. Martial Invincible [504/504] FREE (Has big chapters upto 2.5k words)
5. Nightmare Strikes [1742/1742] FREE
6. Demonic Cultivation: Starting as a Horse Bandit [490/490] FREE
7. Immortal Refiner [660/740] FREE (Has big chapters upto 3k words)
8. My Apocalypse Train [390/390] FREE (Has big chapters upto 6.5k words)
9. My Cannon's Caliber is 3000 Meters [292/376] FREE (Has big chapters upto 5.7k words)
10. Hijacking the Timeline [130/190] (Has big chapters upto 3k words)
11. I Made a Slight Move and Reached the System's Limit [110/220] FREE (Has big chapters upto 4.5k words)
12. Knight: Infinite Jobs Starting as a Blacksmith [94/196] FREE
13. Cultivator in a Wizard World!? [68/124] FREE
🔓 𝐰𝐰𝐰.𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐥.𝐜𝐨𝐦 — 13 Series (7 Ongoing) | 14+ New Chapters Daily | 7,200+ FREE