Translator: AnubisTL
The man raised his foot heavily and stomped on the young man's face several times before exhaling in relief. He casually tossed his rifle into the arms of one of his subordinates, then looked up at the old woman in the hospital bed.
He grinned, revealing a mouthful of gold teeth.
"Good evening, old woman."
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Jin Yishan, leader of the Chaotic Faction 'Albatross'."
"Did you sleep well tonight? If not, don't worry. You'll get plenty of rest in your new location."
Without waiting for the old woman's response, Jin Yishan stepped aside and waved his hand.
Several masked men in black suits immediately advanced, lifted the hospital bed, and began carrying it out of the patient room.
The doorway was too narrow for the bed to pass through.
A loud explosion widened the opening.
"Hey?"
Standing at the hospital entrance amidst corpses and flames, Jin Yishan activated his wrist communicator and dialed a contact. With a cigar clenched between his teeth, he barked into the device, "We've got the target. Ask them when they want me to proceed to the next phase."
"If you ask me, tonight's the night."
"I'll contact a few news stations later and tell them I've kidnapped this old woman. I'll demand that Hu Biao come, or I'll tear up the ransom."
"No more stalling. Let's get this done quickly."
The other party was a middleman.
Cooperation between the Federation and the Chaotic Faction couldn't happen through direct contact; it required intermediaries.
Some things could be known, but not seen.
This way, even if Jin Yishan wanted to betray the deal, he couldn't publicly claim the Federation had ordered the hit. From start to finish, he'd only communicated with the middleman, never any Federation personnel.
Even if he knew perfectly well who was on the other end of the line, he had no evidence to prove it.
But he didn't care. All he wanted was the money.
"Ten o'clock tomorrow morning," the middleman replied swiftly.
"You mean I have to wait until dawn in this godforsaken place?" Jin Yishan snapped, his mood souring. "I'm a busy man, you know? If it weren't for the size of this payday, you think I'd even bother coming?"
"With that kind of money comes obedience."
"Hah, if I'm getting this much, you think those bastards are getting less? They're all the same scum, pretending to be righteous heroes."
"You're free to leave."
Jin Yishan paused, his expression darkening slightly, before continuing, "I'll wait till ten, but it'll cost extra. Otherwise, fuck off. That's my bottom line."
"My thousand-plus brothers need to eat, you know?"
He hung up, spat a thick wad of phlegm onto the ground in annoyance, kicked a corpse aside, and bellowed at the black-clad figures carrying a hospital bed toward an armored vehicle in the distance.
"Move your asses, you fuckers!"
The other black-clad figures were swiftly clearing the battlefield, gathering the bodies of their fallen comrades for cremation and collecting all discarded weapons.
"Damn, they're really stingy. These bastards are tighter than a virgin's pussy."
Jin Yishan glanced at the loot manifest handed to him by one of his men, his anger turning into a grudging, exasperated laugh.
No wonder this went so smoothly.
The Federal Soldiers hadn't even been equipped with decent personal firearms, let alone Personal Energy Shields. Each soldier carried only a standard-issue rifle—nothing more.
To put it bluntly, the equipment of the bandits under his command was superior to that of these Federal Soldiers.
At the very least, shouldn't each soldier be issued a Personal Energy Shield?
Otherwise, when bullets came flying, were they supposed to just take them head-on?
Or rely on dodging skills to evade gunfire?
Clearly, some higher-ups knew that whatever weapons they issued would inevitably be confiscated, so they opted for trash equipment to minimize losses.
I'm impressed, though not surprised.
As expected, those who climbed to such positions had cold-bloodedness and rationality as standard issue.
"Filthy trash," Jin Yishan muttered, shoving the confiscated equipment list into the arms of a subordinate beside him. He glanced at the Federal corpses strewn across the ground and shook his head. "They'd have been better off joining my crew. Even if I'm a bastard, I always equip my men with the best Personal Energy Shields."
"Damn bastards! Not even giving them Personal Energy Shields? They're worse than animals."
Only then did he survey the cleared battlefield and the armored vehicles already loaded up nearby. With a cigar clenched between his teeth, he roared into the chest-mounted communicator: "Move out of the city!"
"Lead vehicle, take point!"
Soon—
A convoy of various vehicles moved majestically down the street, heading out of the city in broad daylight.
Shops and residential buildings on both sides had their doors and windows tightly shut, all lights extinguished. The silence was absolute; no one was foolish enough to peek out and watch the spectacle.
Bullets have no eyes.
No one could know whether sticking their head out would reveal a spectacle or a bullet tearing through the night sky straight for their face.
"There they are," Wang Jili said, standing before the floor-to-ceiling window of an office building in the suburbs. He watched the convoy approach the street entrance, a satisfied smile spreading across his face. "See? They're finally here. Now it's our turn to act."
"The leader of Albatross is Jin Yishan—a rough character. Think of him as someone with no education."
"I've dealt with him a few times, and he didn't leave a good impression. But his men are strong, and I've been envious of them for a long time. I just never had the right opportunity."
"You know, for a businessman like me, owning my own armed force is a lifelong dream."
"Training one from scratch would be too costly, and money alone can't build such a force. It requires combat experience, constant recruitment, and a well-established operational model."
"But I'm a businessman, not a warrior. I can't afford to engage in frequent battles."
"The most cost-effective solution would be to seize an opportunity and take over the armed forces of a Chaotic Faction. But that's easier said than done."
He shook his head regretfully and sighed. "I've been trying to infiltrate the Albatross for a long time, but so far, there's been no chance to directly take over their forces. Even if Jin Yishan dies, I wouldn't be able to inherit his subordinates."
"He has immense personal charisma. His men only recognize him."
"Even the second-in-command doesn't command much loyalty."
"Maintaining such an armed force is also incredibly expensive and would easily attract the attention of the federation. As a businessman, I'd rather avoid their scrutiny."
"What a pity."
Wang Jili shook his head, pulled an item from his pocket, and began toying with it as he watched the convoy gradually approach below. "Perhaps you're unaware, but my primary business is the Ten Thousand Races Arena."
"And the greatest advantage for a merchant specializing in the Ten Thousand Races Arena is that we can acquire items with miraculous effects at incredibly low prices."
"Like this one, for example."
He gently crushed the item in his hand.
In the next instant—
A deep blue light erupted from his palm, instantly radiating outward in all directions!
It effortlessly pierced the concrete walls, engulfing the entire street.
[Item Name]: No Entry Ahead
[Item Star]: Two-Star Item
[Item Effect]: Upon crushing, all vehicles within range will stall for one minute.
[Item Restriction]: Single-use item; cannot be used in space.
[Item Description]: "I told you, no entry ahead! Why the hell are you still trying to pass?!" —From an enraged forest ranger on some planet.
The moment the deep blue light erupted, the dragon-like convoy stalled, its vehicles drifting forward on inertia before colliding and blocking the entire street.
Before the convoy could react, rockets streaked through the night sky like flares, their fiery tails illuminating the darkness as they hurtled toward the vehicles.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions rocked the scene. Cars were flung into the air, and chaos erupted instantly.
Vehicles blasted to the side rolled violently across the ground. Black-clad figures scrambled out, raising their weapons to strafe the residential buildings lining the street, targeting anyone who dared to peek out.
Then—
A furious roar erupted from one of the vehicles.
A moment later, a gun barrel as thick as a fist extended from the window, aiming at a nearby residential building.
A deep blue light bullet shot from the barrel, striking the building's midsection. Like sulfuric acid, it effortlessly corroded the wall's surface and penetrated deep into the structure.
Boom!!!
A massive explosion ripped through the residential building.
The entire structure shattered like a dragon fruit struck by a single punch. Deep blue light erupted from every window, and the seemingly insignificant light bullet instantly blasted the building into the sky.
We could only watch helplessly as the building, as fragile as tofu, exploded mid-air. Debris rained down, leaving behind only a two- or three-story stump.
With a single shot, an entire residential building had been sent skyward.
But this was just the beginning.
As the gun barrel shifted relentlessly, blue light bullets rained down like they were free, bombarding the high-rises lining both sides of the street. A fireworks display of destruction had begun.
Wang Jili stared blankly at the blue light bullet, then turned and strode toward the door without a word. "Move faster," he barked. "If we get caught in the blast, I'll survive, but you might not be so lucky."
"We're on the 28th floor. Getting to the ground floor will take some effort."
"There's a magnetic levitation car waiting for us on the other side. Once we're in, we'll be safe."
"Our target is too obvious. It's dangerous."
"No."
A flicker of anxiety crossed Hu Biao's eyes as he blurted out, "Senior, if you knew standing here would make us such an obvious target, why did you go to all the trouble of coming here in the first place?"
"I'm used to standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows of office buildings, overseeing everything. My apologies."
(End of the Chapter)
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🔓 𝐰𝐰𝐰.𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐥.𝐜𝐨𝐦 — 13 Series (7 Ongoing) | 14+ New Chapters Daily | 7,200+ FREE