The mission began.
Fourteen people, split between two armored vehicles, headed for the Dongcheng District of Jinzhu City.
This was Jinzhu City's logistics hub, located near the seaport. A motley collection of people gathered here, making it an ideal place to hide smuggled goods. Combined with the intricate web of industrial chains and personal connections, investigations were extremely difficult.
However, under the operations of the Star Association's intelligence department, all secret transactions and painstakingly concealed movements had been laid bare.
Over twenty minutes later, the vehicles stopped in the shadows.
In the distance, a sprawling complex of warehouses and factories was the target location for this mission.
According to intelligence, this place was ostensibly a transit warehouse for a cold-chain import-export company called the Taisheng Group. In reality, however, it was a hideout used by "Xi Feng" to store and move smuggled goods.
"The Life Detection Device shows a total of sixty-eight people in the warehouse, four of whom are Tier One Ascenders. Both floors of the warehouse are guarded by thirty-two ordinary people and two Ascenders each. You've all seen the files on those four Ascenders. Their Abilities are Iron Fist, Bone Saber, Blood Blade Transformation, and Hair Growth..."
Tsk, that last one, the hair-growing Ability, is so practical. If he'd become a doctor specializing in hair loss, he probably would've been world-famous and a billionaire by now. What a waste, going down the wrong path..."
Lowering his binoculars, Old Yang turned to the others. The weary, haggard look was gone from his face, replaced by a solemn expression.
"Intel says these people are all low-level members of Xi Feng. None of them have clean hands. So, when the time comes, kill if you have to. Don't hesitate, or you'll be the one getting hurt. Understand?"
The rookies nodded silently.
"Alright then, let's move."
...
「Three minutes later.」
By the warehouse wall, Old Yang glanced at the positioning cursor on the portable combat screen on his wrist and said in a low voice, "All units in position. We move in five seconds."
Zhou Chen couldn't help but hold his breath. His heart pounded as he began to count down silently in his mind.
'Five...'
'Four...'
'Three...'
'Two...'
'One!'
Instantly, all seven squads moved at once, storming the warehouse according to the pre-arranged plan.
Amidst the sound of shattering glass, Zhou Chen and Old Yang vaulted into the warehouse. The first thing they saw were five figures under a dim yellow light, sitting around a table holding playing cards, their faces frozen in shock.
Without a moment's hesitation, the two pulled their triggers. At almost the same instant, the roar of gunfire erupted from all corners of the warehouse.
A series of fiery flashes spewed from their muzzles. Bullets tore through the air, precisely piercing the bodies of the five men, sending sprays of blood into the air.
Old Yang shot Zhou Chen a surprised glance. 'Didn't expect the kid to be so decisive. Is this really a college student?'
'What the hell are they teaching in universities these days?!'
He watched as Zhou Chen spun around expertly and fired a quick burst at two figures who were just getting to their feet in the distance. The two bodies went limp and collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony.
He hadn't spent all that time in the research department for nothing. Besides constantly training and developing, the thing he did most was test his Ability in the field. He'd lost count of how many Corrupters he'd tested it on to the point of death.
Moreover, to more accurately analyze and study his Ability, Xiao Yan had even found him numerous death row inmates to experiment on.
Having overcome the initial period of discomfort and conquered the dread and terror of taking a life with his own hands, Zhou Chen no longer felt the same fear of killing. Besides, now that he was a member of the Special Operations Team, killing was inevitable.
Inside the warehouse, the roar of gunfire continued to echo. The smugglers who had snapped to their senses all pulled out hidden firearms and began to fiercely resist the assault team.
Zhou Chen squeezed the trigger repeatedly, blowing the heads off two smugglers who were hiding behind cargo containers, trying to take cheap shots. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone aiming a rifle at him and instinctively dove into a roll, taking cover behind a container. A stream of bullets followed, strafing the concrete floor and sending debris flying.
If he had been a split second later, those bullets would have torn into him.
He crouched behind the container, ejected the empty magazine and tossed it aside, then pulled a fresh one from his tactical belt and slapped it in. Taking a deep breath, he leaned out from the other side of the container. Relying on an Ascender's superhuman dynamic vision and tracking, he fired decisively.
BANG!
The smuggler who had been spraying bullets with his rifle didn't even have time to turn his gun before his head blossomed, and he dropped straight to the ground.
Just then, a small, dark object was thrown from behind a few large containers, tracing an arc through the air as it fell toward Zhou Chen's position.
A fragmentation grenade!
Zhou Chen's pupils contracted. Just as he was about to dive for cover, a powerful vortex of wind suddenly shot out from the side, knocking the grenade back behind the large containers.
BOOM!
A loud explosion erupted from that spot. Fire and shockwaves burst forth, and countless fragments of shrapnel shot out in all directions, scraping against the metal containers with a teeth-grinding screech.
Zhou Chen couldn't help but look toward Old Yang's position.
That had been Old Yang's Extraordinary Ability—Wind Control.
Old Yang gave him a thumbs-up, then gestured for him to advance.
Seemingly terrified by their ferocity, the remaining enemies fired in a panic. However, the Ascenders were simply too fast. Their bullets all slammed into containers or the concrete floor, achieving nothing more than kicking up sparks and cement chips.
"Kill these running dogs of the Star Association!"
A fierce, tattooed man wielding two submachine guns was spraying wildly when a bullet tore through his throat, followed immediately by another that blew his head apart.
The last two smugglers, seeing that all was lost, turned to flee in terror. They were struck by bullets and fell to the ground, breathing raggedly and making gurgling sounds. A moment later, they went still.
Zhou Chen and Old Yang did a quick sweep, confirming that they had completely cleared out the smugglers in this area.
But they still hadn't seen any sign of the two Ascenders. It was unclear whether they had seen things going south and fled, or if they were plotting something in the shadows.
The two remained on high alert as they advanced toward the central area of the transit warehouse.
No one noticed that on the bodies of the men they had just killed, wisps of black flame had begun to rise.
Meanwhile, the heavily wounded smugglers stopped their wailing and screaming. Their eyeballs began to melt, and soon only black, empty sockets remained, within which faint wisps of black flame could be seen flickering.
...
"Everyone be careful. Those two Ascenders might have gone to retrieve a Forbidden Object," Old Yang warned over the comms channel. "This is a Xi Feng warehouse for smuggled goods. They could have all sorts of weird stuff here... Upstairs, what's your status?"
"We've taken out a dozen or so smugglers. No sign of the Ascenders," came the reply over the channel.
"Proceed with caution, watch your spacing, and be ready to provide support," Old Yang reminded them one last time.
Soon, the two reached the cold storage area. A cool breeze blew from the air conditioners, and boxes of frozen goods were piled up like mountains.
Suddenly, Old Yang stopped and pointed at the floor by the cold storage exit.
There was a thin wire there, so fine it was almost invisible to the naked eye.
Touching it would probably detonate a bomb.
"Let's go around. Who the hell knows what kind of bomb it is," Old Yang said.
However, the moment the words left his mouth—BOOM!
The violent explosion was as sudden and shocking as a clap of thunder on a clear day.
A searing heatwave swept over them. The gushing Fiery Fire and incandescent light instantly engulfed the two, and they were sent flying by the ferocious impact.
The terrifying devastation made the entire warehouse tremble and groan. The explosion even caused the floor of the cold storage to collapse, and through the black smoke and rubble, it was possible to see some kind of unknown underground structure below.
When everything settled down, thick smoke billowed from the cold storage, flames licked upward, and there was even the smell of cooked meat in the air.
Zhou Chen lay sprawled outside the cold storage, covered in soot and grime. The blast had left him completely dazed. A searing pain shot through his internal organs, his head was spinning, and his ears wouldn't stop ringing.
He struggled to move his neck and saw Old Yang lying nearby, also blackened by soot, but he didn't appear to have any life-threatening injuries.
It was a good thing he and Old Yang hadn't been too close to the blast. That, combined with the explosion-proof properties of their gear and their Ascender constitutions, was the only reason they'd survived. An ordinary person would have been toast.
'The key thing is, we clearly didn't touch the wire. How did it suddenly go off...'
'Was that thing a voice-activated bomb?'
Just as Zhou Chen was cursing in his heart, a heavy footstep suddenly echoed from the distance.
Through the billowing smoke, a figure slowly walked toward them.
As the smoke swirled, the newcomer's two arms could be faintly seen, shaped like scythes.
Zhou Chen's heart sank. Such an obvious feature already told him who he was facing.
Bone Saber!