Persuading the Villain to Work a Sewing Machine

Deep in the desert of New Mexico.

Chan Ka-kui had the fuse of a high-explosive detonator in his mouth and was carrying two bundles of Da Vinci's specially made directional armor-piercing explosives in his hand.

"Biaozi, are your eyes even working properly? Did you spot the beam underneath for me?"

Chan Ka-kui mumbled incoherently as he tore at the tape with his teeth.

"Uncle Biao wrote it down in his little notebook before we set off: if we smashed even one piece of equipment that could be brought back, he would deduct five hundred yuan from our fieldwork allowance!"

"Five hundred yuan! That's enough for me to eat canned ribbonfish at the bureau's convenience store for months!"

David, the baby-faced young man lying next to him, stared at him speechlessly, then took two zipline hooks from his waist bag and fastened them to the steel beam.

"Is that a legitimate factory down there? That's the Silver Peak Consortium's killing production line!"

"We're here to raid a den of thieves, and you're planning to take inventory of the capitalists' fixed assets?"

"If we don't blow a hole in them, are we supposed to line up the elevator and go down to shake hands, make peace, and offer our business cards to them to surrender?"

You don't know anything!

Chan Ka-kui glared and retorted.

"Save when you should, spend when you should! The bureau's funds don't grow on trees!"

"The other day I kicked and broke two broken folding chairs in Training Hall No. 2, and Old Zhang from the logistics department chased me down three corridors. He even deducted all my shampoo allowance for next month!"

"If we mess this up today, the four of us will have to spend three months cleaning septic tanks for the villagers at the Tong County Farm to pay off our debts when we get back to Beijing!"

"Alright, alright, enough with the nonsense."

Hong Wubi, a burly man from behind, squeezed forward and patted Chan Ka-kui on the back of the head.

"What a lack of ambition! Constantly talking about shoveling manure, aren't you ashamed?"

"If you just write on your expense report that it's for necessary losses during emergency tactical demolition, the finance department will most likely stamp it!"

Chan Ka-kui rubbed the back of his head, his eyes lighting up. "Really? You're not kidding me!"

Why would I lie to you? Let's proceed with Plan A!

Hong Wubi rolled up his sleeves halfway, revealing a section of his muscular forearm.

"Rapid zip-lining, move quickly!"

Hua Xinwu, on the far left, didn't say a word.

He was wearing a black suit, his shoulders slightly buttoned, and his eyes were fixed on the ground with a cold gaze.

"Three, two, one, ignition!"

Chan Ka-kui stuffed the explosive charge into the crack in the ventilation shaft, lit the fuse, and the four men retreated simultaneously.

Da Vinci used a modified explosive formula made with high-gas concentration from pickled bamboo shoots to forcibly tear a large hole in the wall.

Before the dust had even settled, David was the first to leap down.

He did two somersaults in mid-air, his toes lightly touching the broken ends of the drooping steel beam.

She landed lightly on the ceiling of a five-meter-high stamping machine.

Chan Ka-kui followed closely behind, his hands wearing abrasion-resistant gloves as he gripped the zipline and slid down, sparks flying.

Before his feet even touched the ground, he rolled twice on the ground and grabbed a two-meter-long solid seamless steel pipe standing next to him.

"Conveniently!"

Hong Wubi stepped directly onto a falling concrete slab, using the cushioning force of the slab crashing through the second layer of wire mesh walkway to land on the main road of the workshop.

Seeing Chan Ka-kui carrying a steel pipe, Fatty Hong raised an eyebrow, realizing he was at a disadvantage with his hands empty.

He glanced to the side out of the corner of his eye, grabbed the leg of the repair tool table next to him with one hand, and with a deep shout, uprooted the workbench with one arm.

It was easily tucked under my arm.

Hua Xinwu made the least noise when he landed.

His leather shoes were on a thick high-voltage power cable, his body swayed with the cable, and his hands were in his suit trouser pockets, looking very relaxed.

Chan Ka-kui waved his hand to fan away the black smoke in front of him, then looked around while holding the steel pipe.

This is an underground military industrial workshop, the size of four football fields.

On both sides of the automated production line, semi-finished alloy skeleton robotic arms are hanging everywhere.

There was also biological brain tissue soaking in a green nutrient solution tank.

Six square formations were arranged in the center of the workshop.

Each formation consists of twenty people, all of whom are cyborgs over two meters tall, with one half of their bodies retaining human muscles and the other half welded with heavy rotary machine guns and battle axes.

"My goodness..."

"Is this like moving an electronics factory from Dongguan to the desert to do arms wholesale?"

David squatted on top of the machine tool, tilted his head, and counted:

"Jiaju, 120 tin cans, 30 for each of us, that'll be enough for us to stretch our legs!"

Hong Wubi frowned. "Something's not right. Why isn't there even a janitor to sound the alarm?"

"A dog cannot bite people unless its owner gives the order."

Hua Xinwu's cold gaze pierced through the smoke and dust, locking onto the second-floor command platform.

Applause erupted from the second-floor command platform at the deepest part of the workshop.

All four of them looked up at the same time.

A tall man was standing in front of the platform railing.

He had a high nose bridge, deep-set eyes, and wore a set of heavy modular armor in dark gold and crimson.

The armor's chest, back, shoulders, and even the outer thighs were covered with more than twenty kinds of gun parts, energy batteries, and folding cannon barrels.

"Mice from the East always like to sneak in through the rooftops."

The man rested his hands on the iron railing, looking down at the four people below.

"Let me introduce myself, I am John Grecrow."

"Of course, over the past thirty years, people in the mercenary market and on the black market bounty lists have been more accustomed to calling me the Killer."

Chan Ka-kui tapped his shoulder with a steel pipe. "That foreigner up there, covered in scrap metal!"

I don't care if you're called Killer or a pig butcher!

"I am formally informing you that you are suspected of illegally possessing highly explosive hazardous materials, illegally smuggling people, and operating an unlicensed underground workshop! Lay down your weapons and surrender!"

"Confess and you'll be treated leniently; resist and you'll be punished severely! Now, come back to the bureau with us and turn yourself in. If you can get your files processed before next week, you might still make it to the first Sewing Machine Vocational Skills Competition next month, hosted by the Abnormal Human Research Center!"

"If you dare to resist again, don't blame me for not warning you, you won't even get a seat if you're late!"

The Killer showed no sign of a smile.

"A sewing machine? Wait until I pull out your four spines and make them into gunstocks, then you can slowly stomp on them in hell."

David, standing atop the machine tool, winked at Hua Xinwu: "Later, I'll kick his groin, and you break his arm."

Hua Xinwu's thin lips moved slightly. "Too troublesome. I only need one move of Choy Li Fut's Heart-Piercing Claw to pull his throat and sensors out along his carotid artery."

"Just snap their necks; it saves time and effort."

Hong Wubi took a big step forward. "What a load of bull! Let's arrest him and interrogate him first, find out where this Zero Gene Furnace is."

On the second-floor command platform, the Killer coldly watched as the four people below, seemingly oblivious to everyone else, discussed how to dismantle him.

His patience had completely run out.

"A lowly creature that doesn't know its own mortality."

The Killer raised his hand and pressed a key on the tactical keyboard on his right wrist guard.

"Since you're in such a hurry, why not use this batch of newly produced Fourth-Generation Cleaners as a warm-up?"

The Killer clapped his hands lightly in front of him.

The cyborgs, which had been hanging their heads and in standby mode, started up simultaneously.

"Damn it! Just do it!"