Zurich—the passage of time had not washed away its heavy scent of money. It remained one of the Earth Federation's most important financial centers. Just as it had centuries ago, it still enjoyed legal immunity; anything stored in any underground vault within the city was beyond the reach of the Federation's judicial investigators.
Gu Xiechen brought Jack to Zurich and rented a small safe-deposit box in the Earth Federation Bank's exorbitantly expensive vaults, securely storing the two cases of "stolen goods" inside.
Standing in the empty VIP room, Gu Xiechen closed the heavy alloy door and turned the weighty mechanical combination lock. He removed three keys from the door, handing one to the uneasy Jack. "All right, Jack. Stick with me from now on, and your one-third of the wealth will always be yours. There are three keys. Without any one of them, none of us can open this box. I'll keep two, and you keep one. Fair and reasonable, don't you think?"
Jack snatched the key as if grabbing loot and pressed it tightly to his chest. He cried out nervously, "One-third? You're really giving me one-third?"
Gu Xiechen glared at Jack. Irritated, he strung the other two keys, also made of special alloy, together with his Mercenary Card and hung them around his neck. As he worked, he scolded, "I keep my word. Were you hoping I'd kill you and keep all these treasures for myself?"
"Of course not! You're a man who keeps his promises!" Jack shamelessly flattered Gu Xiechen, then cautiously imitated him and threaded his key together with his own Mercenary Card. Once everything was in order, Jack patted his chest and sighed in satisfaction. "No one would ever guess that this tiny key is worth at least three billion!"
Gu Xiechen turned toward the VIP room's door. As he walked, he said with a faint smile, "Remember, if you follow me, there'll be more to come. But you must always remind yourself that if you let anything slip, you won't get a single cent of the money in here! We can't touch these treasures for at least three years. We'll have to wait for the right moment to sell them on the black market. Understand?"
"Of course I understand!" Jack followed closely behind Gu Xiechen and boasted smugly, "I'm an expert in this business. Taking stolen goods, moving stolen goods—there's nothing I don't understand! I'm an expert, Xie... Boss! A real expert, Boss!"
Gu Xiechen narrowed his eyes and smiled. Just as Jack had said, he was a true expert in certain fields, and that was precisely the kind of expert Gu Xiechen needed now.
The moment they stepped out of the Federation Bank building, Gu Xiechen was about to hail a taxi when a convoy of black cars silently pulled up by the curb. Three old men got out and, surrounded by a large group of bodyguards, mounted the steps before the bank. Gu Xiechen's face twitched. He gave Jack an instruction, then descended the steps expressionlessly.
One of the three old men was small and withered, his dry skin wrapped around a skeletal frame. Sinister energy rose from his body. At the center of his brow was a thumb-sized lump resembling congealed blood, within which rings of bloody light could faintly be seen revolving, as though he had grown a third eye. He wore a coarse white cloth jacket yellowed from washing and cloth boots whose sole edges had worn into fuzz. He looked like a corpse that had just crawled out of an ancient tomb. The deathly aura around him was even heavier than that of Rú Huá, the genuine zombie Gu Xiechen had encountered hours earlier.
The other old man was well-proportioned and handsome, clearly the sort of dashing man who must have driven people wild in his youth. Yet, despite wearing a black kimono and a katana at his waist, he seemed to hold the lowest status. He followed respectfully behind the withered old man, constantly nodding and bowing as he answered in a low voice.
The third old man was someone Gu Xiechen knew.
Tall and imposing, with a mane of snowy white hair flowing behind his head like a lion's. The old man's complexion was violet, and his piercing eyes carried a faint purple hue as well, like two flawless violet crystals. Wearing a pale silver double-breasted cloak, he walked with his hands behind his back, naturally radiating the domineering presence of a king walking through his own domain.
Gu Juechen! Gu Xiechen muttered inwardly. Since merging with the Cristo Crystal Ball, the once-gaunt Gu Xiechen had become much fuller and more robust. Combined with the fact that his former long hair had only grown back as a short layer, he had become an entirely different person. Without changing his expression in the slightest, Gu Xiechen passed Gu Juechen with Jack in tow. Gu Juechen failed to recognize him.
Gu Xiechen steadily descended the steps, preparing to hail an empty taxi on the road, when the gaunt old man, who had just reached the top of the stairs, abruptly stopped.
"What is it, Elder?" Gu Juechen asked in confusion.
The gaunt old man slowly turned around and scrutinized Gu Xiechen from head to toe. Then a ferocious smile suddenly appeared on his shriveled, ugly face.
The gaunt old man lightly waved his blackened, withered right hand and said calmly, "Dizang Temple, kill that young man in black. What a tenacious life—to escape from my Soul Punishing Yin Lightning! Fortunately, I remember your scent!"
Gu Juechen's expression changed drastically. He spun around to look at Gu Xiechen. Not caring that this was the Earth Federation Bank headquarters, Gu Juechen pointed at Gu Xiechen and shouted decisively, "Kill him!"
Gu Juechen had brought at least a hundred bodyguards. At his command, all of them reached into their clothes and drew weapons of every kind. But faster than the bodyguards was the dashing old man in the kimono. The instant the gaunt old man gave the order, the kimono-clad elder flickered where he stood and vanished. In the next instant, he was already beside Gu Xiechen. His index and middle fingers lightly swept over the katana's hilt, and a jet-black green blade aura burst from the sheath with a piercing shriek.
The powerful blade aura swept sideways, slashing toward Gu Xiechen and Jack at the waist. Jack let out a terrified shriek, but Gu Xiechen grabbed him and sprang high into the air like a flea. The dark green blade aura scraped past the soles of Gu Xiechen's boots with a grating screech. More than a dozen cars on the road ahead were struck by the blade aura and exploded thunderously. The passengers inside were first torn in two by the blade aura, then reduced to fragments in the explosions.
The two vortices at Gu Xiechen's Yongquan acupoints spun rapidly, and two streams of Innate Qi erupted from them. Carrying the unconscious Jack, Gu Xiechen leaped dozens of meters to the side, then vanished into the crowd and traffic with a few quick flashes.
Dizang Temple had only taken a few steps forward in pursuit when the panicked vehicles and pedestrians on the road blocked his path.
"Enough! This is Zurich!" Gu Juechen shouted through gritted teeth. "Stop!"
"I'm giving you three days to find him and kill him! This time, bring his head back to see me!"
All right, here is today's second chapter... Comrades with recommendation votes, throw them in with all you've got... The content ahead only gets better!
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