Weasel Bandit Group

In the Ice Ridge Wasteland, midnight, heavy fog.

A rust-speckled, steam-powered troop transport vehicle moved quietly under the cover of dense fog and night, its steel tracks churning, leaving deep furrows in the frozen earth.

In the last carriage, over twenty men dressed as thieves were crammed together.

The air was thick with the foul smell of sweat and tobacco.

"An SS-class mission?!"

"No way, how could we be involved in a mission this high-level?"

"Captain Tiger, is there a mistake? This mission is to infiltrate 'Blazing Steel Fortress' and assassinate an imperial baron?"

"I heard the lord of 'Blazing Steel Fortress,' Marquis Barrett, is a [Grand Demon Hunter] who has awakened four stages of his gene lock. No one dares to cause trouble in his territory."

"Yeah, Captain. Besides, that target, Doctor Morin, although just a baron, is still an official noble enfeoffed by the empire. Killing him would directly involve the Imperial Tribunal. Will our [Weasel Bandit Group] get into trouble?"

"..."

Inside the carriage, the apprentice assassins of the [Weasel Bandit Group] never expected that their very first mission would be the highest-risk "S-class mission" in the group!

They said that even transcendent beings had extremely high mortality rates on these kinds of missions, let alone them, the rookies who hadn't awakened yet.

Hearing this news, a handsome brown-haired youth in the corner felt his eyelids twitch slightly.

As expected, his luck since transmigration had been as bad as ever.

Among the myriad transmigration legions, there were always "Children of Destiny" and "Unlucky Souls." Rein felt he was the latter.

A year ago, after working overtime until dawn for half a month straight, he woke up in this unfamiliar world, his soul having transmigrated into a fleeing fifteen-year-old boy named Rein Hermes.

He thought his luck had finally turned, completely escaping his fate as a corporate slave. But he never imagined that on his very first day in this misty world, he would almost be bitten to death by a "big rabbit" with a mouth full of dog teeth on this boundless wasteland!

Later, he learned that this was one of the creatures at the bottom of the food chain on the wasteland – a Canine Rabbit, an omnivorous rabbit.

Only then did he realize he had arrived in an incredibly brutal, magical world.

Then, before being bitten to death by the rabbit, he saw a scene that would be unforgettable for the rest of his life.

With a violent roar, a steel castle, with exaggerated metal tracks and wheels, driven by a steam engine, barged into his vision like a monster, crashing out of the mist.

On the castle, a hooded assassin leaped from a watchtower tens of stories high, slicing the neck of the calf-sized evil rabbit with a single strike.

Rein was saved.

He originally thought his luck was about to change, but little did he know it was the beginning of a nightmare.

This notorious [Weasel Bandit Group] was nothing but a den of evil, a gathering place for bandits!

They found orphans from all over, controlled them with poison, and trained them into cold-blooded professional thieves and assassins...

Thus, Rein underwent nearly a year of brutal training at the [Weasel Bandit Group]'s base, becoming an [Apprentice Assassin].

Today, he was carrying out his first mission outside the training base.

Well... a family annihilation mission.

Tiger, captain of the 19th Squad and training instructor, roared, "Hey, hey, hey, brats, quiet down!"

The mission's grade reaching the highest S-class had indeed exceeded everyone's expectations.

The apprentice assassins in the carriage gradually turned to fear.

Tiger pursed his lips and said again, "Don't worry, everyone. Although this mission has some risks, Leader Quinn will also be participating, so there won't be any problems. You brats just need to follow along and earn some merit points."

Hearing their instructor say this, the newcomers were overjoyed and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, really? Leader Quinn will be participating in this mission?"

"Then there's definitely no problem. With someone as powerful as the leader, no mission is an issue."

"I knew it, they wouldn't let us rookies participate in such an important mission..."

"..."

Hearing this, Rein's slightly furrowed brow also relaxed.

Finally, the dark cloud of "bad luck" in his heart dispersed, and he no longer felt like this was a train heading towards death.

The [One-Eyed Wolf] Quinn, a wanted criminal with a 16 million Liso bounty from the Oma Empire's royal family, was indeed outrageously strong, giving him a great sense of "security." He had personally witnessed the guy jump off a cliff hundreds of meters high and land unharmed, and even pierce steel plates with a dagger with ease.

At this moment, another newcomer asked curiously, "Captain Tiger, what's so special about Baron Morin that the client would pay such a high price to have us infiltrate 'Blazing Steel Fortress' to annihilate him?"

It wasn't just the others; this was also Rein's own question.

This mission was indeed somewhat unusual.

Logically speaking, a bandit group like theirs, which hunted in the wasteland, would never risk infiltrating a large territory to assassinate a noble.

Not to mention the extremely high difficulty of the mission, even if successful, it would result in endless pursuit by the Oma Empire's royal family.

Even if the employer was willing to pay a hefty price for the commission, any rational bandit group would not dare to accept it.

Yet this time, not only did Leader Quinn accept the mission, but he was also personally participating, which made it exceptionally strange.

Rein speculated that Baron Morin must be hiding some incredible secret, which would cause Quinn to take such a risk...

"Who knows? I heard he's a rather wealthy surgeon."

Tiger replied dismissively, as if it made no difference who he killed.

Shrugging, he added, "Besides, what's the difference to us whether it's revenge or robbery? Aren't we just getting paid to do a job?"

"Oh, right."

"Shh, stop talking. Put on your gas masks and get ready to get out of the vehicle!"

"Yes, Captain."

As soon as the words fell, there was no more noise in the carriage.

The assassins, dressed in light leather armor, adjusted the daggers and firearms tucked into their sheaths and quickly put on various gas masks to cover their faces.

In a corner, Rein also expressionlessly put on a black leather, pointed-beak crow-shaped gas mask.

In an instant, these young people wearing gas masks with a strong dark aesthetic transformed into cold killing machines, and a strong sense of solemnity and murderous intent filled the carriage.

Before long, the Centipede Steam APC arrived at the designated location.

"Everyone out of the vehicle and approach the city walls stealthily. Remember, leave no one alive in Morin Manor!"

"Yes, Leader Quinn!"

Tonight, there was a "Fog Tide," with heavy fog and very low visibility.

The group stealthily advanced under the cover of night.

Rein was already accustomed to this mist, which contained a slight toxin.

This was a mysterious world, perpetually shrouded in thick fog, where dangers and unknowns lurked everywhere.

After walking through the fog for a short distance, the massive city, previously hidden by the fog, suddenly became clearly visible.

Then, he was once again shocked by the architecture of this world.

"This is a human city in this world?!"

Although he had heard about it, Rein was still deeply impressed as he gazed at the steel castle before him.

"It's truly an exaggerated marvel of steel. Such a massive city is a steel castle powered by steam engines."

Even though he had seen skyscrapers in his previous life, he was still quite stunned by the scene before him.

It had been almost a year since he transmigrated to this strange world, and this was the first time he had seen a large city where humans gathered.

Inside Blazing Steel Fortress, the lights were bright, and giant searchlights dispelled large swathes of the fog, allowing a clear view of the ferocious steel behemoth before them.

The city was vast, roughly equivalent to a county town in Rein's previous life, but with denser architecture.

Gothic spires stood in a staggered, dense arrangement, with city walls as high as thirty stories completely encircling the entire city. Tall buildings rose within the city, connected by a spiderweb of skybridges and pipelines.

Giant war hammers, battering rams, and metal cutters with diameters of tens of meters. There were also large-caliber cannons, ranging from a few meters to tens of meters in length, which were particularly striking.

Dense rivets joined thick steel plates together, and massive, exaggerated tracks and wheels supported the entire giant city.

Most peculiar were the towering chimneys that pierced the clouds and billowed thick smoke atop the buildings in the black city.

These were the hallmarks of large steam boilers!

The entire giant city exuded a strong, rugged industrial style, like a steel hedgehog, creating a powerful visual impact.

This was a steam-powered steel castle, a true mobile fortress.

This steel bulwark was also the greatest reliance for humanity in this world to survive and multiply in these wastelands overrun by fierce beasts and monsters!

The new book has faced many difficulties, but it is finally out.