At that moment.
Leon spotted a woman in red seated in another corner.
She had short jet-black hair. Even with sunglasses covering half her face, it was easy to guess that her features were quite refined.
When his gaze swept over her, Leon even hesitated for a moment.
Leon simply did not understand why she was wearing a red cheongsam that accentuated her figure.
It would have been fine in another setting, or in a country with decent public safety, but this was the poorest and most chaotic region...
Maybe she was an assassin or mercenary with an unusual personality.
After all, the fact that she could sit here and rest so calmly without being harassed showed that she had the strength to handle trouble.
Having settled on the most likely explanation, Leon stopped focusing on the woman in red. He sat beside the bar, intending to ask about those strange patients and the recent situation in Luojia.
"What can I get you... uh, little brother, what are you...?"
The bartender, a woman with a scar on her left cheek and messy brown hair, had wanted to serve Leon, but she was thoroughly puzzled by his fully armed appearance.
"I was going to ask you the same thing. Aren't you afraid of catching the disease?" Leon took the opportunity to gather information.
"You mean those people outside?" The bartender froze, then burst out laughing. "Look at you, scared of dying. As long as you don't have fresh wounds or sleep with them, you won't catch a damn thing. What are you afraid of? Don't tell me you're interested in Black girls, little brother."
"..."
Such an uninhibited answer left Leon speechless, but he also learned from the bartender that the unknown disease spread through blood and bodily fluids.
Combined with his observations along the way, he ruled out airborne transmission. He removed his filter and said with feigned helplessness, "Who isn't afraid of dying? Besides, I was introduced to this place to make money. A friend told me there were plenty of good opportunities here. Who knew it would be this bizarre?"
"Woo~!" The bartender whistled when she got a clear look at Leon. "You don't see young men like you in Africa. Though I wonder..."
As she spoke, the bartender stood on tiptoe and glanced at something beneath the bar, teasing, "I wonder how your stamina is. Want to give it a try with your big sister?"
"..."
"Hahaha! Forget it, forget it. I'll stop teasing you. This drink's on me." The bartender poured a glass of tequila and set it before Leon, still unable to suppress her laughter as she explained,
"And stop pretending you know your way around, kid. One look tells me you're a greenhorn. As for what exactly happened in Luojia, we don't know much either. All we know is that it started in the villages to the north about a month ago. Once you got sick, you'd croak within two days."
At that, the bartender leaned closer to Leon and lowered her voice. "They say everyone in the village where the disease first broke out is already dead. And it's only been a few days.
Obviously, you'd be fine as long as you didn't come into contact with blood or bodily fluids, yet no one knew how it spread through that group. The only local who escaped went crazy. He didn't know anything when questioned, and when infected people started appearing in town, he ran into the forest and vanished.
Anyway, little brother, you really came at the wrong time. But if you're dead set on picking up some extra work, those nerds over there have a job to offer."
"Them?" Following the bartender's gaze, Leon saw the bewildered teachers and students. Taking advantage of the opened topic, he asked, "There are plenty of guys sitting around. Why hasn't anyone taken it?"
"The pay's too low. The oldest guy among them kept saying it was some great discovery~! Said it was God's Flower~! But in the end, it's just babysitting—protecting them while they head to a village where everyone's dead, then accompanying them into the rainforest to explore.
Most importantly, they're only paying a thousand bucks for the whole trip. Who has nothing better to do than charity work for them? A great discovery~ God's Flower~, heh. They're lucky they didn't die coming here! Hey... hey? Are you actually going?"
Watching Leon's retreating back, the bartender's gaze drifted downward as she said regretfully, "Tsk, tsk... It's not like I can't afford to spend that little money."
But Leon only wanted to figure out the situation, solve the problem, and complete his graduation exam successfully.
What Leon did not notice was that just as he was about to approach the teachers and students, the woman in red had silently left the club.
"Professor, let's go."
"Yeah, Professor. Didn't you see those people outside? It's too dangerous here."
Before Leon even got close, he heard the students urging their teacher to leave immediately.
"Ah..." The slightly plump, gray-haired professor removed his glasses and wiped the lenses with the hem of his shirt. He sighed. "So close. We were so close to finding that legendary ancient city and God's Flower. I... I can't accept this."
"But Professor, didn't you hear what that bartender said? War is about to break out. We should leave..."
"A thousand, right? I'll take it." Leon had already reached their booth and interrupted one of the students.
???
At that, every teacher and student stared in surprise, looking up at the blond mercenary who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"Uh... buddy..." A somewhat sturdier male student asked incredulously, "Are you sure?"
"Of course."
--
Meanwhile.
Thousands of miles away, Seattle, which was seven hours behind Congo, was in the dead of night.
From the sky, one would see that Seattle was still bustling with traffic and brightly lit streets. Tourists streamed along both sides of the roads; some wandered around enjoying the night scenery, while others sat at open-air stalls drinking cold beer and spirits. It was truly a city that never slept.
Located in the city's busiest and most central district, and standing over four hundred meters tall, Atlas headquarters was unquestionably one of Seattle's landmarks.
Inside an office on the top floor of the headquarters building.
Floor-to-ceiling windows lined the north, east, and west sides, offering an unobstructed view of the entire city.
But Sui Yang, seated behind the solid wood desk, had no interest in enjoying it. He was watching several screens generated by a holographic device and hovering above the desk.
The screens displayed headlines such as "Strange Patients Discovered in Luojia Town, Central Congo" and "Investigation Report on Mayor Harleden Bruce," along with related images and videos.
Things had been unsettled lately.
First was Seattle Mayor Harleden Bruce. On the surface, Sui Yang had agreed to meet him on the sixteenth—tomorrow afternoon—but he had actually increased surveillance on him.
Sure enough, the investigation had turned up something.
There was nothing wrong with the man himself, but what he did not know was that an invisible superhuman had infiltrated his residence yesterday.
However, Harleden Bruce had been personally backed by Atlas and had accepted strict terms. His private life was spotless, leaving Vought with nothing to use against him.
It was time to make trouble for Vought.
Before you continue