Black Storm

Boom!

The sudden explosion jolted awake the northeastern district of the City of Rebirth.

A two-story building that normally served as a resting spot for Black Fire Gang members was now billowing with thick smoke.

Wang Jixuan, moving through the darkness, flipped onto the roof of a roadside building without making a sound and crouched in a corner.

He raised a hand and Knocked on the edge of his helmet. The tactical helmet automatically switched to long-range mode, turning his vision pale green and allowing him to see the movement patterns of gang members in the low-light environment.

At that moment, Wang Jixuan was more than a thousand meters from the blast site.

After taking out the dozen or so Black Fire Gang thugs inside that building, Wang Jixuan followed the method recorded in the Weapons That Make Blade Beasts Fear collection owned by the elderly landlady. Using a length of rope and two concentrated High-Explosive Grenades, he made a booby trap that would trigger the moment someone entered.

Not bad.

Really, not bad.

This was far more powerful than a low-grade Explosive Fire Talisman!

Of course, Explosive Fire Talismans could be stacked endlessly and detonated at once. Each had its own advantages.

Wang Jixuan noted several buildings from which at least ten armed men had rushed out at once, then turned and ran into the night.

Before the Black Fire Gang activated "full-area lighting" again, he had to seize the time and ambush more locations.

He also had to avoid Psionicists appearing in groups of at least three.

A few minutes later.

A small dance hall filled with panting, moans, curses, and laughter waited in the gloom for its fate to arrive.

A sign outside the dance hall stated that it was closed to the public, and an alarm system capable of automatically detecting unfamiliar faces had been installed at the entrance.

Unfortunately, Wang Jixuan had no intention of going in through the front door.

He sat on the edge of the roof of this three-story building, his two dangling legs swaying gently as his expanded Spiritual Sense carefully swept the area, recording more than thirty living auras.

Wang Jixuan took out four magazines and inserted them into both sides of his tactical belt. He held two silenced pistols in his palms and struck several shooting poses.

Since Young Master Zhou was paying for all the weapons and ammunition, while Blade Beast Blood was difficult to obtain through Young Master Zhou's channels...

Try not to waste a single talisman.

He regulated his breathing, inhaled, and stopped swinging his legs.

Wang Jixuan dropped like a body in free fall!

After falling only one body length, he hooked the roof's edge with his left wrist and smoothly slipped through an open third-floor window, kicking aside the curtains.

Four men and four women engaged in some healthy post-dinner exercise froze at the same time, raising their heads to stare blankly at that smooth, rounded black helmet.

Pfft!

Wang Jixuan raised his hand and blew apart the head of a tattooed man.

Blood splattered across the walls.

"Ah—"

"Fuck!"

Pfft, pfft pfft!

Three bursts of blood exploded almost simultaneously. The remaining three men had no time to seek cover before holes appeared in all their heads.

Such slow reactions, and they have the nerve to call themselves gangsters?

Wang Jixuan curled his lip slightly, his pistols already aimed at the screaming women.

They fell silent in an instant.

Following the rule that even when purging the Demonic Cult, women and children were not to be killed, Wang Jixuan did nothing further and strode toward the bedroom door.

He had naturally noticed that one woman was far too calm. He could also see that she was secretly reaching for the pistol on the bedside table.

Daoist Wang was in no hurry. He simply waited.

The woman snatched up the gun, skillfully chambered a round, and immediately raised it...

Pfft!

She suddenly threw back her head. A bloody hole appeared between her brows, and her widened eyes were full of unwillingness.

Even if this poor Daoist couldn't sense your baleful aura, did you think I couldn't see your tattoos?

Wang Jixuan silently walked to the door. Sensing a group of thugs charging down the corridor, he unclipped a grenade from his belt, pulled the pin, opened the door, casually tossed it out, gripped a handful of nuts in his left hand, held a gun in his right, and counted down silently.

Three, two, one.

Boom!

A grid-like cloud of dust shook loose from the walls, and the three remaining women in the room screamed soundlessly.

The instant after the explosion, Wang Jixuan smashed through the bedroom door and dove forward. His left wrist snapped, launching the nuts like projectiles. They punched hole after hole through the smoke and dust from the blast, spraying trails of blood behind it!

Muffled groans rose and fell;

After a brief burst of gunfire.

The corridor was littered with Black Fire Gang thugs' corpses.

Wang Jixuan leaped out the window and crashed into the first floor, firing both pistols at once. He dealt with several gunmen peering upward from the stairwell and threw the smoke-filled dance floor into even greater chaos.

What a pity. There were still several men and women with baleful auras in the basement.

Wang Jixuan was still far from being able to use Earth Escape. He had no intention of rashly entering an underground structure with only a single route in and out, so he could only toss two grenades toward the basement before swiftly leaving.

Click!

The flash of a camera lit up from a window across the street.

Wang Jixuan fired a shot, but pistol accuracy was somewhat lacking beyond a certain distance. The bullet skimmed past the forehead of the gang member behind the window, frightening him into ducking down.

Wang Jixuan did not linger. He crouched and shot forward, infusing aura into his Two Legs as he jumped. He landed steadily atop a building more than ten meters high, then vanished after several bounds.

Following the planned attack route, Wang Jixuan quietly waited at the edge of Black Fire Gang territory.

After two gunfights in succession, the entire Black Fire Gang had descended into chaos.

More than a dozen pickup trucks fitted with heavy machine guns carried groups of "elite squads" back and forth as they searched.

But Wang Jixuan soon discovered that the Black Fire Gang still had no intention of lighting up its entire territory.

—The power supply for those cold storage facilities and Nutrient Pods was more important.

Since that's the case...

Wang Jixuan pulled a crumpled stack of talismans from his shirt pocket. His right hand formed a Sword Finger and traced a cluster of intricate glowing marks.

The remnant soul he had spent spiritual power preserving until now Appeared again. It stared blankly at the enormous helmet before it, and after a long while, its eyes lit up.

This remnant soul was close to naturally dissipating.

"God, God, I really, really don't have any savings left. Can't you let me live?"

Wang Jixuan's voice came from behind the helmet. "I haven't found a suitable body for you yet. Don't rush. This is the last question I'll ask you."

"W-what question?"

Gu Wending complained dejectedly:

"Once I answer it, you'll get rid of me, right? It has to be that way, I know it! Because I used to do the same thing. I'd first give those materials hope, toy with them, destroy that hope bit by bit, then enjoy their reactions..."

Wang Jixuan's voice was somewhat cold. "If I say I'll do something, I will do it. Now answer my last question!"

Gu Wending's remnant soul shuddered, his Adam's apple bobbing.

What other secrets did he have? He had already handed over even his last pair of underwear!

Wang Jixuan pondered for a moment.

Gu Wending's expression grew inexplicably tense.

Wang Jixuan suddenly asked, "Where did you hide all that tea of yours?"

Gu Wending's remnant soul slipped, nearly dropping to his knees on the spot.

Wait, this powerful guy was still thinking about his tea leaves?

His tea... Ah, no, the cold storage facility!

This mysterious Psionicist was going to attack the Black Fire Gang's largest cold storage facility!

Zhou Zhengde had only been asleep for three hours when the vibrations and ringing woke him. He barely opened his eyes and pressed the answer button on the simple projection device atop the bedside table.

Several beams of light crossed one another, and a simple half-body projection immediately emerged.

It was Ban Wenying, dressed in a gray business suit.

"Zheng De, I'm sorry to disturb your rest, but you must immediately answer the Minister's question."

"Hm? What?"

Zhou Zhengde rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up a little more, while casually using the blanket to cover his pectoral muscles.

Holding a tablet, Ban Wenying spoke quickly:

"Half an hour ago, reports came in from multiple sources on the forty-ninth floor. The Black Fire Gang was attacked. A mysterious Psionicist raided Black Fire Gang territory, causing at least one hundred and twenty deaths and destroying the Black Fire Gang's largest Underground Facility.

"According to feedback from our informants, that Underground Facility contained a materials repository belonging to the 13th Institute, as well as thirty-six thousand units of blood products prepared for the United Defense Force.

"There were also certain... unsavory black-market products maintained by life-support equipment.

"Because all three power systems in the Underground Facility were deliberately destroyed by that Psionicist, and the passages leading into and out of the cold storage area were disabled by explosives, those black-market products will soon fail or die.

"Furthermore, these words were left on the wall of the cold storage hall."

Ban Wenying turned the tablet toward the camera and leaned closer.

Zhou Zhengde carefully stared at the eight bold, flamboyant characters.

[It's best to keep the entire territory illuminated].

"He made such a huge move?" Zhou Zhengde praised in admiration.

"Zheng De."

Ban Wenying frowned.

"There are no secrets between Upper Cities. It is no secret that you have been transporting equipment to your Psionicist.

"The Minister needs your answer... Are you certain you want to take things this far?

"Those are the Minister's exact words. Her tone was calm. After all, you are the Zhou family's future, and she does not wish to have any further unpleasantness with you over such trivial matters.

"But we could also treat these black-market products as spoils of war."

Zhou Zhengde rubbed both hands over his face. "Sister Ban, you know Mu Liang isn't my Psionicist. He's more like my friend and comrade. We get along very well."

Ban Wenying said, "Yet to this day, you have not provided a report on his origins."

"You have no way to force him to do anything," Zhou Zhengde raised his voice, "and what did you mean just now, Sister Ban? You want to use this opportunity to build up your own power and take over the Black Fire Gang's business, right?"

Ban Wenying said, "This is merely the Minister's question for you."

"Yes, I do intend to take things this far. I can give a definite answer."

Zhou Zhengde spoke quickly:

"I am sorry about the blood products becoming unusable, but I don't think there is anything wrong with striking the Black Fire Gang in this manner!

"If the Minister asks, tell her that this is my choice. Allowing a tiny minority in the fortress to preserve their already overly long lives through organ transplants is an unjust practice that I explicitly oppose."

"Very well. I will relay your answer clearly to the Minister."

Ban Wenying reminded him:

"Can you restrain your Psionicist? Don't let him destroy any more large facilities. Rebuilding those things consumes a great deal of resources."

"That really depends on Mu Liang's mood."

Zhou Zhengde replied with a smile.

He had no intention of trying to dissuade Mu Liang.

At the same time.

On the forty-ninth floor, in a corner of Wanlijin Gang territory.

Inside a quiet little wooden house brimming with spiritual energy.

Wang Jixuan sat bare-chested on the open floor beside the bed, holding his core and guarding the one as he entered a shallow meditative state.

Specks of light invisible to the naked eye gathered toward him. His breathing slowed further and further, and a faint glow emerged beneath his skin.

Behind him, it was as though an enormous curtain had Appeared. Grid after grid emerged upon it, each containing scenes of fairly unremarkable and largely repetitive battles, along with certain...

Sights that dealt a tremendous blow to his Dao heart.

Hundreds of pale corpses hanging up like in a slaughterhouse cold storage room;

"Materials" lying in Nutrient Pods, their skin pierced by tube after tube, their souls nearly dispersed;

"Patients" sent onto operating tables, cut open by doctors wearing prosthetic limbs...

More and more squares appeared, and the curtain gradually could no longer hold them all.

Wang Jixuan's meditating figure remained unmoving, like a reef, like a clay statue.

The mortal world was like a floating pagoda; my Dao was like an immovable stone.

Knock knock knock knock!

A brisk knock at the door shattered those images.

Wang Jixuan opened his eyes and glanced at the simple electronic clock on the wall nearby.

"Brother Tian, it's time to eat!"

Ye Zi's crisp call came from outside the door. Then she ran off, heading to knock on the doors of several other sleepy children.

Wang Jixuan sprang to his feet. His toes made almost no sound when they touched the ground. He grabbed the brown linen shirt nearby and quickly put it on.

When he came downstairs, figures already filled both sides of the long table. Two three-year-old children sat in wooden child seats, and everyone held hands in perfect unison.

That was the rule of the wooden house, set by Old Madam Kong.

Wang Jixuan sat at the end of the dining table and took the hands of the two boys on either side of him, listening as Old Madam Kong spoke in a solemn, earnest tone:

"As long as we help one another and support each other as we move forward, we can light the fire of civilization step by step in the darkness."

The children repeated the words.

"All right, enjoy your food," Old Madam Kong said seriously.

The children immediately began eating, spoons clinking against plastic bowls one after another.

Wang Jixuan had just lowered his head to drink some porridge when his Spiritual Sense twitched faintly.

Today's porridge... Hm? Drugged again?

This was the third time since he had arrived. Unlike the previous two, which had been fixed on weekend nights, this time came only two days after the last.

Could the Black Fire Gang be holding their meeting early?

Because of his attack tonight?

Wang Jixuan began gulping down the delicious rice porridge.