Bade's Arrogance
Seeing Walter's provocative smile on the monitor, Sea Emperor was so angry he almost jumped up and down. "That guy is so arrogant!"
Gu Ding, on the other hand, seemed more composed. "We really can't interfere with what he's doing. Even if we notify those being hunted, they won't get far. It's only a matter of time before they're caught. There are quite a few people in the military who are good at tracking."
"Sea Emperor, are there any particularly strong individuals on the military's current manhunt list? While we can't save everyone, notifying the stronger ones should cause significant trouble for the military," Liliath suggested, offering another approach.
"In this list, only Bade has a bounty of over 100 million. The other guys with bounties over 100 million are all very cautious, but this guy has swaggered into the downtown shopping mall with his team, and has been shopping for more than 20 minutes now." Sea Emperor filtered through the list and found that the only one with real strength in this wave of manhunts was Bade, who was ranked first on the rookie Ranking List.
Sea Emperor projected a video of Bade. The guy was dressed like a thug, wearing jeans that looked like they'd been scratched by Meow Star People, and a black leather jacket half-open, revealing a thick chest hair underneath. A metal chain about the thickness of a thumb hung from his waist, and eight of his ten fingers were adorned with oddly shaped rings. His hairstyle was a spiky pompadour, dyed a brilliant gold that even reflected light under the lamplight, clearly using high-quality hair dye.
"Help me connect with him." Gu Ding planned to make contact with the other party.
Sea Emperor quickly dialed Bade's communicator, and when Bade saw the unknown number calling, he answered the call without hesitation.
"Bade, this is Gu Ding." This was Gu Ding's opening line. "Listen, a Military Department Lieutenant General is leading a ten-man squad toward your location. You'd better leave the mall as soon as possible, or you'll be in big trouble."
"Oh, it's Gu Ding. I didn't expect to get a call from you. I had forgotten you were a super hacker who could find me through video." Bade said, waving at the nearby camera as if to say hello.
"This guy... is incredibly arrogant." Liliath was speechless at his actions.
"Did you see me waving at you?" Bade asked into the communicator.
"I saw it. You'd better run away as soon as possible. There are too many surveillance cameras in a shopping mall. You've already completely exposed your location. Get out of here quickly." Gu Ding was speechless at the other party's behavior.
"Why did you leave?" Bade suddenly countered. "I deliberately lured the military here. I knew that given enough time, they would pinpoint my location. So I've been wandering around here..."
Bade paused mid-sentence, glanced at the time, and continued, "About twenty-three minutes. It seems the military isn't very efficient; it took them so long."
"Are you using yourself as bait to ambush them?" Gu Ding immediately understood the other party's idea.
"Bingo! You got it right!" Bade gave a thumbs up towards the location of the monitor. "If I don't do something soon, your bounty will surpass mine. I'm not going to give up the Rookie King of the Year title."
"If you want to ambush someone, why not do it at the port?" Gu Ding wondered.
"There are too many people at the port, and although there are plenty of surveillance cameras, my fight will definitely be overshadowed by others. Look how great this shopping mall is; it has so many cameras, and only my team and I will be fighting the military. Everything that happens here will be recorded, uploaded to the heavens, and once the military sees it, my bounty will go up again. Gu Ding, you won't be able to catch up to my bounty so easily." Bade grinned at the surveillance cameras. "If there's nothing else, I'll hang up. Of course, if you're interested, you can also watch my performance tonight."
After hanging up the call, Liliath was indignant. "That guy is so arrogant. We were just trying to warn him, and he actually provoked us. He deserved to be caught."
"Sea Emperor, check all the surveillance footage in the mall. Can you find out where his other members are hiding?" Gu Ding remembered something after hearing Bade's words.
Sea Emperor searched the area but found nothing. "Nothing. All we can see is him alone. We haven't found any other members. They must have hidden themselves using some special method."
"Let's watch his battle. He'll be a good opportunity for us to test the strength of these people in the military," Gu Ding said to the Sea Emperor.
Meanwhile, at the port, a Senior Colonel responsible for monitoring the movements of these Interstellar Pirate also saw the video of Bade's recent phone call. He felt something was amiss, so he extracted a clip from the video and approached Walter. "Sir," he said, "I just saw a video of Bade, and something seems off."
Walter nodded, and the video was immediately projected. Emily, who was not far away, also came over.
The video had no sound. In the video, Bade answered a call and then started waving at the monitor, which caught Walter's attention.
"Who was he talking to just now?" Walter asked. "You guys are monitoring their Smart Watch, aren't you?"
"Cannot be found, the number is not in service." The Senior Colonel also seemed a little uneasy. He just felt that the video was a bit strange, but there was no other useful information.
"His call was with Gu Ding. If I'm not mistaken, Gu Ding was warning him to escape, but he refused." Emily nodded to the Senior Colonel. "Continue playing!"
The video finished playing quickly, and Emily's face turned cold after watching it. "Send two more teams to Bade as soon as possible, or our team will be wiped out."
"Big sister, what did he say?" Walter couldn't help but ask.
"He was just bait. His team was hiding in this mall, waiting to ambush us. He told Gu Ding that he was doing all this to increase his bounty and solidify his position as the Rookie King." With Emily's insightful abilities, she easily read his lips. Although his face was only exposed to the surveillance camera for a short time, it was enough for Emily to deduce what she wanted.
Upon hearing Emily's words, Walter's expression changed slightly. "Cancel the missions of the other two groups closest to this mall and send them to reinforce immediately. Also, send two more groups to capture the other two."
"Yes, sir!" The Senior Colonel received the order and left immediately.
"It seems Bade is in big trouble this time." Gu Ding and his group had also noticed these changes in the military. After thinking for a moment, he had Sea Emperor send a message to Bade: "The military is sending two squads to pursue you."
Upon seeing the message, Bade replied with a disdainful look, "It doesn't matter how many come, just wait and see my performance!"
Upon seeing this message, Gu Ding was speechless and didn't say anything more.
As soon as the order came from the military headquarters, the other two groups rushed over immediately, while the original group was told to wait where they were and wait for the other two groups to assemble.
"What's going on? Why are two more groups being added to our mission?" one member complained.
These kinds of tasks usually distribute merit points by group; the more people there are, the fewer Merit Points each person receives.
"Yeah, other capture missions only have one person per group, why do we need three groups? Isn't the target that newbie Bade? He hasn't reached the Eighth Order Gene Body yet, so he shouldn't be a big threat, right?" another person asked, also somewhat puzzled.
"This is an order from above, there's no need to question it. They made this decision on short notice, there must have been a change in circumstances." The leading lieutenant general appeared very calm. He had fought alongside Walter before, and he knew Walter must have his reasons for making this arrangement. "Also, don't underestimate these newcomers, especially Rookie King like Bade. Their actual Combat Strength is usually much higher than their genetic level. Besides, these guys haven't been in the industry for long, we don't really know what their specific abilities are."
Hearing the lieutenant general say that, the others finally shut up. Although some still had grievances in their hearts, they did not speak again.
Not long after, the other two groups arrived at the gathering point.
"Chat, what's going on? Why was our mission canceled at the last minute, and why were we sent here to reinforce you instead?" A Bald Head man, the leader of another group, spoke in a very loud voice, "Could it be that you got stage fright at the last minute?"
"Chat, requesting backup doesn't sound like you. Has something happened to the target?" The other team leader looked slightly older, with some gray hair and beard. He was much more composed. His rank was higher than the other two; he was a general, and his strength was among the best of the Eighth Order Gene Body.
"Senior Kellum, I didn't request support. It was a last-minute arrangement from above. I don't know what happened," Chat explained helplessly. "They just told me to stay put and wait for the other two groups to join us before setting off to carry out the mission."
"Was it an order from Walter?" Kellum asked, frowning slightly.
"Judging from the signatures on the order, it was jointly signed by Walter and Lady Emily." The probe projected the message from earlier.
Upon seeing this, even the Bald Head man's expression changed slightly. "It seems this might be a tough battle."
"Everyone, be careful. This is a last-minute reinforcement, which means the enemy is stronger than expected. This isn't a military exercise; it's real combat. I just looked up some information about Bade on the way here; he's an extremely dangerous, bloodthirsty maniac. Don't let carelessness cost you your life." Kellum seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation and shouted to the three teams.
His words made even some people who weren't initially concerned start to feel a little nervous.
"The other party is in that shopping mall, let's go!" (To be continued.)