The Blood Wolf Gang's Fangs

Deep within the industrial zone west of the city, the shadows of abandoned factories stretched like crouching beasts, devouring the last vestiges of twilight.

The pungent smell of rust and the faint scent of blood still lingered in the air, now overshadowed by an even colder, more viscous killing intent.

Lin Xiao sat cross-legged in his makeshift shelter, enveloped by the deep shadows cast by the massive base of a stamping machine.

Inside his body, the True Qi from the Surging Waves Art flowed steadily through his widened and strengthened meridians, like a surging underground river. Each circulation brought a solid sense of replenished strength.

His right shoulder and back throbbed with a deep, marrow-piercing itch, a signal of flesh and blood furiously regenerating under the dual nourishment of new True Qi and Jade Marrow Muscle Growth Powder.

[Source Energy Points: +0.01 (Surplus)]

The deep blue light screen in his mind remained stable and serene. The cracks that once marred it were now mere faint silver lines, like inscriptions on an ancient artifact, its core pulsing with robust strength.

Though the surplus was meager, it represented a solid foundation. His armory might be small, but it was now active.

He twirled a tiny fragment, chipped from a low-grade Energy Stone from the Wild Dog Mine, between his fingertips. With a slight mental nudge.

[Target Locked: Low-grade Energy Stone Fragment (Trace)... Energy Attributes: Mixed, Unstable... Can be converted into Source Energy Points in small amounts... Absorb?]

"Absorb."

[Absorption Complete. Gained Source Energy Points: +0.001.]

[Source Energy Points: +0.01 + 0.001 = +0.011!]

An imperceptible warm current flowed in, and the core's pulse seemed to gain a touch more contentment. It was the slow, steady path to repairing his foundation and solidifying his cultivation.

"Brother Xiao! Brother Xiao!"

Fatty Wang emerged from the shadows at the factory entrance like a rolling ball of flesh, scrambling towards Lin Xiao in a panic. The fat on his face jiggled violently with extreme fear, his small eyes bloodshot and wide with terror.

"What's the rush?" Lin Xiao didn't even lift his eyelids, his voice calm and unwavering. He continued to twirl the energy stone fragment, as if playing with a priceless treasure.

"Scarface... Scarface Qiang! That lunatic... he... he's gone mad!"

Fatty Wang gasped for breath, his voice trembling with a hint of tears. "I just got the intel from Old Weasel! Scarface Qiang suffered a huge loss at the Weasel's Den, a complete humiliation. He was chewed out by the Blood Wolf Gang higher-ups when he got back! He... he blamed everything on you! Said you're a jinx, a bane to the Blood Wolf Gang!"

Lin Xiao's fingers, toying with the fragment, paused slightly. A cold curve touched the corner of his lips.

As expected. Just the barking of a cornered dog.

"And then?" he asked indifferently.

"Then... then he reported it!"

Fatty Wang's voice quivered. "He reported it to Scorpion! One of the true leaders of the Blood Wolf Gang's territory in the west of the city! Ruthless and vicious, ten times more poisonous than Scarface Qiang! I heard he was an expert in poisons in his early years before he started practicing martial arts, and his skills are incredibly sinister!"

Scorpion? Lin Xiao's gaze sharpened slightly.

He had heard this name from Fatty Wang and Skinny Monkey. Scorpion was a powerful figure in the Blood Wolf Gang's western territory, second only to a few top bosses. He was cunning, employed insidious methods, and rarely showed himself.

Scarface Qiang actually managed to alert him?

"What did Scorpion say?" Lin Xiao's voice remained calm, but the aura around him subtly deepened.

"Scorpion... issued a death order!"

Fatty Wang swallowed hard, his face drained of color. He lowered his voice to a whisper, but it carried a bone-chilling coldness. "'At all costs, leave no loose ends, eliminate Lin Xiao completely!' He... he sent Viper!"

"Viper?" Lin Xiao frowned.

He hadn't heard this name before.

"He's Scorpion's most insidious, most venomous dog!"

Fatty Wang's eyes widened with even greater fear. "No one knows his real name, and no one has ever seen his face clearly! All we know is that he's like a real viper, hiding in the shadows, striking for a fatal blow! His strength... it's said to be very close to a two-star martial artist! And the most terrifying thing is his weapon, rumored to be an alloy stiletto coated in potent poison, lethal upon contact with blood! Brother Xiao, this time it's different! Scorpion has made his move, and Viper has come! He... he truly wants you dead!"

Close to a two-star martial artist! Poison-coated stiletto! Stealth assassination, fatal blow!

The information Fatty Wang brought was like cold venom, instantly injected into the air!

The already oppressive atmosphere in the abandoned factory suddenly became a deathly silence before a storm, filled with suffocating killing intent!

Scarface Qiang's crazed revenge had escalated!

Scorpion's involvement meant the Blood Wolf Gang's higher-ups had truly decided to kill him!

The deployment of a vicious assassin like "Viper," specializing in stealth kills, posed a far greater threat than a brute force attacker like Scarface Qiang!

Lin Xiao slowly stood up.

The aura of a Martial Disciple peak no longer held back, like a slumbering ferocious beast awakening. A condensed, powerful presence naturally spread out, drowning out Fatty Wang's terrified babbling.

His expression was calm, but his eyes were as sharp as unsheathed cold blades as he scanned the steel labyrinth being gradually consumed by darkness.

[Environmental Scan Initiated...]

[Targets: Heavy Stamping Machine (Stable Base), Suspended Rusted Steel Beam (Connection Point A Rust Level 79%), Abandoned Oil Drum D (Internal Residue: Unknown Highly Corrosive Liquid), Ventilation Duct (Narrow, Hidden Entrance)...]

[Modifiable Items: ...Instantly Amplify Metal Fatigue Effect on Rusted Steel Beam Connection Point A (+12%)... Required Source Energy Points: 0.05...]

[Modifiable Items: ...Fine-tune Volatility of Unknown Liquid in Oil Drum D (+3%)... Required Source Energy Points: 0.02...]

The prompt sounds were clear and steady, like the most composed strategist analyzing the battlefield.

But Lin Xiao knew that facing a "Viper" who was close to two-star and skilled in stealth and deadly assassination, the utilization of the environment had to be more precise, more lethal!

Any slight oversight could cost him his life.

"X... Brother Xiao, let's... let's run?"

Fatty Wang looked at Lin Xiao's terrifyingly calm face and grew more panicked. "Better to live to fight another day..."

"Run?" Lin Xiao interrupted him, his voice low and cold, with an undeniable decisiveness. "Run where? If you're targeted by a Scorpion, or pursued by a Viper like this, you can run to the ends of the earth, and they'll still chase you down and bite you."

He glanced at Fatty Wang's pale face. "Fatty, if you're scared, find a mouse hole and hide. If you're not, do as I say."

"I... I'll listen to Brother Xiao!" Fatty Wang gritted his teeth, the fat on his face trembling. A hint of desperate ruthlessness flashed in his eyes. He knew that his only chance of survival was to cling to Lin Xiao.

"Good." A cold glint flashed in Lin Xiao's eyes. "First, you go find Skinny Monkey immediately and have him use his entire network to dig up information on the 'Viper'! Their usual methods, possible hiding spots, any clues! Even rumors, report them to me!"

"Second, you personally go near the 'Wild Dog Mine'. Don't get too close, just keep watch from a distance. See if the Blood Wolf Gang is still there, if there's any unusual activity. Especially... if any unfamiliar faces appear who are particularly secretive and have a chilling aura!"

"Third," Lin Xiao pulled out a small, oil-paper-wrapped metal tube from his inner pocket (a simple signal jammer bought from the black market, one of the things Fatty Wang had acquired earlier), and handed it to Fatty Wang. "If you find anything unusual, or feel extreme danger, crush this immediately! It will emit a one-time, very small-range powerful interference signal, and I'll know."

Fatty Wang took the cold metal tube, as if holding a life-saving straw, and nodded forcefully. "Understood! Brother Xiao! I'm going now!"

Watching Fatty Wang's bulky figure scramble away into the darkness of the factory entrance, Lin Xiao slowly withdrew his gaze.

He walked over to the massive stamping machine and gently caressed its cold, rough, oil-stained metal base.

In his mind, the faint blue light screen operated stably, clearly feeding back the base's structure, center of gravity, and connection points to the ground.

"Here... I can set up a trap."

Lin Xiao murmured to himself, his will subtly shifting. "Scan and lock onto support point C at the southwest corner of the base's bottom. Weak point in structural strength... Fine-tune its metal fatigue accumulation rate (instantaneous +15%)... Required Source Energy Points: 0.03..."

[Command received! Source Energy Points deducted: 0.03!]

[Source Energy Points: +0.011 - 0.03 = -0.019 (Slight Overdraft)!]

[Parameter modification in progress... Modification complete!]

A slight dizziness washed over him, a faint emptiness stirring in the depths of his soul. But Lin Xiao's eyes remained unwavering.

He walked over to the pile of discarded oil drums, his gaze locking onto one of them marked with a hazardous corrosion symbol (D).

The modifier's scan showed that it contained residual viscous liquid of unknown composition but extremely high volatility.

"Target: Residual liquid inside oil drum D... Fine-tune its molecular surface activity (instantaneously reduce surface tension, increase volatile diffusion speed)... Required Source Energy Points: 0.01..."

[Command received! Source Energy Points deducted: 0.01!]

[Source Energy Points: -0.019 - 0.01 = -0.029!]

[Parameter modification complete!]

The overdraft deepened, but Lin Xiao paid it no mind.

He finally looked up at the massive I-beam beam overhead, its rust-covered connection points precariously dangling. This was the weapon he had used to smash Scarface Qiang's ambush.

"Old friend... I'll borrow you one more time." Lin Xiao's eyes were cold, his will locking onto connection point A. "Target: Hanging steel beam connection point A... Instantaneously amplify rust effect and metal fatigue (+10%)... Required Source Energy Points: 0.04..."

[Command received! Source Energy Points deducted: 0.04!]

[Source Energy Points: -0.029 - 0.04 = -0.069!]

[Parameter modification complete! Warning! Source Energy Points are in a moderate overdraft state! Core stability decreased!]

A strong sense of emptiness and a needle-like sting instantly swept through his consciousness!

Lin Xiao swayed slightly, steadying himself by leaning on the nearby steel frame.

Fine cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his face paled slightly.

The continuous modifications, especially the last one affecting the heavy steel beam, consumed a huge amount of energy!

[Source Energy Points: -0.069 (Moderate Overdraft)]!

The cost was immense! But worth it!

The base trap, the corrosive poison mist, the falling steel beam... a triple kill, interlinked!

This was the steel tomb he had prepared for himself, and for the "Viper" that was about to arrive!

He walked to the darkest corner of the factory's depths, where a section of a broken, massive concrete pipe lay. The internal space was narrow, barely enough for one person to curl up.

The pipe opening was cleverly concealed by twisted metal sheets and debris, leaving only a few narrow observation slits.

This was a blind spot for vision, and the best ambush point.

Lin Xiao, like a leopard merging with the shadows, slid silently into the depths of the pipe and curled up.

The cold pipe wall pressed against his back, sending a bone-chilling cold, but it also made him more alert. He suppressed his breathing to the lowest level, slowed his heartbeat, and completely concealed his presence like a hibernating snake.

The True Qi of the "Surging Waves Art" flowed slowly within his body, like a lurking undercurrent, ready to erupt into a raging tide at any moment!

In his right palm, the alloy dagger, slightly enhanced by the modifier, was tightly gripped, its cold touch bringing a sense of stability.

His left hand's five fingers were slightly spread, a wisp of condensed True Qi from the "Surging Waves Art" lingering at his fingertips, ready to disrupt or detonate the pre-set traps.

In his mind, the faint blue light screen operated at full capacity, with the [Environment Monitoring] mode activated!

Like countless invisible sensors, it clearly fed back any subtle changes in light, sound, airflow, and even energy fluctuations within the factory entrance, the areas where he had set traps, and within a ten-meter radius of his hiding spot in the pipe!

Time ticked by, second by agonizing second, in the deathly silence.

The abandoned factory was like a colossal steel coffin, with only the mournful sigh of the night wind whistling through broken windows and twisted steel frames, like the lament of the undead.

[WARNING! Detected faint abnormal airflow disturbance! Source: Damaged ventilation shaft, southeast side! Disturbance pattern: Unnatural wind! Suspected biological infiltration!]

The alert tone, like a cold alarm bell, suddenly rang out in the depths of Lin Xiao's consciousness!

They're here!

Lin Xiao's pupils contracted to the size of pinpricks in the darkness!

The muscles in his entire body tensed instantly like bowstrings, only to relax to the extreme in the next moment, entering an optimal state for explosion!

He didn't move.

He didn't even glance in the direction of the ventilation shaft.

Like the most patient hunter, waiting for the Viper to fully enter the trap and reveal its fatal seven inches!

Deep within the factory, in darkness as thick as ink, a figure even more somber and viscous than the shadows, like a weightless phantom, "flowed" silently in through a broken ventilation shaft on the southeast side, no larger than a washbasin.

There was no sound.

No breath.

It was as if even light was swallowed by the specially made, pitch-black tight-fitting suit he wore, which absorbed all illumination.

Only a pair of eyes, flickering with two points of cold, inhuman emerald light under the shadow of his hood, like a true Viper.

"Viper," had arrived.