Night Raid on the Gambling Den

The back alley behind the "Obsidian" Bar was filthier and darker than the street out front. Mountains of rotting garbage gave off a nauseating sour stench, mixed with the pungent odors of cheap alcohol and urine until they seemed almost solid. The only light came from a precarious, dim yellow wall lamp. Its shade was caked with grease and dead insects, casting warped, swaying shadows.

Lin Xiao pressed himself against the cold, damp brick wall like a gecko, forcing his breathing to a minimum. His eyes, hidden beneath the brim of his hat, adapted to the darkness as they keenly scanned the back door.

A burly man wearing the Blood Wolf Gang's signature red vest had his hat cocked to one side as he leaned against a stained green trash bin. He looked as though he were dozing, but one hand remained pressed against the bulging knife hilt at his waist. An obvious sentry. Another man paced back and forth nearby, looking somewhat agitated. Every so often, he kicked an empty liquor bottle on the ground, producing an ear-piercing clatter. A hidden sentry? No, far too obvious. The real hidden sentry...

Lin Xiao's gaze fixed on the shadow of an extremely concealed ventilation grille above the back door. It had almost completely blended into the darkness, but an exceedingly faint breath, nearly impossible to detect, and the tiny red glow of burning tobacco had not escaped his senses, honed through countless brushes with death.

Three. Just as the intelligence had indicated.

He couldn't wait any longer. Every additional second increased the risk of exposure.

His thoughts sank into his mind, and that dim-blue screen struggled to light up. The number -1.510 was like a red-hot brand, radiating a feeling of desperate depletion. A cold throb came from the Viper's Kiss core deep within his right leg, as though mocking his overestimation of himself.

"Let's begin." Lin Xiao's will was cold and resolute, like the pulling of a trigger.

Command confirmed! Targets: back-alley wall lamp circuit interface (aging), back door electronic lock core (inferior), second-floor main breaker fuse (overloaded)... Execution order interference: short circuit, malfunction, burn out! Source Energy Points consumed: 0.5!

Source Energy Points: -1.510 - 0.5 = -2.010!

Modification initiated!

Vmmm—!!!

A void and agony far more violent than anything before instantly devoured Lin Xiao! It was as though a huge chunk of his soul had been forcibly excavated! His vision abruptly went black as countless bloody strings of garbled code and static flashed wildly. A shrill ringing pierced his ears like steel needles! Great mouthfuls of bloody sweetness surged up his throat. He clamped his teeth down and forced it back, but a trace of dark-red blood had already seeped from the corner of his mouth. His right leg instantly turned cold and numb, as if it no longer belonged to him. The dark-green Viper's Kiss core throbbed frenziedly, radiating a greedy chill!

Warning! Core depletion has breached the safety threshold! Stability is critically dangerous! Viper's Kiss contamination activity +50%! Erosion rate: 0.05%! Risk of consciousness interruption: High!

The icy alert sounded like a summons from hell!

Yet the changes in the real world were even more horrifying and immediate!

Snap! Bzzzt—!

The already precarious, dim yellow wall lamp suddenly erupted in a huge burst of dazzling electric sparks! The shade was burned through in an instant, and the bulb exploded, sending glass fragments flying in every direction! The entire back alley plunged into absolute darkness!

"Fuck! What's going on?!" The burly man dozing against the trash bin was startled into leaping up. He stared uncertainly toward the shattered wall lamp.

At almost the same moment!

Click, click, click!

The thick iron back door with its electronic lock emitted a string of grating, bizarre noises from inside the lock core, as if gears had jammed and were being forcibly turned anyway! The red light on the electronic display flashed wildly several times, then went out completely! The door lock... had failed!

"Damn it! Is the lock broken?!" The pacing gang member was startled as well. Cursing under his breath, he walked to the door and shoved it hard, but the iron door did not budge at all. (The electronic lock had deadbolted.)

"What are you making all that noise for?!" An angry, suppressed curse came from the ventilation grille. The hidden sentry had clearly been disturbed by the commotion below and poked his head out to investigate.

Now!

In that brief one- or two-second window of chaos, with darkness descending, the lock core making strange noises, and all the guards' attention drawn away!

Lin Xiao moved!

He burst from the corner like a shadow merging with the darkness itself! He moved so quickly that only a blurred afterimage remained. That scant True Qi from the Surging Waves Art poured into both his legs without reserve, erupting with the power of one final sprint! He forcibly ignored the cold numbness in his right leg. Every step felt like treading on knife points, bringing stabbing pain, yet it did not affect his speed or precision in the slightest!

His target—the hidden sentry who had just poked his head out of the ventilation shaft!

The hidden sentry had just finished cursing, and his eyes had not yet fully adjusted to the darkness below. He only felt a cold wind carrying the aura of death suddenly rush up at him from beneath! The alarm bells in his mind rang wildly. He had just begun to pull his head back and shout a warning—

Too late!

Lin Xiao's figure shot into the air like a ghost. His left hand pressed briefly against the filthy wall to gain leverage, while the dark-blue dagger in his right hand transformed into a streak of icy light and thrust upward with pinpoint accuracy into the exposed throat of the hidden sentry!

Squelch!

The sound was extremely faint, like a ripe fruit splitting open.

The hidden sentry's body jerked rigid. Every sound and movement froze. His bulging eyes were filled with utter terror and confusion, as if he could not understand why death had come so suddenly. Blood gushed from the dagger's fuller, dripping onto the garbage heap below with soft pattering sounds.

Lin Xiao did not pause for even a moment. He twisted his wrist and withdrew the dagger, his body dropping as weightlessly as if it had no mass. As he descended, the tip of his left foot made an almost imperceptible, gentle tap against the hidden sentry's shoulder before the body had completely gone limp, canceling out the sound of his landing.

The entire assassination had been clean and decisive, silent and soundless, completed in the blink of an eye!

Below, the two obvious sentries were still cursing the broken lock and shattered lightbulb. They had not noticed in the slightest that a life had already quietly vanished in the darkness above their heads.

Lin Xiao landed and curled up like a wildcat in the shadows behind the trash bin, breathing heavily. Every breath carried the pain of his soul being torn apart and a thick, bloody taste. The ghostly light of -2.010 flashed frantically in his mind, nearly going out completely. He fought down the urge to faint, his gaze like poisoned shards of ice as it locked onto his next target—the burly man leaning beside the trash bin, still shaken out of his wits.

The hunt had only just begun.