At 4:15, a carriage suddenly appeared at the far end of the road leading to Wangshui Manor.
The gate guards noticed it immediately and prepared to go question the driver. But they soon realized something was wrong—the carriage was completely unmanned. Only two black horses were galloping at full speed, with no sign of slowing down!
Before the guards could sound the alarm, the carriage crashed into the manor's iron gates with a thunderous bang. The flimsy gates collapsed on impact, and the carriage hurtled far into the grounds before plunging headfirst into the courtyard pond.
"Damn it, whose carriage is that?"
"Fuck, don't they know whose turf this is?"
While everyone's attention was drawn to the crash, Taylor, who had already taken cover by the manor's perimeter fence, launched the first attack!
Bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang—
The sharp crack of gunfire tore through the night!
Short bursts of two or three rounds were virtually impossible to miss at a distance of a hundred meters. The kerosene lamps hanging from the enemies' belts made perfect targets. In the blink of an eye, four men were hit and fell to the ground!
"We're under attack!"
"Someone's attacking us!"
At last, the alarm whistles at the various guard posts sounded. The manor's bodyguards woke from their drowsiness and began returning fire. But the night concealed Taylor's position. They could only roughly tell where the shots were coming from, not pinpoint him.
Just as they tried to move in and surround the attackers, a CQ-B opened fire from their undefended flank, catching them in a crossfire.
Bullets tore through the crowd, leaving them utterly helpless.
The guards realized that no matter where they ran, they couldn't escape the bullets, which came for them like the Reaper.
"We can't hold this place!"
"How many of them are there?!"
A powerful sense of absurdity filled everyone. It was as if they were still trapped in a dream!
An ambush this suffocating should have involved at least forty or fifty people, yet they couldn't find the enemy's main force anywhere. And there were always people on night watch outside the manor. How could such a large group have reached the gates without anyone noticing?!
At 4:20, the manor's courtyard fell. Aside from the dozen or so bodies lying on the ground, the few survivors all fled.
"This theater... is beyond saving."
Woody gazed at the raging fire before him, his eyes full of indignation. The Second Prince's delegation had visited this place not long ago, and now, less than a week later, it had burned to the ground. It was a slap in the face to the lord of Glorious Fortress! "Damn it, are the people at North City Police Station sleepwalking? They still haven't sent a single officer! My lady—"
"Shh." Sandella raised a hand to quiet him.
Her eyes closed, she tilted her head back, as if sensing something.
Then she asked softly, "Do you hear anything?"
Her aide was taken aback. He, too, quieted himself and listened closely, imitating his superior. But all he could hear was the wind blowing, the crackle of burning wood, and the chatter of the onlookers. He could hardly have ignored any of those sounds, even without listening carefully.
"My lady, I don't hear anything..."
"Gunfire." Sandella suddenly opened her eyes. "Continuous gunfire. There are at least forty armed people, and they're engaged in a fierce firefight!"
"You're sure?" Woody asked in surprise. Firearms were restricted in Glorious Fortress. Aside from the City Guard and the police, there were no organized armed forces. The gangs might have had some smuggled weapons, but they could never amount to much. "Could the police be cracking down on a gang?"
But he knew the theory didn't hold up. When the police carried out a large-scale operation, they usually informed the City Guard first to avoid any misunderstandings.
Sandella shook her head. "The sound is coming from the Inner City, probably from a residential neighborhood."
"A residential neighborhood in the Inner City?" Woody felt a chill run down his spine. The city's most powerful and influential people lived there, and security was excellent. How could a gunfight suddenly break out? Still, he didn't dare dismiss his superior's judgment. A master martial artist's senses truly were extraordinary.
"Notify the whole first squad. We're heading to the Inner City immediately!"
"Yes!" Woody acknowledged at once. "Then... what about the arsonist? Are we still going to catch them?"
"Of course." Sandella didn't hesitate. "But I doubt they're here."
Her aide looked confused.
"Let's get there first," she said, offering no further explanation. There was no point trying to explain a hunch; the more she said, the less sense it made. The burning of the Grand Theater and the sudden, concentrated gunfire in the Inner City seemed unrelated, but they had one thing in common: both had come without warning, strange and inexplicable.
Just like the diviner who had suddenly disappeared.
She had a faint feeling that she might find the answer where the gunfire was coming from.
Yes! Keep your weapon steady. Don't let your eyes stray too far from the sights, and be ready to pull the trigger at any moment! Zhang Zhiyuan shouted inside Zhou Zhi's mind. Close-quarters combat is different from fighting outdoors. You can't leave a single blind spot unchecked! Ideally, you'll wipe out the whole enemy force!
"Bro, don't get so worked up. I can hear you." Zhou Zhi laughed helplessly. When he learned that the other "fallen" were still following the game, he'd been fired up. He hadn't expected Zhang Zhiyuan to be even more fired up, giving him an exhaustive, detailed play-by-play at the top of his lungs. "Back at the Grand Theater, weren't you strongly against people being judged in secret? What changed your mind?"
Are you stupid? You're the one shooting, not me! Zhang Zhiyuan snapped. And you saw the mission briefing. What gives them the right to call themselves police? They hide behind the façade of law enforcement while committing atrocities worse than beasts. There's nothing wrong with wiping out scum like that.
By the end, his voice was practically shaking with rage.
"Okay, okay. I'll do my best, all right?" Zhou Zhi replied helplessly. "But honestly... I don't think guns are that hard to use. It's just like playing a shooter game... except there's no bounty reward."
Of course! Zhang Zhiyuan rolled his eyes silently. Just look at what they're carrying. Both sides had guns, but the difference in performance was more than enough to make up for a beginner's lack of skill. At a distance of a hundred meters, the enemies could hardly guarantee a hit with their first shot. With the CQ-B, however, you hit whatever you aimed at. And while the enemy waited to fire again after missing, the automatic rifle's overwhelming firepower had already turned its target into a sieve.
If this had been an even fight, Zhang Zhiyuan reckoned Zhou Zhi could have died ten times over.
It was precisely because they had such an overwhelming advantage in weapons that Taylor and Zhou Zhi had chosen a frontal assault. It was also the fastest way to end the fight.
The strategy had proved highly effective. In less than five minutes, they had stormed the villa from both sides and engaged the bodyguards inside.
The bodyguards didn't even have guns. They were still using melee weapons, mainly swords and knives.
Though they fought harder than the guards outside, they fell even faster. Especially when they tried to seize the brief pauses between shots to charge forward in a desperate gamble, the unrelenting, stormlike barrage left them dying in disbelief.
The two of them charged straight up to the master bedroom on the second floor.
It was where the villa's owner spent most of his time.
A burly figure sat at a long rosewood table. From his clothes, he was clearly different from the guards and bodyguards, and he wore a golden badge on his shoulder.
Without a word, Zhou Zhi opened fire on him!
A cloud of blood burst from the man's back.
"Is that Kuiqi?"
"Who knows? You should've questioned him before shooting."
When their target fell, Taylor stepped forward and turned the man's face toward him. His expression suddenly changed. The dead man's face was badly swollen, and his eye sockets were purplish-black. He'd clearly been dead for quite some time!
It was a corpse that had been deliberately staged!
"Careful. There could be a trap inside—" Taylor had barely begun when a mirrored wardrobe in the room suddenly exploded. A figure shot out amid a storm of flying glass shards and charged at Zhou Zhi. He swung his gun around to defend himself, but the attacker was unbelievably fast. Before Zhou Zhi could pull the trigger, the man's fist had already smashed into his face!
With a thunderous boom, Zhou Zhi was sent flying across the bedroom. He slammed hard into the wall, and the blood he spat out splattered across it in a spiderweb-shaped pattern!
Before you continue