First Kill

Bai Jing had no time to study Ryan's psychological journey. He looked curiously at the building before him.

It seemed like an ordinary building, but there was far more to it inside.

Faint sounds drifted from outside. Even with his hearing, he could only catch this much; ordinary people probably would not hear anything at all.

Ryan led Bai Jing into the building. After passing through several ordinary corridors, he suddenly opened a door marked Fire Exit. In an instant, waves of sound, screams, and shouts crashed over them, deafening enough to pierce the sky!

Bai Jing hurriedly activated his Devour ability around his ears, filtering out most of the noise before he finally felt better.

It seemed this ability would need frequent use.

He could devour some of the light as well. Under normal circumstances, there was no need for his eyesight to be this good.

Beyond the door was what seemed to be a bar, the kind that was extremely lewd. Bai Jing stared in surprise at the young, beautiful women onstage, flaunting their bodies in all sorts of poses he had never seen before. A group of sleazy men surrounded them, occasionally splashing them with alcohol or grabbing a thigh.

So this was decadent capitalism? I loved it!

"Hell's Kitchen is right next to Broadway. Plenty of girls who dream of opera go there chasing their dreams, but Broadway housing is expensive and the cost of living is high. They can only live here and make a living selling their bodies!" Seeing Bai Jing's blank stare, Ryan suddenly realized that this superpowered person seemed to have a weakness after all!

He liked women? That was easy. Hell's Kitchen might lack everything else, but never women!

"Wait, did you say this is Hell's Kitchen?" Bai Jing had caught a key phrase.

"Yeah!" Ryan nodded. "Its official name is Clinton District, but who cares?"

"I think I've heard that before." Bai Jing nodded. Hell's Kitchen really did exist in the real world; it was not something invented by movies and TV shows.

He continued looking at the glittering, decadent scene around him. He could only look, especially in such a dim environment.

If he activated his super vision and scanned things up close, all the grime and grease would become as obvious as lice on Saitama's head. He had already experienced that in the car earlier.

All he could say was that if he had not possessed a black hole capable of devouring things, he would have thrown up.

They passed through the bar and entered the back area. Once they went through another door, the clamor suddenly receded into the distance.

It was a rather long corridor, with suited gang members standing along it. Perhaps Ryan held a fairly high position. When they saw him bringing someone in, they merely nodded and let them pass without even searching them.

"Please." Ryan pushed open a door for Bai Jing. Beyond it was another vast space: an enormous, cleanly decorated floor, bodyguards standing or walking around in small groups, and a bearded boss seated in the middle of the hall, watching TV.

There was no need to ask why he was the boss. Bai Jing did not think anyone other than the boss could smoke cigars and watch SpongeBob in a criminal organization.

"Boss," Ryan called softly.

"Wait a moment." The boss waved a hand and continued watching TV.

"Our boss is Bront Quinn, nicknamed Disaster Rat. He specializes in close-quarters combat and handgun shooting," Ryan said. "The one beside him is Carland Quinn, the boss's younger brother. He retired from the American Marine Corps, and both his hand-to-hand fighting and marksmanship are first-rate!"

Bai Jing did not look at either of them. Instead, he looked at the television.

He quite liked SpongeBob too. Unfortunately, his family had been poor when he was younger, and he had been too busy studying to watch it. By the time he had money, he had been busy gaming and working, with no time to watch.

Lying comfortably on a couch and watching cartoons like this had once been his dream too!

So he strode over, scanned the couch, devoured every speck of dust and every bacterium on it, then lay down.

Bront Quinn turned in astonishment. "Who said you could sit down?"

Smack! Bai Jing slapped a hand onto his shoulder. "Say that again?"

Bai Jing had no desire to communicate peacefully with scum like this. He could just charge right in.

Bront Quinn felt his body weaken in shock. He was proficient in fighting and naturally knew his body extremely well.

In an instant, he determined that this was anemia and oxygen deprivation caused by massive blood loss!

But why? My diet is well-balanced, and I exercise regularly!

Bai Jing picked up the remote, turned off the TV, then looked at Bront Quinn.

"I heard you were interested in my phone?" Bai Jing asked.

"It was you?" Bront Quinn stared at Bai Jing in shock, then turned toward Ryan, his eyes full of resentment. You betrayed me?

"You've got pretty good taste." Bai Jing took out his phone. "This was a smartphone released by Huawei in 2020: a 100-megapixel camera, 8+256G of storage, 66W fast charging, and support for 3G, 4G, and 5G networks. Too bad America cut off Huawei's chip supply, so there will never be a Mate 50!"

He took out the phone, unlocked it with his fingerprint, then posed beside Bront Quinn with a V-sign and snapped a selfie.

Looking at his clear image on the phone, Bront was filled with shock and fear.

These days, a phone with three megapixels was already high-end. Even among digital cameras, those with three megapixels were rare.

Huawei's front camera had twelve megapixels.

It was precisely because he understood the technological value of this phone that he was even more terrified. Why had he ever set his sights on a phone like this?

What kind of force did he belong to? Could I afford to provoke him?

Why was he telling me the phone's specifications so plainly?

After all, there was a capital offense: knowing too much!

"You people are always like this. When something is exclusive to you, you sell it at outrageous prices. When you don't have something, you desperately try to get it, and if you can't, you resort to dirty tricks!" Bai Jing muttered. "You may still be the beacon nation now, but in ten years, everyone will see your true nature..."

"Y-you, what are you talking about? I don't understand..." Bront was almost in tears. What did America acting like a thug have to do with me? If you hate America, then we should be allies!

I'm in the mob. I'm obviously a cancer on America too!

"I've never killed anyone before, but it seems I have no choice now. So I'm talking about things that make me angry, so I can bring myself to do it," Bai Jing said calmly.

"Huh?" Bront froze.

He watched as Bai Jing pulled a silver revolver from his clothes and pressed it against his forehead.

Carland finally realized something was wrong. He drew his gun and fired, the entire process taking less than 0.7 seconds!

Then he saw the gleaming bullet stop beside the yellow man's temple, turn into dust, and silently vanish into the air.

Bang!

Bai Jing finally fired!

It was his first time killing someone, and it felt awful.

He had once been the kind of person who would feel miserable for half a day after accidentally stepping on a snail while walking down the street!

But could he really avoid killing?

If he did not kill Bront, Bront would never give up.

The Mate 40 represented a trillion-dollar market. Not only would Bront be tempted; perhaps even the CIA or FBI would get involved.

Then he would have no choice but to flee, revealing his powers along the way and drawing even stronger pursuers.

It would never end, an endless cycle.

He did not even have money. Was he supposed to rob people all the way?

Should he devour the Mate 40 and destroy the evidence?

That was equally impossible. The Mate 40 was a chance for China to overtake others on a curve. To keep China from suffering that humiliation twelve years later, Bai Jing had to do something!

For example!

Bang!

Bront died!

He turned the gun toward Carland!

After firing once, he already had a clear understanding of the revolver's recoil.

Invisible gravity acted upon the gun, helping stabilize it.

Carland panicked and tried to dodge, but how could he possibly escape in such slow motion?

Bang!

A bullet struck between his brows, killing him instantly!

Carland died!

"The assassin!" The bodyguards standing nearby had actually noticed that something was wrong long ago, but everything had happened too quickly!

Less than a second had passed from the moment Bai Jing drew his gun to the moment he shot both men. Who could react in time?

Some of the elites had only just drawn their guns!

But they did not fire!

Because the boss was already dead, and capturing this gunman alive to learn who had sent him was more important.

After all, if they wanted to rise up and become the boss, avenging the former boss mattered greatly!

More importantly, the young man before them held a gun to his own forehead.

"From today onward, the Gray Squirrel Gang answers to me!" The young man's clear voice echoed through the hall.