They Made the First Move

Oaks watched from the rooftop as the poor bastard was wrapped into a dumpling by a mass of vines in less than three seconds.

"No. 6! What's going on? Answer me! No. 6!"

Urgent calls came through the communicator, but unfortunately, poor No. 6 was now completely unable to move.

The communicator only picked up a brief cry, followed by faint struggling and the rustling sound of something moving...

A block away, an ordinary small van was parked by the roadside. Inside its cargo compartment, the leader of the operation frowned and lowered his communicator.

"No. 6 messed up. Damn it, I told him not to let his guard down!"

"Captain, what's the background of that charity organization?"

Three other team members were beside him. This had originally been nothing more than an ordinary kidnapping job.

"It's just a toy for the rich. This kind of thing isn't unusual."

A trace of disdain appeared on the Captain's face.

"Normally, with something that massive backing them, I would've hesitated to take this job.

But now their backer can barely protect himself—No. 7, drive us over. Head straight for the target block. Heavy weapons are authorized this time!"

A vicious glint flashed through his eyes.

"Once we finish this job, we'll have enough to live comfortably for the rest of our lives!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Having raised a rather strange death flag, the mercenary team hurried toward the Benevolence Society headquarters. Meanwhile, Oaks directly brought the dumpling-wrapped poor bastard, No. 6, to Melinda.

"May, we've got work."

"Hm? What's that?"

Melinda had been organizing a proposal. Seeing Oaks drag a dumpling in like that, he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"So you're into bondage play?"

"...He's an intruder, May. Moco and Coco found him."

Oaks kicked the dumpling over to Melinda.

"He has accomplices outside. They should be here soon. I'll go take a look. I'm leaving this guy with you—I trust you're much better at interrogations and taking statements than I am."

As expected, Melinda smiled. Oaks silently observed a moment of mourning for the dumpling, then added fuel to the fire.

"Besides, they're smashing up the place you oversee, May. If it were me, I definitely wouldn't put up with it."

"Bullshit. I oversee this place, but it belongs to you."

Melinda rolled his eyes, put away the documents in his hands, walked up to the dumpling, and kicked it twice.

"Unwrap it. He can't even move anymore, and taking him apart will be a hassle."

Oaks snapped his fingers, and the vines slowly loosened, revealing poor No. 6.

The guy had already passed out from lack of oxygen.

"He's all yours, May. I'm heading out first."

"No problem."

Oaks left, and Melinda took out his phone and made a call.

"Coulson? The place I oversee got invaded. Now I suspect this guy's target is the one you're watching over...

Yeah, that's right. Get over here, bring some people..."

"Boom—!"

A tremendous crash rang out. Melinda grinned.

"Just come collect the bodies."

Oaks had just reached the entrance when he heard the loud crash. A van smashed straight through the front gate and charged inside.

"Shit, are villains these days all this brain-dead?"

He waved away the Benevolence Society members who had rushed over after hearing the commotion.

"Go hide in the Treehouse. Nobody comes out."

"But Chairman, those guys..."

"Relax. They're dead today."

A fierce glint flashed through Oaks's eyes. Standing where he was, he watched several thick vines abruptly sprout from the ground beneath the van, wrapping it up tightly in the blink of an eye.

"Fuck! What the hell is this?!"

The rear compartment opened, and the Captain rushed out with two fully armed team members. But No. 7 in the driver's seat was nowhere near as fortunate.

Even the doors had been bound shut. He couldn't open them.

"Damn it!"

He slammed his foot down on the accelerator, the engine roaring as it tried to break free from the vines.

But even thicker vines surged forth, lifting the entire van off the ground—the engine could have all the power in the world, but it was useless with the tires spinning in midair.

No. 7 had no choice but to smash open the driver-side window and prepare to jump out—

But what greeted him were crazily surging vines that even filled the entire cab!

As No. 7's screams gradually drowned beneath the vines filling the cab, the Captain, No. 8, and No. 9 shuddered violently despite being fully armed.

What the hell were these things?!

"Stop! I said fucking stop!"

The Captain raised his submachine gun and aimed it at Oaks, who was calmly standing there with his arms folded, watching the show. He had already realized that this guy was behind all this weirdness!

"Red hair? Damn it! You're a wizard? Hah! Let's see if you're afraid of bullets!"

The Captain was starting to regret it.

Originally, his plan had been for No. 7 to drive in and draw the attention of whatever guard had caused No. 6 to fail, while the three of them infiltrated from the side and went straight for the target.

But who could have expected them to be beaten senseless the moment they entered?!

And this redheaded guy was the Chairman of the Benevolence Society. Didn't the intel say he was a scientist?

Could science really do this shit?

"The way you lot came to our Benevolence Society headquarters isn't very friendly."

Oaks seemed not to notice the three submachine guns aimed at him at all. He carefully examined the three men.

"That guy from earlier was with you? Who sent you?"

"You think you can get intel out of me? Dream on!"

Seeing that those terrifying vines were confined to the entrance area, the Captain seemed to regain some confidence. He sneered and shook the gun in his hand.

"Now hand over Ho Yinsen! The physics doctor!"

The Captain barked fiercely.

"We don't want to make trouble. Hand him over, and we'll leave immediately!"

"What about your other two companions?"

Oaks tilted his head slightly and spotted Zhang Zheng and Dr. Yinsen at the Treehouse entrance. Blaze was waving his cane, stopping the other overly curious people from sticking their heads out.

Hearing that the enemies had come for him, Dr. Yinsen froze for a moment and moved to step forward, only to be firmly held back by Blaze and Zhang.

"They came for me! If I go out, they probably won't hurt anyone else!"

"Please don't, Dr. Yinsen! Mr. Oaks will handle it!"

"Dr. Yinsen, Chairman isn't an ordinary person. Just watch."

Oaks turned back and shrugged.

"What if I don't hand him over?"

"Then I'll kill you and find him myself!"

The Captain growled and decisively opened fire—this Chairman was too strange. Better end this quickly...

"Boom!"

The submachine gun in his hands exploded.

Fresh green branches sprouted from the exploded barrel—the entire barrel had been tightly blocked shut!

The atmosphere fell deathly silent.

The Captain's hands were bloody from the explosion. Just as he was about to raise them in surrender, a thick vine pierced straight through him from behind.

Amid his agonized scream, the other two team members were also disarmed and impaled, collapsing to the ground.

"This was... self-defense."

Oaks looked at Coulson, who had rushed through the entrance with several people, and shrugged.

"They made the first move."

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