Clever Use of [Phantom], the Chen Family's Arms Reserve, a Loud Boom Inside the Building

But Luo Bin still said, "No need. Keep pulling your rickshaw. If you can't survive in Ping City, come find me at the Chen Residence. My name is Luo Bin.

Or you can go to the old Pei Family Manor by Stone Slab Alley and mention my name—the people there will bring you to me..."

Seeing Luo Bin's firmness, Liang Shuisheng hesitated but still sighed, "Thank you for your kindness, young master. Then Shuisheng will take his leave..."

"Go on."

Luo Bin watched Liang Shuisheng pull the rickshaw away with a smile on his face, then turned, his expression darkening as he paced into the broken building.

Sure enough, that yin-cold, damp aura was thick to the extreme. Earlier in the city, a similar aura from the pier had cut it off, causing Luo Bin's perception to falter...

But thinking of this, Luo Bin felt there was something in the waters beneath Long Wind Pier. Otherwise, how could mere damp vapor from the river block his innate ability?

From now on, he had to be careful when passing by the Li River.

In the Fu River, a tributary of the Li River at Ying Water Ferry, lurked a Water Mountain Ghoul pretending to be a "river god" beneath the surface...

If even such small tributaries had Demon Specters, Luo Bin didn't believe the surging eastward Li River held nothing fearsome...

In the southern Pengze Lake, Flood Dragons had been sighted...

Luo Bin directly activated the active talent ability brought by the Water Ghoul's Essence Soul—[Phantom].

The most important aspect of this ability was Breath Concealment: suppressing blood energy, heartbeat, and vital aura, even reducing the amplitude of movements and footsteps while walking...

Stepping on the floorboards, unless someone had exceptionally keen perception or was a Martial Master at Jade Bone Pass or above, Luo Bin was confident he could approach silently.

Inside the city, the [Ping City Women's Normal School] had been repurposed as the headquarters of the "Black Sheath Gang" after the Black Sheath Hall broke away from the Green Bamboo Gang.

Ruan Pei trotted beside Luo Wendi, who was cursing and snarling, his fierce expression scaring the female students leaving class until their hearts trembled...

"Son of a bitch, who this time? The Sun Family, the Jiang Family, or some Demon Specter that's been possessed?

Daring to kidnap the young master?

Ruan Pei!"

"Here!"

Luo Wendi bared his teeth. "Take some brothers to the back warehouse. Load the weapons I got from the Falan Island merchants onto the trucks...

One small howitzer, eight ZB-53 Heavy Machine Guns, and my Thompson Submachine Gun—bring that too. As for the rest of the gear, let the brothers take what they want...

Ruan Pei's heart stirred. Were they really about to do something big?

He immediately turned to call the brothers to the warehouse, but Luo Wendi called him back. "When we leave, count the guns. When we come back, that number better be the same..."

Ruan Pei naturally understood what that meant. Keep the men in line, take when it's time to take, let go when it's time to let go—he kept all that in mind.

Minutes later, jeeps carrying people from near the Chen Residence pulled up in a row along the street. Soon, the Black Sheath Hall brothers around Luo Wendi quickly boarded.

The two trucks loaded with weapons by Ruan Pei also drove out from the warehouse direction.

The convoy headed north.

Ruan Pei rested his arm on the car window and asked, "Boss, are we going to the Sun Family?"

"Not the Sun Family. We're going to 'Red Night.' Sun Jingyao is there. We'll grab him first."

"Got it!"

The convoy slowly moved toward the Red Night Nightclub.

On the way, Ruan Pei saw a rickshaw running toward them from a distance. Focusing, he recognized Liang Shuisheng, who had just taken Luo Bin away.

The man was panting, his face flushed with blood. Seeing Ruan Pei leaning out the window and waving, he immediately ran over...

"Sir, are you looking for where that young gentleman went? He seemed to be searching for someone. He went alone to that haunted building two li north of Long Wind Pier...

If you're going to rescue someone, you might want to head there and help."

Ruan Pei looked at Luo Wendi in the other car. The latter was also leaning on the window. Hearing this, he lit a cigarette and shouted, "Turn around. Head to Long Wind Pier, then north!"

Ruan Pei tossed two silver dollars from the car. As the convoy was about to move, they saw Chen Tianren's Champion Brand car leading a few jeeps behind it... Zhang Huai was among them.

In the passenger seat of the lead Champion black car sat Chen Mansheng...

Seeing Luo Wendi and the others about to turn, Chen Mansheng said to Chen Tianren in the back, "Dad, Uncle Luo and the others just talked to that rickshaw puller, and now they're turning around. Did they find out where little brother is?"

Chen Tianren stroked the pistol at his waist and waved his hand. "Follow them."

The two convoys turned, slow as an aircraft carrier changing course...

Soon, another convoy came from the direction Luo Wendi and the others had originally been heading. Seeing the traffic jam ahead, they honked furiously.

Beep beep beep—

"Which family is that up ahead? Could you make way for the Sun Family? We need to pass." A man in a jacket, looking like a steward, shouted toward the convoys of Chen Tianren and Luo Wendi.

Inside the car, in the back seat, sat a young man with slicked-back hair and a somewhat effeminate look, his fists clenched tight.

"Damn the Chen Family! Damn the Chen Family again!

If anything happens to my sister, I'll blow your Moon Veil Pavilion to pieces with explosives!"

The young man was none other than Sun Jingyao, the third young master of the Sun Family—the same one who had clashed with Chen Tianren on the street outside Moon Veil Nightclub earlier...

Sun Jingyao was about to erupt, but his gaze swept over the rear of Luo Wendi's convoy as it turned around. The last two jeeps, used as pickup trucks, slowly revealed their "fangs" to the Sun Family's procession...

The dark, gleaming barrel of a small mortar was aimed directly at Sun Jingyao's lead car.

He fell silent... gradually swallowing his temper, waiting for the Chen Family's convoy to finish reorganizing, and wordlessly trailing behind them.

Meanwhile, Sun Jingyao's mind churned with questions.

"How did the Chen Family get their hands on a mortar like this? The Southern Democratic Alliance has strictly forbidden families and private individuals from owning this kind of heavy lethal weaponry... and last month, Chen Tianren's Maxim heavy machine gun..."

Sun Jingyao hunched slightly, leaning out the side window, and cast a glance at the second-to-last vehicle in the Chen Family convoy. To his surprise, it wasn't the devastating Maxim he had seen that day!

Instead, it was a type of heavy machine gun he had never even laid eyes on...

"The Chen Family... what's going on?!"

Sun Jingyao silently sucked in a "cold breath," steadying his nerves, and told himself this wasn't the time to completely sever ties with the Chen Family. The Sun Family still had an ally in the Jiang Family.

If one family couldn't handle it, then two—after all, the Jiang Family was far stronger.

Under Liang Shuisheng's guidance, with Luo Wendi and Ruan Pei's vehicles leading the way, they swiftly drove toward the small, dilapidated building north of Long Wind Pier.

The convoy stretched out like a long dragon, kicking up clouds of dust.

Street vendors and shop owners along the roadside, seeing such a scene, hurriedly ducked inside their buildings.

"Is there going to be another war?"

"Or have Demons and Monsters appeared somewhere?"

Moments later, the group arrived about three hundred meters from the small, rundown building.

Chen Tianren leaned against the car window, conversing with Luo Wendi.

"What's the Sun Family up to? Why are they following us?" Chen Tianren asked.

Luo Wendi couldn't help but chuckle: "I just sent someone to negotiate. They said the Sun Family's young lady has also been kidnapped. Someone got word that she was taken to this building too."

Chen Tianren frowned. Could there be something deeper to this matter?

He glanced back at the two vehicles loaded with weaponry, and the trace of worry in his heart eased somewhat.

Just as everyone was about to get out of the cars—

The small, dilapidated building let out a thunderous "boom," a massive explosion echoing through the air!