At the entrance to the underground parking garage, two vans came to a stop. Two bodies lay across the entrance, and the pungent stench of blood reached them even inside the vehicles.
The buzz-cut man in the lead leaned out the window to look at the bodies and sneered. "Useless trash. No wonder they can only hang around in this slum. They can't even handle a simple job."
But after cursing them out, he still had to call AI Company headquarters to report in.
"Boss, it looks like the Russians ran into trouble... Yes, I understand. The hostage is the priority... Fine, I'll bring him back."
After a brief conversation, the buzz-cut man hung up and told the driver, "Drive straight in."
"Mr. Seven, the barrier at the entrance is still—"
The driver had barely finished half his sentence before Seven, the buzz-cut man, snapped at him, "Idiot! I said drive straight in!"
A red glow flashed in the dark cabin, and a wave of heat seemed to sweep over them.
The engines roared to life, and the two vans charged into the underground parking garage one after the other. They smashed through the barrier, then ran over the two bodies lying on the ground, crushing them beyond recognition.
Seven didn't know that from the moment his vans had reached the entrance, Violet had already taken control of the security cameras and kept a close watch on them, sending all the information to Luo Xia's Tactical Goggles.
Luo Xia was hiding behind a support pillar on the basement's first level, while Matt had already taken Harry and the old man out through another exit.
Seeing the two vans burst in through the entrance, Luo Xia breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness these guys didn't go block the other exit. Either they're stupid, or they have no idea there are two ways in and out. That was Luo Xia's assessment of the newcomers.
Either way, it worked in Luo Xia's favor, greatly increasing Matt and the others' chances of getting away safely.
The two roaring vans barreled into the parking garage on the basement's first level, but the moment they came through the entrance, all the lights went out. The men inside jumped, but this was Violet's doing. Overloading the current and burning out the main breaker was no trouble for her.
Just as the two vans were about to switch on their headlights, Luo Xia suddenly sprang out from behind a pillar. With a flick of his wrist, he fired four shots from his Pulse Pistol, shattering all the vans' headlights and plunging the area into darkness once more.
Darkness swallowed everyone, but for Luo Xia, who had the Tactical Goggles, this was his home ground.
They couldn't keep driving in the dark, so the men climbed out of the vans and used the tactical flashlights they carried to see.
A burst of gunfire cracked through the darkness. Whenever they spotted a shadow, they opened fire. The Russians Li Bai had turned into plant-like cripples earlier were the ones who paid the price. Everyone caught in the beams of the flashlights was riddled with bullets.
They'd escaped death at the hands of Luo Xia and the other agents of justice, only to be killed by their own allies. What bitter irony.
Using the Tactical Goggles' see-through function, Luo Xia watched the men from behind the pillar.
There were ten of them, all burly and fully armed. Judging by their disciplined movements and seamless coordination, they were either professional mercenaries or special forces—hard-bitten killers, all of them.
In his previous life, even if his entire special forces unit had joined the fight, Luo Xia wouldn't have dared to count on victory. Even if they won, they would likely have suffered heavy losses.
Now, though, Luo Xia was facing this fully armed team alone, and he wasn't the least bit afraid. Instead, he was confident he would win.
It all came down to the equipment he had.
The Tactical Goggles kept Luo Xia from being affected by the darkness. Being able to see the enemy while remaining unseen was the key to fighting outnumbered. And before the armed men had charged down, Luo Xia had already taken apart half a car and used it to make himself a new Sensor Glove. He'd given the first one to Dr. Connors, and now he'd finally replaced it.
The Sensor Glove greatly increased the strength of Luo Xia's hands, letting him finally wield a heavy Pulse Pistol in each hand.
With the Pulse Pistols' rapid-fire power, he could unleash all eighty rounds at once and blow a tank apart. Flesh and blood stood no chance.
But that still wasn't enough. Luo Xia holstered the Pulse Pistols, dug both hands into the concrete pillar, and slowly climbed. The armed men heard the noise and swept the pillar with gunfire, but ordinary bullets couldn't penetrate it and hurt Luo Xia.
When he'd climbed three meters up, Luo Xia pushed off the pillar with both feet and flipped backward onto the ceiling. At the same time, he drew both pistols and opened fire on the men.
Pulse energy shrieked through the air. In less than two seconds, he had unleashed nearly half his ammunition.
With the Tactical Goggles' help, Luo Xia also activated Target Lock. The wavering trajectories sent Pulse Energy Blasts straight toward each of the armed men.
By the time Luo Xia landed steadily on the ground, the spot where the armed men had been was already a blood-soaked slaughterhouse.
A single Pulse Energy Blast wasn't as powerful as a grenade, but nearly forty blasts detonating together had reduced the ten-man team to a mangled heap of flesh.
Even after landing, Luo Xia didn't let up. He kept firing until he'd emptied the magazine.
Through the Tactical Goggles, he saw that none of the armed men were recognizable as human anymore. Injuries like those were fatal for any human being; there was no point even trying to save them.
But that was only true of humans.
Just as Luo Xia blew the smoke from his gun barrels, about to revel in a little showmanship, a fiery red glow appeared in the darkness.
Through the Tactical Goggles, Luo Xia could see clearly that the flames were over a thousand degrees.
"Another Extremis Virus!" Luo Xia reacted at once. He immediately began reloading his Pulse Pistols, intent on blasting the guy to pieces before he could recover.
But the extreme heat ignited the pile of bodies. The fat and clothing on them caught fire, turning the area into a sea of flames.
Amid the blaze, Luo Xia could only raise his guns and fire based on what he remembered from a moment earlier. He couldn't use the Tactical Goggles to lock on. He couldn't see the target clearly or detect his position.
Worse, as the blazing inferno spread, it set off the bullets and grenades carried by the armed men.
Ordinarily, a regular fire wasn't hot enough to make bullets and grenades explode. But the heat produced by the Extremis Virus was clearly no ordinary flame—it was even more extreme than the temperature of a steel furnace.
So when the first magazine exploded, Luo Xia knew he couldn't stay there any longer. He hurried toward the basement's second level.
Sure enough, just as he reached the basement's second level, a chain of secondary explosions ripped through the floor above. They weren't enough to bring down the entire level, but the shock wave sent Luo Xia flying and left him dazed for a long while.
In the flames on the basement's first level, a badly mutilated figure slowly rose to its feet. The missing parts of his body gradually grew back, until he had taken on the appearance of Seven, the buzz-cut man.
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