Night Raid and the Killing Intent at the End of the Tunnel

Return countdown: 151:00:00.

The evening of the first day of crossing.

"Sir, the meal is ready," Li Ke walked to the stone table, carefully wiped it with a cloth, and then served all the dishes.

Qing Chen had four dishes and a soup in front of him, while Li Ke only had Dragon Fish in front of him.

"Stop chewing the fish bones, it's really too tough," Qing Chen sighed, thinking to himself, why is this kid even more stubborn than me?

Just last night, Qing Chen, taking advantage of his newfound transformation, tried to chew on a fish bone again, but he still couldn't chew it.

If he himself couldn't chew it, then Li Ke would have no chance.

Seeing Li Ke's somewhat gloomy expression, Qing Chen asked, "You know there are only 17 Dragon Fish left in the lake, so you're worried that eating only eight won't be enough to transform you, right?"

That's why the 14-year-old boy kept biting the fish bones, trying to use them to fill the void left by the last fish.

Li Ke hesitated. "Sir, that is indeed what I think."

"Give up," Qing Chen said. "When the opportunity comes in the future, I'll take you to Forbidden Zone No. 010 and help you complete the last one."

Li Ke's eyes lit up. "Thank you, sir... By the way, I'm sorry for revealing your secret before... My grandfather said that he told me your secret, which is why I had this opportunity. Now I have to exchange one of your secrets with him, otherwise he will be furious with me."

Qing Chen sighed, "Old people don't know how to fix things."

Li Ke said, "But I've already told Grandpa that that's the last time."

"It's alright," Qing Chen said. "Anyway, the Dragon Fish is his. Letting him know what the effects are after eating it isn't a big deal. You're actually very smart; you know what you can and can't say."

Li Ke lowered his head.

"Did your grandfather tell you what I do?" Qing Chen asked.

"No," Li Ke said.

"It's okay, you'll find out sooner or later," Qing Chen said.

With the promise from the gentleman, Li Ke stopped gnawing on fish bones.

Qing Chen glanced at Li Ke's hands, which were already cracked from the cold.

As a knight, he was naturally not afraid of the freezing cold, but Li Ke was afraid. The other party was just an ordinary person who swept, mopped, cooked, and washed Qing Chen's clothes every day. How could his hands be fine?

Qing Chen instructed, "From now on, use the washing machine to wash clothes... hand washing really doesn't get them clean."

Li Ke blushed. "Yes, sir."

A short while later, Li Ke finished eating the Dragon Fish and cleared the dishes. "By the way, sir, some trees next to your Autumn Leaf Villa have died. I'd like to replace them with a few. What kind of trees would you like?"

Qing Chen waved his hand. "Either way is fine."

After saying that, he lay down on the recliner, closed his eyes, and while maintaining the first Breathing Technique, entered the mysterious world.

Watching his master begin his "cultivation," Li Ke unconsciously softened his movements while washing the dishes and turned the tap down a bit.

After washing the dishes, he took out some winter peaches, washed them clean, and gently placed them on the stone table next to Qing Chen.

At some point, the teacher and the student seemed to have gotten used to a certain way of getting along.

The Xiao Si of the Autumn Leaf Villa appears exceptionally harmonious.

At this moment, Qing Chen had moved the sniper rifle target to 2550 meters, just 50 meters away from 'graduating'.

However, he was not filled with joy. Instead, after completing this practice, he began the next one.

People often define life as a series of stages. For example, after being busy for a while, one needs to travel and relax to adjust one's life.

Qing Chen had never experienced a life like this before. He always seemed to be racing against time, constantly chasing after something.

The empowerment ability allows Bai Zhou to grow rapidly, and it also indirectly motivates Qing Chen to improve his Knight True Qi energy.

As night fell, Li Ke left, carefully hanging a "No Guests Allowed" sign at the entrance of the Autumn Leaf Villa before departing.

Qing Chen turned and walked into the passageway, preparing to scout out the area where Luo Wanyai was trapped and observe the situation.

He checked the guns again before leaving.

But before he could even step out, the door to the house clicked open.

Qing Chen stood silently in the darkness of the room.

Could it be that Jiang Yichen suspected him and decided to secretly open the door to check on the situation inside his room?

No, the other party shouldn't be that bold. You have to understand that this is the Upper Third District, and once caught, theft is a serious crime.

Previously, 90% of the thieves in Prison No. 18 had stolen from the Upper Third District.

Only here can the agents of the PCE Public Security Management Committee fully demonstrate their role, arriving at any location within 5 minutes of receiving a report.

Qing Chen raised his gun and slowly retreated into the shadows.

He didn't know who the other party was, how many people were there, or what their rank was.

In this narrow terrain, given his rapid-fire shooting skills, as long as there isn't C-Class or higher expert among the attackers, they will all be dead.

Once you reach C-Class, if Qing Chen fails to hit the opponent's vital point with a single shot, the opponent will definitely be able to hold out until the moment he is killed.

But here's the problem: if we do that, the gunshots will definitely attract the attention of the neighbors.

If the police are called and PCE agents arrive, only to find that Qing Chen is not the homeowner, the situation could become very complicated.

If Qing Chen claimed he was there to perform a heroic act, the PCE agents definitely wouldn't believe him...

Furthermore, if PCE agents search the house later, they might discover a passageway.

"The life detector just showed no signs of life in the house. Quickly find the passageway," a voice said in the darkness. "Put all the guns back to prevent accidental discharges. If we attract PCE agents to seal off the scene, all our efforts will be in vain."

In fact, it wasn't just Qing Chen who was worried about attracting PCE agents.

Then the man in black turned on his flashlight and quickly began searching the house.

The four people who entered the house this time worked together very well. No matter how they searched the house, each of them remained within the sight of the other.

"There are seven cell phones and seven car keys inside," a black-clad assassin whispered. "It seems someone is using this place to enter and exit the Banshan Manor. The cars and keys are used to conceal their identity. However, the cell phones are specially made and cannot be opened. It appears the cars also use voiceprint and iris recognition."

"We're not here for money," one of them said coldly.

"What I mean is, if someone comes in or out of here, could we lie in wait and catch a big fish?" one of the assassins said. "You know, anyone who has the ability to hire craftsmen to dig a passageway to the Banshan Manor is no small fry."

"Forget about it," another person said, standing by the dining table and wiping the dust off the table with their hand. "This house hasn't been visited by anyone for at least a few years."

At this moment, a black-clad assassin kept tapping the floor with the handle of a flashlight.

Until he tapped the floor above the passageway, the flashlight made a hollow sound upon hitting the floor.

"This is it. Look for traps around here," the assassin said.

Less than ten minutes later, someone discovered the mechanism... on the vase on the desk.

The person gently turned the vase, and with a clicking sound, the floor above the passageway sank down, transforming into the first step of the stairs leading to the passageway.

"Shall we go down?" one of the assassins asked.

"Don't go down," the leader said coldly. "We're only here today to scout the situation. Go back and report to the boss so he can decide when to infiltrate the Banshan Manor."

However, at that moment, an assassin shone his flashlight beam onto the dining table and was shocked to find several fingerprints on the other side of the table.

He had just run his finger across the table to check the thickness of the dust.

But he was certain that the fingerprints found at this time were not left by him.

That fingerprint is very fresh!

Other people have visited this house recently!

"Watch out!" he whispered a warning.

But no sooner had he finished speaking than a companion's flashlight fell to the ground with a clatter from the darkness five or six meters away.

Then, his companion slowly knelt on the ground and collapsed onto the floor.

The other three assassins, in surprise and doubt, shone their flashlights in that direction, but all they saw was their companion's corpse and the gushing blood.

We didn't see who was killing people!

Weird!

Extremely eerie!

By this time, Qing Chen had already hidden in the darkness before the flashlight shone on him.

No one even spotted him immediately!

Qing Chen was taking advantage of a common human tendency: when there is movement in the dark, a person holding a flashlight will subconsciously shine the light towards the sound, thus ignoring other places.

The interplay of light and darkness creates a contrast, making dark places even darker.

The assassins then felt as if they had stumbled into a haunted house, where a ghost was killing people.

"No, that's not right," the assassins reacted quickly, sweeping the beams of their flashlights to the side.

However, by the time the three realized what was happening, it was too late.

In an instant, Qing Chen waved his hand forcefully, and three incredibly sharp playing cards slipped from between Qing Chen fingers, passing through the light and darkness in the room.

Time seemed to slow down, as the Black Spade A, Ace of Hearts, and Ace of Diamonds on the cards kept spinning.

The three assassins reached for their guns at their waists, but before they knew it, three playing cards grazed their necks, drawing a thin line of blood.

They felt their strength being rapidly drained from their bodies.

The ability to think is also rapidly diminishing.

In fact, the primary harm caused by severing the carotid artery is not blood loss, but oxygen deprivation.

The brain reacts quickly in the first second of oxygen deprivation.

This is different from holding your breath. When a person takes a deep breath and holds it, oxygen is still being pumped into the bloodstream from the alveoli and then transported to the brain.

Therefore, some people can hold it in for a long time.

However, having one's carotid artery completely clamped is entirely different and fatal.

In the darkness, Qing Chen calmly crouched down, groping for objects on the corpse.

However, there was nothing to prove the other party's identity.

Qing Chen summarized the brief battle of the night.

First of all, these people are not true masters. You can tell just by looking at their reflexes. They are warriors, but not masters.

If we were to define their identity, they would probably be here to scout things out and figure out what's going on inside the house before making any moves.

Who would want to sneak into the Banshan Manor at this time? Kamishiro and Kashima are the most likely suspects.

The entire Banshan Manor was meticulously managed by the eldest son of the Li First Branch, leaving no room for outsiders to learn anything about what was happening inside, nor did they know how the old man of the Li family was doing.

It's reasonable to send someone in to infiltrate and observe.

However, what's puzzling is that the other party is heading straight for the tunnel, which means the secret of the tunnel has already been revealed!

He thought to himself, "Can this old man be trusted at all? How could he leak such confidential information? Isn't he afraid of being kidnapped while he's out having fun?"

No, no, why is it that the old man has been wandering around for decades without anyone discovering this passage, but it was discovered as soon as he started using it?

Could it be that the old man deliberately leaked the information, hoping I'd help him guard the gate?

Thinking of this, Qing Chen's expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

Secondly, these people suffered a great loss.

The other party had clearly used a vital signs detector outside to confirm that no one was inside before quietly sneaking in.

However, the other party did not expect that Qing Chen would emerge from the house, which was empty one minute ago.

It was quite a coincidence, really, that it happened to be at this exact moment...

If the other party had discovered someone was inside earlier, or hadn't used a detector and had been more vigilant, they wouldn't have been able to be so easily ambushed by Qing Chen.

Thinking of this, Qing Chen used Puppet Master to sacrifice the assassins one by one.

During the sacrifice, even the bloodstains on the ground turned to ashes.

Standing in the room, Qing Chen suddenly realized that Puppet Master were truly an essential tool for murder and cover-ups, leaving no trace whatsoever.

After the Puppet Master finished their sacrifice, the room was as if nothing had happened.

But Qing Chen felt this wouldn't do. These assassins clearly had accomplices outside, and this seemed to be the only way for them to infiltrate the Banshan Manor, and he was sleeping on this very road...

Qing Chen thought for a moment, then turned and went into the bathroom. He used a mop and rag to thoroughly clean the room, so that no one would observe the dust and deduce what had happened that night.

After doing all this, he turned and walked back into the passageway.

However, Qing Chen did not go back to his room to sleep. Instead, he sat directly on the steps of the passageway below Autumn Leaf Villa and closed his eyes to rest, using the method of entering the mysterious world to cultivate.

It wasn't that he didn't want to sleep, it was just that there was such a dangerous passageway under the bed, he couldn't sleep!

At this very moment, Jiang Yichen, who was sitting opposite Room 101, was silently observing the other side through the peephole.

He is a very cautious person, so as soon as he arrived here, he installed several security cameras outside his house.

Jiang Yichen noticed the four assassins in black entering the building. At first, he thought they were there to arrest him, but then he realized that the assassins had opened the door opposite and quietly slipped inside.

At that time, Jiang Yichen was a little suspicious. Could it be that his "easy-to-fool" neighbor had enemies outside?

But how did these people manage to sneak in?

You should know that this is a high-end residential area, although it looks a bit old and dilapidated.

But for the native inhabitants of the Inner World, the standard for a luxury home is not whether it has an elevator or whether it is dilapidated, but rather the amount of space.

In the Lower Sixth District, most buildings have two elevators serving 16 households. For example, the Luoshen Building is like that. Every day when people go to work or school, there are always some disputes over who gets to use the elevator.

This residential complex has only two households per floor and only four floors in total, making it quite luxurious.

Jiang Yichen stared through the peephole all night, but the four people didn't reappear. The four assassins... seemed to have vanished into thin air.

When morning came, he rubbed his sore eyes and thought to himself that his neighbor was a bit strange!

Jiang Yichen shuddered as he thought about how he had almost been targeted last night.

In the morning, Qing Chen walked towards Longhu with a dark face, only to find that the old man hadn't come at all today!

At this moment, Qing Chen was unsure whether the old man was avoiding him or if it was just a coincidence.

If you're avoiding him, then what he means is: figure out how to solve this yourself.

Qing Chen strongly suspected that the Li family wanted to use this secret passage to find Kamishiro and Kashima, who were hiding in City No. 18.

He himself had used this method: if he couldn't find the other person, he would let the other person come to him.

The problem is, if you want to set a trap, why don't you, the Li family, send your own experts over? Why are you using me Qing Chen?

Qing Chen grew angrier the more he thought about it. After holding it in for a long time, he simply put the small stool on the ground, sat there, hooked Dragon Fish with Puppet Master, and left.

A certain location in the District 5 of City No. 18.

Several assassins dressed in black combat suits sat quietly in a small apartment, waiting for something.

The apartment was draped with heavy velvet curtains, preventing any light from entering.

One of the burly men sitting on the sofa asked, "What has Li Changqing been doing lately?"

"She's been hunting down spies, but after arresting some informants, she's lost her trail," one of the assassins replied.

The burly man seemed to be the leader of the group. He continued to ask, "Time Walker, once we confirm that the Li family member is gone, immediately send the replacement to Luo City in the Outer World to begin the replacement plan and throw the Li and Qing families into complete chaos."

"Received," the assassin replied.

"By the way, what about the people who went to check the secret passage last night? Have you found them yet?" the burly man asked.

The assassin hesitated for a moment. "No, our people went to check. Their car is still parked at the entrance of the 'Microcosm World' residential complex, but the people are nowhere to be found, and we can't contact them... I'm wondering if someone was guarding that house and killed them all?"

The burly man frowned. "That's possible, but our mission can't be delayed any longer. We've been sent in to check on the old man, Mr. Li. This matter can't be delayed. Tonight, I'll go with you. If there's someone guarding that place, I'll take care of it."

The assassin paused for a moment. "Boss, you're B-Class. Entering the Banshan Manor rashly will trigger the Forbidden Item ACE-020 Heartless Bronze Bell."

This group was very well prepared; they not only found the secret passage but also knew the trigger conditions for the Heartless Bronze Bell.

"It's alright," the burly man said coldly. "I'm just going in to deal with any Li family guards that might be in the house or the passageway. As long as I don't enter the Banshan Manor, I shouldn't trigger the Heartless Bronze Bell."

There's a 5,000-word chapter, and another chapter will be released at 11 PM tonight.