Black Shield Police Department, Enforcer

Bang bang bang bang bang—

With the gunshots, blood instantly burst from the two men, and they crashed heavily to the ground.

Yu Yuan ignored them and swiftly tossed aside his backpack, charging at the archer like a cheetah.

But the moment the gunfire rang out, the other man had already turned to flee.

Earlier, in order to ambush Yu Yuan, the archer had lain directly amid the bushes and greenery, concealing himself.

Now, there was no cover around them, and the distance between the two was no more than ten meters.

Bang— The M1911A1's final bullet missed, but it still struck his leg.

The archer immediately fell to the ground. Seeing Yu Yuan charge at him with murderous intent, terror filled his face.

"Don't... I was wrong..."

But Yu Yuan gave him no chance to speak. His kukri knife had already swung out.

The sound came to an abrupt stop.

After a quick search, he found nothing valuable. Only the recurve bow was worth taking, and there were three arrows left in the quiver. He took them all.

After removing the finger guard glove the man wore, he returned to the dumpster.

Earlier, one of the two men had fallen, while the other had crawled away in struggle, coughing up bloody spit and leaving a trail of blood across the ground.

Amid the man's pleas for mercy, Yu Yuan's eye twitched. He raised the kukri knife high and chopped swiftly at his neck. The second man collapsed and did not move again.

When he reached the third man, he did not care whether the man was dead or alive. He still slashed his neck once.

There was no time to search the three bodies, because he could already hear the roar of vehicle engines rapidly approaching.

"What a pity!"

Not daring to linger, he threw his backpack and bow into the sewer. After briefly cleaning up the scene, he immediately climbed down the ladder, locked the manhole cover, and ran toward District 13.

Not long afterward, two vehicles filled with wasteland-style aesthetics stopped outside the East District Water Affairs Center.

The vehicles still vaguely resembled police cars, but their patchwork welded metal armor, ramming spikes, mounted machine guns, and the bullet holes and rust covering their bodies gave them a rough, intimidating presence.

Several large words had been spray-painted across the bodies in black paint.

—Black Shield Police Department.

An enforcer in an enforcer's uniform got out of the vehicle, tossed the half-smoked cigarette from his mouth onto the ground, and viciously crushed it beneath his foot.

"Ptoo..." He spat a thick gob of phlegm onto the ground.

"Send someone in and see what happened."

A thug dressed sloppily in a chest rig and body armor jumped out of the vehicle and ran into the street.

He quickly returned to the side of the vehicle.

"Boss, there are three dead drifters inside. They all have gunshot wounds and cuts across their necks. The killer was decisive! This doesn't look like a drifter's work."

At this, the enforcer raised an eyebrow, glanced at him from the corner of his eye, and pulled out a cigarette to put in his mouth.

"What makes you say that?"

Seeing this, the thug grinned fawningly and pulled out a match to light it for him.

"Drifters are nothing but hyenas. They won't let a single scrap of supplies go, even if they can't use it themselves. They'd never leave it for someone else."

"But not only were two weapons left at the scene, the supplies on the drifters weren't taken either. Add to that the clean, decisive fighting style without any hesitation—this isn't a drifter's habit."

"Oh~~~ Then could it have been someone from Marauder Prison, or another faction?"

"This..." The thug hesitated, but still pursed his lips and gently shook his head.

"I don't think so... but the wounds look a lot like those made by Marauder Prison's Kukri Knife..."

The enforcer chuckled, handed the cigarette he had taken two puffs from to the thug, and walked into the street amid the other's delighted gaze.

The thug eagerly took a deep drag, then smugly grinned under everyone else's envious looks.

He immediately turned and chased after the enforcer. "Boss, I'll lead the way..."

The enforcer merely glanced at the three corpses before ignoring them.

Instead, after scanning the surroundings a few times, he fixed his gaze on the patch of bushes where the archer had once been lying.

He crouched down and carefully examined the signs where someone had lain prone, then finally looked toward the back door of the East City Water Affairs Center.

"Go call two more men."

After two thugs arrived, the enforcer walked toward the Water Services Center. The three thugs immediately formed a triangular formation around him, protecting him in the middle as they chambered their weapons and assumed combat stances.

"Turn left!"

The thugs immediately turned left. From time to time, the enforcer issued another command, and the thugs carried it out at once.

Eventually, the four of them stopped at the second-floor archives room.

The thugs stood guard while the enforcer looked at the footprint on the floor, the corner of his mouth curving upward.

Seeing the obvious signs that the archives room had just been searched, a trace of surprise appeared on his face.

"Archives room? What could possibly be worth looking for in a Water Services Center's archives room?"

Then, following the footprints on the ground, the enforcer retraced Yu Yuan's route. When he saw the tightly locked metal door to the Water Services Center director's office—

He finally showed a hint of interest.

"Open the door!"

Bang— The lock was shattered by a single shot.

Entering the room and looking around, the enforcer fixed his gaze on the safe.

"Boss, we'll need to take this safe back and cut it open. Should we bring it back?" the thug asked eagerly as he stepped forward.

"Bring it. Why wouldn't we? Take this safe, along with every other supply in this room. Don't leave a thing behind."

"Haha, understood! Come help!"

Very soon, the thugs carried the safe out of the Water Services Center and headed happily toward the vehicles.

The enforcer followed close behind. But as he passed the sewer manhole cover, he paused slightly, crouched down to examine it closely, and finally spotted half of an inconspicuous bloody fingerprint. Amusement flashed through his eyes.

"Heh... clever little rat."

By the time Yu Yuan returned to his hiding place, an hour had already passed.

Guided by the virtual map, even while carrying supplies, his return journey had taken much less time.

He threw down all the supplies and briefly cleaned the bloodstains and grime from his body.

He took the Water Services Center director's executive chair out of Taotao Cave and slumped into it. After gulping down half a bottle of water, he began reviewing today's operation.

"Exploring during the day really is far too dangerous. The chances of being discovered are too high."

Also, anyone bold enough to drive around openly in broad daylight was definitely part of a thug faction.

No matter which faction it was, it was not something he could contend with right now. Fortunately, he had escaped in time.

But as he recalled the three attackers, Yu Yuan frowned slightly.

"Those three... should satisfy the Lust Card's conditions, right?"

But as soon as the thought emerged, he lightly shook his head and cast it from his mind.

"That thought is too terrifying. I'm not Lord Chuan... No, no, I can't think like that... Think of something. There must be another way."

Yu Yuan understood perfectly well that the wounds on those three men had become infected and festered, and they reeked horribly. Who knew what diseases they carried.

But even so, to eliminate the Lust Card, he needed a target for lust.

In this wasteland world, where was he supposed to find a woman?

He grabbed anxiously at his hair.

There were less than two days left. If it came down to it, he could only grab some drifter at random.

Getting sick might not kill him, but failing the Fate Card's mission truly would.

At that moment, Yu Yuan deeply felt fate's malice and mockery.

On one side was the threat of death; on the other was his insistence on his moral and psychological bottom line.

Fate waited, waiting to see what choice Yu Yuan would make under the threat of death.

Would he abandon his bottom line and fully assimilate into the wasteland?

Or would he uphold it and be erased?

And this was the price that had to be paid to obtain a Fate Gift.