Su Jiannan, dressed like a successful businessman, had just stepped out of a black luxury sedan when a rosy-faced, broad and stout middle-aged man approached him.
"President Su! A pleasure, a pleasure!"
The middle-aged man enthusiastically seized Su Jiannan's hand, his fan-sized rough palm brimming with strength, his grip as powerful as some ferocious beast's. Su Jiannan's face twitched almost imperceptibly. He gave a brief shake and quickly let go.
"A pleasure indeed. I didn't expect General Manager Zhou to personally welcome me. It seems your side places great importance on this project."
"Of course!"
The corners of General Manager Zhou's plump face curled up, revealing a smug smile. His words poured out like machine-gun fire.
"After all, the Jingchu Cultural Site was only recently discovered. The city government treasures this place dearly, going on about 'developing cultural industries and building cultural confidence.' They started preparing an academic symposium before the site had even been fully excavated. Once those experts finish their meeting, those of us in construction and investment will move in right away. Hahaha, competing for GDP these days is practically like fighting a war..."
Then General Manager Zhou suddenly slapped his forehead and said grandly, "Oh dear, I got carried away for a moment. We can't have President Su—our client handling such a major project—standing here talking. I'm treating tonight. President Su, let's head over to the time-honored Tianxiang Tower for a drink!"
Su Jiannan read the room and saw that General Manager Zhou's enthusiasm was hard to refuse, so he did not decline. "All right, all right. Then I'll drink to my heart's content with General Manager Zhou—"
Just as he was about to leave, he felt someone tug at the hem of his clothes.
A girl had stepped out from the sedan's back seat. She wore an elegant, luxurious suit, her skin as smooth as congealed cream. Her face combined the defined features of a European with the gentle grace of an Eastern woman, charming and alluring yet haughty in expression.
The girl frowned. "Dad, drink less. Watch your health."
"Okay! Dad will listen to you!" Su Jiannan readily agreed with his precious daughter, Su Xiaoqiang. "It's getting late. Xiaoqiang, take a stroll around outside and head back early. Let Uncle Li drive you. Dad already booked a presidential suite at the hotel..."
The two executives happily headed off toward the dinner table, but Su Xiaoqiang thought her father definitely would not listen and would continue drinking despite his condition.
"So boring. What is there to see around here..."
Su Xiaoqiang saw Uncle Li waiting beside the car like a motionless statue and turned toward the brightly lit area.
Suddenly, a red-haired man approached from the roadside and stopped Su Xiaoqiang. In standard Mandarin, he asked, "Excuse me, do you know how to get to this place?"
Su Xiaoqiang stared at the phone screen he showed her and blinked. It was an unfamiliar foreign phone brand... But seeing how hurried he looked, she did not ask much and simply pointed him in a direction.
Strange. On his phone screen... why did I seem to see something about murder and silencing witnesses...? I must have seen it wrong.
Su Xiaoqiang buried her inexplicable unease and was about to ask whether he needed a ride in her family's sports car.
When she looked up again, the red-haired man had already disappeared.
What the hell? How did he slip away so fast?
Old Tang felt like he was going to die.
"Bro, you've got the wrong person! My name really isn't Shirou Emiya! Uh, spare me, hero!"
The moment Old Tang poked his head out from the ruins and said a word, he was met with merciless sniper fire from across the way.
The wildly flying rounds formed several straight metal streams, shattering the glass windows and blasting dense, shallow pits into the thick concrete walls.
After cursing the freak under his breath, Old Tang darted away like the wind.
This ruin-like place was an abandoned building district far more remote than the Chu Culture Venue. One look was enough to tell it was an unfinished project abandoned by its developer, with no one willing to take it over.
Old Tang had gotten lost while searching for the mission location and had unknowingly wandered here. He had only intended to sneak into one of the buildings when he came under enemy fire.
The person approaching from the other side was Zhou Yuxuan, a lean young man. Beneath his feet, countless exposed concrete reinforcements broke apart and gathered together, forming sharp, spinning bullets.
Mantra Technique: Iron Flow—known in the West as Sequence 80, Word of Power: Iron Flow.
This ability could control metal elements within its domain, using them to attack or create objects.
By combining bullets created through his Word of Power with an automatic-loading artifact forged through his family's Artifact Forging Art—an Alchemy Gun—Zhou Yuxuan could achieve the effect of an enhanced shotgun. Together with the dense rebar around him, it created an almost limitless ammunition supply—though even without rebar, the bullets he fired could be recovered through his Word of Power.
"Shirou Emiya, do you not dare show yourself and fight?"
Hidden away, Old Tang loudly complained, "You've got the wrong guy! The person you mean is my buddy. He didn't come, and he's Japanese! I don't even fucking speak Japanese!"
"..." Zhou Yuxuan stopped. He had only read Emiya's file, and an inconspicuous minor character like Old Tang had been overlooked. After searching for a while, he finally found a cheerful-looking face among a huge pile of hunter files.
"You're Ronald Tang?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me, Old Tang, Shirou's loyal old partner."
"Then why aren't you acting together? Why did you abandon your companion and come here alone? Emiya is one thing, but this is not a place for a hunter like you. Or did you learn something you weren't supposed to know?"
Zhou Yuxuan's face was stern. This had originally been the meeting place for several members of the Zhou Family and other Hybrid Families tomorrow, not far from the ruins. Miscellaneous people like Hunters were not allowed to sneak in. Their meeting place should have been the venue farther away.
"Bro, I was wrong, bro! I just got lost, plain and simple. It really isn't that complicated!" Old Tang said miserably.
"The records say you are an experienced hunter who has completed high-level missions many times. You still make such a basic mistake as getting lost?"
"...Sorry for making such a basic mistake, okay!"
Old Tang groaned inwardly. These days, no one even believed the truth!
Zhou Yuxuan was about to say something else.
Suddenly, a powerful warning surged through him.
Whoosh—
Zhou Yuxuan only had time to retreat half a step before a metal arrow struck the ground. The arrow easily pierced the reinforced concrete block just centimeters from his feet, with unbelievable power and precision.
He looked up. On the rooftop stood a red-haired man holding a black bow and an arrow.
"Are you Shirou Emiya?"
Zhou Yuxuan spoke up. He found it strange. He had not seen Emiya arrive from anywhere nearby by vehicle and climb the building. Could he have run straight here across the rooftops?
Shirou Emiya stepped forward on the roof and replied, "That would be me."
Then a dirt-covered head with drooping brows emerged from the middle of the building. "Oh, Shirou, you finally came! Damn it, my luck used to be pretty good. This time, Old Tang really suffered a disaster in your place!"
"What exactly happened?"
"Come down first, bro. We'll talk."
Thus, Zhou Yuxuan watched Shirou Emiya leap down from the rooftop, then use the balconies to flip and swing his way into Old Tang's floor.
Before you continue