Sealed Item

"What?! The gang's headquarters warehouse has been attacked?!"

"Damn it, it must be those Steam Party bastards. Come on, brothers—let's fuck them up!"

"..."

Upon hearing Captain Kai's news, the gang members grabbed their weapons and boarded the vehicles.

The assembly took less than three minutes, but that was enough for gang members near Green Street to reach this dark alley.

It was Suren's first day in the gang. He had never taken part in a group operation like this and had no idea what he was supposed to do. But seeing everyone lining up beside the armored vehicle distributing weapons and gear, he followed along and picked up some bullets and grenades.

Without waiting any longer, Kai waved a hand. "Get in. Move out!"

Though the young captain still looked somewhat immature, his expression at critical moments was terrifyingly stern. He added, "Write down the names of anyone absent. They'll be dealt with according to gang rules tomorrow!"

Everyone climbed aboard.

Steam motorcycles led the way—two-wheeled, three-wheeled, four-wheeled, and even giant iron-ring unicycles, all in bizarre and varied designs.

The gang had its own mechanical modification shops. These crudely made, hand-modified steam vehicles, with many parts exposed, performed remarkably well. Their suspension systems could launch them more than ten meters into the air, and they had ejection systems, hinges, grappling hooks, front-mounted machine guns—everything they could need.

VROOOM~ VROOOM~ VROOOM~

Steam boilers roared as the veterans carrying rocket launchers and large-caliber firearms howled and charged out.

Then came the armored personnel carriers, jeeps, and all sorts of old four-wheeled vehicles.

Without waiting for anyone to assign him a spot, Suren followed several veterans and jumped into a vehicle in the middle of the convoy.

His instincts, honed by watching a thousand movies, told him the middle of the convoy was the safest place.

Besides, sticking with veterans was safer than clustering with rookies.

As it happened, Captain Kai was in the vehicle ahead.

He glanced back at Suren, seemingly recalling something, and instructed Sam beside him, "Sam, the newcomers haven't participated in gang operations before. Once the fighting starts, look after them."

Sam remained as carefree as ever. "Got it, Captain."

The convoy rumbled down the street in grand fashion, drawing waves of pointing and chatter from pedestrians on Green Street.

The Iron Cross Society headquarters was located in the heart of South City District, Block 41, at Blackwood Building.

After receiving news that the headquarters had been attacked, the massive gang sprang into action. Officers and captains scattered throughout various blocks swiftly organized their people, converging on headquarters in a vast procession.

At that very moment, a group of fully armed masked men had already broken into Blackwood Building.

Fierce gunfire still raged outside, but these people apparently had no intention of fighting the Cross Society gang members to the death. Carrying a long, coffin-like box, they headed straight for the underground vault.

They wore all manner of Alchemical Night Vision Goggles, while masks covered most of their faces, making them impossible to identify.

They were extremely powerful. They easily killed the guards along the way, then calmly arrived before a silver metal door.

Looking at the password-protected door, so sturdy that even explosives probably could not breach it, the leading masked man sneered. "Heh. I've always heard that the Cross Society's Silver Vault was an advanced Alchemical Item left behind by the Previous Era, indestructible beyond compare. Now that I see it, it really is extraordinary."

At this point, the technicians had examined the lock on the vault door and shook their heads.

Seeing this, another masked man wearing a crow mask said, "There's no time to slowly crack the code. Get ready to act."

"Tsk, tsk. If we hadn't brought this Sealed Item, there really wouldn't be anything we could do to this vault door for a while."

"Hurry up. Those mercenaries can only buy us so much time. If the Cross Society officers arrive and surround us, things will get troublesome."

"Hehe, Chuck and those core officers haven't returned to the city yet. Even if we get surrounded, it's not like we can't fight our way out."

"..."

Though the masked men claimed not to fear anything, their hands moved quickly.

At this moment, they took the item from the "coffin." It was a black scythe nearly two meters long.

The Black Scythe exuded an eerie black fire, light flickering along its blade. It looked incomparably sharp.

The instant it was exposed to the air, a terrifying aura descended upon the room as though the Grim Reaper himself had arrived, making everyone's hair stand on end. The black-clad men exchanged glances, seemingly harboring an inexplicable fear of the Black Scythe.

"Felix, prepare to act! This Sealed Item is sinister, but as long as we can return to the Medical Base within an hour, there's a good chance we'll survive."

"Mm."

The cloaked man named Felix nodded.

He let out a long breath, then bent down and picked up the scythe from the box.

With the scythe in hand, his entire demeanor abruptly changed, as if a true Grim Reaper had descended into the mortal world.

Without delay, he raised the scythe and slashed fiercely at the vault door.

The next instant, something strange happened.

The scythe's blade was at least ten meters away from the vault door, yet with that slash, a black arc resembling a spatial rift suddenly appeared in the air several meters away.

The black light flashed and vanished. When they looked again, a crack had appeared in the metal door.

Without a sound, the Black Scythe had cut a gash through the alloy door, more than a meter thick, from a distance. Its blade met no resistance, as though cutting through air.

The cloaked man named Felix looked at his strike, and his face twitched sharply, as if it pained him dearly.

But clearly, one gash was not enough to open the vault door.

Felix did not dare take a second swing.

Just then, another black-clad man took the scythe and swung it at the door. Another smooth gash appeared.

They continued like this, switching through four people in total.

After four slashes, they had cut a square opening into the vault.

The leading black-clad man kicked out. With a bang, he easily knocked the alloy block loose, revealing a large hole.

Staring at the opened vault door, the group finally smiled in relief.

The leader said, "Everyone, find that item. As for everything else, take as much as you can!"

Meanwhile, Suren's group was still on the way from Green Street.

Even at full speed, it would take them nearly ten minutes to reach the gang headquarters at Blackwood Building.

Just as their convoy drove onto a bridge, an accident occurred.

The lead vehicle suddenly hit a high-explosive land mine, triggering a violent explosion.

Someone had clearly anticipated that they would come to reinforce the headquarters and had laid an ambush on the only route.

The bridge's location was unusual; taking a detour would waste even more time.

With a thunderous boom, flames shot into the sky.

The lead vehicle was blasted upside down, tumbling dozens of times through the air before crashing to the ground.

Shrapnel scattered everywhere, while the shockwave overturned several motorcycles.

"Ambush!"

Captain Kai shouted.

A chorus of harsh screeching brakes rang out.

Suren reacted just as quickly. Before the vehicle had even finished braking and skidding sideways, he used the momentum to grip the railing with one hand and leap out. Then he rolled across the bridge, found a sturdy concrete pillar for cover, and hid his whole body behind it, avoiding being flung from the overturned vehicle.

Jumping out, finding cover, drawing his gun—it all happened in one fluid motion.

So there really was an ambush!

Suren had vaguely anticipated it before they set out.

The Cross Society was the ruler of South City. Anyone bold enough to openly attack its headquarters warehouse would certainly have expected reinforcements.

If it were him causing trouble, he certainly would not let the reinforcements arrive safely.

Surround the point and strike the reinforcements—the results would be even better.

That was why he had kept his eyes on the surroundings the whole way. The instant he noticed something wrong with the vehicle ahead, he reacted by jumping out.

The sudden explosion threw the convoy into momentary chaos, but the next second, both sides began exchanging intense fire.

For a time, artillery fire thundered without pause.

Suren did not dare stick his head out carelessly. He took out a small mirror and extended it beyond cover to observe the battle. In the reflection, he saw a group of masked armed men behind cover on the far side of the bridge, using the terrain to snipe at the convoy.

However, the Cross Society members were no pushovers either, and they returned fire in kind.

The gang had its own arms factory. Its firearms and equipment were no worse than those of any force in Outer City. Gang members in this world were not cowardly weaklings who only bullied the vulnerable—they were desperadoes.

Having been ambushed, they were all enraged. Using their vehicles as cover, they pulled out heavy weapons and began retaliating.

Soon, bullets fell as densely as rain, and explosions were deafening.

At the instant Suren used the small mirror to observe the situation, a severed arm fell from the sky with a smack, landing beside his feet. It was blackened by gunpowder burns and still smoking. Blood flowed from the severed end, staining the ground.

Before he could react, another bang rang out as a piece of shrapnel struck the concrete pillar, spraying chips of stone everywhere.

Suren felt the burning sting of a concrete fragment grazing his cheek. Narrowing his eyes at the scene before him, he muttered gravely, "This is quite a welcome on my first day."