The Cross Society's Officers

Suren knew very well that death on the battlefield was not something one could avoid just by wanting to.

They were heading to reinforce headquarters, and Captain Kai would definitely not choose to retreat.

If they wanted to survive, their only choice was to kill the enemy.

Since he had joined the Cross Society, Suren quickly settled into his role. He silently calculated the positions of the enemy gunners he had spotted earlier, then took a deep breath, rolled sharply, and fired several shots from his large-caliber musket toward the other side of the bridge.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After that roll and the gunshots, Suren ended up behind a steam vehicle several meters away.

The moment he steadied himself, he heard a boisterous compliment beside him. "Yo, kid, not bad! A lot of newcomers get so scared their legs go weak on their first mission, but you can still shoot."

Turning around, he saw the burly Sam.

After hearing Kai's orders earlier, the man had been keeping an eye on the newcomers.

When he saw Suren immediately duck behind cover, he had thought the kid was too terrified to move. Yet in the blink of an eye, he had seen him fire.

Roll, aim, shoot. His judgment was calm, and his movements were practiced.

Then Sam saw a gunman across the bridge get his head pierced by a bullet and fall at once. Even more surprised, he praised Suren again. "Your shooting is damn accurate."

Suren merely smiled without confirming or denying it.

In that situation, he had not actually been certain he could hit the enemy. Yet the process had gone unexpectedly smoothly. The entire tactical roll had felt as natural as breathing, precise and seamless.

Only then did he realize that after collecting so much Firearm Experience with the Reaper, his actual combat ability had already risen by a huge margin.

At that moment, Captain Kai in the distance seemed to have noticed as well, casting him a brief, surprised glance.

However, Kai did not look for long. The fierce gunfight quickly drew his attention back.

Of course, neither Kai nor Sam knew that Suren had opened fire not to show off his marksmanship, but for his own safety.

He was changing positions.

He had realized that in a battle of this intensity, concrete barriers gave him no sense of security at all. This modified bulletproof vehicle with rune armor was the safest cover instead.

He had not forgotten that this was a world of Alchemy. There were not only ordinary bullets, but all sorts of Alchemical Bullets.

That concrete barrier could be blown to pieces like tofu in minutes.

Besides, there was a whole group of veterans protecting him.

Perhaps Sam felt that even a newcomer was putting on such an impressive performance and refused to be outdone. He directly opened the equipment crate on the vehicle, pulled out a shoulder-fired rocket launcher, and fired a round toward the other side of the bridge.

Boom!

A deafening blast erupted, and flames shot into the sky.

The battle entered its most intense phase from the very beginning.

Both sides traded fire relentlessly, fighting with extreme ferocity.

However, what Suren considered good news was that the enemy did not seem to be using any "weapons of mass destruction." That greatly improved his own chances of survival.

It made sense. One Alchemical Bullet cost several thousand, even tens of thousands of Liso. They could not possibly be standard ammunition to waste in a gang firefight like this.

From the start, this battle had been destined to become a war of attrition. It would only end when one side was wiped out or chose to retreat.

But that was precisely the enemy's goal—buying time.

By the time they actually crossed the bridge, the fighting at the headquarters warehouse would probably be over.

Yet what Suren had not expected was that after failing to make progress for so long, Captain Kai made a surprising decision.

"They should be mercenaries from the North City District. Damn it, they're trying to delay us from reinforcing headquarters."

Looking at the armed group on the opposite bank, Kai had guessed their purpose.

Naturally, he could not stand by and watch them succeed. He said to Sam and the others, "When I count to three, cover me!"

Everyone's faces showed shock when they heard that. "Captain Kai, you're going to charge across the bridge?"

It was a crazy idea.

Since the enemy had planned this interception, they had surely accounted for the "professionals" in their team.

Under such circumstances, even a "professional" who could withstand bullets with his body would not dare expose himself carelessly. Otherwise, special ammunition and artillery shells would certainly be waiting for him. Under concentrated fire, even the strongest body would instantly be riddled with holes.

"Yes! The enemy wants to hold us here. The harder they try, the more it means headquarters is in trouble. We can't keep this up. We have to reinforce headquarters as soon as possible."

But Kai had apparently made up his mind. His expression hardened as he gave a sharp shout, "Implant: Release!"

As he spoke, his hands formed a series of seals, and an orange six-pointed Alchemy Array lit up on the ground.

In an instant, the tibias in his lower legs and the ulnae along the insides of his forearms bulged outward and sharpened, gradually transforming into metal scythes like a praying mantis's arms.

This was Kai's Alchemical Implant—Blade!

Kai did not give the gang members time to persuade him otherwise. As soon as his implant was released, he began counting down. "Three, two, one—charge!"

"Damn it! Kill them!"

Sam and the others cursed, but none of them hesitated. Everyone rose at once, raised their muskets, and unleashed a barrage toward the other side of the bridge.

Suren was equally fearless, firing both guns at once.

Out of the corner of his eye, he kept watching Captain Kai as he charged out!

The instant the gunfire exploded, Kai kicked off the ground and leaped dozens of meters. In the sky, his agile figure looked like a flying mantis. He landed atop one of the bridge's stone pillars, borrowed its force, kicked off again, and surged forward another several dozen meters. In only two leaps, he plunged straight into the enemy position.

Seeing this, Sam and the other veterans shouted in unison, "Brothers, charge!"

At the command, the Cross Society members rushed out from cover like beasts released from cages, surging forward.

The enemy clearly had not expected someone to land directly in their position, and they were caught completely off guard.

With a deadly blade mantis behind them constantly harvesting lives, more than half of the fire directed forward instantly died out. In just a moment, the enemy formation was thrown into disarray.

Fearless and unyielding, Kai slaughtered his way through the enemy position with agile movements.

A few seconds later, the foremost Cross Society members had already charged into the position.

The slaughter began.

By the time Suren followed the main force in, the battle was already nearing its end.

Corpses littered the ground.

Suren glanced at Kai, who was sitting nearby while having his wound bandaged, and a strange look flashed through his eyes.

Blood was flowing from Kai's lower abdomen. He appeared to have been shot during his lone charge.

However, Kai did not seem to care in the slightest. After injecting himself with a Healing Potion, he immediately called for everyone to clear the obstacles and continue forward.

Suren did not look any longer and actively helped move the bodies.

This mercenary squad had more than a dozen people. Most had died only recently, and the Gray Mist around their corpses was still very clear.

After making the rounds, Suren gained quite a haul.

The teams from every district heading to reinforce headquarters at Blackwood Building had been intercepted by mercenaries. Everything seemed to be proceeding according to the masked men's plan.

But no one had expected that a sudden change would occur in the underground vault.

Just after the masked men broke into the vault, a group of mysterious experts not included in the intelligence suddenly appeared outside Blackwood Building. The mercenaries could not stop them at all, and they headed straight for the vault.

The situation was suddenly reversed.

When the intelligence reached the underground vault, the black-clad group instantly panicked. They could clearly feel the changes in the surrounding gravitational field and realized that the person coming had to be Chuck the Arbitrator, president of the Iron Cross Society—the man who had awakened the rare talent A-017: Gravitational Field!

The masked men immediately understood their predicament and began cursing, even turning on one another.

"Everyone, it seems the situation has changed."

"Damn it! Didn't the intelligence say Chuck was still outside the city hunting the wilderness? Then what the hell is this gravitational field? And how did those Cross Society officers get here so quickly?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, Chuck may have set us up."

"Sigh, there's no point saying that now. That important figure gave us the mission of obtaining that 'thing.' At least we have it now. Whether we can escape alive depends on each of your own abilities."

"Number Five, watch yourself. We caused such a huge disturbance this time. Chuck will definitely suspect that you have an insider within the Cross Society."

"Hmph. If his intelligence had not been wrong, how would we have ended up in such a passive position?"

"We can talk about that after we escape alive. Go, split up and run!"

The masked men no longer had their earlier composure. They blasted open the ground and fled in panic into the underground pipes.

The Green Street team was the first reinforcement unit to reach Block 41.

Suren had originally thought there would be an even fiercer battle than the one on the bridge. He had even considered whether he should use the Alchemical Bullets he had been saving to protect himself.

But after arriving, he discovered that the situation did not seem as bad as he had imagined.

It was even rather calm.

There was gunfire near Blackwood Building, but it was sparse. It did not sound like an intense firefight, but more like scattered shots from a pursuit.

Even from far away, Suren could see that the streets around the black building were shrouded in an eerie thick fog.

Rather than being alarmed by the fog, Captain Kai was delighted and cried out, "That's Smoker Boss's ability!"

The veterans in the team apparently recognized the method as well and exclaimed happily, "Haha! Great! With Smoker Boss here, there definitely won't be a problem!"

Whether there was a problem or not, they still had to head over.

Sure enough, not long after the convoy entered the fog, they encountered armed men cleaning up the battlefield. They were Cross Society members.

Someone who knew Kai greeted him. "Hey, Kai, you made it."

Looking at the peaceful headquarters, Kai asked with a puzzled expression, "I got word that headquarters was under attack. Where are the attackers?"

The man replied, "Haha, the president and the officers suddenly came back. Those guys were naturally all killed."

Kai froze for a moment before breaking into delight. "Huh? The president and the others came back?"

Hearing that relaxed tone, Suren also let out a long breath.

At least, it seemed he would not have to face a supernatural battle far beyond his current strength on his first day after joining the gang.

The Green Street convoy arrived in force before Blackwood Building, while the fog around them gradually dispersed.

Then, a figure slowly condensed from a cloud of smoke not far away—a sinister middle-aged man with a calm expression.

Kai and the veterans recognized him and all greeted him. "Smoker Boss!"

Suren remembered seeing this middle-aged man ten hours earlier, on the city wall.

He was one of the Cross Society's officers, Smoker Boss Sambou Kaczynski.

"Mm."

The middle-aged man nodded in acknowledgment.

He appeared to be injured, and his face was somewhat pale.

Before Kai could ask anything, a large "bird" suddenly swooped down from the sky.

Suren instinctively reached for the musket at his waist, but upon looking closely, he saw that it was a human with black metal wings. As soon as he landed, the steel wings on his back folded up and vanished without a trace.

Kai recognized the newcomer and greeted him excitedly. "Boss Angel!"

This was another Cross Society officer, Night Angel Goethe Amato.

Goethe seemed to know Kai well. Smiling, he asked curiously, "Yo, Kai. I heard the reinforcement teams from the other districts were all blocked by mercenaries. How did you get here so fast?"

Kai said modestly, "I was worried something might happen at headquarters, so we rushed over a little faster."

Goethe apparently understood Kai's personality and guessed what had happened. He smiled. "You brat, don't tell me you charged in front again?"

"Heh."

Kai rubbed the back of his head and smiled.

Goethe shook his head without saying more, though his eyes held approval.

Suren quietly blended into the crowd, but a strange glint flashed in his eyes as he looked at those metal wings that could fly. An Alchemical Implant that can fly would be very useful.

He planned to undergo Job Advancement soon, and then he would need to choose an Alchemical Implant.

The Abomination Puppeteer was a profession that developed agility and technique. If he could obtain the blueprint for those Alchemical Wings, they seemed like a good choice as well.

Now that headquarters seemed to be fine, everyone's tense hearts finally relaxed.

At that moment, the two officers suddenly turned their heads as though they had noticed something.

Following their gazes, Suren looked over as well.

The next second, he saw a woman carrying something heavy jump down from a rooftop more than ten meters away.

The moment she landed, she tossed down the thing on her shoulder. It was a masked man covered in blade wounds, already unconscious.

Clearly, she was another officer.

The woman was dressed boldly and radiated heroic spirit. She was Four-Armed Rakshasa Qiantiao.

Kai called out again, "Sister Chijou!"

Her thick teal hair was tied in a high ponytail. Around her waist was a thick crimson rope resembling a shimenawa, with four single-edged long swords of different colors bound to it.

She wore the kind of Japanese samurai armor Suren had seen in his previous life, though only on her lower body. Her loose leather armor covered only her front and back. Her long, pale legs and half her buttocks were completely exposed, and with any larger movement, one could not help wondering whether she might expose herself.

Her upper body was even more revealing. Apart from the bandage-like wrap around her chest, she wore only two simple fiery-red leather shoulder guards and bracers. Large areas of skin were bare, clearly displaying her exaggerated full-arm tattoos and the Rakshasa Tattoo covering her entire back.

From afar, Suren took one look at that Rakshasa Tattoo and felt such a vicious aura that he did not dare stare at it directly. Then he glanced at the imposing weight on her chest. She truly carried signs of great danger.

When Qiantiao saw Kai, the murderous aura she had carried upon landing suddenly vanished. She teased, "Yo, little Kai, I heard you're in charge of Green Street now? Tsk, tsk. When are you going to arrange something for your big sister?"

Patting his chest, Kai laughed. "Sure thing, Sister Chijou. Whenever you come, I'll arrange it. If you don't find the men at the flower houses satisfying, your little brother here can personally keep you company!"

Qiantiao gave him a disdainful look and joked, "Oh? With those skinny arms and legs of yours, I'm afraid you won't last very long."

Listen to that—what kind of savage words were those?

The veterans on the vehicles burst into laughter.

Sam and several other men were even less ashamed, shouting loudly, "Sister Chijou, if the captain can't do it, we can!"

Seeing this, even Suren wore a relaxed smile.

But jokes aside, everyone had clearly noticed the unconscious captive Qiantiao had brought back. Smoker Boss and Night Angel both looked at the man with strange expressions in their eyes.

At that moment, another group emerged from Blackwood Building.

When they saw the person leading them, everyone present, whether Kai or the officers, respectfully called out.

"President!"

Thank you to Zijing Yuming for the generous support. Thank you.