Caught off guard by the scene, Ji Jue and Lu Feng looked at each other with wide eyes. In the brief silence that followed, they both cursed.
“Fuck.”
Staring at each other, neither could do anything but blurt out, “How the hell did you do this?”
Their voices overlapped, and once again, they both fell silent.
Fate was truly mysterious. Sotis, it was... maybe a little too mysterious.
At that mont, they both realized that they had no idea how to explain to the other why they’d suddenly ended up here, or how they’d gotten themselves into such a massive ss.
“Sorry.” Lu Feng noticed blood dripping down his face. He raised a hand, wiped it twice, only to sar it all over. Looking around at the chaotic bodies scattered nearby, he gave up trying to explain and just shrugged. “Slipped up. It was an accident.”
Slipped up? You accidentally killed over thirty mbers of the Qi family with your godlike strength? Why didn’t you “accidentally” fall on top of a girl when the cops raided the club and claim that you just tripped?
“Didn’t ask.” Ji Jue rolled his eyes, staring at the gun in Lu Feng’s hand. This thing wasn’t just any firearm; it was outright illegal. Even though the federation was more open about guns, civilian ownership of fully automatic firearms was forbidden, and even a pistol license cost a fortune to get.
Yet Lu Feng’s repair kit at his feet was stuffed with guns of varying lengths, so much so that the kit was nearly stuffed. Ji Jue’s envy flared; he’d never even touched sothing this insane.
Lu Feng froze for a mont, then laughed.
“Just borrowed so from my comrades,” he said. “And there’s more.”
He drew a pistol from the holster at his lower back and handed it to Ji Jue, an iconic model from the Sentinel Group under Universal Heavy Industries, a classic military weapon with over forty years of service history—the Hunter. It had twelve rounds of ammo, and it was 197mm long.
The mont Ji Jue held it, a flood of information surged into his consciousness. The gun seed semi-transparent, and without even looking closely, he could see every internal chanism in his mind.
“Be careful with that,” Lu Feng said. “This is a treasure of our paratroopers, passed down generation to generation. When I retired with it, I flew several missions. Lose it or break it, and I’ll never face my comrades again!”
“It’s old, huh?”
“Older than . You tell .”
Hey?
Ji Jue instinctively greeted it, but received no verbal reply. However, the pulsing awareness he felt was deep, more alive than any other machine he’d encountered. It was as if a steadfast, silent comrade was right there beside him, listening, obeying commands without a word in return.
It was a good piece of equipnt. No doubt about it.
Ji Jue’s eyes lit up. He stowed the screwdriver, swung the crowbar again, and smacked the manager’s forehead a couple more tis before finally raising his head to survey the scene.
Soon, his smile faded. Now that he was done watching the fun stuff, he had to deal with the bad, too.
The place looked like... a mortuary. On the operating table lay a corpse not fully cooled, with its fingers twitching from residual nerve impulses. Its chest had been opened, and its organs were gone. Right beside it, the packing work in the insulated box was clearly only halfway done. Small boxes that had been carefully packed could be seen, waiting to be rushed off by express delivery into the buyers’ hands.
Except the courier was already dead at the entrance, and no one was getting these shipnts on the road.
And there was more...
Blood spread out from behind giant shower curtains. No matter how many tis the tiles were mopped, the sticky red stains wouldn’t co off. Ji Jue reached out to pull the curtain aside, but Lu Feng called out, telling him to stop. He didn’t; instead, he lifted the corner of hell.
Behind the curtain was a machine like a sawmill, the funnel aid at a bathtub large enough for so sexy ti. Inside, however, there was no champagne nor bubbles. Only a crimson hue tainted the tub. The blinding crimson seeped from countless shredded corpses, shimring faintly under the lights like ripples in a sickly, stagnant pond.
The entire basent resembled a production line. Raw materials flowed in endlessly, while organs were stripped away. They did their best to earn money and draw blood, all to feed the insatiable glutton. Now, the leftover waste and worthless scraps were piled up for disposal.
Among the stacked fragnts of bodies, a hollow eye peeked out from a gap. Through the blood, it looked straight at Ji Jue, making him stagger back in dizziness.
Soone caught him.
Lu Feng pulled the curtain closed again and patted Ji Jue on the shoulder. “These bastards sneakily snatch up the holess or people living alone, those whose disappearances won’t even be noticed, and bring them here. This has been going on for quite so ti.”
“I know.” Ji Jue fought the nausea that threatened to overwhelm him. He had anticipated this and had even prepared himself. He just hadn’t expected to see... so many.
There were dozens, maybe hundreds of corpses. It was impossible to estimate. So many people had been silently murdered, dismbered, decomposed, reduced to fragnts and disposed of. And it wasn’t even the starving monsters doing all the work. Other humans, like the victims themselves, had picked up knives against their own kind.
Maybe so got lucky and escaped. If they weren’t lucky, they would join the pile of corpses. Alive or dead, they were nothing more than trampled weeds.
“Too bad, all of these are just small fry.” Lu Feng sighed, bent down to grab his bloodied bag of weapons from the floor, and added, “Let’s go and see if the boss is around.”
“Wait!” Ji Jue blocked his way, scanning him. “You’re just going out like that?”
Lu Feng rolled his eyes. “What else am I supposed to do? Should I hand out a few red envelopes[1] and wish them a happy new year instead?”
“See? That’s why Mrs. Lu always says you’ve got no brains.” Ji Jue sighed, opened his toolbox, and pulled out two balaclavas. “Good thing I prepared extras. Otherwise, if soone recognized a survivor, who knows how ssy it’d get.”
“Heh, you’re thorough.” Lu Feng grinned and put on the rough balaclava, which was basically a loop of elastic fabric with two holes cut for eyes. He adjusted it, took a deep breath, and finally looked like a proper thug. He frowned. “This color... Why does it look like your long johns?”
“...Honestly, half an hour ago it was still on my leg.” Ji Jue sighed. “So don’t sniff it, man, I’m scared.”
“You...” Lu Feng was about to curse when he froze, watching Ji Jue open his mouth and deftly bite the surveillance cable he had just cut.
“Hold on, let get this done... shit, it’s live!”
Sparks flashed between his teeth. Ji Jue’s eyes went white as countless images flooded his mind.
From the chaotic records, a familiar figure erged.
“Found it!”
***
On the fourth underground floor, in a hidden garage, chaos reigned. The truck was nearly full, yet the busy loading showed no sign of stopping.
By the truck stood the woman who had almost devoured both the toolkit and Ji Jue whole when they first t. Once she removed her sunglasses, there was no more glamour. Her eyes were nothing but an icy, terrifying crimson.
A smiling attendant brought over a folding lounge chair. “Miss Zhu, rest for a bit. Everything’s almost ready here. Would you like so water? I had Xiao Li go get it for you, he just started working today—”
“You talk too much. Has the third floor been cleared?” Zhu Hong turned back, expressionless. “Be quick about it. Once this batch is done, move all the other goods to South Ridge. Clean out anyone left inside. We can’t leave anyone here.”
“So fast?” The man, eager to please, froze for a mont, then forced a smile. “So of the equipnt was just moved in... moving those people from the cages will take a—”
“Is it too much trouble? Then forget it.” Zhu Hong let out a cold laugh. “That lunatic from the Security Bureau already wiped out the Yiqing and Spring City gangs this afternoon. Even Mr. Hu calling to vouch for them and plead for rcy was useless. They killed everyone. You think Mr. Wang’s so tough guy, closer to you than your own father, who would never expose you? You can wait for the executioner here, or...”
She paused, and a frostiness crept into her smile, utterly unmasked. “If you’re afraid of the pain, I can help send you on your way, too.”
The man instinctively took a step back, his face twitching. “I’ll imdiately tell them to speed up.”
Bang!
During the transport, a box tipped over from the bump between the two n. Crimson spilled out, and a dead infant fell out. A deathly silence fell.
Zhu Hong’s gaze stayed cold and unflinching. The flustered man waved his hand, and soone at the door ca forward to drag the panicked mover aside. A dull sound echoed.
After the cleanup, the moving continued.
“What’s the use of employing so many useless people? How embarrassing,” Zhu Hong said, withdrawing her gaze. “Those who can work, work. Those who can’t, feed them to the dogs. Don’t waste ‘food.’”
The man wiped sweat from his brow. “Y-yes. The old woman from the repair shop was unexpected. Please forgive us... As for the young man with the scar on his face, we’ve tracked him down. I’ll gather my n to capture him imdiately. We’ll bring him to you tonight, I promise.”
Outside the garage, in the silent stairwell, two masked n exchanged glances. A certain Mr. Ji Jue, the one with a scar on his face, had cold sweat drenching his forehead.
Damn it, you bastards. One of the boxes even opened! Wait, tonight...? Crap. So that old lunatic from yesterday wasn’t working with you guys after all?!
Ji Jue’s eyes went wide.
Next to him, Lu Feng couldn’t hold back a chuckle. He was about to say sothing when the man inside the garage continued, “Though, I rember there was another guy in that shop who’s older and muscular. It’s just that he’s a bit tanned...”
“He’s tanned like a toad. Why do you want to bring him back? He disgusts .” Zhu Hong’s cold eyes swept over the man. “Take his blood, and dispose of the rest in the sea. Clean up this ss, and don’t cause trouble again.”
This ti, Ji Jue couldn’t help but laugh. Lu Feng shot him an angry glare, seemingly thinking, What are you laughing at, you fool?!
1. A 红包 red envelope is a gift of money given during holidays or for special occasions such as weddings, graduations, and birthdays. Here is an image for your reference. ☜
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