The members of the Blood Staff Mercenary Group swiftly swept every valuable area of the Operations Directorate.
They had been targeted by the Directorate before; this time, they intended to extract every bit of compensation they could.
Throughout this process, not a single corporation established in Center City stepped forward to intervene.
As long as the attackers did not target them directly, they would never strike out on their own initiative; wasting their own resources for the sake of the Federation's interests was entirely out of the question.
Naturally, the Federation held nominal authority to summon emergency security forces, but that required a martial artist to spearhead the effort. Without a martial artist stepping up to provide decisive weight, the corporations had an easy, legitimate pretext to shirk the summons.
Meanwhile, they actively investigated the intruders' identities. The Blood Staff Mercenary Group had made no attempt to conceal themselves, so the various corporations and factions soon learned they were wanted fugitives. Well-connected figures also uncovered their feud with the Covert Operations Directorate through certain channels. Now, it was even less of their business.
After searching for a bit, Puppet soon found a passage leading to the Confluence, so he casually walked over and took care of the guards on the other side as well.
By the time he returned, a squad member was jogging out excitedly, pushing a large crate on a handcart.
"Boss, look what I found!"
The crate stood half-open, bearing clear signs of having been violently pried apart.
The bald woman picked up the documents inside, scanned and inspected them, then looked up. "This is a batch of vital biopharmaceuticals stolen in that earlier heist from Qiwaliang Company."
She flipped through the files and continued, "Hm... look at this. Interesting. An insider at the company must have colluded with the Covert Operations Directorate, selling them intelligence while the shipment was in transit, and the Directorate hired people to hijack the cargo."
"Heh, they might as well rename the Covert Operations Directorate to the Covert Robbery Directorate."
"Exactly! Aren't they an intelligence agency? If they're putting all their minds into robbery, how can they do decent intel work?"
"Who says? Can't an intelligence agency do a little business on the side?"
"Boss, there's also this." Another member came over carrying a case, opening it before everyone to reveal rows of packaged, glittering golden seeds.
What were these? Aberrant seeds?
The mercenaries couldn't tell at first glance.
The bald woman inspected and scanned them. A flicker of surprise and excitement crossed her face, and she looked up. "Boss, these are high-energy aberrant seeds newly developed by the Gigagods Flora Company."
One member grumbled, "Stop giving us names we don't understand. Just tell us: how much are they worth?"
The bald woman pondered for a moment. "Judging by the batch numbers, these seeds look destined for the Sanmawojia Continental Association to support some warlord. Going by international market quotes, they start at around nine figures."
Hearing that, the team members all drew in a sharp breath.
One member cried excitedly, "Boss, we're rich!"
The bald woman said, "They're valuable, but things like this aren't easy to fence, especially since they belong to a megacorporation collaborating with the Covert Operations Directorate. Gigagods is a homegrown federal behemoth with deep roots and immense sway in the Confluence. If they find out, we'll have crossed Gigagods Flora Company too."
Puppet didn't care in the slightest. The Hesse Laboratory was already backed by Gigagods Flora Company. They had already crossed them anyway; even if they didn't go looking for trouble, the other side would come for them regardless. There was nothing to fear.
Seeing his reaction, the members immediately understood his stance and turned their eyes back to the bald woman.
Brother Xuan said, "Can you move them or not? Give us a straight answer!"
The bald woman ignored him. After a moment of thought, she said to Puppet, "Boss, I have channels. If you trust me, leave them to me."
Puppet answered straightforwardly, "They're yours to handle."
Just then, a chime sounded from the bald woman's boundary credential. With a hint of urgency, she said, "Boss, a martial artist is approaching. They'll probably be here within five minutes."
Puppet said, "You leave first. I'll deal with them."
"Yes!"
The team members wasted no words. Grabbing the loot and making off with several armored vehicles from the Directorate, they retreated toward the Confluence passage.
Puppet turned and walked out toward the exterior.
This Center City was situated in the central region, where the East and West Banks converged; neither Vea State nor the federal capital could project forces here in short order.
Furthermore, according to news from Vea State, an extraordinarily powerful fugitive seemed to have escaped recently, prompting all formidable martial artists to guard their own domains vigilantly. Thus, he had nothing to worry about.
A few minutes later, a series of explosive booms thundered outside.
After quickly crossing the Confluence passage, the mercenary squad waited on the other side for over ten minutes before Puppet's figure emerged. His protective suit had been torn and battered considerably, yet the cane still gleamed with a deep crimson sheen.
"Boss is here!"
Everyone perked up.
"Are you all right, Boss?"
Puppet shook his head. "I'm fine."
Although two martial artists had arrived, they had keenly perceived his intention to retreat and merely staged a token encirclement, harboring no desire to risk their lives against him. This had made disengaging from the fight effortless.
Moreover, through this clash, he had vaguely grasped a few knacks.
"Boss, what do we do now? Head to Beike Laboratory?"
The bald woman said, "Even if Beike Laboratory wasn't involved in this, they might not dare take us in anymore."
Puppet said, "If they refuse, we work on our own."
Hearing this, the squad members were suddenly invigorated. "Great! Boss, we should have done this long ago! With your skills, where can't you go? What do we have to fear?"
"Exactly! Worst comes to worst, we'll just stay in the Confluence. The rule in the Confluence is that whoever has the biggest fist calls the shots. Who gives a damn about the Federation?"
Puppet leapt onto the lead vehicle and said to the driver, "Let's move!"
"Woohoo!"
With cheers of excitement, the members started their engines and drove toward the nearest trading post according to the Directorate's maps.
Brother Xuan sat alongside the bald woman. Seeing her staring at the lead vehicle, he asked, "What's wrong? What are you looking at?"
She shot him a glance, then looked forward again. "Haven't you noticed? Boss talks a lot more than before."
Brother Xuan scratched his head. "Does he? Hey, now that you mention it... yeah. Boss barely used to speak at all. Is this... a good thing?"
The bald woman reflected on it. The shift seemed to have occurred after he killed that hostile martial artist—or more precisely, after the boss became a martial artist. She considered it and nodded. "It's a good thing."
"Mm, good to hear! Wherever Boss goes, we follow! Whatever Boss says to do, that's what we do!"
Meanwhile, this raid by a martial artist in Atlantawa Center City swiftly drew high priority from the federal government.
Such an incident was exceptionally egregious. While similar events had occurred in the past, that had been during the Expansion War, and even then, they had been swiftly suppressed.
Now, an unregistered martial artist who had signed no agreements had severely injured a resident martial artist and escaped from a joint encirclement by two reinforcing martial artists. That alone demonstrated an extremely high danger classification.
Some argued that in recent years, many martial artists unbound by governments or the Federation had emerged across the globe; such an incident had been bound to happen sooner or later, and it just happened to occur in the Federation this time, so there was no need to make too much fuss.
Fortunately, the resident martial artist had not been killed, so the situation remained within manageable bounds. Even so, such an exceptionally brazen martial artist warranted a heavy-handed response, prompting the federal government to swiftly issue a wanted warrant.
Over in Kawatua, Chen Chuan had kept an eye on external news during his cultivation, so he naturally heard of the incident.
Even without specific photographs, based purely on the operating style and haunts of the Blood Staff Mercenary Group's "Blood Staff," he intuitively sensed this was the handiwork of the being possessed by his seed.
He had no ability to command the seed across great distances; he could only sense certain fluctuations in it spiritually.
Now, he could sense that this seed was absorbing more and more energy. Its spirit and flesh felt like surging waves, yet imparted a sense of stability, which was ample proof that it was on the right path.
As for provoking a federal wanted notice, while the seed possessed its own behavioral logic, it was not so reckless as to disregard consequences entirely, and he could not interfere with it during this process anyway.
He then sensed the other seed. That one seemed to have strayed from the path, focusing predominantly on the spiritual realm.
Yet so long as it existed, there had to be a reason for it, so he decided to observe and see what developments would follow.
With these thoughts settled, he called out to Chaoming, reopened the fissure, and returned beneath the Sacred Tree.
During these recent cultivation sessions, he had brought Chaoming inside; the environment here was exceptionally suited to the bird's survival.
Once, Chaoming had even attempted to fly toward the Sacred Tree, but had never succeeded. It made sense; if reaching the Sacred Tree were that easy, Kawatua's priesthood would not have been entirely helpless before it.
At this moment, the stone tablet in his pocket stirred, and the illusory silhouette of a civet leaped out. After a few cries, it began screeching and bounding back and forth, unable to sit still for even a moment.
Chen Chuan glanced at it and paid it no mind.
The civet stone tablet was entirely useless to him now. Not only was its power insufficient, but activating it required specially prepared offerings beforehand—far too much hassle. He simply kept it around like a pet.
He walked forward and sat cross-legged in midair. His spirit visage slowly materialized around him, mirroring his posture as it gradually absorbed the abundant energy here.
This time, he continued cultivating until mid-May. Only when he heard that Luo Kaiyuan, Feng Xiaoqi, and Wei Dong had returned from their errands outside did he halt his cultivation and emerge from the airspace of the Sacred Tree.
Chapter 1243