Looking at the figure that had suddenly appeared on the street, the soldiers of the Purge Squad were visibly taken aback.
The figure wore a raincoat. In the dark of night, his face was invisible, as was whatever lay hidden beneath the coat.
The squad leader leading the team grew alert at once, quickly raising his rifle to take aim before reporting the situation to his centurion.
"Unidentified target spotted... outside the mission operational zone. This guy is blocking the militants' escape route."
Accompanied by static hums, the centurion's voice soon came from the other end of the comm channel.
"Report his details."
The squad leader took a deep breath and reported hurriedly, "I can't see clearly from here. He's wearing a raincoat... Something feels off about this guy."
The centurion calmly ordered, "He might be an accomplice of the militants. Detain him as well."
They had already captured some prisoners, but it wasn't enough.
According to the confessions of those lackeys, the one who had jumped out the window was their leader—the so-called disciple of the Enlightenment Society.
"Understood."
Ending the transmission, the squad leader swung his right fist. The squad quickly split into two elements: one continued pushing forward along the street, while the other approached the raincoat-clad figure with rifles raised and aimed at him.
For some reason, the squad leader felt his heart pounding fiercely—an instinctive panic, as though he were being watched by some dangerous mutant.
Ten meters!
Just as the five detached men were about to close in on that motionless figure, a sudden turn of events occurred at that very instant.
"Da-da-da—!"
Muzzle flashes abruptly burst from the shadows under the raincoat. Streaks of tracers leapt straight at their faces, catching the five-man team completely off guard.
At less than ten meters, such concentrated firepower gave them no time to dodge, nor was there any room to maneuver!
Fortunately, the ballistic plates of their exoskeletons deflected the sweeping hail of lead. Though thoroughly battered by the burst, none of them were hit in vital spots, and they decisively pulled their triggers to return fire.
Yet in that very flash of lightning and flint, the raincoat-clad figure suddenly moved.
Two curved blades flashed like the forelegs of a praying mantis, tracing a fleeting arc of white light through the curtain of rain. With a sharp hum, he was already at the flank of the five-man team.
The soldier standing on the left didn't even have time to react before he saw the razor-sharp edge cleave through the raindrops clinging to his tactical visor.
"Clang—!"
The alloy blade bit into the helmet. The ballistic insert capable of stopping bullets was no tougher than a slightly thick wooden plank before the strength of a level-thirty-something Agility-type player!
Coupled with the power of the exoskeleton, this single blow instantly dealt tons of damage.
Blood splattered from the shattered helmet, and the struck soldier lost consciousness in an instant.
Releasing his grip on that hilt, Xiao Jiang abandoned the curved blade embedded in the helmet and gripped the one in his left hand with both, switching from dual-wielding to a two-handed grip on a single blade.
Seeing their teammate down, life or death unknown, the other four soldiers were dumbfounded. Before they could even process what had happened, they saw that lightning-fast figure closing in on them once more.
"Stop him—" The first soldier to react swung his muzzle around, opening fire at point-blank range.
Yet before his voice even faded, the whirlwind of blade light was already sweeping across his neck.
"Die!"
The cursed whisper had barely brushed past his ear when his field of vision soared into the air along with his severed head, tumbling through the sky.
The first corpse had only just hit the ground, and already two of the five-man team were dead!
With high-soaring battle intent blazing in his eyes, Xiao Jiang's slaughter did not stop.
Stepping swiftly aside to evade the muzzle flash practically in his face, the whirlwind-like blade spun around, cleaving toward the soldier's shin against the clatter of automatic gunfire.
"Aaargh!!"
The blade wedged into the armor plating of the exoskeleton's greaves.
Rather than cutting in, it was more like it had been violently smashed into it!
With a cry of agony, the soldier dropped to one knee, his kneepad splashing rain from the ground.
Grabbing the back of his neck with his left hand, Xiao Jiang yanked him upward, holding him before himself like a shield, and fluidly rammed into the next target who had his rifle raised to aim at him.
Slammed full-force by his comrade's back, that soldier stumbled, man and gun reeling, before falling backward off-balance.
Tossing aside the soldier with the mangled leg, Xiao Jiang surged forward in a lunge. At the same time, his right hand reached for the submachine gun slung at his waist, which still had half a magazine left. He jammed the muzzle up against the falling soldier's chin like the tip of a dagger.
"Number four!"
As that savage remark escaped his lips, the sinister muzzle spewed tongues of flame.
The bursting "da-da-da" punched through the soft joints of the exoskeleton, instantly turning the soldier's head into mush. The body convulsed like an electric shock amidst flickering sparks, then crashed heavily onto the rain-soaked street.
Watching his teammates fall in rapid succession, the lone remaining soldier was scared out of his wits.
Seeing the brim of the raincoat turn toward him, he couldn't even summon the courage to face the man. Screaming "Monster!" in terror, he turned and fled frantically into the curtain of rain.
Clearly, not all Wilante were fearless men who welcomed death.
Especially when facing an unnatural "monster" like this.
Staring at that impossibly fast afterimage and his brothers who had all fallen within mere breaths, the squad leader's pupils shrank to pinpricks. Shock and fury warred within him, so overwhelming he couldn't even spare the breath to curse the deserter.
"So fast!"
Even though he was an Awakened himself, facing such terrifying strength and speed at this distance left him without a shred of confidence in victory.
The soldier whose lower leg had been hacked into wasn't dead yet; his eyes were wide as he stared at the man in the raincoat, twitching and gasping in the rain.
Xiao Jiang pressed the submachine gun against the man's head as a hostage to prevent the other five soldiers not far away from opening fire, then tore the rifle slung over the wounded man's shoulder free.
"Still want to fight?"
As he spoke, he glanced sideways at the remaining five standing by the street curb.
The distance between them was roughly twenty meters—neither too far nor too close for him.
The squad leader swallowed hard, the barrel with its silencer trembling slightly.
*This guy is a monster...*
He called for their sniper in a hushed voice, but heard no response. His heart sank instantly.
These people came prepared!
The sniper they had posted nearby had most likely met with disaster...
"...Who are you?" to stall for time, the squad leader asked in a low voice.
Since Xiao Jiang was here specifically to buy time in the first place, seeing the other side too terrified to move made him in no hurry to fight. He decided to mess with the guy.
"A disciple of the Enlightenment Society."
The squad leader's pupils contracted slightly.
"The Enlightenment Society..."
That name again!
His index finger rubbed against the trigger as he swallowed nervously, continuing in a lowered voice, "...What the hell are you trying to do?"
"You don't need to know..." Xiao Jiang lowered his voice too, playing the role of a true villain.
The air between the two sides seemed to freeze, locked in a stalemate.
Roughly two minutes passed.
The squad leader kept swallowing, anxious inside, but powerless to do anything.
What kept him wary wasn't entirely the man standing before him, but also his comrade pinned under the man's foot, as well as another gun lurking in the shadows.
With the sniper offline, he was almost certain that gun was already covering this street.
His superiors had dispatched a ten-man squad to search the sniper's position, and until he heard back, he didn't dare gamble with his and his brothers' lives.
Right then, the centurion's voice came over the comms.
"...Reinforcements are almost there. Hold on a little longer on your end."
The squad leader asked anxiously, "Understood... What about the fleeing target?"
After a brief burst of static, the centurion replied, "Leave him for now. Secure the target in front of you first. As for the runner, his identity has been confirmed... He won't get away."
Hearing this, the squad leader finally breathed a sigh of relief, his tense nerves gradually settling.
Since there was no rush to pursue the runner, there was no need to fight this person to the death.
He only needed to keep him pinned down and wait for reinforcements to arrive!
The group stood in opposition in the rain, letting the increasingly heavy drops drum against the raincoat and the armor of their exoskeletons.
Right then, the faint rumble of engines drifted along the street on the wind.
At the same time, a voice sounded over Xiao Jiang's comm channel.
"...I have two pieces of bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"
Xiao Jiang rolled his eyes.
"I'm in the middle of looking cool here, so quit farting around and spit it out."
Dropping the teasing, Desert Eagle continued, "The troops surrounding the broadcast station opened fire on civilians. The Desert Corps took one dead and one wounded, but luckily left no traces behind; our people successfully pulled out... Also, civilian casualties in Evernight Port seem pretty heavy. I went offline to check the forums after seeing the explosion, and heard it from the guy who died."
Xiao Jiang clicked his tongue in surprise.
This Southern Legion was ruthless enough—pushed into a corner, they actually fired on their own civilians.
"...That's two pieces of bad news?"
Desert Eagle continued over the comms, "That's just one. The other is about you. Two armored vehicles are heading your way, about a two- or three-minute drive. I spotted them through the drone."
Pausing briefly, he added, "Of course, I'm just about done on my end. Do whatever you want."
"Copy that."
After a brief reply, Xiao Jiang tapped his helmet with his index finger, cutting the comms.
Looking at the five men waiting on high alert in the distance, he pondered for a moment, an idea forming in his mind. He called out, "Hey."
The squad leader opposite tensed instantly, his trigger finger tightening like a drawn bowstring.
"What?"
Xiao Jiang grinned.
"I'm sparing your life. What's your name?"
A flash of indignation crossed the squad leader's eyes. Remembering that reinforcements were on the way and there was no need to provoke this monster right now, he ultimately swallowed his anger and replied in a low voice, "Toby."
"Toby... got it." Xiao Jiang nodded after murmuring the name, speaking in a meaningful tone, "Goodbye. Until we meet again."
With that, he kicked the crippled soldier beneath his foot aside.
Toby froze, not yet grasping what "until we meet again" meant.
In that very instant, a blinding flame suddenly erupted from beneath the raincoat! Before everyone's eyes, that remorseless killer exploded into a massive fireball!
The scorching blaze ignited the exoskeleton's battery pack. Barely half a second after the initial blast, a second explosion followed, and thick smoke instantly billowed outward.
Burning sparks scattered like fireworks, illuminating the dark street in brilliant flare.
Confronted with this sudden turn of events, Toby was completely dumbfounded.
*Suicide?!*
A scream piercing through the smoke snapped him back to his senses. Rapidly lowering his rifle, he lunged forward in several strides, dragging his comrade out of the dense smoke and the flames.
The curved blade was still wedged in the man's shin, and the ballistic insert on his chest had caught fire, impossible to pat out.
Gritting his teeth, Toby stripped off the burning ballistic plate and hurled it into the churning sea of smoke and fire nearby.
Right at that moment, two reinforcing armored vehicles finally arrived from the other end of the street.
The vehicles pulled to a stop at the curb, and a Wilante soldier carrying a rifle hopped down, walking briskly over to Toby.
"We're the scout team from the 40th Myriad. Heard reinforcements were needed here and hurried over from the port district."
Glancing at Toby and the wounded soldier beside him, the soldier shrugged.
"Looks like your fight is already over."
Toby reached out to wiggle the curved blade lodged in his comrade's shin. Seeing that it seemed cleaved right into the bone, he ultimately gave up on pulling it out, deciding to leave the task to a proper surgeon.
Brutal.
To not get scratched on the battlefield, only to lose a leg right on his own doorstep—this poor guy would probably be discharged early.
Toby stood up from the ground.
"It's over. You guys are a step late."
The scout soldier smirked.
"Aren't you guys the same? I heard someone pretty important died."
Toby nodded in silence.
"A millurion."
What mattered wasn't just the rank of millurion, but that the man was the secretary to the Chief of General Affairs for the war zone.
At this moment, Toby didn't know that his friendly forces had already opened fire on civilians.
If he had known, he probably wouldn't have made a fuss over something as minor as "a millurion died."
The scout soldier clicked his tongue softly and glanced toward the flames nearby.
"Taking out a millurion... looks like these gangsters have a death wish."
The billowing smoke was quickly thinned by the rain, but the fire refused to be extinguished, burning stubbornly under the pouring rain.
By the time the acrid smoke cleared, only a charred, blackened torso remained on the street.
Toby swallowed hard, pressed a finger against his helmet, and reported to his superior:
"We have three KIA... one critically wounded."
"The enemy claimed to be a disciple of the Enlightenment Society, suspected to be a Stage Two or higher Awakened... No, maybe even Stage Three or Four. That didn't look like speed achievable by an exoskeleton alone."
The comm channel stayed silent for a while before his centurion asked in a deep voice, "...Where is he? Did you capture him?"
Toby said quietly, "He ended his own life... and his body was burned down to a cinder."
The comms lapsed into silence once more for a long time. Then the centurion replied tersely:
"Understood. Regroup and withdraw."
Toby hurriedly asked, "What about the runaway target?"
The centurion continued, "The City Defense Army has locked down Evernight Port, with Blackwater Lane as a primary containment zone... That rat won't get away."
"Tonight's mess has gotten a bit out of hand... There might be other assignments in a bit."
Toby took a deep breath.
"Understood."
...
Meanwhile, barreling through the alleys, Morse finally found the Enlightenment Society's safehouse by relying on his hazy memories.
At this moment, he looked like a dog pulled from the water, soaked through with rain and faintly reeking of rancid garbage.
Without any care for his appearance, he stumbled forward, slamming his fist hard against the tightly shut door.
Yet the closed door didn't budge at all, showing not the slightest sign of opening.
Panic seized his heart, and he roared at the shut door: "Open the door! I did everything you asked... Even though there was a hiccup and Tony died, I had no choice! Who knew we'd run into the Legion's regulars!"
*Wait...*
*Why did we run into the Legion's regulars?!*
Hadn't the Enlightenment Society already settled things with the upper echelon? Otherwise, how could he have wreaked havoc in Tony's casino... Just the garrison guards alone would have been more than enough to crush him, without even needing the regular army to step in.
Unless...
The garrison guards hadn't stayed away by choice; they had run into some unexpected incident.
The man who had extended an olive branch to him—and whom he had killed—was the real big shot.
That explained why Tony had chosen to die by his hands rather than run away.
But...
What about everything that happened before?
The power of the Enlightenment Society had clearly broken him out of Katnode Prison.
Morse's mind grew increasingly chaotic. The space between his eyebrows throbbed with a dull ache, and the whites of his eyes turned bloodshot.
Those damned hallucinations were back again.
His gums bled from clenching his teeth so hard. He pounded his head forcefully, trying to drive the hallucinations from his mind.
Where on earth did things go wrong?!
He had actually sensed something in the back of his mind.
Perhaps this was never a collaboration between the Legion and the Enlightenment Society at all, but a covert tug-of-war between the Legion and the Alliance.
As for him...
He had merely been swept up in it by accident, foolishly letting himself entertain delusions.
He was never a maggot living in the sewers—he was a pupa living in a cocoon.
He had exhausted all his strength, risked everything, and finally chewed an opening in that sturdy cocoon, only for the light streaming inside to blind his eyes.
Which side was the hallucination? Which side was reality?
"Damn it! Open the door!"
Morse screamed at the top of his lungs, pounding on the door with arms that had gone numb, nearly battering down the shut wooden panels.
"Didn't you already accept me? Am I... am I not fucking part of the Enlightenment Society?!"
The moment the words "Enlightenment Society" were uttered, a faint stir finally came from behind the door.
A glimmer of hope flashed in Morse's eyes, especially when he saw the door open.
Yet in the next second, that glimmer of hope froze in the center of his pupils with the sharp crack of a gunshot.
"Bang—!"
A 9mm bullet tore through his skull. Without a sound, Morse collapsed to the ground.
Looking at the corpse soaking in the rain, the sullen-faced man cursed furiously in frustration and holstered his smoking pistol.
"So damn loud... Fuck, you think you weren't loud enough already?!"
These pieces of trash...
Throwing away their own lives was one thing, but they had to go around screaming the name of the Enlightenment Society everywhere!
Now look at this mess.
Even if they wanted to keep a low profile, they couldn't anymore!
He had already lost count of how many scapegoat hats had been dumped on their heads; he wished he could skin this idiot alive!
Glancing down the street and seeing no one around, the man breathed a sigh of relief. He crouched down, grabbed the corpse by both feet, and prepared to drag this dead dog into the building to dispose of it.
Yet the moment he lowered his head, the sound of tearing air whistled above him.
Before he could react in any way, a heavy blow from a club caught him square, and he dropped stiffly to the ground.
Tossing aside the club in his hands, Desert Eagle glanced down at Morse's corpse and let out a soft sigh.
He had read this guy's story in Talan's forum post. Although he was a complete scoundrel and a mentally unstable lunatic, he was still someone with a dream.
Supposedly, in his dreams, he had transformed Blackwater Lane, turning it into the wasteland's Night City—a budget version of the Bugra Free State.
If he had been born elsewhere and received a decent education, with this guy's drive and capabilities, he might really have achieved something, even if not becoming the emperor of the underworld.
Yet this was Evernight Port, ruled by the Wilante.
This was Blackwater Lane, where the other races were born and left to rot.
"You'll become a legend of Blackwater Lane. The people here will remember your name for a long time... This is the most I can do for you. Rest in peace, friend I've just met."
Leaving those words behind, Desert Eagle dragged Morse's body along with the unconscious man into the safehouse of the "True Enlightenment Society."
After tonight, wanted posters for this guy would probably blanket every street and alley of Blackwater Lane. Once the trouble in the northwestern district was dealt with, the Wilante would search for him like mad.
But they wouldn't succeed.
He would vanish completely from this settlement as if evaporated into thin air, becoming a tale passed down through the streets and alleys of Blackwater Lane, and a legend in the eyes of countless young men...
Taking with him the secrets he might or might not have known.
Chapter 896