Wang Jixuan looked at the two dead Black Fire Gang assassins on the ground, feeling cold sweat on his back.
Was this hidden weapon really that powerful?
He quickly glanced around and spotted a camera rotating in the corner.
Wang Jixuan realized that these cameras were controlled by the security team on this floor, monitoring everything happening around.
He hurried forward, skillfully picked up a handgun, and grabbed the large bag of food he had thrown earlier.
The two strong men didn’t die peacefully. One had a folding knife stuck in his forehead, while the other had a sharp piece of tile embedded deep in his throat, dark blood starting to soak into the metal floor.
Not far away, a group of young girls who had come together were so frightened they collapsed to the ground.
The security team was watching the scene, and Wang Jixuan didn’t dare to stay any longer.
He found his bearings and rushed toward the passage leading to the safe house, stuffing the handgun into his pocket. Just as he was about to enter the passage, he suddenly turned and dashed to the other side, quickly disappearing from the camera's view.
The round hall garden was left with only the girls’ panicked cries.
About five minutes later, heavy footsteps sounded as Zhou Zhengde entered with a group of security team members.
Seeing the bodies on the ground, Zhou Zhengde’s expression turned increasingly stern.
“Search the whole floor! Get the Black Fire Gang out of here! If not, I’ll fire you all!”
“Mark Mu Liang as a dangerous person! He took a gun! Hurry!”
The security team members immediately became flustered.
Meanwhile, Wang Jixuan stopped running, figured out the direction, and headed toward the neighborhood where Mu Liang used to live.
He wasn’t sure if the self-defense laws would protect him for killing those two in retaliation.
But he was certain; if he didn’t go down to the lower city to find the Black Fire Gang and deal with them, he wouldn’t find peace of mind!
They had already bullied him enough!
Even the Buddha has his limits, and the Daoist can wield his sword freely!
As for how to get to the lower city…
Mu Liang’s memories didn’t provide any information.
But that was okay; Wang Jixuan had already thought of a way to enter the lower city.
Step one: eat fish.
…
“What a bunch of useless fools! We’ve been looking for Mu Liang for so long and still can’t find him! Do you even want the Black Fire Gang’s reward?”
The voice of ‘Rotten Fish’ echoed in the dark passage.
A regular citizen who was about to step out heard the shouting and quickly ducked back into his house, closing the door quietly.
The gang members being scolded stood with their heads down, looking helpless and a bit disgusted.
At the end of the passage, the metal doors of two rooms had been removed, turning the space into a somewhat spacious workshop.
‘Rotten Fish,’ whose real name was Lan Yuzai, was only twenty-three years old but already had dozens of idle young men as his underlings.
They had their own little business—squeezing blood bags.
Squeezing blood bags meant finding weak, easily bullied people, robbing them of their food and supply quotas, and making them gather some food and daily necessities. Once they had enough, they would use hidden passages to send it down to the lower city in exchange for rare items not found in the middle city.
For example, the 3D projection screen that Lan Yuzai viewed as a ‘symbol of power.’
The storage card for the projection screen only had a few movies from before the big disaster, which had been played repeatedly for two years, yet every time it played, the gang still watched it with great interest.
Lan Yuzai was feeling very frustrated.
Extremely frustrated.
His neck was wrapped in thick bandages, and he viewed the wound there as a great humiliation!
He was a prominent figure in the thirteenth floor, yet he had been counterattacked by a ‘blood bag,’ who had even grabbed him and threatened his underlings not to come forward!
The most humiliating part was that Lan Yuzai had panicked at that moment, initially shouting for his underlings not to approach.
Fortunately, he quickly recovered, realizing that this would undermine his authority as the boss, so he changed his tone, calling his underlings to attack and claiming he wasn’t afraid of dying.
How would the other bosses from different areas view him after this?
How would his underlings see him?
He could stand in this area because he was ruthless and fierce, right?
It had already been twenty days since Mu Liang had vanished without a trace, and Lan Yuzai couldn’t take revenge. Meanwhile, some of the fence-sitters who had followed him had already switched over to the ‘Super Extreme Yellow Hair’ gang in the neighboring area!
Moreover, Lan Yuzai had a little scheme.
Word had come from the Black Fire Gang that whoever could find that guy named Mu Liang and bring him down to the lower city would get to have dinner with the Black Fire Gang’s boss and receive their gratitude.
Lan Yuzai wanted to join the Black Fire Gang.
He often went to the lower city, so he knew how chaotic it was, but chaos and disorder were relative to ordinary people.
As long as he became a member of the Black Fire Gang, even as the lowest rank, he could enjoy power and privilege in the lower city, without the security team breathing down his neck. Every day would be filled with various pleasures: cinemas, dance clubs, pretty girls, and contraband. He could even learn some cool dance moves and get a stylish haircut.
The best part was that there wouldn’t be a nagging old woman telling him to come home for dinner.
Just thinking about this made Lan Yuzai smile, but the pain in his neck shattered that pleasant image in his mind.
That damn Mu Liang!
“Boss!”
A few gang members ran over from the end of the passage and plopped down on a dirty old sofa.
“They said they still couldn’t find Mu Liang! It’s been so many days; do you think he went to another floor?”
“Boss, I heard my uncle say that Captain Zhou was transferred down from the upper city and has a strong background. It would be easy for him to hide Mu Liang in another floor, right?”
“What do we do? We can’t just kidnap Captain Zhou and force him to tell us; the security team is armed, and I heard they even have snipers.”
—The news of the recent shooting incident hadn’t reached them yet.
“Shut up! Use your brains!” Lan Yuzai slammed the table, shouting:
“This happened on our turf!
“Do you know how serious it is that Brother Hua from the Black Fire Gang was killed?
“If we can’t find Mu Liang, before the Black Fire Gang takes me out, I’ll take you all down first!”
The gang members shivered a bit.
Even though they knew that Rotten Fish hadn’t actually harmed anyone, he had been in trouble a few times for fighting and had a record, making him a level-one citizen (the lowest rank).
Lan Yuzai vented his frustration, feeling a bit relieved.
He glanced at the boxes in the room to his left: “Combine these supplies and see if we have enough for one box. If we do, I’ll send it down and gather some information.”
“Not enough, Fish Bro! We just sent some last week!”
“Not enough? Then what are you all still doing here? Go find some blood bags!”
Lan Yuzai glared at his underlings and shouted:
“Anyone who dares to resist will get beaten! This time, don’t just scare them! If anything happens, I’ll cover for you! Hurry up! What are you waiting for?”
The gang members quickly agreed, bowed their heads, and left in a hurry, leaving three members behind to guard the boxes and the 3D projection screen.
Lan Yuzai lit a cigarette, resting his left foot on the edge of the chair, tilting his head back to gaze at the dim lights in the corridor, slowly blowing out a smoke ring.
He wasn’t really thinking; he was just zoning out.
He was thinking about that special blend of smoke, which felt so comfortable and relaxing every time he smoked, but afterward, he would fall into a deep emptiness.
“Who!”
“Ah!”
“Fish Bro, help!”
Suddenly, cries of pain echoed from the end of the passage.
Lan Yuzai froze for a moment, cigarette in mouth, head tilted, instinctively squinting his eyes at the dark passage.
The dim energy-saving light could only illuminate the outline of a body slowly collapsing.
Lan Yuzai could see that the one falling was one of his underlings.
It looked like he was so exhausted he just fell asleep.
In the shadows at the end of the passage, a figure stood quietly.
Lan Yuzai swallowed hard.
He felt around under the table for a wooden knife handle, pulled out a long, sharpened blade, and gripped it tightly.
“Who the hell is that!”
Lan Yuzai shouted, smoke still hanging from his mouth.
The gang members inside the room looked at their boss in confusion, then suddenly realized what was happening and rushed out, grabbing metal pipes to follow Lan Yuzai.
Whoosh!
A sharp sound suddenly rang out!
Before Lan Yuzai could react, he heard a muffled thud beside him. One of his underlings clutched his neck, gasping for air, his face turning red as he weakly knelt down.
Clink—
A nut rolled across the concrete floor.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The sound of something slicing through the air echoed in the dark passage!
Lan Yuzai’s three underlings were hit in the neck almost simultaneously, unable to scream, one by one they slowly fell to the ground, three nuts clattering on the concrete.
Clink, clink, clink—
Naturally, they couldn’t see that those nuts were wrapped in tiny breaths.
These gang members wouldn’t die; they would just feel uncomfortable for a while, at most fainting or going into shock with some aftereffects.
What, what was that…
A cold draft blew from the exhaust vent, sending chills down Lan Yuzai’s back.
His sweat-soaked shirt clung to his back.
His hand gripping the blade trembled continuously, staring intently at the end of the corridor.
What the hell was going on?
How was this possible? Nuts?
Was that person over there… was it Mu Liang?
Wang Jixuan stepped into a slightly brighter area, wearing a mask, hands behind his back, moving forward slowly. Each of his steps seemed to step on Lan Yuzai’s nerves.
Lan Yuzai’s nostrils flared as he suddenly shouted in a fit of panic, charging at Wang Jixuan with the knife raised!
“Ah—”
Wang Jixuan remained calm, slowly pulling out the alarm device given to him by Captain Zhou and gently pressing it three times, causing the alarm to emit a faint red light.
After doing this, Lan Yuzai charged right up to Wang Jixuan.
Faced with the unknown fear, the gang leader went wild, raising his knife to strike!
Wang Jixuan leisurely took out a handgun from his pocket, pressing the dark muzzle against Lan Yuzai’s forehead, effortlessly releasing the safety.
Binding Spell: Handgun Limited Fire Version.
Bang, bang, bang.
The long knife fell to the metal floor.
Lan Yuzai dropped to his knees, his throat quivering, his eyes slightly moist:
“I give up, big guy, I give up, don’t, don’t shoot…”
(End of Chapter)