East Suburban Area.
Li Zong led Zheng Lin and the other members of the Li Family down a side road, deviating from the direct route to the East Suburb Fortress.
Zheng Lin glanced subconsciously at his watch.
’This is getting a little tricky.’
’If Li Zong takes this route and we still get attacked by One-Eyed Tiger and his men, won’t he start to suspect me?’
With this in mind, Zheng Lin tried to persuade him again. "Li Zong, I think the East Suburb is very unstable right now. We should get to the East Suburb Fortress as quickly as possible. Since One-Eyed Tiger withdrew from the fortress, he shouldn’t have people posted to watch for us."
"Besides, we got here so quickly, he couldn’t have had time to react."
"On the other hand, One-Eyed Tiger is definitely running rampant in this area. If his men are out on the move and we happen to run into them, it’ll be even more of a headache."
"Our mission right now should be to take care of that Lu Feng, seize control of the people at Qingfeng Base, and then secure the East Suburb Fortress. That’s all."
Of course, he was saying this on purpose.
’Since we’re going to run into One-Eyed Tiger anyway, saying this now will help me shake off suspicion later.’
’After all, I tried to warn Li Zong, but he’s just ignoring me and stubbornly doing his own thing.’
Li Zong smiled and said, "Zheng Lin, this is where you’re mistaken. Even if you’re right, there’s no harm in being cautious. That’s something you need to learn from me."
"Besides, how could we be so unlucky as to run into One-Eyed Tiger’s men prowling this very area?"
"But when it comes to dealing with Lu Feng, Zheng Lin, I’ll need your complete cooperation. He’s an ability user, after all."
Zheng Lin nodded. "Right. If we don’t kill him in one blow, we’ll have a problem."
Li Zong laughed with confidence. "Don’t worry. As long as you work with me, I can definitely finish him in a single strike. Afterward, we’ll just claim he was colluding with One-Eyed Tiger. Once we pin that crime on him, any resistance from the people at Qingfeng Base will be minimal."
The group pressed on, and as they were passing a crumbling concrete bend in the road, an angry shout suddenly erupted: "Enemy attack! We’re under attack!"
The shout left Li Zong dumbfounded. ’What’s going on?’
’Why are we under attack?’
’And why would anyone be stationed here?’
"It’s a trap! They’re One-Eyed Tiger’s men!" Zheng Lin immediately cried out, alerting Li Zong.
"What?" Li Zong was utterly flabbergasted.
’What kind of fucking joke is this?’
’The whole reason I took a detour was to avoid One-Eyed Tiger and his bandits! I was afraid they’d have lookouts posted on the main road.’
’But who could have known this detour would lead me straight into them? Right into their damn camp?’
’Can a person really be this unlucky?’
Just then, a booming voice shouted, "What enemy attack? This is just some fat sheep delivering themselves to our door."
One-Eyed Tiger emerged, bellowing as he stared at the Li Family’s men.
He was putting on a very convincing act.
In truth, they had been lying in wait here for some time.
That Wang Cheng really knew his stuff. He had actually calculated that the Li Family’s group would pass through here and had even set up camp in advance, waiting for them.
’This way, the enemy definitely won’t suspect that Zheng Lin guy, right?’
Wang Cheng was also standing by One-Eyed Tiger’s side. To him, this was nothing. With his military background and his time as a captain in the Salvation Army, his tactical abilities were undeniable.
So, it was no surprise that he could predict the Li Family’s group would pass this way.
Meanwhile, Li Zong and the rest of the Li Family had no suspicions at all. They just thought they were incredibly unlucky.
FWOOSH!~
FWOOSH!~
The sound of successive launches echoed.
"Spread out!" Li Zong shouted instinctively.
He could tell from the sound that they were grenade launchers.
But as the words left his mouth, explosions erupted all around him, unleashing terrifying walls of flame.
Li Zong and his men were instantly sent flying.
Only Zheng Lin, who had been prepared, was unaffected, though he still got a mouthful of dirt.
But the few ordinary men from the Li Family were in a miserable state. They rolled on the ground, screaming in agony, their limbs shattered.
These men weren’t ability users. They had been sent along for a simple purpose: to help manage the East Suburb Fortress. After all, once they took over the personnel from Qingfeng Base, someone would need to be in charge.
They were all managerial talent.
Now, it was clear they wouldn’t be managing anything. Their journey ended here.
Zheng Lin got to his feet and deliberately shouted to Li Zong, "Li Zong, fall back!"
Li Zong knew what he had to do and nodded immediately.
But One-Eyed Tiger and Wang Cheng saw this exchange.
They knew that this Li Zong was their primary target.
Zheng Lin was signaling them.
"Kill him! He’s the leader!" One-Eyed Tiger shouted, pointing decisively at Li Zong.
At this shout, the color drained from Li Zong’s face.
’Are you kidding me?’
’How do they know I’m the leader?’
In the moment he was reeling from the shock, three figures charged toward him at incredible speed. He knew without a doubt they had to be ability users.
’So, One-Eyed Tiger really does have this many ability users under his command.’
’How did a power like this emerge in the East Suburb?’
Li Zong had no desire to get entangled with them and tried to flee with all his might. But suddenly, a wave of danger washed over him, and he instinctively dodged.
The next moment, a massive crater appeared in the concrete road right where he had been standing.
Terrifying cracks spiderwebbed out from the impact.
"An anti-materiel sniper rifle!" Li Zong’s expression changed drastically. ’If I get hit by that, I’m dead.’
The thought had barely formed when he sensed danger again. He hastily turned and rolled across the ground to evade, and another vicious crater appeared right where he had been.
In that same instant, the three ability users closed in and launched their attack.
At this, Li Zong’s heart sank into his stomach.
’Do they have a fucking vendetta against me? Why is everyone targeting me?’
Wielding a military spike, Wang Cheng was instantly upon Li Zong. He coordinated seamlessly with the other two, the three of them weaving a web of attacks.
Li Zong was immediately forced into a constant retreat, unable to find his footing.
Suddenly, two beams of brilliant white light shot past, striking him directly in the chest.
He didn’t even have time to dodge..
"Laser weapons!" Li Zong’s eyes widened in horror.
’Even the City East Alliance barely has any of these. How could a bunch of East Suburb bandits get their hands on them?’
But darkness consumed him, snuffing out his life completely.
He would have to take that question to his grave.
The brothers, Chen Tao and Chen Hao, lowered their laser rifles.
The two brothers looked at Li Zong’s corpse with disdain. To think someone so weak had the audacity to try and kill their boss was laughable.
The battle was over quickly.
The men sent by the Li Family were eliminated in an instant. Of course, two managed to "escape": Zheng Lin, and another ability user from the Li Family.
Zheng Lin had "saved" him, getting his own arm injured in the process.
The ruse had worked perfectly.
The surviving ability user from the Li Family was incredibly grateful to Zheng Lin, even starting to curse Li Zong. "Damn that Li Zong! So stubborn! He led us right into those bandits!"
Zheng Lin played the part of the peacemaker. "We can’t really say that. Who could have predicted this would happen?"
But the ability user continued to vent his frustration. "If he hadn’t been so pig-headed, we’d have reached the East Suburb Fortress, killed Lu Feng, taken over Qingfeng Base, and completed our mission by now! None of this would have happened!"
Zheng Lin inwardly scoffed. ’Mission? The whole thing was a setup, part of Lu Feng’s plan from the start.’
Outwardly, however, he put on a panicked expression. "So what do we do now? There’s no way the two of us can complete the mission alone."
"We have no choice but to head back for now!" the ability user sighed.
Zheng Lin readily agreed. He deliberately made himself seem subordinate, letting the other man take the lead. That way, the other ability user—not him—would be the one to face the Li Family’s wrath.
’At times like this, it paid to have a low profile.’
The two soon returned to the City East Alliance and entered the Li Family Manor.
"What happened? Why are you back so soon? Where is Li Zong?" Li Sheng demanded, looking at the two with frustration.
The surviving ability user immediately explained, "Patriarch, Li Zong has fallen. He was killed by One-Eyed Tiger. We could have reached the East Suburb Fortress quickly and completed the mission, but Li Zong insisted on taking a detour through the East Suburb. He led us right into the bandits’ encampment. They ambushed us, and only Zheng Lin and I managed to escape."
Li Sheng was left utterly speechless. "???"
’What the hell was going on? He had dispatched a team specifically to take over Qingfeng Base and eliminate Lu Feng. But before they even laid eyes on the man, Li Zong had led his team right into a bandit camp to get slaughtered?’
’This is fucking...’
...
East Suburb Fortress.
Wang Cheng and One-Eyed Tiger had already returned and were reporting to Lu Feng.
Hearing that the Li Family’s men had been dealt with, Lu Feng was relieved. He told One-Eyed Tiger to lead his men back, also instructing him to go and subjugate the other bandit groups in the East Suburb.
’A tool this useful needed to be kept sharp.’
’I wonder if the Li Family will send more people. If they do, I’ll just have to figure out another way to kill them.’
Before long, Lin Jiao returned. She brought back the scientific researchers from Qingfeng Base, along with Cheng Sisi and her sister.
Lu Feng immediately summoned Cheng Sisi and a few other computer experts.
Seeing that her boss had specifically summoned her and a few others, Cheng Sisi took the initiative to ask, "Boss, what are your orders?" Lu Feng promptly handed her the information sphere that housed the AI system. "Sisi, I need you all to work on this. Crack the encryption on this information sphere. There’s an artificial intelligence system inside!"
"An artificial intelligence system?" Cheng Sisi was stunned.
She was, of course, familiar with artificial intelligence systems. The technology had existed before the apocalypse, but it had never been widely implemented. Only a select few places possessed true AI.
Following that, Cheng Sisi and the others took out their holographic computers and began to examine the sphere.
After a few moments, Cheng Sisi reported, "Boss, this encryption is quite complex. It’s probably going to take us a significant amount of time."
"Mm, take your time. As long as you can crack it, that’s all that matters," Lu Feng nodded.
He knew that the encryption for something like this wouldn’t be simple. If Cheng Sisi and her team could crack it in a few tries, it couldn’t possibly be a real AI system.
After making the arrangements, Lu Feng logged out of the game.
He had just returned to his villa when a call from Black Snake came through. Shortly after, Black Snake himself appeared in the villa. "President Lu, we have word from Dalat Town. Kudar has finished producing the new weapons. After testing, their performance—in terms of power, accuracy, range, everything—far surpasses that of any existing weaponry."
"Hadona says these are probably the most advanced weapons in the world. If they were ever to leak, it would probably send shockwaves through every nation on the planet."