Chapter 1 Sullen's Choice

Sullen knew very well that death on the battlefield couldn't be avoided just by trying to hide.

They were going to support the headquarters, and Captain Kai certainly wouldn't choose to retreat.

The only way to survive was to eliminate the enemy.

Having joined the Iron Cross, Sullen quickly got into character. He silently calculated the position of the enemy gunmen he had observed earlier, then took a deep breath, rolled suddenly, and fired several shots with the large-caliber firearm in his hand towards the opposite side of the bridge.

"Bang," "Bang," "Bang"...

With that roll and the subsequent gunfire, Sullen was once again hidden behind the steam car a few meters away.

As soon as he stood firm, he heard a boisterous compliment in his ear: "Yo, kid, not bad! Many rookies get weak in the knees on their first mission, but you can actually shoot..."

Turning his head, he saw the burly Sam.

This guy had been paying attention to the rookies after listening to Kai's words.

When he saw Sullen hiding behind cover at the first opportunity, he thought he was too scared to move. But in the blink of an eye, he saw him firing a gun.

Roll, aim, fire... calm judgment, skilled movements.

When Sam looked again, he saw a gunman on the opposite side of the bridge with a bullet hole in his head, falling to the ground. He was even more surprised, praising Sullen again: "Your marksmanship is very accurate..."

Sullen smiled noncommittally.

In that situation, he wasn't sure he could hit the enemy, but the process was surprisingly smooth. The entire tactical roll was as skilled as if it were second nature, precise and seamless...

He realized that with all the firearms experience he had collected with [Harvester], his current combat level was much higher than before.

At that moment, Captain Kai, who was not far away, seemed to have noticed this scene and cast a surprised glance.

However, he didn't look for long, as the fierce gun battle drew his attention back.

Of course, Kai and Sam didn't know that Sullen took the initiative to shoot, not to show off his marksmanship, but for his own safety.

He was moving to a safer position.

Because he had discovered that cement piers couldn't provide him with any sense of security in this kind of battle. Instead, this modified rune-armored bulletproof vehicle was the safest cover.

He hadn't forgotten that this world was a world of alchemy, with not only ordinary bullets but also various alchemical bullets.

That cement pier could be blown to smithereens in a matter of minutes.

What's more, there was a group of veteran protectors.

Sam, probably feeling that even a rookie was performing so well, didn't want to be outdone. He opened the equipment box on the car, took out a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher, and fired a shot at the opposite side of the bridge.

"Boom~"

With a loud bang, flames soared into the sky.

...

The battle entered a fever pitch from the very beginning.

The two sides exchanged fire back and forth, fighting fiercely.

However, to Sullen's relief, the enemy didn't seem to be using any "weapons of mass destruction." This greatly ensured his own safety.

Thinking about it, alchemical bullets were worth thousands or even tens of thousands of Riso each, so it was impossible to use them as standard ammunition in a gang fight.

This kind of battle was destined to be a war of attrition from the start, only ending when one side was exhausted or voluntarily retreated.

But this was also the enemy's purpose – to delay time.

By the time they actually crossed the bridge, the battle at the headquarters warehouse would be over.

But to Sullen's surprise, Captain Kai made an unexpected choice after a prolonged stalemate.

...

"They must be mercenaries from the North District. Damn it... they're trying to delay our support."

Kai looked at the armed branch on the opposite bank and guessed the other side's intentions.

Naturally, he couldn't let the other side achieve their goal. He said to Sam and the others, "I'll count to three, you cover me!"

Hearing Kai say this, everyone's faces showed shocked expressions: "Captain Kai, you're going to break through the bridge?"

This was a crazy idea.

Since the enemy had planned an interception, they must have estimated the number of "Professionals" on their side.

In this situation, even "Professionals" who could physically withstand bullets wouldn't dare to show their faces casually. Otherwise, they would surely be greeted with special bullets and artillery fire. Under concentrated fire, even the strongest body would be instantly riddled with holes.

"Yes! The enemy's goal is to hold us back. The more they do this, the bigger the problem must be at headquarters. We can't go on like this, we must support the headquarters as soon as possible..."

Kai seemed to have made up his mind. His expression tightened, and he let out a soft shout: "Implant... Release!"

As he spoke, his hands were already forming hand seals, and an orange hexagram alchemical array lit up on the ground.

In an instant, his lower leg bones and the radius bones on the inside of his forearms bulged and became sharp, gradually turning into metal scythes like mantis arms.

This was Kai's alchemical implant – [Blades]!

Kai didn't give his subordinates any time to persuade him. After releasing the implant, he began the countdown: "Three, two, one... Charge!"

"Damn it! Let's do it!"

Sam and the others cursed, but they didn't hesitate at all. Everyone stood up at the same time, raised their firearms, and covered the opposite side of the bridge with firepower.

Sullen was also unafraid, firing with both guns.

And his peripheral vision was fixed on Captain Kai, who had rushed out!

Amidst the gunfire, Kai suddenly stomped on the ground and leaped up, covering dozens of meters in one bound. In the sky, his agile body looked like a flying mantis. He jumped onto the stone pillar of the bridge, then used it as leverage to push off again, advancing dozens of meters more. With just two leaps, he plunged into the enemy's position.

Seeing this, Sam and the other veterans shouted in unison: "Brothers, charge!"

At the order, the Iron Cross members rushed out of their cover like a pack of escaped beasts, surging forward.

The enemy didn't seem to expect someone to land directly in their position and were caught off guard.

With a deadly [Blade Mantis] constantly reaping lives behind them, the firepower shooting forward instantly died down. In an instant, the enemy's position was disrupted.

Kai was like a god of war, charging and killing nimbly in the enemy's position.

Seconds later, the foremost Iron Cross members had already rushed into the position.

The massacre began...

When Sullen followed the main force in, the battle was nearing its end.

The ground was littered with corpses.

Sullen looked at Kai, who was sitting not far away bandaging his wounds, a strange look flashing in his eyes.

Kai's abdomen was bleeding, apparently having taken a shot during his solo breakthrough.

However, he didn't seem to care at all. He injected a healing potion and immediately called everyone to clear the obstacles and continue moving forward.

Sullen didn't look any further and actively helped move the corpses.

The mercenary squad had more than a dozen members, most of whom had just died, and the "gray mist" on their corpses was still very clear.

After working for a while, Sullen gained a lot.

...

Teams from various districts going to support the "Black Forest Building" headquarters were ambushed by mercenaries. Everything seemed to be going according to the plan of those masked men.

But no one expected a change to occur in the underground vault.

Just after the masked men opened the vault and broke in, a group of mysterious experts appeared outside the "Black Forest Building," outside of the intelligence. The mercenaries couldn't stop them at all, and they went straight to the vault.

The situation suddenly reversed.

News reached the underground vault, and a group of men in black instantly panicked. They could clearly feel the changes in the surrounding gravitational field and realized that the person who came was definitely Chuck, the "Arbitrator" who had awakened the rare talent [A-017-Gravitational Field]!

The masked men immediately realized their situation and began to curse angrily, even fighting among themselves.

"Everyone, it seems the situation has changed..."

"Damn it! Didn't the intelligence say that Chuck was hunting in the wilderness outside the city and hadn't returned yet? What's with this damn gravitational field! And how did those Iron Cross executives get here so quickly!"

"If there are no accidents, we may have been set up by that Chuck."

"Alas... it's useless to say anything now. The task that the great man gave us was to get that 'thing.' Now at least the thing is in our hands. Whether we can escape alive depends on your own abilities."

"Fifth, be careful. With such a big commotion this time, Chuck must have guessed that there's an internal mole in your Iron Cross..."

"Hmph, if it weren't for his faulty intelligence, how could we have been so passive!"

"Our operation was exposed, and there must be something wrong internally. But... let's talk about this problem after we can escape alive. Go, scatter and escape!"

The masked men were no longer as calm as before. They blasted open the ground and scurried into the underground pipes.

...

The team from Green Street was the first support team to arrive in the 41st district.

Sullen originally thought there would be a more intense battle than the one on the bridge, and he was wondering whether to use the hidden alchemical bullets to save his life.

But after arriving, he found that the situation didn't seem as bad as he thought.

In fact... it was very calm.

There were gunshots near the "Black Forest Building," but they were sporadic. It didn't sound like a fierce firefight, but like scattered gunshots from a pursuit.

From a distance, Sullen saw that the neighborhood around the black building was shrouded in a strange fog.

Seeing the fog, Captain Kai was pleasantly surprised and exclaimed, "That's the boss of Smoke! (nickname for the gang member who uses smoke-based abilities)"

The veterans in the team seemed to recognize this tactic and said in surprise, "Haha... that's great! With the boss of Smoke here, there's definitely no problem!"

Whether there was a problem or not, they had to go over.

Sure enough, after the convoy entered the fog, they soon encountered armed personnel clearing the battlefield, Iron Cross members.

Someone recognized Kai and greeted him: "Hey, Kai, you're here..."

Kai looked at the calm headquarters and asked with a puzzled expression, "I heard that the headquarters was attacked? Where are the attackers?"

The man replied, "Haha, the president and executives suddenly came back, so those guys were naturally killed."

Kai was stunned at first, then overjoyed: "Ah? The president and executives are back?"

Listening to this relaxed tone, Sullen also breathed a sigh of relief.

At least, it seemed that he wouldn't have to face a transcendent battle that was far beyond his current strength on his first day of joining the gang.

...

The Green Street convoy arrived in force in front of the "Black Forest Building," and the surrounding fog was gradually dissipating.

At this time, a haggard middle-aged man with a grim expression slowly condensed out of a cloud of smoke not far away.

Kai and a group of veterans recognized this man and greeted him one after another: "Boss of Smoke!"

Sullen remembered seeing this middle-aged man, just ten hours ago, on the city wall.

This was one of the Iron Cross executives, "Smoke" Sambu Kachinsky.

"Mm."

The middle-aged man nodded, which was considered a response.

He seemed to be injured, and his face was a little pale.

Before Kai had time to ask, a "big bird" suddenly swooped down from the sky.

Sullen instinctively reached for the firearm at his waist, but upon closer inspection, it was a human with black metal wings. As soon as he landed, the steel wings on his back instantly retracted and disappeared.

Kai recognized the person and excitedly greeted him: "Boss of Angel!"

This was another Iron Cross executive, "Night Angel" Goethe Amato.

Goethe seemed to be very familiar with Kai and asked with a smile, "Yo... Kai, I heard that the support teams from the other districts were ambushed by mercenaries, how did you get here so quickly?"

Kai said modestly, "We were afraid something would happen to the headquarters, so we rushed a bit faster."

Goethe probably understood Kai's personality, guessed something, and smiled: "You kid, you didn't charge ahead again, did you?"

"Hehe..."

Kai scratched the back of his head and smiled.

Goethe shook his head and didn't say much, but his eyes were filled with admiration.

Sullen quietly played the role of an invisible man in the crowd, but looking at the flying metal wings, a strange look flashed in his eyes: "Flying alchemical implants, very practical..."

He planned to "take office" soon, and then he would face the choice of alchemical implants.

"Puppet Master" was a profession with agility and skill growth, and if he could get the blueprints for these alchemical wings, it seemed like a good choice.

...

Now that it seemed that the gang headquarters was fine, everyone's tense hearts were relieved.

At this time, the two executives suddenly tilted their heads, as if they had discovered something.

Following their gaze, Sullen also looked over.

The next second, he saw a woman carrying a heavy object jump down from a building more than ten meters away.

As soon as she landed, she threw down the thing on her shoulder, revealing a masked man covered in knife wounds, already unconscious.

Obviously, this was another executive, "Four-Armed Rakshasa" Chitiao.

Kai greeted her again: "Sister Chitiao!"

This woman's dress was very bold and full of heroic spirit.

A thick head of green hair was tied into a high ponytail, and a large red rope similar to a shimenawa was tied around her waist, with four single-edged long swords of different colors attached.

She was wearing what Sullen remembered as Japanese samurai armor from his previous life, but only on her lower body. Loose leather guards only covered the front and back of her crotch, and her slender white legs and half of her buttocks were exposed, making one wonder if she would accidentally expose herself with larger movements.

Her upper body was even cooler, with only bandage-style bustiers, two simple fiery red leather shoulder pads and wrist guards. Large areas of skin were exposed, allowing one to clearly see her exaggerated large arm tattoos and the Rakshasa tattoo on her back.

Sullen glanced at the Rakshasa tattoo from afar, and only felt a fierce aura that made people dare not look directly at it. Another glance at her heavy chest, it was indeed a sign of great misfortune.

When Chitiao saw Kai, the murderous aura she had when she landed suddenly dissipated, and she joked, "Yo, little Kai, I heard that you're in charge of Green Street? Tsk tsk, when are you going to arrange for your sister to find some good-looking men to play with?"

Kai patted his chest and smiled, "Alright, Sister Chitiao, you come anytime, I'll arrange it. If you think the men in the brothel aren't good enough, I'll personally accompany you!"

Chitiao glanced at him, looking disgusted, and joked, "Tsk tsk, with your skinny arms and legs, I'm afraid I won't be able to play with happy balls for long..."

Listen to that, what the hell kind of tiger-wolf words were those!

The veterans on the car burst out laughing when they heard this.

Sam and a few other men were even more shameless, shouting loudly, "Sister Chitiao, the captain can't do it, but we can!"

Seeing this scene, even Sullen couldn't help but smile.

But jokes aside, everyone obviously noticed the unconscious captive that Chitiao had brought back. The two executives, Smoke and Night Angel, looked at the guy with different expressions in their eyes.

At this time, another team of people walked out of the Black Forest Building.

Seeing the leader, everyone present, whether it was Kai or the executives, respectfully shouted.

"President!"