Bab 24: Chapter 24 [Prohibited Items]
"What! The gang's headquarters warehouse was attacked?!"
"Damn it, must be those guys from the 'Steam Party'. Let's go, brothers, kick their asses!"
"..."
Upon hearing the news from Captain Kai, the gang members picked up their weapons and got into their vehicles.
The assembly took no more than three minutes, but that was already enough for the gang members near Green Street to reach this dark alleyway.
It was Su Lun's first day joining the gang, and he had never been part of such a collective mission, nor did he know what he should do. But seeing everyone lining up beside the armored vehicle distributing weapons and equipment, he too went to get some bullets and grenades.
Without any further delay, Captain Kai waved his large hand, "Get in the cars, let's go!"
This young captain might still look rather green, but he was terrifyingly serious at critical moments. He added, "Take note of anyone who didn't make it, and they will be dealt with according to gang rules tomorrow!"
Everyone scrambled into the vehicles.
Steam motorcycles led the way, two-wheeled, three-wheeled, four-wheeled... and even gigantic mono-wheeled with huge iron hoops, all in bizarre shapes.
The gang had its own mech mod shop, and despite these hand-modified steam bikes looking rough with many parts exposed, their performance was nothing short of impressive. They had exaggeratedly powerful shock systems that could leap over tens of meters, ejection systems, hinges, hooks, and frontal machine guns... they had it all.
ROAR~ ROAR~ ROAR~
The steam boilers roared loudly, and the old birds carrying rocket launchers and large-caliber firearms howled as they charged out first.
Then came the armored personnel carriers, jeeps, and various other four-wheeled vintage cars.
Su Lun didn't wait to be arranged; he followed a few veterans and jumped onto one of the middle motorcycles.
His intuition from watching a thousand movies told him the safest place was in the center of the convoy.
Moreover, mixing with the veterans was safer than huddling with the lousy chickens.
Coincidentally, Captain Kai was in a vehicle right in front of him.
He turned back, saw Su Lun, seemed to remember something, and entrusted Sam who was beside him, "Sam, the new guys haven't been in a gang operation before, look after them when things kick off."
Sam was still his usual careless self, "Sure thing, Captain."
The convoy set off with a bang, causing the passersby on Green Street to point and gossip.
....
The headquarters of "Iron Cross Society" was located in the core area of the South City district, Block 41, Hessen Building.
Upon receiving the news that the headquarters was under attack, this massive gang quickly mobilized. Leaders and captains scattered in various districts urgently gathered their forces, heading en masse toward the headquarters.
And at this very moment, at Hessen Building, a group of fully armed masked men had already breached the building.
While the fierce gunfight continued outside, these intruders didn't seem to intend on fighting the "Cross Society" members to the death. They were carrying a long box resembling a coffin and were heading straight for the underground vault.
All of them were equipped with various kinds of alchemical night-vision devices, and masks covering most of their faces made it impossible to see their features.
They were incredibly strong, effortlessly killing the guards along the way and then calmly reaching a silver-colored metal door.
Looking at the sturdy door that even explosives probably couldn't open, a masked leader scoffed, "Heh, I've always heard how the 'Cross Society's' silver vault is an advanced alchemical construction from the last era, indestructible. Seeing it now, it certainly is extraordinary."
Meanwhile, the technicians had examined the code lock on the vault door and shook their heads.
Seeing this, another masked man wearing a crow's mask spoke, "We don't have time to slowly crack the code. Get ready to force it."
"Tsk tsk... if we hadn't brought this 'Sealed Artifact', we would have really struggled to do anything about this vault door in a hurry."
"Hurry up and get started. The Mercenaries can only buy us so much time, and once the 'Cross Society' leaders arrive, we'll be in trouble if we get surrounded."
"Heh heh, Chak and the core members aren't back in town yet. If we actually get surrounded, it's not certain that we couldn't break out."
"..."
Although the masked men spoke as if they were fearless, their hands were fast at work.
And at that moment, they had already taken out the item from the "coffin", which turned out to be a nearly two-meter-long black scythe.
The black scythe exuded a weird black flame all over, with flickering light at the blade's edge, looking incredibly sharp.
As soon as it was exposed to the air, a terrifying aura akin to the arrival of the Grim Reaper blanketed the area instantly, causing involuntary shivers. Even the group of men in black looked at each other, appearing to have an inexplicable wariness towards the scythe.
"Felix, get ready to start! Although this 'Sealed Artifact' is sinister, as long as we can get back to the medical base within an hour, there's a good chance of survival," one of them said.
"Mm."
The cloaked figure named Felix nodded.
He let out a long sigh, bent down, and picked up the scythe from the box.
With the scythe in hand, his whole demeanor changed abruptly, as if he became a real Reaper descended upon the world of the living.
Without any delay, he raised the scythe and swung it forcefully at the vault door.
The next instant, a bizarre scene unfolded.
The scythe was at least ten meters away from the bank vault door, yet as it slashed through the air, a black arc-like spatial crack suddenly appeared several meters away in the void.
The black light flashed and vanished; when they looked closely again, they saw that a crack had appeared on the metal door.
Silently, the black scythe cut a gash through the alloy door over a meter thick as if slicing through the air effortlessly.
The cloaked man named Felix looked at the result of his slash and his face twitched violently, seemingly pained by the action.
Clearly, a single cut wasn't enough to open the vault door.
But Felix didn't dare to slash a second time.
Just then, another person in black took over the scythe and swung it at the door, creating another smooth gash.
And so, it went through four people in total.
After four slashes, they had cut a square-shaped notch on the vault.
The leader of the group kicked it out and, with a "bam," easily knocked the alloy block down, revealing a large hole.
The group stared at the opened vault door, finally showing relieved smiles.
The leader said, "Gentlemen, find that item. As for the rest, grab as much as you can!"
....
On the other hand, Su Lun and his party were still en route from Green Street.
Even with their vehicles at full speed, they still needed nearly ten minutes to reach the gang's headquarters at Hessen Building.
But as their convoy was crossing a bridge, an accident occurred.
The lead vehicle suddenly hit an explosive mine, triggering a violent explosion.
Clearly, someone had anticipated their reinforcement route and laid an ambush on their path.
The bridge's location was such that taking a detour would waste even more time.
With a thunderous boom, flames shot up into the sky.
The lead vehicle was flipped into the air, tumbling dozens of times before rolling to a stop on the ground.
Debris from the explosion scattered everywhere, and the blast wave overturned several motorcycles.
"Ambush!"
Captain Kai bellowed.
There was a collective screech of ear-piercing brakes.
Su Lun's reaction was incredibly quick; before his motorcycle could skid to a sideways halt, he leveraged the momentum to grasp the rail with one hand, leaping off the bike. Then he rolled under the bridge to find a sturdy concrete pile as cover, hiding his entire body behind the stone to avoid the fate of crashing with the vehicle.
Leaping off, seeking cover, drawing his gun—it all happened in one fluid motion.
"There's definitely an ambush!"
Su Lun had had a premonition before setting off.
"The Cross Society" was the southern city's overlord; anyone bold enough to openly attack their headquarters' warehouse must have expected reinforcements.
If it were him planning the strike, he would never allow reinforcements to arrive without difficulty.
Encircle a spot and attack reinforcements; the effect would be better.
Thus, he constantly surveyed his surroundings along the way. When he noticed something amiss with the vehicle in front, he had immediately reacted by jumping off.
The sudden explosion caused a moment of panic in the convoy, but in the next second, both sides began exchanging intense gunfire.
For a time, the sound of gunfire was deafening.
Su Lun dared not show his head carelessly, pulling out a small mirror to extend out of cover to observe the battlefield. Then he saw in the mirror's reflection that behind the cover on the bridge's opposite side, a group of masked armed men were taking advantage of the terrain to snipe at the convoy.
However, members of "The Cross Society" were not to be trifled with either; they responded in kind.
The gang had its own military factories, and their firearms equipment was no worse than any outside force's. Gang members in this world were not lousy chickens who bullied the weak and feared the strong; they were desperados through and through.
When they realized they were ambushed, they grew furious, using their motorcycles as cover while they pulled out heavy weaponry to launch a counterattack.
Bullets rained down like a storm, and explosions roared deafeningly.
And while Su Lun was surveying the scene with his small mirror, suddenly, with a "snap," a severed arm dropped from the sky, landing at his feet. Charred black from gunpowder burns, it still smoked, and blood flowed from the severed end, staining the ground...
Before he could react, another "bang" sounded as shrapnel struck the concrete bollard, sending fragments flying.
Su Lun felt a stinging pain on his cheek from being grazed by concrete pieces. He narrowed his eyes at the scene before him and muttered in a slightly grave tone, "Making such a big scene on the first day, huh..."
Hadiah
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