"Boss must have thought of something again, huh? Wanting 24-hour patrols, this is just tormenting people."
"Who knows, maybe there's a new enemy?"
"Enemy? What enemy would dare come here. Besides, this inner courtyard building is as solid as a rock. Once the iron doors and windows are closed, not even a mosquito could fly in! What's there to fear about enemies coming to the door."
"That's true."
Several of Basong's subordinates, carrying rifles, chatted as they patrolled inside the manor. They completely failed to notice a black line as thin as a hair sliding past their feet.
The inner courtyard they boasted even mosquitoes couldn't enter had already been infiltrated by the Shadow controlled by Guan Tong.
The so-called "as solid as a rock" was a joke in the face of the Shadow's infiltration ability. The latter could even silently infiltrate the Qingmei Society's Yongzhou base, let alone this small warlord's manor.
From the outside to the inside, the Shadow thoroughly explored the entire manor. The vast amount of intelligence collected was transmitted through sensory sharing to Guan Tong, who was over a hundred miles away.
Thus, this heavily guarded manor became transparent to Guan Tong, its situation fully grasped by him.
The entire manor had roughly four hundred people. Over a hundred were subordinates of the manor's owner, Basong, all carrying firearms.
Another nearly two hundred people were locked up with chains in several large warehouses in the outer courtyard.
Guan Tong hadn't initially noticed anyone in the warehouses. It was only through eavesdropping, hearing several armed men say they were going to "prepare feed for the pigs," that he realized something was wrong.
He manipulated a shadow line to follow them into a warehouse and saw that the "pigs" these people spoke of were living human beings.
Most of these people were emaciated and haggard, barely clothed, their legs entangled in chains, wrists handcuffed to iron pipes. Before them was a long trough, like those in horse stables.
Basong's subordinates poured mushy food from wooden barrels into the troughs, forcing those bound by chains to lower their heads and eat, truly treating them like livestock.
Seeing this scene, Guan Tong's heart immediately flared with anger. He knew that in some countries plagued by warlords, many people were kidnapped, imprisoned, living a life worse than death.
But hearing about it was one thing; seeing it with his own eyes was another.
Previously, seeing those Ascendants imprisoned in the Yongzhou base had already made Guan Tong furious. The situation inside the warehouse at Basong's manor was several times more brutal, which instantly prompted him to make a decision.
Kill.
Guan Tong's original plan wasn't to directly use violent means to seize the puzzle fragment.
His initial strategy was to investigate the manor's situation clearly, figure out exactly who held the fragment. Then, when that person was sleeping at night, use Body Swap to enter their room and negotiate privately.
If possible, he hoped to purchase the fragment by spending Ascension Coins. If the other party disagreed, he would then consider other methods.
But this original plan was completely scrapped after he saw the situation inside the warehouse.
A new plan was instantly born, very simple: violently seize the puzzle fragment and wipe out this entire manor.
Guan Tong knew similar situations probably existed in many places around the world, and he couldn't solve them all. But at the very least, he wouldn't turn a blind eye to what he had personally witnessed.
"Hmm?"
At that moment, the Shadow Surveillance Eye Guan Tong had placed nearby detected something.
On the street about a few hundred meters away from him, an off-road vehicle drove in. The people inside were asking around, inquiring if anyone had seen any foreigners in the past couple of days.
They're looking for me...
Guan Tong wasn't surprised by this. After all, this was their home turf. Basong, a local warlord operating for years, discovering an enemy's arrival and sending people to look was normal. Not sending anyone would be abnormal.
"Fine, let's start by dealing with this group."
Guan Tong made his plan, deliberately going out onto the street to expose his foreigner identity, then heading to a nearby abandoned construction site.
The group sent by Basong quickly found out that someone from Beixing Country had just left not long ago. Overjoyed, they immediately followed the directions given by passersby and soon drove their vehicle to the construction site.
After more than a dozen people jumped out of the vehicle, the leader, Mara, ordered, "That Beixing guy should be somewhere in this construction site. Keep your eyes peeled. The first one to find him gets a reward from the boss later. If we don't find him—"
"No need for the trouble." Guan Tong's voice rang out. "I'm right here."
Everyone was startled, turning to look. They saw a person had somehow appeared standing on the construction site's perimeter wall, looking down at them.
Mara was pleased. "Good, that saves trouble!"
With a wave of his hand, his subordinates immediately raised their guns, aiming at the figure on the wall.
Mara shouted, "You over there, Beixing guy! So you're the one trying to cause trouble for our Boss Basong, right? Listen, if you don't want to be turned into a sieve, hand over the fragment!"
He didn't directly order them to open fire because Basong had told him before he left that if they found the person, they should capture him alive, get the fragment, and then kill him.
Guan Tong couldn't be bothered with idle talk. He crooked a finger. Instantly, more than a dozen of Mara's subordinates had their chests pierced by shadow spikes emerging from within, their hearts bursting, dying on the spot!
These ordinary subordinates definitely couldn't afford protective gear that could defend against Mind Power attacks. Therefore, Guan Tong easily manipulated the ethereal Shadow to invade their bodies, then solidified it to complete the heart puncture from the inside out.
"Ah! Ah!!!"
Mara was so frightened he fell onto his rear, mouth agape. More than a dozen subordinates, full of life one second, all dead with blood gushing from their chests the next. Anyone witnessing this bizarre scene without knowing Guan Tong's abilities would undoubtedly be thrown into terror.
The next second, Mara suddenly felt his arms and legs being pulled. Looking down, he saw black shadow lines, each as thick as ropes, binding his hands and feet respectively, rendering him immobile.
Then Guan Tong jumped down from the wall and walked closer.
"Please spare me, spare my life!"
Mara trembled as he looked at Guan Tong. In just a few seconds, his fear of this man from Beixing Country was already etched into his bones.
Guan Tong asked, "Tell me everything you know about Basong."
"I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything!"
Mara didn't dare disobey, spilling everything he knew like beans from a bamboo tube.
He knew Guan Tong was here for that fragment, so he first explained how Basong received the tip-off and how he snatched the fragment from those ordinary young men.
After hearing this, Guan Tong was somewhat surprised.
He had thought Basong obtained the fragment first; he didn't expect he had stolen it. So it seemed the previous movement of the fragment's location was caused by Basong returning after the robbery.
After finishing the matter of the fragment, Mara talked about the manor, Basong's subordinates, Basong's collusion with officials inside Andai State, and even those people imprisoned in the manor... Afraid of missing something Guan Tong wanted to hear, he told everything.
After listening, Guan Tong had a comprehensive understanding of Basong's situation.
"I've told you everything I should. Can that... can that buy my life?" Mara asked with a look of hopeful anticipation.
The next moment, a shadow spike pierced through Mara's chest, sending him to meet his maker.
Not long after wiping out this group of Basong's subordinates, the phone in Mara's pocket started ringing.
Guan Tong hadn't left yet at this point. Hearing the ringtone, he didn't go to pick up the phone. It rang several times before switching to voicemail mode.
After a brief few seconds of silence, a cold voice came from the phone. "Someone's listening over there, right?"
Guan Tong remained silent.
"Then listen well. No matter who you are, since you took out Mara, you'll definitely come looking for me here. I, Basong, hereby tell you, if you have the guts, come! I'm waiting for you right here in the manor!"
"Beep."
The voicemail message ended. Guan Tong thought for a moment, then turned and left.
...
"Damn it!"
Basong violently threw his phone to the ground, stomping on it several times until it was crushed. The other few trusted subordinates in the room were so scared they didn't dare breathe loudly.
"B-boss, maybe Mara isn't..."
"Isn't what? Isn't dead?" Basong shot a glare over. "If he wasn't dead, would he dare not answer my call?!"
"Y-yes, boss..." The speaker quickly lowered his head.
That was indeed the case. Even they, as Basong's trusted subordinates, didn't dare slack off. Usually, whether eating, sleeping, or even using the toilet, as soon as Basong's call came, even if they had to soil their pants, they had to hurry and answer.
Otherwise, what the consequences would be had been demonstrated by Basong's earliest trusted subordinate—showing them what it looked like to have your head smashed in with a phone.
"The other party will definitely come! All of you, get ready! Also, go to the town and round up some more people, give them guns, have them guard the gates for me!"
"Yes, boss!"
Everyone hurried off to work. Basong also returned to his own room.
He took out another phone from a drawer, made a call, spoke for a while, then hung up.
Then he lifted the bed board. Underneath was a hidden passage entrance.
Only Basong himself knew about this secret passage. The people who dug it back then were all silenced by him after finishing the job.
He entered the passage. Walking to the end and going up led to a specially excavated large basement.
This basement was his shelter, stocked with various emergency supplies. Of course, it also had no shortage of weapons filling gun racks. Pistols, rifles, scatterguns, even sniper rifles were all available.
Basong took down a short-barreled scattergun from the rack, intending to carry it with him. But when he carefully examined the muzzle, the shiny paint reflected a blurry figure standing behind him.
Who?!
Basong was greatly shocked, turned around, and fired a shot.
"Bang!"
The short scattergun had terrifying power at close range, but the person hit only took half a step back, not falling down.
"Who are you?! How is this possible—"
Basong couldn't believe someone was hiding in his secret room! Clearly, only he himself knew about this place. How did the other party know? And when did they get in?!
After a brief moment of shock, Basong calmed down, staring at the person opposite. The latter wore black clothes covering their entire body, their face also hidden. At a glance, their intentions were clearly hostile.
"You're the one who came to steal my fragment, right?"
"...Hand it over."
Hearing this person's voice, Basong found it strange. It didn't sound like a normal speaking voice from a distance; instead, it sounded like a voice coming from a phone.
But he couldn't care about that now. Strike first!
A fierce glint flashed in Basong's eyes as he continuously pulled the trigger.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The scattergun's pellets hit the other party one after another. The latter retreated several steps but showed no sign of falling, not even any blood flowing out. Only their clothes became quite tattered.
Through those holes, Basong vaguely saw that the color inside was the same as the outside clothes—all black!
What kind of monster is this guy?!
Basong threw away the short scattergun and didn't take any other weapons from the gun rack either. He raised his right hand, and a peculiar brown hand cannon appeared, replacing his right fist.
Guan Tong, remotely controlling the Shadow from afar, saw this and thought, "That hand cannon must be Basong's Mind Power item. Its power shouldn't be small."
"Don't think you can scare me!" Basong raised the hand cannon, aiming at the Shadow. "You must have some item that defends against ordinary weapons. But let's see how you defend against my Mind Power hand cannon!"
Boom!
After saying that, he fired a blast. With a thunderous sound, a large hole was blasted open in the basement wall. Broken stones and dust flew together, making Basong himself cough repeatedly.
He retreated several steps, his back against the wall, eyes fixed on the dust ahead. Before long, the dust gradually cleared. When he saw the Shadow still standing tall, his eyes immediately widened.
"How is this possible?!"
"Basong, is this your true capability?" That phone-like voice sounded again. "To be honest, it's not that impressive."
Guan Tong's voice came from the phone with speaker mode activated, carried by the Shadow, infuriating Basong until his face turned ashen.
Actually, Guan Tong really wasn't wrong. The hand cannon's power was great, but it was too easy for the Shadow to evade—Basong fired, and Guan Tong manipulated most of the Shadow to become ethereal, evading the damage before solidifying again.
This way, no matter how powerful Basong's hand cannon was, it couldn't hurt the Shadow at all. Conversely, if Guan Tong wanted to kill Basong, he could have succeeded long ago. It was just that he hadn't obtained the puzzle fragment yet, so he hadn't done so.
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