Inside the joint conference hall, facing east to west, the venue was spacious and bright, grand and magnificent.
Gin Bladeley stepped into the joint conference hall. Guided by a staff member, he took his seat at the spot with his name written on it. Representatives from various countries gradually took their seats around him, preparing to begin the meeting.
"Beware of the Ten Heavenly Stems."
Suddenly, a staff member approached Gin Bladeley, serving him a cup of hot tea, and at the same time, whispered a sentence, then naturally turned and left.
Gin Bladeley's expression was calm. He had already sensed Envy before arriving at the V5 organization headquarters.
However, what he didn't expect was that Envy would specifically come to remind him to beware of some organization or entity.
"What organization is the Ten Heavenly Stems?"
Gin Bladeley looked at the gradually quieting conference hall and asked in a low voice.
"Never heard of them. Give me some time to investigate."
Ikusamp's low voice sounded from the micro-earpiece behind Gin Bladeley's ear.
Clap, clap, clap, clap...
As Ikusamp's voice fell, applause resounded in the joint conference hall. Secretary-General Costell of the V5 organization had taken the stage to speak, announcing the opening of the conference.
The main topic of this conference was the various international impacts of the current pandemic outbreak.
The V5 organization would unite with countries worldwide to launch coordinated cooperation, discussing and deliberating on various international issues that had erupted during this pandemic.
This was the main theme of this joint conference: to solve international problems, which could not be solved by a single country or alliance alone.
As for the matter of Umbrella Corporation, it just happened to coincide with the conference.
Of course, all countries now paid great attention to Umbrella Corporation. After all, the emergence of new antibiotics was the hope for resolving the current global crisis.
But because of this, it was also natural for Umbrella Biotech to have a representative seat at this conference.
After a long time, the V5 organization's Secretary-General finished his speech, and the conference hall began to buzz with noise.
Gin Bladeley calmly observed his surroundings. There were a total of 1,800 seats in the joint conference hall, and at this moment, 1,500 representatives from various countries were seated.
Most people wore blue masks, allowing them to communicate with others with peace of mind.
As the conference progressed, various issues and decisions from the representatives of different countries were either made or reserved for post-meeting discussion.
Finally, the world's attention shifted to the key issue of this pandemic.
Click, click, click...
Accompanied by a continuous series of shutter clicks, a large number of media surrounding the hall aimed their cameras at Gin Bladeley.
While the whole world's eyes and attention were focused on the V5 organization headquarters.
9:11 PM, Kakin Empire, Vitratello City, a surprise attack was launched against the Umbrella Corporation.
Trent Treto, the general manager of the Umbrella Corporation branch.
At this moment, he was leaving a banquet organized by the local mayor. After declining Mayor Gudmund's enthusiastic invitation for the next event, he boarded his luxury car and drove towards the best five-star hotel in the area.
This meeting was crucial for Umbrella Corporation, and also crucial for Vitratello City.
The Umbrella Corporation branch and production base's establishment and operation here would bring new hope to the city.
This concerned whether Mayor Gudmund could successfully be re-elected in the next election, and also concerned the interests of Umbrella Corporation.
If Umbrella and the local government could cooperate smoothly, it would be a win-win situation.
And Trent, being able to hold the position of general manager of the Umbrella branch, was naturally no ordinary person.
He spent a considerable amount of manpower and money investigating the mayor's preferences and intelligence. With both sides willing to cooperate, in just one week, he successfully infiltrated the mayor's inner circle.
However, this also had Gudmund's deliberate intention behind it.
"Heh heh, the next things will be much easier."
Trent sat on the car's sofa, chuckling. The Kakin Empire, this dilapidated country, was truly incorrigibly dirty and corrupt.
Recalling the people he met at the banquet—businessmen, gangsters, politicians—these people, who seemingly could never stand together in public, were secretly united.
The Kakin Empire was not wealthy; it was a low-to-middle-income country in this world, with a per capita national income of less than 30,000 Jenny.
From an outsider's perspective, this income was barely acceptable.
But only by truly visiting this country and delving deep into it would one know.
Even this number was fake.
Trent looked out the window at the passing streets, lost in thought.
Before he became the general manager of the Umbrella Corporation branch, he had once visited this country for inspection. He had traveled to many places and seen countless slums.
They had no jobs and couldn't solve their basic needs, living in squalid shantytowns filled with garbage and sewage. They could only barely get by each day by searching for things of extremely low value in the garbage heaps.
Of course, even in the most backward places, there were wealthy areas.
The Avenue of Hope in Vitratello was like a high wall separating the rich and poor areas, unscalable.
The lives of the rich and the lives of the poor were completely two different concepts.
When millions of people lived in unsanitary shantytowns, breeding bacteria and foul smells, fighting over a piece of meat from a garbage can, the rich were using cutlery sets worth 100,000 Jenny, enjoying dinners worth millions of Jenny.
Trent saw all this, etched it in his mind, but felt no pity.
Once upon a time, he was so similar to those in the slums. To be where he was today, he relied entirely on his desperate struggle.
In this absurd world, it had always been a paradise for the rich and a hell for the poor.
Screech~!
Just as Trent was engrossed in his thoughts, the sedan suddenly braked hard, and Trent fell to the floor of the car.
"What's going on!?"
Trent stood up with the help of his bodyguards, his tone displeased.
"The car in front suddenly stopped."
Another bodyguard received the reason from his earpiece and reported to Trent.
In front of the luxury sedan, an old car blocked their way. The owner seemed to be arguing with someone, but because they were speaking in a local dialect, the bodyguards couldn't understand.
But not understanding didn't matter; the bodyguards could "coordinate" for them.
"Sawasdee Krub..."
The local people who were arguing noticed the two approaching bodyguards, eyed the luxury sedan behind them, and immediately put on obsequious smiles, nodding and bowing apologetically.
"Excuse us, sirs."
"We've delayed you, we'll move now."
When speaking to the bodyguards, they spoke in the Hunter World's common language. Only then did the bodyguards understand that someone riding a motorcycle had crossed the road and almost got hit.
After apologizing to the bodyguards, the six thugs who had been arguing with the old car driver turned and went to their fallen motorcycle, planning to pick it up and leave.
"How is it?"
Inside the luxury sedan, Trent asked the bodyguard who was quietly listening to his earpiece.
"It's nothing, just a few thugs almost caused a car accident."
"Then tell them to leave quickly."
Trent frowned after hearing the bodyguard's reply.
In front, the six thugs and the car owner walked towards their respective motorcycles and old car. The two bodyguards were also about to turn back to the sedan.
Click...
At this moment, the two bodyguards heard an extremely familiar sound.
The two suddenly turned around, only to see the six thugs and the car owner abruptly turn, holding rifles in their arms, and firing at them with cold faces.
Bang, bang, bang...
The incident happened suddenly. The two unprepared bodyguards rolled on the ground, avoiding the bullets flying everywhere, and rolled behind the luxury sedan.
Clang, clang, clang...
Bullets struck the sedan's body, creating bullet holes, and the tires hissed as they deflated.
Inside the sedan, the two bodyguards' faces immediately changed upon hearing the gunshots. They pushed open the car doors and, using the car doors for cover, pulled out their pistols and returned fire.
Bang! Bang!
Two gunshots rang out, and two of the enemy personnel were immediately shot dead. Besides them, the other two bodyguards who had dodged the ambush also counterattacked using the sedan as cover.
Soon, under their superb marksmanship, all six thugs, including the car owner, were killed.
Inside the sedan, Trent breathed a sigh of relief as the street quieted down.
These bodyguards were elites sent from headquarters, supposedly retired special forces from various countries' marine corps. After retiring, they joined the company's security department and received various security training, possessing professional security skills.
Clap, clap, clap...
At this moment, a slow clapping sound coming from a dark alley on the street raised the vigilance of the three bodyguards.
"You experts, actually willingly serve as bodyguards for an ordinary person."
"It truly makes me find it incredible."
A horse-faced man stepped out from a dark alley beside the street. He had long golden curly hair and a white suit. His round eyes, as wide as copper bells, looked like ox eyes.
"How about you come work for me?"
"It would definitely be more carefree and enjoyable than being bodyguards, and your income would be more than ten times what it is now."
The horse-faced man smiled, inviting the four bodyguards.
"Who are you!?"
But they showed no reaction to this. Instead, they directly aimed their guns at him, sternly.
"It seems you refuse. What a pity..."
The horse-faced man shook his head with a regretful expression, continuing to walk towards the luxury sedan. His leather shoes made a "clop-clop" sound on the asphalt.
"Stop!"
The four bodyguards collectively frowned and warned him, but the horse-faced man still approached the sedan with a smile, completely disregarding them.
Bang, bang, bang...
Seeing that their warnings were ineffective, the four bodyguards aimed at the horse-faced man and pulled their triggers simultaneously.
Thump, thump, thump...
The horse-faced man's steps faltered, and his body twitched violently. By the time the bodyguards emptied their magazines, the horse-faced man's upper body was densely covered with dozens of bloody holes.
Thud.
The horse-faced man fell backward, and a large amount of fresh blood flowed from the bullet holes, spreading across the ground.
The four bodyguards slowly approached. The horse-faced man's upper body was covered with dozens of dense bloody holes, and blood slowly flowed from them.
Hit by so many bullets, he must be dead.
Inside the sedan, Trent felt uneasy. He had also heard the clapping from outside.
The fact that the newcomer, after seeing how the four bodyguards dealt with the attackers, still appeared so openly, meant that the newcomer had absolute confidence.
Now that the gunshots had stopped, he couldn't control his uneasy heart and stepped out of the car.
Whoosh~
He saw bullet casings scattered everywhere and a pile of unfamiliar corpses, which he assumed belonged to the enemies. He breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he looked to the other side, at the four bodyguards standing over a bloody corpse.
"Report to the supervisor."
The four bodyguards exchanged glances and decided to report the incident here to the security supervisor, Pride. Someone in the Kakin Empire had actually tried to assassinate a high-ranking executive of their company's branch.
One of the bodyguards raised his right hand and touched his earpiece.
"Good night!"
Suddenly, the seemingly dead horse-faced man abruptly opened his eyes. The blood flowing around him suddenly transformed and condensed into sharp blood spikes, piercing towards the four bodyguards.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...
The four bodyguards' bodies twitched. Their mouths slightly agape, they looked down with wide eyes at the blood spikes piercing through their bodies, their faces filled with disbelief.
They had never imagined that someone could attack by manipulating blood.
Therefore, the four bodyguards had almost no power to resist and were instantly pierced through by numerous bloody spikes.
The horse-faced man's face was pale, seemingly due to excessive blood loss, and with a thump, he pulled out the bloody spikes from the bodyguards' bodies, which then transformed into trickles of blood that retracted back into his own body.
"Ugh, this ability is really troublesome."
"Every time I activate it, I have to get injured first. Although I can control the blood not to flow out, the wounds won't heal automatically."
The horse-faced man's face was somewhat purplish. He pressed one hand to his chest and slowly walked towards Trent, who was standing beside the sedan. His pale face looked particularly abnormal.
His ability was to manipulate his own blood, but it was limited to that. He couldn't heal wounds, nor could he control other people's blood.
When he was shot, he used his Nen to protect his vital points.
His ability ensured that as long as his vital points weren't hit, it didn't matter how much blood he lost.
"You, you, you..."
Trent's lips trembled as he continuously retreated. In his nervousness, he twisted his ankle and fell to the ground with a thud.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you."
"Our superior wants to talk to your boss through you."
The horse-faced man lifted the weak Trent and took him into the dark alley.
"Ah ah~ I really envy your ability. As long as you don't get hit in a vital spot, you won't die."
In the dark alley, a slightly teasing voice sounded, but along with the horse-faced man's voice, there were also the footsteps of three other people.
"Less talk, quickly take him back to the team leader."
"Speaking of which, aren't you curious?"
"He's just an executive of a branch company, yet he brought four bodyguards with Nen abilities. They're Nen users, you know."
Another young voice, with a hint of curiosity, chimed in. As their footsteps continued, their voices grew fainter.
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