The private jet touched down on the runway at Lungmen Airport. Felix sat in the plane's spacious lounge, sipping a low-alcohol sweet wine while browsing the forums for secondhand updates on the Brotherhood's movements.
After the Battle of Chernobog ended, the Brotherhood players could have regrouped with Tomorrow's Development's main force and boarded the landship together. That would have been a well-earned reward for their hard work. Although they were members of Tomorrow's Development, they were also the ones who had endured the harshest conditions.
Before departing the Venus, the commander of the Third Legion, Kumori, had requested an audience. She briefed Felix on the Brotherhood's next course of action. After Chernobog, they had entered Kursk and were now engaging Reunion in guerrilla warfare, playing a deadly game of hide-and-seek.
Their goal was simple: to hinder Reunion's actions.
To avoid revealing their position to Reunion's player contingent, the Brotherhood maintained its own encrypted channels, strictly prohibiting any form of espionage. It was precisely this rigid, hierarchical system that caused Reunion's player operatives to fail time and again.
They were everywhere, like cockroaches. At least, that was how Once Kumori put it, quoting Mr. Han. Popping up in every corner of Kursk, they left Reunion with no effective countermeasures, at least for the time being.
When the plane door opened, Felix had not even stepped off yet before he saw a long red carpet laid out ahead. Dozens of men in traditional Yan attire stood on either side, radiating an unmistakable message: take one step too far, and it would be a fight to the death.
'What is this? A Triad boss welcome?'
At the end of the carpet stood a petite woman dressed in a Higashi ninja attire. Felix recognized her immediately. She was Lady Fumizuki's personal bodyguard, always at her side. Her codename was Shirayuki.
Her presence here made the message clear. Or rather, the intentions of Wei Yenwu and Lady Fumizuki were clear.
He was now a king in his own right. Even though he still retained many of his casual habits and manner of speech, others no longer saw him that way. From Jesselton constantly trying to find him a chair made of pure gold, Felix could only sigh. He still preferred the white plastic stools from street-side food stalls that make him motivated.
"Lord Wei and Lady Fumizuki have reserved a private room at the Taotie Pavilion," Shirayuki said. "Your Highness, please follow me."
Her face beneath the mask was faintly flushed. She bowed politely, every movement precise and respectful.
Felix boarded the stretched limousine. Gazing at the cityscape, so familiar and yet unchanged, he slowly closed his eyes.
"Attention residents. Attention residents of the Central District. Suspected cases of infection have appeared on the streets. Please evacuate in an orderly manner under the guidance of the LGD. Repeating—"
The limousine came to a stop by the roadside. Several men in black suits exited the escort vehicles ahead to assess the situation. Felix looked out through the tinted window and saw that the road leading toward the Upper District had been completely sealed off by the Lungmen Guard Department.
The LGD officers were fully armed. Even when confronted by the men in black, they showed no fear, raising their voices as they argued back.
"This area is prohibited. This is for your own safety."
The officers roared their warning, ignoring the grim expressions of the black-suited men. They regrouped with their squad, their target being a building ahead. After a brief exchange, the front-line officers raised their shields while those behind followed in sequence. What gave them confidence was that Madam Ch'en herself was part of the team.
"Your Highness, we sincerely apologize. We'll look for an alternative route at once."
A black-suited man spoke deferentially through the window. Shirayuki, seated in the front passenger seat, glanced back at Felix's unreadable expression and quickly shook her head at him. The men withdrew at once.
"Your Highness—"
At that moment, the ground suddenly rippled like water, as if a massive stone had been hurled into a lake. In the next instant, an explosion and deafening roar swept through the area. The LGD's cordon was blown away by the shockwave, flung who knew where. Even civilians standing far back were knocked down, some suffering minor injuries.
The limousine remained unharmed. Thanks to its reinforced design and the distance from the blast, those inside felt only a brief tremor.
"…Your Highness! Are you all right?"
The moment Shirayuki opened her eyes, she searched for him. If anything had happened here, she did not dare imagine the consequences.
"I'm fine."
Felix unbuckled his seatbelt. He looked toward the area ravaged by the explosion, toward the base of the residential buildings. The fate of the LGD officers who had advanced inside was unknown.
He pushed open the car door and stepped out. His formal attire, suited for an important meeting, shifted as armor plates and mechanical components unfolded into place. He reached into his chest and drew out a smooth mechanical module. From a distance, it looked like a mobile terminal, but bathed in blue-violet light, it extended and reassembled, piece by piece, into a long sword.
"Your Highness… you!"
"I'm going in to take a look."
"Your Highness, that's far too dangerous!"
Shirayuki's mouth went dry. Her expression turned grave as she hurried in front of Felix and bowed deeply. "…If you insist on going, then please allow me to accompany you."
Felix nodded to the black-clad men nearby, who had remained outwardly calm throughout the scene. "Evacuate the civilians."
"Yes!"
With everyone moving to their respective duties, Felix stepped toward the interior of the building, now shrouded in thick black smoke. Judging from the shockwave of the earlier blast, the explosive had been planted in the basement. It had not destroyed the building's load-bearing columns, so the situation was not yet beyond salvage.
He heard the low groans of LGD officers. Blood trickled from their ears, but there were no other visible injuries. No injuries meant they would not become infected.
Knowing they could no longer hear him clearly, Felix continued forward. On the smoke-filled corridor floor, he spotted several sets of footprints. Based on his understanding of Ch'en Hui-chieh, she had likely taken a few officers and charged straight toward the enemy's nest.
"What exactly is going on here…"
Shirayuki murmured, stunned.
"This wasn't caused by an Originium bomb. Originium explosives can't achieve this level of destructive force. It's more like multiple conventional charges bound together. The detonation point was the lobby just now."
Faint blue flames gathered before Felix, and the golden crown above him shone even brighter.
"Shirayuki, evacuate the residents in the stairwells. I'll find Ch'en."
"…Understood."
With light steps, Shirayuki swiftly headed toward the fire stairs to take command.
Felix continued inward alone.
———
Five minutes earlier.
The explosion thundered through Ch'en Hui-chieh's ears. She swung her sword, dispersing the smoke ahead. At the end of the corridor, several black-clad figures flashed into view, then vanished as they fled deeper inside the passage.
"Bastards!"
Ch'en Hui-chieh wore protective headgear, as did the shield-bearing officers beside her. The ranged operators behind them were not so fortunate. They needed to maintain sensitivity and had not dampened their hearing, which left them temporarily incapacitated.
"After them!"
The officers were seething with anger. Scorch marks from the blast marred their shields. At Ch'en Hui-chieh's command, they surged forward in pursuit. She led from the front, gripping the still-sheathed Chi Xiao tightly in her hand.
At the end of the corridor was a storage room used by residents to keep miscellaneous items. The officers stopped before the wide-open door and advanced inward with caution.
One officer switched on the lights inside. As the lamps flickered on one by one, a chill ran through everyone present.
Scattered throughout the warehouse were crude but unmistakable Originium bombs. If these detonated here, this entire section of the Central District would become a dead zone, completely inaccessible. The level of contamination would exceed natural degradation limits, and residents here, as well as those up to ten streets away, would suffer varying degrees of infection. It would be a nightmare.
Several Ursus individuals sat inside, their bodies wrapped head to toe in bandages. Their faces showed neither pride nor malice, only an emotionless emptiness, like stagnant water.
At the sight of them, Ch'en Hui-chieh's heart sank. This was the mental state she least wanted to face. If they spoke, there might still be room to maneuver, a chance to exploit an opening mid-conversation. But their silence, devoid of mockery or provocation, told her something else.
This mission would not be resolved as easily as she had hoped.
Her hand tightened around the unsheathed Chi Xiao as she asked coldly, "How did you get into the city?"
"…"
"What is your objective?"
"…"
"What you're doing won't just lead to your own death. It will drag countless innocent civilians down with you!"
"…Innocent."
A hoarse voice broke the silence. One of the Ursus men looked at Ch'en Hui-chieh, and in his eyes she saw only a will to die.
"I'm innocent too," he said flatly. "I'm just an ordinary civilian. Why did I become an Infected?"
"Why?"
The Ursus man stared at her with cold detachment. "When Chernobog fell, where were you?"
"When my wife and daughter were taken away, where were you?"
"When a dagger soaked in Originium blood was driven into my body, where were you then?"
"But what you're doing now isn't any different from the Reunion Movement!" Ch'en Hui-chieh shouted fiercely. "Aren't your actions right now exactly the same as those people you despise!"
The words seemed to strike home. The Ursus man's lips trembled, his arm shaking as if he might press the detonator at any second.
"Don't listen to her!"
Another Ursus man barked hoarsely. "All I want is justice! Why do we become Infected while you don't? Why can't you become Infected too? Why? Why us!"
The tension among the Ursus men surged again. Ch'en Hui-chieh clenched her teeth, her hand already resting on the hilt at her waist, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"You…"
"You what? Give it to me!"
The Ursus men suddenly turned on each other. The one in a frenzy lunged at the man holding the remote. Determined to drag everyone else into death with him, he was far stronger than expected. In a few brutal moves, he knocked the other man to the ground and seized the detonator.
Just as he was about to trigger the Originium bombs, Chi Xiao was drawn!
A crimson sword light, like a raging dragon, flashed forward and tore into his arm. A shrill scream rang out as his arm was severed cleanly, the controller flung into the air.
The third Ursus man, who had remained silent the entire time, gritted his teeth and tried to catch the remote. He never noticed the blue flames that had appeared behind him.
"Bang!"
Almost simultaneously with Chi Xiao's strike, another blow landed. Ch'en Hui-chieh froze for a split second as the remaining officers poured into the warehouse like wolves, swiftly subduing the rest of the Ursus men.
The controller fell into the hand of a figure wreathed in faint blue flames. As the fire dissipated, the device in his hand crumbled into ash.
"You came?"
The joy in Ch'en Hui-chieh's voice was impossible to hide. She had worked for dozens of hours straight, slept for days in the LGD office, and rushed from one insane mission to another. Swire and Hoshiguma were just as overwhelmed, yet Ch'en Hui-chieh had personally gone to every scene without exception.
The moment she saw Felix, the tension that had held her upright finally loosened. An overwhelming wave of exhaustion washed over her. Right now, all she wanted was to collapse into his arms and sleep deeply.
"The New Year's almost here. Of course I had to come back and take a look," Felix said calmly. "Though this year doesn't seem like it'll be the same as usual."
Ch'en Hui-chieh forced herself to stay alert. She glanced at the defeated Ursus men on the ground and sighed. "There are far too many Ursus refugees from Chernobog and Kursk. And quite a few are just here to cause trouble. The LGD is under enormous pressure. This incident is already the most serious one we've seen in recent times."
"With Kursk currently heading toward Lungmen, this New Year…"
She hid the worry in her heart, her voice turning cold as she ordered the officers to escort the Infected onto police vehicles and send them to the recently completed Infected prison. That place was under the Rat King's control.
"When was the last time you slept?" Felix asked, noticing the exhaustion and dullness in her eyes.
"…Yesterday. I got about two hours."
"Come with me."
"We're still on a mission."
Felix turned back to her. "The mission is over. As the head of the inspection unit, if you don't rest properly, you'll compromise both your work and the safety of the officers under your command."
"Come with me. Now."
"…Okay."
The officers watched as Ch'en Hui-chieh, obedient as a newlywed, let Felix take her hand and lead her away. They couldn't help clicking their tongues in amazement. Seeing Madam Ch'en like this was truly a rare sight.