Death Madness Tower in the distance was brightly lit. Outside, the further away from the tower, the darker and quieter it became. But the night in Sin City was far from peaceful; screams and pleas for mercy occasionally echoed through the streets and alleys, interspersed with angry curses and the clash of combat.
Under the moonlit night, Feng Yin, clad in terrifying full-body Black Armor, sprinted and leaped nimbly across the rooftops of ruined buildings at an astonishing speed. In this materialized state, fully utilizing the Armor's performance, he possessed motor functions comparable to the "power of fifteen people." Of course, this was just his own conjecture. The so-called power of fifteen people was merely a simple conversion based on the amplification of his own physical strength. Moreover, this estimation currently only reflected accurately in terms of physical force; it didn't seem to apply proportionally to many other aspects. For instance, his running speed clearly hadn't increased from the peak Earthling speed of ten meters per second to a hundred and fifty meters per second. Feng Yin felt it might not have even broken past twenty meters per second. Yet, for an Earthling, this was already a superhuman performance.
Moving at extreme speed, Feng Yin soon crossed half of Sin City and arrived at his destination—an area enclosed by a large number of dilapidated single-story houses.
Ren Sheng District.
This was the territory controlled by the Ren Sheng Group. Unlike the "soldiers as laborers" model of the Tongzi Building managed by Boss Hong, the Ren Sheng Group's model leaned more toward a true underworld syndicate, operating by collecting "protection fees." The large outer ring of the Ren Sheng District was populated by ordinary criminals, who simultaneously served as peripheral members of the group. Only the small inner circle was the gathering place for their core members, numbering anywhere from several dozen to a hundred people. Feng Yin wasn't entirely sure of the exact number, but it wouldn't affect his operation tonight. He was here to kill.
His mindset differed from Xie Yanran, who preferred to play it safe. Since the Ren Sheng Group had made a move against the Tongzi Building, they had already threatened his safety. Brother Hong's impulsive desire to rally a large force to settle the score was certainly ill-advised, but Xie Yanran's approach of merely tightening security to avoid escalating the conflict wasn't necessarily right either. It was impossible to stay on the defensive against thieves indefinitely. If they wanted to stop the Ren Sheng Group from targeting them, there was a far more cost-effective method than mere defense: plunging the Ren Sheng Group's own lair into the same predicament.
While contemplating, Feng Yin had already bypassed the outer perimeter of the Ren Sheng District and arrived at the enclosed area deep in the center, surrounded by buildings and walls. He landed silently on the eaves of a building that offered a bird's-eye view of the entire Ren Sheng Group, crouching quietly to observe. He would assess the enemy situation first.
Inside the Ren Sheng Group's compound, three burly men with heavily tattooed arms walked side by side, speaking in low, vulgar tones about the women controlled by their gang. The lewd expressions on their faces easily gave away the nature of their chatter. Although essentially everyone sent to Border Prison Island was a heinous individual guilty of severe crimes, evil knew no gender. Naturally, there were female inmates alongside the male ones. Since women were typically physically weaker than men, the women on the island—despite being equally wicked—were no match for the men who possessed far greater, more violent strength. In Sin City, without martial prowess, one could only be at the mercy of others.
Amidst their chatting, a bald, tattooed man suddenly laughed. "Haha, I wonder if Boss Hong's people are losing sleep at night now."
The stocky man next to him chuckled. "You have to admit, Leader Kondo is amazing. He casually used three people and killed eight of theirs. I heard they've already imposed martial law over there, even splitting their manpower into two shifts during the day."
"That's how Celestial Essence People are," the third man sneered darkly. "Always caring about grace and endurance, but in the end, it just leads to internal friction."
"Once they realize there are no more night raids in a few days and drop their guard, I bet the boss will send people to mess with them again." The bald man's tone was full of schadenfreude. As he spoke, he noticed his companions weren't responding. He looked over in confusion. "What's wrong..."
He paused, realizing that both of his comrades were staring upwards. He couldn't help but follow their gaze, and his breath hitched.
Under the bright moonlight, on the roof of the seven- or eight-meter-tall building ahead, a vague, human-like dark silhouette was crouching. Where its eyes should be, narrow, glowing stripes faintly flickered with a terrifying crimson light. It was like a ferocious wolf eyeing its prey.
"What... is that!?" the burly man muttered.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the dark silhouette leaped abruptly, plunging directly from a height of nearly three stories. Under their horrified gazes, it landed right in front of them. Only then did they realize in shock that this dark silhouette was actually a person... wearing a terrifying set of Armor!
In the next instant, the figure drew a thick Heavy Sword from his back.
"Ene—" The stocky man next to the bald guy reacted quickly, just about to shout a warning of an enemy attack.
SWISH!
The blade swept out in a smooth, forehand horizontal slash, instantly decapitating the stocky man who tried to yell. His shout was abruptly cut short! But Feng Yin's attack did not stop. After cleanly severing the man's neck, the Canfeng Sword carried its momentum forward, flashing across the chests of the other two men in a split second.
SLASH! SLASH!
Two knee-weakening sounds of a sharp blade slicing through flesh rang out in quick succession. Six bloody chunks of corpses dropped at the base of the wall.
Without pausing for a moment, Feng Yin sprinted along the wall and quickly encountered two more guards walking together. Because the Ren Sheng Group relied on a path of violent control, they knew that the peripheral members under their thumb could potentially snap and rebel. Therefore, they assigned more guards for night patrols. The two guards simultaneously spotted the sprinting Feng Yin. However, already in full motion, he didn't even give them a chance to react.
Dragging the Canfeng Sword behind him, Feng Yin blurred into an astonishing afterimage and shot forward, arriving in front of the two Ren Sheng Group lackeys in an instant. The blade thrust forward seamlessly, precisely piercing the heart of the man on the right. At the same time, Feng Yin's left hand clamped onto the face of the man on the left, his sharp claws digging into flesh and skin. The man, in pain, tried to scream, but the grip on his face muffled any sound. He instinctively raised his hands to grab Feng Yin's arm, trying to pry it off, but found it felt like wrestling with an elephant. It wouldn't budge an inch!
The next second, Feng Yin's left claw clamped down on the man's head and slammed it into the ground.
THUD!
After a muffled impact, there was no more sound. Feng Yin slowly stood up and flicked his hand to shake off the blood, only to find there was no blood on his hand at all. He paused slightly, quickly raising the Canfeng Sword to inspect it. The sword had just slain four people, yet it remained completely dry. The blood... had vanished.
Was it absorbed by the Armor? Feng Yin remembered the first trait of his current Armor form, Wolf Slaughter: Bloodthirst. Killing a certain number of enemies could restore the Armor's Durability.
He thought, "So people in reality count as enemies too? I'll try killing ten people tonight..."
With this thought in mind, he leaped swiftly, vaulting over the wall into the heart of the Ren Sheng Group's compound. The moment he landed, he bumped into another lackey.
"Who are you!"
Amidst the man's terrified scream, Feng Yin swung his sword in a brutal vertical cleave, slicing him perfectly in half. But this lackey's scream had finally triggered the alarm for the entire Ren Sheng Group. A large number of people surged out of the surrounding buildings, wielding weapons. Upon seeing Feng Yin in his pitch-black Armor, looking like an evil spirit, they were momentarily at a loss. When did someone clad in armor appear in Sin City?
Clouds drifted across the horizon, obscuring the bright moonlight. Feng Yin swept his gaze over the crowd, his expression completely calm beneath his visor. He gripped the Canfeng Sword with both hands and slowly walked forward, a simple thought echoing in his mind: "Over ninety-nine percent of the people on this island are heinous scumbags. And this Ren Sheng Group is the worst of the worst. They all deserve to die anyway, so they might as well become my stepping stones."
This was destined to be a bloody night.
***