"Jie-jie-jie!"
Deep beneath Mingde Hall, at an unknown depth.
A sudden roar erupted, followed by billowing smoke, wails, and unending clamor.
Du Busi burst out from a burrowing soul tool.
A dense green aura surged around him as he cackled "jie-jie-jie," rampaging and searching.
A humanoid soul tool—
He only knew this thing was the lifeblood of the Sun Moon Empire, and that the Star Luo Empire was willing to buy it for a high price—one billion gold soul coins!
After being stifled by Shrek Academy earlier, he vented all his resentment on the Sun Moon Empire.
Su Wen extended a finger and lightly slid it to the right.
The entire space rippled, and then everything around them froze solid.
Time halted. Su Wen glanced at Du Busi swaggering down the corridor's end, a rebellious smile on his face, while several Body Sect powerhouses behind him held a charging posture, surging inward.
Thick smoke rolled around them as countless Mingde Hall members fled in disarray, at most having time to tidy away a few classified files. Su Wen's face was expressionless, as if gazing at a hyper-realistic painting.
Du Busi had not yet reached the place he wanted.
Su Wen's finger slid through the air again. No one sensed anything amiss—like pressing a start button.
The smoke of battle rose once more.
"Not here—this way!" Du Busi strode rapidly to an elevator.
"Beep-beep-beep~"
The elevator flashed a glaring red and sounded an alarm.
"No authorization, locked down?" Du Busi cocked a brow at the trembling answer from a Mingde Hall researcher one of his men was carrying like a chick.
"So you can't fix it?"
"N-no way…" The researcher lowered his head, fear and hesitation flashing in his eyes.
"Splurt!"
In the next instant, a head rolled.
Du Busi coldly looked at another man. "My time is limited. If you can open the elevator and find what I want… I'll spare your life."
"I…" The man swallowed hard. Seeing the several figures around him radiating terrifying auras—at least Title Douluo level and above—he knew escape was impossible. He nodded with difficulty. "I can."
"Beep… beep…"
He stepped forward and entered a string of numbers into the panel. The crimson glow gradually faded, turning into a soft green.
"Gulp~"
Once they stepped into the elevator,
His throat bobbed. After a moment's hesitation, he pressed the second-to-last button marked with a humanoid icon.
"Ding-dong~"
As the elevator descended, the air was extremely quiet.
Du Busi exchanged a look with the others; everything proceeded in utter silence.
Suddenly—
A voice broke the stillness.
"Ding… Lei Bao? Is that you? What's your situation now? Did you shake off those Body Sect bastards? And what are you doing entering Base No. 1?"
From the top of the elevator, the voice came through a communicator.
The man's face went pale, his whole body trembling.
That was the Hall Master's voice…
Having led these people in— even if he survived them, he probably…
"Heh-heh-heh, Hall Master Hongchen, we meet again." Du Busi grinned.
"…"
The voice cut off.
"Du Busi!!!"
Then came three furious syllables—his rage was clear even through the communicator.
"Right back at you." Du Busi smirked like a street punk. "What can I say, Hall Master Hongchen—someone's offering a billion gold soul coins for your baby. I'm just a mercenary. If there's trouble, go find the boss behind me."
"And hey, I'm not deaf."
Du Busi clicked his tongue.
The communicator exploded instantly, sparks flying.
"Ding-dong~"
At the same time, the metal elevator doors opened slowly. Lights on both sides thumped on one after another, revealing a massive underground armory nearly ten thousand square meters in size.
Mingde Hall is under the military—part of the Military Academy. In addition to his ducal title, Jing Hongchen also holds a military post…
So this armory is more properly a storage depot for research apparatus—filled with the latest fruits of Sun Moon Empire R&D.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Two muffled grunts.
Du Busi didn't lift a finger. Two advance men had already taken out a few guards; blood mist blossomed from their heads as they fell flat on their backs.
They sped forward.
But even at the corridor's end,
Du Busi still hadn't seen the humanoid soul-guided mecha described by the buyer. He frowned, squinting at the researcher beside him. "Kid, if you dare make a monkey out of me…"
"It's right here! How is this possible!" Lei Bao stared vacant-eyed at the thick mechanical arms at the end of the corridor. Clearly, between those arms there was a space for a humanoid mecha—but now… it was empty.
"Not good!"
Du Busi's expression changed drastically.
At the entryway, flames shot skyward. Roaring thunder echoed through the vast underground warehouse, and then a terrifying explosion swallowed everyone.
…
"Boom!!!"
Watching the unstoppable smoke billow up from underground,
Su Wen and Xuan Ziwen stood quietly in the lab, gazing toward Mingde Hall in the distance. Around them, Keke, Ju Zi, and the others ran over to the window, also watching the mushroom cloud rise far away.
The two exchanged a glance and nodded slightly.
Su Wen was at ease—the item was already in hand and tucked into his storage soul tool.
He wasn't stupid enough to let Du Busi snatch it and then go pay that billion gold soul coins.
Xuan Ziwen felt a pang of guilt but buried it deep, not showing it. There were too many people around. Though their usual interactions were cordial, at a critical moment like this, getting named would be very troublesome.
…
"Jing Hongchen! You deserve death!"
A furious roar rose from underground.
Du Busi surged out of the earth as a dark-green giant, leading his only three surviving, heavily injured subordinates. His eyes were blood-red, locked on a short figure hovering in the sky.
"You were the one who invaded my Mingde Hall first!" Jing Hongchen's eyes also blazed.
"Beast!"
"…"
The two faced off for a moment.
Jing Hongchen glared at Du Busi, then waved his hand, signaling the incoming Sun Moon Empire legions to open a path and retract the defensive shield.
"Hall Master Hongchen, you're just letting him go?" the legion commander frowned.
"He's a level 98 Super Douluo. If we push him and he self-detonates, he'll level this place to bedrock. You think I want to let him go?!" Jing Hongchen roared.
"Understood."
The commander's mouth twitched. He helplessly signaled his men.
…
Watching Du Busi's four limp away, Su Wen clicked his tongue.
He hadn't expected Jing Hongchen to have the grit to directly detonate several eighth-level fixed-mounted soul-guided shells and one ninth-level shell, flattening that experimental depot.
The dust settled.
The army entered in an orderly fashion to restore order.
Casualties were minimal—Du Busi had come with a clear objective—but for Jing Hongchen, it was a total dereliction of duty.
After this, his title being stripped was basically a foregone conclusion.