Translator: AnubisTL
"Th-th-this..."
Wu Lengjing's face paled slightly as he urgently said, "Jiang Cheng, you must thoroughly clean up the scene. The Night Watcher is a powerful organization with branches on countless planets across the galactic federation."
"They are fiercely united and relentlessly vengeful. If they discover you killed one of their members, the Night Watcher will launch a relentless manhunt against you!"
"This group is an order-based organization, not an official government entity. They are dedicated to eradicating all darkness, and they will sacrifice their lives without hesitation to achieve this goal."
"Hmm."
Chen Jiang remained unfazed, nodding casually. "If they're willing to sacrifice their lives, why get so worked up over one death?"
Until the Ten Thousand Races Arena ended, he wasn't worried about antagonizing any faction.
In just over a dozen hours, he would leave this place and return to the Ten Thousand Races Arena. Who could possibly find him there?
And even if they did find him after the arena ended, what could they do against a cannon barrel with a three-kilometer caliber?
The Night Watcher sounded like the kind of organization founded by a bunch of edgy teenagers.
"Still, a proper retaliation is necessary."
The next moment—
A colossal cannon barrel materialized inside North Creek City, teleported in through Scar Dog's phantom gate.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Four Giant Super Annihilation Bombs detonated simultaneously in four quadrants of North Creek City!
In an instant, the city plunged into apocalyptic chaos. The shockwaves toppled skyscrapers, while pedestrians at ground zero were instantly vaporized.
Panic gripped the city.
Countless survivors, battered by the shockwaves but outside the blast radius, fled in terror.
Piercing screams and blaring sirens erupted across the city.
The city's vibrant nightlife, once pulsating with life, ground to a halt as abruptly as a strangled duck. Terrified cries replaced moans of pleasure, echoing through the night.
Though North Creek City authorities reacted swiftly, it was too late.
As the four Giant Super Annihilation Bombs detonated within the city, the turret vanished through Scar Dog's phantom gate. With his phantom gate, all energy shields proved utterly useless.
No energy shield could withstand an explosion detonating from within.
At the same moment, several lines of massive white characters appeared in the sky above North Creek City:
["Thank you, Night Watcher Owl, for your sincere greetings. This is the Jiang Cheng Company's return gift to the Night Watchers."]
["Since you're keeping watch, prepare to slumber eternally in the night."]
A blatant provocation!
The Jiang Cheng Company's actions were not only a direct challenge to the Night Watchers but also a direct insult to the galactic federation!
The moment the news reached him, the lights in the Orange Red Star Lord's study blazed back to life. The sound of shattering porcelain echoed through the room as a series of commands were issued. Clearly, someone had reached their limit with the Jiang Cheng Company's reckless disregard for the rules on Orange Red Star!
Yes, the rules.
Even kidnappers and pirates had unspoken rules they were expected to follow.
According to these unspoken rules, the galactic federation had covered up the Jiang Cheng Company's messes. While the public remained unaware of the details, the company certainly knew the situation. Any sensible party would have left Orange Red Star immediately, ensuring neither side suffered further losses.
But the Jiang Cheng Company was clearly playing by its own rules. Such chaotic, lawless forces were an intolerable threat to the galactic federation!
As the commands streamed from the study, the Federation forces across Orange Red Star mobilized with unwavering focus and efficiency.
The news spread quickly.
Tonight, the Jiang Cheng Company must die.
"Are you fucking insane?!"
X, looking disheveled and far from his usual composure, climbed out of a wrecked magnetic levitation spacecraft, his face contorted with fury. He activated his wrist communicator and roared into the "Jiang Cheng Company 001 Member Group" chat:
"Jiang Cheng, what the hell are you doing?!"
"Even if you're going to bomb North Creek City, couldn't you give a warning? I almost died! Are you trying to kill your own clients?!"
His rage was understandable.
He had been cruising through the towering skyscrapers of North Creek City in his magnetic levitation spacecraft, a beautiful woman in his arms, ready to leave the city. Suddenly, a massive energy-charged shell exploded directly above him!
Yes, directly above him.
That colossal shell had detonated right above his fucking head!
In an instant, his spacecraft's energy shield was drained, and the vehicle plummeted to the ground, bursting into flames. If not for his three-star survival item, he would have been killed instantly!
The woman with him had vanished without a trace—not even a corpse remained.
He had a three-star survival item; she didn't.
"Damn it! Damn it all!"
X pulled out the three-star item from his chest pocket. It was now even more cracked and on the verge of shattering. He couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache as he carefully tucked it back into his pocket. Just as he was about to vent his emotions in the group chat, Jiang Cheng's message instantly snapped him back to reality.
["You think I can't pinpoint your exact coordinates?"]
["..."]
X, now fully alert, swallowed the words he was about to type, his face darkening. He quickly scanned his surroundings, only relaxing slightly when he didn't see the cane-wielding man appear on the nearby rubble.
After a moment of tense silence, his expression shifting between dark and stormy, he finally spoke.
["My brother was playing with my wristband earlier and accidentally sent that message. It was a mistake. Don't mind it. To make up for it, I'm sending you 10 million star coins as compensation."]
With that done, he let out a soft sigh and glanced around at the desolate ruins, at a loss for words.
He couldn't shake the feeling that partnering with this man might be the worst decision he'd ever made.
This man was utterly insane.
Rules?
To him, rules were nothing more than empty words.
This man acted purely on impulse. No one could control someone who operated solely on whims—one moment laughing and chatting amiably, the next shooting you dead. Who could possibly deal with such a person?
Jiang Cheng was about to face even more trouble. Normally, he wouldn't have hesitated to warn him, but now that his own mother had been blasted to smithereens, he couldn't care less. Let him deal with it himself.
Although the bombing hadn't directly hit the Rose Club, some members had undoubtedly been caught in the crossfire and killed. The group chat remained silent except for Jiang Cheng's messages, clearly everyone was still in shock.
"Senior, you're truly incredible," one of the five men murmured, his voice filled with awe.
At the Orange Red Star spaceport, the group of five men—the self-proclaimed "Scum" team, who had received 3 million star coins in funding from Jiang Cheng Company at the Rose Club—stared at the emergency news flashing across their tablets, their expressions a mix of shock and admiration.
"This operation was massive. Tomorrow, news from other planets will be reporting on this."
The senior member lived up to his reputation. His methods were ruthless. They had barely left North Creek City when it was reduced to ruins. Now, they could only be grateful they had escaped in time.
In truth, such incidents had occurred before, but that was long, long ago.
At least, no such event had been witnessed in recent decades.
The reason was simple.
Several high-yield energy bombs had detonated within a city on a Federation planet. The only result was to make a mess for the perpetrator, who became a wanted criminal pursued by countless factions.
Every criminal act is motivated by profit.
A crime without profit isn't a crime; it's an act of temperament.
The glowing text clearly indicated that the senior had bombed North Creek City as retaliation for being tracked down by the Night Watcher.
Such a direct provocation of the Night Watcher had been unheard of for ages.
As expected, the galactic forum, a text-based communication platform, was immediately flooded with posts about the incident:
"Emerging chaotic force, Jiang Cheng Company, makes its debut on Orange Red Star tonight, openly deploying four B-class energy bombs in North Creek City."
"Jiang Cheng Company openly challenges the Night Watcher. What response will the Night Watcher take?"
"Should the Night Watcher be held accountable for the casualties in this attack? After all, if they hadn't struck first, this incident would never have occurred."
"It's rumored that this terrorist attack was carried out using remote space teleportation gates. With the increasing number of crimes committed through these gates in recent years, should civilian use of remote space teleportation gates be completely banned?"
"The Jiang Cheng Company has publicly announced its funding of both new and established criminal organizations. What is the purpose of this move?"
"The Federation has officially issued an arrest warrant for the Jiang Cheng Company, offering a bounty of 10 million star coins. The Night Watcher has yet to respond."
These posts ignited a considerable uproar on the galactic forum.
Each post was followed by heated debates among numerous users.
Clearly, many were deeply concerned about this matter. Tonight, the Jiang Cheng Company's name had finally gained notoriety within the galactic federation.
Of course, most people didn't believe the Jiang Cheng Company would last long.
While many chaotic forces had endured over time, they all adhered to certain unspoken rules. One such rule strictly forbade criminal activities on inhabited planets.
Any faction that directly challenged the established order like Jiang Cheng Company would never be tolerated. They would inevitably be crushed with overwhelming force.
Such chaotic forces, utterly disregarding the rules, could not be allowed to exist!
"They're really underestimating us," Scar Dog muttered, flipping through posts on his tablet. "The federation's bounty is only 10 million star coins? Do they even know how much we made tonight?"
"Shouldn't the bounty be at least 50 million star coins?"
"With only 10 million star coins, who'd dare come after us? It's all risk and no reward."
By this time, they had already escaped their original location through a phantom gate.
They had fled tens of thousands of meters away to a deep underground cavern. Surely, they couldn't be found here, right?
The turret beside them roared back to life, continuing to assist Wu Lengjing in purging Eugenia Planet.
On the communication screen, Wu Lengjing looked visibly shaken, his face pale and his hands trembling slightly. While their business tactics had been somewhat extreme, they had generally remained within the bounds of commercial activity.
Jiang Cheng's actions tonight had nothing to do with business; they were outright acts of terrorism.
Given the Black Europe Company's deep ties to Jiang Cheng Company, it was highly likely they would be implicated.
Yet Wu Jinshen couldn't voice his concerns directly to Jiang Cheng, as he lacked the authority for such a discussion. He had already relayed the general information to his father, leaving the final decision to him.
Soon, three hours had passed.
Eugenia Star had been almost completely purged. The commotion on Orange Red Star was so intense that no one noticed the events unfolding on Eugenia Star, allowing the operation to proceed smoothly.
There was still no news of Jiang Cheng Company's capture.
However, a strikingly consistent theory about Jiang Cheng Company's true nature had begun to circulate among many.
Wu Jinshen leaned back in his executive chair, appearing to be asleep. After a long silence, he opened his eyes, a faint glimmer flickering in their clouded depths. He lit a cigar and placed it on the table like incense.
After staring at the pale blue smoke for a moment, he finally spoke: "Mr. Jiang Cheng is likely a race player from the Ten Thousand Races Arena."
"Race player?"
Wu Zhending, sitting across from him, froze for a moment, then said in disbelief, "That's impossible. If he's a race player from the Ten Thousand Races Arena, how could he have left it?"
"Before the Ten Thousand Races Arena ends, no one can enter or leave it."
"Unless the arena itself is destroyed."
"Yes, that's the principle."
Wu Jinshen nodded slightly, his cloudy eyes revealing little emotion. His voice rasped, "But you've forgotten why we targeted Eugenia Star in the first place."
"One of the reasons was because a bug occurred in a Ten Thousand Races Arena. All the race players from that arena escaped through a global event, and many planets are being assimilated by it. There's even a chance entire planets could be transformed into extensions of the arena."
"The subhuman star is one such planet."
"Even the miscellaneous goods piled up on the subhuman star are gradually transforming into one-star items under this assimilation. If the subhuman star's federal government hadn't fled out of fear of being dragged into the Ten Thousand Races Arena, we wouldn't have planned this operation."
"After the bug occurred, Mr. Jiang Cheng appeared on Orange Red Star."
"It's highly likely that Mr. Jiang Cheng is a race player who escaped from the bugged Ten Thousand Races Arena."
"Thinking about it this way, many things start to make sense. Why would Mr. Jiang Cheng need so many one-star items? He might possess an innate ability related to firearm enhancement, and one-star items could be the materials required for it."
"The only inconsistency is that Orange Red Star wasn't affected by the bugged Ten Thousand Races Arena. If Mr. Jiang Cheng truly escaped from that arena, he shouldn't logically be present on Orange Red Star."
(End of the Chapter)
Translator's Corner
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🔓 𝐰𝐰𝐰.𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐥.𝐜𝐨𝐦 — 13 Series (7 Ongoing) | 14+ New Chapters Daily | 6,100+ FREE