10:00 PM, terra time.
After the previous bloodshed, this short stretch of road was currently under strict curfew, allowing only passage, with no businesses operating or pedestrians lingering, a stark contrast to the brightly lit streets nearby.
Guests rushed to leave before the curfew, bringing a temporary quiet to the constantly buzzing brothel.
Thump, thump, thump.
Solid, heavy footsteps echoed through the sandy, gravelly corridor, and four pairs of crimson circular eyes emerged from the darkness, like devils marching through hell.
"+Those wearing the Poison Spider armband are their people. 10 on the second floor, 15 on the first floor, and a few others are... uh... doing that. A total of 32 people.+" Yoyo's voice came through the communicator.
"+Understood.+"
"+No survivors.+" Horatio issued unrestricted engagement rules, a power and responsibility granted to him by the Inquisition's Rose Knot.
Horatio raised the data pad on his arm, and the augur's reconnaissance radar rotated continuously behind his right shoulder, quickly marking all the original white dots as red.
He and his teammates wore the Hawk-Head type of Aom Shield Helmet, a rarer and most ferocious-looking model.
Skull patterns were painted on the face, adding another layer of horrifying terror to the already formidable helmet.
They wore only unmarked Carapace Armor, carried no unnecessary equipment, and were covered by a hooded robe to conceal their identities.
Stun grenades, tactical knives, and Lucius Pattern Hellpistols would be their primary equipment for this indoor cleanup operation.
"Oh, those rich pigs finally left. Is it my turn to have some fun now?"
A Poison Spider Gang member impatiently unbuckled his pants, and a seductive giggle came from the bed.
Then the room's lights went out.
The woman lay on the bed with her eyes closed, but what awaited her was not the man's warm body, but scorching laser fire.
Louise pulled the trigger indifferently.
"Cough—! Ugh!" Horatio covered the man's mouth, and the Cadia Trench Knife in his hand mercilessly slit his throat and plunged into his skull.
"+Cleared.+"
He pushed the corpse onto the bed and reported through the Aom Shield Helmet's communication device.
Then, through thermal imaging, he glanced indifferently at the woman whose face had been largely melted by the Hellpistol's high-energy laser, his heart completely unmoved.
"+Horatio and I will clear the second floor. Fidio and Lydos will clear the first floor.+" Louise issued the combat order.
Then, she quickly cut off the power to the entire building.
"Why is the power out again? Didn't we just replace the distributor? Go check it out." A voice came from the first floor.
Darkness is only the enemy's weakness; it is the vanguard's companion.
"Ugh!" The person walking up to the second floor was met by Horatio's knife straight to the skull, and the body was dragged into an empty room.
As he straightened up, someone walked out of the adjacent room, and Horatio quickly raised his hand and shot off their head.
Under the immense high-temperature energy, even the blood gushing from the wound was quickly evaporated, not splattering on the wall.
Louise followed closely, killing another Poison Spider Gang member and a panicked prostitute in the room.
"What's going on? The power's still out? How disappointing."
A distant armed individual walked out, pulling up his pants.
Whoosh! The monomolecular knife flew from Horatio's hand, striking him squarely in the mouth, pinning him to the wall.
"Gurgle—" Soon, desperate screams before suffocation also came from the first floor.
"What's going on! Where is everyone! Are you all dead, not saying anything?" The small boss in charge of this property shouted, but no one responded.
The small boss felt his scalp tingle a bit; usually, they would come at his beck and call, but why was it so quiet outside today?
He didn't even bother with his pants, pushed the woman off the bed, and tremblingly picked up a smuggled gun.
When he looked up, a figure appeared outside the door, and the streetlights from outside the building projected his slender shadow onto the wooden floor of the room through the floor-to-ceiling window.
The terrifying red-glowing circular eyes stared straight at him, and the extremely suffocating sound of a terrifying respirator made him feel a warm wetness beneath him.
"Eek—!" The small boss's legs trembled uncontrollably, completely forgetting that he had a gun in his hand.
Bang—! Bang—!
Two golden laser beams flashed across the room, followed by the thud of a body falling to the ground.
A Childer of Loyalty Marine on guard on the street, as he turned, caught a glimpse of a strange light inside the building from the corner of his eye.
"+This is Gamma 01. There's still a shop operating in violation of regulations, looks like a brothel. Initiate immediate forced shutdown.+"
Suddenly, a signal from the Imperial Navy Fleet Military Intelligence Headquarters was forcibly intercepted.
"+Sir!+"
"+I am Captain Sterling. A planetary garbage truck and a furniture truck are about to enter your patrol area. Grant immediate passage.+"
"+Yes, ah, reporting, Lieutenant, I just saw...+"
"+You saw nothing, Corporal. Continue your duty and fulfill your responsibilities.+" Lieutenant Sterling's voice was very rational and stern.
"+Yes...!+" The Corporal immediately responded, already knowing that this was not something he should interfere with.
As the Lieutenant said, a perfectly common Abyss Port garbage truck slowly drove into the curfew zone, and the Childer of Loyalty Marines on duty cleared the way.
The Corporal looked on as the vehicle slowly stopped in front of a brothel.
Several people dressed as ordinary laborers emerged from it, wrapping something in bedsheets and cloth, and throwing them into the garbage truck.
He activated the Aum Shield's magnification device and actually saw bare feet peeking out from the bedsheets.
The Corporal wisely turned his back, and the garbage truck operator pressed a button.
Grind, grind—
The rear of the garbage truck churned and compressed, crushing the garbage inside and the newly thrown items into solid, small cubes.
After the garbage truck drove away, a truck carrying wooden furniture slowly stopped.
By early the next morning, the bloodstains inside the building had been thoroughly cleaned, and a fresh, pleasant fragrance replaced the stench of cheap rouge.
The interior layout was completely new, with brand-new solid wood dining tables and carved bars replacing the messy beds, losing its previous seedy atmosphere, and gaining a simple yet elegant style.
Horatio stood in the second-floor loft, looking through the floor-to-ceiling window at the street, which had returned to its bustling state.
"This looks like a nice bar club. Who would have thought it was an intelligence hub underneath?"
Louise, dressed in a shirt and trench coat, walked behind Horatio, watching people re-hang the 'Workers' Club' sign outside.
"Thank you for your hard work, Leader."
Horatio, wearing an English flat cap, smiled and tipped his cap to Louise.
Then Horatio pushed open the club's bulletproof glass door and walked onto the street.
—
Yin Shuyao's face was not very happy. She silently wiped the bar counter, and the number of customers outside the door was visibly much fewer.
"What's wrong, something on your mind?" A black-haired young man, wearing an English flat cap and a wool coat, sat on a chair in front of the bar: "A martini, please."
"It's you?" The worried look on Yin Shuyao's face immediately disappeared, replaced by shock.
After some time apart, the young man had become more composed and stern compared to their first meeting.
Moreover, despite his gentle smile, she felt an unspoken terror emanating from him.
This bone-chilling, cold leadership aura silently suppressed everything around him.
"How did you do on the exam?"
"I've been accepted."
"Not bad. It seems that with the martial law and curfew, the customer base here has decreased significantly." Horatio looked around, calmly wiping his hands with a wet wipe.
"For the catering business, late-night snacks are a huge proportion, but now we have to close at night, and customer loss is severe. Plus, the Guild Alliance raised the rent here. Last month alone, we lost 50,000."
Horatio looked at the ledger by the girl's hand and slowly said, "I have a property, right across the street. Now that I've entered the Loyalist Academy, I don't need it anymore. I can rent it to you at a lower price."
The girl's eyes lit up: "Sir, which one is it across the street?"
Horatio pointed his thumb behind him.
The girl's face suddenly flushed: "But... isn't that a brothel?"
"A group of thieves once stole it from me. Now I've taken it back. Want to go take a look?" Horatio drained his drink, placed the money on the table, and pushed it towards the girl.
Yin Shuyao half-believingly followed Horatio to the tall building. Inside the floor-to-ceiling windows, there were no longer dancing, sexy women, but exquisite dining tables and chairs.
"If you want to rent it, the equipment inside, the bar, tables, and chairs, you can use them freely. However, I have one condition."