Editor: Junyans
Xia Tian and Bai Jingan were in the midst of a rapid exchange of opinions, interspersed with many war gestures and shorthands. Qiu Ren did not know what they meant.
Close partners—especially those from the Killing Show—often did this. They came up with a bunch of signals that only they understand, in pursuit of the best synergistic effect. After all, their battlefield was a stake where they were enemies of the world.
But Qui Ren knew what they were going to do. Words were just details, but the rules for killing were the same.
He sat inside the thick-armored vehicle, about to enter underground. Outside the window, the boundless sky enveloped the city, and the game advertisement for “Red Space 3” crazily flashed, dyeing the air and buildings around it red, like an internal bleeding in the clear blue sky.
The destination marked by the car’s navigation was the entrance to Purgatory Soup. In his ears, a voice kept repeating the road conditions to Purgatory Soup and the details of the noon meeting.
At the same time, the private channel was continuously transmitting another set of information—the coordinates of Xia Tian and Bai Jingan.
Qui Ren was planning an ambush.
Working as a hunting dog for so many years, he was very familiar with this kind of thing.
Around four in the morning that day, Qiu Ren had been fucking a minor celebrity—after injecting a dose of “Collapse,” and the effect was truly good—when he’d received a call from the company’s network department. They said that their company’s firewall had detected an attack. Someone had hacked into the system and accessed his personal information and recent activities.
Qiu Ren immediately realized who the person behind the inquiry was, just like a hound smelling the scent of blood.
“What’s my schedule today?” he asked.
The other party skillfully reported, while the person in bed was screaming miserably, indeed reaching the point of “complete loss of dignity” as promised by the advertisers, but it was too noisy. He went outside to listen to the call.
The voice on the phone was steady and flat, informing him of a video conference at seven o’clock, followed by an impromptu report, an eight o’clock briefing, a nine o’clock briefing, a report on the situation of the friends and relatives of the Guest Show’s prey… The pursuit of the show was dark, tense, full of blood, death, and hallucinogenic drugs, like a strong and endless chain.
The person on the other end continued to say that at half-past ten in the morning, Qui Ren had to go to the headquarters of Purgatory Soup in the west of the city for a briefing—completely unnecessary, but he still had to be there on time to let the masters know that he valued his interests very much.
Listening to the bedroom’s piercing screams, the ambush plan immediately took shape in his mind.
Now, Qiu Ren’s prey was turning the corner of Seventh Avenue.
Wearing a cartoon T-shirt and a denim jacket he had grabbed from who knew where, Xia Tian looked like a street thug but he still unexpectedly radiated a sunny disposition.
Bai Jingan was wearing a white long-sleeved T-shirt—a cheap one, probably from the same store—with a stylized hunting falcon pattern printed on it. Unlike his usual formal fitted clothes that kept every inch of him under wraps, the T-shirt outlined the lines of his body. It was a warrior’s body, full of strength, and yet elegant and harmonious, with a strong and cold aura coming from his bones that complimented him surprisingly well.
The car was on autopilot, and they were allocating, inspecting and adjusting firearms with skillful and swift movements, exuding a killing aura. These were people who could fully unleash the power of weapons.
This was an internal video of the Guest Show, shared directly by the big shots to Qui Ren.
Those bigwigs usually didn’t like people below them messing with things on their feast table, thus this act showed their trust in him and how eager they were.
During the short period of time they were missing, Xia Tian and Bai Jingan had apparently gotten some large-caliber weapons and were now discussing how to blow up the Floating Gold Group headquarters building.
It was undoubtedly the most favorite topic of the Killing Show players.
In his earpiece, Qui Ren heard Xia Tian say, “It will explode from the bottom with a ‘boom.’ The right-wing structure will break, just like a sinking ship—”
Bai Jingan said, “You have to turn off the peripheral support system first.”
“It’s already off.”
“You didn’t say it was off.”
“I’d said it.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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It made people want to destroy that smile from his face, make him scream, apologize, and cry.
Qiu Ren thought in his heart, it wouldn’t be long.
Twenty minutes later, the special car would arrive directly below the warehouse on the west side of the Floating Gold Group headquarters.
It was a good sniping spot. As long as the artillery hit two load-bearing walls, the annex building above would instantly topple like a felled giant. At that moment, no matter how thick the armor of the escort car was, the people inside wouldn’t stand a chance.
This wasn’t the safest sniping location, but it was the one that could cause the most extensive and deadliest destruction.
The prey was untamed and wild, too fierce and straightforward, with a crazy willingness to make destruction at any cost at their bones.
At this moment, a shiver ran down his spine at the thought of that killing intent.
“All right,” Bai Jingan in the car said, “I’ll count it as you’d said it.”
Xia Tian smiled at him again.
When you destroy such a person, it will undoubtedly provide an intensely dark pleasure.
Qiu Ren thought this but his expression remained calm, with a habitual humble smile, as if he was born to be ready to serve others.
In the earpiece, the leader of Team A was saying, “They are expected to reach the designated location in twenty minutes.”
“Wait,” Qiu Ren said.
A gap was opened in the encirclement, waiting for the prey to enter.
Qiu Ren was very certain that once they entered this place, no matter what weapons and skills the duo possessed, they would never be able to escape. The only outcome from that point on would be sinking into hell.
Unaware of the ambush, the prey continued chatting.
“I remembered,” Xia Tian suddenly said.
“What?” Bai Jingan asked.
“Zhou Xinghan, I was thinking the whole time that I’d heard this name somewhere,” Xia Tian said, “He’s from Zone M, was quite famous down there for a while.”
“What’s wrong?”
Xia Tian sneered, and Qiu Ren felt a chill drill into his stomach, cold enough to freeze his bones.
“He raped his sister, then killed her and his family of five in front of the entire security team, just to avoid severe punishment and show loyalty to the security team,” Xia Tian said. “It’s said that he came up with this idea himself. You didn’t see it. The videos I’d saved were lost when I went to jail, but now I can definitely find a lot of them if I go back to the zone—”
At that moment, the voice of Team C’s leader came through the earpiece, saying, “Bai Jingan switched to manual driving, reduced the speed to one hundred, reason unknown—”
Qiu Ren’s body stretched taut—he was quite certain everyone had heard it—feeling an inexplicable chill. But it was just a temporary slowdown in speed.
“I’m going to call him,” Xia Tian said.
“Are you bored or something?” Bai Jingan said.
“Not at all.”
The God of War from the Lower City fiddled with his phone. Meanwhile, Qiu Ren’s phone rang.
He picked it up, and the number on it sent a cold shiver down his spine.
He answered it; you couldn’t refuse such a call.
“Xia Tian,” he said.
“Zhou Xinghan,” the person on the other side said in a mocking tone, “Why did you change your name?”
Qiu Ren suddenly waved his hand to the driver to stop the car. After a moment of thought, he signaled to continue, just slowing down the speed. He needed to time it right.
Bai Jingan switched to manual mode, but the car kept moving forward. The hunting team confirmed they would enter the encirclement in five minutes.
Qiu Ren stared intently at the person on the screen, countless methods of torture and abuse flashing through his mind. He had seen many, greatly enriching his imaginative details.
“I’m glad you know me.” He tried to smile with grace. After all, everything would be broadcast live on the show. “If we meet at the feast, we could reminisce about the old times.”
“I have no old times to reminisce about with you,” Xia Tian replied.
Qiu Ren laughed. Years had passed since this matter had been mentioned—initially, his “superior” had loved to bring it up, and he had grown numb to it. It was the first time he had laughed with such cold and twisted malice. In this moment, if anger were substance, it could practically make the armor around him sizzle and melt it into molten iron.
“The more you act like everything is beneath you, the more exciting it will be. After all, Your Excellency ‘God of War’ is the main course. So, this feast is simply a must-go.” He said maliciously, “I’ll be delighted to watch you howl on the torture rack. Do you know what they’ll do to you? They’ll—” A string of the most vicious words he could think of spewed out.
“I’ll be watching you every second to see how you shatter bit by bit. No matter how tough your bones are, no one will be able to piece them back together! They’ll make you do whatever they want, cry however they want, and fuck you however they want—”
On the other end of the phone, Xia Tian laughed.
A cold laugh, oozing gunpowder smoke.
“Come and catch me,” he said.
Meanwhile, the tactical team’s voices in Qiu Ren’s earpiece became chaotic. Someone shouted, “Bai Jingan has stopped the car!”
“At the intersection of Sky Street!”
“A hundred meters from the outer perimeter—”
Qiu Ren saw Bai Jingan shift to reverse, smoothly and efficiently moving backward, as if he had planned it for a while now.
On the main screen, Xia Tian raised his head, looked at the camera in front, and smiled brightly.
At that moment, Qui Ren suddenly recalled the words people had said about him online. If initially, that handsome smile had been full of sexual appeal and aesthetic in people’s eyes, all the civilians in the Upper City now knew that Xia Tian’s smile represented the destructive fire of the God of War.
Qiu Ren instantly understood what was happening and shouted, “Fall back—”
Xia Tian pressed the button.
The explosion happened instantly.
A violent force burst out, shattering walls and tearing apart armored vehicles, guns, hunters, and all conspiracies.
The bombs had been strategically placed on seven load-bearing walls below the tunnel, precisely distributed around Qiu Ren’s armored vehicle. The positioning was professional, and none of them misfired.
In the early morning, the two Killing Show stars hiding in the underground highway had browsed the defense permissions of the Iceberg Private Security. At a glance, they had discovered that the main defense was limited to the main building and its surroundings. The tunnel five hundred meters below was basically left to its own devices.
While examining, they had found out that the God of War account had access to most of the roadblocks. If they maintained caution, they could enter and exit the outer area carefully without any pressure.
For people like them, this small amount of authority was like Ares’s Dawn of Destruction—a forbidden spell in the game—more than enough to accomplish something significant.
Next, all they needed to do was ensure that Qiu Ren would definitely appear here.
And the more hounds that had once pursued them were present, the better.
The two had then discussed details in an abandoned rest area deep underground. They were professional, precise, and cold, with a touch of madness which spared no mercy at any cost.
The Upper City was a vast hunting ground, and all hunters would be lured.
Guns and rocket launchers were right next to them, but they weren’t needed. At the moment of explosion, countless walls crumpled and disintegrated into a cloud of debris. When the foundation was destroyed, the annex building on top started collapsing as planned by both parties.
It shook a bit, tilting to the right a little, as if it was not sure what to do. After ten seconds, the building could no longer hold, its structure finally giving way and sending debris cascading down.
Millions of tons of building materials, furniture, guns, office supplies, and people fell, darkness descended rapidly, and the countless ambushes of the hunting team were instantly buried underground, sinking into a tomb.
When it came to hunting, they were the more skilled ones.
As the ground completely succumbed to the blasts’ fury, the Iceberg Building, a street away, tilted slightly, and a row of ice-blue holographic displays fell down from the surface like a flowing waterfall.
Beneath the bright sun, a kaleidoscope of colors exploded. Glitching chaos bloomed across the screens, pixels twirling in disarray, before the displays crashed against the earth, their fragile beauty fracturing into dust.
Bai Jingan turned the steering wheel sharply, his movements smooth and swift, having already planned the route for escaping from the closing encirclement.
There were people on the outer perimeter too, but they hadn’t closed in yet. In his contact lenses, he could clearly see the data on their movements.
He turned the steering wheel to death, and the car rushed onto the main road, brushing past the closing roadblocks.
Behind them, the Iceberg Building remained still for a moment before two more holographic displays fell. Then, the building stabilized for a bit.
People upstairs were evacuating, but the street was surrounded by a large crowd, everyone excitedly filming videos. The residents of the Upper City were accustomed to seeing destruction. Explosions, death, and collapsing buildings were the most popular entertainment.
The moment the first two holographic panels landed, another row came crashing down in a chaotic stream of blue.
People were still taking videos of the destroyed annex building when just a minute later, the Iceberg Building entirely caved in under the sun.
This was an extremely massive skyscraper, towering into the clouds, entirely ice-blue, seemingly endless at a glance. It was solid and colossal, making the people below look like tiny ants. No one expected it to break down completely.
At that moment, everyone around was stunned.
The scene truly resembled iceberg calving, with silver-blue light flowing under the sunlight, flashing crazily, as if trying to escape. Then it abruptly shattered, sinking downward. The sound was immense, like the mournful roar of a dying giant beast, shaking the entire city.
The elegant blue light of the holographic panels sank into the gunpowder smoke and dust of destruction, disappearing completely, leaving only endless debris and corpses.
On the high-rise maglev highway half a kilometer away, the two culprits looked from afar at the scene.
For a moment, even the people chasing them had no intention of pursuing, all gazing at the scene of destruction.
“Wow…” Xia Tian said.
Before he could finish his sentence, flames soared into the sky ahead—it always happened when a building collapsed. The people around scattered in panic, and a massive explosion came from the ruins, probably igniting some grenades or the like.
They all knew this was the headquarters of Iceberg Private Security Company, and who knew how many weapons were inside. There would be even more explosions to come. It was almost like celebrating the New Year.
This highway was located at an extremely high altitude. The two of them watched this grand destruction under the clear sky and sunshine, as if they were watching a magnificent fireworks display.
Xia Tian said to Bai Jingan, “Do you know what’s the best part?”
Bai Jingan replied, “There is no best part. Every part is great.”
