Chapter 33: The Timely Rain

It took a full hour before the woman, now fully dressed in all her gear, finally stepped out the door with Third Fatty. She still wore her long black trench coat, standing a full head taller than him.

As they reached the main gate, Third Fatty instinctively reached into his breast pocket. Only when his fingers brushed against the raised surface of the small button did he finally relax.

"Finally out..." Li Yu muttered, having grown somewhat impatient. Staring at the wretched fat man through his sniper scope, he slowly pressed his thumb down.

Although this small building was dilapidated, it had basic defensive measures, including anti-reflective reconnaissance devices. The rooms on the second floor were even reinforced with special metals, making them incredibly sturdy.

"Let's go, baby... Today we..."

Suddenly, an indescribable sense of danger surged through Third Fatty's entire body. An E+ rank lifeform already possessed a preliminary perception of impending threats.

He felt chilled to the bone. Instinctively, he tried to flee, but it was already too late.

Bang!

With a muffled thud, a large hole shattered the floorboards behind Third Fatty, sending wood splinters flying. A trickle of blood flowed down from his forehead.

She leaned over Third Fatty's body and spat a thumb-sized blue button out of her mouth. Leaning close to his ear, she whispered, "Were you looking for this?"

Third Fatty could no longer answer her. The moment that bullet pierced his skull, he had lost all capacity for thought and speech.

There were not many people on the first floor—only a few bored Scavengers who lacked the Star Coins to go out and spend, leaving them with nowhere else to hang around.

A few others had dragged themselves out of their corners, preparing to sneak a few glances at Mr. Third's woman. It was one of their few sources of entertainment, and Mr. Third never bothered to stop them.

However, before anyone could even process what was happening, the back of Third Fatty's head suddenly exploded, splattering red and white matter everywhere.

Everyone froze. No one had expected a scene like this. It was only when the woman kicked off her high heels and sprinted away, and Third Fatty's massive body finally crashed to the floor, that they snapped back to reality, their eyes wide with terror.

Something massive had just happened!

"That makes one..." Li Yu muttered as he put away the Purple Sniper Rifle. Suddenly, his heart gave a violent lurch, and Bullet Time activated instantly.

His eyes widened in shock. Not too far away, a spiraling pitch-black bullet was rocketing straight toward his head.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!

With no time to think, he instinctively jerked his head to the side. A searing pain flared past his ear, followed by a trickle of scalding blood.

His skin had been grazed. The firepower was identical to his own weapon—it was a D-rank attack, more than enough to kill him instantly.

"Damn it, they came so fast..." His expression darkened as he slid off the roof, immediately charging toward the direction the bullet had come from.

From his previous conversation with the woman, he already knew he had been sold out to the Ghost Squad.

What he hadn't expected was that the Ghost Squad would actually wait for him to assassinate Third Fatty first before making their move.

"Target locked. He is heading toward my position. Requesting backup. The intel is wrong; the target is not an E+ rank." A cold, mechanical voice echoed through the darkness.

This area was located on the outskirts of the black market. It was filled with dilapidated, single-story houses and served as a gathering place for addicts. There were barely any high vantage points around.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The rooftops shattered, sending debris raining down into the rooms below and startling numerous rats that began scurrying in all directions.

Li Yu moved like a phantom, vaulting effortlessly across the rooftops.

Whoosh!

A chilling gust of wind brushed past his ear. Li Yu had anticipated this. Pushing hard off his feet, he dropped straight through the roof into the room below just as a streak of cold light grazed right over his scalp.

A dart spewing incandescent blue flames shot into the darkness, erupting with a sharp crack.

"Ah!"

Inside the room, two gray-skinned Rat-people, who had been tangled together, were now shivering in terror. Their grimy black skin disgusted Li Yu.

Beep-beep-beep!

A fist-sized object dropped to the floor.

Boom!

The wall was instantly blown open. In the next moment, raging flames swept through the area, completely engulfing the two gray-skinned Rat-people.

"The target's reaction speed has already reached the D-rank, though his physical body has yet to catch up. The target's intelligence profile is severely inaccurate. I recommend aborting the operation."

"Operation aborted. All members, retreat..."

......

The darkness fell completely silent. The lingering sense of danger gradually faded from Li Yu's mind. He remained highly cautious, waiting for a long time before finally revealing himself.

"If one strike fails, flee a thousand li. That's more like the Ghost Squad," Li Yu murmured softly.

......

Back at Third Fatty's corpse, three figures stood in a circle, much like how they had surrounded Mad Snake's body not long ago.

This time, the men monitoring the surveillance feeds hadn't gone out to mess around. They had immediately notified the three leaders.

However, just as they were preparing to hunt down the escaping woman, a sudden series of explosions made them hesitate in apprehension.

Staring at the flames blazing in the distance, Old Ghost's expression looked incredibly grim. Although he felt no emotional attachment to Third Fatty, his death meant their boss was going to be absolutely furious.

"This kind of bullet... Third Brother showed it to me before..." Taotie pried the bullet out of the floorboards and spat out a single name, "Li Yu."

"Him?" Old Ghost had assumed this was the work of Thorn Flame's old enemies. He hadn't expected it to be just a small fry.

"Third Brother's light barrier was swapped out. It must have been that little chick's doing. Toying with women like that—he got what he deserved," Sister Yao mocked.

"Enough!" Old Ghost scolded with a dark scowl, his gaze fixed on the murky shadows outside the door.

"Notify the boss."

Both Taotie and Sister Yao's expressions shifted slightly. It went without saying that what their boss hated seeing most were unforeseen variables.

With something like this happening, they were bound to be caught in the crossfire.

"Do either of you know Third Fatty's Black Hole Bank account?" Old Ghost asked suddenly.

Taotie and Sister Yao exchanged a glance before shaking their heads. Such things were their deepest secrets; there was no way he would have ever told anyone else.

The Black Hole Bank was a specialized institution designed to provide a safe haven for funds belonging to people without official identities or money that couldn't see the light of day.

It had absolutely no verification measures—all that was required was an account number and a password. If it was stolen? Too bad, you deserved it!

"Find that woman for me. We can't let a whore run off with our brother's money," Old Ghost ordered.

"Understood!"

This time, both Taotie and Sister Yao agreed without any hesitation.

The blazing fires and explosive booms failed to stir up even the slightest ripple across the rest of the black market. Perhaps a few people threw a passing glance in this direction, but that was the extent of it.

Clutching his wound, Li Yu thanked his luck that the bullet had only grazed the skin just above his ear without actually damaging it. Otherwise, heaven only knew if he would have ended up with some ridiculous nickname like 'One-Ear' in the future.

On his way back, Li Yu flipped through the System Log. Two new entries had already refreshed.

[Day 1: The bright air and pale, smooth legs let you know that you have not been transported to the future.

When you discover the horrifying news of explosions and murders on the television, you realize that the T-800 has already descended.]

[Day 2: You found Sarah and Kyle through special means. During a moment of crisis, you stepped forward and used your tremendous strength to repel the T-800.

Without needing much explanation from you, the two of them treated you as a friend of justice and told you everything they knew.]

[Obtained White Title: The Timely Rain. Do you wish to extract it?]