Chapter 72: Tiger Among Sheep

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

Zhang Zhiren watched in horror as the Guangminghui councilor from the Urban Circle had his head cleanly severed, blood gushing forth like a fountain.

"It's over!"

That was the voice echoing in his mind.

"No, I can't die!"

Perhaps the power surging from the brink of life and death allowed Zhang Zhiren, in that instant, to reflexively press a hidden button on the nearby sofa.

He had at least mastered the Seven-Seven Training Method and a combat technique; his speed was extremely fast.

Since embarking on this path, he had always prepared for the possibility of fleeing at any moment.

"Whoosh!"

As the floor beneath the sofa instantly flipped, Zhang Zhiren dropped into the concealed passage below it; the metal plates automatically slid shut, leaving only a smooth metal floor where the sofa had been.

Almost at the same moment Zhang Zhiren fell beneath the sofa, "Chu Tianyao" appeared on that same metal floor.

"Boom!"

With a single stomp, delivering force dozens of times greater than a normal human's, a deep depression instantly formed in the sturdy alloy floor.

"Chu Tianyao" glanced at the floor, frowned slightly, and did not try again.

Meanwhile—

"Shiiiiish—!"

Dozens of Yi Hong Society archers stationed on elevated platforms across the underground warehouse each nocked and loosed arrows simultaneously; dozens of arrows struck from three directions at once!

Each arrow exceeded two hundred meters per second in speed; several were clearly even faster, proving the archers themselves were extremely strong! "Swoosh!"

Facing the dense rain of arrows, "Chu Tianyao" instantly blurred into a phantom, descending into the small square below and effortlessly dodging every arrow.

The Yi Hong Society enforcers guarding the warehouse, each holding electric batons, only then reacted—only to see a blur flash before their eyes.

"Hm?"

Most of these underground security personnel were ordinary humans, chosen only for their loyalty and ruthlessness to guard the trafficked "merchandise"; they possessed no real strength.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The blurred phantom surged into the enforcers' midst like a tiger among sheep; each enforcer barely registered the attack before their vision went black, their skulls bursting open in death.

After killing seven, "Chu Tianyao" dodged another volley of arrows with fluid motion, then suddenly lunged forward with a flying kick! "Boom!"

His foot slammed into the door of one of the warehouses.

Pure, staggering force caused the sturdy iron door to cave in deeply at the lock; the entire door burst open, revealing the huddled figures cowering in the corners.

Then—

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Three more flashes of movement, and the iron doors of all four warehouses were kicked open.

The arrows from the archers above could not touch his figure.

When the gap in power becomes this extreme, numbers mean nothing.

They are nothing but lambs awaiting slaughter.

At that moment—

A figure shot down from the bar's passage with a "swoosh," landing on the elevated platform above.

It was a short, fat man, his body covered in flab, reeking of alcohol; he stared in disbelief at the decapitated corpse of Councilor Wang, face twisted in shock and fury.

Councilor Wang, as a councilor, managed these affairs; he specialized in combat and served as an escort, responsible for guarding and transporting.

He had assumed they had reached the Yi Hong Society's stronghold and felt safe, so he had been drinking above—never expecting an ambush, let alone the death of Councilor Wang? Only someone intimately familiar with this outpost could have found the hidden underground warehouse and launched such an attack!

Instantly, the fat man turned his furious gaze downward toward "Chu Tianyao," shouting in even greater shock: "Chu Tianyao! Are you insane?!"

"Chu Tianyao" cast a cold glance at the fat man, then moved—delivering a brutal flying kick straight into the nearby wall!

"Boom!"

The wall shuddered violently, revealing faint dents; dust rained down—revealing a concealed alloy door!

"Still trying to escape?"

The fat man grew even angrier: "Don't you want to be cured of your poison?"

Even so, he knew he was no match for Chu Tianyao and dared not leap down to fight.

He wasn't worried Chu Tianyao could break through that alloy door.

Behind it lay an escape passage—extremely thick and sturdy, ingeniously constructed, secured by a mechanical combination lock immune to electromagnetic or hacking methods; without the correct code, no amount of kicking could force it open, only risk damaging the lock and making it permanently unopenable. "Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Indeed, after three more furious kicks, the alloy door showed no sign of opening, and Chu Tianyao gave up.

"Shiiiiish—!"

After dodging another volley of arrows, "Chu Tianyao" flicked his hand—tiny glimmers flew from his palm, and many archers on the surrounding platforms collapsed instantly.

The archers stared in horror: the dead had all been pierced through the skull by coins! Then, "Chu Tianyao" blurred into a phantom and leapt back onto the elevated platform.

The fat man's heart tightened; his flab rippled rapidly, his body visibly thinning as powerful energy surged through every limb.

Gene ability?

"Chu Tianyao" narrowed his eyes slightly, then darted forward with a sudden kick! The fat man, lacking speed, had no time to dodge—he gritted his teeth and crossed his arms before his chest.

"Boom!"

The fat man was flung backward, slamming into the wall behind him—but his face only paled slightly, his sleeves torn, yet he suffered no serious injury.

Seeing this, "Chu Tianyao" frowned slightly.

That kick had been devastating—even many team-leader-level cultivators specializing in defensive techniques would have been unable to withstand it; how was this guy still unharmed?

He did not linger; after dodging another wave of arrows, he blurred into a phantom and swiftly retreated through the bar's upper passage.

"Phew…"

The short, stout man's face turned pale; he took a deep breath, looked at the passage where Chu Tianyao had fled, glanced once more at Councilor Wang's corpse on the ground, and his expression grew even uglier.

His strength was inferior to that of the Patrol Captain, but the gene abilities modified by the Organization made his strength and defense far superior to others of the same level.

Even a powerhouse at Chu Tianyao's level would find it difficult to kill him, which is why the Organization had assigned him to guard.

"Killed Councilor Wang and fled?"

The short, stout man frowned tightly.

He also knew how strong Chu Tianyao was; judging by the force of that kick just now, he clearly had not exerted his full strength, and it was pure power at that. Chu Tianyao probably understood he could not kill him, so after casually knocking him back, he fled.

"Zhang Zhiren!"

The short, stout man suddenly shouted angrily, "Come out!"

After a long while, a wall below the grandstand slowly slid open, and Zhang Zhiren walked out from within.

"Mr. Lu," Zhang Zhiren sighed.

The short, stout man leaped down from the grandstand and said angrily, "Do you have nothing to say?"

Zhang Zhiren fell silent for a moment, then said, "Although Chu Tianyao is familiar with this base, he should not know the exact time of today's cargo handover. I cannot understand what he means by this."

Mr. Lu, the short, stout man, sneered, "His madness suggests he may have discovered the truth?"

"This..." Zhang Zhiren frowned.

"Zhou Yang, who could previously order him by force, is already dead."

Mr. Lu snorted coldly, "Perhaps... he obtained news from somewhere, learned that Councilor Wang was coming today, and, unwilling to be threatened anymore, deliberately attacked to eliminate Councilor Wang first?"

Zhang Zhiren was slightly stunned and frowned, saying, "Mr. Lu's meaning is that he is seeking death?"

The Illuminati has many methods far more terrifying than death.

Sometimes, dying is actually a form of release.

"Councilor Wang is dead; I will report this first and see what the superiors decide."

Mr. Lu said coldly, "You first prepare all these goods so they can be loaded onto vehicles and depart at any moment."

"Yes."

The sky was just turning light; the distant glow of the metropolitan area had gradually faded.

On the morning streets, a blurred phantom darted through the dark alleys at astonishing speed, quickly arriving at a hidden street corner.

"Captain."

Zhao Jiayi stepped out from the shadows, her expression somewhat excited, still holding a Patrol Officer uniform in both hands.

'Chu Tianyao's' hands became blurred afterimages; in the blink of an eye, he stripped off his outer clothes, and in the next blink, he took the Patrol Officer uniform from Zhao Jiayi's hands and put it on.

At the same time, his figure and appearance were constantly changing.

Before long, he transformed from the notorious fugitive of Green Lake Island, Chu Tianyao, back into the appearance of Patrol Officer Lin Qing.

(End of this chapter)