Chapter 344: Conclusion
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Holle Lewis, a collateral member of the Lewis family.
However, his talent awakening was impressive, possessing a B-level "Magnetic Aura," and given that he was in the newly developed zone, he attracted the family's attention. They not only brought his parents back into the main family but also provided a substantial initial investment.
Equipped with a suit that could adapt to the "Magnetic Aura," he also acquired a lot of exclusive gear.
Together with the skills he had learned and the earnings his parents had saved up, Holle Lewis became one of the few intermediate partner-level powerhouses in the new development zone.
But he chose to cling to the coattails of the big shots from the Floating City; he never took on solitary tasks to earn points, always carrying out the assignments from these influential figures.
His family and parents encouraged him to do so…
The Lewis family's property in the Inner City was an old apartment complex. Their first generation started with buying a single unit in this complex and gradually acquired ownership of the entire building.
While leasing out half of the floors to non-core family members, the core members lived in the complex as well.
Within the building, there were baths, shops, karaoke spots, special services, and the like—essentially a mini-village in the guise of an apartment complex.
Today, on an open-air balcony on the third floor, a few young people set up tables and chairs, bringing their own drinks and snacks to catch a cool breeze in the night and chat.
Nighttime entertainment wasn't cheap, and although they would go out occasionally, they couldn't afford to live it up daily.
For these young people, improving their own strength was the proper course.
They could indulge when they were almost at their limit; there would be plenty of time then.
Besides, with tables laid out, drinks in hand, and snacks to eat, life was quite comfortable.
And because they were on their family's turf, they could say anything they wanted, feeling utterly secure without worrying about the annoyances outside.
Sometimes at the nightlife venues, they might encounter people from hostile forces, which could dampen their spirits.
Those on the mechanical augmentation side didn't have much need for drinking companions either.
If they wanted to, they could simply swap in a pleasure module, injecting some hormones for self-regulation.
"Haha, there are indeed more opportunities in the new development zone. Last time we just went to see if there were any benefits left and incidentally looked for someone—we didn't expect to stumble upon such a bargain."
Holle Lewis looked no different from an ordinary person, having opted for synthetic skin that made him appear quite handsome.
Also sitting at the table with him were four others around the same age, all from the new development zone and his clan.
They were also teammates in this operation.
Clan members help each other back to back in the Abyss, which obviously is much more reliable than a temporary team-up.
Holle Lewis had the highest talent and strength among them and thus was the core of the group.
"Yeah, with the other gains from this time combined with the secret manuals we exchanged, it's quite a significant improvement for us."
"Humph, even as intermediate partners toiling day and night on assignments, one might not earn tens of thousands of Yuan Force in a month. Yet, after splitting this one-time gain among us, each of us could match the income of several months."
"We still need to explore the frontier. We are just scavenging the leftovers and sipping the soup, but even that brought us such high returns—God knows what the first guy got."
Someone said with a hint of jealousy.
"Keep your voice down, the first one to go there was probably 'Eight-Armed Vajra'."
A cautious reminder came from someone.
"No wonder his strength is so mighty. Good talent, capable, lucky, and then gets sponsorship—it's hard not to be strong. I heard he excels in Inner Strength, Gang Qi, and Demonization."
"Being able to suppress a senior partner, how could he not be excellent? I heard someone was selling titan spinal fluid before we did, but the quality wasn't as good as ours; probably it was him."
"Haha, leaving the best for us to find!"
The group chuckled and bantered comfortably among themselves.
All along, they had relied on family investment to grow stronger, but now, after gaining some power, they also recouped a lot by working for the big shots and from the spoils of exploring the frontier.
The sense of achievement from these personally-earned gains far surpassed that from family investments.
"However, we did take some risks this time. Those people were driving away the ordinary titans; it could have been a trap he laid down deliberately. I'm not sure if we will offend him by doing this."
Some were a bit worried.
"What's there to fear? Haven't we already consulted Mr. Pavas? When those natives go mad and attack us, are we not allowed to fight back?"
One coldly chuckled; as members of the mechanical augmentation side, they certainly had weaknesses, but their strengths were real!
Using drone positioning for reconnaissance, they confirmed the situation, and when their enemies took control of a wave of titans and began to rest, they launched a long-range sniper attack followed by a rapid-fire bombardment, giving the other squad no chance to react.
After all, in the wild, whatever transpired was for these folks to dictate.
If they said it was an ambush, then it was an ambush!
"Maybe this guy is one of the Chosen Ones."
"So what if he is? Without reporting back to the base, being attacked in the wild and fighting back is justified. Titans, after all, are prone to berserk madness, right? Haha, plus we left through the auction house, who knows who did it. Martial World 01 already has many people seeking channels to learn Inner Strength. He wouldn't know it was us, would he?"
The group exchanged words excitedly; this was the greatest gain since entering the new development zone, indeed the greatest in their lives.
Risk was definitely present, but where there was risk, there was reward, and it was worth taking the chance!
Timidity achieves nothing grand!
"Alright, it's getting late, we should…"
But just at that moment.
Boom~
A violent explosion suddenly occurred at the top of the apartment building, almost entirely blowing the top floor away.
Flames shot out of the windows, and glass burst from top to bottom like waves. The shards fell directly towards their open-air balcony.
Crashtinkle~
This sudden turn of events left the young people completely dumbfounded.
The shattered glass wouldn't harm them—mechanically augmented as they were.
But what on earth was happening?!
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Isn't the top floor where the high-ranking members of the family live?
What happened?!
Self-destruct...
The thought involuntarily emerged in everyone's minds!
As part of the mechanically enhanced faction, nearly all are fitted with this feature to deal with situations where they are at a disadvantage.
They didn't want to die, nor become bombing maniacs, the main purpose was actually reluctant deterrence.
Once it became common knowledge that death leads to self-destruction, without any major conflicting interests, no one would particularly target them. After all, killing them would leave nothing behind, and there was the risk as well.
Each person's self-destruct pattern and timing might vary, without any pattern!
But now...
Boom~
The second explosion occurred, its power not any less than the previous one, and at this moment, the sorrowful and angry voice of their strongest family head resounded,
"Who exactly are you? What is it for? Aren't you afraid of the Inspector's punishment?"
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But, this was also the last utterance of their family head, followed by an even more violent third explosion.
Were all three high-ranking members in the real world gone?
The group of young people who had been looking up in a daze didn't know what to feel at this moment.
There were only four in their family comparable to senior partners, and three were present in the real world today, with one in the Abyss.
And now they were all gone?!
Soon after they realized, following the last explosion, a silhouette descended from the sky amid the shockwave and flames, growing larger and larger.
Boom~
With a crash, he trampled their table, shattering bottles and snacks everywhere!
It was a towering figure wearing a burnt Night Watcher cloak!
Still trailing billows of heat, he seemed to have been caught in the blast.
And judging by the manner of his appearance and the location where he landed...
The jaws of the few men there quivered uncontrollably, trembling involuntarily.
The three elders...
"It's a pity you had to witness this..."
A husky, non-human voice emerged.
Shadows spread swiftly, wrapping around each of them.
Then, with lightning flashing, the mechanically enhanced individuals were covered in sparking electricity!
Shadow tentacles curled and flung them out, colliding into each other, and one after another they self-destructed into a hail of parts.
And Tao Yu himself slipped completely into the shadows and vanished quickly, leaving no trace.
From beginning to end, the Inspector never appeared, nor was there any hindrance.
This was information Tao Yu had gathered from a little rich girl.
As long as one didn't exceed the limits and that specific 'sensing' didn't occur, the Inspector wouldn't care.
Inner City public order, that was the security team's business, not something for the Inspector to clean up...
Tao Yu, rapidly moving through the shadows, glanced at the Yuan Force he had absorbed.
Good, although self-destructing was truly disgusting, he had still scooped up something.
He didn't care to keep any electronic devices, absorbing them violently—not a bad deal to recoup the cost of the intelligence.
But to take down three beings on the level of senior partners and earn less than a hundred thousand in return was truly too cheap.
Moreover, he brought back a strange item; it seemed that the Lewis family already had some secret.
Tao Yu didn't head straight home; instead, he found a corner in an abandoned factory and took out the object he had casually brought back from the Corpse Hiding Mirror.
Message Crystal: Non-specified soul frequency access will result in confused information, absorbable for a hundred Yuan Force.
A cheap gadget, but it seemed like it could be used to transmit missions and the like.
The owner of the crystal could bind several soul frequencies to exchange messages that aren't convenient to send through the communication chips.
"Isn't this right up my alley?"
Tao Yu smiled, a sense of curiosity burgeoning as he began to read the scrambled messages inside.
This type of object, similar to Abyss corruption, normally requires a specific soul frequency to 'decode,' but Tao Yu's Mental Immunity straightened it out...
And what was initially just a curiously snatched item, one he was just about to examine out of curiosity before heading back, left Tao Yu stunned after listening to a series of messages inside.
'...The fish has taken the bait and returned to the Abyss. Three days from now, there will be a night raid on their headquarters. You'll start with a long range bombardment, ensure the coordinates for incendiary shells, and after you're done, you can withdraw. No need to show your faces, ensure a firing distance of over one kilometer, and launch time at ten o'clock sharp.'
The messages appeared to contain recent orders.
The firepower of the mechanically enhanced side is unquestionable, mainly just an issue of ammo loading.
But they were ordered to hit and run, to provide a covering fire.
The power of that covering fire must be quite considerable.
A night raid on the headquarters? And choosing covering fire?
Then it surely wouldn't be the Inner City Area!
It's the 'headquarters'?
Could it be the Chaoyang Society...