Atlas of Heaven and Man.

Chapter 1595 Entrusted with a Secret Mission

Deep within the Arantawa region of the Linax Federation lies an abandoned town.

The armed personnel above the sentry post saw an extended armored vehicle drive by, their implanted eyes flashed a few times, and they turned around to call out, "Boss Blood Staff is back."

The roadblocks outside were immediately removed, the lift was lowered, and vehicles drove in. Once inside, the road surface had been repaired and leveled.

This place was originally a military settlement, which was later sold to a private research institute. After the institute's project was terminated, it was expanded into a colony town. However, in recent years, as the number of mutated creatures in the surrounding area has gradually increased, all the residents have moved away, and it has now become the base of the Blood Staff Mercenary Group.

The vehicle stopped in front of the tallest reinforced concrete building in the town center. A henchman got in, opened the door, and Blood Staff got out of the car with his back to the setting sun.

He wore a black collared coat and a red tie, and held a blood-red cane in his hand. Combined with his expressionless face, he appeared cold and stern.

"Boss." Brother Xuan came out to greet them with a group of people, and the people behind him all called him leader.

Blood Staff glanced at them, nodded, and walked inside, with everyone immediately following.

Upon entering the hall, an emblem with a silver background and a long, blood-dripping staff was printed on it, and the voice of the active consciousness rang out: "Mr. Blood Staff, welcome back."

The Blood Staff Mercenary Group is now the most famous and powerful mercenary group in the entire West Coast.

Blood Staff is undoubtedly the key figure among them. As the Great Collision approaches, the mutated purple energy tissue within his body can continuously absorb energy from it. With this continuous support, he reached the level of a Secret Temple Fighter some time ago.

Such fighters are not easily overlooked even by the Federal Strategic Affairs Department and the Secret Operations Agency.

The Federation is currently focused on combating the Great Crash, so the Throne Fighters cannot possibly show their faces outside. Instead of targeting powerful fighters who are out in the open, the Federation will try to recruit them.

As long as Blood Staff doesn't cause widespread destruction and his main activities are within the Mergeland, no one will bother him. Instead, they'll want to build a good relationship with him and ask him to handle some tricky problems. Especially now, he handles more official requests than civilian ones.

This is why the mercenary group has been living a very comfortable life lately. If there are any problems, they only need to use the name of Blood Staff to go and make a statement, without having to actually fight anyone.

They currently have over a dozen mercenary squads affiliated with them, constantly supplying them with tribute. Blood Staff only intervenes when they encounter tough opponents or powerful mutated creatures appearing in the fusion territory.

After Blood Staff entered the living room, he tossed a storage sheath to one of his men. It contained the records of the incident and was to be handed over to the Secret Operations Department. He then sat down on the large sofa.

The subordinate took it and said, "Boss, I'll urge them to send the final payment as soon as possible."

A bald woman walked in through a side door. She walked quickly. "Boss, the people from the Strategic Affairs Department sent a package yesterday. They said it's very important. Please open it yourself, boss."

Xuan Ge cursed and said, "These damn federal government bastards never give us a moment's peace. The boss just finished cleaning up their mess and they're already giving us more work."

The bald woman retorted sarcastically, "Why didn't you complain when you were being paid?"

"Damn it, didn't he give too much?"

The bald woman ignored him and looked at the blood staff instead. "Boss, this matter seems to be really complicated. Even the person in charge named Diack has shown up?"

Xuan Ge was taken aback. "The one who was supposed to be promoted to vice minister?"

Blood Staff took the package and opened it. Inside was a gift box with a golden tiered emblem on it and a disc-shaped field information storage card next to it.

Xuan Ge read the fancy lettering on the gift box: "Ascending...platform...stairs? What the heck?"

The bald woman frowned as she looked at the object.

Blood Staff tapped the handrail beside him with his cane, and a card slot immediately slid out. He inserted the memory card into it.

The screen in the hall flickered, showing the upper body of a man dressed in an old-fashioned suit, without any implants, wearing glasses, and with his hair neatly combed.

"Mr. Blood Staff, hello. You must have seen that invitation, right? This is an invitation from the Ascending Ladder organization that we obtained for you."

Let me briefly explain: this organization has been recruiting elite members from the human world, including not only famous people but also capable individuals like yourself.

Purpose? Ha, with your connections, you should also know about the impending cataclysmic changes in the world, so they plan to evacuate in advance. This invitation is the ark ticket to arrive there before the 'world is destroyed,' but it's not unconditional.

Well, I won't say anything more. I have a separate document saved for you to look at later. Now, let's get straight to the point.

This time, we need you to deal with a key figure in the Federation. He's a fighter who secretly left the Federation two weeks ago under the guise of official business. We discovered he was at the Ascending Ladder banquet. He possesses a large amount of Federation secrets. We need you to go and take care of him. How you do it is up to you, just make sure it's done cleanly.

That's how it works. If you agree, contact me, and the spiritual resources you've been searching for can also be provided to you by the government, along with a substantial commission.

As I said before, if you satisfy us, we can provide you with anything you need.

Okay, the field information will be automatically deleted in two minutes. That's all for now.

The screen flickered, became blurry, and then turned off.

Blood Staff pulled out the disc-shaped card, flipped it over, and put it back in. This time, it contained detailed information about the ascending stairs, the target's identity, and a general introduction to the destination, the Cloud Peak Hotel. After reviewing this, he opened the gift box, which contained an invitation.

This is the real thing; theoretically, with this, he can join the upward ladder.

The bald woman said with a serious expression, "Boss, this job is not simple."

She had just seen the data showing that most of those going there were high-ranking officials from various countries and large corporations from consortia, so the Cloud Peak Hotel likely had Throne Fighters.

Xuan said, "Boss, what should we do? I'll listen to you."

Blood Staff looked up and said, "I'll go take a look. I'm all alone."

One of the underlings said, "Boss, I'll go with you. You'll have someone to carry your bag, right?"

Blood Staff glanced at him and agreed. He then instructed the bald woman to contact the other side, asking them to transfer the advance payment and send over a batch of the cultivation resources he needed.

The bald woman turned and left. After a while, she turned back and said, "Boss, I've contacted them. They said they'll send an airship to pick you up immediately, and they'll bring your things too. Boss, it seems they're really in a hurry."

Blood Staff said, "I'll set off once they arrive. You'll still be in charge of the camp."

"Yes, boss."

Two hours later, an airship arrived near the base, and Blood Staff, carrying all the equipment, left the base.

As he walked out of the fusion zone, the fusion zone branch of the Strategic Affairs Department simultaneously received a telegram.

The person in charge, Diack, instructed his subordinates: "Do everything possible to meet any requests he may have along the way."

The subordinate responded.

"Sir, your call is to secret line number two."

Diack immediately went over and picked it up, saying, "I am Diack."

A serious voice came through the phone: "Is the Blood Staff you chose reliable? Will he join them directly?"
Those mercenaries have no bottom line; if we do that, we're just supplying bullets to those beings outside.

Diack said, "I've seen Blood Staff's past records. He's not a man without principles; mercenaries like him are very rare in the Federation. And as a fighter, I believe his principles won't be easily changed."

Moreover, time is of the essence, and we no longer have suitable candidates.

"Report," the subordinate said from the side, "Sir, there is an abnormal reaction in number thirty-five."

"It looks like these things are starting to recover," Diack said. "We have something to do."

Inside the World Ring, in the void, in a field resembling white mist, Chen Chuan opened his eyes.

A flash of light, like lightning, passed by, and purple energy emanated from his body as if it were burning.

At this moment, he finally raised his cultivation to its peak, seemingly due to the blessing of those fused substances, which was a little earlier than he had expected.

At this moment, he could feel that the barrier around him had become thinner, as if it could be broken with the slightest effort. However, having made so many preparations beforehand, he naturally would not take this obviously inferior path.

So next, it's time to overlap with the second me.

Thanks to the previous battles, the second self is only a step away from the current self. However, he had to restrain himself during his cultivation. Now he only needs to relax a little to allow it to rise and merge with his current self.

Once this step is taken, all preparations for breaking through to the upper levels will be almost complete.

He closed his eyes again, sensing the changes in the two worlds beyond the heavens. This method of self-improvement was extremely efficient.

In just half a day, I reached the stage of being on par with myself, and under his will, the power accumulated within me instantly entered his body and merged with him.

At that moment, the purple mist around him surged and rolled outwards, and the white-gold spiritual light and fire spread instantly, making him almost a black dot in the ball of light.

He was already on the verge of breaking through his own limits, but now his power has almost doubled, so that barrier has become extremely fragile, as if it is about to collapse.

He knew he had to control this power, otherwise, if he exerted too much force, he might break through the limits. But this process was obviously not easy, and he had to carefully restrain himself little by little.

At that moment, he suddenly realized that the fusion substance he had absorbed earlier had started to move, and he quickly felt that he could easily subdue the power under its influence.

……

……

(End of this chapter)