Night Journey

Chapter 139 Nightmare Night
High-ranking officials beheaded... a complete extermination...

After hearing Dekar's words, everyone fell into a deathly silence. After a full half minute, hushed whispers began to rise, and then escalated into a heated argument.

"A decapitation strike? When did it start?!"

"So... does that mean we're going to uproot the evil claws tonight?"

"This is too sudden and too fast."

The intelligence that Decal had released was truly terrifying, like a depth charge that shattered the calm surface of the water and created waves several meters high.

Some were delighted, some were apprehensive, and others were surprised and delighted by the City Council's hidden strength.

Cillian remained silent, his gaze fixed on the ground. This series of unexpected events had shattered his original plans and left his thoughts in utter chaos.

Is this how it's going to end?

Cillian muttered to himself.

In any case, he could not have imagined that the revenge against the Claw would end in this way. What he could not have imagined even more was that the seemingly bloated and sluggish city council could be so efficient.

"Okay, be quiet."

Dekar began to maintain order, "I have distributed the specific details of the operation to all the team leaders. Please act according to the instructions and make sure to end all the conflict tonight."

Cillian turned to look at Dalin. He seemed a little calmer than the others, but only a little. He probably knew the truth about half an hour earlier than an ordinary employee like Cillian.

"So……"

Dekar tapped the armrest lightly, his calm gaze sweeping over the crowd.

"Let's get started."

……

After the curfew, the city of Hull was quiet, but this quiet was not peace; rather, it was like a bowstring stretched to its limit, or the breath held back before a beast pounces.

Suddenly, the tranquility shattered.

A deep, rumbling engine roared from the depths of the city, and from the shadows of each block, streams of iron silently surged forth.

The city guards mobilized their elite forces, stepping onto the empty streets. Their heavy boots crushed the puddles, the sound unusually clear and jarring in the deathly silence.

There were no slogans, no mobilization, only the same cold breathing.

In a certain instant, slaughter suddenly descended.

"boom!"

A muffled bang suddenly erupted from the old alleyway in the southeast direction, and was immediately silenced by a silencer. Further away, the roar of shotguns and the howls of some kind of chilling, inhuman creatures echoed from the industrial area.

"Fire! Fire!"

The employees were shouting.

The howl was like rusty iron scraping against bone, while the muzzle flash briefly tore an orange-red gash in the thick fog and darkness, illuminating the splattering dark liquid and the contorted outlines of limbs.

The shrill whistle of the chainsaw suddenly rang out, accompanied by the terrifying noise of metal scraping against bone or carapace, then abruptly stopped, leaving a chilling void that made all who heard it imagine what terrible things had happened in the darkness.

A flamethrower spewed out a ferocious dragon's breath at a street corner, the golden-red flames briefly dispelling a small patch of darkness and illuminating the frantically dodging, indescribable, twisted shadows, as well as the huge, charred claw marks on the wall.

The sounds of shattering glass, the muffled thuds of collapsing walls, and short, desperate screams... all sorts of chaotic and fragmented sounds of gunfire came from all directions, like gangrene erupting and spreading within the city.

"With this kind of situation, anyone who doesn't know better would think there's a civil war in Hel City."

Dalin stood on the high wall, looking down over the city of Hull. Flames were burning everywhere, and sirens wailed incessantly.

"More than these things, I'm concerned about what exactly this so-called decapitation operation is all about."

Cillian stepped out of the shadows beside him, puzzled. "Without any warning, all the high-ranking members of the Claw Clan are dead? When did the City Council become so efficient?"

"Maybe... we're just nobody."

Dai Lin imagined, "Why would they notify us in advance of such a big operation?"

Whether it's Cillian or Daelin, in the end, they are merely second-rank beings. They may be considered skilled among the lower ranks, but from the perspective of the entire city-state, they are just one of the many.

Cillian shook his head. "Maybe it's going too smoothly, it's making me a little uneasy."

In the past, the Reverse Falcon used absolute violence to cleanse the city of Hull of its filth. Now, Dekar has completed the reckoning with the Claws through a mysterious decapitation operation.

"Don't overthink it, we haven't finished the work we were assigned yet."

The vast majority of the tasks assigned by Decal were raids, targeting and eliminating the hideouts of the various Claws, leaving no Chaos Follower or Evil Offspring unpunished.

The endless sounds of fighting in the city of Hel are from this, and it's unknown whether the citizens can sleep peacefully or are plagued by nightmares.

"Damn it, other people just kill someone and that's it," Dai Lin complained. "But here, we have to go through all this troublesome investigation."

“You can think of this as the director’s assessment of you. If you perform well, you might get a promotion,” Anya said, patting his shoulder as she reminded him.

"Stop complaining, time is of the essence."

Daelin nodded, then exchanged a glance with Cillian beside him.

The three of them got ready and walked to one side.

At the confluence of the high walls and the river, a fortress, like a deformed tumor, grows rampantly on the high walls.

Like a rusty wedge, it is deeply driven into the steep riverbank. Relying on the original giant rock base, it stands with riveted armored trapezoidal towers, which are connected by rough trestle bridges, forming a steel honeycomb spanning the waterway.

Its core consists of several massive, breathtaking sluice gates, constructed from multiple layers of thick, riveted steel beams and armor. When closed, they resemble tombstones sunk into the riverbed, effectively sealing off the waterway.

Deep within the fortress, roaring machinery is hidden, driving the gates up and down via drive shafts and robust hydraulic pistons. The tower top platform is densely covered with gun muzzles and searchlights, while firing ports and defensive towers guard all sides.

"Watergate Fortress..."

Cirien looked up at the enormous thing.

This fortress is the location of the water gate system, responsible for controlling the lifeline of Hull City—the waterway.

Tonight, Dailin's team's mission is to wipe out the Claw members lurking within the Watergate system.

Decal had made all the necessary arrangements in advance, and the relevant personnel allowed Cirion to pass through layers of gates without any hindrance, arriving deep inside the fortress.

Stepping inside the fortress is like falling into the cavity of a steel behemoth.

The machine's low growls and vibrations continued incessantly, the massive turbines and units like burning stomachs, driving heavy drive shafts and causing the entire steel frame to tremble.

Cillian frowned. The heavy smell of engine oil, rust, river water, and burnt metal mingled in the buzzing air.

It's hard to imagine how the artisans got used to such a working environment.

"What should we do next? Find the person on the list and kill him?"

"Don't be so impulsive. This is the territory of the spirit craftsmen. We need to be more restrained."

Dalin shook his head. "Director DeKarl does not want this operation to be misunderstood as a pretext to retaliate against Chief of Staff Rolf's faction under the guise of eliminating the Claws."

Ciri remained silent, only gripping the hilt of his sword tightly.

The deep main passageway was submerged by tangled pipes and cable bundles, and water droplets condensed on the cold riveted armored walls, extending into narrow maintenance channels like blood vessels.

Soon, they met a spirit craftsman who led them through the central control room, where the blue and scarlet instrument panels flickered, reflecting the operators' tired faces.

What happened tonight?

Although the Spirit Craftsman resided deep within the Watergate Fortress, he also sensed the unusualness of tonight.

A sudden curfew, gunshots rang out everywhere, and Cillian and his group of uninvited guests arrived unexpectedly.

Due to the conflict between Indecal and Rolf, as well as the many unresolved issues in Hel, the City Guard and the Watergate Fortress are two completely independent systems that rarely interfere with each other.

"Sorry, no comment."

Daelin coldly rejected the spirit craftsman's question, and then presented the resolution from the city-state council.

No matter how intense the conflict between the two factions may be, they are still members of the city of Hel and loyal to the city council. No matter how intense the differences are, they must never turn into betrayal of the city of Hel.

The craftsman found Rolf's signature on the copied document of decision.

Since Chief of Staff Rolf had already agreed to tonight's operation, he had nothing more to say and could only cooperate with Cillian and the others.

"You're looking for Darren. According to the schedule, he's on duty on the lower level."

The spirit craftsman thought for a moment, then asked with slight unease, "Do you need our assistance?"

"No need for that for now, that's the job of the City Sanitation Bureau."

Dalin declined the spirit craftsman's offer and went to the dark elevator.

The spirit craftsman remained silent for a moment before speaking, "If we cannot handle this properly, I would like to ask everyone to try to minimize the damage."

he reminded.

"The water gate system is a crucial hub in Hull City."

Dai Lin nodded, and the three of them stepped into the elevator and descended towards the surging water.

Meanwhile, the sounds of fighting could be heard intermittently within the city of Hel.

De Karl, in his high position, fantasized that his ideals were gradually becoming a reality.

(End of this chapter)