Ark Chess Player.

Severely injured, Sharp lay on the ground, his goggles half-broken, revealing a weathered, lifeless look in his eyes.

Sharp's injuries weren't from an assassination attempt, but rather from the ripples of Pith's furious, indiscriminate bombardment. It's like—fuck you, you're shooting friendly fire! You idiots! You hit friendly fire during a ceasefire, I almost lost my life! Watch out for friendly rockets!

He was used to it, and he didn't even prepare any magic resistance equipment because it wasn't necessary.

Pith's spells possess the power to break spells, which is both her talent and her strength.

"Still alive, aren't you? You silent devil."

Pith poked Sharp's cheek and casually tugged at his beard.

The two fought together against the assassins, one of whom died at Sharp's hands, while the remaining three were blasted into pieces by Pith's magic.

Sharp hesitated, sensing that if he spoke, the other party would get angry and unleash a spell in a fit of rage. But if he remained silent, the other party would still get angry and cast a spell, though perhaps not as violently...

Sharp thought it over carefully. Since he was going to die anyway, he might as well speak up. At least he could teach his former comrade's sister how to survive in this cruel world. For elite operators, dealing with suicide soldiers like today was just a routine task.

If Sharp were to pass away prematurely, he would hope to fulfill his friend's request.

Sharp made up his mind and said seriously, "Pith, listen to me."

"You say it, you say it."

Pith smiled and stood his staff upright, giving off an urge that seemed to say, "If you dare say another word, I'll bury you right here."

Sharp fell silent. He thought for a moment and concluded that the most important thing in life is to follow one's heart. If he left a will entrusting his comrade's sister to someone else, he wouldn't be able to rest in peace on his journey to the afterlife if something happened to her. Since that was the case, he might as well live well and teach her.

That's right, it's not out of fear, it's for her own good.

It was definitely not because he was worried about being bombarded by magic and thus chose to retreat strategically.

A self-deceiving, self-satisfied smile appeared on Sharp's dark face, a look of complete understanding and no regrets.

The next moment, a white light descended from the sky and shone on him.

A surge of heat enveloped him, and under the warm glow of Originium Arts, his injuries healed at an incredible speed.

Sharp, who was used to being harmed by Pith's spells, even felt uncomfortable experiencing the healing spell. It was like a henpecked middle-aged man who had been bullied by his wife for half his life suddenly being treated gently, experiencing a strong sense of unreality.

A tear streamed down the tough guy's cheek. He muttered involuntarily, "You're always slacking off and doing nothing. Look, even Touch, who only knows how to sleep, has improved more than you. Can't you learn from her... Okay, even if you learn to sleep in, it won't help. She got promoted while sleeping, and what about you? What about you?"

"You'd better shut up!"

Pith raised his staff, and the condensed spell crashed down.

Before Sharp could even climb out of the pit, he was blasted back by Originium Arts.

Pith gritted his teeth and said, "That dormouse wouldn't use such an advanced Originium Arts technique! It's impossible! I don't believe it, I don't believe it, I don't believe it!"

Enraged, she struck her staff three times, unleashing wave after wave of magical light upon Sharp, nearly burying him in the ground.

Sharp lay on the ground, weakly extending his left hand, his index finger pointing forward, his face serene.

Don't stop...

Keep the healing spells going!!

— Ninth floor of the building.

Lin Lu frowned. He had clearly cast Originium Arts on everyone simultaneously, even Kal'tsit upstairs. However, in the data-driven Spirit Realm display, the Guardian Operator Sharp's health bar fluctuated wildly. If it weren't for the amplification effect of several consecutive healing spells, even the arrival of Netherworld Soul Chaser Susuro would have been useless.

After several minutes, Lin Lu confirmed that Sharp had been pulled back from the brink of death before he stopped the continuous supply of Originium energy and ended the spell.

"Will you dare to act so recklessly again?"

Lin Lu raised his staff and struck ACE on the head.

The knock startled Touch so much that his legs went weak and he almost collapsed to the ground.

My, my staff!

Hitting those rocks will break your head!!!

"No, no."

ACE gave a goofy smile, his beard was singed and messy, making him look like a silly old man.

"What's your relationship with that person? Is it really necessary?" Lin Lu squatted down, picked up the tower shield, and stuffed it into ACE's arms. "Don't forget the original purpose of the battle. You are the captain of the elite operators. Your shield is for protecting them, not for throwing away."

ACE took the tower shield, obediently nodded to receive the instruction, but remained silent.

Lin Lu didn't intend to pursue the matter further. If ACE didn't say anything, he wouldn't press the issue. However, he did remain cautious, considering the way that old assassin had looked at him earlier... as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Here you go." Lin Lu handed the staff back to Touch with both hands, thanking him. "Don't worry, it's perfectly intact."

Touch resisted the urge to grab it and obediently took it back with both hands.

Although she was a bit mischievous, she at least knew that the person in front of her was Dr. Kal'tsit's beloved lover. If she offended the Doctor, she might not have a good time in the future. Thinking of this, a wronged look appeared on her face, and she tenderly rubbed her cheek against the staff. The more she rubbed, the more she realized something was wrong. The staff seemed to have become much more intimate with her. Just rubbing her cheek against it, she could feel the Originium Arts gathering power. The obstacles that used to exist when casting spells had disappeared, as if it had been blessed.

Touch pondered for a moment and made a difficult decision.

She tilted her head back and asked cautiously, "Doctor, would you like to touch it again?"

Unexpectedly, the doctor retorted angrily, "I, Lin, have always been a model of dedication, how could I possibly touch you!"

After saying that, he turned around and hugged Mon3tr, sucking on him wildly, his long, silver hair flowing smoothly over Mon3tr's dark green body.

Lin Lu was like a cat lover in a cat cafe, indulging in petting the cats. *Squeak! Squeak!* The Originium scent emanating from Mon3tr brought a minty coolness to Lin Lu's weary mind, washing away his long-suppressed fatigue. Mon3tr's tough, sharp Originium body would subconsciously soften when dealing with its own people, like a hedgehog, its sharp needles always pointed at enemies, never at friends.

"Sojiro..."

Lin Lu blurted it out involuntarily, even he himself couldn't understand the meaning of the name, perhaps it came from a past he had lost his memory of. When he nestled in Mon3tr's arms, he couldn't help but think of this name.

"It's decided, from now on I'll call you Sojiro."

Lin Lu raised his head, and Mon3tr's fierce, triangular face was right in front of him, its emerald green eyes staring straight at him.

It snatched Lin Lu's coat, scooped him up with its four arms, and flew excitedly to Kal'tsit, as if showing off.

As for whether Mon3tr is showing off his new name or his close relationship with Lin Lu, that depends on how Kal'tsit interprets it.

Kal'tsit quietly looked at Lin Lu lying in Mon3tr's arms, coughing softly to conceal her subtle emotions.

"……well done."

"We have successfully completed our mission; it's all thanks to the excellent work of the operators."

Lin Lu smiled and said that he had only done a trivial little thing.

Moreover, this matter is not over yet.

"Aren't you going to ask me what I've been up to these past two days?" Lin Lu said with a smile.

“Rhodes Island will not interfere in the private affairs of its employees, especially those on paid leave,” Kal'tsit said calmly, her arms crossed and her eyebrows slightly raised. “However, we have always been concerned about the well-being of our employees, especially those receiving compensation for workplace injuries. If you wish to report this, that is not impossible.”

"I see. Let's talk about it another time then."

"...Whatever you want!"

Kal'tsit waved her hand unhappily, and Mon3tr reluctantly placed Lin Lu on the ground and returned to Kal'tsit's spine.

Lin Lu shifted his gaze from the ore on Kal'tsit's shoulder and turned to look at the floor-to-ceiling window. The digitized spirit domain showed that the Lungmen Guard Bureau had finally come out to clean up the mess.

“There are currently two police superintendents in charge of the inner ring of Lungmen. If it’s Superintendent Swire, then there’s still room for negotiation,” Lin Lu said to Kal’tsit, while lifting his helmet to cover his face. “If it’s someone else, contact Amiya to return to the Rhodes Island main ship. We’ll break off negotiations with Lungmen and prepare for the assault.”

"Where are you going?" Kal'tsit asked.

"As Rhodes Island's tactical commander, there is only one place I need to go."

Cobalt blue ghostly flames emerged from the deep shadows beneath the hooded helmet, flickering in the darkness.

"I'm going to give Wei Yanwu a lesson, to make him understand..."

"You've crossed the line."

Chapter 254 Is there anyone under the table?

The outer ring of Longmen, at the edge of the slums.

The headquarters of Longmen Silverwing Private Security Consulting Company is located here.

As a security contractor, Lungmen Silverwing may not be as well-known in Terra as Blacksteel International, but in the mobile city of Lungmen, Silverwing is responsible for the security of about one-third of the wealthy businessmen.

A third may not seem like much, but wealthy individuals are unlikely to pool all their security resources on one platform, meaning Bladewing has already secured the most reliable security. Once this balance is lost, the most reliable security...

Silverwing Company has gained the recognition of wealthy individuals due to its high success rate and high-risk work ethic.

Besides routine security work, Silverwing Security Contractors undertake a wide variety of other contracts. If necessary, they can even handle matters that violate Lungmen law, and their prices are similar to those of the Bounty Hunter Guild. They are honest and fair, and value long-term partnerships.

Compared to loose bounty hunters, private armed contractors like Silverwing, who are organized and group-based, are more favored.

But their good days are over.

In his top-floor office at the Silver Wing, Wenger stared at the monitor with a somber expression.

On the huge screen, the heart rate graphs displaying the mercenaries' vital signs turned into straight red lines, and dense annotations of death tags appeared above the dispatch team's personnel data chart. Even if they had encountered sorcerers from the Yan Kingdom's Observatory, they wouldn't have ended up in such a miserable state.

Wenger's thick, dark eyebrows were deeply furrowed, and his dark eyes seemed to hold a storm brewing within them.

As expected, making a deal with the devil comes at a price.

Not only were the Silverwing Security Contractors' teams sent to the Lungmen slums to hunt down the sons of the wealthy wiped out, but even the suicide squads sent to the Rhodes Island Pharmaceutical Building for extermination operations were all wiped out.

The only person still showing signs of life was Ug, his damned cousin, who had somehow been captured by the stupid cat superintendent of the Guard Bureau.

This is utterly shameful, truly shameful. I never imagined that a pampered young lady police superintendent, still in her adolescence, would one day catch a thief. This alone is enough to send Silverwing Company's years of hard-earned reputation plummeting into the abyss, leaving them utterly humiliated.

"We've fought against the Skeleton Mercenary Group of Ursus!"

"Your people have been arrested by Swire and taken to the station."

“We once rescued our mission target from an attack by high-energy stone worms, and the target was completely unharmed.”

"Your people have been arrested by Swire and taken to the station."

"We're evenly matched with the Imperial Censor of Yan!"

"Your people have been arrested by Swire and taken to the station."

"Fuck your mother, can't you change the subject?!"

"Your mercenaries are all dead. You can't even beat a pharmaceutical company. What kind of security contractor are you? Go back to your hometown and farm."

"..."

"Your people have been arrested by Swire and taken to the station."

That's roughly the idea.

A knock sounded on the door. Wenger let out a long sigh, closed the information on the screen with a heavy heart, and replied, "Come in."

A handsome man in a sharp suit entered the office, still knocking, his hawk-like gaze sweeping around. Finding no one around, he approached Wenger and slammed his fist on the desk.

Is anyone under the table?

The man asked with a smile, but when he saw the ferocity in Wenger's eyes, he wisely waved his hand.

"A time management master like you, not spending this time with a few young and beautiful secretaries, could it be that something's wrong?" the man sneered.

Wenger gave a heavy snort: "No comment."

"Is that so?" The man in the suit straightened his red tie and said calmly, "It seems something really has happened. That good-for-nothing Charlott hasn't replied to us at all. He can't even handle this small matter. It was the right decision to kick him out of the Guard Bureau. I just didn't expect that the famous Silverwing would also fall from grace."

Wenger said calmly, "Did you come all this way just to make sarcastic remarks? If there's nothing else, please leave. I won't see you out."

"I am one of the representatives of this partner, and it is my duty to supervise the progress of the work." The handsome man's eyes were filled with a hint of amusement. He maintained an arrogant attitude from beginning to end. As the client, he certainly had the right to do so.

Wenger fell silent; he suddenly felt an urge to break the contract.

A strong urge compelled him to slam the other man's handsome, almost sinister face onto the table and rub it against him, but he lacked the ability to do so.

Wenger sighed inwardly, regretting that he shouldn't have been so greedy and taken on this terrible job.

Thirty million Lungmen coins.

The reward for this mission is a whopping 30 million LMD. Screw 30 million LMD.

If it weren't for the damned Reunion infected attacking Lungmen, causing panic among many wealthy people who collectively left the city and canceled a large number of Silverwing's orders... coupled with the stock market crash, which caused Wenger to lose the money he had invested in the stock market, he wouldn't have done this.

All the words can be summed up in one word: greed.

The handsome man saw that the other party was about to back down, and couldn't help but show a satisfied smile. He pressed his advantage and said, "The guests have been here for a quarter of an hour, and you have no manners at all. Is this how you treat your guests?"

"...What would you like to drink?"

Wenger suppressed his anger and took the initiative to appease the client.