Chapter 1 The Sniping

The captured prisoner was assassinated, and the Green Street gang returned to their district with their tails between their legs.

In a basement not far from the Black Forest headquarters, a young man was wiping down his beloved sniper rifle.

Just a few minutes prior, he had used this very firearm to snipe a very important prisoner of the gang.

Then, because of his identity, he easily shook off the suspicion of the gang members and returned to this basement.

But he didn't run away, as if waiting for something.

Before long, a man in a cloak silently walked in.

The young man seemed to have expected it, didn't turn around, and continued to focus on wiping the sniper rifle in his hands.

The cloaked man asked, "Did you get rid of him?"

"Yeah."

The young man nodded.

Then, as if thinking of something, his expression darkened, "Old Captain, this is the last thing I promised you. I won't do it again."

"Yeah."

The cloaked man didn't seem to care at all. He was there to silence him.

Just then, the young man seemed to have guessed something, and a complex bitter smile hung on his lips.

He put down the rag in his hand, his eyes glistening, and took one last look at the cloaked man, saying, "Old Captain, I owed you, and I've paid it back."

Hearing this, the cloaked man's eyes narrowed slightly, and he paused for a moment, "You don't want to try to escape?"

The young man smiled and shook his head, "My life was once saved by you, Old Captain. By helping you do this, I was mentally prepared. If you don't kill me, I'll have no face to stay in the gang."

"Do you have any last words?"

"No. I have no family, so if I die, I die. No one will care. I won't cause you any trouble, Captain."

"..."

Hearing the young man's last words, something seemed to touch the cloaked man's heart, but he still didn't hesitate to strike.

He looked at the body, and in those cold eyes, there was finally a trace of tremor.

The captured prisoner had to die.

But he also knew that this was the chairman's test. At that time, whoever went to kill would definitely be the mole.

Therefore, an intermediary who wouldn't be suspected was needed.

If it weren't for this desperate situation, he wouldn't have been willing to kill the old teammate he had personally trained.

...

Before long, Suren and Kai and the others returned to Green Street.

Back on familiar ground, the gang members' depressed mood quickly dissipated. With a hundred thousand in their hands, the next period of time would be their carnival.

The convoy still gathered in the alley, ammunition was stored, battle damage was counted, damaged motorcycles were sent to the repair shop, and the seriously wounded were sent to the hospital...

Everyone was familiar with the procedures of gang fights.

Soon, the chores were all taken care of.

Captain Kai was still a little depressed, and said to everyone, "Alright, everyone go do what you need to do..."

Sam and the other veterans couldn't wait any longer, winking and saying, "Captain, we're going then?"

Kai nodded, "Yeah, don't play too hard, and remember to gather on time for patrol tomorrow."

"Got it!"

The veterans scattered excitedly.

Suren originally wanted to leave with the crowd, but Kai stopped him.

"You performed very well in this operation."

Kai praised Suren's performance and said bluntly, "Your marksmanship is good. If you have the mind to become an advanced Professionist, practice hard on weekdays. If you meet the requirements for advancement, I will mention it to the executives, and the gang will also have some resource inclination."

"Okay, thank you, Captain."

Suren nodded.

However, he didn't place his hopes on the gang to become a Professionist, nor did he want to be a "gang upstart."

He already had the advancement materials for the "Puppet Master." Selling the spoils of war from killing Baldy and the others would probably be enough for now. He planned to develop secretly, and he didn't plan to show his face until he had the power to protect himself.

Kai was probably still bothered by the prisoner's assassination and didn't have much interest in chatting.

"If you have any questions about Extraordinary advancement in the future, or if you encounter any difficulties, just tell me."

After a pause, he forced a smile on his face and said, "Everyone worked hard on this mission. If there's nothing else, Suren, you can go relax too..."

"Okay."

Suren didn't say much.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly thought of something and asked, "By the way, Captain. I have a question for you."

Kai raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

Suren pretended to hesitate for a moment before asking, "I saw that the Angel Boss's alchemical wings were very powerful before, and I wanted to ask... if I have the opportunity to advance to a Professionist in the future, is it possible to get that implant blueprint?"

This was a question he had wanted to ask before. The wing implant was the most satisfactory implant he had seen so far, capable of flying and fighting. The key was that he felt that compared to implants like the [Diamond Scale Armor] or [Golden Humerus], which were more focused on increasing defense, these wings were more in line with his career plan.

"Haha, you think that implant is cool too, right?"

Hearing this, Kai's eyes suddenly lit up.

He smiled and said, "I used to want the Angel Boss's [Thousand Killing Wings] implant too. I thought it would be super cool to be able to fly and use the wings as throwing knives..."

It was as if everyone had a naive dream in childhood, but it became unattainable when they grew up.

Kai looked at Suren, seemingly finding common ground.

But suddenly, he changed the subject and said, "But after I became qualified to be a Professionist, I realized that it was impossible."

Suren frowned, puzzled, "Impossible?"

Kai seemed to realize that Suren had misunderstood and explained, "In the gang, as long as you have a certain amount of contribution, you can buy any implant blueprint in the gang's warehouse at a price lower than the market price. Even the alchemical blueprints of the executives and the chairman can be bought!"

Suren listened without rushing to speak.

This was also the situation he had learned about before. As long as you joined the gang and made a little contribution, you could spend money to buy implant blueprints.

This was one of the benefits of joining the gang.

That's why he asked that question just now, and wondered why Kai said "impossible."

Kai smiled and explained, "You should know that Professionists refining alchemical implants isn't without conditions, but requires a certain amount of 'containment value'. The Angel Boss's implant has strong curse characteristics and requires a very high containment value for the body."

"Containment value?"

A strange word popped up in Suren's mind. He really didn't know about this.

Hearing this, he realized that the containment value ≈ dark spirit power value + rank.

Kai continued, "For ordinary people like us, reaching the full dark spirit power value through breathing meditation is probably around seven or eight hundred points. If you have advanced breathing methods, this limit may be higher."

After a pause, he showed a bitter smile on his face and said, "The Angel Boss's [Thousand Killing Wings] is a 'Silver Grade' implant, which requires extremely high values. To fully contain it in the body, you need at least nine hundred to a thousand points to ensure that you won't be mutated by the implant's curse characteristics!"

"Oh?"

Suren understood.

So the quality concept of "Black Iron" and "Silver" for implants was this difference. The higher the grade of the implant, the stronger the body's ability to withstand it to ensure that it would not mutate.

However, as soon as he heard that the Silver implant [Thousand Killing Wings] required a thousand points of dark spirit power to ensure no mutation, Suren's thoughts became a little strange.

He looked at the data panel, and his dark spirit power, which had increased to the limit value of "1157," twitched, and he sighed in his heart: "The [Hegm Breathing Method] that the original owner learned seems to be of a rather high grade..."

Ordinary people's first-order dark spirit power fullness is seven or eight hundred, and very powerful executives are only a thousand. He was now almost twelve hundred.

Moreover, it felt like it was barely full, not reaching the limit.

This was enough to show that either the difference in breathing methods was too great, or the original owner was exceptionally talented.

Before Suren could think more, Kai said, "So, you should understand why I said 'impossible,' right? It's not that you can't get the blueprint, but even if you get it, you can't use it. The Angel Boss spends years hunting in the wilderness outside the city, so he has such a high dark spirit power value because he stays in such a high-mutation environment for a long time..."

Staying in a high-mutation environment for a long time can indeed improve the body's tolerance to dark spirit power. However, that method is more likely to cause "mutation" rather than increase strength.

"Oh."

Suren nodded thoughtfully, but he was thinking about something else.

In other words, his physical condition could actually choose better than a Silver implant?

At this time, Kai thought of how he had once said that he wanted the [Thousand Killing Wings] and was reprimanded by the Smoker Boss until he was covered in dirt.

He smiled bitterly, and also learned that set of rhetoric, and said, "Alchemical implants should first fit your own talent ability, and secondly your profession... In fact, the [Thousand Killing Wings] isn't very suitable for the gunman profession, but more suitable for assassins and rangers. I think you can look for blueprints that enhance vision and skills, such as the [Titanium Alloy Eye], which is very strong in the gunman system on the market, or the [Nimble Hand Bones]..."

"Ordinary implant blueprints cost two or three thousand dollars. Now that you've been paid a bonus, you can pay attention to them first. Blueprints are something that you can only find by chance, so you must buy them when you find the right one."

"If you are not satisfied with the internal blueprints of the gang, you can also go to 'Shadow Alley' in the North City. You can occasionally find good things on the black market..."

"Oh, you haven't tested your dark spirit power value yet? When you feel it's necessary, I'll take you to headquarters. There are testing instruments there that can let you accurately grasp your situation..."

Suren listened to Kai's nagging like a grandma and smiled, "Okay."