This is really not mechanical ascension

Boom!

Outside the house, a fierce wind and sudden downpour, the heavy velvet curtains were blown up, raindrops pattered noisily against the windowsill, and Zhang Hu's expression was as dark as the leaden clouds in the sky.

He sat in the dim corner of the room, the reflection from the smart terminal in his hand made the scars on his face all the more terrifying.

"How's the investigation going?" he asked through the darknet, communicating with someone whose avatar was a seductive red rose.

"The kid's information is mundane, nothing significant unearthed, the only thing worth noting is his connection with Yang Peng. Why do you care about him so much?"

"Are you sure there's no problem?" Zhang Hu persistently inquired, still not satisfied.

"You doubt my intelligence capabilities?" the other party said, discontent:

"I even found that kid's preschool teacher in the Leaf Star District of Silver Grey City—it took quite an effort to jog his memory, he's been timid since childhood."

"He's just a lucky fella who found a loophole. Indeed, the city guards' logistics department didn't find that mechanical tiger claw after cleaning up the battlefield; it must have been taken away by someone."

"Check your own people properly. Also, remember to settle the account, yo."

Bang!

"Damn woman!"

Zhang Hu slammed the smart terminal onto the table, his brooding face impenetrable, all the recent events laid out before his eyes.

It felt like a thousand threads were before him, and each time he tried to grab one, it turned out to be false.

"Inside..." His eyes flickered as he nearly confirmed through various channels that the injuries on Pang Wenlong's body were left by the prosthetic "tiger claw."

At first, he suspected an internal set-up within the city guards, but such a large metal tiger claw couldn't just vanish into thin air.

He didn't doubt there were traitors within the ranks; rather, there were too many suspects to consider.

Yet, this kind of baseless suspicion would lead only to ruinous consequences if reported.

As the seven-day deadline drew closer, he grew more and more restless; all those who could be checked had already been checked around him.

Although many hands were involved in receiving the goods, including himself, the number who knew the full story didn't exceed three.

One other person had been ruled out, leaving only Ma Wu, who was now dead, as the potential leak. Whoever had killed Ma Wu was the one who had leaked the location.

Li Ming... His first instinct still fell on that young man—Ma Wu went in the morning, and by evening he was dead.

The real estate mortgage, in his view, was trivial. After visiting once himself, he had completely disregarded it and left it to Ma Wu.

What exactly had Ma Wu said to the kid?

Many doubts remained unexplained. Because of Li Ming's status with the city guards, Zhang Hu had reluctantly given up that lead for the time being.

But now, with the seven-day deadline imminent and a life-or-death crisis at hand,

He could no longer afford to care about anything else; he was like a drowning man grasping at the last straw—useless as it may be, he had to try!

"City guards are useless too. If they push me too hard, I'll still kill!" he growled low in his throat, accompanied by the rumble of thunder.

…

Meanwhile, a figure was crouched on a roof not far away, his face wrapped in fabric, his body cloaked in a raincoat, revealing only a pair of serene eyes.

He was staring at an old house in front of him with brown mold spots scattering its foundation; it looked quite old.

This was Scar-faced Tiger's den; according to previous statements by Wang Bo and Ma Wu, there were about fifty people inside the house.

There were two burly bouncers standing at the door, who looked fierce but were only ordinary people.

Taking off the sniper rifle scope and using the Control, Li Ming's eyes activated night vision and infrared, constantly and carefully changing position to observe from all angles.

There were at least twelve people in four rooms on the first floor, possibly fourteen. Eight surveillance cameras were outside the walls, with the surveillance room located in the leftmost room on the first floor.

Nine people in three rooms on the second floor... even fewer on the third floor, only three, eh...

That's right, with the incident in Sha Town, he must be overwhelmed, probably dispatched most of his people already.

Assassination techniques associated with the heavy sniper rifle flowed in his mind.

Zhang Hu's room was on the top floor's far right; he shifted his position and looked through the window. Even with night vision and infrared, he could see nothing.

"The walls are covered with tin-chrome material to simply block detection..." Li Ming looked at that house:

"Aside from Zhang Hu, there are no other F-rank life forms, but firearms can still do considerable damage to me," Wang Bo mused. "First, let's eliminate these underlings."

Li Ming devised a plan, but he did not act rashly right away.

On one hand, he was waiting for the Controlled Objects' cooldown, and on the other, he was observing the habits of these people, including their shift changes.

"No shift changes, no regular reports, hmm... I overestimated them; they're just a ragtag bunch," Li Ming's figure vanished without a sound.

The torrential rain poured down, and the bodyguards stood under the eaves.

Creak—

The door opened, and they turned their heads to look; it was a guy in a leather jacket, sporting a few earrings.

"Egg Dog? What are you doing out here?" the bodyguards wondered.

Egg Dog peered up at the two surveillance cameras on the eaves, "Lost the signal, came out to check."

"Must be the heavy rain messing with the lines. This house is too old; some of the wires run outside," Egg Dog shook his head, seeing nothing amiss. "We'll talk about it tomorrow."

With that, he closed the door and went back inside.

The bodyguards didn't think much of it and continued their watch. Moments later, they each felt a tap on their shoulder.

Huh?

They turned around reflexively.

Splat!

They were swept up and then thrown into the nearby flower beds. Their fresh blood spread out with the rainwater, and in time, the flowers here would surely bloom brilliantly.

Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter!

The raindrops, driven by the fierce wind, blew inside, causing Egg Dog, who had just sat down, to frown slightly at the snowflakes appearing on the screen before him.

He glanced over.

"Buckteeth, why's the window open? Close it," he ordered casually, and another person sitting behind him grimaced. "I thought it was closed."

Yet, he still got up and walked to the window. Another person in the room joked, "Having illusions, huh? How was that schoolgirl yesterday?"

"Not bad," Buckteeth grinned. "Her parents are just annoying, all that crying and fussing, a beating settled them down…"

Thud!

Buckteeth's entire body pitched out of the window, and then, with a speed faster than lightning, two thick, dark shadows shot in from outside.

Thump!

A head flew off, another head exploded, blood gushed from the beheaded corpses yet they did not fall, propped up by mechanical arms, filling the room with the stench of blood.

Li Ming used his mechanical arms to flip inside and shut down the surveillance system. Opening the surveillance terminal, he pulled out the hard drive and tossed it out the window,

Opening the door, the hallway was deserted, with a few traces of rainwater on the floor.

Knock! Knock!

He knocked on a door.

"Who's there, damn it, interrupting my fun..."

An impatient voice came from inside. The door opened, revealing Li Ming in his attire; the person inside was taken aback but not frightened, not suspecting an intruder.

"The boss sent me to check up on…" Li Ming calmly walked into the room, casually closed the door; soon after, blood spilled from under the door.

Then, knocking sounds echoed one after another.

Most of these people weren't even a match for Ma Wu; in front of Li Ming, they were utterly powerless.

Boom!

The blazing thunder momentarily lit up the sky, with no signs of the rain abating, rather it became even more furious.

"Delays could change things; with the rain pouring relentlessly, today is indeed the best opportunity to act!" Zhang Hu suddenly stood up, resolute.

"Feng Gang!"

He shouted towards the door, but there was no response.