Chapter 170: Chapter 160: Head-on Confrontation by Remote Control "What’s the boss on about now? Twenty-four-hour patrols? Isn’t he just trying to run us ragged?"
"Who knows? Maybe he’s made a new enemy?"
"An enemy? What enemy would dare come here? Besides, with the iron doors and windows shut, this inner courtyard is a fortress. Not even a mosquito could get in! What’s there to fear?"
"Good point."
A few of Ba Song’s men, slinging rifles over their shoulders, chatted as they patrolled the estate. They were completely oblivious to a black line, as thin as a hair, slithering past their feet.
This inner courtyard, the one they claimed not even a mosquito could fly into, had already been infiltrated by the Shadow under Guan Tong’s control.
Their so-called "fortress" was a joke in the face of the Shadow’s infiltration abilities. After all, it had silently slipped into the Qingmei Association’s Yongzhou Base; what was a minor warlord’s estate in comparison?
The Shadow scouted the entire estate, inside and out, from its perimeter to its core. The vast amount of intelligence it gathered was transmitted via sensory link to Guan Tong, miles away.
Just like that, the heavily guarded estate became transparent to Guan Tong. He now had a complete grasp of the situation.
The entire estate housed roughly four hundred people. Over a hundred of them were the owner Ba Song’s men, and all were armed.
Nearly two hundred more people were chained up and locked in several large warehouses in the outer courtyard.
At first, Guan Tong hadn’t even noticed there were people in the warehouses. It was only after he eavesdropped on a few armed men saying they were going to "prepare the feed to fatten the pigs" that he realized something was wrong.
He maneuvered a Shadow Line to follow them into a warehouse, only to discover that the "pigs" they spoke of were living, breathing human beings.
Most of them were emaciated and haggard. Scantily clad, their legs were bound in chains, and their wrists were cuffed to an iron pipe. Before them ran a long trough, just like one for livestock in a stable.
Ba Song’s men poured slop from wooden buckets into the trough, forcing the chained people to lower their heads to eat. They were being fed exactly like livestock.
Fury ignited within Guan Tong as he witnessed the scene. He knew that in countries rife with warlords, many people were kidnapped and imprisoned to live a life worse than death.
But hearing about it was one thing; seeing it with his own eyes was another entirely.
The sight of the Ascenders imprisoned at Yongzhou Base had already enraged Guan Tong, but the scene in the warehouse of Ba Song’s estate was countless times more brutal. It immediately prompted him to make a decision.
Kill.
Guan Tong’s original plan wasn’t to use brute force to seize the Puzzle Fragment.
His initial plan was to scout the estate and determine exactly who had the fragment. Then, when that person was asleep, he would use Body Shifting to enter their room and negotiate privately.
If possible, he hoped to purchase the fragment with Sublimation Coins. Only if the other party refused would he consider other methods.
But after seeing the situation in the warehouse, that original plan was completely scrapped.
A new plan formed instantly. It was simple: violently seize the Puzzle Fragment and wipe out the entire estate.
Guan Tong knew there were likely many similar situations all over the world, and he couldn’t solve them all. But he wouldn’t turn a blind eye to what he had personally witnessed.
"Hm?"
Just then, a Shadow Surveillance Eye Guan Tong had placed nearby detected something.
On a street a few hundred meters away, an SUV pulled up. The people inside were asking passersby if they had seen any foreigners in the last couple of days.
’They must be looking for me...’
Guan Tong wasn’t surprised. This was their home turf, after all. Ba Song was a local warlord who had been operating here for years; it would be strange if he *didn’t* send people out after discovering an enemy had arrived.
’Fine. I’ll start with this group.’
With his mind made up, Guan Tong deliberately showed himself on the street, revealing his identity as a foreigner, before heading toward a nearby abandoned construction site.
The men Ba Song sent out quickly heard that someone from North Star Country had just passed through. Overjoyed, they immediately followed the passersby’s directions and drove their vehicle to the construction site.
A dozen or so men leaped out of the vehicle. Their leader, Marla, gave the order, "That punk from North Star should be in this construction site. Keep your eyes peeled! The first one to find him gets a reward from the boss. If you can’t find him—"
"No need to trouble yourselves." Guan Tong’s voice rang out. "I’m right here."
Startled, the men whipped their heads around to see a figure standing atop the construction site wall, looking down on them. They had no idea when he’d gotten there.
Marla chuckled. "Great! Saves us the trouble."
With a wave of his hand, his men instantly raised their guns and aimed at the figure on the wall.
Marla shouted, "Hey, you from North Star! You’re the one looking for trouble with our boss, Ba Song, right? Listen up! Hand over the fragment if you don’t want to get shot full of holes!"
He didn’t immediately order them to fire. Before he left, Ba Song had told him to capture the man alive, retrieve the fragment, and only then, kill him.
Guan Tong had no time for talk. With a crook of his finger, a Shadow Thorn erupted from within the chests of Marla’s dozen men, piercing them through. Their hearts burst, and they died instantly.
These ordinary grunts couldn’t afford armor that could defend against Psychic Power attacks. Thus, Guan Tong easily sent an incorporeal Shadow to invade their bodies, then solidified it to pierce their hearts from the inside out.
"Ah! AHHH!!!"
Marla collapsed to the ground in terror, his mouth agape. One second his men were alive and well; the next, they were all dead, blood pouring from their chests. Anyone, ignorant of Guan Tong’s abilities, would be plunged into horror by such a grotesque scene.
The next second, Marla felt a sudden pull on his arms and legs. He looked down to see two rope-thick black Shadow Lines binding his hands and feet, rendering him immobile.
Guan Tong then leaped down from the wall and strode toward him.
"Please, spare me! Spare my life!"
Marla trembled as he looked at Guan Tong. In a matter of seconds, his fear of the man from North Star Country had become bone-deep.
Guan Tong asked, "Tell me everything you know about Ba Song."
"I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!"