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Chapter 279 c
🕑 Added 2025-06-10 15:01:08 +0000 UTCChapter 279 c
"Seriously? How do you know that?"
Leo didn’t explain. He just said, “Stay here. I’ll be back soon.”
“Where are you going?” River had just opened his mouth to ask, but to his shock, Leo had already vanished from where he stood.
Using Talent: Time Zero, Leo moved like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, vanishing from his original spot as time slowed to a crawl. He quickly climbed atop a crate, then stepped hard against it for momentum, launching himself up to the second floor. As the effect of Time Zero wore off, time resumed its normal pace.
The Animal members inside the warehouse had only experienced a fleeting moment of disorientation—none of them had noticed anything.
Leo crouched down, silently sneaking into the surveillance room. There was no one inside. He scanned the vicinity and confirmed that the nearest Animal member was more than ten meters away. Without hesitation, he hurried toward the terminal.
Animal members had more muscle than brains—it was a stereotype, but not far from the truth. The terminal didn’t even have a password set, probably because they were afraid the gang members would forget it. It made things easier for Leo.
He brought up the surveillance system interface and shut off all eight connected monitors. With that, every surveillance camera in the warehouse was blind.
“Hm?”
Just then, Leo noticed an Animal member approaching the surveillance room. But the guy wasn’t shouting or holding his gun in a ready stance, so it was unlikely he’d noticed anything.
Leo moved silently behind the door and waited.
After about thirty seconds, the door was pushed open, and an Animal gang member stepped inside. As soon as he fully entered the room, Leo struck. He drove his tactical knife straight into the back of the man’s neck.
The man’s eyes went wide as he collapsed forward. Leo caught his body as it fell to prevent any noise from alerting the others. He dragged the corpse under the desk, not making the slightest sound.
With a flourish, Leo spun the knife in his hand before opening the door again and crouching low, sneaking toward another Animal patrolling the upper level.
….......................
.........
.
A few minutes later, another Animal patrolling the warehouse yawned. He’d stayed up half the night playing cards and hadn’t gotten any proper sleep. He looked around and decided to find a spot to take a quick nap.
Then he froze.
Wait—where was his partner?
Just as he opened his mouth to call out, a crimson blade pierced the back of his head and shot through his gaping mouth.
A second later, Leo pulled the blade out and flicked off the blood. He didn’t bother with the corpse as it fell to the ground, the sound echoing.
There was no need to be cautious anymore—this was the last enemy on the ground floor.
Inside and out, every Animal member in the warehouse had been silently taken care of.
Leo had discovered more enemies in the underground section of the club. If a firefight broke out down there, any remaining enemies above could have ambushed them from behind.
To prevent being caught in a pincer attack, Leo had chosen to eliminate every Animal above ground before moving on.
Sliding Muramasa back into its sheath, Leo called out toward River’s hiding spot.
“All clear. You can come out.”
River emerged from behind cover, wide-eyed as he looked at the corpses.
“Damn, with skills like that, you’re no ordinary merc. No wonder Jefferson hired you.”
“You’re not bad yourself, detective. I saw that footage from City Hall—three rounds to take down a cyberpsycho. Even MAX-TAC wouldn’t have handled it much better.”
The two exchanged some mutual flattery as they arrived at the disguised club entrance hidden behind a shipping container.
River stepped forward and gave it a push. As expected, it was locked. He took a step back and kicked it hard.
Thud!
The container door thudded heavily but didn’t budge. River glanced at the lock above, clearly considering whether to shoot it off. But he decided against it and looked back at Leo.
“You got any ideas?”
Leo pulled a set of keys from his pocket. “Use this.”
River stared. “......Where’d you get that?”
“From the corpse of one of the Animal members.” Leo inserted the key into the lock and turned it clockwise. With a few mechanical clicks, the lock disengaged, and the container door swung open.
River opened his moth again but then choose to stay silent and just grubled in his mind.
Inside was a staircase leading downward. At the bottom was an elevator.
So the so-called Red Queen’s Race was even further below.
Leo and River descended the stairs, and River hit the button on the elevator’s panel. After a short wait, the elevator arrived.
They stepped inside. The panel display showed the club was located on the fourth basement level.
River looked at Leo. “You ready?”
Leo smiled slightly. “Always.”
The doors shut, and the elevator descended into the depths.
When the doors opened again, they were greeted by the entrance to a neon-pink club.
This was the Red Queen’s Race.
River gestured for Leo to stay quiet. Leo simply added River to the same comms channel.
All the enemies above had been eliminated. The Animals inside the club had no clue what was coming.
The two of them crouched in the foyer near the door, peering in through the windows.
It looked like a post-riot scene inside. Tables, chairs, walls—everything had been smashed to pieces. But no matter how they looked at it, the destruction seemed deliberate—like someone trying to erase evidence.
River gripped his revolver, but didn’t raise it just yet. Instead, he asked,
“There are two Animals inside. Should we leave them alive for questioning?”
Leo wasn’t just a typical merc—asking a pro for advice was smart.
Leo shook his head. “No. Their boss is in the back office. One hostage is enough. Kill the rest—no reason to take chances.”
River hesitated. “You always operate like this? Killing first?”
“More or less." Was Leo's curt response.
They kept up their conversation on the comms channel as they silently moved into position around the two men inside the lounge.
Shkk—
Muramasa sliced clean through one of the Animals along with the couch he was sitting on. On the other side, River twisted the second one’s neck.
“Come on. There’s five more deeper in. Kill all except the one in the far back—he’s mine.”
Following the same method, they silently assassinated four more gang members scattered throughout the club, without making a sound.
Finally, Leo and River stood outside the back office. The club’s interior design wasn’t much different from places like Lizzie’s or Clouds.
Leo motioned for River to wait. Inside, their target had his back to the door, speaking to someone over the phone.
They waited patiently until the call ended.
This time, Leo didn’t use his katana. Instead, he pressed the barrel of a tech revolver against the target’s back—right where his heart would be. One shot, and the heart would explode like a watermelon dropped from a rooftop.
The gang boss’s voice trembled. “Who are you? How did you get in?”
“You’re not the one asking questions. Do not turn around. Do not make any sudden movement.
If you answer mine, we’ll leave.” Leo nudged the barrel against his back.
“What are you doing here? I heard this club’s been shut down for a while.”
Realizing he had no leverage, the gang boss quickly gave in. “We’re waiting for someone.”
“Who?”
“Our client. We wrecked the place like they asked, now we’re waiting for payment.”
Leo and River exchanged a look. The state of the club made sense now—it had been intentionally trashed.
“Who’s your client?”
The gang boss went quiet.
“If I were you, I’d answer. Otherwise, I might think you’re useless and blow your brains out.”
After a few seconds of silence, the boss finally said, “Weldon Holt.”
River’s eyes widened. “That lackey of Lucius Rhyne? The next mayoral candidate?”
“Yeah, that piece of trash. You know him?”
“We’re the ones asking questions now. One more—Lucius Rhyne, the late mayor. Did he come here on the day he died?”
“I don’t know. When we got here, the place was empty. I’ve got no idea if the mayor was ever here.”
Leo asked a few more questions, but the gang boss didn’t have any answers.
With nothing else to gain, Leo pulled the trigger and blew a hole clean through the gang boss’s heart.
The body slumped to the floor with a heavy thud.
A kinetic pistol clattered out from under the coat—the guy had been armed the whole time. If Leo had moved the gun even slightly, he would’ve been shot at point-blank range.
