Si Ying was dead.

He died in an underground pipe not far from the Twin Towers.

This was a safety passage built by the Si Clan at great expense, intended as an escape route to a safe point for their members during a crisis.

But it had become Si Ying’s road to hell.

It wasn’t until the moment Si Ying’s breathing and heartbeat stopped that the surrounding gang members noticed something was wrong.

This young master of the Si Clan hadn’t gone mad; he’d had a medical emergency.

"What happened? How did the young master die?"

"Scan complete. Burst blood vessel in the brain. Could it be from excessive grief?"

"Fuck! How are we supposed to explain this to the young miss!"

Lin Qi hadn’t left yet. Even with Si Ying dead, he remained, observing the reactions of the gang members.

The moment those two words, "young miss," were spoken, Lin Qi was more or less certain that Si Ying’s guess before he died had been correct.

Si Ranran had faked her death, leaving Si Ying as Si Pharmaceutical’s only target.

Taking out his wristband, Lin Qi sent a message to King Arthur.

"Si Ying is dead. You can pull out."

In the underground pipes, King Arthur was a little stunned upon seeing Lin Qi’s message.

’Si Ying is dead?’

’How did Wizard do it?’

But King Arthur quickly understood that this was another one of Wizard’s Abilities.

Up until now, Wizard had only ever displayed unparalleled information-gathering capabilities within the Mercenary Corps.

But the Wizard profession was very different from other Extraordinary Professions. At each tier, they could obtain four Extraordinary Powers—an outrageous number.

Although other Extraordinary Professionals could also acquire various powers through other means, none were as strange and unpredictable as the Abilities of a Wizard.

Killing someone without a sound, without a trace.

’I’ve underestimated Wizard’s combat strength. What tier is he, really?’

The question arose in King Arthur’s mind.

In terms of sheer mysteriousness within the Mercenary Corps, Wizard ranked second.

Not even Capitalist was as enigmatic as Wizard.

He had revealed so little information it was almost impossible to guess anything about him, and he had even recently developed a whole new type of Potion.

His identity was a complete mystery.

And now, he had used a silent method to kill Si Ying, making his Abilities seem even more bizarre.

Although King Arthur was pondering Lin Qi’s methods, their actions were not slow.

Si Ying’s death would inevitably cause a chain reaction.

’I’m too close to where Si Ying died. If I get caught up in this, it’ll be a huge hassle, even for a Tier Three Extraordinary Professional like me.’

They skillfully found a suitable path through the underground pipe system and began to withdraw.

...

Back on the surface, Lin Qi got back into his vehicle.

He drove back the way he came and returned the vehicle to its original spot.

Then, using the network information shield provided by Guang Ling, he silently returned to his senior employee apartment at Liu’s Heavy Industries.

’The mission went smoothly. Killing Si Ying, destroying Si’s Twin Towers B Tower—both objectives were successfully completed.’

’I’m not sure how the Black Market will determine which Mercenary Corps completed it, but the Black Market’s judgment has never been wrong.’

’A twenty-million-credit bounty. According to the rules of a Highest-Level Mercenary Corps, all active participants split seventy percent, with twenty percent going to the corps’ public fund and the remaining ten percent being divided equally among members who didn’t participate in the operation.’

’I should get around 4.6 million Credit Points. That’s enough for almost half of a full-body A-Class Prosthetic Implantation. It’ll completely relieve my financial pressure.’

Lin Qi calculated the gains from tonight’s operation.

The Credit Points were secondary; the biggest gain was dealing with the trouble that was Si Ying.

Beyond that, Lin Qi had other thoughts.

’Today was my first time seeing King Arthur up close. The members of this Highest-Level Mercenary Corps are a bit too twisted. During the meetings, they sound like a teenage boy, but their real appearance is a 5’2" blonde loli?’

Lin Qi felt a great sense of disdain for this kind of identity-hiding behavior, completely forgetting that he himself disguised his voice as that of a mature woman.

Lin Qi thought of Guang Ling. That one knew the identities of all the Mercenary Corps members and must have had a hard time holding back their laughter during past meetings.

Walking over to his apartment’s floor-to-ceiling window, Lin Qi gazed into the distance at Greenfield City’s landmark: the Twin Towers.

The entirety of Tower B was now engulfed in raging flames, its upper half tilting at a 45-degree angle.

The only reason the building hadn’t collapsed yet was that the exterior armor was strong enough to forcibly hold the structure up.

But the fire continued to burn. It wouldn’t be long before Twin Towers B Tower collapsed completely.

The remaining half would also be reduced to an empty shell in the fierce blaze.

The ammunition carried by over a hundred Formula dogfight vehicles, cooking off in the fire, had enough explosive power to turn the skyscraper into a ruin.

After a moment of thought, Lin Qi sent a communication request to his bodyguard, Brother Green Hair.

Brother Green Hair answered instantly. "What’s up?"

"Brother Green Hair, why are the Twin Towers on fire? Did something happen? Do I still have to work tomorrow?" Lin Qi asked, feigning concern for the company.

Brother Green Hair’s reply was decisive. He had complete trust in the Liu Clan’s person-in-charge in Greenfield City, the Liu Clan’s second master, Liu Xingzhou.

"Don’t worry, the Liu Clan won’t be affected. You still have to come to work tomorrow."

Lin Qi had expected this answer.

After all, in Lin Qi’s view, tonight’s events weren’t that serious for Greenfield City.

The one who died was just Si Ying, a target set up by the Si Clan.

Even if there was some sort of vague, complicated relationship between Si Ying and the true heir, Si Ranran, it wouldn’t affect the overall situation in Greenfield City.

At the very least, it wouldn’t have much of an impact on Liu’s Heavy Industries.

Lin Qi ended the call and glanced at the time.

It was already 2:00 AM on March 6, 2089.

The cooldown for his [Door] had long been finished, but because of Si Ying, Lin Qi had waited until he could confirm the man was truly dead. Only now was he preparing to open the [Door] and head to the Doomsday World.

...

Si’s Twin Towers, the top of Tower B.

The battle was reaching its end.

The entire building was tilted precariously, looking as if it would collapse at any moment.

Fortunately, everyone present was either a Tier Three Extraordinary Professional or an A-Class full-body Prosthetic Implanter.

The forty-five-degree tilt of the building didn’t affect the continuation of the fight.

The crimson Tentacle Monster on the field had vanished, and Liu Xingzhou, now lying on the ground, had reverted to his human form.

His body was mangled, with little more than his torso and head remaining.

Severed limbs, still in their tentacle form, were scattered around him.

His consciousness was fading. Liu Xingzhou had lost the ability to fight back.

But the Si Clan had also paid a price.

Si Li and the six Extraordinary Professionals from the Round Table Conference were fine; they were injured, but not seriously.

The ones who had suffered heavy casualties were the Si Clan’s Prosthetic Implanters.

A total of seven full-body A-Class Implanters were dead.

This was the nature of a battle between Extraordinary Professionals. This was the combat power of a Wizard.

"Wizards are truly monsters."

"His Ability is too effective against Prosthetic Bodies."

"Kill him. Bring his head back to the Round Table Conference. Other members will be responsible for the subsequent operations against Liu’s Heavy Industries."

"Si Li, you’ve done well. Maintain your cover. We will faithfully report the Si Clan’s contribution to the European Political Zone Big Business Alliance. Once the Liu Clan is annihilated, you will receive a Big Business Alliance seat in the European Administrative Region."