Having parted ways with Odin and the others, Zhong Yun proceeded alone. Without any constraints holding him back, his pace more than doubled.

He slung the rapid-fire particle gun onto his back, drew his Ion Vibration Blade, and silently closed in on the club tower. Along the way, any thugs he encountered were cleaved in two by his blade. The conspicuous bi-headed appearance of those brutes meant he had no fear of striking the wrong target.

It was only now that the true power of his Level Nineteen Somatics was revealed. Most of the thugs he met hadn't even registered his presence before the Ion Vibration Blade swept across their necks, separating head from body.

Where Zhong Yun passed, a carpet of corpses was left behind. These thugs offered him no resistance whatsoever.

Killing was as easy as slicing vegetables, yet his heart remained extraordinarily calm. He had commanded fleets and orchestrated the deaths of hundreds of thousands before, but back then, he was seated in the command center of the Mars, and the war was bloodless.

Nothing compared to today; the Ion Vibration Blade was terrifyingly sharp. Any hit it landed ensured no thug’s body remained intact, with dismembered limbs scattered everywhere, a stark test for his nerves.

Fortunately, the intense heat generated by the Ion Vibration Blade instantly cauterized the wounds, preventing any significant bleeding. Otherwise, the scene would have been far more horrifying.

The closer he got to the club, the more thugs he encountered, as if all of them were concentrated there—a fact he had sensed earlier.

The club was surrounded by over two thousand thugs. Upon learning this, Zhong Yun’s heart suddenly lurched, and without hesitation, he sprinted toward the location.

“Weiwei, I know you wouldn’t go down that easily,” Zhong Yun said, looking at the pitch-black mass of thugs charging at him ahead. They roared, their blood-red, predatory eyes devoid of any human semblance.

This was a pack of beasts. Zhong Yun quietly sheathed the Ion Vibration Blade back into its scabbard at his waist. He unslung the rapid-fire particle gun from his back, aimed it at the advancing horde, and muttered, Die.

Since they were mere beasts, Zhong Yun carried no psychological burden. He hit the switch.

Innumerable light projectiles instantly erupted, sweeping across the crowd of thugs.

Flesh and blood flew everywhere.

Zhong Yun’s hand holding the gun did not waver in the slightest. His gaze was firm and detached—these were just beasts!

His comrades ahead continued to fall, yet the thugs showed no sign of fear or retreat; instead, their savage expressions grew even more frenzied, as if stimulated by the scent of fresh blood.

Although the rapid-fire particle gun in Zhong Yun’s hands was powerful, it was not invincible. When the number of thugs overwhelmed the weapon’s output, suppression became impossible.

The thugs managed to pave a path toward Zhong Yun using the bodies of their fallen comrades.

Among the hundreds of attackers, one finally reached a flank Zhong Yun couldn't cover. He grinned wide, revealing a mouth full of sharp, beast-like teeth, and lunged at Zhong Yun. His eyes were filled with brutality and cruelty; he intended to tear the man before him to shreds.

He missed.

When he was just two meters from Zhong Yun, the latter suddenly launched himself into the air, evading the leap.

Faced with someone who could both fly and wield weapons of mass destruction, the slaughter of these thugs was inevitable. Landing, Zhong Yun ignored the piles of bodies and continued toward the club.

He hadn't deployed his mech, nor did he fly overhead. He knew from Zero that these thugs possessed not only mech squads capable of fighting the military but also many high-level masters above Level Ten. Most city governors had fallen to such experts.

Not wanting to attract overwhelmingly powerful enemies, Zhong Yun chose to advance on the ground. Compared to mechs and Level Ten powerhouses, these common thugs posed limited threat to him.

After eliminating several more waves of thugs, he could finally see the club entrance. At the same time, he noticed an increasing concentration of brutes near the building, as if all nearby thugs were converging here.

Just then, Zero sent him the latest intelligence: photos taken from the Mars showed that over four thousand people had gathered near the club.

Zhong Yun frowned deeply. This was trouble. With so many people, even if they stood still to be killed, it would take a long time. Moreover, these thugs possessed extreme aggression. If he were carelessly surrounded, even with all his weaponry, it would be precarious.

Using his mech would undoubtedly carve a bloody path through them, but that would equally invite the attention of powerful enemies.

Thinking of Weiwei and Wenzhu, whose fates were unknown, Zhong Yun gritted his teeth, took the small particle cannon from his back, and crept toward the club building.

Finally catching sight of the club's red outer wall, Zhong Yun carefully avoided several thugs. His combat suit offered some degree of cloaking.

The club doors were shut tight, surrounded by countless thugs outside. As far as the eye could see, a vast expanse of black-and-white heads assaulted the vision.

A group of thugs near the entrance was battering the door with all manner of weapons, trying to force it open. Although the club doors were cast from alloy, their defensive rating was mediocre. Under the relentless pounding, they appeared perilously close to giving way.

Seeing that the club had not yet been breached, Zhong Yun breathed a sigh of relief. He crouched down, set up the particle cannon, aimed at the densest part of the crowd, and pressed the fire key. Simultaneously, he threw himself to the ground, covering his head tightly with both hands.

A beam of multicolored light shot from the muzzle, striking the center of the crowd. With a deafening boom, Zhong Yun felt the ground violently heave beneath him. A wave of heat washed over, but insulated by his suit, he sustained no injury.

After a moment, he looked up. Thick dust blanketed the area, obscuring even the red outer wall of the club building a hundred meters away.

Relying on instinct, he assumed the thugs in front had been completely cleared, and the few stragglers posed no threat.

Activating his positioning system, Zhong Yun instantly ascertained his location and sprinted toward the club entrance. Along the way, he trod on many soft objects that left him feeling vaguely nauseated.

Reaching the door, he saw several irregular indentations on the red metal surface. He flipped his wrist, and a small wheel-like device popped out, which he pressed against the metal. He traced a circle, and with a hissing sound, the ten-centimeter-thick metal door was cut open with a circular hole.

Zhong Yun kicked the center of the circle, and with a loud clang, the metal door peeled back to reveal an opening just large enough for a person to squeeze through.

That little wheel was his handiwork from the day before: a miniature, high-powered cutter. Everything he crafted could be fitted onto this suit; it was equipment originally intended for infiltrating the Kerdong family base.

The moment he squeezed inside, a whoosh sounded—the noise of a club being swung at high velocity through the air. Zhong Yun blocked it; with a sharp clang, the metal club attacking him struck his forearm, leaving a noticeable dent.

“Ow—” A familiar voice rang out. Zhong Yun looked up to see Duan Yi waving his arms, jumping up and down. “That hurt like hell…”

Just as he was about to speak, he felt his body suddenly become heavy, as if a mountain weighing thousands of pounds had been placed upon him. He tried to stand but found he couldn't move.

Whoosh—another club swung in, smashing into Zhong Yun’s left cheek and whipping his head to the side. It was a blow delivered with considerable force. If not for the helmet, he would have lost several teeth.

Zhong Yun felt utterly wronged. He hadn't sustained a scratch from the thugs outside, only to be struck twice by his own people upon entering.

Good deeds truly went unrewarded.

“I’ve got this,” a deep voice declared. Zhong Yun caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye of a tall, burly man charging forward, wielding a makeshift cutting tool emitting a red laser beam.

Zhong Yun was shocked. No need to be this reckless! In his urgency, the Yuan within his body surged out, and the surrounding space was instantly filled with a mist of purple vapor.

“Bind.”

Everyone present felt the air become incredibly viscous, their movements slowing drastically. Next, it felt as if invisible ropes had wrapped around them, tightening with every passing moment, restraining them until even breathing became labored.

The entire process took less than half a second. The burly man brandishing the improvised cutter was frozen in place, less than two meters from Zhong Yun.

Although the suit's circulatory system continued functioning normally, Zhong Yun broke out in a cold sweat. Damn it, he had nearly been killed by his own people.

The combat suit offered decent protection, but he knew the cutting tool’s power; the armor definitely wouldn't withstand its edge, perhaps lasting only two seconds.

If he died by his own people’s hands, he would likely be the most tragically awkward Transmigrator in history.

The Yuan inside him spun without reservation, struggling against the crushing pressure pinning him down. He slowly began to rise, moving as if in a slow-motion sequence.

His jerky, halting movements looked absurd, but no one around dared to laugh. They knew that once this masked leader of the strange, helmeted brutes regained motion, their death would follow.

Everyone strained, attempting to break free first. But how could these people possibly struggle against the "Bind" technique executed with Level Nineteen Somatics?

Zhong Yun’s teeth ground together audibly as he painstakingly shuffled two steps forward, inwardly astonished. Where was this pressure pinning him coming from? With his current strength, he was nearly immobilized.

Having finally gathered a small amount of strength, Zhong Yun was about to speak when a massive force slammed into his chest, throwing him backward until he hit the metal door in a cruciform shape.

Zhong Yun turned his eyes and met those once charming eyes, now glowing with a pale gold light.

He suddenly felt his entire journey had been a farce. This protective suit was designed for infiltrating the Kerdong family base; it was opaque from the outside to conceal the wearer's identity.

He never imagined that at this crucial moment, the suit would cause Weiwei and the others to misunderstand, leading to friendly fire—a true tragedy.

Zhong Yun felt a dull ache spreading across his chest; speaking was out of the question, and even breathing was extremely difficult. It was clear this was Wenzhu’s handiwork. As for the inescapable pressure on his body, who else but Weiwei, whose strength matched his own, could exert such force?

Immediately following this, he witnessed an even more tragic scene: a blood-smeared hand reaching in through the circular hole cut in the metal door…

P: Minimum monthly tickets required, everyone check your pockets to see if you have any left to cast. Recommendation tickets are needed too, don't be lazy! (To be continued. For the rest of the story, please log in to .**.m for more chapters.)