"Hmph!" A splash of azure light erupted from between his brows, and about a meter in front of Gu Xichen’s head, a washbasin-sized blue shield of light materialized. The mint-colored shield looked as if a single breath could scatter it, yet when the round from the large-caliber sniper rifle struck it, it was as if a fly had been caught in pine resin—it merely wobbled slightly before freezing still.

Nearly a hundred warriors belonging to the Harde Defense Company stood waiting by the convoy for Gu Xichen and the others. As soon as the gunshot echoed, they simultaneously drew their personal firearms and aimed them toward the direction the bullet had come from. What enraged everyone present was that the shooter who had targeted Gu Xichen was now standing up and waving frantically in their direction.

"Insolent!"

Penghua roared, surging forward a step. He snatched up a vehicle and hurled it instantly toward the gunman, who was more than two hundred meters away in a straight line. The car whipped through the air with a furious gale, arriving almost immediately above the frantic shooter’s head the moment Penghua launched it.

Gu Xichen’s figure flickered, Zhenqi erupting from beneath his feet, faint rosy light shimmering on his Cloud Boots. On the pavement, with a muffled boom, a massive crater nearly a meter in diameter was blasted out. His body shot forward like a shell from a cannon, flashing instantaneously onto the car that had been thrown. With a gentle tap of his toe, the vehicle, which was just about to smash into the sniper's skull, was pulverized by Gu Xichen’s kick. A soft, yielding force spread out as countless tenacious currents of air that tightly wrapped around the car’s fragments, sending dozens of razor-sharp shards narrowly missing the sniper's face.

The body traced a beautiful arc through the air, and Gu Xichen landed lightly behind the sniper, seizing the man’s neck in one grasp.

The sniper, clad in a Stalker-model combat suit, went rigid. He strained to turn his head back to look at Gu Xichen, asking in terror, "How... how are you not dead?" Gu Xichen playfully patted the sniper's face, his fingertips like knives, effortlessly peeling the tough face mask of the combat suit away from his face. The chih-chih crisp sound of the Ruyi Gloves slicing through the mask—like a sharp blade tearing paper—caused the sniper's complexion to turn ashen again and again. The mask of the Stalker suit could withstand small-energy laser cuts; what material were Gu Xichen's hands made of?

His fingers lightly grazed the sniper's Adam's apple. Gu Xichen looked at the pale, delicate face before him and smiled, "You thought I was dead? No wonder you were so eager to stand up and flaunt your success." The sniper’s face flushed crimson; he roared in a voice choked with shock, anger, and shame, "You are just an ordinary Pluto-rank Fighter! How could you evade my custom-made high-kinetic energy warhead?"

Pluto-rank Fighter? Gu Xichen paused for a moment, shook his head, and chuckled lightly, "When is that ancient history? Hey!"

The warriors of the Harde Defense Company swarmed over. Gu Xichen handed the stunned sniper over to them. A few soldiers deftly patted down the sniper, feeling around his body. They extracted two concealed blades, twelve extremely thin shivs, and seventy-two poison-tipped darts. What surprised Gu Xichen particularly was that the fellow had even hidden a small, three-edged bayonet beneath his groin!

The bearded commander roared at Linghu and the other senior executives in a fit of fury. The enemy had infiltrated right up to the entrance of his company headquarters, and they hadn't received a shred of intelligence—this was a serious dereliction of duty by the newly established intelligence department of the defense company! It was easy to imagine that if Gu Xichen had been assassinated at their main gate, the freshly minted Harde Defense Company would have no face left to show in the Federation; they might as well go back to their old trade as mercenaries, earning money the hard way.

"Vicious!" Siren chuckled lightly and said calmly, "They mean to drag our prestige through the mud."

"They're only dragging your prestige, and my life!" Shrugging, Gu Xichen deftly fished a cigar out of the bearded commander’s pocket. After borrowing a light from Linghu, who was flushed red with embarrassment, Gu Xichen pulled the bearded commander along and smiled, "Alright, alright, our company just formed. Everyone is feeling their way along, nobody has this experience yet, right? You can't blame Linghu. A defense company and a mercenary group are still quite different."

Pausing, Gu Xichen patted his chest and laughed, "It’s just the intelligence department, right? In a couple of days, I’ll come up with an idea. As long as Uncle Beard is willing to spend the money, I can get you a reinforced company of brilliant intelligence officers!"

The bearded commander’s eyes lit up, and Linghu's eyes shone even brighter, like little light bulbs.

Police sirens echoed down the street. With the gunfire and the car being thrown, pedestrians had already called the police. Gu Xichen signaled Siren and Aridya to deal with the officers, while he pulled the bearded commander toward a corner of the rooftop.

"Uncle Beard, what exactly is going on? Although I have plenty of trouble on my hands, anyone who wants to kill me definitely wouldn't use a ridiculous tactic like a sniper. Who is the enemy?" The bearded commander spat out a few curses, his face grim as he said, "The enemy? The enemy..." He sighed, shook his head, "Originally, I wanted to tell you after the welcoming banquet tonight... Wait," mid-sentence, the communicator on the bearded commander's wrist suddenly vibrated a few times. He answered it in a rage. On the small light screen, a middle-aged man who was thin, grim, and possessed a distinctive large aquiline nose raised the cigar in his hand triumphantly and smiled, "Oh, dear Uncle Beard, I hear your First Deputy Commander is back? Is... is his health in good condition right now?"

"Jinkely! You damn bastard! I swear I'll crush you with a giant Jade Cudgel!" the bearded commander roared in fury.

"Whoa, why take out your anger on me? I swear to the almighty God, it wasn't me! That sniper has nothing to do with me! I only know someone posted a five-million bounty on your Deputy Commander’s head, but that has nothing to do with me." Jinkely smiled with pursed lips, grinning with extreme smugness. "I didn't intentionally hide this matter; I only just received this intelligence three minutes ago."

Gu Xichen grabbed the bearded commander's wrist and angled the light screen toward himself.

"Mr. Jinkely, no matter who you are, thank you for your kind intentions," Gu Xichen said coldly. "As a return for your goodwill, I will help Uncle Beard select the world's most robust genetically modified corn cob, coat it with a little grit using glue, and stuff it into your backside!" Gu Xichen's killing gaze made Jinkely momentarily freeze. He stammered in shock, "You... you're alive?"

A fresh wave of anger burned in Gu Xichen's chest. He sneered, "I changed my mind. I'm preparing to forge a small wolf-tooth club for you! That’s it, die!" The continuous slaughter and warfare on Heaven Star had significantly changed Gu Xichen's temperament; he was now filled with aggressive initiative. A torrent of curses infuriated Jinkely until his face was pale. Gu Xichen abruptly shut off the bearded commander's communicator.

"Uncle Beard, what's going on? Who is that Jinkely?" Gu Xichen frowned, looking at the bearded commander.

Frowning, the bearded commander shook his head and gave a bitter smile, "It's nothing, Xie Long. I actually wanted to tell you tomorrow. You just got back, and I didn't want these things to spoil your mood."

With a long sigh, the bearded commander said helplessly, "A defense company is not like a mercenary group. Our Hell Angels Mercenary Group ranks second in the Federation; our reputation is so loud that even the Corps Commander wouldn't dare do much to us. But this officially recognized defense company, this pool of water is too deep."

Besides the newly formed Harde Defense Company, the Federation had five established defense companies. The oldest, Gongpai, had existed since after the 93 Earth Counterattack War. Their power in the Federation was deeply entrenched, with close ties and cooperation in all aspects. Their tentacles reached every corner of the Federation, each one a behemoth beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

"How could I forget them?" Gu Xichen frowned. This needed no further explanation from the bearded commander. Take Gongpai, for example: this company had close cooperation with the Gu Clan Group and even held 4.7% of its fixed shares! This portion of cooperation was managed by Gu Juechen, so Gu Xichen wasn't intimately familiar with all the detailed data, but he had gathered some intelligence through his own channels. Among the Gu Clan Group's sixty-seven specialized research institutes, researchers from Gongpai participated in the work of eighteen of them! Among the hundreds of factories belonging to the Gu Clan Group scattered across the globe, fifty-nine factories had production lines custom-made specifically for Gongpai, manufacturing the various specialized firearms and gear they required.

Just based on this, the gap between Harde and these old defense companies was clear. Harde hadn't even finished building the sign for its research facilities! All of Harde Company's armaments were second-hand scraps discarded by the Federation Army!

Hands clasped behind his back, Gu Xichen stomped his feet lightly. After pondering for a long moment, Gu Xichen sneered, "Uncle Beard, what demands did they make?" The bearded commander sneered back, "They said that in seven days, they will host an exchange conference for the six major defense companies on Easter Island, which will include a martial arts tournament featuring the top experts from the six companies!" He slammed a fierce punch onto the nearby guardrail, then grinned menacingly, "They said that whichever company loses the tournament, all of its senior executives must run three laps around Easter Island wearing nothing but their bare asses, holding an 'Ami Rod' between their legs!"

Gu Xichen was enraged. With faint chih-chih sounds, dense snowflakes began to drift down around him, and a great chill enveloped the rooftop.

Penghua mysteriously appeared beside the bearded commander, smiling slyly as he said, "I like this kind of exchange conference... Junior Brother, let me be your adjutant to attend the conference!"

Gu Xichen and the bearded commander exchanged a look and happily agreed.

Penghua tilted his head slightly, looking a bit embarrassed as he said, "Junior Brother, it wouldn't be fair if Senior Brother enjoyed this alone. Can you assign a few more deputy positions for my adjutants?" The bearded commander's mouth slowly fell open. He began contemplating some exceedingly delightful scenarios; it seemed as if ten thousand flowers were blooming before his eyes, and amidst the flowers, countless beautiful women were writhing naked.

Gu Xichen smiled and grasped Penghua's hand, saying, "Of course. There is no upper limit to the positions of Deputy Minister of Operations for the Harde Defense Company!"

Penghua muttered, counting on his fingers. After calculating for a while, he finally nodded and said, "Then, let's set up two hundred official positions for now. The Nine Nether Dao has nine Great Dao Masters, and each Master's fellow disciples number over twenty. My martial uncles alone total nearly two hundred. Each Martial Uncle has recruited anywhere from seventy or eighty to over five or six hundred disciples. Being loyal and friendly fellow sect members, they are all heroes. Hmm, deploying too many people might be too conspicuous. I'll first pull in two hundred of my strongest junior brothers!"

"Wonderful!" The bearded commander grabbed Penghua's hand, "Then the Deputy Adjutant positions for my General Affairs Department will also have no upper limit on numbers!" Penghua blinked, his face clouded with worry, "Then, I can only pull in a few of the Bull Nose martial brothers. Those cultivating the Dao value self-cultivation and avoiding trouble, but... there are always a few loyal brothers around!"

He let out a few strange laughs, and Penghua said chillingly, "When the time comes, we’ll dress those little Bull Noses in sharp suits. Damn it, if someone gets a few of them beaten to death or maimed, hehe... that’ll be fun!"

Gu Xichen, the bearded commander, and Penghua all wore extremely wicked smiles, their heads huddled together, murmuring and plotting.

The dark clouds in the sky grew denser; it looked like a severe storm was about to break.