373: Chapter 373 The Black Card on the Poker Table

Chapter 373: The Black Card on the Poker Table

The morning mist was thoroughly shredded by the lingering glow of the car's taillights.

On the muddy ground of the abandoned steel mill, only that black card remained, stuck diagonally into the edge of a puddle.

Chen Mo stepped out with his long legs, wading through the water mixed with engine oil. The rubber soles of his military boots crushed a few scattered empty shell casings as he bent down in front of the card.

The card was as thin as a cicada's wing, made not of paper or ordinary plastic, but of some kind of memory metal that held a temperature.

He pinched the edge of the card with two fingers and pulled it out. The muddy water on the metal surface quickly slid off to both sides, leaving no trace.

In the very center of the card, a complex hourglass pattern was printed in dark gold paint.

The fine grains of sand inside the hourglass appeared a bright red in the morning light.

"The Emperor's invitation."

Nightingale's tactical boots crunched over the debris as she approached. Her right hand, hanging by her side, was still dripping muddy water, her gaze locked tightly onto that hourglass pattern.

"You recognize this thing?"

Chen Mo flipped the card over. On the back, only a string of twelve Arabic numerals forming coordinates was printed.

Nightingale pulled a tourniquet from the tactical pouch at her waist, wrapped it around her grazed forearm with one hand, and bit down on one end of the cloth strip to tighten it.

"The organization's highest execution orders are usually carried out by a Scavenger, but if the target is deemed by the Emperor to be a pawn worthy of a game, he will send someone to deliver this poker table invitation."

Chen Mo rubbed the dark gold lines on the card with his fingertips. The pure white brand that had just merged onto his left forearm transmitted a faint throb beneath his skin, through his clothing.

"What happens if I accept the invitation, and what happens if I refuse?"

He held the card out in front of him.

Nightingale did not take it. She even instinctively took a half-step back, as if it were a branding iron.

"There is no option to refuse in the rules of Tartarus. Once you receive the card, it means this game has already begun."

Su Qingxue supported the pale-faced Jiang Hong as they walked over from beside the SUV. Jiang Hong's dislocated left arm had already been secured with a makeshift splint.

"The SWAT Officer defensive line in Jiang City was breached by them. The fact that that car was able to drive in silently just now means the outer perimeter blockade has already been infiltrated by them."

Su Qingxue pulled off her blood-stained tactical gloves and stuffed them into her pocket, wiping the mud off her cheek with the back of her clean hand.

"We must notify the Municipal Bureau immediately to raise the response level."

Chen Mo shook his head and waved the black card between his fingers.

"It's too late."

"Since he said 'Welcome back to the poker table,' it means he has already pushed the chips for the first round in front of us."

Li Ke came running over from the direction of the maintenance shaft, covered in dust. As soon as he got close, he saw the Scavenger's massive corpse in the muddy water and sat down on the ground in shock.

"My god, what kind of monster is this thing? Even micro-directional blasting couldn't blow open the armor on its neck. Brother Mo, how did you kill him?"

Chen Mo ignored Li Ke's exclamation. He walked straight to the dented hood of the SUV and laid the black card flat on the hood.

"Li Ke, check these coordinates."

He tapped the metal hood with his knuckles.

Li Ke climbed up from the ground, brushed the mud off his pants, and hurried to the front of the car to lean in and look at the string of numbers.

He immediately unzipped his backpack, pulled out the military tactical terminal with two cracks on the screen, and his ten fingers tapped out a blur on the keyboard.

"This is a multi-encrypted variant coordinate system, nested with the grid algorithm of Jiang City's early air-raid shelters."

Code flowed Li Ke a waterfall on the terminal screen, and Li Ke's brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

"Decoded."

He turned the terminal screen toward the others. It showed a 3D map of Jiang City's downtown area, with a red light spot blinking incessantly on the eastern edge of the map.

"East Port District, the abandoned ocean-going freighter dismantling plant."

Upon seeing that location, Su Qingxue's expression changed immediately.

"That place was just sealed off by the Municipal Bureau last month because of a transnational smuggling case. There are still a large number of uncounted containers sealed at the scene."

Chen Mo's gaze shifted from the screen back to the black card, his finger hovering over the red hourglass pattern.

"The hourglass represents a countdown, and the red sand is a metaphor for blood."

He closed his eyes, and his thinking model as a top criminal psychologist from his past life began to operate at high speed.

"This is an extremely conceited psychological projection with obsessive-compulsive traits. He is telling us that there is a bomb about to detonate there, or a massacre destined to happen."

Nightingale sheathed her broken short blade. The sound of metal rubbing was particularly jarring in the silent factory area.

"The Scavenger's communication module sends a pulse signal to the host the moment it dies. Since the Emperor came personally to confirm your status, he won't give us too much time to catch our breath."

Chen Mo opened his eyes, his fingertips finally touching the surface of the black card. He needed to confirm if more information was hidden in this letter of challenge.

[Sin Resonance activated]

[High-frequency sin residue detected, causal chain tracing module loading]

The prompt in his mind was deeper than ever before. The edges of the blood-red panel were even wrapped in a layer of pure white light, originating from the same source as the brand on his left arm.

Chen Mo felt a cold chill rush straight to his brain from his fingertips.

The abandoned steel mill before his eyes instantly peeled away and faded, the surrounding scene swallowed by a thick darkness.

These were the memory fragments remaining on the card.

In a dimly lit, spacious room, rows of screens were playing surveillance footage from various corners of Jiang City.

A pair of hands wearing white silk gloves appeared at the bottom of the field of view, fingers playing with a pure gold chess piece.

It was a pawn carved into the likeness of a sufferer.

The owner of the gloves let out a low, muffled chuckle, the laughter vibrating directly against Chen Mo's eardrums through bone conduction.

The voice had been processed through layers of voice changers, making it impossible to tell if it was male or female, but it carried an arrogance that looked down upon all living things.

"Twenty years, the lock left behind by the scribe has finally been opened from the inside."

The hands pushed the pawn piece over on the wooden chessboard, then picked up the black card on the side.

"Let me see if the young man who inherited the title of the scribe can handle this first rain."

The memory scene shattered completely, turning into countless light spots and dissipating.

Chen Mo's fingers left the surface of the card, his knuckles turning pale from excessive force.

He staggered back half a step, his back pressing against the SUV's door, his rapid breathing causing his chest to heave.

Su Qingxue immediately stepped forward, her hands firmly supporting his arms.

"What did you see?"

She keenly noticed that the area on Chen Mo's left forearm, hidden by his sleeve, was emitting astonishing heat.

Chen Mo used her strength to stand straight, shaking his head to dispel the dizziness.

"He knows the scribe's key has merged, and he also knows what I just experienced in the basement."

Chen Mo grabbed Su Qingxue's wrist, the force of his fingers transmitting through the fabric.

"The East Port District dismantling plant is not a trap; it's a slaughterhouse."