203: Chapter 203 Dismantling the Vault with Bare Hands: Here's Your Bounty

Outside the final two-meter-thick tactical security door, a blinding blue high-temperature cutting line had been traced in a complete circle.

The screeching sound of metal friction caused everyone in the bunker to cover their ears in pain.

Paul gritted his teeth and drew the large-caliber Desert Eagle from his waist. "Everyone, raise your weapons. Prepare to fire. Defend the bunker at all costs."

Thirty Blackwater security mercenaries scattered immediately. Heavy machine guns were mounted on overturned conference tables, and thirty M4 automatic rifles were aimed squarely at the door.

The door was not pushed open.

Four massive, dark gray metal hands reached directly through the cut seam in the door panel and pried it open.

The hydraulic engines emitted a deafening, violent roar.

Boom.

The two-meter-thick radiation-proof alloy door was ripped straight out of the wall by the combined force of four Exoskeleton Warriors.

The door panel, along with a ring of shattered reinforced concrete, slammed into the depths of the bunker, smashing the million-dollar mahogany conference table in two. Wood splinters flew everywhere.

The red wine glass in Steven's hand fell onto the carpet and shattered.

"Fire! Kill these monsters!" Paul roared hysterically.

The thirty heavily armed security guards pulled their triggers frantically, their muzzles spitting dazzling tongues of fire.

A dense hail of armor-piercing rounds created a storm of metal, slamming directly into the row of dark black steel armor at the entrance.

Da Biao took the lead, and his magnetorheological defense module activated instantly.

A ghostly blue light illuminated the surface of the armor as a ripple of energy, like water waves, spread rapidly.

The bullets struck the ripples and instantly lost all kinetic energy. Without exception, they were flattened into iron discs, clattering to the floor and covering the entire entrance passage.

Paul's eyes widened. "This is impossible."

He threw away his pistol, grabbed a high-explosive grenade hanging from his chest, pulled the pin, and threw it with all his might.

Da Biao didn't even dodge. He raised his thick mechanical right arm and caught the grenade flying in mid-air in his palm.

The mechanical fingers, with five tons of thrust, clenched shut.

Bang.

The high-explosive grenade gave a muffled pop inside the titanium alloy glove, emitting only a foul-smelling plume of black smoke. It didn't even scratch the black lacquer on Da Biao's palm.

Da Biao opened his palm and casually shook off the gunpowder residue.

"Is that all the firepower you've got?" Da Biao sneered, his voice amplified through external speakers. "It's not even as good as the homemade guns used by our village's security team back at the factory. Are you trying to tickle me?"

Da Biao took a step forward, causing the marble floor to crack over a large area.

Fifty Death Squad Soldiers advanced steadily in a perfect tactical formation.

Da Biao didn't even bother drawing his blade. With his five tons of thrust fully unleashed, he became a dark gray blur as he crashed into the crowd.

A heavily armored guard stood his ground, blocking the path with a machine gun. Da Biao raised his mechanical arm and slapped him aside.

Crack. The guard's sternum shattered instantly. He flew over a dozen meters, embedding himself deeply into the concrete wall behind him, blood trickling down the wall cracks.

Another guard tried to sneak up from the side, using a military bayonet to stab at the neck seam of Da Biao's helmet.

Da Biao turned and kicked him hard in the abdomen.

The man didn't even have time to scream. His body folded at an unnatural angle in mid-air before crashing into the temperature-controlled wine cabinet behind him, killing him instantly.

There was no skill involved at all, just pure, physical, dimension-reducing suppression.

Ten seconds. Just ten seconds had passed, and the gunfire in the air-raid shelter had completely ceased.

The thirty elite Blackwater mercenaries all lay on the ground, bones shattered, either dead or crippled.

The three suit-clad capital agents huddled in a corner, shivering uncontrollably. Urine trickled down their expensive suit trousers onto the carpet.

Steven was pressed hard against the floor, his brain completely shut down.

He thrashed his limbs, crawling and scrambling toward the innermost safe room of the bunker, his hands gouging deep bloody marks into the floor.

He had barely crawled five meters when heavy metallic footsteps stopped behind him.

Da Biao lifted his half-ton foot and stepped heavily onto Steven's back.

"Ah!" Steven let out a shrill, miserable scream.

Crack. Three ribs broke instantly. The broken bones even pierced into his lung lobes, causing him to twitch in agony.

Da Biao bent down, grabbed Steven by the back of the neck with one hand, and effortlessly lifted him into the air.

The massive titanium alloy mask pressed hard against Steven's paper-white face.

"You're Steven?" Da Biao's voice was icy. "The idiot who put out the thirty-billion bounty?"

Steven was covered in cold sweat from the pain. His hands clawed desperately at Da Biao's mechanical fingers. "Let me go... You want money, right? I have money."

Steven's snot and tears ran down his face. "I'll give you money. Five billion. No, ten billion dollars! Just let me go, and the money will be transferred to you immediately. I swear."

Da Biao sneered, his mechanical fingers slowly tightening. "Money is a good thing. Unfortunately, the money in your hands isn't even worth dog shit in our boss's eyes."

Da Biao turned to look at the three agents in the corner.

"These three are also the financiers, right?" Da Biao issued an order. "Tie them all up. Make them kneel."

Several Exoskeleton Warriors strode over, mercilessly kicking and shattering the three men's kneecaps, forcibly pressing them to kneel in the center of the ruins. The three men writhed on the ground in pain.

Da Biao raised his left arm and pressed the button on the encrypted communication module on his wrist.

The transoceanic communication connected instantly to the Jiangcheng control center.

There was a brief crackle of electricity, and Lu Chen's calm voice echoed clearly throughout the bunker.

"Did you catch them all?" Lu Chen asked.

"Caught them, Boss." Da Biao lifted Steven higher. "The rat who put out the bounty has been dug out. It's this old guy named Steven. This old bastard just said he wanted to pay ten billion to buy my life."

The massive electronic screen on the bunker wall was still scrolling rapidly. The thirty-billion-dollar figure was still blindingly bright.

Lu Chen chuckled in the communication channel, devoid of any warmth.

"Thirty billion dollars, and he's hiding in a rat hole like this," Lu Chen said. "Wu Dong, is their network connection cut?"

Wu Dong's voice cut into the channel immediately. "Boss, the network is open, and the signal is stable. Their security level is a joke to us."

Lu Chen tapped his fingers on the desk. "Take over all the surveillance cameras in that rat hole. Cut off all video screen signals in three blocks of Manhattan. Put close-ups of these idiots on Times Square and the homepage of the international dark web."

"Understood. Done in thirty seconds." Wu Dong's fingers hammered away at the keyboard.

Although Steven couldn't understand the full Mandarin, he caught the English roots for "Times Square" and "Dark Web."

Extreme fear made him momentarily forget the excruciating pain in his ribs.

"Sir, what are you doing? I am a core peripheral of Freemasons. You can't kill me!" Steven struggled and screamed frantically. "This is a full-blown declaration of war. You will face joint retaliation from the global capital alliance. You won't be able to escape the United States."

Da Biao backhanded him with a heavy slap.

Half of Steven's face swelled up instantly, and several bloodied molars flew out.

The massive screen on the bunker wall suddenly flickered with static. The bounty list page was forcibly overwritten, instantly switching to a high-definition live broadcast.

Wu Dong's voice came through. "Boss, signal hijacking complete. The big screens in New York Times Square, all stock trading terminals on Wall Street, and the top of the dark web assassination list are now all featuring exclusive close-ups of our Brother Da Biao."

At this moment, countless passersby on the busy streets of Manhattan stopped in their tracks, watching in shock at this bizarre and violent scene on the massive plaza screens.

Hackers and top mercenaries on the dark web went wild. The comment section below the bounty page was flooded with tens of thousands of question marks in a single second.

Lu Chen's voice came through the communicator again, steady and extremely oppressive.

"Thirty billion dollars is such a waste," Lu Chen said unhurriedly. "Da Biao, is there any cash in that safe house?"

Da Biao turned to look at a pure steel combination door at the deepest part of the passage. "Yes. There's a big iron door locked. Judging by the thickness, it should be an underground vault."

"Tear it down," Lu Chen ordered.

Da Biao tilted his head, and two Exoskeleton Warriors immediately walked to the vault door.

Two pairs of large mechanical hands pried directly into the dead-end gaps of the vault door frame, and the hydraulic engines erupted at full power.

A scalp-tingling sound of metal tearing rang out. The dozen-ton pure steel combination door, along with the surrounding wall bricks, was ripped straight out, tearing the internal hinge bearings away.

With a loud boom, the door slammed onto the shattered floor.

The vault opened, revealing stacks of green cash piled neatly all the way to the ceiling. Countless gold bars shimmered with a charming luster under the lights.

Steven's eyes widened to their limit.

Da Biao dragged Steven roughly, strode to the pile of tons of cash, and threw him directly into the money pile.

"Boss, it's all one-hundred-dollar Franklins. By the ton," Da Biao said into the communicator. "How should I teach him to issue a bounty?"

Lu Chen's voice was absolutely cold.

"Live stream to the whole web. Hold his head down," Lu Chen said, each word very clear. "Make him eat his own bounty money."

Da Biao grinned and laughed aloud.

This smile, framed by the titanium alloy mask, appeared ferocious and fanatical.

Da Biao raised his left hand and pressed Steven's head down hard, pinning him firmly onto the pile of banknotes.

He extended the mechanical fingers of his right hand and roughly tore open a bank seal on a bundle of one hundred thousand dollars, picking up a thick stack of green bills that smelled strongly of ink.

Da Biao grabbed Steven's jaw and forcibly pried open his blood-filled mouth.

Da Biao shoved the stack of bills directly against Steven's teeth.

"Come on, old man. Eat up," Da Biao's voice echoed throughout the underground vault. "This is the last big meal of your life."