238: Chapter 238 Cutting Off the Fire at the Bottom of the Blade

Da Biao's blade swung down, the dark red edge emitting a piercing shriek, the frenzied Death Squad Soldier's eyes almost completely obscured by black blood.

The moment the blade made contact with the Death Squad Soldier's neck, it stopped.

The frenzied Death Squad Soldier's hands, covered in minced flesh, gripped the back of the high-frequency vibration blade tightly; three of his ten fingers were severed on the spot.

He completely ignored his severed fingers, his teeth shattering halfway.

In that second, the system's "100% Absolute Loyalty" attribute took direct control of his brain, forcefully suppressing the excruciating pain that would have destroyed the sanity of any carbon-based lifeform with a physical-level loyalty command.

A large mouthful of black, purulent blood sprayed from the Death Squad Soldier's throat.

"Captain." The Death Squad Soldier's voice was completely distorted.

"Don't hack, I can suppress it."

He abruptly released the blade and clutched his own head tightly with both hands, slamming his head forcefully against the explosion-proof concrete floor.

Once, twice; the floor was smashed into a bloody pit.

Da Biao flipped his wrist, and the high-frequency vibration combat blade slid back into the tactical slot on his waist.

Da Biao gasped for air, kneeling on his right knee, as the genetic restructuring within his own body reached its absolute breaking point.

"Did you all hear that?" Da Biao roared with his last ounce of strength.

"No one is allowed to die! If even one of you dies, I'll still kick your balls in when we get down there."

Two thousand people simultaneously let out a muffled roar of extreme agony.

Three hours later.

The steam inside the underground air-raid shelter gradually dissipated, the emergency lights on the ceiling emitting a pale, cold light, and the ground was covered with densely packed bodies in complete silence.

Wei Jianguo hid behind a hydraulic cart, his legs trembling constantly.

He clutched a data readout board tightly in his hand, the red light on it still flashing frantically.

"It's over." Wei Jianguo's lips trembled. "They've all stopped moving."

Splash.

In a pool of ankle-deep water to Wei Jianguo's front-right, a massive figure suddenly sat up. It was Da Biao.

Da Biao rubbed his eyes and looked down at his hands; the old skin on his arms cracked and fell off.

The newly formed skin displayed a dark cyan metallic luster, and the veins no longer bulged, having completely vanished into the terrifyingly dense muscle fibers.

Da Biao stood up, his height increasing once more, and two thousand people also climbed up from the puddles one after another.

No one made a sound; only the sound of two thousand heavy, explosive breaths echoed throughout the venue.

"This physique." Da Biao clenched his right fist, a series of dense cracking sounds erupting from his knuckles.

"Old Wei, you didn't lie to me."

Zhang Qiang walked over from the side, reaching out to peel a piece of dead skin off his chest.

"Captain, I feel like I have endless energy, and my heart is beating like a drum."

Da Biao glanced at the fifty-centimeter-thick explosion-proof load-bearing pillar next to the podium.

"Let's test it." Da Biao walked over.

He didn't perform any wind-up motion, his feet didn't even shift into a stance; relying purely on the explosive power of his right arm, he punched the center of the load-bearing pillar.

Boom.

The air-raid shelter shook violently, and dust fell from the ceiling in flurries.

The solid pillar, cast from high-grade concrete mixed with rebar, was punched straight through on the spot, a bowl-sized hole appearing in the column.

The shattered rebar ends curled backward.

Da Biao pulled his hand back and opened his palm; not even a scratch was on it.

Zhang Qiang's eyes nearly popped out. "You didn't activate your Exoskeleton."

Da Biao was stunned for a few seconds himself, then burst into wild laughter.

Wei Jianguo poked half his body out from behind the cart, holding the readout board in his hand.

"Basic individual thrust is 3.5 tons!" Wei Jianguo shrieked, his voice cracking.

"Bone hardness is five times that of high-carbon steel; you monsters, your current bodies are even more perverted than the basic Exoskeleton you usually wear."

The entire venue instantly erupted; the Death Squad Soldiers began frantically brawling to test their strength, each collision of fist and flesh sounding like a muffled drumbeat.

That frenzied Death Squad Soldier walked up to Wei Jianguo; his severed fingers had completely stopped bleeding, and the bone and flesh were regrowing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Old Wei." The Death Squad Soldier rubbed his shriveled stomach. "Do you have anything to eat? I want to eat meat."

Wei Jianguo rolled his eyes. "Eat meat, my ass."

Wei Jianguo turned and pulled a black canvas bag out of a crate, untying the knot to reveal black, high-energy nutrient bars inside.

He grabbed a handful and threw it over. "Eat these. From today on, rice, vegetables, and braised pork are completely off-limits to you. Your digestive systems will only absorb high-dimensional energy; if you eat normal food, you'll vomit it up immediately."

The Death Squad Soldier caught a nutrient bar and bit into it. It was hard and had no flavor at all.

"This thing is hard and tasteless." The Death Squad Soldier frowned.

Da Biao walked over and grabbed two, stuffing them into his mouth and chewing them raw. "As long as it gives you energy, who cares if it tastes good or bad? The boss doesn't spend money to raise useless trash."

A dull opening sound suddenly came from the direction of the metal door. The heavy airtight door slid open to the sides.

Lu Chen walked in, stepping through the accumulated water on the floor, raindrops still clinging to his black jacket from outside.

He was still holding that cheap plastic lighter in his hand; click, sparks jumped, and Lu Chen lit a cigarette.

"Boss." Da Biao immediately stood at attention.

Two thousand Death Squad Soldiers simultaneously stopped what they were doing, turned around, and stood straight.

Two thousand gazes of extreme fanaticism locked onto Lu Chen; the pressure from this level of aura would make an ordinary person's legs go weak with just one look.

Lu Chen's expression didn't change at all; he slowly exhaled a puff of blue smoke and walked onto the podium.

"None of you died." Lu Chen's gaze swept over Da Biao's broken and reconnected fingernails. "Hardy lives."

Da Biao grinned. "The boss's medicine is potent. These brothers can now tear apart armored vehicles with their bare hands; we're ready to take on jobs at any time."

Lu Chen nodded. "The people from the Jiangnan General Chamber of Commerce are still waiting to see me make a fool of myself, and a million people are waiting for rice to put in the pot."

Zhang Qiang stepped forward abruptly. "Boss, give me a hundred brothers, and I'll kill my way to Zhongzhou immediately, smash through those grain suppliers' warehouses, and seize all the train cars back."

"Snatching that loose rice isn't worth the effort." Lu Chen flicked the ash from his cigarette. "The Four Major Grain Merchants cut off my supply channels, so I'm going to cut off their roots."

Lu Chen turned his head to look at Wei Jianguo. "Turn on the equipment, get Old Wu online."

Wei Jianguo immediately tapped the console, and a holographic projection screen lit up in the center of the air-raid shelter.

Wu Dong's voice came from the speakers. "Boss, the target locations are set."

A satellite map of Southeast Asia appeared on the big screen, with three large red boxes marking coastal Deepwater Port cities.

"The Jiangnan General Chamber of Commerce dares to choke me because this is where their confidence lies." Lu Chen pointed at the screen. "Three ultra-large strategic transit grain warehouses in Southeast Asia; sixty percent of The Four Major Grain Merchants' inventory in the Asian region is piled up in there."

Da Biao squinted at the screen. Lu Chen tapped his fingers on the screen.

"They cut off my road, so I'm going to go eat their big accounts."

Wu Dong added intelligence in the channel. "Listen clearly, brothers: these three grain warehouses are extremely heavily guarded. The perimeter is fenced with four-meter-high electrified barbed wire, and each one is defended by over five hundred fully armed private mercenaries. Heavy machine guns and grenade launchers are standard, and there are even several light armored vehicles on patrol."

Zhang Qiang snorted coldly. "A few broken guns and five hundred ragtag soldiers? They aren't even enough to fill our gaps between our teeth."

"So, there's no need to wear mechs." Lu Chen turned around and looked at Da Biao. "Your bones are more useful than sheet metal now; wearing an Exoskeleton makes the target too big, and you won't get through customs."

Da Biao was stunned. "The boss means..."

"Break into smaller units," Lu Chen ordered. "Old Zhou has already arranged three thousand legal tourist passports for you. You will fly to Southeast Asia in batches, and after landing, you will rendezvous there."

Lu Chen extinguished his cigarette butt, his voice becoming extremely cold. "In two days, I want these three warehouses turned upside down, and every single grain of rice transported back to Jiangcheng Deepwater Port."

"Boss, what if we get blocked by their local army at the port?" Zhang Qiang asked.

Lu Chen's eyes turned completely cold. "Don't pay protection money, don't pay tolls; if anyone dares to block the cargo ships, kill them all."

The temperature in the air-raid shelter plummeted. Wei Jianguo swallowed hard; if these two thousand monsters with an individual thrust of 3.5 tons really let loose and started killing in Southeast Asia, those three port cities would definitely turn into a slaughterhouse overnight.

"What if we can't bring it back?" Da Biao looked up at Lu Chen.

Lu Chen dropped the cigarette butt and crushed it with his leather shoe. "If you can't bring it back, burn it all to the ground right there."

Lu Chen turned and walked toward the door. "If we don't have food to eat, nobody eats. I'll make their grain market in Asia collapse completely."

The heavy metal door closed again. Da Biao looked at the three red coordinate points on the holographic screen, rotating his neck, his bones crackling.

"Did you hear the boss's orders clearly?" Da Biao turned to face the two thousand Death Squad Soldiers and roared.

"Heard them clearly!" Two thousand people roared in unison, the sound wave causing dust from the ceiling of the air-raid shelter to fall again.

"Go back to the dorms, shower, and change clothes." Da Biao drew the tactical knife from the side of his thigh and toyed with it.

"The Jiangnan General Chamber of Commerce wants to starve us to death." Da Biao pulled his lips into an extremely brutal, savage grin. "I'm taking you all over there right now to tear their grain warehouses apart."