138: The Prelude to Chaos

"In my port, Hecate's port, who gave you the audacity?"

Hecate's voice seemed to carry a physical weight, pressing down until everyone present felt their breathing hitch.

The three factions formed a terrifying and fragile balance.

Ahead, the Shadow Chaser-J Agents had re-established a seamless fan-shaped encirclement, their gazes behind tactical helmets cold as ice.

Behind, Aris Thorne let out a sickly chuckle; in his eyes, there were no enemies, only Chen Feng and Eve—two "perfect experimental subjects" about to be laid upon the dissection table.

Overhead were the cold muzzles of cannons representing the absolute authority of Tartarus Free Port.

"Boss, let's fight them!" Reno crouched low, his muscles bulging, his voice a death-defying roar. "Kill one to break even, kill two to make a profit!"

"Shut up!" Chen Feng pressed down hard on his shoulder, his nails nearly digging into Reno's flesh.

His brain was racing at an unprecedented speed.

J wanted them alive. He needed the complete 'Mastermind' and 'Technical Core'.

Aris wanted specimens. Dead or alive didn't matter, but he would never let anyone else lay a finger on them.

Hecate wanted order. More accurately, she wanted to maintain the order of her tax collection; any disruptor was her enemy.

Their goals were different.

This was the only flaw!

"Reno," Chen Feng's voice was fast as a machine gun yet exceptionally clear, "Listen for my command. Prepare to break through toward the second-floor platform of that building on the left! When I say 'jump,' you jump immediately!"

"But Boss..."

"No buts!"

Chen Feng took a sudden deep breath and then, with all his might, screamed hysterically toward Aris Thorne behind him:

"Aris Thorne! You idiot!"

This shout instantly drew everyone's attention.

J's brow furrowed slightly, not understanding what madness had gripped the prey before death.

"The Omni-Dimensional Trade Alliance sent them here specifically to seize all your research data on 'sample zero'!" Chen Feng pointed at J's troops, his voice full of provocation. "They want to monopolize your results! Your crown! Your everything!"

"What?" Aris Thorne's laughter stopped abruptly.

"Did you think they were here to help you?!" Chen Feng continued to roar. "Look at them! They are the elites of the Alliance Security Department! They're here to snatch the fruits of your labor! They'll 'clean up' you along with your laboratory and then claim all your credit as their own!"

This lie was like a red-hot branding iron, precisely searing Aris's paranoid and suspicious nerves!

"No... No! This is mine! It's all mine!" Aris Thorne flew into an instant rage, veins bulging on his face. "Thieves! Liars! No one will take my discovery!"

"Activate 'Guardian' protocol! Authorization: Maximum!" he roared frantically into his terminal.

Vroom—!

Accompanied by the piercing sound of machinery starting up, the walls of several surrounding buildings suddenly split open. Dozens of hideous-looking private defense robots charged out, their crimson electronic eyes ignoring friend or foe as they indiscriminately poured dense firepower toward the Shadow Chaser-J Agent forces!

"Fire! Return fire!" J was both shocked and enraged; he had never expected this mad scholar to be hiding such a trump card.

The two sides exchanged fire instantly, and the sound of explosions tore through the fragile standoff!

And this completely ignited the fury of the final person.

"To use force in my port..."

Hecate's voice rang out through the fleet broadcast, cold and devoid of emotion.

"You are seeking your own deaths!"

The order was given.

The ventral turrets of several patrol ships fired simultaneously! Devastating energy beams struck without hesitation, like God's whip of wrath, lashing out at both Aris's robots and J's Agent positions!

Hecate's goal was not mediation, but to use the most violent means to erase everyone disrupting her business, along with the trash they had caused, from the face of the earth!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

"Ah!"

"Damn it! Return fire on both sides!" J's troops were caught in a pincer movement and forced to fire back at both Aris and Hecate's fleet.

A chaotic melee involving all three parties broke out completely!

The light of explosions and shockwaves instantly engulfed the entire square.

"Now!" Chen Feng shouted at the stunned Reno and the others.

He pointed toward a giant, open-air cargo platform nearby that was slowly descending.

"There! Jump!"

He hoisted the still-dazed Eve onto his shoulder in one go; the rough movement elicited a whimper from her.

"Cover them!" Reno reacted instantly, roaring as he and the few remaining soldiers used their last ammunition to fire wildly into the chaotic battlefield.

"Jump!"

Chen Feng was the first to rush to the edge of the platform and leap!

Reno and the others followed close behind.

Just as they landed heavily on the metal platform, a stray bullet from nowhere precisely hit the platform's suspension control system!

Creeeak—!

The platform jolted violently as all stabilization devices failed instantly.

At a speed far exceeding the norm, accompanied by a piercing metallic wail, it plummeted straight down toward the bottomless, neon-blurred lower structures of the port!

"Hold on tight!" Reno roared.

They had temporarily escaped that place of death.

But the price was that their figures were now completely exposed to the gaze of countless eyes throughout the entire port.