60: Chapter 60 A New Power Structure

"His welcome gift is the access control system for your outpost."

Forty-eight hours after saying those words, Yan Zheng's Mental Power had recovered to its maximum.

June 22nd, 5:10 AM.

Yan Zheng stood on the roof of the Antique Shop. The June morning breeze blew in from the west, carrying the smell of gunpowder and burning, lifting the hem of his jacket.

He kept his hands in his pockets, the lenses of his gold-rimmed glasses reflecting the patch of orange-red light on the distant skyline.

It wasn't sunrise.

It was the unextinguished fire from a building in the West Side.

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ˘ ᴗ ˘ ˵ )

"Kingpin's three-pronged encirclement is quite effective."

He pulled the small ledger from his pocket, flipped to the latest page, and took a look by the light of the half-dead solar lamp on the rooftop railing.

"According to the feedback from Material Perception, in the forty-eight hours from Saturday night until now, twenty-three new gray light spots have appeared in the West Side."

"Seven of them were within the recovery range of my Skeleton Soldier, and have already been collected."

"Kingpin's raid destroyed two small strongholds of The Hand on 55th Street and 48th Street, but there was no large-scale gathering of gray light spots in the direction of their main stronghold."

"This means Nogami's main force is still there."

Yan Zheng closed the ledger and stuffed it back into his pocket, his gaze sweeping across the gray skyline of Hell's Kitchen.

"This war is not over yet."

"Kingpin bruised The Hand, and The Hand bit Kingpin back; neither side has suffered any real damage."

"The war will continue, and the bodies will keep piling up."

"For me, this is the best possible scenario."

He turned and leaned against the concrete railing of the rooftop, closed his eyes, and scanned the status of his forces in the Underground Room with his Mental Power.

"Now, let's take inventory of my assets."

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ˘ ꒳ ˘ )

"Undead Knight Dawn, Rare grade, occupies three command slots."

"Ranged Photon Ray, Petrified Scale Armor defense, Adaptive Regeneration."

"My core output and strategic deterrent."

"Stitched Brute, Elite grade, occupies two command slots."

"Melee tank, strength-based front line, absorbs damage and draws aggro."

"Two Reinforced Skeleton Soldiers, each occupying one command slot."

"Reconnaissance, running errands, collecting bodies—all-purpose tools."

"Three plus two plus one plus one, a total of seven command slots. My Mental Power limit is 7.2, so I've maxed it out perfectly."

He opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth curling into a satisfied arc.

"Two months ago, when I picked up my first Skeleton Soldier in an alley, I had to take a detour if I encountered three thugs with baseball bats."

"And now?"

Yan Zheng tapped his fingers on the railing twice.

"The Knight's Photon Ray can penetrate three reinforced walls, the Brute can flatten a van into a metal pancake, and two Skeleton Soldiers are distributed within a 400-meter radius in the pipe system, acting as an all-weather surveillance network."

"With this configuration in Hell's Kitchen, taking on any of Kingpin's enforcer squads head-on is no problem."

"Ninjas from The Hand? I'm confident I can wipe out any group of fifteen or less."

"The Punisher? His gun can't penetrate the Knight's scale armor, and the Brute won't even lose its paint after taking a few shotgun blasts."

"Red Devil? His stick hitting the Knight's head is probably like scratching an itch."

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ≖ ω ≖ ˵ )

"I have already reached the very top of the food chain in Hell's Kitchen."

"At least in this territory, that is."

He took his phone out of his pocket to check the time: 5:23 AM. The sky was beginning to turn a pale fish-belly white.

Just as he was preparing to go downstairs, a sound swept over his head.

It wasn't a bird.

It was the sound of an engine.

A gold-red light trail streaked across the low altitude of Manhattan, at a height of about 300 meters. It wasn't moving fast; it didn't look like it was rushing, but rather patrolling.

Yan Zheng's footsteps stopped at the entrance to the roof.

He looked up, his gaze following the light trail until it disappeared into the skyline in the direction of the East River.

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ˘ ͈ ‸ ˘ ͈ )

"Iron Man."

"This is the third time this week."

He retreated to the railing, his fingers gripping the metal bars, his knuckles tightening by half an inch.

"The first two times, he was flying at high altitudes of over 5,000 meters in cruise mode, not paying attention to ground details."

"But this time, the flight altitude is only 300 meters, and the speed has clearly slowed down."

"This isn't commuting; this is reconnaissance."

Yan Zheng opened his phone and flipped to the news pushed early this morning.

Title: "Stark Industries 'Sky Shield Project' Enters Second Phase of Testing — Urban Security Surveillance System Coverage Expanded to All of Manhattan."

"The accompanying picture shows Tony Stark's grinning face at the press conference, with his bodyguard and driver standing next to him."

Yan Zheng read the news from beginning to end, his finger slowly sliding over the key information on the screen: "The second phase of testing includes an abnormal energy source scanning function for the range within 30 meters below the surface."

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ⌓ ꐦ )

"Thirty meters below the surface."

"My Underground Room is twelve meters below the surface."

"The Dark Energy fluctuations released by Undead Knight Dawn's phosphorus fire in its dormant state, while weak, definitely exist."

"If Stark's sensor precision is high enough, could he detect it?"

Yan Zheng locked his phone, stuffed it back into his pocket, and turned to face the iron door on the roof leading downstairs.

"It's a matter of probability."

"Stark's sensors are designed for large targets, such as underground nuclear facilities or large-scale weapon depots."

"The bit of Dark Energy fluctuation in my Underground Room might be like a mouse sneezing to him."

"But the probability is not zero."

"And as the Undead army expands, the total amount of energy radiation will continue to grow."

"Today it's a mouse sneezing, tomorrow it might be a group of mice holding a concert."

Yan Zheng pulled open the iron door and walked into the stairwell, his footsteps echoing in the narrow space.

"I need to retrofit the Underground Room with energy shielding."

"Minimize the leakage of Dark Energy so that Stark's sensors can't scan anything."

"How?"

He walked back behind the first-floor counter and traced his finger around that imitation blue-and-white porcelain bowl.

"Those dark patterns on the ritual skeletons of The Hand's ninjas are essentially a type of occult inscription."

"If I can get enough inscription materials and carve an isolation array on the walls of the Underground Room, theoretically, I can seal the Dark Energy radiation inside."

"Source of materials?"

Yan Zheng's gaze fell on the locked drawer under the counter.

"The Hand's strongholds."

"If their ritual rooms have a large amount of inscription materials, then I have one more reason to raid their strongholds."

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ✧ ꒳ ✧ ˵ )

He leaned against the counter, watching the streets outside the glass door gradually brighten, the corners of his mouth curving into a very faint arc.

"I've already touched the ceiling of Hell's Kitchen."

"But above the ceiling is the whole of New York."

"Above New York is Tony Stark's 300-meter patrol route."

"A larger World is looking over."

"I need to hide myself well before they see clearly."

Yan Zheng withdrew his gaze from outside the window and looked down at the news picture of Iron Man on his phone screen.

The gold-red armor reflected dazzling light in the Sun, like a flying idol.

"Mr. Stark, your armor is beautiful."

"But I have no interest in metal skeletons for now."

"When I develop a desire to collect Vibranium alloy skeletons one day, we can have a good chat then."

"For now, though."

He placed his phone face down on the counter and turned toward the hidden door leading to the Underground Room.

"Let's take care of what's in front of us first."

"The Hand's strongholds, the E.S.S. outpost—I have to eat these two pieces of fat one by one."

"Eat the close one first, then the far one."

"Eat The Hand first."

Yan Zheng opened the hidden door and stood at the top of the stairs, looking down.

Deep in the Underground Room, the green-gold phosphorus fire of Undead Knight Dawn flickered quietly in the darkness, like an inextinguishable signal light in the deep sea.

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ˘ ꈊ ˘ ˵ )

"Mr. Knight, are you awake?"

The phosphorus fire flickered twice.

"Starting tomorrow, we're going to do something big."

"We're going to raid a ninja's lair."

"There are good things waiting for us inside."