14: Chapter 14 The First Disciple, The Executioner Returns to His Post

In the dead-end alley, rain washed away the blood covering the ground.

Frank Castle lowered his head, staring intently at the dark red Ion Laser Gun at his feet. The muzzle still emitted a faint, eerie blue glow, and the car wreckage nearby had completely melted into a pool of molten iron.

He didn't ask where the gun came from, nor did he ask what kind of monster Lynn really was.

For a retired veteran who had lost his wife and daughter and been betrayed by the entire justice system, none of that mattered.

What he wanted was to send every last one of those scumbags hiding behind bulletproof glass and in luxury Villas to hell. Compared to a criminal empire like Kingpin's, his conventional weapons were too inefficient.

Frank bent down and picked up the alien handgun.

It felt cold to the touch, lacking the weight of traditional firearms, and the grip fit his palm perfectly. There was no safety, no magazine—only pure destructive energy.

"What are your terms?" Frank looked up, his eyes as calm as stagnant Water.

"Clean up this city."

Lynn turned toward the alley entrance. "Any enemy I mark, you are responsible for killing them all. I don't need prisoners, and I don't need confessions. I only want bodies."

"I don't care who they are." Frank slotted the laser gun into the holster on his thigh, pulled out a spare dagger from his lower back, and walked expressionlessly toward the mercenary's corpse on the ground. "As long as they're guilty."

"In my territory, I am the law."

Lynn's voice drifted through the curtain of rain.

Frank didn't argue. He crouched down, raised his blade, and severed the head of the dead mercenary leader, carrying it in his hand.

This was his tribute to his new boss.

And a return gift for Kingpin.

...

Half an hour later. On the edge of Hells Kitchen.

Frank followed Lynn, pushing open the dilapidated wooden doors of the abandoned Gothic church.

As soon as he stepped into the hall, Frank's gaze swept past the mess on the floor and landed on two large black canvas bags in front of the altar. The bags were open, revealing stacks of hundred-dollar bills.

At least several million U.S. dollars.

Then, he saw the large inverted triangle symbol painted in blood on the wall behind the altar.

The blood had dried into a dark red, exuding an oppressive aura of hostility.

"This is the Crimson Court."

Lynn walked to the altar and casually kicked a bag of U.S. dollars to Frank's feet. "Use the money inside to upgrade your tactical gear and buy intelligence. That laser gun is too powerful; it's easy to accidentally injure yourself in tight spaces. You need better individual armor."

Frank glanced at the money on the floor and didn't refuse.

"I need a bulletproof armored vehicle and a top-tier tactical communication network." Frank stepped on the bleeding head and scanned the empty church. "The defenses here are too weak. No cover, no infrared tripwires. If surrounded by heavy firepower, this place is a sitting duck."

"There's no need for defense here."

Lynn found a relatively intact bench, sat down, and closed his eyes. "Anyone who dares walk through those doors has only one path: death."

Frank shook his head. He was a pure tactician and didn't believe in blind confidence. He turned toward the church's bell tower, intending to establish a high-point observation post first.

However, the moment he turned around.

"Whirr—!"

A sharp, tearing sound suddenly echoed through the air.

That wasn't an ordinary gunshot; it was a sonic boom from a bullet breaking the sound barrier!

Frank's combat instincts immediately flared, and he lunged to the ground.

"Crash!"

A stained-glass window on the side of the church shattered instantly.

A specialized 12.7mm tungsten steel armor-piercing sniper round, carrying devastating kinetic energy, shot into the church with unerring precision.

The target wasn't Frank.

It was Lynn, who was resting with his eyes closed on the bench.

"Bang!"

A dull thud of impact.

The sniper round hit Lynn's right Sun temple squarely.

A massive burst of kinetic energy exploded. Lynn's head was jerked violently to the left by the terrifying force.

"Lynn!" Frank drew his laser gun with one hand and quickly searched for cover. Against that caliber of armor-piercing round, even a Kevlar helmet would result in an instant headshot.

But in the next second, Frank's movements froze.

On the bench.

Lynn slowly turned his head, straightening his neck.

On his right Sun temple, there was only a faint White mark. The tungsten sniper bullet, capable of shooting through an infantry armored vehicle, was completely deformed and twisted, dropping onto the wooden floor like a piece of scrap metal with a crisp "clink."

Lynn opened his eyes. In his black pupils, a violent killing intent surged out like something physical.

He wasn't dead. He hadn't even broken the skin.

...

Four hundred meters away, on the roof of an unfinished building.

In the torrential rain, a thin man lay in a puddle, his right eye pressed firmly against the scope of a modified Barrett M82A1 sniper rifle.

On his forehead was a conspicuous target tattoo.

Kingpin's top assassin, Bullseye.

Bullseye looked at the image in the scope, and the habitual playful smirk on his lips completely froze.

"Damn it..."

Bullseye's fingers trembled slightly. He was certain he hadn't missed; he had even calculated the wind speed and rain resistance. The bullet had hit the target's Sun temple perfectly.

But what did he just see?

The target had shrugged off an anti-materiel sniper round, then turned his head and looked precisely at the building where he was located, through four hundred meters of rainy night!

"A monster. A real monster."

Bullseye licked his lips, a morbid madness welling up in his eyes. He pushed the sniper rifle aside and pressed his earpiece.

"Sniper attempt failed. The target has extremely high physical defense; a one-shot kill is impossible."

Bullseye's voice crackled over the comms channel, filled with an intense bloodlust. "Execute Plan B. Heavy fire assault."

On the dark streets surrounding the church.

Thirty bulletproof-modified black Ford SUVs instantly switched on their blinding headlights.

Over a hundred gang elites, wearing black body armor and armed with various heavy weapons, swarmed out of the vehicles like a tide, surrounding the abandoned church.

They had received only one order: blast this church and everyone inside into smithereens.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The remaining doors and windows of the church were kicked open instantly. Dozens of blinding tactical flashlight beams cut through the darkness inside.

"Fire!"

Gunfire erupted.

Behind the bench, Frank checked the energy bar of his laser gun, his eyes showing no fear, only extreme focus.

Meanwhile, Lynn slowly stood up from the bench.

The crimson blood watch on his left wrist, after a long cooldown, finally fully awakened. The inverted triangle symbol burst with a bloodthirsty red glow in the dark.

"I was just worrying about not being able to find high-level genes."

Lynn cracked his neck, his bones popping. "And here you are, delivering yourselves to my door."