422: The captain is furious! Activate the Sweeper Squad!

Chapter 414: The Irate Captain! Activating the Sweeper Squad!

Great Eagle Federation, an eastern industrial city.

Around nine in the evening, 101 Benning Street, like a festering scar, lay deep within the dilapidated urban area.

Recently fallen rain mixed with unknown murky liquids, forming puddles of blackish-brown on the uneven concrete road.

The air was filled with a pungent mixed scent – rotting garbage, cheap alcohol, the stench of urine, and the smell of dead rats.

On both sides of the street, abandoned shops had their windows boarded up, while in the relatively “sheltered” corners and under eaves, the city's forgotten bodies huddled.

Wrapped in blankets or cardboard that had long lost their original color, exuding strong body odor and a musty smell, were various figures.

Addicts with hollow eyes, trembling as they hugged their knees.

Homeless people with disheveled hair, piling all their belongings next to their shopping carts, and some idle black guys whose gazes roamed the street corners.

These homeless people were like discarded, worn-out parcels, scattered on the cold street, sharing this corner abandoned by the prosperous world with the occasional scurrying rat.

Dong... Dong... Dong... The sound of a cane lightly tapping the ground echoed unhurriedly through the murky air of Benning Street, carrying a peculiar rhythm that pierced through the mumbled deliriums of the addicts and the heavy snores of the homeless.

A figure slowly walked along the boundary between the streetlights and the darkness.

The old man wore a crisp, dark Chinese tunic suit, his figure as straight as a pine, completely out of place amidst the surrounding decay and desolation.

The dim, flickering light of the streetlamp spilled onto him, outlining a hazy and mystical halo.

Lu Xuan stopped, his eyes slightly raised.

On the severely rusted street sign to his left, the words “101 Benning Street” were faintly discernible beneath brown stains.

There was no superfluous expression on his face; he simply raised his hand slowly and took out a meticulously folded slip of paper from his inner chest pocket.

The paper unfolded, revealing clear handwriting in ink: 45 Benning Street.

His gaze briefly swept between the paper and the street sign, and Lu Xuan's eyes shimmered with a faint light.

“Hmm, this is the place,” he muttered softly, without a trace of surprise in his tone.

Lu Xuan had not taken a wrong turn; he had deliberately come to this mixed and chaotic Benning Street, adjacent to his target location.

According to intelligence, the three patriotic scientific researchers would depart from the house at 45 Benning Street tomorrow.

His core mission this time was not overt close protection, but to remain hidden in the shadows, acting as a final safeguard.

He had set up informants in this lawless land; if the return journey proceeded smoothly, he would quietly disappear.

However, if the Great Eagle Federation dared to make a move in the dark, the moment the escort team encountered an accident would be when Lu Xuan, this “Divine Soul Stabilizer,” would draw his sword.

At the moment the enemy believed they had succeeded and their guard was lowest, he would strike a fatal blow and turn the tide.

After putting away the paper, Lu Xuan gripped his cane, his steps steady, and slowly merged into the deeper shadows of 101 Benning Street.

Meanwhile, two National Art Grandmasters who had been invited and had already reached the Major Achievement of Transcendent Realm had already met with the three meritorious scientific researchers.

Their location was 45 Benning Street, which belonged to the same street numbering as the slum area where Lu Xuan stood, but they were distinctly two different worlds.

On the opposite side, 45 Benning Street was a well-planned, tree-lined affluent area, separated from the dirty and chaotic 101 Benning Street slum by a river, with a direct distance of less than one kilometer.

A river, not wide but with murky water, acted like a clear boundary, dividing Heaven and Hell.

On the other side of the river, exquisite small villas were scattered in an orderly fashion, carefully surrounded and protected by white fences and lush greenery, brightly lit, quiet, and peaceful.

Lu Xuan stood in a shadow, his gaze sweeping over the dilapidated street below, past the river that symbolized the boundary.

His Baodan Realm cultivation granted him visual capabilities far beyond ordinary people.

Therefore, Lu Xuan could clearly see the marked villa on the opposite bank, and the figures occasionally moving in the windows.

He could even vaguely sense the vigorous Qi and blood that the two Grandmasters of Transcendent Major Achievement deliberately suppressed, as well as the unique aura of ordinary people emanating from the three scientific researchers.

With two National Art Grandmasters of Transcendent Major Achievement openly stationed and Lu Xuan, a Grandmaster of Baodan, covertly providing support, everything was arranged to ensure absolute safety.

Today was Lu Xuan's third day in the Great Eagle Federation, and he understood the rules of this area perfectly.

The Federal Police here were merely a facade; law and order largely relied on community self-governance—or rather, on whoever held greater power.

These past few days, Lu Xuan, relying on his extraordinary movement techniques and keen perception of Qi, could effortlessly hide in various forgotten corners, avoiding all unnecessary trouble.

The next moment, Lu Xuan slowly walked towards the end of the street, where a small patch of neglected woodland, abandoned during urban development, lay.

Though not dense, it was sufficient to provide temporary shelter.

For him, resting overnight on sturdy tree branches was far safer than mingling on the streets.

After all, the addicts and Gang members who dominated the streets wouldn't care if you were an old man.

They acted purely on impulse; if they were in a good mood, they would only rob; if they were in a bad mood, it would be robbery followed by an unwarranted beating.

Especially towards faces like his, from the East, discrimination and malice were almost blatant and unconcealed.

In fact, just two days prior, several groups of ill-intentioned “foreign devils” had tried to treat him as an easy target, an “Oriental fat sheep,” in the dead of night.

The result, naturally, was that they bit off more than they could chew; they didn't even touch Lu Xuan's clothes before silently collapsing in a dark alley.

They only struggled to get up by noon the next day, not even understanding what had happened to them.

Lu Xuan had no intention of getting overly entangled with these bottom-feeder scumbags; his actions were very measured, merely administering a slight punishment, incapacitating them without harming their lives.

As night deepened, Lu Xuan's figure subtly moved, silently disappearing into the shadows of the woods, his aura merging with the surrounding natural environment.

Just as his aura slightly subsided, and he lightly tapped the ground with his toes, intending to leap onto a branch—

Suddenly, Lu Xuan's peripheral vision caught sight of a white car silently gliding out from the shadows surrounding the villa at 45 Benning Street on the opposite bank of the river.

It had no lights on, and its engine sound was extremely suppressed, as it began to slowly cruise along the street outside the villa.

The speed was perfectly controlled, neither attracting attention nor hindering clear observation of the surroundings.

Its posture was not like someone looking for a parking spot, but more like a cautious leopard, repeatedly circling before launching a fatal strike.

Confirming the situation of the hunting ground, eliminating any potential risks or watchful eyes.

Lu Xuan's poised leap instantly froze; he suppressed all his aura, his gaze fixed on the white car through the gaps in the trees.

Benning Street 45 Villa, Living Room

Soft lighting dispelled the night outside the window; the atmosphere in the living room was serene.

The three scientific researchers—two men and one woman, with an average age of around thirty, all neatly dressed, with glasses perched on their noses, exuding a strong scholarly aura.

At this moment, their faces showed genuine gratitude and a hint of almost imperceptible apology.

One of the male researchers, wearing black-rimmed glasses, spoke as their representative, his tone sincere: “Two Great Masters, you have worked hard to personally travel across the ocean to meet us.”

“We are just ordinary people; it truly troubles the country, and we are also indebted to your hard work.”

Sitting opposite them were two distinguished elderly individuals.

One wore a snow-white silk training suit, and the other wore a well-ironed black Tang suit with subtle patterns, looking particularly eye-catching in this modern living room in a foreign land.

And this attire itself was a silent declaration.

The Dragon Country intended to use such highly symbolic Eastern clothing to explicitly warn the Great Eagle Federation.

We have come to pick up our people personally, and those who have come are by no means ordinary.

This was an overt strategy, a display of strength.

However, this seemingly high-profile appearance was only one part of the entire plan.

The deeper strategic intent was to coordinate with Lu Xuan, who was currently hidden in the shadows of the slum across the river.

The two Grandmasters of Transcendent Major Achievement were in the open, attracting all potential attention and reconnaissance efforts.

The more conspicuous they were, the more the Great Eagle Federation's intelligence agencies would focus their energy on them.

Thereby greatly increasing the probability of overlooking the true “Divine Soul Stabilizer,” Lu Xuan.

To openly repair the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang path.

These two Grandmasters of Transcendent Major Achievement, though their hair was white and their faces etched with wrinkles, were full of vigor, with sharp glints in their eyes.

At this moment, they sat upright on the sofa, their posture as straight as pines.

Within their aged bodies, there were no exaggerated, bulging muscles like those of Western bodybuilders.

Instead, there were fluid, lean, and restrained muscles, like refined steel tempered a thousand times.

Seemingly ordinary, yet every inch of flesh and blood contained terrifying explosive power and long-lasting Qi far exceeding those bulky individuals.

This was the external manifestation of cultivating National Art to the Major Achievement of Transcendent Realm, where control over Qi and blood reached the Transcendent state.

The white-robed elder smiled faintly upon hearing this, his voice calm yet full of vigor: “Doctors, you speak too highly.”

“You are the treasures of the nation; ensuring your safe return is of utmost importance and our duty.”

His gaze inadvertently swept over the deep night outside the window, and he added: “There may be twists and turns on this journey, but please rest assured, with us here, we will protect your safety.”

Outside the villa, inside the white car that Lu Xuan had marked as suspicious, smoke billowed!

“Fuck you!”

In the passenger seat, a blond man with a fleshy face fiercely stubbed out the cigarette in his hand, cursing with spittle flying.

“After we finish this job, I really want to take this cigar and shove it right up that son of a bitch captain’s ass! Let him taste what it’s like to get butt-raped!”

In the driver’s seat, another blond man, built like a bear, was checking the weapons he wore. Without raising his head, he growled impatiently, “Save your bullshit, Mike!”

“Jackson, have you finished yet? Hurry up and hand me my ‘Sweetheart’!”

In the back seat, a dark-skinned black man and a mixed-race strongman were skillfully assembling several shotguns with sawed-off barrels and several pistols.

The mixed-race man, called Jackson, handed a loaded heavy pistol to the front, baring a mouthful of white teeth, his smile filled with cruelty.

“Hold onto your Sweetheart, Boss, this gun will surely make those Dragon people ecstatic.”

The four men in the car all carried an indelible aura of veteran ruthlessness from the battlefield; anyone with a discerning eye could tell they were individuals who had experienced the smoke of war.

As luck would have it, the secret mission they had received this time was to disguise themselves as high addicts and out-of-control mental patients, and launch a large-scale shooting attack on the villa at 45 Benning Street.

Afterward, someone would help them to make this incident look like a home invasion murder.

“Why don’t these damn people stay in our Great Eagle Federation?”

“They are just a bunch of thieves and scammers who stole our technology!”

“It’s really damn infuriating!” Mike complained incessantly, holding his gun.

He mixed his prejudice with his fear of the mission’s risks, turning them into vicious curses.

This mission was no small matter; the target location was protected by top Dragon experts, and they knew full well that they were likely just cannon fodder sent to their deaths.

Therefore, these desperadoes not only cursed their superiors to Hell but also poured their endless malice onto the three targets they had never met.

The white sedan’s engine rumbled low, carrying a car full of malevolence and murderous intent, slowly merging into the night of Benning Street.

Five minutes passed.

The white sedan did not drive towards the gate of the villa area, which was equipped with an access control System.

Instead, about a hundred meters from the entrance, on a relatively quiet and clean concrete road, it was forced to a sudden stop by a black figure that abruptly appeared in front of its headlights!

“Screech—!”

The piercing sound of emergency brakes tore through the night’s tranquility.

“Holy crap! F**k you! Boss! How the Hell are you driving?!”

In the back seat of the car, two fully armed foreigners were thrown violently forward by the inertia of the sudden brake.

Their automatic rifles, scattered bullets, and their own bodies all crashed into the back of the front seats.

The foreigner on the right was even more unlucky; his entire face directly made “intimate contact” with the cold barrel of the heavy rifle in his arms.

The excruciating pain of a broken nose instantly struck, and warm blood immediately gushed from his nostrils and brow bone, smearing half his face.

The sharp pain and shock made him lose his mind instantly, and he instinctively cursed, not even sparing his boss who was driving.

Under the dim streetlights, the clean road, and the beams of the car’s headlights were fixed on the black figure blocking the middle of the road, as if appearing out of thin air.

“All of you shut the Hell up! If you make another sound, I don’t mind using a gun barrel to ram each of your asses!”

A rough reprimand instantly overpowered the curses inside the car. When the two foreigners in the back seat recovered from the sharp pain and confusion, wiping away the nosebleed that obscured their vision.

Only then did they see the appearance of the blocker in the car’s headlights.

An old man dressed in a black Zhongshan suit, leaning on a seemingly ordinary walking stick, stood expressionlessly in the center of the light beam.

It would have been better if they hadn’t looked, but once they saw this typical face and that irritatingly calm expression, the foreigners in the car became even more enraged.

“Damn it! It’s these persistent… people again!”

“I really want to smear their calm faces with shit!” a foreigner cursed viciously in a low voice inside the car.

“Damn it, if it weren’t for the mission, I’d go down right now and break his old bones one by one!” another foreigner echoed.

“Huh? Wait, where is he? Where did that Lao Jiahuo (Old fellow) with the walking stick go just now?”

The foreigners in the car finally recovered from the sharp pain and cursing.

Only then did they realize that the black figure blocking the car’s headlights, the old man in the Zhongshan suit with the walking stick, had disappeared!

Just as they were in doubt and scanning their surroundings.

Bang!

A faint, almost imperceptible crisp sound.

Outside the car window next to the driver’s seat, an aged finger, yet containing an indescribable power, suddenly pressed against the cold car window glass.

The next instant, the sturdy bulletproof glass, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer, instantly spread with countless cracks.

Then, with a “crash,” it completely shattered into dust!

Until the shattered glass shards had completely fallen, outside the car window, Lu Xuan’s calm eyes lifted, and within them, a dazzling golden glow flickered, making it impossible to look directly at him!

The pupils of the foreigners in the car suddenly contracted, their mouths unconsciously opened, but at this moment, they discovered with horror that they couldn’t even make a sound!

A terrifying, formless and intangible pressure, like countless icy shackles, tightly bound them from head to toe, immobilizing them so completely that they couldn’t even move a single finger!

Immediately afterward, a scene beyond their wildest imagination brutally forced its way into their minds and vision.

In the perception of these foreigners, the surrounding night, streets, and vehicles all disappeared.

Instead, there were countless towering, majestic, and sky-reaching phantom mountains.

They, with an ancient and vast, all-crushing momentum, crashed down onto their tiny Divine Soul!

That was the absolute suppression of will and spirit!

“Uh…”

Unable to even let out a proper groan, all the foreigners in the car felt as if their Divine Soul had been crushed into powder.

Their eyes went black, they completely lost all consciousness, slumped in their seats, and passed out.

From Lu Xuan’s action to its conclusion, it was but a flick of a finger.

The night remained, as if nothing had ever happened.

Until the sky gradually brightened, and the morning light dispelled the last trace of night from Benning Street.

The tightly closed gate of Villa No. 45 finally opened.

Three scientific researchers, escorted by two Transcendent Major Achievement Grandmasters, calmly walked out and got into the commercial vehicle that was already waiting at the entrance.

The entire process was smooth and swift, no different from any ordinary morning commute.

Across the river, in the scrubland of the slum, Lu Xuan stood silently in the shadow of the tree canopy, his gaze piercing through the morning mist, taking in everything.

The car he had dealt with last night, along with the unconscious foreigners inside, had long since been silently disposed of by him, leaving no trace.

Lu Xuan watched as the commercial vehicle slowly drove away from 45 Benning Street, heading towards the airport.

He silently slid down from the tree, not stirring a single speck of dust upon landing.

Immediately afterward, Lu Xuan walked with seemingly casual steps, yet he maintained a mysterious distance from the commercial vehicle ahead.

Meanwhile, deep within a secret military base somewhere in the Great Eagle Federation.

In the command center, the lights were stark white.

A middle-aged man whose epaulets displayed a high military rank, his face ashen, slammed his fist heavily on the control panel, producing a dull thud.

“Damn it! Mike, Bob… where the Hell did those useless guys die last night?

Why is the target now on its way to the airport, and we haven’t received any warning?!”

On the screen in front of the middle-aged captain, real-time footage from satellites and roadside cameras was displayed.

The commercial vehicle, carrying three scientific researchers and two Dragon Transcendent Major Achievement Grandmasters, was driving on the highway leading to the international airport.

Anger and a hint of imperceptible anxiety intertwined in the middle-aged officer’s eyes.

He absolutely could not allow these few Dragon people, who held core technology, to leave.

Thinking of this, the middle-aged captain suddenly turned around and, speaking into the communicator, gave the final order with a cold voice.

“Initiate the ‘Sweeper’ contingency plan!

Issue a termination order to the Krute team. Intercept the target vehicle on Highway Section 67 before those Dragon people reach the airport!”

“If necessary, use all means possible; those people must not be allowed to leave the Federation!”

“Yes, sir!” his subordinate responded without hesitation, and the order was quickly relayed.

Deep within the base’s garage, a heavily modified, thickly armored high-performance off-road military vehicle, like a awakened steel behemoth, its engine roaring low, suddenly shot out.

Inside the vehicle sat three silent men.

Their aura was cold and different from ordinary people; key parts of their bodies had unnatural metallic protrusions and interfaces, clearly indicating they were mechanically modified warriors.

The man in the passenger seat held an exaggerated, large-caliber revolver in his left hand, while his right eye was covered by an electronic lens constantly flashing data streams.

The man in the back seat was even more exaggerated; he held a heavy rifle, his entire body covered in lightweight yet incredibly tough high-strength alloy armor.

And the warrior in the driver’s seat was also fully armed, wearing a black alloy mask that covered half of his face.

Most startlingly, a heavy weapon resembling a man-portable rocket launcher was mounted on his right shoulder!

This killing squad, composed of three mechanically modified warriors, sped towards Highway Section 67, carrying an icy aura of death.