"Prepare for battle."

 

"Mm."

 

Su'en and Kay were not the type to easily accept their fate, even in such dire circumstances.

 

Now there was no room for them to retreat in the alley. They planned to wait until the monsters cleared the rubble blocking the door, and then make one final charge.

 

This charge would probably determine their life or death.

 

However, what they didn't expect was that just as the monsters were about to clear the rubble, the gunshots that had already ceased suddenly rang out again from outside.

 

"Reinforcements?"

 

Su'en and Kay exchanged a glance, both seeing the disbelief in each other's eyes.

 

The only ones who could come to their rescue were the veterans of Green Street.

 

But with so many monsters, not a single professional was among them. How did they manage to charge in?

 

Kay thought of something and said, "There must be high-level professionals here! Hopefully, they're not enemies…"

 

Su'en tightened his grip on the firearm in his hand and said sharply, "Whoever it is, the monsters outside have already been attracted by the gunshots. This is our best chance to charge out."

 

"Mm."

 

Kay nodded. "Should I go first?"

 

Su'en nodded.

 

Kay took a deep breath, and the cold light of the mantis blades on his arms flashed, creating several cracks in the stone wall.

 

"Charge!"

 

After a sharp shout, Kay smashed through the rubble and charged out first.

 

Su'en didn't hesitate either and followed closely behind.

 

The two of them had already prepared themselves for a fierce battle against the tide of monsters after breaking out. But they didn't expect that when they charged out, they found themselves facing an empty space!

 

Upon closer inspection, besides the corpses they had killed earlier, there was not a single living monster in the tunnel.

 

And when they looked again, not far away, a group of people and horses were engaged in a fierce battle with the monsters.

 

The two leaders were a green-haired Rakshasa with four arms wielding four long knives, exuding a chilling aura, and a burly figure like a bear, with muscles as solid as rocks, and a deep red complexion.

 

One of them swung their four arms, cutting through the crowd of monsters like cutting melons and vegetables, with limbs and arms flying everywhere. The other charged like a wild bull, a single punch enough to burst the monsters' bodies, blood and flesh splattering in a brutal manner.

 

Just these two alone left a trail of corpses in their wake.

 

"They… are so strong!"

 

Su'en's eyes widened in astonishment. Although he had never seen a thousand transformations of alchemical implants, he recognized the familiar four long knives and identified the gambling-addicted woman.

 

As for the other red-skinned giant, he left a deep impression on Su'en. He was none other than the second-tier professional "Red Demon" Gelong who appeared in the arena back then!

 

***

 

Su'en didn't understand. Didn't Qiantiao go back to headquarters?

 

And why did Gelong come to their rescue? Did he join the Cross Society?

 

Su'en and Kay never expected that these two would be the ones to come to their rescue.

 

The veterans of Green Street who followed behind the two big shots saw Su'en and Kay and exclaimed, "Captain Kay!"

 

The veterans rushed over, relieved to see that their captain was unharmed.

 

"Wow, Captain, you're so cool. You actually killed so many monsters."

 

"Haha, I knew it, Captain must be fine."

 

"Captain is mighty~"

 

"…"

 

The veterans cheered, as long as the captain was alive, that was the greatest relief.

 

At this time, the distorted monsters in the tunnel had already been killed and scattered.

 

The remaining scattered ones had also fled back into the depths of the tunnel.

 

Qiantiao looked at Su'en and Kay, a relieved expression appearing in her eyes.

 

She sheathed her long knives and the implants merged back into her tattoos.

 

She walked over and teased, "Oh, little Kay, you're really lucky…"

 

Kay had a good attitude. Just as he had escaped from danger, a smile appeared on his face. "Thanks to you for coming in time. If you had come a little later, I'm afraid we would have become corpses for you to collect."

 

After a pause, he asked, "Huh… Qiantiao, didn't you go back to headquarters? How did you end up here?"

 

Qiantiao explained, "Mr. Gelong and I were discussing something and happened to be in the nearby Red Pine Street. When we heard that you were ambushed by the Steam Party, we rushed over…"

 

As she spoke, she looked at the numerous monster corpses on the ground, a faint surprise crossing her face.

 

The number of these corpses was quite astonishing.

 

And upon closer inspection, there were two types of wounds on the monster corpses on the ground: gunshot wounds and knife wounds.

 

The knife wounds were naturally caused by Kay's abilities, but what about those gunshot wounds?

 

Qiantiao, with her experience, could immediately see that most of the gunshot wounds on the distorted monster corpses were fatal shots.

 

One or two corpses could be attributed to luck, but if every single one had this kind of wound, then this marksmanship was quite rare.

 

Thinking of this, Qiantiao seemed to have guessed something and looked at Su'en, a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

 

Because they had already become familiar with each other at the casino, there was no awkwardness when she spoke to Su'en. However, she didn't mention the corpses on the ground and just asked, "Su'en, are you okay?"

 

"I'm fine. Thank you, Qiantiao."

 

Su'en didn't intend to say much and politely smiled at Qiantiao.

 

Let Kay take the limelight. He was content to be a quiet little transparent person.

 

Qiantiao didn't ask further and said, "It's good that you're fine. Let's leave here first. There's something strange underground, possibly some special distorted material. It's best not to stay here for long…"She naturally noticed that there were unusually many cave monsters here, and almost all of them were species she had never seen before.

 

There must be powerful distortion factors in the environment.

 

Not to mention anything else, it's not necessarily safe to stay here for too long.

 

After hearing this, everyone didn't dare to delay and quickly cleaned up the battlefield before leaving the building together.

 

***

 

Breathing the outside air, Su'en felt relaxed. The intense battle had made him tired.

 

But as soon as they reached the surface, Kay, who had been rescued, had a cold expression on his face. He immediately called out to his brothers, "Brothers, let's go. It's time for us to cause trouble for the Steam Party!"

 

"The Steam Party dares to come and cause trouble in our territory. This time, we must break their legs!"

 

"So many brothers died this time, they must give us an explanation!"

 

"Yes, let's teach them a lesson!"

 

"…"

 

The veterans were excited to hear that they were going to fight the Steam Party.

 

Qiantiao seemed unsurprised by Kay's decision and didn't try to dissuade him. Instead, she had a nonchalant expression and said, "If we're going to fight, we should do it sooner rather than later. Otherwise, the leaders of both sides will end up sitting at the negotiation table. We will not only suffer losses, but we will also have to pay. Our brothers' lives are not worth it."

 

While they were ready to fight, someone raised a question, "Qiantiao, if we go there so openly, won't they wait to surround and attack us? What if their leaders show up…"

 

Qiantiao was already familiar with this kind of conflict and spoke with certainty, "Don't worry, those Steam Party guys have no shame. They will have to bear the consequences this time. Although their leaders will definitely show up, there are still rules in the underworld. They definitely won't start a fight."

 

After a pause, she lazily added, "Besides, there's me and Mr. Gelong. If something unexpected happens, the Cross Society executives won't just sit idly by."

 

Upon hearing Qiantiao's words, the members of the Cross Society gained confidence.

 

Qiantiao looked at everyone ready to seek revenge and then glanced at Su'en, who had remained silent. She explained to the two survivors, "The Steam Party's intrusion this time is directly related to the internal struggle between the inner city financial factions. But many of these matters will be negotiated by the leaders, involving high-level power struggles. I can't go into details…"

 

In other words, conflicts and clashes were expected and inevitable in high-level power struggles.

 

Green Street was a lucrative "piece of cake" in the outer city, conveniently located on the border between two gangs' territories. As the defending side, they couldn't take the initiative to attack, but if they were attacked, they had to fight back.

 

Listening to all this, Su'en quickly understood the meaning behind Qiantiao's words.

 

This ambush was not just a simple territorial conflict.

 

It was like the border issues between major countries in his previous life. Conflicts were expected, but just because they were expected didn't mean they could launch a preemptive strike with atomic bombs.

 

There were too many interests and power struggles between international forces involved.

 

The Cross Society and the Steam Party were the two largest gangs in Old Lingdun's outer city. They not only involved countless gang members and various industries, but also the interests of the hidden backers in the inner city.

 

Fighting for territory among the lower ranks was normal and a competition method tacitly approved by both sides' high-level executives.

 

Small clashes resulted in small losses, but they could still determine who was superior.

 

This was how gang turf wars worked. Either you were beaten down or you couldn't afford to back down and had to give up your territory.

 

The Steam Party and the Cross Society had fought countless times for Green Street.

 

Kay, the former captain of Green Street, was killed in the crossfire.

 

Everyone wanted a piece of the pie, but it wasn't possible for the leaders to intervene every time the kids fought.

 

If a minor incident escalated, high-level executives would step in and it could eventually evolve into a full-scale war between the two gangs.

 

No one could bear the consequences of such a large-scale war.

 

Even the leaders of the two gangs!

 

Without an obedient Steam Party, the inner city backers could immediately support a new "Steam Party"… Interests were eternal, not the struggle for supremacy.

 

Although it sounded cruel, in Old Lingdun, in the outer city, in the underworld, the lives of the lower class were worthless.

 

The gang members had long been prepared for this.

 

***

 

Originally, if the Steam Party had carried out the ambush cleanly and killed Kay's team, there would be no trouble at all.

 

This was the norm in gang fights.

 

Although everyone knew who was behind it, in gang warfare, if there was no caught-in-the-act evidence, no one could do anything. You could send someone to assassinate them in return, as long as you weren't caught.

 

But now, Kay and Su'en had survived, while the bodies of the Steam Party members were still lying in Green Street's territory.

 

The nature of the situation had changed.

 

This was the evidence.

 

The Steam Party was in the wrong, and now when Kay and the others went to fight back, the other side didn't even have a bit of temper.

 

***

 

Kay acted decisively as always.

 

After dealing with his own injuries, he gathered hundreds of people from the nearby blocks and headed straight for the Steam Party's territory.

 

They directly took over Kun Tu's territory, and when they were about to go and overturn Sis's territory as well, they were intercepted by the Steam Party's executives, just as expected.

 

Then, the executives from both sides showed up, sat at the negotiation table, and the fighting stopped.Losing money, ceding territory, temporary reconciliation.

 

This was the old standard procedure.

 

Su'en didn't care about the high-level negotiations, but he still went along and harvested many fragments.

 

It had to be said, the Steam Faction, worthy of the title "New School", had gang members whose mechanical skills were indeed a cut above the average person. Every gang member, more or less, was proficient in some mechanical knowledge. After picking a few sites, Su'en extracted a lot of mechanical knowledge, going straight from a mechanical novice to a "Intermediate Mechanical Beginner".

 

After this battle, the Steam Faction would probably be quiet for a long time.

 

Su'en also had time to steadily improve himself.

 

However, after the fierce battle in the tube building, his need for alchemical implants became increasingly urgent. Professionals without implants were far less powerful than those with implants. Relying solely on gun skills was not enough to survive in the brutal outer city.

 

Finally, several days later, the monthly black market auction opened.