On the outskirts of Wanxiong City.
Crow brought Xavier to stand before a rundown, half-finished building.
After lifting the partition to the basement, a vast world opened up below. The cold, hard gleam of countless high-tech lights flickered in every direction, making Xavier's palms break into a light sweat.
"This is our Bloodline Alliance base in Wanxiong City... To attack the Imperial Special Operations Division's branch office, the two of us can't do it alone. We need some help. Come on, let me introduce you..."
Crow led Xavier to a small conference room and pulled open the door.
In an instant, a flood of gazes—scrutinizing, suspicious, threatening—bore down on Xavier, making his entire body tense up.
"Alright, alright! Don't overdo the greetings!"
Amid the crushing pressure, Crow stood like a massive reef against the waves, and as he spoke, the heavy suppressive force dissipated without a trace.
Only then did Xavier find the strength to raise his head and take in the figures in the conference room.
Most of them radiated a cold, sinister aura that made Xavier deeply uncomfortable, but among them, he was surprised to spot a familiar face.
"That's... Examiner Bodie?"
His eyes settled on one of the few women present.
"Ha ha... you've already seen her during the certification exam, right? Let me introduce her again—this is Bodie. She inherited the bloodline of an ancient enchantress demon, and she's currently our liaison officer in Wanxiong City!"
Crow rubbed his nose. "Watch yourself around her. This woman loves robbing the cradle..."
"Who are you calling old? You stinking rattlesnake!"
Bodie swayed her sinuous hips and planted herself directly in front of Xavier. Her towering height brought immense pressure down on him.
"Kid! Can you even handle this? Our operation isn't some children's game of house... Be careful, or you'll die for real..."
"I... I have to go!"
Xavier looked up at the rolling landscape before him, swallowed hard, then steadied his expression with renewed determination.
"Ha ha... don't underestimate Xavier. He's a prodigy who's mastered the Serpent's Fang Fist to perfection! Give him a set of exo-armor and he'll be a top-tier combatant, guaranteed!"
Crow clapped Xavier on the shoulder.
"Mastered the Serpent's Fang Fist?" The crowd stirred slightly, and then came Bodie's unrestrained laughter. "Ah ha ha... how interesting! This is just too interesting..."
She swiveled her waist, examining Xavier as though he were some rare exotic creature.
"He's barely twenty years old. Even counting from childhood, that's not a long time at all..."
Bodie's narrow eyes flicked to Crow, brimming with barely contained provocation and disdain. "Compared to that... what does that make you, who struggled for two hundred years just to barely master the Serpent's Fang Fist?"
"Can we not talk about this?"
Facing this critical-hit-plus-ten-times-crit-damage taunt, Crow could only raise his hands in helpless surrender.
Meanwhile, Xavier was inwardly shaken. "The Serpent's Fang Fist is that hard? Then how did I manage it in just a few days..."
By now, he understood that what had happened to him before was far from ordinary, and he was resolved to keep his secret—under no circumstances could he let it slip.
"Fine! Since his Serpent's Fang Fist is already mastered, he barely qualifies to join us!"
Bodie nodded and sat back down. "Now, let's continue where we left off..."
"She's always like that. Just don't provoke her..." Crow awkwardly pulled Xavier to a corner and sat down, dropping any further introductions.
"According to our intelligence, the Imperial Special Operations Division has destroyed four or five resistance organization bases within Wanxiong City in rapid succession. Their methods have grown even more brutal and cruel, and the number of bloodline children they've seized has increased as well..."
A screen of light materialized as a young man in a wheelchair began his briefing, cycling through a stream of images.
When Xavier spotted an image of Jinyanghua Elementary School among the slides, his fists clenched tight.
"...Combining all of the above intelligence and analysis, I can confirm that they must have suffered some significant losses. That's the only reason they'd be this desperate to replenish their numbers..."
The young man in the wheelchair pushed his glasses up his nose, an air of supreme confidence radiating from him. "Thanks to them, several organizations are now willing to defect to us, on the condition that we destroy the branch office in Wanxiong City and rescue their families. More importantly, their reckless brutality has even turned the mayor against them. We can absolutely exploit this to sever their most powerful official backing..."
"Everyone clear on the details? Go prepare for the operation!"
Bodie clapped her hands. One by one, everyone in the conference room filed out, leaving only Xavier, Crow, and a handful of others.
"Kid! You don't have a proper weapon yet, do you? Come with me!"
Bodie placed her hands on her hips and led Xavier over to the young man in the wheelchair.
"This one's code name is 'Genius.' Our organization's weapons and intelligence expert!"
Crow said from beside Xavier.
"Ha ha ha... were you just saying I'm gorgeous?" The young man called Genius burst out laughing, his expression radiating narcissism, but neither Crow nor Bodie said a word—they were clearly used to his vanity.
Xavier noticed that everything below the young man's waist was prosthetic. He must have suffered some catastrophic injury that even the Empire's current technology couldn't repair.
"Go ahead! Tell me what you want. Just say the word, and I can get you even the latest model of the Swift Shadow!"
Genius rolled his wheelchair over to Xavier.
"Well... I've never tried a high-end Swift Shadow, and I didn't pass the licensing exam for those, or for laser weapons..." Xavier scratched his head sheepishly.
"Ah, well..." Crow and Bodie exchanged a glance, a hint of embarrassment crossing their faces, but neither spoke.
"I just need a set of exo-armor!"
After thinking it over, Xavier settled on this. After all, his greatest advantage was his mastery of the Serpent's Fang Fist. If he could add a sturdy set of armor on top of that, his combat power should increase significantly.
"Just armor? Nothing else? What about a track cannon? An external magic net?"
Genius's sharp eyes sized Xavier up, as though measuring his physique and stats directly.
"I don't need any of that. My only requirement is excellent defensive capability, and the metal on both arms needs enough flexibility that it doesn't restrict my movements... Also, it would be best if the legs had..."
Xavier outlined his rough requirements, then looked at Genius. "Did you catch all that?"
"Ha ha ha... a piece of cake. I'm a genius, after all!!!"
Genius slapped the armrest of his wheelchair, and a holographic projection materialized, displaying a rough armor design that matched exactly what Xavier had described.
"Based on your requirements, the only thing that fits is the Empire's 'Viper' armor. Luckily, we have one in storage at the base—it just needs some modifications before it's ready to use..."
Genius worked with astonishing speed. Within minutes, Xavier was wearing his new armor.
"This is incredible..." He waved his arm, watching the armored gauntlet flex and soften to perfectly mirror his Serpent's Fang Fist movements, and couldn't help but marvel.
"Of course! Genius is the real deal! He even spent time at the Imperial Royal Research Institute... Everything he modifies fetches a sky-high price on the black market..."
Crow had changed into a black trench coat and came to stand beside Xavier.
"Ready? We move out immediately!"
"Of course!" Xavier slammed his armored fists together, sparks flying from the impact. "Jia'er! I'm coming to rescue you!"
...
The Bloodline Alliance's mobilization was remarkably swift.
In just half an hour, every combatant had assembled, forming a loose cordon around a military base.
"That's the Special Operations Division's branch office! Once the battle begins, Genius will cut off all their communications with the outside world. We have fifteen minutes!"
Crow's voice was grave.
"Remember—you must be on time! Any later... and there's no saving us. If they manage to mobilize the garrison to surround us, every last one of us will be annihilated!"
"Fifteen minutes!"
Xavier looked at the base looming like a monstrous beast and gritted his teeth. "That's enough!"
"Very good! Then... move out!"
Crow waved his hand, and a wave of dark shadows surged forward. The next instant, piercing red alarms blared throughout the entire base.
"Sever it! Jam all their communication signals! Ha ha ha... I really am a genius!"
In the Bloodline Alliance's underground base, Genius sat inside an enormous apparatus, a silver-grey helmet over his head, a feverish glow burning in his eyes.
With Genius's operations, the Special Operations Division's base went dead silent—even its power supply was severed.
"Ssss..."
His right hand shot out like a viper's fang. Clad in his armor, Xavier was like a human-shaped war machine—his fingers sliced through an enemy's throat in an instant.
The Viper armor weighed well over a hundred pounds, yet on Xavier it felt like nothing at all.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Shadow after shadow went flying backward. Xavier burst through the corridor, his armored hands seizing a portly, bald man.
"Where is Jia'er?! No! Where are the elementary school students you took today? Tell me now!!!"
Even though his face was covered by the armor, Xavier knew his expression must have been utterly ferocious.
His murderous intent was so overwhelming that the fat man could barely stammer out a word.
Suddenly, the man's lower body trembled violently, and a dark yellow stain spread across his pants—he had wet himself in terror.
"Talk! Or he'll be next!"
Xavier charged violently into the dark-clad men running toward him.
Laser weapons left shallow scratches on his armor, but the dark-clad men were sent crashing into the wall, leaving massive dents. The sickening sounds of breaking bones told the story—they weren't getting back up.