Chapter 160: Clearing the Field

"Let's move. They should have noticed us by now."

Rhem took the lead, destroying the door lock with two gunshots, and shot the security camera the moment he stepped inside.

The remaining three followed him into the room. The boss looked at Li Hongshen.

"Li, it's time for you to do your work. Go help me meet my old friend, and feel free to use whatever method you like."

Hearing the boss's words, Li Hongshen flashed a professional smile.

"Rest assured, leave it to me. I'm a professional."

With that, he walked toward the stairwell, darted onto the stairs, and intense gunfire immediately erupted.

"Are you really that confident in this teenage soldier?"

"He's very strong, and we also need to verify his actual value, don't we? Besides, with you guys around me, nothing will go wrong."

...

Li Hongshen directly drew an M1911 and held a combat knife in his other hand. Planting his foot on the first step, he rapidly scaled the wall with a few quick leaps and vaulted up to the second floor.

Three shots instantly blew away the guards who had been closely watching the stairwell. Then, pulling a grenade from his waist, he clenched it with three fingers while gripping his military blade with two, pulled the pin with his teeth, and hurled it straight down the end of the corridor before diving into a nearby room.

"Boom."

Li Hongshen walked out of the room calmly. Amidst the flying dust and smoke filling the corridor, savoring the scent of gunpowder, he strolled across the blood-stained floor.

Four rapid shots finished off the two remaining enemies—one to the chest, one to the head. His execution was exceptionally precise, without a single wasted movement.

Next, picking up a rifle from the ground, he unleashed a barrage of blind fire toward the corner of the stairwell. Accompanied by the sound of bullets piercing through cover, numerous cries of agony echoed from above.

Discarding the rifle, Li Hongshen reloaded his pistol and pulled out a flashbang. Waiting two full seconds, he threw it forcefully against the stairwell wall, letting it bounce and sail up to the upper floor.

"Bang!"

"Ah—ah—ah—"

Refusing to take the conventional path, Li Hongshen once again vaulted up the walls, rapidly scaling the levels until he reached the top floor of the building.

Looking at the figures groaning as they lay on the ground, Li Hongshen did not hesitate at all. Aiming for their heads, then their chests, he put them to rest in a thoroughly straightforward manner.

He then strolled slowly down the corridor, stopped in front of a red door, and twisted the handle.

At that instant, heavy gunfire rang out, shredding the wooden door into splinters. Yet Li Hongshen remained completely unscathed, as he had never stood directly in the doorway, staying well out of the line of sight.

"Clatter..."

Taking advantage of the lingering smoke, a round object bounced through the doorframe into the room. The man hiding behind the cabinet widened his eyes, his pupils contracting violently.

"A grenade!"

"Boom!"

This time, Li Hongshen used a defensive fragmentation grenade. The massive shockwave mixed with a shower of metal shrapnel wreaked havoc inside the relatively confined room.

When Li Hongshen stepped inside, not a single person was left standing. He glanced at the shattered, smoking monitors, then surveyed the room full of staff members.

True to form, Li Hongshen went around finishing them off one by one. As he passed a fallen office desk, he noticed two people collapsed on top of each other.

The one on top was a robust white man with brown hair and bulging muscles, while the one underneath was an elderly man in a tailored suit and silver hair. Judging by his relatively firm skin, he had clearly taken good care of himself.

Though the posture looked rather awkward, it had granted the old man a chance at survival. The high-velocity shrapnel had pierced through the solid wood desk and lost a significant portion of its lethality after plowing through such a thick cushion of flesh.

At least in Li Hongshen's eyes, the old man was still breathing heavily. Although covered in soot and bleeding from his nose and mouth, with some emergency medical attention, he would likely survive.

However, Li Hongshen felt no impulse to respect the elderly. He fired a single shot into the back of the muscular man's head, causing the brute's body to twitch—proving this guy was indeed still alive, merely knocked unconscious by the shockwave.

Following that, without bothering to drag the old man out, Li Hongshen put two bullets straight between the old man's eyebrows.

The moment he sent the old man to his final rest, he suddenly felt a strange energy flood into his body. It felt somewhat akin to the origin points he was familiar with, yet much deeper and more complex.

Simultaneously, the laws within his body began to stir rapidly.

"Could this be... World Force? Am I this lucky? I've already managed to tamper with the world line? Such a stroke of good fortune? It seems I should stay here a bit longer."

At this thought, the corners of Li Hongshen's mouth curled up slightly, as if he had encountered something wonderful. At the same time, he began to channel the surging World Force, constructing a rather ethereal occupational template.

"Name: Gunman"

"Type: Special Profession"

Seeing this illusory template, Li Hongshen nodded, then thoroughly inspected the surroundings. Only after confirming that every visible person had been silenced did he press the comms device in his ear.

"Alright, everyone's dead. You can come up now."

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Footsteps slowly echoed from below, and soon three figures appeared in the topmost hallway.

"Li, if you could minimize the collateral damage just a bit next time, that would be even better."

Hearing the boss's remark, Li Hongshen merely gave a casual salute.

"I did it entirely with your safety in mind, Boss. After all, the people here seemed to be part of some professional organization. They're quite dangerous."

"Hehe, you... This isn't your hometown, you know. Tone it down next time; cleaning up messes around here requires a fair bit of paperwork."

Flavio Hekmatyar strolled over to Li Hongshen's side, looked down at the old man lying on the floor, and clicked his tongue in mock sympathy.

"Why must it be like this, you tell me? It's clearly just a matter of business competition; why do some companies always want to resort to shady channels to make trouble? Look at people who fail to read the situation—haven't they just dug their own graves?

Let's go. I've finished seeing my old friend now, so it's time to end this farce, or the Dutch authorities won't be able to keep a lid on it much longer."

Rhem and Chiquita remained silent. Hearing the boss's command, they turned and headed back downstairs, as did Li Hongshen, though he took the opportunity to scavenge some demolition gear to replenish his ammunition supply.

They returned to the same room they had entered earlier, but this time an elderly woman opened the door. Rhem handed over four gold coins once again. After glancing at the boss and receiving a slight nod, he spoke.

"Help us contact the cleaners to tidy up that building. The payment is right here."

With that, Rhem handed over another pouch of gold coins. The old woman weighed it in her hand, her expression shifting slightly as her pupils constricted.

"Alright."