Chapter 054: "Don't Do Anything Reckless"

“Yes, we’ll be heading out of the region in a few days. Start preparing these supplies,” Tang Mubai said, turning to the elderly men with a gentle smile. “Don’t worry, Uncle Liu. Yang Kai probably won’t go. Whether he joins us is up to him.” Tang Mubai was quite relaxed about it—whether Yang Kai left with them or not was entirely his choice.

The Miracle Mercenary Group provided food and lodging, and any expenses for official business would be reimbursed. But as for things like a salary, that was regrettably out of the question. If you wanted money of your own to buy what you liked, you’d have to go out with the team!

Typically, every time the group ventured out, those who returned would each be awarded at least a million federal credits. High risk, high reward—that was the very definition of a mercenary, and the reason most martial artists were drawn to such ventures.

…

“It’s not that, I’m not worried about Yang,” said Uncle Liu, his face wrinkled and back hunched, cheeks flushing as he waved his hand in explanation. “Yang is already a professional martial artist. He’ll go out sooner or later. And with you, Captain Tang, at least there’s someone watching over him. I just think it’s a bit too soon—you only just moved in, and now you’re leading the team out again.”

“That’s right. We all enjoy living here. We don’t want the good days to end and go back to how things were,” another chimed in.

“Nonsense! Old Wu, be quiet! You drank too much bad liquor at lunch and you’re still not sober—how dare you jinx Captain Tang?”

“He’s right, Old Wu, you must be out of your mind. Let me knock some sense into you.”

“No, no! I wasn’t cursing Captain Tang, I didn’t mean it like that! Don’t gang up on me!”

“Then what did you mean?”

“Yes, tell us, what did you mean?”

…

The group of old men, unconcerned with saving face, fell into a good-natured scuffle to cover their embarrassment. They were indeed worried that Tang Mubai would never return, and the good life they’d begun would come to an end. But no one would say that aloud—it was an unspoken understanding among them. No one expected Old Wu to blurt it out, making things awkward.

Tang Mubai, seeing all this, laughed and stepped in, “Don’t worry, gentlemen. I’m not going alone—I’ll be working with another mercenary group. Their captain is an uncle who has always looked after me, very experienced and powerful, and he’s been leading teams out for over ten years.”

“That’s good to hear, very good,” Uncle Liu and the others relaxed, finally stopping their squabble with awkward chuckles.

Old Wu rolled up his sleeves and called out, “Come on, everyone, lend a hand. Let’s get these supplies to the warehouse.”

“Alright!” The elderly men, hearing this, hurried to help move the goods.

Seeing this, Tang Mubai didn’t try to stop them, but only allowed them to carry lighter items, like binoculars and flashlights. After all the boxes were moved, Yang Kai returned.

When he left, he’d taken dozens of giant combat blades; now, he came back with a pile of variously shaped tools. Spotting Tang Mubai, Yang Kai, who was about to unload his gear and move it into the warehouse, quickly put down his things, pulled out a stack of papers from his pocket, and handed them to Tang Mubai.

“Captain, here are my modification plans. Please review them and see if anything needs changing.”

“Good.” Tang Mubai nodded, took the papers, and stepped aside to look them over.

Yang Kai began unloading the tools, carrying them into the garage one by one. The garage was spacious—perfect for a workshop.

As Tang Mubai flipped through the pages, his eyes lit up again and again. Yang Kai’s proposal was not only detailed in its written description, but also included matching illustrations. The sketches depicted the truck’s appearance from every angle—front, side, back, and rear—showing the modifications before and after in full 360 degrees.

The artistry was impressive, and Tang Mubai felt a surge of excitement just looking at them.

“Excellent, really excellent.” After reading through the plans, Tang Mubai found Yang Kai, returned the papers, and said with satisfaction, “Let’s proceed with this. By the way, have you calculated how long it will take? Including the installation of two heavy machine guns, how much time do you need?”

“Two days will be plenty,” Yang Kai replied confidently, clapping his hands. “It’s only one truck—I promise to finish within two days.”

“Very well,” Tang Mubai nodded. “I’ll give you three days. Try not to make any mistakes. If you need to buy anything, ask Aunt Fang or Grandpa Xu.”

“Understood!”

…

With the truck’s modifications entrusted to Yang Kai, Tang Mubai was free to attend to his own affairs.

After dinner, he spent some time watching TV with his little cousin, then coaxed her into practicing the Golden Mist Art.

During this time, his phone alarm sounded over a dozen times. Each time, Tang Mubai checked, listened in, or monitored the feeds, only to find that it was just someone mentioning “beastmen” in passing. There were no real movements or exposure of their whereabouts.

Having anticipated this, Tang Mubai wasn’t upset. He spent the evening teaching his little cousin the Golden Mist Art, and was quite pleased with her progress.

Even though he hadn’t gone out driving at night, he’d been all over the city during the day, and managed to recover a small amount of lost vitality, adding to what he already had.

His accumulated lifespan surpassed two hundred years again, reaching 219.5 years.

Tang Mubai considered for a moment, then used up 100 years to exchange for 5 points of blood energy, raising his total to 60 points.

In just a few days, he’d broken through to Grade Six of the Professional Level. For most, this would be the mark of a genius.

But with the system, Tang Mubai could only consider this average. Grade Six was still far too low!

To further increase his blood energy, he needed to hunt non-human creatures. Unfortunately, beastmen weren’t so easily found. Despite his thirty-odd cameras and listening devices, including those placed on Chen Hai, there’d been no useful information.

It wasn’t until the latter half of the night, when Tang Mubai was already asleep, that his phone alarm suddenly went off. He grabbed his earpiece out of habit, only to jolt upright in bed a moment later.

After a whole night of waiting, finally—some good news!

Chen Hai’s team had been summoned by the Security Bureau, ordered to rush to a factory on the eastern outskirts of the city.

There, a nest of beastmen was hiding!

Tang Mubai knew that almost every nest had a leader. These beastmen leaders were either at the elite peak or commander level.

And the “bone beads” derived from the Blood King Pearl—those two ranks of beastmen were just qualified to wear them!

Thus—

Tang Mubai quickly dressed and slipped out of the house. He didn’t even take a car, but used his lightness skill, Stride Over Grass, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, making his way directly out of the city.

When he arrived at the factory Chen Hai had mentioned, the Security Bureau had yet to arrive. Tang Mubai hid in a corner, and after about five minutes, saw Chen Hai and the Security Bureau members arrive in four groups, quietly dispersing under the cover of darkness to surround the silent factory.

They didn’t attack immediately, but conducted some tests first.

Moments later, under the hand signals of a middle-aged man, everyone charged into the factory like lightning.

Soon, the sounds of roars and fighting echoed from inside.

Not long after—

[Detected lost vitality. Do you wish to recover it?]