Chapter 74: Ashspire City, New Beginning (2)
"You bastard! You will pay for what you did against the Black Viper Crew and the High Order!" a Black Viper member shouted, his voice distorted by the cybernetic implant on his face.
Then his cybernetic arms shifted and unfolded, revealing a missile launcher.
Without thinking twice, he launched it straight at Grey with an enraged expression.
Whoosh!
The Missile shot toward Grey at lightning speed. However, Grey had a calm expression on his face facing the attack.
To him, it looked like it was moving at the speed of a snail.
His eyes flashed for a moment, and within his interface, new data appeared.
[Missile Model B-4301 has been breached and redirected]
Immediately, the Missile charging at him changed its course and flew right back to the one who launched it.
Boom!
A terrifying shockwave spread across the ground floor. The member who had fired it was evaporated out of existence, and the nearby members fell one by one from the explosive heat from the missile.
"Such firepower," Grey muttered, surprised. "Firearms in this age are definitely not something that can be overlooked. If that had hit me, it would’ve wiped me out completely."
As he spoke, he looked to the side. There were still members alive. His eyes flashed again, numbers and binary codes appearing in his mental interface, and a new window opened.
[Access Granted]
Below it were several options:
[Overheat – Overheat the cybernetics.]
[Short Circuit – Short-circuit the cybernetics.]
[Neural Pathway Burnout – Fries the neural pathways.]
These were part of Grey’s arsenal of forged hacks, prepared to activate instantly with a thought. With his hacking interface, these cyborgs were incredibly easy to deal with.
Of course, that only applied to those around his level. If someone stronger appeared, cracking their internal software would take time.
Swiftly, Grey targeted the remaining members and activated Short Circuit and Neural Pathway Burnout.
It consumed a lot of mental energy, but he wasn’t worried about running out.
"Arghh! It Hurts!"
The rest of the members fell one by one, until only Grey was left standing there alone in the room filled with lifeless bodies.
He turned toward the elevator. There were more floors above, and more members likely waiting to ambush him the moment he entered.
This place was filled with mid-stage and late-stage First Rankers. Even a peak 12th-level First Ranker would be burnt out fighting that many Evolvers at once.
"Time to enter the second floor," Grey said as his eyes flashed. The elevator, which had been shut down, suddenly activated and opened for him.
He stepped inside and pressed the button for the second floor out of the three available. The doors closed, and soft, casual elevator music began to play.
Grey stood calmly until the elevator stopped. The doors slid open slowly.
Directly in front of him stood a group of Black Viper Crew members, all armed and ready.
"Open fire!" a member shouted. "Kill that bastard!"
Ratatata!
Almost thirty members opened fire at once. Some launched Missiles, others fired assault rifles with deadly precision, and some threw grenades.
Seeing this, Grey waved his hand subtly. "Nexus Convergence."
The air before him twisted, and a mass of purple-black energy appeared like a miniature black hole. Instantly, everything, including the missiles and grenades, was sucked inside.
"W-What the hell is that?" a member shouted in disbelief.
Grey smiled brightly. "It’s my new technique I managed to forge recently. I definitely didn’t plagiarize it from a Abyssal Being!"
With a flick of his finger, the black hole rushed forward. In an instant, the crew members vanished without a trace.
Grey nodded slightly, pressed the button for the third floor, and waited as the elevator rose again.
Just like before, more members were waiting for him there.
"Just how many of you are there?" Grey said, twitching his lips. "Does being a member of the Black Viper Crew pay that well? Or are you all just bad at making life decisions?"
"Attack him, everyone!"
A member shouted. Hearing this, Grey sighed softly. "Mimi."
Bzz!
A terrifying shockwave erupted from where he stood. For a moment, the entire third floor was bathed in a flash of silver lightning. Before the members could even react, they all collapsed to the ground.
"The strongest here is only an eighth-level First Ranker. For you, that’s nothing," Grey said with a small smile as he stepped onto the third floor, now littered with fallen bodies. "Nice work, Mimi."
"Mimi~!"
A silver cat flashed onto Grey’s shoulder, rubbing its face affectionately against his.
Grey softly scratched its chin as he looked around the floor. From the corner of his vision, he spotted another elevator.
"Is that the way to the secret floor?" he muttered, striding over. Using his interface, he accessed the elevator.
He noticed that it had strict access restrictions, but it took him less than five seconds to crack the system and open the doors.
Inside, there were two buttons—one for this floor and one labeled "Secret Floor."
"They couldn’t make it more obvious," Grey muttered as he pressed the button. The doors closed, and once again, the elevator music played as it descended.
It didn’t take long to reach the so-called Secret Floor. As the doors opened, a completely new environment appeared before Grey’s eyes.
Cold air swept past him. The space was nothing like the run-down floors above; this place was clean, metallic, and lined with several doors and rooms.
There was no doubt about, this was a secret lab!
The other thing he noticed was that there were two guards. As the elevator doors opened abruptly, the guards immediately went on alert and turned to face Grey. But before they could even shout, their bodies twitched, sparks flew off from their heads, and they collapsed to the ground.
"Hm..."
"Looks like I’ve finally found a clue."
The intel he received wasn’t wrong. The Black Viper Gang has indeed been working for the High order from the looks of it and they were conducting some sort of experiment here.