In the desert of the American Southwest, at the headquarters of Guterres's Bee Swarm Killer Group, deep beneath the hive, Guterres was feeding his killer bees.
In one room, the ground was covered in mealworms, and within the space, hundreds of killer bees, the size of adult fingers, were frantically hunting and devouring these mealworms.
Mealworms are highly nutritious and high in protein, and many creatures love them. Guterres's killer bees consumed hundreds of these mealworms daily.
His underground base also had several dedicated rooms where specialists were tasked with breeding these mealworms.
At this moment, on a sofa a few meters away from Guterres, his brother Martin watched him anxiously.
"Guterres, you've recalled everyone and kept them at headquarters. They've been going stir-crazy these past few days.
The men below are starting to grumble..."
"So what? I'm doing this for their own good, and for the good of our Bee Swarm Killer Group!"
"Guterres, I think you're being overly cautious. Our Bee Swarm's security is excellent. Even though Aurora escaped from us last time, she won't get another chance!"
"Martin, are you getting too arrogant? You need to realize that this time, our opponent is Aurora Cuit.
If this woman were just an ordinary esper, no matter how skilled she was, I wouldn't fear her!
But the problem is, this woman is also wealthy, a super-rich individual!"
"So what?" Martin scoffed.
"None of these super-rich people are easy to deal with, and none of them are fools!
This woman has plenty of money. As long as she's willing to pay enough, there are plenty of people willing to betray us.
In fact, quite a few people know our true identities!
Think about it, if this woman wanted to, she could crush us with money!"
"Guterres, how did you become so timid? We've killed many rich people... In fact, most of our targets have been the rich..."
"Martin, wake up. That Aurora Cuit is not just ordinarily rich. This woman, like her father, is also a lunatic!
A rich lunatic. If we can't kill this woman in one go, we have to guard against her retaliation..."
Just then, both Guterres's and Martin's phones rang. It turned out that several urgent encrypted emails had arrived.
Guterres opened these emails, and his expression changed drastically.
"See, Martin? The retaliation has already begun!"
What they saw made the brothers Guterres and Martin gasp in shock. Aurora had posted bounties on other assassin websites on the dark web.
In reality, the dark web is not a single entity but a collection of underground websites. Even the assassin website platforms are numerous on the dark web.
Guterres had dedicated subordinates monitoring the dark web, filtering tasks, and forwarding suitable ones to Guterres and Martin for approval.
And today, Guterres's subordinates were astonished to discover that on multiple dark web assassin websites, someone had posted bounties, and the target for assassination was none other than the Bee King, Guterres.
Generally speaking, it's common for an assassin's identity to be exposed, then posted on the dark web with a bounty placed on their head.
As the saying goes, if you wander in the martial world, you're bound to get hurt. What goes around comes around, and this simple truth still holds for assassins.
But the problem was, upon seeing the bounty amount, the Guterres brothers nearly went mad.
One hundred million US dollars. What kind of concept was that? That amount was more than enough to buy the life of a high-ranking US official or the president of a small Middle Eastern country!
Not to mention anything else, if his subordinates learned of this news, this amount could absolutely make them betray him, or even take desperate risks.
Although the Bee Swarm Killer Group managed its members very strictly, and the punishment for traitors was severe, Guterres had almost no one betray him among his subordinates.
But the premise for not betraying was whether the amount offered for their loyalty was that high.
One hundred million US dollars was enough for several lifetimes, and enough to make those who were desperate, and his subordinates, take desperate risks!
"What do you say, Martin? What did I just say? You see it now. That woman is a real lunatic!"
Martin's face turned pale. Aurora's actions had indeed slapped him hard in the face.
"What do we do, Guterres? Should we fight that crazy woman head-on?
As long as we kill her, these platforms' bounties will likely be canceled, and we'll be safe."
"Martin, that woman is not someone we can deal with. Hurry up and contact the people at the Dark Altar. Contact that damned Bice.
Tell that woman that if she can kill Aurora as soon as possible, we'll pay her more..."
"Okay, I'll go see her personally..."
"No, you idiot. You absolutely cannot show yourself to that woman now. She might have heard this news too and will use you to threaten me, forcing me to reveal myself..."
As they were speaking, a piercing alarm suddenly sounded throughout the entire underground base, and red lights flashed everywhere.
The brothers immediately stood up. The killer bees in the room, which had been orderly feeding, immediately became agitated. These bees could sense their owner's emotional changes.
Martin was so terrified by the scene that he stood frozen, afraid to move lest he provoke the killer bees' attack.
Martin knew the potency of these bees' venom. If he were stung by two or three simultaneously, his life would likely be forfeit.
Guterres issued commands to the killer bees, and they suddenly became very orderly. The bees divided into several waves and flew back into the giant hives located in the room.
Just then, a subordinate burst in and reported the situation to the two men.
"Bee King, something terrible has happened! The above-ground section of our base is under invasion. The people up there are almost all dead or injured!"
"Get lost! Who did this! How many people are there!" Guterres's eyes turned red. He never expected that the base would be exposed, and that the enemy would be so audacious as to attack them directly.
"According to our control center's observation, there are only two people who came up, a man and a woman.
Strangely, we don't know what kind of vehicle they used, nor how they appeared here!"