Stronghold 73 was located at the intersection of three rivers in the south of the Central Plains, but come every summer, the blazing hot sun in the sky would vaporize the water in the river.
When the seasonal plum rain[1] passed over the middle and lower reaches of the river, the high atmospheric pressure system would affect airflow in the lower altitudes and inhibit rain clouds from forming, leading to summer droughts as the surface temperatures reached extreme highs.
As such, Stronghold 73 was also known as “The Furnace.”
In an official residence on the north side of Longyang Avenue, some people were arguing endlessly in a clan meeting that was in progress. More than a dozen luxury cars were parked in the square outside the official residence. The chauffeurs were standing in a corner smoking and chatting as they waited for the big shots to come out.
Inside the conference room, someone said in a loud voice, “The Wang clan in the north has already opened up their trade route with the Northwest. If we let them carry on developing, wouldn’t that make us sitting ducks?”
Someone retorted, “Don’t always be spoiling for a fight. Our priority now should be to continue our spread east. The Qinghe Group over there cannot be underestimated.”
The person who made the retort was a bearded, middle-aged man. He had a calm look on his face, and his black tie and dark blue military uniform made him appear exceptionally solemn.
The person who spoke earlier sneered, “Zhou Shiji, the Qinghe Group is content with exercising sovereignty within their own territory and has never gotten involved in any competition for resources in the Central Plains. What’s there to be afraid of? I don’t think you realize yet who our true enemy is.”
“It’s not that I deem the Qinghe Group to be an enemy, but I’ve heard that they’ve mastered how to create superhumans. My opinion’s that we should get our hands on a similar method first.” The bearded, middle-aged man adjusted the pen and paper in front of him and placed them neatly together.
“But they don’t seem to have that many superhumans in their organization,” someone else countered.
“In this current climate, it’s time that we start paying more attention to superhumans.”
Internal strife was playing out between the main and conservative factions of the clan, but this meeting was destined to have no outcome.
It took another two hours before these Zhou Consortium big shots finally walked out of the official residence. One by one, the important figures from the conservative faction bid farewell to the representative of their faction, Zhou Shiji. There was even someone who invited him for drinks, but he turned them down.
As Zhou Shiji walked down the gravel road in front of the official residence, the protocol officers and security personnel were waiting in front of the car. After the protocol officer opened the car door for Zhou Shiji, Zhou Shiji nodded at him before getting into the car.
The luxury black car drove out of the official residence with two motorcycle escorts in front and behind. The assistant officer sitting in the front passenger seat held a document and said, “The people who met up with the Qinghe Group have returned. They said the other party rejected our proposal as usual.”
Zhou Shiji was resting with his eyes closed and his expression showed no signs of being affected.
Someone was watching the movement of the convoy with a pair of military binoculars on a roof of a tall building in the distance. When the person was sure of it, he turned around and brought out three white doves from a cage behind him and tossed them into the sky.
The sound of the white doves’ flapping wings would make anyone joyful.
Elsewhere, someone was cautiously hiding in a residence and watching that tall building.
When he saw three doves taking flight from the tall building, he said to his three armed companions next to him, “The target is taking the route that was briefed to us. Get ready to fight.”
“This assassination attempt can only succeed. Failure is unacceptable!”
“Do you think we’ll get the chance to join the Anjing House after we pull off this job?”
Based on what they said, the Anjing House sounded like an organization rather than a temple. After all, it didn’t make sense that one would only be able to join a temple after killing people.
But at this moment, a young man suddenly walked out from the shadows next to them. He let out a foul breath and said with a grin, “I’ve finally found y’all. However, the Anjing House is not a place that characters like you can join.”
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These four hitmen quickly pointed their guns at the young man. “Where’d you pop out of? Were you hiding in the kitchen all this while?”
Holding a glass of juice in his hand, the young man chuckled softly and said, “Don’t get so anxious. Let me finish my juice first.”
As he spoke, the four hitmen’s gun barrels twisted like a pastry twist.
Five minutes later, the young man walked out of the building. There was a bright scarlet stain on his white shirt that indicated the fate of the four hitmen in the building.
He frowned at the sight of the bloodstain, then reached up to wipe it clean.
When the stronghold bell rang out in the distance, the white doves in Ping’an Square got alarmed by the sound and took off into the sky.
Then the young man took out a paper crane from his pocket and wrote on it, “Mission accomplished. Please deposit the commission into my account. The targets are extras that don’t know who the mastermind is.”
After the message was written, the paper crane took flight into the sky by itself and crossed the turbulent river, going north.
This paper crane would help to bring back news of what had happened here. As it flew among the white doves, it did not look out of place at all.
As for where the paper crane would fly to, the young man did not know either.
…
On a mountain road in the north, a young man was trekking across the treacherous mountains. He was moving down the river, apparently searching for something along the way. But at the same time, he seemed afraid he would miss something.
The mountains here were yellowish brown, and only after heading further east did the landscape start transforming into a grassy green.
The young man looked a little disappointed when he did not find any tracks here.
But it was also a good thing that he did not see any corpses since that would mean the people he was looking for might still be alive.
He walked and walked until half a month had passed. Actually, he could probably have crossed the mountain range within four or five days if he had traveled at full speed. But as he was searching for tracks along the way, it delayed his travels by quite a bit.
The young man slowed when he heard a ruckus up ahead. Before he could walk much further, he saw a group of refugee workers in safety helmets cutting wood.
When these workers saw the young man, they were stunned. “Friend, where did you come from? Why did you walk out of the mountain range?”
“Actually, I lost my way and got here by accident. I’m from the Northwest.” The young man said with a smile, “Bros, where are y’all from?”
“We’re lumberjack refugees from Stronghold 61.” The oldest lumberjack wondered, “The Northwest? A lot of people fleeing there have arrived here recently. I heard that there’s a war going on. Did you escape from the war? ”
“Yes.” The young man smiled and said, “I escaped here to get away from the war. The fighting there is too deadly.”
“Oh, I heard that the superhumans over there are extremely powerful. Someone escaped from Stronghold 146 and is staying in our town. They claimed that Stronghold 146 was destroyed by a young superhuman. Are the superhumans these days that fearsome? They can even destroy a stronghold by themselves?”
The young man was stunned before replying with a smile, “I dunno about that. I haven’t been to Stronghold 146 before.”
“Oh, news doesn’t really flow that well over there, so it’s understandable that you don’t know about it.” The lumberjack nodded. “My name is Xu Yahui. If you’re lost, you can come back with us later and settle down in town. But you definitely won’t be allowed into the stronghold. Friend, how should I address you?”
The young man smiled. “Thank you, bro, I’m Ren Xiaosu.”
[1] The East Asian rainy season, commonly called the plum rain (Chinese: 梅雨; pinyin: méiyǔ), is caused by precipitation along a persistent stationary front known as the Meiyu front for nearly two months during the late spring and early summer between China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asian_rainy_season