Chapter Fifty-Five: Threatening the Great Clans

“Goddammit, who fired that shot!” Gu Sha roared at a surveillance drone hidden overhead, then leapt into the air, hurling his Tang sword straight at the distant soldier who had fired. The blade flashed like a meteor, leaving a streak of light in its wake, so swift it seemed like lightning. It pierced through the sniper’s arm and dragged him backwards, pinning him to the wall.

With a cold snort, Gu Sha fixed his gaze on the fleeing red fox and gave chase. The fox was cunning, a master of concealment. But ultimately, it was only a third-tier beast, gifted though it was; the difference between it and Gu Sha was too great. With his senses sharpened to their fullest, Gu Sha locked onto the red fox in an instant, picked up a massive stone from the ground, and hurled it.

A shrill cry tore from the red fox as the stone struck home. It tried to command the other beasts to come to its aid, but Gu Sha was already upon it, fist raised. In that instant, the red fox unleashed a wave of powerful psychic force, trying to cloud Gu Sha’s mind, but the gap between them was far too wide—its influence was negligible.

With a thunderous blow, Gu Sha smashed the fox’s skull, then snatched up the corpse and tore at it, rending flesh and fur. He found the mutant bone at its thigh, stuffed it into his pack, then, his expression icy, strode toward the sniper he’d pinned to the wall, ignoring the other extraordinary fighters still battling the beasts.

The sniper looked deathly pale as Gu Sha approached, his arm nailed to the wall by the Tang sword, gritting his teeth in agony, sweat streaming down his face. Gu Sha yanked the sword free and seized the sniper by the throat.

“You’re bold. Incredibly bold,” he said coldly.

But instead of killing the man outright, Gu Sha dragged him upstairs.

By now, with the three mutant beasts dealt with, the ordinary soldiers at last had a chance to intervene. A dense swarm of fully-armed troops poured in. Under overwhelming firepower, the horde of beasts, stripped of the strange abilities of their leaders, could no longer resist and were quickly suppressed.

“Mr. Gu!” Han Ze hurried over, his face anxious. He had just witnessed the attempt on Gu Sha’s life and feared he might act rashly. “Mr. Gu, that might have been an accidental discharge. Please, don’t be impulsive!”

Gu Sha hoisted the sniper and sneered. “President Han, you’re a fourth-tier, almost fifth-tier, extraordinary warrior—your senses are far sharper than most. Do you really believe what you’re saying? You can’t fool yourself, so what makes you think you can fool me?”

Han Ze’s expression froze. He could tell at a glance that the shot was no accident—it was deliberate.

Gu Sha said no more. He dragged the sniper upstairs at a run, soon reaching the fifth floor. With a kick, he smashed open the command room door and tossed the sniper to the ground, his gaze sweeping over the gathered leaders.

“Who gave the order to fire?” he demanded coldly.

The faces of the upper echelons and the heads of the great families darkened.

The head of the Liu family from the Fortress Center Administration stepped forward. “Mr. Gu, this is a misunderstanding. No one meant—”

Gu Sha pressed his blade to Liu’s throat. “Was it you?”

The atmosphere in the command room froze. Soldiers raised their guns, aiming at Gu Sha.

Han Ze hurried to defuse the situation, urging the soldiers to stay calm while appealing to Gu Sha. “Mr. Gu, please! The Liu family head would never order someone to shoot at you!”

The Liu patriarch added gravely, “Gu Sha, this is the Extraordinary Association, the Fortress base—you—”

Gu Sha kicked him in the stomach, sending him to his knees, but left the blade at his throat.

“Did I say you could talk? I asked: who gave the order to fire?”

Another high-level official could not bear it any longer and shouted, “Gu Sha, don’t get carried away—this place—”

“Screw you!”

Gu Sha slapped the man aside, then swept his cold gaze around the room. “This is the last time I’ll ask: who gave the order? If no one answers, I’ll see if I can kill you all.”

“Mr. Gu, please, give me some face. Don’t be impulsive—let’s talk this out!” Han Ze pleaded. “We’ve had a good working relationship, and there will be more cooperation in the future!”

Gu Sha looked at Han Ze. “President Han, if it weren’t for your sake, I wouldn’t be asking who gave the order—I’d have started killing already. I’m out there risking my life while these bastards lounge around giving orders. Not only are they useless, they take shots at me behind my back. How do you expect me to stay calm?”

At that moment, a middle-aged man in glasses, dressed in a suit, stepped forward, his expression somber. “I’m Bai Song, chief of the General Affairs Office on the sixth floor. That red fox was the product of over a month’s research by our lab—hundreds of scientists working night and day. It was a monumental achievement!

We were on the verge of deciphering the laws of psychic energy from it, on the brink of discovering the secret to extraordinary advancement. Do you have any idea what that means? It means we could mass-produce extraordinary warriors!

Yet you insisted on killing it. I warned you, but you ignored me and acted on your own!”

Gu Sha turned to Bai Song, his tone flat. “So it was you who gave the order?”

“Yes, it was me,” Bai Song replied. “But I never intended to kill you—I just wanted to stop you—”

“Then you can die for it.”

Without warning, Gu Sha swung his blade, severing Bai Song’s neck in a single stroke. His head flew from his shoulders, blood spraying in all directions.

“Gu Sha, what are you doing?” a high-ranking official screamed hysterically. “He already said he didn’t mean to kill you—just to stop you—”

“Shut up,” Gu Sha replied coldly, sweeping his gaze over the group. “There are still a few beasts downstairs. Why don’t you go down and try your luck? In a life-and-death fight, can you just stop because someone tells you to? Can you just yield because someone wants to interfere? Any accident in a battle like that could mean death.”

The Liu patriarch, still kneeling, struggled to his feet. “No matter what, Gu Sha, you shouldn’t have killed someone here. It’s not for you to decide the law. Are you challenging all our families in the Southwest?”

Gu Sha sneered. “Then let me declare it now: I, Gu Sha, challenge every family in this Fortress to a duel of life and death. Let’s see who dies first—you all, or me. Shall we?”