Chapter 268 - 260: Southern Country

Chapter 268: Chapter 260: Southern Country

The Public Concession.

Kaina Road.

It was a three-story building constructed entirely of granite, with an intricate and exquisite facade. Six two-story-high columns stood in a row, their capitals bearing the volute ornamentation characteristic of architecture from the Western World.

It had once been one of the most magnificent buildings in the Public Concession—a bank funded by a Westerner. Yet, less than six months after its construction, it had gone bankrupt, a casualty of an international financial crisis.

The building had stood empty for nearly two years. Only recently, following an official directive, had a sign reading "Southern Country Special Operations Bureau" been hung up.

A brand-new black sedan slowly pulled up to the front of the building.

The car door opened, and a tall, slender figure stepped out.

He was a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties. He wore a white suit, as pristine as fresh snow under the moonlight, with a Windsor-collared shirt and a silver-gray tie. A square of white linen peeked out from his left breast pocket...

He looked clean and distinguished, yet carried an air of nonchalance.

The young man stopped before the magnificent building. The car that had brought him didn’t linger, slowly driving away.

He tilted his head back slightly, squinting as he gazed at the sign: "Southern Country Special Operations Bureau."

Then, he started up the stone steps, his pace unhurried. The soles of his leather shoes made a crisp CLICK-CLACK sound on the bluestone slabs.

Two massive, powerfully built men fell in silently behind him, flanking him on his left and right as they ascended together.

Halfway up the steps, the trio was stopped by a group of armed guards.

"Who are you?"

A guard in a black uniform sized them up, his gaze cold and scrutinizing. "Don’t you know where you are? You can’t just waltz right in."

It was only because the trio’s attire and bearing were far from ordinary that they hadn’t been driven off at the bottom of the steps. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have even had the chance to be standing here now.

Two rifles were crossed in front of his face. The young man in the white suit didn’t get angry. Instead, he smiled graciously. "I’m a good friend of your Director Nan, Nan Xiangcheng."

"Everyone who comes here claims to be a good friend of Director Nan. Funny, I had no idea our Director has made so many good friends in the mere two months he’s been in Shenghai..."

One of the guards sneered, then said flatly, "Wait here. I’ll go announce you. You can only enter after your identities have been confirmed..."

"I think... it would be better if I just went in to find him myself."

He spoke while slowly drawing a stack of Gold Yuan Banknotes from his suit pocket.

The intricate, gold-dusted patterns on the fanned-out bills glinted in the sunlight, instantly capturing the guards’ attention.

After a half-second of silence, the guard blocking the path snatched the entire stack of Gold Yuan Banknotes from the young man’s hand, swiftly pocketed them, and his attitude immediately softened.

"It seems you really are a good friend of Director Nan."

The guard smiled and stepped aside, but his gaze swept over the two massive men who looked like bodyguards behind the youth, and he frowned. "However, those two can’t go in. That’s the rule."

"Understood."

The young man smiled and nodded. He then raised his hands willingly, allowing two guards to perform a perfunctory search before he continued casually on his way up.

The guards watched until the young man had entered the building before looking away.

Only the two massive bodyguards who had arrived with the young man remained.

Both men were over two meters tall. They stood there like a pair of door panels, their size intimidating, yet they appeared remarkably docile—just standing there quietly, not saying a word.

The guards stared at the two for a while, but gradually stopped paying them any mind.

But they hadn’t been relaxed for long when a group of armed men suddenly charged out from the street below!

Every one of them was fierce and agile, swarming to flank the building like a rushing tide!

The guards’ expressions changed. Just as they raised their rifles to sound the alarm, two massive shadows descended upon them from above...

"CRACK—"

"CRUNCH!"

A few breaths later, the steps were littered with bodies, lying twisted and broken.

Nearly every corpse was bent into an unnatural, twisted shape, as if they had been brutally wrung out.

After finishing off all the guards, the two massive men exchanged a look with the leader of the group below, then strode up the steps.

Flanking the entrance, each man grabbed one of the building’s great bronze doors—both over four meters tall and engraved with wheat sheaves, olive branches, and cornucopias—

Slowly, inch by inch, they forced the great doors shut!

.....

Meanwhile, inside the building.

The young man in the white suit was standing in the center of the main hall.

The hall, converted from the former bank’s main lobby, was now filled with desks. People bustled about, and the sounds of telegraphs, typewriters, conversations, and footsteps blended into a cacophony.

The young man raised his hands and clapped softly.

The motion was slight, but the sound seemed to possess a strange magic, instantly silencing the entire hall.

Everyone froze, turning to look at him in bewilderment.

Only then did the young man stop clapping.

Just then, the two four-meter-tall bronze doors behind him swung slowly shut.

The obstructed sunlight cast a pattern of light and shadow across his face.

Facing the crowd, the young man spread his arms wide and, with a brilliant smile, announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, your workday is over!"

Everyone froze, stunned.

But in the next second, they saw the young man raise his hand and lightly snap his fingers.

As the sound of the snap echoed, a tangible, invisible ripple shot through the air.

Without warning, in a circle radiating out from the young man, people’s heads exploded in unison like ripe watermelons. POP!

At the same time, the sound of intense gunfire erupted from the open areas on either side of the main hall.

In an instant, the entire hall plunged into immense panic and chaos!

Screams, sobs, overturned tables and chairs, documents scattering like confetti...

The young man stood amidst the chaos, watching as heavily armed guards poured out from the corners and stairwells of the four-story atrium.

He wore a smile.

It was as if... he were getting ready to revel in a grand feast!

......

In a spacious, luxuriously decorated office, cigar smoke swirled through the air.

Nan Xiangcheng sat on an imported leather sofa, his face beaming as he chatted amiably with his guest.

"I’ll be relying on your support in the future, Mr. Morita. I hope our collaboration will be a pleasant one..."

"Of course, of course!"

As they were chatting, a sudden burst of muffled gunshots from outside the room instantly shattered the friendly atmosphere.

Nan Xiangcheng frowned. Just as he was about to order one of his men to investigate, the door was pushed open.

"Director!"

A uniformed guard stood at the door, drenched in sweat. He saluted, then reported breathlessly, "Armed assailants are attacking the building!"

Nan Xiangcheng’s expression changed drastically. He shot to his feet. "How many of them?"

"Around eighty. They’re outside, trying to break through the flanks. They’ve already engaged our men."

"Eighty men?"

Hearing this number, Nan Xiangcheng’s expression immediately relaxed.

"Why are you panicking over a mere eighty men?"

He picked up the cigar from the table and casually flicked the ash. "The Bureau has a permanent guard force of over five hundred."

The guard wiped sweat from his brow and swallowed hard. "B-but... their firepower is intense."

"Then hurry up and send someone to call for reinforcements."

Nan Xiangcheng looked impatient.

"Th-the key thing is..."

The guard’s voice trembled. "Someone’s gotten inside."

"How many?"

"O-one."

"Are you kidding me?"

Nan Xiangcheng shot the reporting guard a glacial look and strode out of the office himself.

Standing on the third-floor corridor, he saw at a glance the handsome youth in the white suit in the center of the hall below.

As Nan Xiangcheng got a clear look at the man’s face, his eyes lit up, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

’So, it’s him.’

’I never thought that right after Ding Moshan died, Wen Zhiqiu wouldn’t be the one to lose his cool. Instead, it’s this little whelp under his command who couldn’t hold back...’

He turned, waved his hand, and with a cruel smile on his face, gave the order, word by word:

"Men."

"Shoot that kid. One bullet at a time. Don’t stop until you’ve turned him into paste!"

.....