My Apocalypse Territory

"I want you to work for me."

Old Man Yan swung the bottle in his hand, as if Grey Blade's words did not concern him. He continued, "Tell me what you want directly. The business we can handle here includes finding people or things and settling grudges or disputes for others."

"State your requirement and leave a deposit, and I'll contact the supplier for you."

Grey Blade gently tapped on the table, looking at the old man.

"Old Man Yan, stop pretending."

The old man lifted his eyes, still unconcerned.

"You are the real boss here, controlling everything, including this bar and these deals."

This time, Old Man Yan seemed a bit surprised.

Many knew his surname was Yan.

But most thought he was just a middleman, working for others, understanding clients' requirements before passing them to the mysterious boss to decide whether to take on the business.

Yet, few knew that the tough guys who settled grudges and disputes were actually his "employees."

Old Man Yan raised his eyebrows slowly, becoming serious.

He stared at Grey Blade, "Kid, since you know what place this is, do you know what the consequences are for fooling around here?"

"Or do you think that because we don't undertake assassination, we wouldn't dare to kill? Every day, people die in this refugee area. If too many die, it might cause a bit of trouble, but who would care about just one person..."

He shook his head. "Of course, doing business means amassing wealth in peace. I'll give you another chance, state your purpose."

"My purpose?" Grey Blade laughed. "It is to have you and your men work for me, otherwise, why would I come here?"

Old Man Yan's face gradually turned cold.

He slapped the bell under the table, and instantly, an alarm bell rang throughout the bar.

The bartender's face changed, stopping his work.

Many big men armed with weapons like knives, sticks, and guns rushed out from inside.

The customers, sensing something amiss and seeing the menacing faces of the big men, knew they couldn't stay any longer.

They hurriedly left the bar.

Bang!

The gate closed.

The big men looked at Grey Blade with ill intentions, and the most muscular among them pointed at him, "Old man, is this guy causing the trouble? He's too slim; I think I could kill him with one slap."

Yet, Grey Blade merely squinted and smiled.

Surrounded by the big men, he didn't seem concerned at all.

Somehow, Old Man Yan felt uneasy; Grey Blade didn't look strong, and his aura was weak, yet why... he seemed so confident.

What kind of trump card did he have?

The big men surrounding Grey Blade wouldn't think too much about it.

The first one swung his stick, only to find Grey Blade's figure vanishing from his sight.

The next moment, his vision spun wildly, and he was thrown into the air, crashing onto the distant floor.

Bang! The dilapidated house seemed to tremble, shaking off dust.

The big man tried to get up, but suddenly, everything before his eyes went dark as another big man was hurled onto him, landing right on his face.

These men were all bulky, and compared to them, Grey Blade indeed had a smaller build. But likewise, these men weren't light. One or two might be manageable, but one after another, these big men were thrown by Grey Blade, all landing in the same spot.

The man at the bottom could only produce groaning sounds, unable to speak, his face cycling through colors of blue, red, black, and grimaced misery.

The physically strongest and also an awakener, Yan Dazhuang, roared and charged forward.

He swung his hand down, but Grey Blade's figure disappeared from in front of him.

A table nearby shattered.

Old Man Yan's eyes showed a hint of distress.

Yan Dazhuang suddenly turned around, "Found you."

His massive fist smashed down, this time hitting Grey Blade.

But Yan Dazhuang was stunned, his fist passed right through Grey Blade—it was an illusion!

Then it crashed into the wall beside them.

Thud! The wall cracked, Old Man Yan's heart ached so much that he almost shattered the wine bottle in his hand.

Several minutes later.

The bar had piled up into a small mountain of bodies.

The big man at the bottom had long since passed out, experiencing the full pressure of a big man on top of him.

Yan Dazhuang was the last one thrown on, but he also took the worst beating.

Swollen face, bruised nose, if this hadn't happened in front of Old Man Yan, probably even his own father wouldn't recognize him.

After finishing up.

Grey Blade clapped his hands and looked toward Old Man Yan.

"Let me reintroduce myself, I am... ahem, my identity is confidential, so now, can we discuss work?"

...

Science Academy.

In an underground laboratory.

Sun Weiguo was using a device to engrave a rune into the equipment.

Although advanced in age, his hands controlling the device did not tremble at all, and he did not let anyone help... Compared to letting others do the work, Sun Weiguo enjoyed the process of scientific results being born under his own hands.

After a while, the rune energy finally got engraved.

Sun Weiguo carefully carried the longsword to another side and placed it on a detection device.

The red light on the device lit up, and the results appeared.

Next to him, his assistant Lin was so nervous he hardly dared to breathe and after waiting a while, he carefully asked, "Professor, did it... succeed?"

Sun Weiguo frowned, "The rune was successfully engraved, but the effect is far from meeting the expected standards."

Since he listened to Tang Yu's words, Sun Weiguo had an epiphany.

Originally, he had been researching this field for a long time; it was just that key point that eluded him. Once it clicked, Sun Weiguo immediately discussed the research with other experts overnight, quickly making a systematic summary of the Transcendent Power of runes.

In their expectation, the most difficult part was the Engraving Rune step.

Now, although the rune was successfully engraved, its effects were far inferior to those of the Demon-slaying Longsword.

"What exactly is the problem?"

Sun Weiguo racked his brains.

In order to better substantiate his research, he used the same materials as those used by the Demon-slaying Longsword, even the weapon styling and dimensions, to the slightest millimeter.

Yet it was still useless!

To engrave this rune, he had consumed thousands of units of Source Crystal; this was definitely far beyond the conventional consumption of rune weapons. If it had worked, that would have been fine, but the results indicated that this newly forged longsword was more than just a notch below the Demon-slaying Longsword.

Suddenly a new idea flashed through his mind.

"Lin, bring me another Demon-slaying Longsword."

Assistant Lin nodded, was just about to fetch it when he suddenly paused, "Professor, the last Demon-slaying Longsword was dismantled earlier, and now we don't have any left."

He showed a bitter face.

Sun Weiguo's expression almost drove him mad, as if he was told that he couldn't do something very crucial today.

It was probably even more unbearable than that!

This kind of feeling, if he were not an Awakener, he might have fainted from urgency.

Even now, his fingers trembled in his anxiety, he suddenly slapped his thigh, "Right, there's that young fellow from last time, Lin, I told you to keep an eye on his whereabouts, you did keep an eye, right? Go talk to that fellow, ask how many more Demon-slaying Longswords he has, buy them all, Source Crystal is no object, if that youngster wants something else, as long as the Science Academy can provide it, it's not a problem!"

Sun Weiguo was already so flustered he was almost incoherent.

But Lin panicked, "Professor, although I did find out where they were staying in Lindong, they aren't there now."

"That means they're out on a mission? This complicates things."

"No." Lin thought for a moment, then finally revealed the harsh truth, "It seems they haven't returned to the Sanctuary, I heard they were ambushed by the Scarlet Hand in the wilderness."

"The Scarlet Hand?" Sun Weiguo was furious.

Tang Yu's contributions, even though he had already paid a lot, Sun Weiguo still considered that young man a hero of Lindong, yet to think they were attacked by the Scarlet Hand!

His eyes became somewhat lifeless, "It was my negligence, my negligence… I must have Lu Jianjun wipe out these dangerous elements!"

Sun Weiguo was about to set off.

But then he heard Lin say, "No, Professor, the Scarlet Hand has already been eradicated. It was said to be the work of those three individuals."

Sun Weiguo: "…"

(Thank you to "Shangdang's Wood's" 700 coin reward, and "Solitary Drink Under The Moon White Water's" 500 coin reward...)