Chapter 26

17th Textile Factory.

This is an ancient factory. Its appearance somewhat resembles a castle, and it even retains the characteristics of old-style red brick buildings from before the Industrial Revolution.

A sealed minivan slowly drove up.

The minivan stopped at the entrance, and the rear door opened. Two people on the vehicle lifted a human-shaped object wrapped in a white cloth, which had been stained red with blood.

Everyone inside the factory who saw this situation gathered around.

The obese butcher took the lead, taking the object from the two people, then grabbed the feet exposed from the blood-soaked white cloth, and together with another person, carried it into the factory.

The white cloth was pulled open, revealing the true face inside, which turned out to be a corpse in an extremely tragic state!

"Mad Blade!"

Seeing the corpse, the butcher couldn't help but exclaim in shock.

In the entire Mutual Aid Society, apart from him and Mad Blade, who were both experts with knives, almost everyone else was an expert with guns. Therefore, the butcher was very close to Mad Blade. A few days ago, the two of them had even had a pleasant drink and chat. But he never expected that when they met again, Mad Blade had already become a cold, lifeless corpse!

"Was it the Cross that did this?"

About seven or eight people gathered around the corpse, and one of them spoke up. Another person, however, said doubtfully, "But... looking at the fatal wounds, they seem to be knife wounds, which doesn't seem like the work of the Cross!"

"It wasn't the Cross!"

The butcher, while examining the wounds on Mad Blade's body, said with a serious expression, "Mad Blade has no gunshot wounds, but has 128 knife wounds. Among them, there are two fatal knife wounds: one at the neck's major artery, a single cut to the throat! The other is right at the center of the heart, a single strike that pierced through the chest, through the body, leaving a large hole in the heart!"

Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

They had no doubt about the butcher's explanation, as he was the top knife expert in the Mutual Aid Society, experienced in slaughtering and dissecting pigs and human corpses, and inspecting bodies. No one present had more authority to speak about the knife wounds on Mad Blade's body!

But precisely because of this, they were even more shocked!

After all, Mad Blade was the second-best knife expert in the society, besides the butcher. Not only that, Mad Blade's gun skills were also quite good, though not as good as the gun experts in the society, they were far superior to ordinary people. Yet, such a skilled expert in both guns and knives was killed! And... he died from his own specialty, knife skills!

They were already on edge due to the consecutive assassinations by the Cross. Now, the sudden appearance of a terrifying and deranged knife expert left them even more alarmed!

"Who could have done this?"

"Heaven, where did this expert come from? Why did he kill Mad Blade?"

"Is it an accomplice of the Cross?"

"Could it be that Mad Blade offended someone and was retaliated against?"

"..."

Everyone immediately began to discuss the matter.

Inside a luxurious room on the top floor of the factory.

Sloan, the big boss with black skin, white hair, and dressed in a suit, stood by the window, looking down at everything happening below, his brows furrowed, his face dark and purple.

To him, the Mutual Aid Society was a tool for making money, and the expert assassins within were his pawns for earning money!

With such a group of powerful assassins, Sloan's ambitions grew even more!

He even considered himself a god-like existence!

Supreme!

Unrestrained!

Sloan enjoyed this feeling!

But due to a chance encounter, the Cross accidentally discovered his secret, and Sloan's "divine authority" was challenged!

The Cross left the Mutual Aid Society and began assassinating its members!

One after another, his pawns were eliminated, and Sloan was furious.

He wanted to tear the Cross apart, but he couldn't find the Cross's whereabouts. Even he, with all his resources, found it difficult to track down the King of Assassins!

Even his carefully designed traps and baits were useless against the Cross, and instead, all were gunned down!

Sloan was already distressed, and now, another knife expert had appeared out of nowhere!

He appeared and immediately killed Mad Blade!

Sloan was furious!

The gun expert, Gunsmith, a muscular, bald, bearded black man standing beside Sloan, also had a very grim expression.

He said to Sloan, "The Cross is killing us one by one!"

In other words: Hey, you're the boss, come up with a plan! Are you just going to watch us get killed one by one without doing anything?

Sloan naturally understood Gunsmith's meaning. He also wanted to eliminate the Cross, but... he lacked the ability!

Sloan snorted coldly, turned back to his large desk, and said as he walked, "The Cross is the King of Assassins, so powerful that he is virtually invincible. His son Wesley is the only one who can take him down! But he is just an ordinary person, and I'm not sure if he can become an assassin!"

"Moreover... the Cross knows us very well and might suspect that we would use Wesley against him. If we appear near Wesley, we might be attacked by the Cross before we can even recruit him. We should avoid this step unless absolutely necessary!"

"What should we do now? Just watch as the members of the Mutual Aid Society die one by one?"

It wasn't Gunsmith who spoke, but the third person in the room, Fox, who had been silent all along.

Fox, dressed in white, was ethereal and beautiful, with tattoos covering her exposed arms, giving her a mysterious and violent beauty.

She stared straight at Sloan, determined not to leave until she got an answer.

Gunsmith also followed suit, staring intently at Sloan, clearly wanting an answer, even if it was just a敷衍 (敷衍 means perfunctory, but it's not used in this context in English, so I'll use a more appropriate word) one. They were truly terrified by the Cross and wanted Sloan's reassurance.

Sloan felt bitter. What the hell! Why are you all looking at me? I don't know what to do either!

Being the boss is not easy!

Finally, he said helplessly, "I can't think of a good plan right now. The society has suffered heavy losses, so let's recruit some fresh blood. Perhaps... we might discover some assassin geniuses. If we find someone with extremely high talent, we will pour all our resources into training them. Once they are fully trained, they might be able to take down the Cross!"

"OK!"

Fox shrugged and then turned to leave.

Gunsmith tilted his head and said, "Understood, I'll prepare more guns and ammunition!"

With that, he also left.

The large room was left with Sloan alone.

He sat in a leather chair, his hand crumpling a steel pen into a twisted mess, and said with hatred, "Cross! I swear! I will make sure you don't die a good death!"

...

Cross's residence.

In the black bathtub in the bathroom, a layer of solid ointment, like white candles, completely covered the figure inside, leaving only the face exposed.

This person was Bai Xiaofei!

Crack...

Bai Xiaofei regained consciousness. As he moved, the candle-like ointment quickly shattered.

Splash!

Bai Xiaofei took a deep breath and sat up, first examining his fully recovered skin, then looking at the medicinal liquid in the bathtub, his eyes filled with admiration and excitement!

"This medicinal liquid is truly amazing!"

Recalling his numerous knife wounds, which had been like being flayed alive, and how he had fully recovered after soaking in the medicinal liquid for a few hours, he became even more determined to get his hands on this miraculous liquid!

"You're awake!"

Cross, hearing the noise, walked over and, seeing Bai Xiaofei's amazed face, smiled and asked, "How do you feel?"

"Awesome!"

Bai Xiaofei replied.

Whether it was the intense battle with Mad Blade, the complete recovery from his terrifying injuries, the significant improvement in his physical condition, the level-up in his knife skills, or the successful submission of his pledge, everything made Bai Xiaofei feel extremely satisfied!

That's right!

Mad Blade was killed by Bai Xiaofei!

Cross was a very cautious person and couldn't fully trust Bai Xiaofei, whom he had only met once.

Bai Xiaofei also knew this.

Therefore, to gain Cross's trust, Bai Xiaofei decided to submit a pledge.

After understanding the meaning of the pledge, Cross agreed to Bai Xiaofei's plan and appeared to lure out Mad Blade from the Mutual Aid Society.

Then, Bai Xiaofei ambushed Mad Blade, disarming him of his gun. Thinking everything was fine, Bai Xiaofei didn't expect Mad Blade to be not only skilled with guns but also extremely proficient with knives. Caught off guard, he almost died!

Enraged, Bai Xiaofei fought fiercely with Mad Blade.

Bai Xiaofei used his mental power to protect his vital points, but didn't provide much protection to the rest of his body.

First, Bai Xiaofei knew that Cross had a miraculous medicinal liquid that could heal injuries, so he had no worries.

Second, Bai Xiaofei wanted to use the intense battle with Mad Blade to train his Level 1 knife skills. No amount of training could match a real, intense battle, which would help him improve faster!

Third, Bai Xiaofei wanted to use the injuries to train his physical toughness.

In the real world, Bai Xiaofei had no chance to train his physical toughness, so he wouldn't miss this opportunity now!

High risk means high reward!

Now, not only had Bai Xiaofei gained Cross's complete trust, but his own strength had also improved.

Especially his knife skills, which were previously at Level 1, had clearly advanced to Level 2 after the intense battle with Mad Blade!

Thinking of Mad Blade's knife skills, Bai Xiaofei glared at Cross and gritted his teeth, "Hey, buddy, Mad Blade not only had great gun skills but also extremely powerful knife skills. Why didn't you tell me beforehand? I almost got sliced into sashimi by that bastard! You didn't do it on purpose, did you?"

Cross was definitely doing it on purpose!

He didn't tell Bai Xiaofei about Mad Blade's true capabilities to test whether Bai Xiaofei was a mole sent by the Mutual Aid Society!

When Cross saw Bai Xiaofei relax after disarming Mad Blade's gun and almost get his neck sliced off, he finally believed that Bai Xiaofei was not a mole.

Cross was about to intervene but was shocked to find that Bai Xiaofei also knew knife skills. Although not as good as Mad Blade, his attacks were still very powerful when he went all out!

Then, Cross became a spectator, eating fries while watching Bai Xiaofei and Mad Blade fight fiercely!

After Bai Xiaofei killed Mad Blade and fell unconscious from his injuries, Cross appeared, took him back to the residence, and had him soak in the bathtub to heal.

Now, seeing Bai Xiaofei ask this question, Cross wouldn't foolishly reveal his thoughts. He just chuckled and said, "You guess!"

Then he quickly left the bathroom.

Bai Xiaofei was taken aback, then understood and couldn't help but curse, "Cross, you bastard!"

...