Chapter 58

Qianye jumped into the truck, carefully searched inside and out, made sure to eliminate all traces of himself, and then searched the bodyguard and Qi Yue, finding a force gun from each of them.

Qi Yue was equipped with a pistol-type force gun. The model was called the Wasp, of high quality, with a force conversion rate of 30%, which could be considered a second-grade weapon. The bodyguard's, on the other hand, was a rifle-type, a second-hand item retired from the expeditionary army, a product from the previous century. Although old, it could still be classified as a first-grade weapon.

The empire and the dark races had the same standards for grading force guns, with the core metric being the force conversion rate. 20% was the minimum threshold, and anything reaching 20% was a first-grade weapon. For every additional 10% in conversion rate, the weapon would be upgraded by one grade. For example, the Red Scorpion's special edition Scorpion Stinger was a fourth-grade weapon, while the basic version of the Flowing Gold Rose that Qianye obtained should be considered a third-grade weapon. As for the old antique Dawnlight Mark I, it was not even considered a first-grade weapon in today's standards.

Qianye also found a mithril bullet from the bodyguard, a powerful tool against the dark races. He opened the sealed box and took a look; the intense mithril aura still made his blood churn uncomfortably.

However, the battle with the bloodline earlier had shown Qianye a new possibility. If he could control the power of his blood to infuse the force bullets, perhaps he wouldn't have to rely solely on silver poison when dealing with bloodlines in the future. According to the results of the battle with the fourth-grade bloodline elder, using heavy ammunition and the additional damage from blood energy, he could basically one-shot a bloodline warrior of the same level. When facing bloodline warriors one or two grades higher, if he hit a vital point, he should also be able to severely injure them.

Qianye couldn't yet understand the abnormality in his body, but he had the most practical and straightforward style of a soldier: using every means to strike the enemy, focusing only on the results, not the reasons.

In addition to these weapons, Qianye found over a dozen imperial gold coins. Even for someone of Qi Yue's status, this was a considerable amount of wealth.

Qianye pulled the tactical backpack off the bodyguard, cleared out the useless items inside, and kept only a set of precision tools for gun maintenance. He then placed the bloodline's Flowing Gold Rose and all its tactical attachments into the backpack. The bodyguard's assault rifle was disassembled and also packed inside.

He only carried the complete Dawnlight and Wasp on his person and began to return. Soon, Qianye found the box he had hidden. He sat down next to it and practiced for a while, then heard the crisp ring of the timed lock on the suitcase, indicating that the three-hour alert period had ended.

Qianye lightly pressed the switch on the suitcase, and the lid automatically popped open, revealing the cargo covered with thick velvet. A small force level meter was fixed on top, with a blue wire leading to the timer and a red wire extending to the lid.

The inside of the lid was filled with plastic explosives, enough to completely obliterate both the cargo and the person carrying the box.

Qianye carefully dismantled the level meter, timer, and automatic detonator, then lifted the velvet. He immediately drew a sharp breath, his face gradually turning angry.

Inside the suitcase were four neatly arranged black crystals, each about the size of a palm and about one centimeter thick.

Black crystals!

Qianye never expected that Qi Yue's transaction with the bloodline was to exchange black crystals for force guns!

The black crystals in the box were standard cutting units, marked as medium purity. These were not ordinary combustion drive energy sources but manufacturing-grade black crystals! One of the important uses Qianye knew was for making energy compression magazines for force guns.

If these marked black crystals were used for third-grade force guns, each piece could make two. For fourth-grade force guns, two pieces could make one.

It seemed that the force behind Qi Yue had a stable source of black crystals, which was why they had the idea of long-term trade with the bloodline.

The fully equipped Flowing Gold Rose also had artistic value. If auctioned in the upper layers of the continent, it could fetch twenty standard units of black crystals. A fourfold profit, no wonder they dared to take such a big risk in trading with the bloodline. Once this channel was established, gold would naturally flow in.

However, what made Qianye angry was that these black crystals, once in the hands of the bloodline, would become eight Flowing Gold Roses! If they were less refined ordinary third-grade force guns, they could make ten! After deducting other costs, this transaction would still yield more than three times the profit for the bloodline.

Among the dark races, the bloodline has always been the greatest enemy of humanity, as humans are still one of their main food sources. In the depths of the Eternal Night Continent and on the continents controlled by the dark races, countless humans are raised like livestock to provide food for the bloodline.

Millennia of hatred cannot be resolved by any means, only by a relentless struggle to the death.

But in this context, the Qi family secretly traded strategic materials like black crystals to the bloodline. This was nothing short of aiding the enemy! According to imperial law, any contact with the dark races was a serious crime, punishable by life imprisonment at the very least. The Qi family's actions were enough to warrant the extermination of the entire clan.

However, Qianye's brief service in the Red Scorpion told him that things were not so simple. In the Eternal Night Continent, far from the empire's homeland, the imperial expeditionary army was the ruler. The Qi family's background was the imperial expeditionary army, and if Qi Yue's words were true, he was the illegitimate son of a current division commander in the expeditionary army.

Regardless of whether there was a larger black hand behind the disrupted transaction, with these two layers of relationships, Qianye not only had to worry about bringing the Qi family to justice but also about the inevitable pursuit and possible extradition order issued by the expeditionary army.

Qianye thought for a while and decided to change his original plan. He packed the black crystals, took the box back to the battlefield with the bloodline, and fortunately, there were no signs of any outsiders having entered the scene.

He quickly cleared the area, arranged the three bloodline corpses together, reset the delayed detonator on the suitcase lid, placed it on the corpses, and then left.

A few minutes later, Qianye heard a loud explosion behind him, the flames shooting up dozens of meters. The explosives were indeed powerful enough to completely disintegrate the bloodline corpses, making it impossible to determine their cause of death.

Qianye identified the direction and did not return to Blackstream City but headed north. From that direction, he could reach the Rockfort Domain, the garrison area of the expeditionary army's Third Division.

Unlike the relatively peaceful Blackstream City, the Rockfort Domain was on the front lines of conflict and contention with the dark races, with a mix of various forces. It was filled with mercenaries, hunters, and various gang organizations, making the situation much more complex, and the expeditionary army's control far less than in Blackstream City.

There, Qianye would plan his future path anew.

In Yunfan City, less than 200 kilometers from Blackstream City, Brigadier General Wu Zhengnan woke up on time at five o'clock, and when the large clock struck six, he entered his office. In his more than thirty years of military service, this habit had never changed.

It was still dark outside, and it would take another five hours for the sunlight to reach from the upper layers of the continent. However, over a hundred gas lamps burned brightly, illuminating the parade ground as if it were daylight. Squadrons of soldiers were already doing morning exercises, their shouts echoing and full of ferocity.

Brigadier General Wu Zhengnan was not tall but was as solid as steel. His thick eyebrows resembled unsheathed blades, and although his eyes were disproportionately small, they sparkled with sharpness.

He stood by the window, watching the spirited soldiers on the parade ground, nodded in satisfaction, and then returned to his desk, picking up the latest imperial gazette to read.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and Wu Zhengnan's face darkened, somewhat displeased. He sternly shouted, "Come in!"

From six to seven in the morning was his time to read the latest news and think about the empire's political situation, and he strictly prohibited any disturbances without important matters.

The door opened gently, and a rather attractive female adjutant walked in, saying, "General, Director Qi says he has something important to discuss with you."

Qi Chengsi, the logistics director of the Seventh Division, was a capable administrator, and his methods of making money were also acceptable. He had never caused any trouble for Wu Zhengnan.

More importantly, he had a rather alluring wife who had kept Wu Zhengnan satisfied for over twenty years, and he still thought about her fondly. That woman had even secretly given Wu Zhengnan a son, and Qi Chengsi pretended to know nothing about it.

Wu Zhengnan's voice softened, saying, "Let him in."

Although Qi Chengsi was nearly sixty, he looked only in his early forties, tall and handsome, exuding the charm of a middle-aged man. However, in front of the medium-built Wu Zhengnan, Qi Chengsi seemed like a sheep in front of a tiger, not only bowing and smiling but also giving off a timid and fearful impression.

Wu Zhengnan liked this attitude. But on the surface, he still put on a gentle smile and said, "Old Qi, come in and sit down. There's no one else here now."

Qi Chengsi straightened his back and said seriously, "General, this is the military. The hierarchy must be clear, and order must not be disrupted!"

Wu Zhengnan sighed and said, "Old Qi, you're always so rigid! How many times have I told you to relax and be casual when there's no one else around! Well, you must have something important to discuss at this time, so speak up!"

Qi Chengsi lowered his voice and said, "The transaction last night went wrong. Qi Yue and his escort were killed outside the city."

"What!" Wu Zhengnan stood up abruptly, his face turning ashen, "What happened? Wasn't everything arranged properly? Did those bloodlines go back on their word?"

"It wasn't those cold-blooded monsters. My people found the remains of three vampires and the fragments of the box containing the goods nearby. But both sides' items were missing."

Wu Zhengnan's anger quickly subsided, and he calmed down, saying, "So, someone else must have targeted our transaction?"

Qi Chengsi slowly said, "I don't think that's likely. This was our first transaction, just to test the waters and establish a channel. The value of the transaction was not significant, and the information was strictly confidential, known only to a few people, none of whom knew all the details. I've already investigated them, and they have no issues. So, I think the most likely scenario is that some people happened to pass by the transaction site and then robbed the goods."

Wu Zhengnan's face was grim, and he asked coldly, "Did you find any clues?"