On Planet E-9283, a massive architectural structure towered high into the sky. On the topmost floor, transparent reinforced glass opened up to a sweeping view of the entire planet below.
Wind howling: WHOOSH…
Wuhuang stood with arms crossed against the glass, leisurely gazing down before softly remarking:
— "Looking down from here, everything looks so tiny, doesn't it?"
A calm voice sounded from the desk behind him:
— "Just the usual! I've been sitting in this seat so long I'm sick of it!"
Wuhuang turned back. Shen Hansen was leisurely lounging with his legs crossed on a costly sheep-wood desk, turning the pages of a book (Rustle...). He took a sip of tea and spoke in a relaxed tone:
— "Now the name Yanagisawa Shin along with the Zero Horizon squad are famous across the realms! Daring to attack and humiliate Lu Xie right in the main hall—I reckon plenty of people out there might actually be rooting for him!"
Wuhuang stepped over, leaning against the edge of the desk:
— "That's only natural. Countless people out there want Lu Xie's head, but not a single one actually dared to act except Shin!"
— "So how do you plan to handle this?"
Wuhuang asked further.
Shen Hansen set the book down on the desk (CLACK!), his eyes gleaming with calculation:
— "The bounty notice has been broadcast across all underground network channels! Assassins and bounty hunters will definitely jump in fiercely. Shin's head currently has a 300 million Sophion coin bounty on it, Kento is at 250 million, and Ling Mo is also at 250 million! Almost all core members hit the 250 million coin mark!"
Wuhuang narrowed his eyes, recalling:
— "Doesn't he have a younger sister traveling with him? What was her name again..."
— "Loona!" Hansen replied quickly. — "Once Lu Xie goes insane, he won't refrain from any dirty tricks. He doesn't give a damn about morals or rules; the only thing he cares about is results!"
Wuhuang sat down on the sofa opposite him, pouring himself a glass of wine (GLUG... GLUG...). Shen Hansen stretched and sighed:
— "Sigh, sitting in this position as the head of AX is honestly boring to death!"
Wuhuang took a sip of wine:
— "I heard you have some big plans lately?"
Hansen glanced at Wuhuang with his narrow eyes, curling his lips:
— "I'm planning to invite a few big names to join AX with insanely lucrative offers... But unfortunately, no one has accepted yet."
— "Who could be so snobbish?" Wuhuang asked curiously.
Hansen sighed, taking off his glasses:
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
— "Nothing much... Miyamoto Musashi, Jeanne d'Arc, Ragnar Lodbrok, Yi Sun-shin, and Tokugawa Ieyasu! I've only sent out trial invitations to some of these figures."
Wuhuang laughed, shaking his head in doubt:
— "Do you really think people like that would join you just for money? Do you think inviting legends like them is that easy?"
Hansen shrugged nonchalantly:
— "Who knows! What if there's a surprise? No one can predict what will happen, so consider it sending invitations just for fun!"
Wuhuang stood up and walked toward the large liquor cabinet in the corner of the room. He pressed a button, and the cabinet door slid open (SWOOSH!), revealing hundreds of precious wine bottles from across galaxies.
— "Have a glass! Let's toast to the upcoming storm together!"
At the New Human Central District, inside a lavishly opulent suite.
Lu Xie was sitting proudly on the main chair. Behind him, Ya Luo was diligently massaging his shoulders with her soft hands. Lu Xie stared intensely at the matrix projection screen before him (BEEP... BEEP...).
He whined and roared at the man appearing on the screen:
— "Father! You have to get justice for me! That bastard beat me into this state and you're still sitting there doing nothing?!"
An authoritative, deep voice from the other end interrupted him:
— "Enough! I am busy entertaining officials from the Galactic Alliance. I will be back soon; just wait obediently until I return to handle everything!"
CLICK! OFF!
The screen immediately went black. Lu Xie swore angrily:
— "Sigh! That old man always loses his temper at the slightest thing!"
He gritted his teeth, muttering to himself:
— "Hmph! I've already had people thoroughly investigate that Zero Horizon squad. Let's see how I skin every single one of you alive!"
Saying that, he turned back to look at Ya Luo, who was submissively massaging his shoulders from behind. He brutally slapped her buttocks hard!
SLAP!
— "As for you, keep working to release my stress today! I've prepared a bunch of high-grade silicone toys just for you today! Enjoy them with your new toys!"
Ya Luo flinched and let out a moan, but her eyes quickly grew dazed, exuding utter corrupt desire and extreme lust. Lu Xie curled his lips brutally:
— "I wonder just how fun today is going to be!"
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
At Xie Xingchen's underground laboratory, the system alarm chimes rang continuously, startling everyone. Xingchen looked at the newly updated parameters and shouted in panic:
— "Everyone! We are officially famous now!"
Kento leaned against the wall, blowing out a stream of smoke (Puuuff...), glancing over in confusion:
— "What's all the commotion about?"
Xingchen swallowed hard, pointing at the screen:
— "Our whole squad has massive bounties put on our heads! Holy shit... my bounty alone is more than all the assets I've accumulated in my entire life combined!"
Shin ran over bewilderedly:
— "Where! Where! Let me see!"
The entire Zero Horizon squad immediately gathered around the large touchscreen.
Roxy widened her eyes, exclaiming:
— "Holy shit! Shin is the highest!"
Kwon Tae-Joon looked at the number next to his name, grimacing and cursing in Korean:
— "Haizzz... 씨발! 내가 평생 떡볶이를 팔아도 250만 소피オン 코인은 못 벌겠네!"
(Sigh... Damn it! Even if I sold tteokbokki for the rest of my life, I couldn't earn 250 million Sophion coins!)
Seijuro did a quick mental calculation:
— "Adding up the total bounties of the squad... it definitely exceeds one billion coins!"
Loona stood behind, peeking in and asking with a pout:
— "How come my name isn't on there?"
Shin immediately patted his sister's head, waving his hands with a reassuring laugh:
— "Now, now, Loona! If you got dragged onto these lists, it would be massive trouble!"
In the corner of the room, Rei looked at the numbers and turned to bicker with Ren:
— "えっ、なんでレンの賞金が俺より1ソフィオンコイン高いんだよ！？"
(Eh?! Why is Ren's bounty 1 Sophion coin higher than mine?!)
Ren smirked, responding arrogantly:
— "それはお前が俺ほどのレベルに達してないからさ。"
(That's because you haven't reached my level yet.)
Rei roared angrily in Japanese:
— "兄弟だろ、そこ張り合うとこかよ！？"
(We're brothers, is that really something to compete over?!)
At the headquarters of the Four Extremes of Order officers.
Akai Kiriko walked down the hallway, immersed in tense thoughts:
(The entire Zero Horizon squad now has bounties across the entire system... Things will get multiply complicated from now on!)
— "Why are you walking so slowly, Kiriko?!"
Siren Sinclair snapped, looking back from ahead. — "Hurry up before Arthur flies into a rage!"
CLACK CLACK…
Kiriko snapped back to reality, hurriedly quickening her pace to catch up:
— "Yes! I'm coming right away!"
She approached Siren, lowering her voice to ask:
— "Sister Siren, what new mission did we receive?"
Siren Sinclair rolled her eyes coldly:
— "Hunt down and eliminate the Zero Horizon squad across all Federation territories!"
Damon, walking alongside with arms crossed, smirked:
— "Looks like this time Lu Xie decided to go all-in for real!"
At a top-tier luxury penthouse high-rise in the Central District.
Freya Sterling was lounging comfortably on a leather daybed, a high-end skincare sheet mask resting on her face. Yoon Chae-won sat beside her, tapping her phone while propping her chin up, speaking in a worried tone:
— "This time, I fear Shin's group is in deep trouble..."
Freya kept her eyes closed, replying nonchalantly through the face mask:
— "He's hardly an ordinary person like everyone else."
Chae-won smiled infatuatedly, her eyes flashing with excitement:
— "That's exactly why he's so interesting! What I like most about him is that he fears no one in this world!"
Freya sighed in exasperation, peeling off the face mask (RUSTLE...):
— "Give it a break, you boy-crazy girl! Now that the face mask is done, I saw a new restaurant open. Want to drop by for some Beluga Caviar and Iberico Jamón cured ham?"
Chae-won's eyes lit up bright, nodding vigorously:
— "Totally! I'm starting to get a bit hungry too!"
Freya teased:
— "You little golden pig!"
Chae-won pouted with a hmph:
— "Hmph! So what if I eat a lot?! Being a little chubby and cute is totally fine, I'll lose weight in no time!"
Freya shook her head with a laugh, standing up to put on her coat:
— "I didn't mean that... I'm just worried the restaurant is about to be eaten clean by you until the whole place collapses!"
(To be continued)