Feng Jun arrived late to the party with his team of fully-equipped field agents. When he saw the blood on Han Xiao’s mask, his first reaction was to feel Han Xiao’s chin for any wounds.

“Are you hurt?”

“Are you blind?” snapped Han Xiao, pointing to the graze on his cheek.

“That’s good…” Feng Jun heaved a sigh of relief before looking at Han Xiao apologetically. They had failed in their duty to keep him safe.

“It’s not your fault,” consoled Han Xiao.

“This man is the Germinal Organization’s executor,” he explained, pointing toward Norsa’s corpse. “He’s an assassin who has never failed.”

“Norsa Connor‽”

Norsa was widely feared even among the Six Nations. Once, he had gunned down a high-ranking Stardragon official in broad daylight despite tight security.

Upon confirming the identity of the corpse, Feng Jun’s shock turned into amazement.

“Hold on, he came to assassinate you… but you killed him instead‽ Are you really that strong‽”

“You only realized that now?”

Han Xiao glared at him as he checked the interface for the quest reward.

_____________

Character Summoning Card: You are able to use this character’s ability once.

Character: Norsa Connor

Ability: Illusory Power (E) – Only targets with more than 50 INT can resist this ability.

Usage Count: 0/1

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Character Summoning Cards were quite uncommon in Galaxy. They only dropped from special quests, and their function was to allow the player to use the ability of the NPC character stated on the card. In Galaxy, people farmed and sold these for money, but it was only the rich players, who could afford to indiscriminately use them, who bought them. Although not Han Xiao’s style, it was always better to have more tools at one’s disposal.

Fortunately, Han Xiao had assigned all his stat points to INT beforehand, otherwise things would have played out very differently.

‘Germinal Organization, thanks for the gift!’

_____________

Do you wish to accept your reward now?

Y/N

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‘Yes.’

It was a ‘use’ item that could be stored within the interface, allowing Han Xiao to pull it out whenever he needed it.

Meanwhile, Frenzied Sword was still trying to comprehend the situation. When he used the examine function to learn that these mysterious men in black were aligned with the ‘Stardragon Strategic Defense Initiative’, he couldn’t help but look toward Han Xiao in wonderment.

“You know this guy?” Feng Jun asked Han Xiao curiously as he pointed at Frenzied Sword.

“Just ignore him.”

As Han Xiao wiped the blood of his face with a handkerchief that Feng Jun passed to him, he frowned.

“If Norsa has found me, then it means the Germinal Organization must know exactly where I am.”

“Not necessarily,” replied Feng Jun. “The intelligence department has the network locked down. Any mention of you is blocked from being transmitted out.”

Han Xiao’s spirits immediately lifted.

“Are you sure?”

Feng Jun nodded.

“But… Norsa definitely wasn’t operating alone. He must have passed the intel on to Germinal spies hiding within the capital. It’ll probably be a matter of time before they relay the information.”

Han Xiao abruptly started to run out of the alley.

“Hey, where are you going?” called out Feng Jun hastily. “I still have to take you back to HQ for debriefing!”

“No time to explain! Quickly request for permission to seal all of the city’s exits!”

It was possible that Norsa had learned of his whereabouts from the spies in the city, and that he had come straight for him right after. In that case, it was not too late to take action!

Han Xiao knew exactly who the head honcho of the spy network was. The reason he had not taken action against him so far was that the Germinal would simply send a replacement to take over. On the contrary, leaving him alive had its advantages.

Norsa’s death would confirm Han Xiao’s presence in the Western Capital, but if he could stop the intel from getting out, the Germinal would not be able to pinpoint his location.

Of course, all of this was simply guesswork; it was possible that a spy had already left the city to deliver the intel. Nevertheless, it was worth a shot.

“Li Ya Lin, tell the others to meet up with me at District 8. These are the coordinates… Remember to drive a car!”

“Of all places, the slums‽ I was expecting at least a fancy restaurant!”

“There’s no time, just do as I asked!”

After hanging up, Han Xiao smashed the window of the nearest car by the roadside and jumped in.

The owner was making a phone call right beside his car when the sudden sound of shattering glass gave him a fright. He immediately ran over to the driver side and grabbed Han Xiao by the collar.

“You! Get out now!”

The next second, he found himself yanked halfway into the car with his head pinned against the steering wheel, causing the car horn to bellow noisily.

“Nice timing!”

Han Xiao immediately began to search the poor car owner’s body for the car keys. Upon finding them, he ungraciously shoved him out of the window and sped off into the distance.

As the car owner sat dazed on the floor with a big bruise on his face, he wondered aloud, “Damn, since when were car thieves this brazen?”

…

As Han Xiao weaved through traffic at high speed, he soon noticed the wail of a police siren.

“The car in front, stop right now!” yelled the traffic police officer on his motorbike.

Han Xiao tossed the car owner’s driving license out of the window and yelled back, “Deduct as many points as you like!”

The officer ended up tailing Han Xiao all the way to District 8, where Han Xiao quickly got off and began to stride off in big steps. The persistent police officer ran up to him to block his path.

“You! Stop right now!”

Han Xiao rolled his eyes in exasperation. With a quick chop that the police officer could never have seen coming, he knocked him out cold.

Through a series of twisting alleys—in the process, disposing of three muggers—Han Xiao soon arrived at a small, dilapidated church building. It was now used as a means of shelter by some homeless people.

In the warring period of the old era, religion had served as a means of mental support for many. At one point, this church in particular had managed to amass millions of believers.

However, the ‘savior’ that they believed in never appeared, so eventually, people stopped believing.

There were a number of vagrants in the building, but when Han Xiao could not see the one that he was looking for, he abruptly grabbed the nearest one up and questioned, “Have you seen a tall, bearded man with the tattoo of a red wolf on the back of his hand?”

The vagrant shivered at the sight of the blood covering Han Xiao.

“You mean Lu Gao En?” he answered meekly. “We call him ‘Tongueless’ because he never seems to speak. I think he went somewhere in the afternoon.”

Afternoon?

Even regular citizens needed to go through lengthy checks at one of the three guard post in order to leave the Western Capital. As it was currently only 2PM, there was still a chance for Han Xiao to stop him.

He could not count on Division 13 to pass a restriction order. Even if they were willing to, it would take some time for them to come to the decision. By then, Lu Gao En would most likely have left the capital.

Han Xiao furrowed his brows. Which of the three exits was Lu Gao En at? Time was ticking.