Chapter 408: Chapter 281: Darknet Hunt - Part 2

Five billion...

This sort of amount, released as a contract, don’t even mention hunting down a retired former mercenary.

Even blowing up the Anti-Violence Squad Four Headquarters, there would be lunatics willing to take the risk.

Additionally, this is not a "targeted bounty," but an "open bounty."

An open bounty means that there are no restrictions on the identity of the taker, it’s completely open, anyone can accept it.

This level of open bounty, hanging on the main page of all the major dark web interfaces, will be seen sooner or later by mercenaries and killers across the Human Realm. They’ll surely come swarming for the high reward.

Nuobai is in danger...

What’s more deadly is, Nuobai has already retired, returned to a normal life, and no longer cares about industry matters, nor does she have the need to log into the dark web.

In other words, she might not even know she’s been targeted by a bounty!

Su Mo quickly took out his phone, dialed Nuobai’s number, attempting to warn her.

"Hello, the number you dialed is not in service area, please try again later."

However, only the icy prompt tone came through the receiver.

Su Mo felt puzzled at once.

Not in service area... what’s going on with Nuobai’s side? Isn’t she in New Moon City?

Su Mo couldn’t get through, so he could only send a text message:

[Your identity has been exposed, someone has put a bounty on you!]

[No matter where you are, upon seeing this message, escape quickly!]

After sending the text message, Su Mo immediately left the basement, anxious and running towards the flight vehicle hangar.

"Please don’t let anything happen..."

...

"Bai Yatou, come help me check this, why isn’t tomorrow’s weather forecast showing?"

In the small shop, Grandma Zheng, wearing reading glasses, was fiddling with her phone.

Today Nuobai accompanied the old lady for dinner, and was washing dishes in the kitchen when she cleaned her hands upon hearing the voice and wiped them on her apron, coming over.

She took the phone and found the weather forecast app displayed "network disconnected."

After checking, she found that the phone had no signal.

Nuobai took out her own phone and found that the signal was also zero bars.

She typed:

[Disconnected, no signal]

Grandma Zheng mumbled, "Disconnected again... In this old residential area of ours, the network goes out every other day, the signal is poor, and the network people don’t know to come and fix it, sigh..."

The area where Nuobai lived was quite old, and the network base station had never been renovated, so poor signal was the norm.

She didn’t think much of it and returned to the kitchen to finish washing the dishes, typing to Grandma Zheng:

[It’s getting late, I’m heading back now]

[You should rest early]

Grandma Zheng smiled kindly: "You’ve spent another day with me today, it’s really hard on you. Tomorrow, you should go and meet up with your friends. It’s New Year, you have to foster feelings with those you know, right?"

Nuobai pressed her lips together lightly and smiled, nodding her head.

[Then I won’t come over tomorrow]

[I’ve bought all the groceries and put them in the fridge, it’ll be hard on you to cook]

"Oh dear, I’m old but not to the point where I can’t cook, haha, go on, head home."

Nuobai waved goodbye to Grandma Zheng.

January is the peak of winter, the coldest season of the year.

Coming into the cold from a heated room, the winter chill seeped through the seams of her clothes. Nuobai exhaled onto her hands and then tucked them into her sleeves.

Walking outside in winter is truly unpleasant, but fortunately, home is just nearby.

A cat for a thousand days, use a cat at a time.

Soon, she would be able to hold those little furballs at home as hand warmers~

Nuobai walked into her apartment building and went up to the sixth floor.

Normally, just the sound of her footsteps would bring cries of cats welcoming her home from behind the door.

But today was very quiet, there was no sound, she guessed that it might be too late and the cats were asleep.

She took out her key and opened the door.

As soon as the door opened, a strange stench rushed over.

This smell, she hadn’t encountered in a long time, and it awakened her buried memories at that moment.

It was a smell she had encountered countless times in the first half of her life.

The smell of blood.

Nuobai hurriedly turned on the light, and the scene before her left her completely frozen.

The originally neat home was in shambles, the floor was stained with blood.

The cats’ bodies were scattered across the floor, some with twisted necks, killed by strangulation.

Others had their skin peeled back, covered in blade cuts, the agony of their final moments driving them to run and crash around, their blood painting the floor, ultimately bleeding to death.

When she was a mercenary, Nuobai was always a loner, without many friends.

If there was any comfort to be found in a life of licking blood from blades, it might only be these fluffy cats at home.

Whenever she returned home weary, just a hug from them seemed to bring peace.

Now, the cats that had accompanied her for years lay dead in front of her without warning, it felt like a deep wound had opened in her heart, her sadness nearly drowning her.

"Meow... ow..."

Then, a piercing, stifled cat cry filled the room, with a scratching at the door, clearly a cat was still alive, heard her and was calling for help.

A lifetime of companionship told Nuobai immediately, that was her oldest cat, Fan Fan.

She rushed to open the door.

"Boom——" As the door opened, a trap that had been preset exploded.

Flames swept over, burning Nuobai’s exposed hands and face, the shockwave surging through her body like numerous hands twisting her insides.

The explosive impact threw Nuobai back heavily against the corridor window opposite the door, the fragile frame couldn’t withstand the impact and burst apart.

Nuobai went flying with the shattered window, losing control of her body as she tumbled through the cold air, eventually plummeting to the ground.

"Bang!!!"

First bombarded by the explosion, then falling from the sixth floor, most of Nuobai’s bones were broken, and her internal organs severely damaged.

Blood sprayed like rays at the impact site, she struggled in the pool of blood, each breath drawing out gruesome foam.

In a daze, she spotted some scraps nearby.

It was the fur of an animal, large sections charred, and from the remaining color patterns, it was Fan Fan, already blown apart...

The intense pain and anger roiled within Nuobai, she gritted her teeth and activated the Crimson Rose Blood Code, using its rapid regeneration to heal.

Yet, within seconds, a barrage arrived.

"Bang bang bang bang bang——" Gunfire flared from the shadows, bullets aiming at Nuobai.

Since her retirement, due to her state of mind transforming, her awareness wasn’t as sharp as before.

But countless battles from life and death still ingrained within her bones, it’s something one could never forget.

Nuobai swiftly rolled to dodge bullets, leaving chaotic indentations where she lay.

She lowered her body to reduce exposure while sprinting in a zigzag towards the nearest shooter.

The shooter drew a dagger for close combat, but in terms of strength and speed, he wasn’t a match for Nuobai; the knife barely out when he was seized by the wrist.

Nuobai abruptly pulled the shooter towards herself, destroying his balance, then kicked at his knee with her right foot.

"Crack!!!" With a hair-raising fracture sound, the shooter’s knee bent into a V shape, collapsing like a snapped bamboo pole, letting out a painful scream.

Nuobai stepped on the fallen dagger, flicking it up and catching it midair, then efficiently stabbing into the shooter’s heart.

Just as the shooter was about to die, a playful voice sounded from a short distance: "Hey, do you want this old lady to get shot in the head?" 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Instantly, the dagger stopped at the shooter’s chest.

Nuobai turned her head towards where the voice originated.

A few soldiers emerged fully armed from a nearby convenience store, leading them was a young man in hip-hop attire.

Grandma Zheng appeared bewildered by the situation, trembling and asking, "What’s happening here..."

The young man whistled to Nuobai, flashing a mysterious smile, "Good evening, Silent Death God. By entry years, you’re my senior, aren’t you?"

"Then I’ll introduce myself, I’m the leader of the ’Hellhound’ Mercenary Corps, ’Taiwei Star’ Lucifer, and I’ve come to claim your head today."