"E-Class Life Form, a woman, I can only think of one target," Li Ming said indifferently, "Blood Rose?"
"I guessed someone might attempt to assassinate me, but I never expected it to be you. We’ve never crossed paths, have we?"
"You’ve disturbed the ecology of Silver Grey City, making it impossible for us to survive. Who else should we go after if not you?" Blood Rose retorted coldly, attacking him like a phantom.
A dull sound cleaved the silence of the night. Li Ming stood still, but Blood Rose’s expression drastically changed, as she sidestepped at the last moment to narrowly avoid a purple edge.
"Who!?" she exclaimed with a gloomy look.
The attacker was, of course, the cripple with the purple scythe held behind him, dancing and stirring up wind, moving quickly, accurately, and ruthlessly, with each strike aiming to kill.
"Who are you?" Blood Rose demanded, having observed Li Ming for a long time, only seeing him leave the city guard building today.
She had finally found an opportunity. Unexpectedly, someone was guarding him; she was utterly unfamiliar with the person.
Sparks flew as He Yu gripped the snake-shaped daggers in reverse, which turned crimson red within seconds, indicating they were thermal blades.
The cripple’s expression tensed, prepared for his next move, only to feel heat in front of him as fresh blood gushed from Blood Rose’s chest and splattered on his face.
Blood Rose stiffened, a paralyzing pain sweeping through her body. She looked down to see a small drill emerging from her chest. Her combat suit, capable of withstanding kinetic bullets, had done nothing to delay the attack.
The drill slowly retracted, and Li Ming’s expression remained unchanging. With D-Class Armored Four Arms and a "Charged Strike" enhancement, failing to kill an entangled E-Class Life Form would have been absurd.
"Ptui, ptui..." the cripple spat out two mouthfuls of blood in dissatisfaction, "I got splattered with blood."
Then he turned his gaze to the mechanical arm retracting into Li Ming’s back and couldn’t help asking, "Where did you get this thing?"
"Picked it up on the road," Li Ming replied casually. The cripple was speechless, then said, "I doubt this woman would have been a match for you, so why bother having me watch over you?"
"Better to be safe than sorry. What if multiple attackers came?" Li Ming crouched before Blood Rose, who couldn’t spare any mercy under these circumstances, as her vital signs were already fading.
Li Ming lifted her mask to reveal her face and was taken aback—
This woman turned out to be Qin Xiao’s secretary, He Yu. However, the aura she radiated just now was vastly different from her usual demeanor: seductive and full of deadly intent.
"So you’re the boss of the Rose Society..." Li Ming realized, "Rumors say the boss of the Rose Society is some high-ranking official’s lover. I didn’t expect her to have been right under my nose."
Blood Rose’s mouth oozed blood, convulsing and unable to utter a word.
"So the relationship between you and Qin Xiao must be one of mutual use. Was it worth it to come and try to assassinate me for his sake?" Li Ming asked, somewhat puzzled.
He Yu’s eyes held a hatred that could not be dispelled and soon went completely still.
Li Ming shook his head and stood up, "Uncle Lame, you can claim the reward for me."
"You’re too cautious."
"Who knows if she told anyone else about the assassination attempt. It would be too obvious if I claimed her bounty."
The cripple understood the logic. He claimed the bounty on Li Ming’s behalf and later handed it over.
Li Ming casually picked up the fallen Snake Daggers—[Thermal Short Daggers - E]
Nice pieces, but he couldn’t use them. After absorbing them, the pair would yield two thousand points of metal energy.
Li Ming looked down at Blood Rose’s corpse: "The head of the Rose Society delivered herself to my door. Now, where could the Wild Dog Gang and Fierce Tiger Gang be hiding?"
It was about time for him to reap his harvest.
The cripple sheathed his scythe and asked, "Were you using some special training method just now?"
The next morning, Li Ming visited the city guard building. Many people discussed the death of Blood Rose from the Rose Society, which had been sudden.
Many city guards knew Blood Rose well, having dealt with her for many years. Yet, they never imagined she would die so quietly.
Along the way, he was greeted by many; gossip had already spread, and those interstellar bigwigs would soon leave.
The positions for the heads of major departments, typically assigned by Capital Star, remained vacant.
The other departments were temporarily led by the oldest and cleanest of the former department members while awaiting the new heads.
Only the city guard department was said to be led temporarily by Yang Peng, which caused quite a stir, practically a leap from tier three to tier one.
Although just an interim head, this position on one’s resume could potentially turn into an official appointment.
If he could support his loyalists during this period, who the real head would be in the future was still uncertain.
Everyone knew that Minister Yang had no son, only a daughter who was exceptionally kind to Li Ming, and his father treated Li Ming as his own.
"Brother Li..." Upon arriving at the gun training room, several old-timers who looked to be in their forties addressed him as ’big brother.’
Li Ming shook his head silently, simply browsing until he found his target.
A silver-white pistol he had used before, its ability being [Old Hand], temporarily enhancing gun control.
"The person in charge here..." He looked around, attempting to call out.
"Here, here!" Before he could finish, a slightly balding middle-aged man hurried over with an ingratiating smile, "What’s up?"
"Director Zhang." Li Ming noticed his name tag and said, "I quite pistol. Can I take it?"
"I know it’s not according to procedure, but if you..."
People looked over, as all the guns in the training room were inventoried, and even a single missing bullet was a big deal.