Volume 2, Chapter 22 – Intruders in the Ruined House

The old district was usually desolate, but at this moment, quite a few people were fleeing through the streets.

Even more were cowering inside their homes, trembling, long since terrified by the sudden explosions and the wailing alarms.

After blaring for a while, the alarm finally stopped, but the chaos in the world did not lessen in the slightest.

Anran moved through the alleys of the old district with a grim expression, glancing from time to time toward the side where the war was raging.

The explosions were no longer confined to that one place. It seemed that after the initial surprise attack succeeded, Morningstar’s offensive had met with some resistance as well.

…

“Minister, the arsenal has already fallen.”

Inside an underground structure somewhere in Twinmoon City, a middle-aged man stared grimly at the electronic map in front of him.

The communications officer beside him looked even grimmer.

“How could it happen so fast?” The Security Department minister’s face changed in shock. “Where are the reinforcements? At a time like this, are those bastards still busy guarding their own little patches of land?”

The anger in his voice was on the verge of erupting.

The communications officer swallowed. The minister usually didn’t involve himself much in affairs, but once he got serious, the pressure he gave off was enough to make it hard to breathe. “That’s not it. Both garrisons sent reinforcements, but they ran into Morningstar ambushes halfway there and suffered heavy losses!”

“Ambushes?”

The minister’s expression darkened. Something was definitely wrong here!

“Morningstar’s target has to be City Hall. Under no circumstances can they be allowed into the central district. Notify Morrison and Wang Luo first. The outer areas can be abandoned, but the central district must be held for me. Otherwise… heh…”

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“Yes, sir!” The communications officer immediately went out to carry out the order.

…

After the arsenal was captured, Morningstar’s advance troops surged into Twinmoon City through the breach.

Without the arsenal’s fire support, the city’s defending forces suffered a severe drop in combat strength.

The weaklings they ran into along the way weren’t worth Morningstar’s attention at all. They killed whoever they met, showed no mercy, and pushed forward without obstruction.

They weren’t worried in the least about being encircled. With the defense deployment map in hand, the advancing routes of Twinmoon City’s defenders were completely under their control.

The moment the ambush units were in position, they sank their teeth into the city’s reinforcements.

Just as the defenders were preparing to send more reinforcements, Morningstar’s main force finally arrived as well, and the flames of war instantly ignited in every direction across Twinmoon City.

Towering high-rises collapsed under artillery bombardment, while flesh-and-blood bodies had no power to resist at all. They either turned into clouds of blood beneath the hail of shells and bullets, or were shredded apart by flying stones and shrapnel.

At the same time, the old district of Twinmoon City also received a group of special visitors.

At their head was Wilson, the young man who had always stood by Heloise’s side.

“Captain, if we leave the main force without permission and the Branch Chief finds out…”

Wilson shot the speaker a cold glance. “If we’re found out, I’ll take full responsibility. Or what? You don’t want to avenge Abbott and Jian?”

“No, I…” The man immediately shook his head in panic after being pressed by Wilson’s words.

Wilson said coldly, “Abbott and Jian were our brothers, brothers who lived and died with us. The Branch Chief has important duties and no time to spare on us, so we’ll avenge them ourselves!”

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“Now.” Wilson swept his gaze across the group. “If anyone wants to quit, say it now. I won’t force you.”

The men gathered around Wilson remained silent. The only thing left in their ears was the roar of artillery.

More than ten seconds passed before someone finally spoke first. “Captain, Jian once threw himself over me and took a bullet for me. He saved my life. This debt of blood has to be repaid. If punishment comes down from the Branch Chief, count me in!”

Once one person spoke up, a second followed.

“Count me in too.”

“This blood debt must be repaid!”

Very quickly, everyone had stated their position, including the man who had first raised the objection.

Wilson nodded. “Good. Since everyone agrees, I won’t waste words. The faster we move, the better. Let’s go.”

Their first stop was the alley where Abbott had been shot dead by Anran.

Before dying, Abbott had sent out a message. Using that message, Morningstar’s technicians had pinpointed the location of Abbott’s death. And because of that message, Heloise feared the information might leak, which was why she launched this war ahead of schedule.

There was no trace left in the cleaned-up alley. Wilson shook his head and left in disappointment.

Next, he went to find the local thugs holed up in the restaurant.

The moment Little Gold Tooth saw Wilson, he instantly turned docile as a housecat. “As soon as I got the order, I sent people to investigate right away. Luckily, only one person was taken by the police in the old district that day.”

“Who was it?” Wilson asked impatiently.

Little Gold Tooth immediately pulled out a map from the cabinet behind him, handed it to Wilson, and pointed to a spot on it. “Right here. That’s where the person lives.”

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Wilson narrowed his eyes. At last, they had found the first target.

He rolled up the map and called to the people behind him, “Let’s go.”

The group stopped paying attention to Little Gold Tooth and filed out one after another.

Little Gold Tooth wasn’t annoyed. He simply watched Wilson leave with a smile.

“Boss, these people are way too arrogant,” one of Little Gold Tooth’s lackeys said indignantly.

Little Gold Tooth let the smile fade from his face. “When you’re stuck under someone else’s roof, you have no choice but to lower your head. The Empire people don’t treat us like human beings. The Morningstar people look down on us too, but at least they’ll still toss us a bone or two.”

…

Following the map’s directions, Wilson soon arrived at Anran’s house.

A crude fence made of wooden boards enclosed the yard. Inside stood a shabby single-story detached house, and at the door sat a basin half-filled with water.

“Captain,” someone called out.

Wilson made a backward gesture with one hand while chambering a round in his pistol. In a low voice, he said, “Anyone who could kill Jian is definitely no ordinary person. Stay sharp.”

The five subordinates immediately grew alert, their grips on their guns tightening.

“Creak…”

Wilson pushed open the wooden gate and carefully stepped into the yard.

His gaze swept quickly from side to side, but he spotted no suspicious figure. Just like that, Wilson reached the entrance to the broken-down house.

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Standing at the door, he signaled to the men behind him, then abruptly shoved the wooden door open.

Bang, bang!

Two bullets shot into the room. Wilson took the chance to glance inside, but there was still no one there.

“No one’s here.”

Wilson entered first, with several of his men following behind him.

Anran’s house was indeed simple enough: one table and chairs, one bed, one television. Aside from that, there were only some miscellaneous odds and ends piled around, and there was almost nowhere to hide.

But the place clearly showed signs of being lived in, because there was still a plate of pastries sitting on the table in the middle of the room.

Wilson waved his hand. “Search it.”

“Yes, Captain.”

People immediately began rummaging through the house.

Wilson walked over to the table, his gaze falling unconsciously onto that plate of pastries.

They had set out early in the morning and barely eaten anything in between. To be honest, Wilson was a little hungry.

“We didn’t find anyone, Captain,” the person searching the main room reported first.

Wilson’s expression didn’t change. He picked up a green pastry from the table and stuffed it into his mouth.