I, Lord of Prayer

When Zhou Chen was woken up by his phone ringing, it was already dark outside the window.

"The mission is about to begin. Get to the meeting point within ten minutes." Jiang Che's cold voice came from the other end of the phone.

"I'll be right there."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Chen went into the bathroom, washed his face with cold water, gave himself a thumbs-up in the mirror, and then hurriedly went out to the meeting point.

When he arrived at the meeting point, he discovered that he was one of the first people to arrive.

"Hmm, this kid looks familiar."

A weathered man who was smoking and chatting with several veteran officers glanced at Zhou Chen, then took out his phone from his pocket, scrolled through it, and said with a start, "Oh, he's the new recruit I'm going to mentor."

"Um... Zhou Chen, right? Go get the equipment first." The gloomy man with a full beard pointed to a table in the distance next to several Star Society staff members, which was filled with various weapons and equipment.

Zhou Chen only glanced at it briefly before spotting several types of firearms known for their lethality.

Whether you're an Ascended or Corrupted being, being hit by these guns won't be pleasant. If you're unlucky enough to be hit in a vital area, you might even die on the spot.

After receiving and putting on the full combat gear, Zhou Chen requested an automatic rifle, a pump-action shotgun, two pistols, and plenty of magazines. Seemingly feeling that the firepower was still insufficient, he also hung several smoke grenades and hand grenades on his tactical vest.

To his surprise, the mission also included an unidentified tube of medicine; the red liquid, like mercury, swirled gracefully in a transparent glass container.

He asked the staff and learned that this thing was an alchemical potion that could restore injuries; simply put, it was a health potion that could save lives in critical moments.

Fully armed, Zhou Chen approached the weathered man and struck up a conversation:

"What's your name?"

"Yang".

The middle-aged man, who looked颓废忧郁 (颓废忧郁 is a Chinese word that means decadent, dispirited, and depressed), stubbed out his cigarette. "Just call me Yang."

"I'll be in charge of guiding you on this mission. Just stay behind me and don't wander off. Be smart, it'll save you trouble and me worry, and it'll be good for everyone."

Zhou Chen nodded: "Thank you for your help."

As they were talking, the other teammates arrived one after another.

This mission is somewhat special, as it involves several veteran agents leading new recruits to carry out the mission, a practice known as "veterans mentoring newcomers," which is a traditional skill of the Special Operations Group.

It serves as both an assessment of the veteran officers' abilities and an evaluation of the new recruits' practical skills.

Including Zhou Chen, there are a total of seven new Ascended members. Adding the corresponding veteran members, the entire action team has fourteen Ascended members!

Of course, if they were facing a smuggling squad operating in the restricted area of ​​Xifeng, their numbers would be far from sufficient.

They're capable of stealing from right under the Vatican's nose; they're definitely not weak. They could wipe them all out in a heartbeat.

  

The key issue is that the entire smuggling team in Xifeng's restricted area consists of wanted criminals. They dare not set foot in Jinzhu, so they can only use various means to send goods in, let their subordinates in Jinzhu take over, and then smuggle the goods to all parts of the world through various unknown channels and dirty transactions.

In other words, Zhou Chen and his team were only targeting Xifeng's lower-level members. According to intelligence, there were only four Ascendants among those lower-level members, all of whom were at the first level; the rest were ordinary people.

The difficulty level immediately dropped to easy mode.

However, we cannot let our guard down. Even if an ordinary person gets their hands on a firearm, it can still pose a deadly threat to an Ascended.

During the final preparation phase, Zhou Chen checked his equipment, adjusted his headset, and glanced at his other teammates. He noticed that the six of them seemed to know each other already, forming a separate little circle that excluded him, kept their distance, and had no intention of contacting him.

Zhou Chen didn't pay much attention. Maybe they already knew each other, and as a stranger, there was no need for him to join in.

But the Ascended One's senses told him that the way those six people were looking at him was strange.

scrutiny, incomprehension, contempt, jealousy...

Zhou Chen was puzzled. He hadn't done anything, so why was he being hated?

Is this the price of excellence?

Yang, who was smoking next to him, smiled and whispered, "Your situation has already spread throughout the Special Operations Group. Not only did you not die after your soul was damaged, you also awakened as an Ascended Being and even became the direct subordinate of that new leader. You've had all the luck in the world."

You've been quite the celebrity in the group lately; there are tons of people who envy and resent you.

Guess how many people are eyeing your position right now? And how many people are hoping you die?

Zhou Chen was speechless.

That makes sense. A person who is about to die is not worth associating with, especially since he has taken over the position of the new leader's direct subordinate. It's normal for him to be hated.

I bet those people secretly wished he would die so they could make way for him.

"Relax, take it easy. Everyone dies eventually, it's just a matter of sooner or later." Yang patted his shoulder and joked, "If you're really beyond saving, I suggest you try your luck with women first, so you don't die a virgin, that would be too tragic."

"Well……"

"Stop 'uh,' I'm just trying to be helpful. Don't you think dying like that would be too tragic?"

No explanation needed; a virgin is as conspicuous as a lipstick stain on a white shirt. Guess who among all these people is a virgin?

Yang whistled happily:

"You~~~"

Amid Zhou Chen's dark expression, Yang, with a cheerful smile, stubbed out his cigarette and boarded the armored vehicle.

The mission begins.

Fourteen people boarded two armored vehicles and headed towards the DC district of Kinchu City.

This is the logistics center of Jinzhu City, close to the seaport. It's a melting pot of people, making it extremely suitable for hiding smuggled goods. Add to that the intricate supply chain and complex network of connections, and investigations become incredibly difficult. ღ(¯`◕‿◕´¯) ♫ ♪ ♫ ❻9s𝓱ù𝐱.ℂσⓂ ♫ ♪ ♫ (¯`◕‿◕´¯)ღ

However, under the operation of the Star Society's intelligence department, all the unknown transactions and carefully concealed movements became transparent and completely exposed.

Twenty minutes later, the car stopped in the shadows.

The vast warehouse and factory complex in the distance is the target location for this mission.

According to intelligence, this place is ostensibly a transit warehouse for a cold chain import and export trading company called Taisheng Group, but in reality it is a den used by "West Wind" to store and transfer smuggled goods.

"The life detector shows there are a total of 68 people in the warehouse, four of whom are Tier 1 Ascended. Each of the two floors of the warehouse is guarded by 32 ordinary people and 2 Ascended. You've all seen the information on those four Ascended; their abilities are Iron Fist, Bone Blade, Blood Transformation into Blade, and Hair Growth..."

Tsk, this last ability to grow hair is so useful. If he became a doctor who treats hair loss, he would probably be a world-renowned billionaire by now. He's taken the wrong path...

Yang put down his binoculars, turned to look at the crowd, his face no longer showing signs of weariness and despair, but only solemnity.

"The intelligence says these people are all subordinates of Xifeng, and their hands are all dirty. So kill them when necessary, don't hesitate, or you'll get yourself into trouble. Understand?"

The newlyweds nodded silently.

"Then, let's get started."

……

Three minutes later.

Standing by the warehouse wall, Yang glanced at the location cursor on his portable combat screen and said in a deep voice, "All personnel in position. Begin operations in five seconds."

Zhou Chen held his breath, his heart pounding, and began to count silently in his mind.

five……

Four……

three……

two……

One!

Instantly, the seven squads launched their operation simultaneously, storming the warehouse according to the pre-arranged battle plan.

Amid the sound of shattering glass, Zhou Chen and Yang Yue entered the warehouse and immediately saw five figures gathered around a table in the dim light, holding playing cards, and the astonishment on their faces.

Without any hesitation, the two pulled the triggers, and almost simultaneously, gunshots rang out from all over the warehouse.

A burst of intense light erupted from the muzzle of the gun, the bullet tearing through the air and precisely piercing the bodies of the five men, splattering blood everywhere.

Yang glanced at Zhou Chen with some surprise. He hadn't expected this kid to be so decisive. Was this a college student?

What kind of stuff are universities teaching these days?!

Zhou Chen turned around skillfully and fired several shots at the two figures who had stood up in the distance. The two bodies went limp and fell to the ground with screams of agony.

He didn't just sit in the research department for nothing during this time. Besides training and developing his abilities all day, he did most of his work testing abilities. He killed countless Corruptors with his tests.

Furthermore, in order to more accurately analyze and study his abilities, Xiao Yan even found many death row inmates to conduct experiments on him.

Having overcome the initial discomfort and the fear and dread of personally taking lives, Zhou Chen no longer felt the same fear of killing. Besides, now that he was a member of the Special Operations Team, killing was inevitable.

Inside the warehouse, the roar of gunfire echoed continuously. The smugglers, having realized what was happening, all pulled out their hidden weapons and launched a fierce counterattack against the action team.

Zhou Chen pulled the trigger repeatedly, blowing the heads off two smugglers who were hiding behind the cargo container and trying to take cover. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone pointing a rifle at him not far away. He instinctively lunged forward and rolled to hide behind the cargo container. A series of bullets followed, sweeping across the concrete ground and sending shrapnel flying.

If he had dodged any later, those bullets would have hit him.

He crouched behind the cargo container, pulled out the magazine and threw it on the ground, then took out a brand new magazine from his tactical belt, took a deep breath, leaned out from the other side of the cargo container, and decisively fired, relying on the Ascended's superhuman dynamic vision and visual tracking.

Pong!

The smuggler who was firing his rifle didn't even have time to turn the gun around before his head exploded and he fell straight down.

Just then, a small, dark object was thrown out from behind several large cargo containers, arcing through the air as it landed towards Zhou Chen's position.

Fragmentation grenade!

Zhou Chen's pupils contracted, and just as he was about to dodge, he saw a gust of wind suddenly fly out from the side, pushing the grenade back behind the large cargo container.

boom!

A loud explosion rang out, sparks and shockwaves erupted, and countless shrapnel fragments were scattered in all directions by the impact, colliding and rubbing against the metal cargo boxes with a teeth-grinding sound.

Zhou Chen couldn't help but look towards Yang's position.

That was Yang's extraordinary ability—wind manipulation.

Yang gave him a thumbs-up and then made a forward gesture.

Seemingly frightened by their ferocity, the remaining enemies fired in panic, but the Ascended were too fast, and the bullets hit the cargo boxes or the concrete ground, achieving nothing but sparks and concrete fragments.

"Kill these lackeys of the Star Society!"

A burly, tattooed man was firing wildly with two submachine guns when a bullet ripped his throat open, followed by another bullet that blew his head off.

Seeing that all was lost, the two remaining smugglers fled in panic, only to be hit by stray bullets. They fell to the ground, struggling to breathe, making hoarse sounds, and soon died.

Zhou Chen and Yang inspected the area and confirmed that the smugglers had been completely wiped out.

But so far, there has been no sign of those two ascendants. It's unclear whether they fled when things got bad, or if they are secretly planning something.

The two remained vigilant as they made their way towards the central area of ​​the transit warehouse.

No one noticed that wisps of black flame were rising from the corpses they had just killed.

The severely wounded smugglers stopped howling and screaming. Their eyeballs began to melt, and soon only dark eye sockets remained, with a faint wisp of black flame flickering within them.

……

"Be careful, those two Ascended Ones might have gone to retrieve the forbidden item," Yang warned over the comms. "This is Westwind's warehouse for storing smuggled goods; I bet they have all sorts of strange and unusual things here... Hey upstairs, how's the situation over there?"

"We've taken down over a dozen smugglers, but haven't found any trace of the Ascended Ones," came the reply from the channel.

"Be careful, keep your distance, and provide timely support," Yang concluded.

Soon, the two arrived at the cold storage area, where a cool breeze blew out from the air conditioners, and boxes of frozen goods were piled up like mountains.

Suddenly, Yang stopped and pointed to the ground at the exit of the cold storage.

There was a thin thread there, so thin that it was almost invisible to the naked eye.

It would probably detonate the bomb if it were touched.

"Let's avoid it, who knows what kind of bomb they're using," Yang said.

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than boom!

The violent explosion was like a thunderclap from a clear sky, coming so abruptly.

A surging wave of intense heat swept over them, and the erupting flames and blazing light instantly engulfed the two men, who were then propelled sideways by the violent impact.

The horrific destruction caused the entire warehouse to tremble and groan, even causing the cold storage floor to collapse. Through the black smoke and rubble, one could see what appeared to be some unknown underground structure beneath.

After everything calmed down, thick smoke billowed from the cold storage, flames rose, and even the aroma of meat wafted out.

Zhou Chen collapsed outside the cold storage, covered in soot and grime. He was dazed and confused from the explosion, feeling a burning pain in his internal organs, dizziness, and tinnitus.

He moved his neck with difficulty and found Yang lying not far away, his whole body blackened by smoke, but he didn't seem to be in any danger.

Fortunately, he wasn't too close to Lao Yang, and his equipment was blast-proof. Plus, he had the physique of an Ascended Being, which is why he managed to withstand it. An ordinary person would probably have been done for long ago.

The key point is that they clearly didn't touch the wire, so how did it suddenly explode...?

Is that thing a voice-activated bomb?

Just as Zhou Chen was cursing inwardly, suddenly, a low, deep footstep sounded from afar.

A figure slowly walked through the billowing smoke.

As the smoke billowed, the two arms of the newcomer could be vaguely seen to resemble scythes.

Zhou Chen's heart sank. Such obvious characteristics had already made him guess who the other party was.

Bone knife!

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