Li Chen’s blade light was like a meteor, tearing through the silent night sky and stirring a brand-new storm within stagnant waters.

“Enemy attack!”

Fully armed guards raised their gun barrels and unleashed a frenzied barrage at Li Chen.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Electromagnetic rounds flew everywhere, forming a dense net that left Li Chen with nowhere to escape.

But Li Chen had no intention of retreating.

‘Nowhere to run? Then I simply won’t run.’

Slash!

Flames erupted along the blade in Li Chen’s hand.

Magnetic bullets that were lethal to flesh and blood were vaporized into wisps of white smoke within the raging fire.

Hiss hiss hiss—

Under the intertwining of flames and magnetic energy, Li Chen’s blade edge was tempered to even greater sharpness. Along the path of his swings, a piercing tearing sound faintly echoed in everyone’s ears.

“It’s a martial artist!”

Accustomed to seeing civilians trembling before them, never daring to resist, these Black Tiger Gang cadres had once fantasized that martial artists were nothing special.

After all, even martial artists would be blown into a bloody mess if hit by magnetic guns, right?

Now they knew just how laughably wrong they were.

Between martial artists and ordinary people lay an insurmountable chasm.

It was not something that prosthetics or weapons could bridge.

What’s more, martial artists did not reject those things.

Rather, the most top-tier prosthetics, weapons and even cutting-edge technological achievements belonged exclusively to them.

The guardians of post-apocalyptic human civilization.

The absolute kings of the battlefield.

That was what martial artists were.

Whoosh.

Under countless gazes, Li Chen’s blade had already closed in on the Black Tiger Gang boss.

That boss, who committed every imaginable evil and sucked civilians dry in the streets, now looked almost insignificant before Li Chen’s blade.

Whoooosh!

Amid roaring winds, Li Chen’s blade light chopped straight toward the boss’s snow-white neck.

“Boss, watch out!”

The secretary cried out and rushed forward, trying to stop Li Chen from taking her boss’s life.

But it was too late.

Boom—

Flames swallowed everything and that sinful figure vanished within the firelight.

“This is bad, it’s a martial artist…”

“What do we do? I never thought we’d see a martial artist in the Lower City and they look high-ranked too!”

“Could it be an assassin sent by another organization?”

The Black Tiger Gang’s upper ranks stared nervously at the unknown cloaked figure before them.

Even though they were surrounded by hundreds of people, including infamous big sisters and fully armed thugs, not a single person dared step forward to confront Li Chen.

They were like a flock of pale sheep encountering a bloodthirsty wolf, able only to huddle together for warmth, utterly unable to show the so-called loyalty they always bragged about.

“Well?” Li Chen spoke.

A voice changer perfectly concealed his gender and the high-quality cloak hid his figure completely. Even advanced radar could not lock onto his real appearance.

‘Hmph, I bought all of this professional equipment using Xiao Wei’s police account through the Public Security Bureau intranet…’

Although he had only intended to warm up, knowing this matter might be serious, Li Chen naturally had to plan carefully and leave no loose ends.

‘Looks like I’ve really gotten old. If this were the past, I wouldn’t have been so cautious.

Back then, he had always been alone.

Unburdened and free.

But now, the softest part of Li Chen’s heart had been occupied by that graceful figure.

He was no longer alone.

‘So I have to be more careful.’

Holding the alloy saber, Li Chen advanced step by step toward the remaining gang members with unstoppable momentum.

Slash!

Those sisters who once followed the boss and bullied others without restraint now retreated in unison, not daring to make a sound.

No one dared stop him.

“Very good. It seems you all know how to behave.”

Li Chen smiled knowingly, entirely unsurprised.

Based on his experience in the game, organizations like the Black Tiger Gang numbered in the hundreds throughout the Lower City.

They might look like tyrants within their territories, but in reality, any ripple from the Upper Hive would spell inevitable destruction for them.

As a result, these street-level figures developed their own survival philosophy: they blew whichever way the wind blew.

“Esteemed, esteemed martial artist.”

Sensing disaster, a Black Tiger Gang cadre jumped out first, bowing and scraping.

“I’m the vice president of the Black Tiger Company’s business division. I failed to recognize your greatness today, I deserve death. Please show mercy…”

“Yes, yes. May I ask which faction you belong to? I’m also from Black Tiger Company…”

Once the wall fell, everyone pushed.

The boss who moments ago had looked like an emperor amid adoring followers was instantly betrayed once her fate became uncertain.

This was Hive City.

So-called honor, loyalty and promises had never been worth a single credit.

Only those who survive get to write the story.

Li Chen recalled the game’s opening line, a truth countless veteran players learned through repeated, painful failures.

But…

Just because something had always been that way, did it make it right?

Li Chen refused to believe that.

That was why he had been hurt again and again by bad women.

That was why he had once fallen into despair.

But that was the past.

Now, after being saved by his fiancée, Li Chen could calmly face those failed memories.

Thus, he felt no emotional ripple when facing the Black Tiger Gang’s grass-bending surrender.

“I know you.”

He spoke warmly to the first woman who surrendered.

“You’re the vice president of Black Tiger Company’s business division, right?”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

Seeing his gentle tone, the executive nodded excitedly, convinced she had gambled correctly.

After all, it wasn’t the first time.

Wasn’t their own boss someone who had betrayed the previous leader to seize power?

She still remembered the disbelief on the old boss’s face before she died.

What was even more disgusting was that after killing her, the new boss had the nerve to take in her son as a pet.

“Do you have any instructions, Martial Artist?”

The vice president asked obsequiously, head lowered like a grinning lapdog.

Li Chen clicked his tongue in disgust.

Just looking at her harmless appearance, who would believe the monstrous things she had done to push those drugs?

Li Chen already knew every person present better than they knew themselves.

That was one of the few benefits of Hive City’s cyberpunk world; with enough access and credits, information about the lower class was completely transparent.

Li Chen had merely spent some credits at a basic online intelligence shop in the Upper Hive network and thoroughly uncovered the backgrounds of every notable Black Tiger Gang cadre.

Their crimes, their families, their connections.

All were commodities at his fingertips.

“I do have something for you to do.”

Li Chen yawned and rested a hand on the woman’s shoulder.

“And that is…”

Whoosh.

Li Chen pressed down with full force, without holding back.

Crack.

“Aaaaaah!”

The woman screamed like a slaughtered pig, collapsing to the ground in agony.

“Could you all please go die?”

Li Chen clapped his hands.

“Oh, don’t misunderstand. I’m not targeting you. I’m targeting all of you ladies here. Every single one.”

“…Are you insane?!”

“Even if you’re a martial artist, don’t think you can trample people!”

“Just wait! I’ll call my people right now!”

These cadres had always survived by switching loyalties because most of them were local snakes with their own subordinates.

Lower City gangs were layered hierarchies: bosses, lieutenants, sub-lieutenants, lackeys endlessly nested.

Gangs came and went, but the structure never changed.

Wiping out the entire system was never cost-effective.

The problem was…

“I’m not a gangster.”

Li Chen smiled.

“I’m not interested in your sewer-rat games. Right, Miss Boss, who's playing dead?”

He looked toward the dense fog, where the Black Tiger Gang boss lay silent, as if truly dead.

“….”

Silence answered him.

“Did I guess wrong?”

Li Chen’s eyes flickered. Realizing her tactic, he deliberately acted as if she were dead.

“Tsk. I heard the boss was a martial artist too. How disappointing…”

He deliberately exposed his back.

Whoosh—

The sudden sound of air tearing confirmed his guess.

“What? The boss is alive!”

“Big Sis isn’t dead?!”

The same gang members who had just sworn loyalty to Li Chen now cheered wildly as the heavily made-up noblewoman emerged from the fog.

…Facing her sisters’ enthusiasm, the boss’s expression was icy.

She removed the jeweled necklace from her neck, revealing white skin seeping with blood.

“It seems that person was right.”

She glanced at her companions in disgust.

“To truly integrate into the Upper Hive, the first thing you must do is erase all of your disgraceful past.”

Boom!

The Black Tiger Gang boss released her aura without restraint.

“This is… She advanced?!”

“No way. Just a few years ago she was only an apprentice martial artist!”

The gang members, unaware of their impending doom, remained immersed in joy.

‘I was right.’

Li Chen observed calmly.

‘The power on her body is unnatural — she didn’t break through on her own.’

A fourth-tier martial artist.

Common in the Upper Hive, but more than enough to dominate the Lower City.

Someone like that had been an apprentice just a few years ago?

Something was wrong.

‘But whatever secrets she has…’

Li Chen gently stroked his blade, smiling hungrily.

‘Once I kill her, everything will become clear.’

He glanced at the proficiency bar.

[Congratulations, player. Your <Red Lotus Saber Art> proficiency has reached 100% and advanced to the Entry Realm.]

[You have comprehended the true essence of the Extreme Fire Concept.]

Heh.

Seeing the familiar skill interface, Li Chen’s thoughts returned to the days before transmigration, staring at his computer screen.

‘If I remember correctly, if a mission's difficulty randomly increases and you still clear it… The skill proficiency reward doubles?’

Li Chen looked eagerly at the gang boss.