Chapter 181 - Crisis

Like a bullet, the heavy motorcycle headed towards the Shadow Capital at a constant speed of 300 kilometers per hour. According to this speed, Levin would need at most an hour to be able to stand in the city surrounded by mountains.

The burning smoke from the heavy-duty locomotive brought with it a strong smell of burning gasoline. In fact, the Dark Council was not without vehicles that were faster than this kind of locomotive. The anti-magnetic suspension car that Lange was driving was one of them. Not only was it fast, but it was also quiet and energy-efficient. It was definitely a more comfortable way to travel.

But Klein liked the smell of heavy metals and gasoline, which made him seem different in the pursuit of an efficient dark council. But he didn't care what others thought of him. His way of doing things had always been Levin's. Just like this mission, no one cared about the high-ranked warriors of the Crimson Knight. However, Levin accepted it.

This was an order directly issued by the council, but the content of the order was very simple.

No matter how one looked at it, killing a fifth step Wilderness Mercenary wasn't something difficult at all. After all, this mercenary's highest rank ability was to increase agility to the fifth step. In the eyes of the high-ranked Blood Knights, this ability was useless even when used to escape. And the reason why the council was so against such a minor character was because the mercenary had killed a low-level Blood Cavalry.

Levin remembered that the one who was killed was a member of the Parkland family. Although Parkland could be considered a large consortium, strictly speaking, he was just an outer member of the Dark Council. If it was only this relationship, the Dark Council would not send out high-grade Blood Knights. However, the young man named Saurun was a member of the Blood Cavalry. To be killed by a wild mercenary from who knows where was it in itself was like a slap on the face of the Dark Council.

When each Blood Cavalry was in their official positions, they would implant a kind of pocket crystal. The chip was connected to the terminal of the intelligence system of the Dark Council, which could feed back the implants' life wave energy, in case the Blood Cavalry got into trouble, making it easy to locate and search for them. Just a few days ago, the Blood Cavalry named Saurun's life signal had suddenly disappeared, much to the surprise of Saurun's superior. Through the investigation, the Blood Cavalry headquarters quickly determined that Sauron had died in battle while dealing with a family feud.

When this message was sent to the upper echelons according to the usual procedure, the upper echelons of the council sent out orders for the high-leveled Blood Cavalry to kill the mercenary.

If they didn't kill that mercenary with an absolute advantage, then what would happen to the Dark Council's face in the future? And there was a deeper meaning behind dispatching high-ranked blood riders. That was to show unquestionable force and use it to consolidate the position of the Dark Council in the coastline.

Levin knew this very well, and he also knew that this was just a boring demonstration. However, attacking a low-level esper failed to attract the attention of the high-ranked warriors within the Blood Cavalry. However, when Levin, who had just returned from his mission to headquarters, heard of this order, he did not hesitate and accepted it before heading to the Shadow City immediately.

This made many people feel disdain, even some despise, towards what Laine had done behind his back. However, only a few people knew that the reason Levin was willing to accept this kind of boring mission was because he did not want to stay in Eternal Night City.

The Ninth Knight, Levin, had never been one to keep to the rules. He would rather stay in the tight-knit Eternal Night City and head for the front lines of the war. Therefore, to Laine, this quest was no different from a different kind of vacation.

"Speaking of which, I have to thank you …" On the broken road, after colliding with an old living corpse that had crawled out from who knows where with the high-speed locomotive, Laine revealed a row of white teeth, "There aren't many opportunities for leave like this. If possible, I hope you have already left the Shadow Capital … … "Zero!"

This way, my vacation can be extended a little bit. That was Laine's subtext.

Shadow Capital.

In the hotel room, Zero rushed out of the bathroom and quickly changed into his refugee like rags. He didn't even have time to buy a new set of battle uniform. He rushed out of Mony's room and told Monnie and Atisha, who were looking at the young man in the room, "We have to leave immediately!" He frowned as he stuffed a piece of black bread into his mouth.

Mony was stunned and asked subconsciously, "Why?"

Zero shook his head and said, "I don't know why, but I have a very bad feeling about it!"

Without another word, Monnie pulled up Zerutan. She had followed Zero for a long time, knowing that it was as sensitive to danger as a wild animal. Now that he felt the danger, he could not stay in the hotel any longer. They didn't have much luggage, either, and the four of them hurried down the hotel stairs as Natasha picked up the saw in the corner.

When he arrived at the lobby, Zero made a gesture. The four of them stopped and whispered, "Something is wrong. Why is there no one here?"

Monnie and the other two looked around. As expected, the hall was extremely quiet. Even the staff at the counter had disappeared without a trace, as if all the people in the hotel had mysteriously disappeared. The street outside the hotel was also empty. Although it was afternoon and there were few people on the street, it was not like there was not a single person around. With his body leaning against the wall, he came to a window. The window was closed, and he used his fingers to push open a crack. Then he raised his head slightly.

The strong feeling of the needle spread throughout his body in an instant. Without giving it much thought, he immediately fell to the ground. Almost at the same time, the window frame where Zero had stuck his head out from exploded. The metal frame was twisted and deformed. A bullet was embedded within it. The sound of sniping equipment could be heard coming from outside the hotel.

Sniper!

Zero cursed silently. Needless to say, the hotel was already under the tight control of some powerful force. The enemy snipers who were attacking them must have occupied a high point nearby. If they were exposed to the assassins, they would be met with a fatal blow.

But, which faction do these people belong to? Could it be Parkland?

This thought flashed through Ling Chen's mind. This was a very normal revenge. Zero had killed Sauron in the ruins, but Sauron's men had not been wiped out. They would soon find Sauron's body and bring the news back to Parkland. However, when Zero used his rich sniper experience to find the enemy's sniper position and closed in on the enemy's image, he saw a soldier wearing a black uniform.

A familiar symbol appeared in the middle of the soldier's tactical helmet. He had seen the pattern of the sword and shield on Saurun before. It was the emblem of the Dark Council. In other words, the people surrounding the hotel were from the Dark Council. And for them to be able to immediately do such a thing on the very day they arrived at the Shadow Capital, it was clear that the Dark Council had put in some manpower there.

If he had known in advance that the Shadow Capital had an army of the Dark Council on guard, he would not have recklessly entered this city. Zero knew very well that killing a Blood Cavalry was enough reason for the Dark Council to take revenge on him. However, he didn't expect that the other party's revenge would come so quickly.