054, the legacy

The Hellgun roared with deadly fury!

The alloy-reinforced barrel heated up rapidly.

From the muzzle, a blinding light erupted!

Searing beams, capable of piercing through heavy armor, shot forth in rapid succession!

Kingpin, still suspended midair, had a sudden change in his expression.

In the next moment, a wave of terror flooded his twisted face!

Instinctively, he crossed his muscular, sinewy arms, trying to block the oncoming threat.

But the underground king's vaunted, hardened physique couldn't last even a fraction of a second.

The scorching lasers sliced through his body with ease!

Against Zaire's Hellgun, neither brute strength nor dark magic were of any use.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—

The stench of burning flesh filled the air.

Kingpin, massive like a giant, fell silent.

His entire upper body was obliterated by the intense lasers, reduced to nothing but charred, scattered chunks!

Thud!

In an instant, what remained of his lower half, still carrying some residual momentum, crashed heavily at Zaire's feet—spilling guts and innards across the floor.

"Whew—"

Zaire, still wearing his gas mask, let out a breath.

He stared down at the exposed spinal column of the half-corpse.

Slowly, he raised the now silent Hellgun.

Bzzz—

The gun's cooling system hummed softly.

"Was it really worth it?"

Zaire shook his head, sighing quietly.

He slung the Hellgun back onto the battery pack on his back.

Stepping over the bloody remains of Kingpin, Zaire calmly walked towards the chessboard.

He looked down at Lester, whose skull had been blown apart.

At that moment, with its host's life snuffed out, the Heartlock Scarab reactivated, starting to devour Lester's corpse.

"The Necrons really are extravagant... This is just a disposable little toy," Zaire muttered, frowning as he watched the body gradually carbonize and crumble away.

He had hoped to recover the Heartlock Scarab, given that such a technology—capable of easily controlling another's mind—was extremely valuable.

But to his disappointment, it turned out to be a one-time-use device.

With a sigh, Zaire could only hope he might retrieve something useful later.

Shifting his focus, Zaire began casually exploring Kingpin's private quarters.

After about ten minutes, he found a hidden safe behind an expensive painting.

He glanced at the heavy safe embedded deep in the wall, then at the chainsword hanging at his waist, still smeared with blood and bits of flesh.

"Maybe not this time..." he sighed, shaking his head.

Taking out his phone from his coat, Zaire tapped a few buttons and waited patiently, standing by the painting as if he were admiring it.

Clunk, clunk, clunk.

The sound of the elevator's mechanical ascent echoed through the room.

Ding—

The elevator doors slid open, and a large, metal figure with glowing blue eyes stepped out, its limbs clanking as it moved.

With remarkable speed, it dashed to Zaire's side, bending low to speak.

"Omnissiah, your loyal servant has arrived. Do you require assistance?"

"How's it looking below?" Zaire asked, not even turning his head, as though he were still lost in contemplation of the abstract painting.

"Most of Kingpin's forces have already been eliminated, so Lady Gao's side is progressing smoothly. Some remnants are still resisting, but they won't hold out much longer," the machine-man reported, bowing respectfully.

"Then help me open this," Zaire nodded, pointing at the heavy safe.

"As you wish. A simple task," the metal figure straightened, its metal head whirring as it scanned the safe.

Zaire, curious, stepped aside to watch how the robot might approach the task.

He expected it to either brute force the password or hack into the internal system.

But instead—

Crunch!

The machine-man stepped forward and drove its ten metal fingers into the thick metal door.

Crack!

With a sharp tug, the entire safe door was ripped clean off!

Simple, indeed...

Zaire's eyelid twitched behind his gas mask. It seemed this wasn't much different from using his chainsword to slice it open.

Sensing Zaire's silent exasperation, the robot's voice, now slightly awkward, buzzed:

"Master, the internal structure of the safe is purely mechanical, and since there's no self-destruct system, this was the simplest method..."

"I see, brute strength works wonders," Zaire replied dryly, stepping forward to inspect the contents of the safe.

Inside, there were no piles of cash or glittering treasures.

Instead, there were neatly arranged stacks of documents.

Zaire casually picked up a bundle, flipping through it.

The documents detailed the organizational structures of various gangs across New York, key personnel, and countless bank accounts.

The data was so thorough that if Zaire wanted to, he could easily control the lifeblood of most of the city's criminal underworld.

At this moment, Zaire was the unspoken king of the underground.

But Zaire had no interest in this.

Tossing the files to the robot, he turned away.

If not for the fact that he had unintentionally taken control of Lady Gao and now needed a faction to manage things, he would have wiped them all out.

Behind him, the robot quickly scanned the files, then said, "I will handle this, Master. Rest assured."

Zaire waved a dismissive hand without looking back.

He continued searching for anything useful.

After a few minutes, Zaire found a set of bearer bonds, valued at over twenty million dollars, tucked between some of the documents.

Anyone could cash them at a bank.

Zaire, who had a habit of never leaving empty-handed, slipped the bonds into his coat pocket.

"Take all the files... We're leaving."

But before he could finish his sentence, the robot behind him raised its hand, pointing to something in the safe.

"Master, I believe there's one more thing you might have missed…"

"Oh?" Zaire raised an eyebrow.

He stepped aside to let the robot approach.

The machine-man quickly stepped forward, using a single metal fingertip to peel back a section of the safe's ceiling.

Click!

A small, black hard drive, about an inch thick and the size of a palm, dropped into the robot's metallic hand.