Chapter 17: Disintegration

"Dada dada!"

Blood splattered everywhere.

The guards protecting the burly man had nowhere to hide under the rifle fire; they all became live targets.

While controlling the rifle in one guard's hand to fire at the crowd, he also drew a pistol with his other hand, aiming at the guard who had gone downstairs to investigate.

"Bang bang bang!"

Three shots rang out, hitting their mark precisely.

Compared to ordinary people, a Grandmaster, having reached the peak of human capabilities, reacts quickly, has sharp vision, and steady hands and feet, making it easy for them to be trained as expert gunmen.

In the past year, Alkaid had inevitably encountered martial masters using guns while hunting demons, and afterwards, he had naturally spent time in professional practice.

Swiftly.

A magazine was emptied.

Alkaid pushed the body of the guard aside and moved forward with the pistol in hand.

He instantly reached the over two-meter-tall burly man dressed in a suit.

At this moment, the burly man no longer resembled the successful figure from before, having been hit by numerous bullets, his entire body dyed red with blood.

Yet, relying on the demon's tenacious vitality, he had not died but instead struggled to open his eyes and looked at Alkaid weakly, saying, "I can give you anything you want… money… women…"

But Alkaid gave him no chance to continue speaking.

As he stepped toward the burly man, he pulled the trigger of his pistol.

"Bang bang bang!"

More blood splattered from the burly man.

He struggled, his body swelling and mutating, trying to stand up.

But the multitude of bullet holes drained his strength completely.

Looking at Alkaid from close by, his expression gradually became fierce: "The leader… won't…"

He didn't finish his sentence, and Alkaid's gun was already pressed against the demon's head.

"Bang!"

The last bullet was fired.

The voice of the burly man, who had barely manifested less than ten percent of his demonic body, abruptly ceased.

After finishing off the last demon, Alkaid quickly changed the magazine.

He glanced at the guards by the stairway…

Regardless of whether they were breathing or not, he aimed at their heads and shot them one by one.

"Bang bang bang!"

After emptying another magazine, he listened to the commotion coming from afar, quickly put two of the latest model rifles on his back, and took all the magazines from them, then retreated upstairs.

However, before leaving, he seemed to find something, taking a watch and a ring with a large gemstone from the demon's hand.

As for the others…

He didn't have the time to search them one by one.

Alkaid quickly moved upstairs, reaching the fourth floor.

When moving up, his peripheral vision scanned the area below.

About dozens of people were quickly approaching, flooding into the building.

His expression was calm, his gaze sweeping around, continuously recording the map of the corridors.

In the meantime, guards living on these floors came upon hearing the news, but almost all of them were shot the moment they appeared in front of Alkaid.

On reaching the fourth floor, Alkaid silently calculated.

When he estimated the number of people who had entered the building, he found a window and jumped out.

At such a height, an ordinary person with proper technique could survive; much more so a Grandmaster like him.

After landing, he entered through another window, heading directly to the staircase on the first floor.

At that time, most of the staircase guards' attention was upstairs.

Moreover, Alkaid was also wearing similar clothes to theirs.

In such a situation, when Alkaid appeared, their reaction inevitably slowed by a beat.

And in that moment, for modern, efficient killing weapons, that was enough time to decide the life or death of several, if not more than ten, people.

"Dada dada!"

Fire erupted.

Crimson blood splattered from the guard in front of him.

One after another, armed guards fell like wheat to a scythe under a barrage of bullets lasting barely a second.

Soon, gunshots came from the staircase area as well.

Bullets whirled and hit the walls, scattering a large amount of cement debris.

But Alkaid had already left the hallway and was now aiming his rifle at several guards outside the building.

In the midst of bursting flames, a few guards fell into a pool of blood.

After completing the shooting, Alkaid's figure dashed out, reaching the other side of the building.

Almost within a second of his departure, gunshots rang out, and the position he had just been standing was showered with flying stone chips.

But by this time, he was already tens of meters away.

He even...

left the building directly and rushed towards the building opposite.

Soon, gunshots rang out from the building.

This commotion forced the guards who had already climbed up to the fifth or sixth floor of the main building to rush down and surround that building.

But before they could complete the encirclement of that building, gunshots sounded off in another direction.

The Grandmaster's biggest advantage was his astonishing physical ability, terrifying burst of speed, and keen reaction.

As long as he didn't choose to face off directly against a dozen gunmen, and only took on three to five, even face-to-face, he could outmaneuver them with faster reflexes and agile movements, shooting them before they could aim their guns.

Quick and accurate.

Especially since the Grandmaster had sensitive hearing— if not too distant, he could even hear the other party's breathing clearly.

This gave him an advantage almost like having a "full map view" in "street battles."

With this ability, when there were many guards and heightened alertness, and an ambush might result in his injury...

he could simply slip away quietly.

Those people didn't even realize that death had been merely inches away from them just moments before.

But people can't be on edge all the time.

Many complex terrains also didn't allow for a dozen or so armed guards to maintain formation and search at all times.

All he waited for was their moment of laxity, and what awaited them was Alkaid's thunderous strike.

This was the horror of a Grandmaster unchained and fully armed!

To deal with ordinary armed personnel, it was simply a lower-dimensional strike.

...

When this one-sided slaughter, where the enemy was almost invisible and their appearance meant certain death, persisted for over half an hour, the guards of Qingyu Industrial Park finally collapsed.

Shouts in the language of Feiyu Country rose and fell amidst the crowd.

One didn't need to understand the words to hear the panic in their voices.

A man who seemed to be a captain or some high-ranking officer was scolding them, trying to call the guards back to fight, but as soon as Alkaid found a moment to sneak past and shoot him down, the remaining guards finally scattered in panic.

They were just simply trained armed personnel, not truly professional soldiers.

Their combat will was far less robust than that of an army.

Meanwhile, inside the industrial park, many people who had been watched or imprisoned saw hope and broke out, fleeing towards the outside of the park.

With the first group out, naturally, there was a second.

Especially when they saw that there were no guards chasing after them, the rest also couldn't sit still and rushed out.

Some who had been severely oppressed even picked up the guards' guns, turned back into the buildings, and vented by shooting some of the park's executives directly.

Others quickly grabbed their cellphones, either to take videos or make calls, as if to reassure their families or to call for help.

In just ten minutes, the park was completely out of control.

It was only then that Alkaid saw that the park might house thousands of people.

He did not attempt to stop the mayhem in the park.

He didn't even stand out openly to lead anything, but continued to move through the park like a ghost, wandering in the shadows.

Soon, he returned to the two-story medical office.

The guards of the medical office were either gone or had fled, and Alkaid had no intention of pursuing them.

He went straight to the basement and opened the door.

Inside...

were still women filled with numbness, even a hint of fear.

But some, hearing the noise outside, seemed to have sparked a desire to live, and a flicker of vitality returned to their eyes.

Alkaid didn't speak, but with his sword, he chopped the locks off cage after cage.

"Bang!"

Sparks flew.

The crisp sound echoed in the basement.

Many who heard it even trembled with fear.

Alkaid paid no attention and continued, breaking each chain one by one.

This usage quickly dulled his short sword.

But Alkaid paid it no mind.

Throughout the process, he didn't utter a word, just repeatedly chopping through each cage's chains.

After completing this room, he moved to another room.

As he broke the last cage's chain, the short sword, which had cost hundreds of thousands, also reached the end of its life and broke on the spot.

Looking at the damaged sword no longer in its original form, Alkaid tossed it onto the ground.

It was only then that he looked up at the people who were still fearful and hesitant to step out of their cages and uttered the first words since he entered the basement.

"You are liberated."