Free Web NovelChapter 124: Chapter 124: Gray Tide Apocalypse, Initiated
The instant he placed his finger on the trigger, just as he was about to aim again, Kadi Cohen’s head exploded!
That gunshot, that power... It was an anti-materiel sniper rifle!
’What kind of maniac uses a weapon meant for armored cars and military vehicles for urban sniping!?’
’What did Kadi Cohen do to have such a huge target on his back?’
Police sirens were already wailing outside. The police and security personnel on site were quickly cordoning off the area and evacuating the cowering crowd.
More sirens wailed in the distance—patrol cars, evidently, on their way to provide backup.
As expected, police helicopters on patrol would be arriving soon.
With no time to think, the "cleaner" immediately dismantled his sniper rifle, packed it back into the cleaning cart beside him, opened the door, and pushed the cart toward the underground parking garage.
He had been working in this office building for a week. In his janitor’s uniform, with his Central and South American features, he looked like nothing more than an ordinary laborer.
As long as he disposed of the gun through the proper channels, he wouldn’t leave a single trace behind.
After all, he wasn’t the one who fired the shot.
’Does this even count as completing the mission?’ he wondered. ’I wonder if they’ll cut my enormous fee...’
As the "cleaner" was leaving, down on the chaotic floor of the convention hall, a man in a suit, keeping his head down as he was evacuated with the crowd, cursed under his breath.
"Fuck..."
He had a neurotoxin injector disguised as a fountain pen, ready and waiting. His plan was to get close to Kadi Cohen during the exhibition and give him a jab.
But before he even had time to put his plan into action, Kadi Cohen’s head had already been blown off.
The sheer power of that military-grade anti-materiel sniper rifle had blasted a deep crater in the ground after taking Kadi Cohen’s head off.
’Who is this psycho? Bringing out a toy meant for armored cars?’
’Stealing my business!’
’Goddammit!’
’Assassination is supposed to be an art. This colleague’s methods are just an eyesore—crude and vulgar!’
Cursing inwardly, the man in the suit let the police evacuate him to the side, a look of terror plastered on his face.
At the same time, he felt nothing but contempt for the New York police.
’The killer used a large-caliber anti-materiel sniper rifle. Its theoretical effective range is up to two thousand meters.’
’At that range, there are far too many potential sniping positions.’
’By the time the police figure anything out, the killer will be long gone—maybe even out of the country.’
’I just wonder who this Kadi Cohen pissed off. To have two different groups trying to take his life...’
The man in the suit glanced at the bodyguards on the distant stage, then turned and left the hall.
At that same moment, in the surrounding buildings and among the scattering crowd, a total of seven other people were silently cursing their colleague’s lack of professional courtesy.
In a hotel not far away, Shen Feng watched Kadi Cohen’s body fall to the ground, a slight smile touching his lips.
’Interesting.’
He had already used his Consciousness Antennae to infiltrate tens of thousands of mobile terminals and other electronic devices in the area. He and Jingwei alone had already spotted six assassins.
As for their origins, he didn’t even have to think about it. ’They must have been sent by players of the True Apocalypse Game.’
Clearly, some players among the Eagle Country’s top brass, having witnessed the horrors of a nuclear-ravaged doomsday world, were deeply wary of an intelligent combat command system.
Shen Feng had also discovered that the system’s name was "Poseidon," a recent flagship product from the Lockheed Martin Company.
Kadi Cohen was the lynchpin for integrating the Poseidon system into the Eagle Country’s military combat framework. Eliminating him meant putting an end to the entire affair.
’It seems I underestimated the players’ capabilities,’ he thought.
’If properly guided, they could become an extremely powerful force—one that could help me eliminate the apocalyptic threats in this world.’ frёeωebɳovel.com
’And, of course, they could also contend with the mysterious Whisperer!’
Even if the entity behind the mysterious Arctic Stone Statue Ruins were to reappear, Shen Feng was confident he could eliminate it without lifting a finger himself.
’Looks like it’s time to give the players some new information, to bolster their faith in the True Apocalypse Game... and in me, its developer.’
Shen Feng drained his coffee in one gulp, his mind already running calculations.
Just then, his wristband vibrated sharply, and a line of text appeared:
"Player has completed the hidden mission in the Nuclear Wasteland Doomsday World. Mission Completion: 93%. Rewards:"
"1. One-time use of a spatial channel. Can summon an entity from a mission world to the original Doomsday World. Duration is dependent on energy capacity."
"2. One Quantum Backpack expansion. Capacity increased by twenty percent."
"3. One copy of ’Hypnosis Principles’."
Shen Feng raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected that preventing the intelligent combat command system from being adopted by the Eagle Country’s military in the real world would be considered a hidden mission!
And with rewards, no less!
The first reward, the ability to summon an entity from a mission world, was one he had just used a few days ago. He hadn’t expected to get another charge so soon.
The Quantum Backpack expansion was a secondary concern, but the ’Hypnosis Principles’ immediately caught Shen Feng’s attention.
He had already benefited immensely from obtaining the ’Nanomechanical Principles’. And while ’Hypnosis Principles’ sounded rather ordinary, as a reward from the game system, it was guaranteed to be exceptional.
Powerful hypnosis techniques would be crucial for dealing with the Whisperer and the Purification Society.
It was arguably what he needed most in this world right now.
"Claiming Reward Three," Shen Feng said in a low voice.
The wristband vibrated again, displaying a new line of text: Please open the second shelf of the refrigerator in the corner.
Shen Feng strode over to the refrigerator, opened the door to the second shelf, and saw a book resting quietly inside.
Unlike the plastic-like pages of the last one, this book looked old and yellowed. But as Shen Feng flipped through it, he saw that the techniques it contained were far more advanced than any Hypnosis Technology in this world.
Its theoretical explanation of Hypnosis was more detailed, getting closer to its fundamental nature.
To put it bluntly, this was practically a textbook on the ’Principles of Mental Control’.
If the techniques recorded in this book ever got out, they would cause an uproar. Many might benefit, but countless others would surely use this Hypnosis Technology to commit crimes.
Shen Feng immediately began to flip rapidly through the book, recording its entire contents directly into his Silicon-Based Brain before placing it in his backpack.
Burning it wasn’t an option; the room had smoke detectors.
After all that was done, Shen Feng ordered lunch. He devoured the steak, red wine, and other delicacies before patting his full stomach.
’Looks like my stomach is going to have to suffer for a while,’ he mused.
Then, Shen Feng and Jingwei’s Consciousness Antennae re-entered the internet. They activated the cloud-based game system and sent a message to every player of "True Apocalypse Game" 1.0 worldwide.
It was just a single sentence:
"The Whisperer is connected to Cthulhu’s Purification Society."
With that done, Shen Feng retracted his Consciousness Antennae and checked the time.
There were two hours left until the forced entry into the Gray Tide Doomsday World.
He shouldered his packed-to-bursting backpack, took a deep breath, and declared:
"Requesting to begin the Gray Tide Doomsday World mission!"
