CSMCDB - Chapter 95
Chapter 95
At the end of June, the Empire successively rooted out and eliminated four gathering points of the "Fu" organization. In early July, they purged several other underground groups. While these groups weren't connected to "Fu" or its conspiracy, they were also fond of instigating trouble and wished for the Empire's downfall.
After this thorough crackdown, "Fu" seemed to fall silent once more, and no further massacres occurred. Of course, Wen Yuncheng, who was aware of the conspiracy, knew that "Fu" would never stop courting death. They were simply lying low for the time being.
In the end, the Wen Family did not relocate, but they accepted Wen Yuncheng's one million Star Stones. In mid-July, Wen Yuncheng paid a secret visit to Holy Star City. Seeing that the family was thriving, she solidified her resolve to sever all ties with them.
"Lin Jinyu... still hasn't come out?" Wen Yuncheng was slightly worried. There had been no news for so long, and she didn't know if Lin Jinyu's trial had been a success. But it was the trial to become the next sect master; if she had succeeded, the news would have surely spread immediately. After worrying about Lin Jinyu, Wen Yuncheng began to ponder her own future after graduation. Stay at the academy as a teacher? ...No, she didn't have the patience for that.
She needed to fight constantly, to gain experience... She was currently only a first-layer Star Lord. And while she was already considered a genius among her peers, she still had a long way to go before she could confront the "Fu" organization. Join the Dragon Tiger Guard? ...But not all members were sent on missions, and Wen Yuncheng had no desire to experience military life.
When the new term began, she would be a fourth-year, on the verge of graduation. Yet she had no concrete plans for her future. She couldn't spend her entire life fighting in the Dueling Arena, nor did she intend to become a professional combatant.
What a dilemma...
[Perhaps you could take on missions. The Empire issues bounties; you could accept them and hunt people down.] 1947 grew excited. Wen Yuncheng had never killed anyone, so this would be an excellent opportunity for her to get some practice. However, it was a little worried that its transmigrated cub wouldn't be able to adapt...
Ah, but this was another world! Being afraid to kill was not an option!
Wen Yuncheng considered it. That seemed like a viable option. "Hunt people down using my own identity? Wouldn't that be too high-profile?"
[As long as you make sure your target dies, you won't be exposed!] 1947 paused for a moment before a sudden idea struck it. [You could carry out the assassinations dressed as a woman. That way, you could even use a honey trap...]
Wen Yuncheng fell silent for a moment. Did this system have a report button?
[Just kidding, just kidding. Haven't you always wanted to change back?]
"Not really..." Still, 1947's suggestion was worth considering.
There was no bounty hall in the Imperial Capital itself, but a nearby town had one, and the journey wasn't long. Now that the idea was in her head, Wen Yuncheng decided to go check out the process.
Accepting assassination bounties at the Imperial Bounty Hall was a legitimate and legal practice. Anyone posting a bounty had to list the target's crimes or grievances for others to see. To accept a bounty, one had to register, and while a real identity wasn't required, a fixed codename was. Furthermore, obtaining specific information about a target required an additional payment of Star Stones.
Wen Yuncheng scanned the bounty list, which was filled with names she didn't recognize. One particular bounty caught her eye: "Zhang Hao, male, thirty-one, third-layer Star Master, chronic gambler. Bounty of three thousand Star Stones for someone to give him a beating."
There was another posted by someone whose ex-boyfriend had cheated, offering Star Stones to have the new couple beaten up together.
The range of bounties in this hall... was quite broad.
Someone had even posted a one-Star-Stone bounty for someone to thrash Protector Di Feng, claiming they couldn't stand the sight of "Madman Di." A bounty like that was obviously a joke.
Wen Yuncheng carefully filtered the targets by their cultivation level, limiting her search to Star Masters and Star Lords. She found a bounty requesting the elimination of a bandit stronghold near a small town. The reward wasn't large—at least not for her—only twenty thousand Star Stones. But something about this bounty made her want to take it.
The stronghold wasn't large, housing just over a dozen bandits. They frequently plundered the nearby towns. While they generally avoided taking too many lives, acts of oppression, assault, and extortion were commonplace. They were few and fast; at the slightest hint of trouble, they would flee into the mountains to hide. The city guards couldn't possibly watch over a small town day and night. As soon as the guards left, the bandits would return, their oppression of the common folk growing even worse.
The more Wen Yuncheng read, the angrier she became. Seeing that the strongest bandit was only a first-layer Star Lord, she decided to eliminate this scourge for the people.
[I'll temporarily disable the shield so they can detect that you're female,] 1947 said, getting to work. Once it was done, Wen Yuncheng went to the registration desk. She mulled over a codename, hesitating between "Little Ice Mountain" and "1947" before finally settling on "1948."
This way, when she turned in the mission, people would sense that she was female. For a bounty like this, all she had to do was bring back the heads. No one would know her methods, and they wouldn't connect "1948" from the bounty hall with Wen Yuncheng, the Youth Tournament champion with the Star Power Mutation. Bounties that only required a beating were more troublesome and would expose her more easily, as they required video proof recorded with a special crystal.
Next, she accepted the mission.
After spending twenty Star Stones to learn the stronghold's exact location, Wen Yuncheng contacted Yan Ling to inform her teacher that she was taking on some bounty work and wouldn't be back at the academy for a while. With that settled, she headed straight for the flight station and boarded a Gugu Bird bound for Suijin Town.
The target town was quite remote, so after arriving in Suijin Town, Wen Yuncheng continued on using her Mechanical Wings. As the surrounding woods grew denser, she finally spotted the town plagued by the bandits. She didn't enter to rest, assuming there were surely bandit lookouts inside; otherwise, the guards wouldn't have failed to catch them every single time. Instead, Wen Yuncheng bypassed the town and flew directly toward the visible mountain forest.
"1947, scan the area. Find the stronghold." Wen Yuncheng flew as low as she could to avoid being detected and alerting the bandits. Her flight speed was immense, and whenever her mana ran low, she would simply buy a novice potion from the store and drink it. They were cheap, practical, and still worked on her.
Of course, the system store had since been updated with primary HP potions for twenty points each. Although they were more effective, Wen Yuncheng stuck with the cheaper novice version for now.
[Star Power fluctuations to the south.]
Wen Yuncheng sped south and, sure enough, spotted several flags planted in the ground. The designs on them were faded, but each bore the large character for "Courage," a detail Wen Yuncheng found deeply ironic.
A little farther on, she could see the bandits standing guard. The two lookouts were incredibly lax, however; one was even dozing off.
It was a relatively low mountain, and she figured the stronghold must be at its peak. Wen Yuncheng landed with her Mechanical Wings and quickly summoned a G-3 Predator. Just as she was about to launch her attack, 1947 stopped her.
[Leave no survivors,] 1947 couldn't help but stress. [Do you need more time to prepare yourself mentally? You have to kill them. You can't hesitate when the time comes.]
I know, Wen Yuncheng replied mentally. I don't intend to hold back.
[Really? But what if...] 1947 was still worried. It never had these concerns with the Long Aotian it was previously bound to, but its Wen-cub was only eighteen, and a girl at that. 1947 recalled the time it had swallowed its pride to ask a Mary Sue system for advice, only to be mocked: "That little girl must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck to get stuck with you." This memory made it even more hesitant. [Maybe you should wait a bit?]
Wen Yuncheng ignored 1947, her attention fixed on the two lookouts. She had to kill them in a single blow. If she alerted the bandits up the mountain and they fled, finding them again would be nearly impossible.
Wen Yuncheng summoned all her C-02 Enemy-Annihilators, ordering them to conceal themselves carefully. She then equipped each one with a set of freeze rounds... sixty-two Enemy-Annihilators. 124 points vanished in an instant. A sky-blotting volley of freeze rounds rained down. Before Wen Yuncheng had even deployed her Predator, the two lookouts were turned into ice sculptures, given no chance to even struggle.
The destructive power of sixty-two sets of freeze rounds was, perhaps, a bit excessive. Three small mechs hovered over each ice sculpture, their lasers piercing through the ice to strike the men's bodies. The bandits frantically circulated their Star Power to shatter the ice shards, but the instant they broke free, Wen Yuncheng closed in, flicking out the steel spikes from her mechanical armguards and plunging them into their necks.
Recalling her Enemy-Annihilators, Wen Yuncheng continued her ascent.
After killing two more Star Warrior-level lookouts with stun grenades and G-2 Rolling Thunder lasers, Wen Yuncheng frowned. These bandits have absolutely no vigilance. Are they overconfident or just complacent? Do they really think no one can touch them?
Just as Wen Yuncheng was about to sneak inside the stronghold, she heard a shout. "Everyone, get your asses in gear! It's time to go collect some Star Stones!"
"Hm? How'd a little mouse sneak into our camp?" another voice called out.
Wen Yuncheng froze. Had she been discovered?!
A wave of Star Power surged toward her. Wen Yuncheng retreated two steps just as a bare-chested brute landed heavily before her. He sized her up, his gaze utterly lecherous. "Well now, what a delicate little thing. What's the matter, come looking for your big brothers? Hehe, how about you let..."
Her G-2 Rolling Thunders instantly transformed into G-3 Predators, the six small robots swarming the first-layer Star Lord's head. Wen Yuncheng raised a hand, deploying ten Star Cannons and activating her Ex-S Viper Cannon skill. On her command, a terrifying barrage of star-energy shells poured down—
Enemy-Annihilators and turrets followed, unleashing a free-for-all of ammunition and Star Power cannons. Fearing she'd be caught in the energy waves, Wen Yuncheng took to the air with her Mechanical Wings. From above, she watched as the relentless baptism of fire not only left the lecherous bandit leader motionless in a crater but also blasted the entire stronghold to ruins.
The remaining bandits descended into a panic!
Can't let them escape.
Wen Yuncheng deployed Number One and Number Two to intercept the fleeing bandits while commanding her Enemy-Annihilators to hunt them down and bombard them individually. Grenades, flame exploders, and stun grenades were all unleashed in a continuous barrage of explosions that lasted for an entire hour. Only when the chaos subsided did Wen Yuncheng descend on her Mechanical Wings, using her steel spikes to end the lives of the remaining bandits, one by one.
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