A strike without warning, and a ruthless one at that!
The onlookers paled in shock. No one had expected this to happen.
The hundreds of Inspection Bureau officers almost subconsciously raised their weapons, aiming at Sean.
Even Red Ridge and Yinshan hadn't expected Sean to be so volatile.
However, Sean merely swept a cold gaze over the crowd ahead, then turned and spoke to the two of them in a detached voice:
"Figure out exactly where you're standing."
With that single sentence, Red Ridge and Yinshan's expressions shifted unpredictably.
Sean turned back around. He straightened his collar and gently smoothed the wrinkles from his shoulders.
Facing hundreds of gun barrels, he merely gave a flippant smirk.
The Academy only dared to hire an unknown like Luo Xi to kidnap him. Shoot him right at the front doors of the Gold Ghosts?
And besides, did they even have the guts to pull the trigger?
Sean stepped forward without a shred of fear, completely ignoring the Bureau Chief in front of him, who was trembling all over—whether from anger or terror, it was hard to tell.
After sizing up the squad, he finally looked at the potbellied Bureau Chief.
"Where's Ran Xinzhu? Did she not come?"
The shocked and furious Bureau Chief nearly passed out. What kind of situation was this? And this motherfucker was still thinking with his lower half?!
A bad feeling welled up in his chest, but he forced himself to bark a reprimand. "Sean! Assault in the street, plus a slew of other crimes! Come back to the Inspection Bureau with me. I advise you not to ruin your own—"
Sean cut off the fat man's blustering, impatiently shoving him aside. "Fuck, you guys have zero sincerity. If you want to arrest me, bring the prettiest female officer in your precinct, got it?"
The Chief trembled with rage, yet didn't dare to explode.
That gunshot just now had concretely reminded everyone present—this was the Gold Ghosts!
The suspect strolled brazenly through the Elite arrest squad of several hundred men, finally locking his gaze onto the few figures standing at the back.
Sean flashed a wicked smile. "Are you representing your respective factions to declare war on my Gold Ghosts?"
The representative from the Company had dark, unfathomable eyes, his apathetic face betraying no emotion.
The Academy's representative wore a stiff expression. He hadn't expected Sean to drop all pretense so directly.
Only the shriveled little old man from the Twilight Tower spoke up with a cheerful chuckle. "Mr. Sean, we're all just trying to make a living here in Paradise City. To avoid further unpleasantness, wouldn't it be better to clear up any misunderstandings right now?"
His face was a picture of amiability. "Why must you suddenly resort to violence? Doesn't this just cement your status as a criminal? I'm sure the other factions would hate to see such a heartbreaking scene."
Sean looked the man up and down for a moment before bursting into a laugh. "Old fart, did pushing that civilized new law rot your brain? I've always been a villain who stops at nothing, ha."
"Motherfucker, I don't have a single ounce of morality, and you're trying to guilt-trip me?"
The little old man's expression froze. He shook his head regretfully, yet maintained his persuasive tone:
"What a pity, what a pity—but as one of the masters of Paradise City, the Gold Ghosts have an obligation to contribute to the stability of the entire region. And Mr. Sean, doesn't behaving like this only invite disgust?"
As he spoke, a single finger behind his back twitched slightly.
An invisible ripple spread outward. A member of the Inspection Bureau at the very edge of the squad looked dazed for a moment.
When clarity returned to his eyes, a flash of malice crossed them.
His hand moved to the trigger, his gun already trained on Sean.
The little old man was still giving his long-winded speech. "They say a prodigal's return is worth more than gold—"
"Pfft—" A muffled gunshot rang out.
On the flank of the squad, the Bureau member went limp and collapsed, blood pooling around him.
The little old man's pupils shrank, and he cried out in shock, "This—Mr. Sean, what is this?"
Sean leaned in close to the man's ear and sneered. "Still pretending, are we?"
The little old man's face tightened, and he instinctively tried to step back.
However, an immense force clamped down on his feet, freezing him completely in place.
Council member of the Twilight Tower, the nightmare Lear. His Ability was the Dream-Feeding Ability.
Having developed his Ability in the Twilight Tower up to this point, he could already influence the emotions of others through daytime dream-feeding.
Lear's Ability held an extremely high classification level within the Twilight Tower, and its weakness was known to only a sparse few.
This kid in front of him not only knew about his Ability, but even knew that to activate it, the soles of his feet had to leave the ground...
Unbeknownst to him, a pair of thick, sturdy arms had reached out from below, pressing his feet firmly against the earth.
Right at that moment, Sean gave a cold laugh and clapped his hands.
A dense swarm of red laser dots suddenly targeted every single person present. The representatives of the other factions received special attention, with more than a dozen red dots converging on their foreheads.
"Surrender, or—die."
The situation flipped in an instant. At some point, a terrifying number of snipers had gathered in the vicinity. The long gun barrels didn't tremble in the slightest. They only needed a single word from the man in the center to open fire without hesitation.
Lear took a deep breath, entirely unable to maintain his amiable smile.
He asked sharply, "Sean, are you trying to start a war with the three major factions?"
Sean planted a heavy kick squarely in his stomach, grinning with boundless arrogance. "Yeah, a war. Are you declaring war on me?"
Lear let out a muffled groan, but didn't even dare to utter a harsh word in return.
That single sentence completely choked the representatives of the three major factions.
War? Who wanted a war? Who actually dared to start one?
Three against one? What if the Gold Ghosts fixated on one specific faction and fought to mutual destruction?
If the other two factions were even a half-second slow to stab their ally in the back, it would be a disrespect to themselves and to all of Paradise City.
Human hearts were impossible to read, let alone those of these colossal entities of Paradise City.
Fuck, he's a madman... a pure, psychopathic madman!
The representatives cursed furiously in their hearts, but were utterly helpless.
Their original intent had been to jointly pressure the Gold Ghosts. It wasn't just about arresting Sean; more importantly, they wanted to force the true master of the Gold Ghosts, Jin Kui, to show himself.
But Sean didn't play by the rules at all!
The face and reputation that the upper crust had painstakingly cultivated were nothing but dog shit to him.
And Sean wasn't even satisfied yet.
Seeing that no one had knelt down yet, Sean narrowed his eyes and snapped his fingers.
Gunfire rained down. The dozens of people on the outermost edge of the Inspection Bureau squad fell like harvested wheat!
"Three—two—" Sean said with a smile, holding up his fingers.
That signal for slaughter made everyone's hearts pound wildly. The lucky survivors on the outer edge immediately threw away their weapons, clasped their hands over their heads, and dropped to their knees.
Once someone took the lead, everything else followed naturally.
The hundreds of aggressive Inspection Bureau members, their Chief, and the high-and-mighty representatives of the major factions all knelt on the ground in humiliation.
Sean waved a hand. "Strip them clean and throw them in the dungeon."
"Yes, boss!"
Red Ridge had watched all of this unfold in a near-stupor, finally snapping back to his senses.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?! This isn't personal; they represent the face of the three major factions and the authority of the Inspection Bureau! Fuck, where did you even get so many snipers—Sean, did you fucking mobilize the boss's personal guard?!"
Sean shot Red Ridge a cold glance. He walked over and zipped up the man's open jacket.
"Red Ridge—by age and by seniority, I ought to call you big brother. But..." His gaze was icy as he yanked the zipper of Red Ridge's jacket tightly up to his throat. "Right now, I'm the one calling the shots for the Gold Ghosts..."
Pushing the stiff-faced Red Ridge backward, Sean sneered. "The face of the three factions? Having guns pointed at us right at our own front door—you've already thrown away all the face the Gold Ghosts had!"
"Pack it up. Today, Telephone Booth Square is taking customers as usual."
Dozens of corpses in full Inspection Bureau uniforms were strung up high, while the pure gold, single-horned ghost head still gaped with its bloody maw.