stonecrandall Page 132
Page 132
Gao Kui's focus at this moment was certainly not as strong as it had been on the overpass the previous two times. Yet, Gao Kui had a feeling that everything was working in his favor, a sense of entering a Zone state.
It could be hearing, smell, or even a sixth sense; everything around me seemed to be under my control—the movement of the air, the subtle movements of others, even their malice…
He could clearly sense that the mixed-race man who fired the shot only wanted to break his wrist, so following the principle of reciprocal retaliation, Gao Kui also pierced the mixed-race man's wrist.
"Oh!"
The third door was kicked open, and the twelfth floor of the Genji Heavy Industries Building, centered on Gao Kui, began to gradually boil over.
Burning golden eyes were scattered everywhere. Some of the mixed-race individuals drew their samurai swords, while others raised their pistols and rifles. They did not rush forward all at once, but rather followed a certain assault tactic, coordinating with each other to charge at Gao Kui, raising their samurai swords and firing their guns.
Do they work together closely?
To be honest, it's not particularly close-quarters, but it's tactically sufficient to be used to deal with one person in a confined hallway space.
This was an attack with no blind spots, a close-quarters assault with blades aimed at Gao Kui's vital joints and bullets blocking his evasive maneuvers. Attacks from both sides wove together an impenetrable net, tightly enveloping him in the middle.
Word of Power: Yin Flow!
His domain expanded, and with Gao Kui himself at the center, he controlled all the air within a 30-meter radius. The omnipresent air condensed into sharp and fierce airflow channels, brushing past every mixed-blood who approached Gao Kui.
Not a single blade of the longsword, not a single bullet touched Gao Kui's body; they were all submerged in the crisscrossing airflow channels, turning into fragments in dozens of strangulation attacks in a very short time.
The dozen or so hybrids in the area also fell to the ground with cries of agony. The dead were only a very small minority. After all, there were only one or two hybrids who were truly determined to kill Gao Kui regardless of the consequences.
The vast majority of hybrids are simply turned into sticks by having their limbs severed, thus losing their ability to resist.
Wails and groans filled the air, severed fingers mingled with blood, and the "Lake of Fire" that once flowed through the Night Plains nightclub was replicated on the 12th floor of the Genji Heavy Industries Building.
This is God's judgment.
Those who dare to defy God will surely face His equal judgment—this is Gao Kui's mindset at this moment. Arrogant? Perhaps, but so what?
As the Yin energy dissipated, Gao Kui, wielding a knife in one hand and a gun in the other, walked across the "lake of fire" formed by pooled blood, kicking open one door after another.
Half of the mixed-race people remained on this floor, and they were all terrified. This was the first time they had ever seen such a ferocious mixed-race person.
Everything Gao Kui showed did not conform to their understanding of mixed-race people.
With its high destructive power, strong manipulability, short chanting time, and low energy consumption, no other incantation can possess so many advantages at the same time.
Junyan's destructive power is comparable to or even surpasses that of a high-explosive incendiary bomb, but it consumes a lot of energy and physical strength, is not very easy to operate, and its single-point killing power may not be that strong.
The Holy Judgment possesses the strongest operability in some respects; attaching it to a bullet guarantees a hit on the desired enemy. However, its destructive power is negligible.
Both high-sequence and low-sequence Words of Power have their own advantages and disadvantages. Of course, some Words of Power may indeed be so bad that they are full of flaws.
What about Gao Kui's Word of Power?
In their eyes, Gao Kui's Word of Power was a near-perfect Word of Power.
Its single-point lethality is so strong that it can shred steel. Because of its large number and wide range, its destructive power is also first-class. Each airflow channel can be controlled with ease, making it highly operable. Its pre-animation is so small that no one can clearly hear Gao Kui chanting the dragon script. Judging from Gao Kui's unchanging expression, its energy consumption is also surprisingly low.
No one connected Gao Kui's "perfect" Word of Power with Yabuki Sakura's Yin Flow. Compared to when they were on the overpass, Gao Kui's Yin Flow has actually evolved now.
Not only are there more of them, but the pre-cast animation is also shorter: Gao Kui forgot that releasing the Word of Power requires the step of "chanting".
Anyone who has played fighting games, or even the highly immersive Naruto Mobile, knows that even shortening the wind-up animation by 0.2 or 0.1 seconds can significantly alter the power level of a skill.
Gao Kui kicked open the doors on the twelfth floor one after another, even more thoroughly than when he was looting the looted items of retreating players. During this time, the remaining hybrids on the twelfth floor, as well as the new hybrids that poured into the twelfth floor from upstairs and downstairs, launched more than one attack on Gao Kui.
Some believe that a different attack method, such as using incantations, might have yielded a different outcome. Others, however, simply want to gamble on the fact that Gao Kui has already exhausted himself and is merely putting on a brave face.
Some people even adopted the attitude of "one hundred million jade dies, long live the Snake-Gi-Hachi family, and young master Genjiro's death," intending to use their own lives to exhaust Gao Kui's energy and strength.
Their fates were all the same.
Regardless of their methods or plans—whether it was close combat, ranged attacks, or the use of incantations—any hybrid who attacked Gao Kui ultimately either died or was reduced to a human stump.
The twelfth floor of the Genji Heavy Industries building was transformed into a complete hell on earth, with blood energy so dense that it almost formed a tangible blood mist, and the flowing lake of fire was filled with severed limbs, human stumps, and corpses.
Gao Kui sees himself as a judge walking among men, while Ryoma Genichiro and others, who are on higher floors and witness everything through surveillance cameras, give Gao Kui a more fitting nickname.
Human-shaped meat grinder.
Is this the limit of what Gao Kui can achieve?
No.
The higher-ups of the Snake Clan, at least the clan heads like Ryoma Genichiro, had all seen the leaked footage of Gao Kui's battle with John Wick. Comparing the two, they could clearly see that the Northern Qi prince had already restrained himself considerably.
If he were to unleash his full power, the Genji Heavy Industries building and the surrounding neighborhood would likely be reduced to ruins, and tens of thousands of people in the area would perish.
Instead of what is happening now, where only a small number of people die and most are simply chopped into human stumps.
It's just a human stump. The cuts on the limbs are so clean. With modern medical technology, it can definitely be reattached, and if the recovery is good, there won't be any sequelae.
This is the Northern Qi prince whom Angers calls the Messiah of Cassel. He is a super hybrid who far surpasses ordinary elite hybrids. Even if it's just a small test, killing ordinary hybrids is as easy as mowing grass for them.
Ryoma Genichiro, Miyamoto Shio, Inuyama He, and other family heads all frowned. They all knew that ordinary hybrids were no match for Gao Kui, and even if they all attacked together, they would hardly gain any advantage.
Then what should be done?
Chapter 160 A Single-Minded Person Blocks Both Ends
On the screen, Gao Kui walked to the end of a corridor, and in less than two minutes, he had finished searching the twelfth floor of Genji Heavy Industries.
Everyone saw Gao Kui suddenly use his Word of Power again, releasing a sharp stream of air that cut a large hole in the ceiling above his head. He then leaped to the thirteenth floor, where he began a new round of investigation.
"Notify everyone not to stop him. Let him do whatever he wants in Genji Heavy Industries. Do not show any aggression towards him. So far, every move the Northern Qi prince has made has been a counterattack."
"Half of the people responsible for the defense of the 9th, 10th, and 11th floors were immediately transferred to the intensive care unit on the 12th floor for treatment. Thank goodness, there are not enough injured people so far, otherwise no matter how many surgeons we have, it will not be enough."
Through the liaison department, Ryoma Genichiro methodically relayed instructions to the members of the Snake Clan inside the building, emphasizing that the Northern Qi prince could no longer be allowed to run rampant.
Admittedly, the princes of Northern Qi often did not kill, and the Sheqi Eight Families, as leaders of the underworld, also had a large number of surgeons. However, no matter how many doctors there were, they could not stop the bleeding or set severed limbs as quickly as Gao Kui could kill people.
Not to mention, Gao Kui couldn't hold back forever. He held back because many members of the Snake Clan also maintained a certain level of restraint; if they continued to die, both sides would fight to the bitter end.
Ryoma Genichiro's policy of non-resistance was quickly conveyed to the mixed-bloods on the front lines through the liaison department. The mixed-bloods of the Snake-Headed Eight Families, who had long been terrified by the killings, immediately and faithfully carried out Ryoma Genichiro's orders.
Wherever Gao Kui went, the hybrids of the Snake Clan followed, keeping a distance of about 35 meters from him. They neither made a move nor spoke, and they did not answer any of Gao Kui's questions. They just silently followed and watched.
As expected, Gao Kui did not continue the killings as seen in the surveillance footage. He ignored all the mixed-race individuals and searched every room on his own.
The crisis has been temporarily averted, but not completely resolved.
As the saying goes, one cannot allow others to sleep soundly on one's own bed. No one would feel at ease letting such a super hybrid roam freely in their own base.
Even though Gao Kui is currently displaying a defensive and counter-attacking attitude, Ryoma Genichiro and the others dare not gamble that Gao Kui will continue to be so restrained. They must take the initiative in their own hands in any security-related issues.
"Everyone, tell me what to do." Exhausted, Ryoma Genichiro closed his eyes and threw the question to his colleagues.
"It seems the Northern Qi prince came looking for someone. When he first came in, he asked where Genjiro and Sakurai Hiroshi were." Yabuki Sakura pulled up the video of Gao Kui getting off the carriage.
"Does he have any conflict with the young master or Sakurai Hiroshi?" Miyamoto Shio asked Sakurai Nanami.
The aloof young woman, a cigarette dangling from her lips, shrugged: "How would I know if they have a conflict? You should ask Princess Kaguya."
The saying "When in doubt about domestic affairs, consult Baidu; when in doubt about foreign affairs, consult Google" also applies within the Sheqi Bajia (Eight Families of Snakes).
"Unfortunately, Princess Kaguya said she didn't know anything about the connection between Sakurai Hiroshi and the Northern Qi prince. However, the young master went drinking with the Northern Qi prince and his group a week ago, and the meeting ended badly."
"Would the prince of Northern Qi really be so petty as to have a disagreement over drinking?"
"Perhaps, the mixed-race members of the Gao family in Northern Qi all have some mental issues. You can't use ordinary people's thinking to try to understand their thoughts."
"Why don't you just ask the person involved?!"
Ryoma Genichiro opened his eyes and slammed his hand on the table: "Young Master has already gone to Sumeru. Where is Sakurai Hiroshi? Call him here!"
"I'm sorry, Head of the Ryoma family."
A member of the liaison department retrieved internal information from the data: "Just before the headquarters was attacked by the Oni Clan yesterday, Minister Sakurai Hiroshi had already left the headquarters to go to Kansai to receive a batch of smuggled weapons. The head of the department also knows about this."
Fuck!
The prince of Northern Qi came from the Lai family's heavy industry to find only two people, but both of them were nowhere to be found.
"wrong."
Sakurai Nanami frowned slightly: "Sakurai Hirokazu just left Genji Heavy Industries, and the Oni Clan immediately launched a full-scale attack on us. After the young master left, the prince of Northern Qi immediately came to kill us. Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence?"
The transition between the front and back feet was perfect.
Everyone realized that there must be some problem. Obviously, Genjiro wouldn't be the one with the problem, just like the patriarch wouldn't be the one with the problem. So the problem must lie with Hiroshi Sakurai.
"Immediately contact the Kanto and Kansai branches, as well as all the branches along the way, and ask them if Sakurai Hiroshi has been to their locations!"
Japan is a very small country; it only takes a few hours to travel from Tokyo to the Kansai branch by high-speed rail. Still worried about safety, Ryoma Genichiro had the liaison department inquire about the route, branches, and outposts as well.
Replies from Kanto, Kansai, and various branches along the way gradually came back, and the answers were surprisingly consistent: Hiroshi Sakurai, who had set off when the full-scale war began yesterday, had not reached their side.
The liaison department then tried to contact Hiroshi Sakurai directly, but naturally, they were unable to reach him.
Ryoma Genichiro and the others felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave. Everyone realized that they had fallen into a trap that had been prepared for them in advance, and that Sakurai Hiroshi was most likely the culprit.
He must have provoked the prince of Northern Qi before leaving, and then held back until Yuan Zhisheng left and the headquarters was at its weakest before detonating this pre-planted bomb.
"Eat!!!"
"Genjiro, Sakurai Hiroshi, come out!!!"
The Northern Qi prince on the screen grew increasingly impatient. Kicking open doors one by one was no longer enough for him. He opened his Yin Flow Domain, and the dozens of airflow channels that terrified the mixed-bloods of the Snake Clan once again revealed their sharpness. Regardless of whether they were load-bearing walls or not, they cut through the walls as Gao Kui walked.
The prince of Northern Qi was like Doctor Octopus with super-multiplied tentacles and extended length; wherever he went, walls collapsed and entire floors were left in ruins.
Even with the search efficiency increased several times over, Gao Kui was still not satisfied. His mental state was already unstable, and his angry roar echoed through the building, making it clear to everyone how furious the Northern Qi prince was.
Ryoma Genichiro and the others were about to explode.
Downstairs, Gao Kui is like a berserk Iori Yagami building up his rage. Once he's full, he'll unleash the Ura Hyakuhachi-shiki: Eight Wine Cups to blow up the entire building. The only two people who can calm him down, Genjiro and Sakurai Hiro, are both gone.
Someone has to go down and hold him off, or at least keep him occupied.
"How is the patriarch doing?" Ryoma Genichiro set his sights on Tachibana Masamune. He'd been resting for a whole day, so he should be almost fully recovered by now.
Only a super hybrid can fight against another super hybrid, and as the emperor, Tachibana Masamune is clearly the best candidate to withstand the prince of Northern Qi.
"Not good."
Miyamoto Shigeo's face darkened: "When I went down to get the medicine just now, I also took a look at the patriarch. The patriarch's health condition is even worse than yesterday, and even the stability of his bloodline has fluctuated."
The effects of that Hellfire missile might have lasting consequences in the future…
Perhaps the patriarch's strength will never be able to return to its peak.