Shadow Guild.

Once the most notorious black-ops hunter syndicate on the continent, now a dark guild banned by the Hunter Association.

Feng Xiu’s pulse hardened. “Yeah, I heard about you. What do you want?”

“Well,” Myra said in that honey-sweet tone, “I think you’ve already know what I want, Master Feng. Release our leader, and your hunters walk out alive. Simple trade.”

Her cheerfulness was a blade wrapped in velvet.

Feng Xiu slammed his palm onto the console in response. “Impossible. He’s in Federal Max. FEDERAL MAX! No one gets released from there.”

On the other end, Myra clicked her tongue in mock disappointment.

“Impossible… impossible… impossible…” she repeated in a singsong murmur. “Tsk, Vice President Feng… I really don’t like that word.”

Her voice lowered, almost whisper-soft yet chilling.

“It makes me want to prove you wrong.”

The line crackled.

And in the next second, a sharp, gut-turning scream burst from the other side of the satellite phone.

Feng Xiu’s face drained of color, rage pouring through the cracks.

“You—!” His voice ricocheted across the control room

On the other end, Myra sighed as she’d just knocked over a glass.

“Too bad,” she said lightly. “One of your sweet little soldiers has joined the three hunters from earlier. Tragic, indeed. He didn’t even look 20. Yet, because of your word impossible, poor fellow… he has gone to the afterlife, just like that…

The air thickened. No one breathed.

Feng Xiu leaned close to the console, his voice dropping into a growl that rattled the equipment.

“You bitch.”

“My my~ temper,” Myra teased, continuing to converse in her sweet tone. “Let’s keep our heads cool, Master Feng… considering I still have sixty-one… oh, sixty-two lives here. More if I count the contracted beasts. Actually… eighty-four. You shouldn’t think about the lost life but about the lives that you could save.”

The casual inventory of human lives felt like a dagger turned lazily in the gut, for every staff member in the control room.

“So tell me, Mr. Feng,” she continued, maintaining her sweet tone. “Do you want to test my patience… or do you want your hunters back in one piece? By the way, I see a lot of young faces here. Poor fellas. They don’t want to be here, but because of Master Feng’s ambitious and eccentric thoughts, they end up here in this trial to get a mere license, and now, their lives were in the risk too…”

Feng Xiu shut his eyes and forced his voice steady. “I need time. I must go to the President. A death-row inmate in Federal Max cannot be released without a presidential pardon.”

“Now you get the reality, Good. Now, go,” Myra chirped. “I’ll give you… twenty-four hours.”

Feng Xiu’s palm hit the table so hard that a nearby tablet flipped over. “Twenty-four hours? That’s impossible. Give me at least forty-eight.”

“Hmm… you bargain like a merchant.” Myra’s tone shifted, speaking as if she was sulking at his words. “Fine, since I like your integrity… Thirty-six hours. Final.”

His jaw flexed. He wanted to punch through the screen.

“Fine,” he bit out, clenching his fists tightly. “But release some hostages first as a show of good faith. I’m not asking for the capable hunters. Just… release the unlicensed ones. They’re kids from Camp 2. They hold no value for you either way.”

A beat of silence answered him. Long enough that every officer in the room felt sweat forming on their palms.

Finally, Myra exhaled a thoughtful hum. “Hm. Alright,” she said with a nod. “A gesture of goodwill. I can do that… I’m not that heartless, Master Feng.”

Feng Xiu exhaled slowly, shoulders sinking under the weight of the world.

The line died with a soft click, yet the tension it left behind clung to the air like static.

Myra lowered the satellite phone, that sweet little smile still stitched onto her lips as she turned back to the trembling crowd.

“Alright, my dear hostages,” she chimed, almost musical. “You heard the good man, yes? Time to sort you prettily into licensed… and unlicensed.”

A murmur of relief and panic rippled through the crowd. Unlicensed hunters shuffled forward first, clinging to the promise of release as if it were a rope dangling over a cliff. Wang Jie and Anne hurried ahead, joining the forming group without hesitation.

Nianxi moved to follow—her foot already lifting—until Lin Fang’s hand closed quietly around her wrist.

A subtle shake of his head.

No explanation was given.

No words were spoken.

She froze, surprise flaring in her eyes—but she didn’t pull away. She simply stepped back beside him, trusting him without needing the reasons.

Across the clearing, Wang Jie caught sight of this and blinked, confused.

“Brother Lin…? Brother Lin!” He called again, louder this time. “Why are you staying there? Come here!”

Lin Fang didn’t even turn. Like a veteran hunter with no ties, he simply let the name wash over him and glanced around with everyone else, as if searching for this mysterious “Brother Lin” along with them.

It worked—until Myra’s gaze slid toward Wang Jie.

“Well… well… bring him.”

A robot stomped forward, metal joints hissing. Its clawed hand clamped onto Wang Jie’s collar and dragged him out of the unlicensed group. “Babe…” Anne screamed his name, but the robot shoved her aside with a cold shove that sent her sprawling.

Wang Jie was hauled before Myra like a misbehaving student.

She leaned a little closer, tracing his fear with amusement.

“So, who is this Lin Fang you were calling for?”

Wang Jie froze. A visible swallow rippled down his throat.

“No one… I… I was mistaken.”

With a snap of her fingers, the robot pressed its blaster to the back of his skull.

Myra’s tone sharpened. “Who?”

Wang Jie cracked. His trembling hand lifted—and pointed straight at Lin Fang.

Lin Fang’s face didn’t change, but his eyes locked onto Wang Jie with a coldness that said everything. Not rage. Not betrayal.

It was as if he was cursing him silently: You fu*king idiot.

Wang Jie whispered, voice shaking in regret, “I’m sorry…”

“Hmm…”

Myra then hummed softly and walked back toward the main crowd, hands clasped behind her like she was strolling along a garden path. She stopped right before Lin Fang’s group.

She smiled.

And called out, bright and clear:

“Lin Fang.”

Lin Fang stepped forward with the steady poise of someone walking into a tiger’s open jaws.

“Yes?” He asked calmly.

Myra tilted her head, intrigued. “Why didn’t you join the others?” she asked. “Didn’t I say unlicensed hunters should stand in that group?”

For a second, there was silence.

Then, Lin Fang slowly answered with a soft, steady voice, “A hostage with no value is dead weight, Miss.”

He flicked a glance toward the still-warm bodies sprawled behind her—those who’d rushed earlier, now nothing more than cautionary corpses.

“And you,” he added, “You don’t seem the type who don’t care about people’s lives. I highly doubt you would worry about dead weight.”

A ripple of fear ran through the unlicensed group. Some already imagined blasters against their skulls.

Myra’s smile curved. “So you’re not just pretty looks. You’re smart.” Then her eyes hardened. “But not wise enough. If you were, you’d have realized from the phone call that the unlicensed group is more useful to me than the licensed hunters.”

Her eyes glittered like broken glass. “After all… the unlicensed are precious to Feng Xiu. And Feng Xiu is the one who have to do my task. In this case, who is more precious hostages, unlicensed or veterans?”

And then she whispered softly, “Eight times.”

The world crushed downward in the next moment

Everyone but the robots slammed to the ground, teeth cracking against dirt, breath squeezed from their lungs. Groans filled the air as bones creaked under the impossible weight.

Myra lifted her hand without even looking at them.

“Kill.”

The robots obeyed instantly, blasters pivoting toward the helpless licensed hunters. Beams glowed, ready to fire—death seconds away.

Lin Fang, pressed under the crushing gravity, let out a long breath.

“It looks like I have no choice.”

His voice trembled, not from fear—but from the strain of holding back.

He whispered the command as a quiet curse loosed upon the world, “Alpha, break the suppressant on me…”

“Sure, kiddo…”

In the next second…

*Ding!

[Mana Suppressant’s effects were nullified.]

As soon as the effects were nullified, Lin Fang used a bit of force and broke the anti-mana cuffs.

Myra was momentarily taken aback and stepped back in surprise. “What?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep