/*unedited*/

A stifling atmosphere cloaked the surrounding at the appearance of two new units coming from the side of the building. Their domineering aura and the slick look is a combination that made every person looking at the mechs felt awe and trepidation at the same time.

Then suddenly…

A two-meter tall Mech Frame lifting the large rifle on its arm sent s.h.i.+vers down the spine of the person being pointed directly by the rifle's muzzle. The cultivator was didn't know what to do and just stood where he is while holding a sword on his hand. Right now, his mind suddenly turned blank upon seeing the moving silver metal which gripped his heart with fear.

"You fool! Run!" suddenly a shout woke the person and jumped to the side in an instant.

Boom!!!

The place where he stood before exploded and the shock sent him flying to the side.

Although he was able to dodge, his left leg was still hit by the fragments sent flying because of the explosion.

His left leg was turned into sieves by the debris and explosion as if he just stepped into a land mine. So when he landed, the man immediately screamed in pain getting the attention of his other companions.

"s.h.i.+t! This is not good! They can attack us… Go! Kill as many people as you can in the surroundings." suddenly shouted the leader of the group.

Hearing this, the fear in everyone's heart turned into anger and madness. As cultivators, they have lived their lives at the edge of the blade all the time. Ever since they began cultivating, they needed a large number of materials and resources. And due to lack of money, they resorted to stealing and plundering and doing mercenary work anywhere they can.

Although cultivators are bloodthirsty and lawless, they are afraid of one thing and that is death. The reason why they wanted to cultivate is because of the long life it could give and its strength.

So after hearing the command, they didn't hesitate and immediately wanted to run away from those walking metallic objects.

However, how could s.h.i.+ Anne Li let them go? Beforehand she had already locked on everyone within her sight. And after hearing the command from their leader, she didn't hesitate and immediately press the fire b.u.t.ton.

She has armed her basic Mech Frame with a rifle and two packs of micro missiles. She already had an idea of how many the enemy is while watching on the side and decided to arm the mech as soon as she received the explanation from Park Jiyong of the customization possibility of the basic Mech Frame.

A micro missile is an anti-personnel armament with a range of just 300 meters. Each missile is composed of 5 circular flat disks that can lock-on to a total of 5 people each or 5 flat disks to a single person. The flat disk would separate from the missile after launch and would fly at a fast speed to their marked target.

Using the ability of s.h.i.+n Jiao to mark his targets and make his bullets fly towards them in any direction, the same principle follows the micro missiles.

And so after s.h.i.+ Anne Li press the fire b.u.t.ton, around 5 micro missiles flew to the air which immediately caught the people who wanted to run. The second they stop running was their mistake.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

A loud explosion reverberated through the air as the flat disk began flying towards their marked target with accurate precision.

In this explosion, limbs began flying through the air, and cries of the cultivators can be heard among the thick smoke.

s.h.i.+ Anne Li didn't dare kill those people as they are outside of the property of NXT Element Company. So she targeted their limbs instead, their feet in particular.

Park Jiyong was not able to react in the fast-paced action as his Mech Frame just stood on the spot without moving and himself inside with his mouth in agape.

As the smoke died down, everyone saw the b.l.o.o.d.y scene in the surroundings. But what, s.h.i.+ Anne Li noticed is the figure of the leader who is commanding the group. It seems that the leader and the rest of the people she had not locked-on were able to escape.

But the b.l.o.o.d.y scene in the surroundings can make anyone who can see it puke in disgust.

s.h.i.+n Jiao is currently watching from the roof of one of the buildings. He knew that s.h.i.+ Anne Li did a good job. But he could not let the people die as it would cause too much trouble for the company. So he moved like a shadow and began sealing the acupoints of the people on the ground to stop their bleeding.

Plus he can now freely block their dantian as everyone is now unguarded due to what they had suffered.

s.h.i.+ Anne Li can see s.h.i.+n Jiao making his move and she heaves a sigh of relief. But she is once again in awe of the speed that s.h.i.+n Jiao is moving. It's like he is a shadow that would stop for just a second and then move on to the next person.

Suddenly, s.h.i.+ Anne Li and Park Jiyong heard s.h.i.+n Jiao on their comms.

"I've blocked their acupoints and dantian, tell the doctors in the infirmary to give first aid to those people and call the police and the ambulance. I'm heading out."

Upon receiving the command, the two followed and s.h.i.+n Jiao disappear from the area.

His figure then appears on top of a building while looking at some people numbering about 26 heads. Everyone is scrambling through the darkness while the sound of the sirens from afar made them feel a bit jittery.

After everyone entered a dilapidated building, they slump to the ground and began catching their breaths.

"F*ck! How can this happen? Those two things are metal golems, right? How can there be metal golems? Those only exist in books and stories." cursed one of the cultivators.

"Shut up! Those are not metal golems… I think they call them mechs in some movies."

"Who cares, we were almost wiped out with just two strikes from that thing. We were lucky that the other one didn't make its move or else we're done for…"

"All of you shut up! That Wilson guy didn't tell us that our target has those things… I won't let this go! I will finish the mission myself…" their leader said in anger as he entered a room and slammed the door in anger.

"d.a.m.ned it! I will ask that s*n of a b*tch for double compensation. I will not take this lying down." Chou Man muttered while clenching his fists in anger.

He took his phone out and dialed a number.

"Hey! You a.s.sh*ole, you didn't give us a complete Intel and my men suffer. You will pay double if you wanted the job to be done!" shouted Chou Man after the other line was picked up.

'What the h.e.l.l! Our contract is 2 million dollars… Are you crazy?'

"F*ck you! My men suffered and more than half of us are now gone. We cannot accept this laying down. I will contact our head and we will attack that company and also you…" Chou Man shouted as he thought that his men that they left were all dead.

'Wait! Wait! Alright, I agree to double the pay�� when can you get rid of the girl?'

"I will kill her tonight…" Chou Man confidently said with a smirk then dropped the call.

"Hehe… That was easy… After getting rid of some cannon fodders I can now have 4 million dollars… after this can retire in the mountains and cultivate it to the peak. Hahaha…" he muttered with a sinister grin on his face.

s.h.i.+n Jiao who is silently watching and observing on the rooftop, smirked. He now got the phone number of terrorist leader's contact and has listened to their conversation.

"It seems that I need to get rid of this group to make sure that Marie is safe… but if I made a move on them, would it be overkill?" he muttered to himself, but then he suddenly saw something within his absolute sense.

Chou Man walked towards a small vault on the wall and opened it. Then inside he took out a small clear crystal orb.

When s.h.i.+n Jiao's absolute sense enters the orb, he was a bit taken aback.

"That thing can devour souls… I can't believe that there is an artifact in this world that can do such a thing. If that thing devours a soul, then it would use that soul's experience, time, and power gained while living as energy before turning it devoid of anything…"

s.h.i.+n Jiao knew of the severity of this act. Although souls are indestructible, the life, experience, and power they gained while living is what makes them a very valuable energy source for some cultivators. Hence, if a soul would be devoid of those things, they would turn back into an infant soul and return to the deity.

The time wasted and the experience would sure cause that soul too much pain and anguish.

"This cannot be… I guess this is enough reason for me to be able to make a move, right?" s.h.i.+n Jiao said with a smile on his face.

He is actually eyeing the orb on the terrorist's leader's hand as he can feel something deep inside him resonates with it.

…

The night is dark yet the city was in turmoil. The news was bursting with headlines as the reporters' flocks to the sight where the chaos has happened.

Susan Tang, s.h.i.+ Anne Li, and Park Jiyong look at the chaotic scene.

"Tomorrow would be another busy day…" Susan Tang heaves a heavy sigh and turns around to leave.