Chapter 63: Setting Out

Screech——

The entire rolling steel door, already somewhat rusted, rose with an unpleasant and grating squeak.

Song Shi parked his motorcycle inside the garage, then pulled on a suspended cord to turn on the overhead lights.

Even though it had been cleaned once, the garage still appeared somewhat cluttered. Tools such as wrenches, welding torches, inflation valves, and files were scattered about haphazardly. The walls and floor bore stains whose original colors were long gone, and items like nails and mechanical parts lurked in every corner. The air was heavy with a thick smell of gasoline.

This was an old-fashioned building located deep within the Moss Depths district, and it was Song Shi's new stronghold.

After purchasing a full set of equipment, continuing to drift among cheap motels became somewhat inconvenient. Moreover, Song Shi needed a bit of private space to handle certain matters. Therefore, he chose to rent this house, paying the six-month lease in full upfront.

The Moss Depths district was a complex mix of good and bad elements. If one wasn't careful, all kinds of illegal structures would sprout up like mushrooms after rain. Every day, people emerged and vanished; the infrastructure was dilapidated and the situation complex, so there was no need to worry about Emerald Pharmaceuticals finding this place anytime soon.

In order to ambush Korda, Song Shi had not slept for an entire night.

Therefore, stepping back from the workshop, Song Shi closed the rolling door and entered the living quarters. He casually grabbed two energy bars from the bed, chewed them down in a few bites, and headed into the bathroom to begin today's psionic meditation while taking the opportunity to catch up on some sleep.

Four hours later.

Song Shi opened his eyes in the bathtub.

Casually turning the water temperature down to the lowest setting, he twisted the shower handle. Chilling water droplets battered down from above, driving away the lingering drowsiness.

"Hah——"

Song Shi stood up. Crimson-gold flames silently emerged, winding around his entire body before fading away.

Only at moments like this could Song Shi unleash the Flames of Forging.

——The Great Source, psion, fire.

To be honest, these three characteristics were not particularly eye-catching. For psions of the 【Great Source】 path, "fire" had always been a common manifestation of "Great Source power."

Yet placed in his current situation, this became somewhat subtle—Song Shi believed that Emerald Pharmaceuticals would certainly spare no expense in gathering related intelligence to track down individuals.

Thus, over these past few days, even during combat, he had never overtly displayed the "Flames of Forging," instead adopting an "internalized within the body" approach for enhancement.

· · ·

Ten minutes later.
Inside the garage.

Song Shi wore an expression of cautiousness. He picked up a scalpel and slowly traced the centerline of his left palm. Crimson beads of blood slowly oozed out along the blade's edge—the surfaces of these droplets exhibited a faint crimson-gold luster, trembling slightly.

As though burning.

The next moment, these blood droplets began to descend, dripping into the crucible below, mixing with the already molten and boiling liquid silver paste.

About a minute later.

"Hah——"

Song Shi exhaled a breath.

He put down the scalpel, picked up a bottle of hemostatic spray to apply a couple of sprays, pulled off a roll of bandages to wrap the wound, and only then looked at the silver paste in the crucible.

"Using silver as the base, using blood as the conduit, thus 'spirituality' descends from the cloud-capped heights to the mortal world...... Hmm, this concentration is just about right."

Song Shi nodded. With one hand, he picked up the scalpel again, dipped it into the silver paste within the crucible, while his other hand pinched a tungsten-core armor-piercing round, beginning to carve runes upon it.

In classical terminology, this was "enchanting," "artifact refining," or "awakening objects." In modern terms, it was called "spiritual endowment."

——Dennis Serra, Security Department, Senior Executive Agent.

Song Shi thought to himself.

This was intelligence obtained from the intelligence broker regarding the "Keng" case; this person was the current director in charge of the matter.

Yet that was the extent of it.

Aside from the name "Dennis Serra" and the identity of "Senior Executive Agent of the Security Department," all other data was completely absent—whether personnel records or implant configurations, everything was shrouded under the information blockade of Emerald Pharmaceuticals, revealing not the slightest detail.

Of course, there was also the possibility that the intelligence broker he found actually had the channels to acquire it, but the risk was too high and they were unwilling to trade.

——Therefore, he still had to take it seriously.

He had to account for the possibility that the opponent was a "psion." Song Shi decided to manufacture some "enchanted bullets" to serve as tactical countermeasures for psionic warfare—even if the opponent wasn't a psion, better safe than sorry; there would always come a day when they proved useful.

Truth be told, regarding the exploration and application of "psionics," the 【Vampsta Empire】 was the undisputed world number one.

The enchanting method Song Shi was currently using had also been learned from them—aside from the enchanting itself, the group of priests in the Vampsta Empire would additionally engrave various scriptures onto the bullets, conferring upon them the title of "Holy Word Bullets."

"Hah——"

Half an hour later, Song Shi cast aside the scalpel, closed his eyes to calm himself for a moment, and then reopened them.

A total of seven enchanted armor-piercing rounds.

Using the blood of himself, a 【Great Source】 psion, as the conduit, if explained in gaming terminology, these seven enchanted bullets carried the attributes of "anti-psionic special attack" and "burning."

The key point was the first attribute: "anti-psionic special attack."

As for the second one...... well, at the tier-one level, its effect certainly couldn't compare to white phosphorus rounds, thermite, or similar substances.

Clack, clack.

Loading nine bullets into the magazine, he tucked it into his waistband.

The two white-plated arm-guards had already been stowed away in the briefcase, ready to be retrieved and worn at any moment.

The close-fitting protective suit was intact, and the tactical boots had finished pre-heating.

The Steel Raven's beak poked out briefly before retracting, and in that fleeting glance, a stern and chilling intent was cast.

Re-confirming everything once more, Song Shi nodded, put on his coat, and stepped out of the garage.

It was time to move out.

······

"Yo! Can everyone hear me? Ah, is it a bit too loud? Alright, alright, let me adjust it again. There...... 'Impact' is in position."

"Equipment check complete, 'Sparrow Eye' is in position."

"Mhm, 'Brawler' needs to undergo a new round of deep-sleep recovery, so only the two of you will be going out on field duty this time. Of course, I will be responsible for information supply and network support...... 'Flash Star' is in position."

"No problem, no problem! I actually quite like field duty! By the way, Boss! Aren't you going to say something?"

"Hey......"

"It's fine, 'Sparrow Eye'. Ah, though as for what I should say......"

"......My compatriots."

"Over the past year, we have suffered heavy blows, but I believe that they—our fallen compatriots, these sacrifices are by no means meaningless. At least, we have learned the name 'Three-Phase Base Project'; at least, we can still look forward to tomorrow."

"We must figure out what the contents of the 'Three-Phase Base Project' are; this is our responsibility."

At this point, the voice on the communication channel paused for a moment.

"However...... this trade indeed harbors certain doubts, so moving forward, I hope you will act under the premise of 'ensuring your own survival'."

"Everyone, come back alive."