The two days leading up to the raid were a blur of meticulous preparation and barely suppressed tension.
Lâm Minh, Hạnh, Cường, and Tuấn met several times in discreet locations to go over the plan, refining every detail.
Lâm Minh, drawing on his past life's military experience, drilled them on stealthy movement, silent takedowns, and coordinated action.
He was surprised by how quickly they adapted, their street smarts and survival instincts making them fast learners.
Cường, despite his initial bluster, proved to be surprisingly adept at close-quarters combat, while Tuấn's natural agility and keen senses made him an excellent scout.
Hạnh, with her years of experience in the city's underbelly, provided invaluable insights into gang psychology and potential pitfalls.
Lâm Minh used the intervening time to push his cultivation to its limit.
He spent his remaining high-quality Spirit Stones, focusing all his will on breaking through to Major Completion of the Qi Refining stage.
On the eve of the raid, as he sat meditating in his small, quiet room, he felt it – a surge of potent Qi flooding his Dantian, a qualitative shift in his internal energy.
[Cultivation Progress: Qi Refining Stage – Major Completion (100%).]
[Dantian Capacity significantly increased. Qi purity: High-Medium.]
[Host's physical attributes substantially enhanced. Strength, speed, and resilience are approximately 3 times that of an untrained mundane.]
[Qi Sense (Basic) upgraded to Qi Sense (Intermediate): Range extended to 50 meters. Can now discern basic emotional states and cultivation levels of Qi Refining practitioners.]
[Qi Infusion (Minor) upgraded to Qi Infusion (Intermediate): Greater potency and duration. Can temporarily imbue objects with rudimentary sharpness or concussive force.]
[Spiritual Root: Heaven Tier (Sealed – Stage 1/9 Unsealed). Progress to unseal Stage 2: 45%.]
[New Qi Refining Stage Skill Unlocked: Shadow Step (Basic) – Allows for short bursts of near-invisible movement in low-light conditions by manipulating ambient Qi.]
Major Completion! The power coursing through him was significantly greater than before.
His Qi Sense was now sharp enough to pick up not just auras, but also the cultivation levels of other Qi Refining practitioners – invaluable for assessing threats.
Qi Infusion could make his crowbar a truly devastating weapon.
And Shadow Step… that was a game-changer for stealth operations.
He felt a surge of confidence.
This breakthrough couldn't have come at a better time.
The night of the raid was dark and moonless, a light drizzle helping to mask their movements.
They rendezvoused at a pre-arranged point on the edge of the targeted residential block, all clad in dark, inconspicuous clothing, their faces obscured by shadows and makeshift masks.
Cường carried a heavy wrench and a length of sharpened rebar.
Tuấn had a pair of wicked-looking combat knives and a slingshot modified to fire small, hard pellets.
Hạnh wielded a sturdy metal pipe.
Lâm Minh, as always, had his crowbar, now humming faintly with infused Qi, and the tranquilizer darts Yan had provided.
"Everyone clear on the plan?" Lâm Minh whispered, his voice calm but authoritative.
He used his newly enhanced Qi Sense to scan the area.
He could pick up the auras of sleeping residents in nearby buildings, the skittering of rats, and, further ahead, the agitated, slightly chaotic auras of what he presumed were the Skull guards at the abandoned grocery store.
Three of them, as Mai Linh's note had predicted.
Their cultivation levels were negligible, likely relying on Crimson Dream for any combat prowess.
Hạnh, Cường, and Tuấn nodded, their expressions grim and determined.
The initial nervousness had given way to a focused intensity.
"Tuấn, you take point," Lâm Minh instructed.
"Silent approach. Signal if anything's out of place. Hạnh, Cường, you're with me for the takedown. We go for incapacitation first. Tranquilizer darts for the first two if we get a clear shot. Cường, you handle the third if he puts up a fight. Hạnh, secure the entrance once we're inside. Speed and silence are key."
Tuấn melted into the shadows, moving with an eerie grace.
A few minutes later, a soft bird call – their pre-arranged signal – echoed back. All clear.
Lâm Minh nodded.
"Let's move."
They advanced like wraiths through the darkened alleyways, Lâm Minh utilizing his Shadow Step to become almost invisible in the deeper patches of darkness.
He felt a thrill, a familiar echo of past commando operations, but tempered by the knowledge of the very real danger they were in.
They reached the back of the abandoned grocery store.
It was a dilapidated structure, its windows boarded up, its paint peeling.
A faint light spilled from a crack in the rear door. Lâm Minh used his Qi Sense.
The three Skull auras were inside, relatively stationary.
One seemed to be dozing, the other two were restless, their energies tinged with the chaotic buzz of Crimson Dream.
"Two in the main room, one near the back, possibly by a stash," Lâm Minh whispered, relaying his sensory information.
"The one in the back seems less alert."
He handed two tranquilizer darts to Hạnh, who had a good throwing arm.
"For the two in the main room. Aim for the neck or torso. I'll take the one in the back."
Hạnh nodded, her expression focused.
Lâm Minh took a deep breath, then, with a subtle infusion of Qi into his boot, he kicked the rotten back door inward with a controlled, near-silent force.
It swung open with a protesting groan.
He was through it in an instant, a blur of motion thanks to Shadow Step.
The Skull guard at the back, a lanky youth who was indeed half-asleep beside a pile of crates, startled, his eyes widening in disbelief as Lâm Minh materialized before him.
Before he could even shout, Lâm Minh's crowbar, infused with concussive Qi, slammed into the side of his head with a sickening thud.
The guard crumpled without a sound, unconscious.
One down.
Simultaneously, from the front, he heard the soft thwip-thwip of Hạnh launching the tranquilizer darts, followed by surprised grunts and the sound of bodies hitting the floor.
Lâm Minh moved swiftly into the main area.
Hạnh stood ready by the front entrance, pipe in hand.
Cường was already checking the two downed Skulls, who were slumping into drug-induced stupors, the tranquilizer darts protruding from their necks.
Tuấn was methodically sweeping the small store, his knives glinting.
"Clear!" Tuấn reported.
"Two incapacitated, one unconscious," Lâm Minh confirmed.
"Good work, everyone. Hạnh, secure the doors. Cường, Tuấn, search the place. We're looking for Crimson Dream, any ledgers, documents, anything that points to their supplier or operations. We have maybe ten minutes before their absence might be noted."
The store was a mess, but it was clear this was a significant local stash point.
Behind the main counter, they found several large, sealed canisters.
Lâm Minh's Qi Sense confirmed they were filled with the potent, chaotic energy of Crimson Dream.
There were also smaller packets, clearly prepared for street-level distribution.
"Jackpot," Cường muttered, his eyes wide.
Tuấn, meanwhile, had found a locked metal strongbox under a pile of rags.
Lâm Minh's crowbar, with a precise application of infused Qi, made short work of the cheap lock.
Inside, they found a surprisingly large amount of ASEAN credits, several high-value black market data chips, and a small, leather-bound ledger.
Lâm Minh quickly scanned the ledger.
It contained lists of names (likely dealers and debtors), locations, and transaction amounts, all written in a crude code.
This was valuable.
"Bag the Dream, the credits, the chips, and this ledger," Lâm Minh ordered.
"Leave everything else. We don't want to look like common looters. We want to send a message."
They worked quickly, stuffing the Crimson Dream canisters and the other valuables into heavy-duty sacks they had brought.
The sheer quantity of the drug was alarming.
This small outpost alone could have supplied hundreds of users.
"Time to go," Lâm Minh said, checking his chronometer.
Eight minutes had passed.
As they were about to leave, Cường, who was tying up the unconscious guard, paused.
"What about him, Minh? And these two?" He gestured to the tranquilized Skulls.
"Leave 'em for their buddies to find?"
Lâm Minh considered.
Leaving them alive meant they could identify them if caught later.
But killing them in cold blood, even Skulls, felt… excessive for this operation.
His goal was disruption and intelligence, not just slaughter.
"The tranquilizers will keep those two out for hours," he said.
"This one," he looked at the unconscious guard, "tie him securely. We'll leave them. Let the Skulls know their people are vulnerable, their stashes are not safe. Fear is a better weapon than a corpse, sometimes."
They slipped out the back door, laden with their haul, and melted back into the labyrinthine alleys, leaving behind three incapacitated Skulls and a ransacked stash house.
They took a circuitous route back to their pre-arranged dispersal point, ensuring they weren't followed.
Back in the relative safety of a secluded ruin, they examined their spoils.
Several canisters of pure Crimson Dream, a significant amount of credits, a few potentially valuable data chips, and the ledger.
"Well, damn, kid," Cường said, a wide grin splitting his face as he looked at the pile of credits.
"You weren't kidding about profitable."
Hạnh and Tuấn looked equally impressed, though their expressions were more reserved.
"This," Lâm Minh said, holding up the ledger, "is potentially more valuable than all the credits. It could give us insight into their entire local network."
"What do we do with the Dream?" Hạnh asked, looking at the ominous red canisters with distaste.
"Sell it? Destroy it?"
"We destroy most of it," Lâm Minh stated firmly.
"This poison shouldn't be on the streets. We keep a small, representative sample for Commander Trinh. The credits, we divide. The data chips and the ledger, I need to examine them closely. They go to Trinh as well, after I've extracted what I can."
There were no objections.
The shared danger and success had forged a stronger bond between them.
They found a secure, abandoned cistern and poured the contents of all but one small canister of Crimson Dream into the fetid water, watching the vibrant red liquid dissipate into the murky depths.
It felt like a small victory, a tiny cleansing in a hopelessly polluted world.
Lâm Minh knew this raid was just the beginning.
The Skulls would retaliate, furiously. Breaker would be hunting for them.
But they had struck a blow, gathered vital intelligence, and, most importantly, proven that they could fight back.
As he walked away from his crew, his share of the credits in his pocket and the precious ledger and data chips secured, Lâm Minh felt a grim satisfaction.
He had taken a risk, and it had paid off.
But he also knew that the hornet's nest had been well and truly kicked.