Su Jiannan, dressed like a successful businessman, had just stepped out of his sleek black luxury sedan when a chubby, red-faced middle-aged man enthusiastically approached.
"President Su! What a pleasure, what a pleasure!"
The man seized Su Jiannan's hand in a firm grip. His palm was rough and large as a fan, with the strength of a beast. Su Jiannan's face twitched ever so slightly—he returned the grip briefly and quickly withdrew.
"A pleasure indeed. I didn't expect President Zhou himself to come greet me. It seems your side takes this project quite seriously."
"Of course we do!"
President Zhou grinned proudly, and his words started flowing like a machine gun.
"This is a newly discovered Jingchu cultural site! The municipal government treasures this kind of gem—keeps saying things like 'develop cultural industries, cultivate cultural confidence.' They didn't even finish excavating the site before launching a whole academic symposium. Once the experts finish talking, we investors and developers are expected to follow up immediately. Heh, chasing GDP nowadays feels like waging war..."
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he slapped his own head and laughed boisterously. "Oh, heavens—I've been rambling like I'm some top official. I can't let a client as important as President Su—who's handling such a major contract—stand around like this. Tonight, dinner's on me. Let's go to the old Tianxiang House for a feast!"
Su Jiannan read the room and, seeing President Zhou's overwhelming enthusiasm, didn't decline. "Sure, sure, I'll join you for a good drink—"
As he was about to walk off, someone tugged at the hem of his coat.
From the car's backseat emerged a girl dressed in an elegant suit. Her skin was as smooth as mutton fat jade, her facial features a blend of sharp European contours and the gentle grace of an Eastern woman—seductive yet proud.
She frowned. "Dad, drink less. Watch your health."
"Got it! Whatever you say, sweetie!" Su Jiannan readily agreed with his daughter Su Xiaoqiang. "It's getting late, so go take a stroll if you'd like, then head back. Let Uncle Li drive you. I've already booked the presidential suite at the hotel..."
The two tycoons laughed and departed toward the banquet, while Su Xiaoqiang secretly sighed. Her dad definitely wouldn't listen—he'd keep drinking regardless of his condition.
"So boring. What's even worth strolling around here..."
Uncle Li stood by the car like a statue. Su Xiaoqiang turned and walked toward the lights of the bustling city.
Just then, a red-haired man approached and stopped her.
"Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to this place?" he asked in fluent Mandarin.
Su Xiaoqiang glanced at the phone he held out—an unfamiliar foreign brand... But seeing his urgent expression, she didn't question him. She simply pointed in the direction.
Strange... Was that really the word "silence him" I saw on his screen? Must've imagined it.
She suppressed the odd feeling and considered offering him a lift in her sports car.
But when she looked up again, the red-haired man had vanished.
What the hell? How did he disappear so fast!?
——
Old Tang felt like he was going to die.
"Bro, you've got the wrong guy—I'm not Emiya Shirou! Please, have mercy!"
He had barely popped his head out of the rubble when gunfire rained down mercilessly.
Metallic projectiles screamed through the air in tight streams, shattering glass and pockmarking concrete walls with dozens of shallow craters.
Cursing the madman, Old Tang turned tail and bolted.
The place looked like a total warzone—way more remote than the Jingchu symposium venue. It was an abandoned construction project, left half-finished after the developers fled and no one else took over.
Old Tang had gotten lost trying to find the meetup point and somehow wandered into this place. The moment he tried sneaking into one of the buildings, he was ambushed by snipers.
Emerging from the chaos was the lean youth Zhou Yuxuan, whose steps disassembled nearby steel rods and condensed them into swirling, sharpened metal bullets.
True Word Technique: Iron Torrent—known in the West as Sequence 80, Lingual Art: Iron Torrent.
This ability let him control all metal elements within his domain to create projectiles or tools.
Combined with his clan's crafting expertise, Zhou had equipped a specialized alchemical firearm that self-loaded with every shot, mimicking a supercharged shotgun. With so much exposed rebar around, he had near-limitless ammo. Even the bullets he fired could be reabsorbed.
"Emiya Shirou, afraid to face me?"
Hiding, Old Tang shouted, "You've got the wrong guy! That's my buddy! He's not even here, and he's Japanese—I don't speak a word of Japanese!"
"..." Zhou Yuxuan paused.
He had only reviewed Emiya's dossier. Nobodies like Old Tang had slipped through the cracks. After a bit of rummaging, he finally pulled up an image of the man's cheery, hangdog face.
"You're Ronald Tang?"
"Yeah, that's me! Old Tang. Emiya's number one partner!"
"Then why are you here alone? Why would a hunter like you—someone unsuited for this level of mission—show up at a location reserved for elite hybrid heirs? Or did you learn something you shouldn't have?"
This was supposed to be the assembly point for several high-ranking hybrid clans, not some free-for-all. Hunters were meant to meet much farther away at the official venue.
"Bro, I was just lost, I swear! It's not that deep!"
"Your file says you've cleared multiple high-difficulty missions. And you're telling me you got lost?"
"...Sorry for being such a disgrace, alright!?"
Old Tang cursed his luck. Telling the truth in this day and age—who even believes you anymore!?
Zhou Yuxuan was about to press further—
When suddenly, a powerful sense of danger surged through him.
Whizz—
He barely managed to step back when a metal arrow thudded into the ground at his feet, penetrating the concrete like butter. The power and accuracy were ridiculous.
He looked up.
On the rooftop stood a red-haired man, a black bow in hand and another arrow nocked.
"You must be Emiya Shirou," Zhou said cautiously.
Strangely, he hadn't seen Shirou arrive via any nearby transport. Did he run here across the rooftops!?
Shirou stepped forward. "Indeed. That would be me."
From the middle floor, a dusty, singed head popped up.
"Oi, Shirou bro, thank God you're here! Damn, my luck's usually great, but this time I nearly died for your sake!"
"What happened exactly?"
"Let's talk downstairs, man!"
Zhou Yuxuan watched as Emiya Shirou leapt from the rooftop, swung down using the balconies, and landed gracefully on Old Tang's floor.
(End of Chapter)
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