Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 479 - 322: The Endless Night (Part 3)

Chapter 479: Chapter 322: The Endless Night (Part 3)

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"The infiltration of Chaos far exceeds our imagination," said Malin.

Seated at the edge of the rooftop shooting spot, Malin looked at the mansion before him in the southern part of Carterburg. The owner here was Dagu Shipien, a prominent merchant who commanded a fleet with three three-masted merchant ships and two large four-masted sailing ships. He was Carterburg’s leading merchant and currently the only neutral voter in the Commercial Guild.

(The president of the Commercial Guild had two votes, followed by eleven other voters, typically the most respected local merchants. These thirteen votes were tools that came into play with each decision made by the Commercial Guild.)

If not for confirming with Psychic Vision that the targets inside the mansion were indeed Chaotic Believers, no one would believe that such a distinguished merchant could be a sleeper fish of the Chaos Cult.

The shooter was Lillim, who, as the most talented among the girls, had been practicing her shooting skills for several months. She now could compete with Clovis in long-range shooting at four hundred yards.

Her assistant was Rewo—dragged over by Lillim to help. Although she lacked close combat ability, she had a considerable advantage in observation and as a shooting aide.

"Dagu’s carriage has returned," reported the cold crow Druid as he flew over Malin’s head, delivering the message.

Malin turned to look into the distance down the street, where a motor vehicle was slowly making its way.

"It seems like the master is coming back from the Commercial Guild," said Rewo, observing the motor vehicle with binoculars that seemed too large for her. "It looks like it came from the Mage Tower, resembling the design borrowed from the motor vehicles you co-produced with the Dwarves."

"After all, exterior designs aren’t protected by intellectual property rights. God has said that although people differ, in terms of appearance, they are almost uniform," Lillim remarked, loading a bullet into the rifle’s magazine and adjusting the earpiece stuffed in her ear. This earpiece, a fusion of arcane and engineering, was a collaborative invention by the Mage Tower and Malin. It worked with Psychic Whisper and was never sold to outsiders.

·We’ve spotted the target, coming from east to west, Clovis, do you hear me?

·Heard loud and clear, I’ve also spotted the target. I can see inside the mansion from here; either they have observation posts nearby or they use arcane methods to relay information to people inside the mansion. Someone’s coming out.

Lillim heard Clovis’s response and glanced at the distant lighthouse, where Clovis and Maya’s Archer team were positioned on the shooting spot just below the top.

She then focused her attention through the scope: "I see them opening the door, Clovis, have you confirmed the target, that red-haired Big Beard?" She also reminded Malin with these words.

·Seen him, his hair is braided into so many plaits, whoever grooms his hair must be going mad.

Maya’s joking comment made Lillim smile. She turned to look at Malin, "That guy is our specific target, as identified by our investigation."

"Yes, I can see the light of his soul; it’s much stronger than the others’" Malin’s vision highlighted the tall redhead with bright light.

His identity was in the recent refugee records. He entered Carterburg three months ago and found work as a stevedore at the docks within seven days. With his giant heritage, such strenuous work was like money falling from the sky for someone of his strength.

Because of his charitable nature, he had a significant influence among the harbor workers.

Just this afternoon, he came over to lend a hand to the workers.

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But in the subsequent image retrospection, his people instigated trouble, drew attention, and then led the tempted workers to snatch the firearms, ultimately resulting in tragedy.

They thought they were acting without divine or ghostly knowledge, yet they did not anticipate that the men arranged by Malin had recorded almost the entire situation in the square.

More complete than any imagery in the hands of all organizations.

So it was this person who was first discovered, and then Mr. Dagu, as well as those lower-ranking members in the new north district of the city, were merely melons plucked along the vine.

Leaving those low-level Chaotic Believers to be dealt with by the veterans was a well-considered decision by Malin—Carterburg could not be saved by Transcendents alone, and in those timelines he had seen, mortals were nothing but numbers under the slaughter of Chaos, and Malin had to arm them—in an era with firearms, even mortals could kill Chaos Sorcerers.

Therefore, deciding who should take up arms was Malin’s responsibility, he had to arm those who still had faith in this world, those with the conviction to protect their families and friends, not the cowards, not the faint-hearted.

Those who cannot save themselves do not deserve to live in this cruel world, Malin would only help those courageous enough to face the tide of death, to face the blade of Chaos.

And as for those cowards and the faint-hearted... they were just pathetic numbers.

The motorcycle stopped in front of the manor, and the tall redhead saluted Dagu as he got off, which confirmed for Malin that this Dagu must be a high-ranking figure within the Chaos Cult—especially the Mimicking Bird’s faction, where usurping superiors was normal, but the outward show of respect was meticulously observed.

Watching them enter the mansion, Malin turned to Faye holding the umbrella for him, "I must go."

"Don’t forget to come back," Faye moved closer to Malin, gently kissing his forehead, "Legend has it, this is the privilege of dragon-slaying heroes."

"I recall there are no flying dragons in this world, so, take care of yourselves," Malin said, then turned around and leapt from the fifth-floor building, tumbling in the air for a full rotation before landing safely on the ground.

Fio emerged from the ground, bringing Malin a new type of firearm with a short barrel—an MK14EBR model custom rifle, crafted as a single original weapon with one 22-inch barrel, a universal 18-inch barrel, and a 14-inch short barrel.

This time Malin used the 14-inch short barrel, suitable for close-quarters combat inside rooms.

The cheek-rest stock was made to the personal specifications of the user, while various fine tools were fitted onto the ornately carved hollowed-out lightened stock module—first was the common flashlight positioned on the left of the stock, which could emit a half-second burst of intense light when turned on, to blind opponents.

Then, horizontally mounted on the right was the sacred flash flashlight, like its counterpart, also emitting a half-second burst of intense light, intended for Wraiths and other Chaotics who could ignore the blinding effects of regular light.

Under the module was a built-in grip featuring a visible light dot indicator, a small engineering marvel with an arcane light crystal core, which used reflective crystal plates to focus and project its light forward.

Being cold light, it was not visible to the naked eye, but could be confirmed through the blue-light crystal goggles that descended from Malin’s forehead.

The specially used 10MM long rifle cartridges were a semi-jacketed lead-exposed type, with strong stopping power, and the muzzle of the firearm was the most expensive part, made of electrum with a rechargeable Array, which could completely silence the gunfire upon activation—energy enough for fifty shots.

The cost of production was 4000 Dwarven gold coins, according to the Dwarven rune masters—human currency, that tiny hard toilet paper, simply couldn’t measure the value of this Array.

Malin felt the same way.

He stepped forward, pulling his goggles down from his forehead, then pulled his hood up, and covered his face with a breathing dialysis mask made from World Tree saplings.

Fio transformed into a small dog and walked in front of Malin.

Lorrin emerged from Malin’s sleeve, let out a soft call, and the next second, the ground in front of Malin started to become transparent, marking all the targets moving on the ground.

There were insects, rats, and humanoid creatures patrolling the garden of the mansion ahead.

· Target confirmation on the left side of the garden.

Malin glanced ahead and asked through the channel.

· No targets detected.

Lillim spoke first, followed by Clovis; neither could find any targets.

· I’ve made a mark for you.

Malin shared his view with Lillim and Clovis.

· Target invisible, but now I can see a distortion in the air, it’s moving.

· Lillim, you have a better shooting window over there, I’ll deal with another, let Mr. Malin enter through the garden on that side.

· No problem, I’m in position.

As they approached the street, Melo appeared on Malin’s wrist, casting an invisibility spell on him. Malin crossed the street, and Rewo’s reminder came through his earpiece.

· I can see the distortion when you move, but it’s minimal, the effect is good.

· I’m outside the wall.

· Take the shot.

· Take the shot.

The voices of Clovis and Lillim sounded simultaneously.

Malin heard something fall behind the wall. He did not climb the wall; Mana created an opening in it for him, and Malin walked through. Then the hole disappeared.

Next, Malin saw a person lying on the ground... The bullet hadn’t killed him instantly when it pierced through his chest, so there was some distortion, but the permeated silver heavy bullets inside his body took effect, and he died.

Passing by a pavilion, Malin saw another body; the bullet had flown from the direction of the lighthouse and after nearly five hundred yards, burrowed into its head.

Judging by the angle, the victim was facing in Clovis’s direction, but hitting a target’s head from five hundred yards away was impressive shooting.

· A patrol is coming around the back of the hedges to your left, Mr. Malin.

Malin grabbed the corpse with his left hand, lifting it as he walked towards the corner, while pointing in the direction of the hedge with his right hand.

· This is Clovis, I can’t observe that area.

· This is Lillim, I see them, three patrollers and a dog.

Malin’s thoughts moved, and Fio and Lorrin immediately went to the other side of the hedge.

Then the patrol team’s dog emerged.

The presence of the World Tree sapling disrupted its thoughts, preventing it from growling at Malin immediately.

Then the chatting patrol team came out.

The last patrol team member noticed Malin immediately, then staggered backwards and fell to the ground.

Malin pulled the trigger, the patrol member lighting a cigarette for his companion was hit by the bullet and thrown into the flower bed.

The patrol member holding the cigarette saw a wooden hunting dog charging out of the shadows and biting his hunting dog. Before he could recover from the surprise and bewilderment, a tree branch coiled around his neck and hung him up on the grapevine frame.

Malin tossed the corpse into the flower bed.

· No one will pass by here within half an hour, Patrol Team Two just entered the rest cottage behind the mansion, they need to regroup.

· Moving in now, this is Malin.

Malin raised his firearm, standing in front of the wall, Lorrin’s scanning confirmed no one was behind the wall, so Mana began to open the wall.

Ladies and gentlemen, an uninvited guest has arrived.

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