Eliminating the Pain Sensation

After a moment of stunned silence, Hu Daoyi came to his senses and exclaimed, “Chief, that’s Li Wensheng! He’s that man’s nephew, too! I didn’t hear wrong, did I?”

Chen Moqun said nothing. The faintest smile touched the corner of his mouth.

The Japanese had revealed Li Wensheng’s identity. They had also announced that the Kuomintang had sent people to hunt him down. That meant he no longer had to carry out his assassination mission, and headquarters would not issue another order to kill Li Wensheng.

Once word spread that the Kuomintang had pursued Li Wensheng, the public would surely be in an uproar. There would be dissent within the party, especially among the rank-and-file soldiers.

To quiet the outcry, that man would surely produce a scapegoat, then express his sorrow and claim he had been deceived—that his subordinates had acted on their own. He would even use the newspapers to ask Li Wensheng to return to the Kuomintang.

In the present circumstances, Li Wensheng could be killed by anyone but the Kuomintang.

Otherwise, if the truth came out, the people might revolt and the army might turn against him. That man could even be forced to step down.

“Daoyi, pass the word. Cancel the mission.”

“Yes, Chief,” Hu Daoyi replied eagerly.

He didn’t want to kill the Lone Wolf either—especially now that he knew the Lone Wolf was Li Wensheng. Back when Li Wensheng had been at the Shanghai station, he had been a little unconventional, but otherwise he’d been very cooperative.

As intelligence agencies across the city reeled at Li Wensheng’s identity, his own expression darkened.

He hadn’t heard everything clearly, but he had heard the name Chen Wenqi.

If someone had called out Chen Wenqi’s name, then his identity must have been exposed as well.

His thoughts raced. Then Li Wensheng raised his hand and glanced at his watch. It was already eleven. He immediately swung his gun around and fired toward the rooftop of the Ming Corporation Building.

Within a one-kilometer radius, the Ming Corporation Building was the tallest structure. But the Meifeng Bank, a kilometer away, was also seven stories high—just a little taller than the Ming building.

Bang, bang, bang...

Li Wensheng fired six shots at the six sacks arranged in the middle of the Ming building’s rooftop.

Choosing the Ming Corporation Building had not been a random decision. Chen Wenqi had selected it with great care.

Every building within a kilometer of the Ming building was several meters shorter, leaving the center of its rooftop out of view.

The intelligence agencies knew he would execute the traitors at the Ming building. They would look for places to hide nearby, but would never go farther than a kilometer away, in case something happened and they couldn’t get there in time.

Choosing the Ming building ensured that no one could see what was happening in the middle of its rooftop.

Following Chen Wenqi’s plan, Li Wensheng had hauled Ma Long and the other five men to the center of the rooftop in the middle of the night.

After the news spread through the newspapers, no one from the Ming Corporation would come to work that day.

Li Wensheng had taken up position on the rooftop of the Meifeng Bank. If the execution was still a long way off and someone entered the Ming building, he could ignore them.

As long as no one went up to the roof, he needn’t act. If anyone did, he would shoot.

But if the execution was close and someone entered the building, he would shoot.

When the time came, he would fire at Ma Long and the other five men in the sacks, then retreat at once. That would minimize the risk to himself.

Chen Wenqi’s plan had been sound, but no plan could keep pace with events. No one could have known that the Japanese had suddenly made a huge breakthrough in developing their drug—and that the eleven men they sent would be barely human.

After shooting Ma Long and the others, Li Wensheng immediately swung his gun around and took aim at the eleven men who had been racing along the row of buildings toward the Ming building while he was firing.

He steadied his sniper rifle and aimed for several seconds, then gave up.

The tall buildings along this street had thick pillars every few meters, and the eleven men were moving too fast. They were also extremely alert, constantly dodging.

Their heads and hearts—the spots where a single shot could kill—never entered his sights. He had no chance of taking them down with one shot.

He could aim at other parts of their bodies, but he had already hit one man in the back, and the man hadn’t been hurt at all.

Slinging the sniper rifle over his shoulder, Li Wensheng immediately sprinted to the left.

Bang!

With a running start, he leaped from the edge of the rooftop across a street more than ten meters wide, landing on the roof of a building two stories lower than the Meifeng Bank.

He rolled to absorb the impact, sprang to his feet, and kept running.

Bang!

He leaped across another narrow street and landed on a different building, the same height as the last. This time, his physical conditioning alone let him absorb the impact and steady himself without rolling.

After several more leaps across streets, Li Wensheng soon reached the rooftop of a four-story apartment building.

He raced to the left edge of the roof and looked down, then ran to the edge in front.

He glanced down again, then turned and jumped.

Bang! He landed on an iron fire escape fixed to the outside wall and hurried down.

Once on the ground, he sprinted toward the alley across the street.

In the blink of an eye, Li Wensheng had vanished into the alley. The rain quickly washed away every trace, as if he had never been there.

Turning left and right through several alleyways, Li Wensheng finally stopped and opened the system.

Host: Li Wensheng
Age: 22
Skills: Expert marksman, expert disguises, expert demolition, fluent Japanese...
Inventory: 80mm mortar, 96 80mm mortar shells...
Mission: Hell Mission (2)—Execute traitors (complete), ready to submit.

Seeing the words “complete” and “ready to submit,” Li Wensheng felt the tension drain from his chest.

Chen Wenqi’s idea had met the system’s requirements exactly, but until he had confirmation, he’d been worried the system might decide that exploiting a loophole didn’t count as completing the mission.

He focused on “ready to submit.” At once, his whole body went numb, and he lost control of it.

The sensation lasted only an instant before he returned to normal.

“Phew!”

Even though he had been unable to control his body for just a moment, the feeling had terrified him. It was as though he had fallen into the sea—helpless and panicked, with nothing to do but wait to die.

Then Li Wensheng frowned.

The rewards for this Hell Mission were substantial: no pain, resistance to drugs, and a major boost to stamina.

He couldn’t tell exactly how much his stamina had improved, but judging by the last time his physical abilities had been enhanced, the increase was probably enormous.

He didn’t know how strong his drug resistance was, either, but it could only help. Being resistant to poisons of all kinds—even if only for one extra second—could mean the difference between life and death.

But the removal of pain worried him. Would it affect his perception?

He had always envied the hero of Black Hero, who couldn’t feel pain. He knew that as long as a person didn’t feel pain, they could keep fighting at their peak until they died.

But he would never trade his keen senses for that. His perception allowed him to detect danger in advance and dodge before an enemy could fire. That was far more valuable than being immune to pain.

After worrying for a while, Li Wensheng decided to put it aside. He could test it when he got the chance.

Then he continued down the alley. After taking a couple of steps, a thought suddenly struck him.

“Huh. No pain and enhanced physical abilities—just like the hero of Black Hero.”

“If I had better fighting skills, I’d be exactly like him. Still, the hero of Black Hero can’t shoot as well as I can.”

“Marksmanship... Damn. Against people who’ve taken the drug the Japanese developed, it’s no use. I didn’t kill a single one of those eleven just now.”

“Looks like I’ll have to find a chance to learn how to use melee weapons. I killed Kamiyama Osamu with one because I had the advantage of my physical conditioning. But if the Japanese drug gives people a huge boost in strength, my own physical abilities won’t be enough.”

After letting his thoughts wander for a moment, Li Wensheng gathered himself and hurried on.