Chapter 305: Stultified Red Sparrow
England, London, at five o’clock in the morning.
Inside an old apartment, a white man wearing a pair of glasses with a sleepy face walked over to a computer holding a cup of coffee.
He went by Raphael, which, of course, was not his real name. As a member of a large underground organization, Raphael was in charge of collecting and analyzing intelligence all over the world. The group he worked for was called Crimson Wings, and it was a mercenary group particularly renowned in Northern Africa and the Middle East.
However, what made his mercenary band so special was not their martial skills; instead, they operated behind the scenes as master spies and dealt with Overlords in the Dark World very often.
Most of Raphael’s time was spent on collecting information on the illicit groups, or families in the Dark World.
“Another CIA Dark Roll Update.”
Raphael took a sip of coffee to get a pick-me-up.
He was a British citizen of Eastern Indian descent. His pale skin was a telltale sign that he was a member of the high-class cast in India. Raphael didn’t have any special supernatural abilities, but he was a talented hacker and served the Crimson Wings in that capacity.
Raphael’s fingers danced over the keyboard as lines of green code cascaded down on the screen.
The web site was hosted on the CIA’s secret server and it was not easy to get in just by typing in URLs. It could only be reached after passing a few firewalls. Only those who had a password or a hacker like Raphael could access it.
“Ok, here we go.”
Raphael kept on typing as a window that looked like a BBS bulletin board appeared.
“Let’s see what’s new.” Raphael scrolled down.
CIA’s forum was subdivided into a few topics. Some were used to access task reports, some for publishing lists of criminals, and some were portals for private bounty hunters. Other than America, many other smaller western countries also used this server in their intelligence services.
These small counties didn’t have the resources to deal with the Overlords within their borders and therefore, they would post a bounty on the bulletin, hopping that mercenary groups or bounty hunters would rise to the challenge.
“Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese, B class Mixed Martial Arts expert. Excelled in Karate, Aikido, Judo. He had killed a tiger with bare hands before. Criminal Details: Murdered the Young Heir of the Mitsui Group. Currently in exile in Europe. Bounty Issued by Japan Law Enforcement Department. Bounty Amount: ten million US dollars.”
“Flamebear Gru, Russian. B class awakened Extraordinary One. He trained in Syberia for seven years and is an expert in the art of Physique Refinement. His kicks are able to break a steel pole and was undefeated in all thirty-six matches. Crime Details: Murdered a high position member of the Russia Mafia. Bounty issued by Russia Maffia. Bounty Amount: 15 million US dollars.”
“Kane Greyscale, Middle Eastern, C level Extraordinary One.”
Raphael looked at all the bounties and noticed that half of them were for B or C class low-level criminals. Disappointed, he shook his head.
Although he was just an ordinary human, his involvement with the Crimson Wings let him rub shoulders with even S-Level and A-level Overlords.
“Let’s see what’s going on with the S-Level Overlord bounties.”
Raphael opened a new window as he murmured to himself.
“S-Level Overlord was extremely resilient and could not be easily killed unless they were reckless. Last time, Hong Sect had posted the bounty on a Chinese dude named Chen Beixuan, but in the end, the dark world lost a powerful king of assassins.”
Raphael said gloatingly.
Even Crimson Wings knew to stay away from suicide missions such as that. No one can predict the exact power of an S-Level Overlord. They could be very destructive once they got all riled up.
Raphael started from the bottom of the list and notice not a lot has changed. Suddenly, something caught his attention.
“Theseus the Phantom, Bavarian, S-Level Overlord. He has the ability to use Shadow Force and was ranked number twenty on Dark Roll. Crime Details: Murdered a great number of rich and powerful men and women in Serbia, Poland, and Italy. Bounty issuer: seventeen nations. Bounty Amount: five billion US dollars. [MISSION CANCELED]”
“So it’s true that Theseus is dead.” Raphael lamented.
Crimson Wings had to deal with Dark Totem a few times. Crimson Wings’s clients were mostly governments so they were theoretically at odds with each other when their paths did cross. Although the Dark Totem was not as powerful of a group as the Crimson Wings, they were feared by a lot of people because of Theseus.
The memory of the news he had heard a few days ago came back to him. Raphael shook his head and lamented.
Two Hong Sect Underground World kings, a Korean Grandmaster, and a Dark Roll member were all laid low at the same time. This had been a new sensation in the Underground World. Even the leaders of the Crimson Wings had hosted a few meetings to discuss the implications. The bosses of Crimson Wings were clearly scared by Chen Beixuan and felt hesitant to accept any bounty on Chen Beixuan should it come up.
“He was besieged by five Overlords, and he was able to kill four of them. Chen Beixuan is scary.”
Raphael marveled in his mind as he continued to scroll through the discussion section of the bulletin.
The news was recent so the bulletin board was filled with heated discussions about what had happened in Jin City of China.
“I think Chen Beixuan should be listed as number four on the Dark Roll, right after the Big Three.”
“Impossible. Chinese Overlords were there while they fought each other. I would be surprised if they didn’t intervene. If Azure Dragon had helped him out, Theseus could be dealt with very swiftly. After all, Azure Dragon was number seven on the Dark Roll.”
“Olga survived and she said only Chen Beixuan was involved in the fight.”
Members of different groups of various nationalities deliberated on details of the fight enthusiastically. Those netizens could be members of national intelligence services or a leader of an International Group. They all logged in using a private VPN, fearing CIA or hackers detecting their whereabouts.
“I also feel that Chen Beixuan could be at least listed at number five or six.”
Raphael held a cup of coffee and said to himself.
Suddenly, a new thread popped up on the board.
“You should take a look at the updated Dark Roll, NOW.”
“Uh? Dark Roll updated?” Raphael was taken aback and then he opened a window.
This topic was pinned and was highlighted with a black background and dark red text, and it read: “Most Wanted List For Offenders of the Highest Risk.”
Naturally, Raphael started from the bottom since the top spots of the list haven’t been changed for years. However, the bottom half of the list changed frequently.
Theseus, for example, was a typical cyclical member at the bottom of the list.
However this time, Raphael didn’t see Theseus’s name.
“Number twenty, Erika, Japanese top Kendo master, the only woman on the list.”
“I have heard of her before. She was lauded as a one in fifty-year genius in Kendo.” Raphael thought to himself and scrolled up on the list.
“Number seventeen. Dark Titan”
Number fifteen, Demon Elephant, Lahore
“Number thirteen, Crimson Wings, Karl.”
“Uh? Our boss is one rank lower now? Was it because Chen Beixuan had made it onto the list?” Raphael scratched his head and mumbled. Then he realized that all the other Overlord’s rankings were one spot lower.
“It’s the same for the eighth, seventh, sixth, fifth…”
When he noticed that Chen Beixuan’s name was missing even when he was already looking at the then-fourth-now-fifth spot on the list, he was confused. Could it be that Chen Beixuan had made it into the top five? So they were right, Chen Beixuan had fought the battle all by himself without the aid of the Chinese Government.
He was shocked when he saw the name of the fourth position.
The red letters formed a word: Zeus.
Zeus was the god of all gods, the lord of thunder.
This Overlord had an overwhelming and imperative personality. The ostentatious name spoke for itself. However, everyone believed that the name befitted his power. He had proven his strength after countless battles and miraculous escapes, so his title was well earned.
He was number three on the list, the third deadliest man on this planet.
“Zeus the Thunder Lord”
“Why is Zeus out of the top three?”
Raphael had many questions but he was too dumbfounded to think. He scrolled up a line and finally saw what he was looking for: a Chinese name highlighted with bold red text.
“Beixuan Chen!”
“Chen Beixuan had outranked Zeus, what the heck?”
Raphael’s face turned pale as he murmured in surprise.
He knew that this development is going to excite the entire Underground World.
Meanwhile, Red Sparrow had also gotten an updated Dark Roll. She was shocked when she saw Chen Fan’s name.
“This is impossible!”
Disbelief and confusion were written all over Red Sparrow’s cold and hard face. “You guys know how deadly Zeus is. He escaped the US special force’s attack and took down two black hawk helicopters and one tank. He is so close to Immortal State that he might as well be one. Why is Chen Beixuan ranked above him?”
The people she was sitting with were also shocked and confused.
The top three on the Dark Roll had all escaped unscathed during US military raids. Their position hadn’t changed in ten years. Listing Chen Fan at number three means that this young man also had the ability to face against an entire army. Even the US military with the newest weapons and deadliest arsenal could not take Chen Fan down, much less the Chinese military.