"Alright, kid, ya know where to go, right?" the man asked through our earpieces.

"Yeah...you literally gave us a map," I replied, slightly irritated.

"Yeah yeah, just makin' sure. Now, if yer goin' in the right direction, ya should be seein' a casino right 'bout now," the man continued.

"A casino..." I looked around.

"There, Xuan Kai," Feng Mian said, pointing to a massive building to our right. A huge neon sign hanging from the side of the building read 'CASINO'.

"Yeah, we see a casino," I responded to the gunsmith.

"Awesome. Now, all ya gotta do is keep heading in the direction yer goin', until ya enter the slums of abandoned buildin's."

"Y'know, I've always wondered this, but how have these gangs not raided the main city already? I mean, there aren't any police or anything in The Fortress," Xiang Peng asked. "Fragment has a defense organization, but this place sure doesn't."

"Well, if the gangs come raid the city, they'll get taken out before they can even reach any of the important places, like my shop," the gunsmith replied with a chuckle. "Everyone here has a common understanding - not to fight inside the main city, where they can damage buildin's and precious items stored within these buildin's. After all, the gangs need this city for their weapons, ammo, food, and all that as well. That's why, if two parties got a conflict, they go outside the city to fight. It's an unspoken rule, but a strictly enforced one that everyone follows."

Huh...how interesting. Even villains have their bottom lines, I suppose. Though to be honest...I can say with 99% certainty every gang out there wants to eat up the city for themselves and reign as the leaders. It's just...well, their power is far too weak for that.

After this exchange, we continued heading south, passing by many buildings and roads. Floating cars that were more like short maglevs breezed by on the streets.

I mean...yeah, okay, this is a cyberpunk city, so I kinda expected flying cars. If this place is already this futuristic, I wonder what Fragment will be like.

Eventually, we began seeing less and less traffic on the streets as we neared the edge of the main city.

"Gunsmith, we're about to enter the slums," I said on the comms, just updating him on our status.

"Alright. By the way, you can just call me Old Man Leng. That's kinda my title 'round here," the man replied. "Just as some extra info, once you step into those slums, you're out of District A."

"District A?" I stopped in my tracks. The girls, confused by this, tilted their heads.

"Yeah. The Fortress is split into 4 parts, ya see. Think of a round pizza, with Fragment at the very center of it. The pizza is diagonally divided into quarters - each quarter is a District, from A to D. The one I'm in - and the one yer 'bout to leave - is District A, the one at the very top of the pizza, above Fragment. Once ya pass through these slums and come out on the other end, you'll be in District B - the one on the right side of Fragment. None of this really matters to yer mission, but I'm just givin' ya this info as somethin' extra. Y'know, just to make sure ya don't somehow wind up in District B after the deed is done. I ain't keepin' your companion here forever. She's too loud."

Then, faintly, I could hear Flaria yelling in the background.

"Hey! Who're you calling loud, you damn old geezer?!"

"O-Ow, my ears...goddamn..." Old Man Leng muttered to himself. "A-Anyway, good luck with the mission. Keep me posted."

"Will do," I replied, and cut off the comms. I would open them again when needed. Apparently, I was the only one who could talk with Old Man Leng. The girls' earpieces could only be used to communicate with me, for the mission. So, while we walked, I told them all the info Old Man Leng just dumped on me, what with the Districts and all that.

As time passed by, before we knew it, we were all alone within the slums between District A and B. We slowed down, and kept talking to a minimum. We trod very carefully, and I discretely activated my Third Eye. My mana was in full supply thanks to that encounter with Dong Zhu and his lackeys a while ago, so I could afford to use The Third Eye here to help us. Mei Gui, on the other hand, barely gained any mana since she had been facing Dong Zhu, who was...quite weak, to say to the least. In fact, I don't think he cast a single spell during the entire fight, meaning Mei Gui had no opportunities to absorb his magic for mana.

"Old Man Leng, we're in the slums. Where do we go from here? The map isn't that specific," I said, opening up the comms again.

"Alright. The building yer lookin' for should have a spray-painted logo on it - three diagonal lines, forming a claw scar design. The color...should be red, knowin' those bastards."

"Red claw scar...got it. By any chance, what's the name of this gang we're hunting down?" I asked.

"...They call themselves...the Bloodthirsters."

*****

And so, we continued on our hunt for this so-called gang named 'The Bloodthirsters'. We wandered around the slums for a while with no sign of any 'spray-painted buildings', and I was starting to feel a bit exhausted from searching. Until...

I stopped in my tracks. My Third Eye was picking up on something - someone. More accurately...it was multiple 'someones'.

I gave everyone the hand signal to stop, and they complied.

"That building. Right ahead. There's people in it," I said quietly.

"But...I don't see any claw scar designs spray painted onto the walls?" Feng Mian murmured.

"It's probably on a different side of the building...well, either that, or it's just too dark. We're still quite a distance away from it, after all," Xiang Peng replied in my stead.

"Get ready. Beyond this point, once we enter the building, we will be splitting up. Use our earpieces wisely - while it can be used to communicate with us, it can also just as easily give away your position. Only use it when absolutely necessary," I instructed, and the girls nodded in response.

I slowly moved forward, concentrating very hard on my Third Eye. The closer I got to the building, the more certain I was - there were around fifty people in this building, and they seemed to all be at the Advanced Mage level, except for one - an early-stage Ancestral Mage, whom I assumed was the leader of the Bloodthirsters, if this really was their hideout. There was a chance it was another gang holing up in here, but Old Man Leng's info wouldn't be that inaccurate...he would've told us beforehand if there was another gang here, just to avoid confusion. He didn't want us killing the wrong guys, after all.

The girls and I now had our backs to the building, and were slowly circling around to the other side. And as soon as we rounded the corner...

"There it is. The symbol," Yu An Yan muttered.

A red claw symbol was spray painted onto the wall. But whether that paint was really just paint, or the blood of this gang's victims...no one knew.

"And there's also the entrance," Xiang Peng whispered, pointing at the door below the symbol.

I nodded. "Let's move."

We slowly moved closer to the door, until we were close enough to press our ears against it. I did so, but couldn't hear anything. For a second, I considered using some Sound Magic to enhance my hearing, but honestly, I didn't see a point. We were here to eliminate them, not to listen to their nonsense.

My Third Eye told me the people were still further inside. That meant no one was guarding this entrance.

Hm...this Bloodthirsters gang...doesn't really have a good sense of security, does it? I don't know if it's just because it's like 3 in the morning right now, or they just think no one dares to invade their lair, but whichever one it is, this works in our favor.

I gently pushed on the door, testing it out at first. The door budged slightly, meaning it wasn't locked.

...Seriously? At least lock the door to your secret base...man, I don't want to underestimate them or anything, but the reality makes that pretty damn hard.

I shook these thoughts out of my head. I couldn't afford to underestimate my enemies, no matter how weak they may seem at first. I pushed open the door fully this time, and luckily, it didn't creak at all. That was kind of weird, since this was an old, abandoned building from what Old Man Leng told us. I expected it to be like the squeaky staircases in a 19th century house...but apparently not. I guess they must've oiled the hinges on this door or something, since...well, the noise could get annoying sometimes. Totally understandable.

In any case, after pushing open the door, I pulled out my hand cannon, Ace, from its holster hanging on my belt which was attached to my cloak, then looked back at the eight girls with me on this mission.

"You guys ready?"

They nodded in unison as they all pulled out their weapons as well, and I smirked.

"Good. Then let us commence...Operation: Exterminate."