Chapter 42: War Hammer
Li Xiniwei had just said that he had eliminated the old vampire, which genuinely surprised Su Xiao. In his estimation, when Li Xiniwei first arrived at the Inquisition, being able to collude with that old vampire was already the best choice.
Eliminating the other party and taking their place to become a mid-to-high-ranking member of the Inquisition was almost dreamlike—it had only been a few days.
Su Xiao was certain that something he didn't know about must have happened, that someone was secretly helping Li Xiniwei. He mentally sorted through the people connected to Li Xiniwei.
A name surfaced in his mind: Xin Alisi. This woman was the sixth daughter of Xin Yizu's clan leader, Di Zong, Li Xiniwei's old flame, and the murderer of Dorothy's mother.
Alisi and Li Xiniwei, as former lovers, had fallen out before, but who knew if they were still entangled.
In his "cooperation" with Su Xiao, Li Xiniwei had been in a desperate situation. Under these circumstances, it was hardly surprising that he would contact Alisi of the Xin Yizu clan.
With the assassination skills of the Xin Yizu clan, killing that old vampire from the Inquisition was entirely plausible.
After thinking this through, Su Xiao was somewhat curious whether Li Xiniwei would have his old flame come to assassinate him.
"Li Xiniwei, I need a batch of standard military weapons recently retired from the Vassal Army."
"Firearms?"
"Cold weapons."
"I'll think of something. By tomorrow morning... ahem, I'll have an answer for you in an hour."
Hearing this, Su Xiao hung up the communication. The army would start expanding tomorrow morning, so the weapons naturally had to be ready.
...
In the sea-ice city of "Luoyashi," a crescent moon hung at the edge of the sky. In the dead of night, the city was utterly silent.
The towering Inquisition stood in the middle-rear of the city. In a hotel across the street, Room 317.
The curtains were tightly drawn, and the room was brightly lit. Li Xiniwei, wearing only boxers, sat on the edge of the bed, a cigarette between his fingers and a communicator in his other hand. He let out a long, worried sigh.
"Are you even a man? Are you that afraid of that guy?"
A woman with lingering charm sat up from the bed and lightly kicked Li Xiniwei off, sending him landing on his butt on the carpet.
The woman on the bed was named Alisi. A black cigarette was pinched between her fingers, and the scars on her hands gave off an instinctive sense of danger.
"Xiniwei, it's been so long, and you've lost your edge."
"It's not that I lack courage. My daughter is still in that man's hands. I was coerced into coming here..."
"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about *that*—you've lost your edge."
"You're full of shit!!"
Li Xiniwei's voice cracked slightly. Alisi, sitting on the bed, smiled, raised the blanket with one hand, and when it fell, she and her clothes vanished together.
Li Xiniwei sat back on the bed, silent for a long time. After a moment, he picked up the hotel phone and dialed a number. When the call connected, he said, "General Leizi, there's a deal. Are you interested?"
...
At 4 a.m., at the southwestern garrison of the "Vassal Alliance" territory, the War Hammer unit—which had once sent the human Vanguard Legion into a daze—was stationed here.
In peacetime, the War Hammer unit's treatment was decent, but compared to other elite units, it was slightly inferior.
An open-top armored vehicle sped along. Bubu Wang was driving, Su Xiao sat in the passenger seat, and in the back were Li Xiniwei, Kaisa, and Baha.
Su Xiao had teleported from Warehouse No. 2 to Freedom City, then taken a car here. The War Hammer unit's garrison was between Freedom City and Luke Castle. Freedom City was the "Watchtower's" T0-level fortress, while Luke Castle was the "Vassal Alliance's" T0-level fortress.
The War Hammer unit was under the "Vassal Alliance," and its garrison location was highly aggressive—typical of the "Vassal Alliance's" style.
On the other hand, the "Watchtower" side said nothing about the War Hammer unit's position, maintaining its usual good-guy attitude. Several high-ranking military officers from the "Watchtower" often brought their legions to the War Hammer unit for "friendly competitions."
On the surface, it was a test of martial prowess, but in reality, it was a joint celebration. Both sides' soldiers were delighted. Over time, the "Vassal Alliance's" higher-ups began to sense something was off—the War Hammer unit was getting too close to the "Watchtower."
From many incidents, it was clear that the three major Vassal forces were not a united front in peacetime. If humanity hadn't been completely crushed, these three sides would have been at each other's throats long ago.
The attitudes of the "Vassal Alliance" and the "Watchtower" toward the War Hammer unit left it in an awkward position—neither side truly cared for it, and it often caught flak from both ends.
This time, the person Li Xiniwei contacted was General Leizi of the War Hammer unit. The War Hammer unit's current situation seemed awkward, but in reality, it wasn't. From another perspective, the unit had been given a surprising amount of autonomy.
As dawn broke, the open-top armored vehicle stopped at the main gate of the War Hammer unit's camp. A few Vassal soldiers walked out of the guard post. They weren't wearing combat uniforms and seemed casual, but their gazes were exceptionally sharp—these were fierce warriors who had been on the battlefield and fought in close combat.
Li Xiniwei got out of the car. He muttered something to the lead Vassal soldier, presented an approval document and his own credentials, and then stuffed a wad of something into the soldier squad leader's pocket.
At first, the squad leader's expression was displeased. The soldiers behind him even raised their rifles, aiming at Xiniwei's head. But after the squad leader glanced at Xiniwei's credentials, his expression softened. He casually felt the bulge in his pocket and a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Someone from the Inquisition has arrived. Let them through."
Hearing the squad leader's words, the soldiers behind him lowered their rifles. One of them gestured to a comrade in the guard post to open the gate.
Su Xiao and the others switched to another car, still driven by Bubu Wang, and drove into the War Hammer unit's camp compound. Over ten minutes later, they arrived in front of a large row of underground garages at the rear of the camp.
A Vassal officer stood before the garages, wearing a black wool military uniform with dark red chest insignia and two rows of gold buttons. He was over sixty, potbellied, with wrinkles that were marks of time.
This was General Leizi, whom Li Xiniwei had contacted. Behind General Leizi stood a young male and female officer. The male officer was around thirty, with an aquiline nose and sharp eyes—a typical officer under the "Vassal Alliance."
"Leizi, how many years has it been? Five? Ten?"
Li Xiniwei stepped forward with a smile and warmly embraced General Leizi, who also acted like an old friend he hadn't seen in ages.
In reality, the two had never met before. If not for Li Xiniwei's identity as an Inquisition Inspector Judge, this meeting wouldn't have happened.
"Since we're old friends, I won't stand on ceremony. Leizi, take us to see the 'goods.'"
Hearing Li Xiniwei's words, General Leizi examined Su Xiao and Kaisa, then signaled his subordinate to open the garage door.
The heavy metal door of the garage slowly sank into the ground until it was flush with the surface. Contrary to Su Xiao's expectations, he didn't see rows of weapon racks. Instead, this several-thousand-square-meter garage was filled with piles of long weapons.
Some resembled heavier versions of horse-slaying sabers, others were long-handled battle axes, war hammers, and so on. These weapons all shared a feature: dark red patterns on them, faintly visible, all on the handles.
As they entered the garage, before Su Xiao could ask the price per weapon, the aquiline-nosed officer behind General Leizi began introducing them. The weapons here weren't sold individually but by weight.