novelraw Chapter 48 : Chapter 48
Chapter 48 : Chapter 48
Chapter 48. The Prodigal Son (4)
The Red Chips burned up at a frightening speed.
It didn't take a long time for a container's worth of goods to turn into a pile of ash.
However, there was one singular problem, which was the smoke.
Smoke so thick that it would be visible from afar if just left to rise.
On top of that, since it was smoke from burning drugs, it contained a lot of harmful components.
So Riman used wind magic to scatter the smoke, spreading it in all directions.
So that the smoke would be quickly diluted within the atmosphere.
Like that, after the meticulous incineration procedure mobilizing even magic was completed.
“Now, do I just have to wait?”
With this, the seeds of internal strife were scattered here and there.
First, he planted the suspicion that ‘there is a traitor’ in Ha Do-yeol’s organization, weakening solidarity and promoting antagonism.
This wasn't the end.
The Red Chips Riman siphoned off were the amount originally supposed to go to the Vietnamese mafia.
But because Riman siphoned them off, the mafia side ended up receiving only empty boxes.
If it's a container's worth of Red Chips, the amount is astronomical.
Due to the nature of the transaction, the mafia would have prepaid almost all of that value.
But what they actually received would be an empty container.
If it becomes like this, there are two actions the mafia side can take.
First, calmly contact Ha Do-yeol’s side and ask how this happened.
Second, strike Ha Do-yeol.
If they choose the first option, there is no collision between the mafia and Ha Do-yeol.
Of course, there would be conflict.
But that wouldn't reach a physical collision.
However, Riman knew.
That the mafia wouldn't choose the first option.
Because those guys weren't on the rational side.
Therefore, since Riman made the situation like this, a physical collision is inevitable.
A collision between the mafia and Ha Do-yeol’s organization.
Like that, the inside of Ha Do-yeol’s organization was shaken with internal strife, and the setting for invasion from the outside was also finished.
With this, the board was all set.
All that remained was to wait.
Riman planned to rush in at the timing when Ha Do-yeol and the mafia, both sides could be completely annihilated together.
With Inspector Park Jae-il’s subordinates.
And that date approached faster than thought.
* * *
The next day, daytime.
Near Doban Distilling Distillery.
It was a flawlessly clear day, but an unknown tension was lingering in the area.
People never seen before wandered the streets, and the mana in the air was vibrating ominously.
If one had keen senses, they could have noticed that what caused this tension was ‘murderous intent.’
So a very small number of people sensitive to that extent instinctively left this area.
And their judgment was correct.
Actually, war was just around the corner here.
Mafia forces were positioned all over the city center, surrounding the Doban Distilling building.
And a man was looking down at this from a rooftop of a building.
A middle-aged man with a tall height and a thick beard grown.
He was the commander of the mafia forces.
The very executive who executed Ha Do-yeol’s gang member with a pistol at Vietnam’s Thi Nai Port.
Name is Lam Van Hai.
He was measuring the timing for the opening of hostilities with a long scarf wrapped behind his neck.
Vroom-
Soon, a large truck entered Lam Van Hai’s view.
The distance between the truck and the Doban Distilling building was merely about 100 meters.
And the head of that truck was facing the main gate of Doban Distilling.
With this, the preparation was over.
Lam Van Hai nodded once.
The subordinate standing next to him understood the signal and sent a radio message.
Without complex instructions, just a ‘beep’ electronic sound rode the radio waves.
That much was sufficient as a signal announcing the opening of hostilities.
VROOOM!
The truck driver stepped on the accelerator with all his might.
The engine’s RPM soared in an instant, and that heavy vehicle body began to accelerate frighteningly.
The operation started.
CRASH!!
The truck rammed straight into the main gate of Doban Distilling.
Multiple layers of barricades and locking devices were set, but all of them were smashed in an instant.
In front of the sprint of a 25-ton mass, such things couldn't become any obstacles.
“What is it?!”
“Crazy……!”
Ha Do-yeol’s gang members spat out bewildered voices.
But no one blocked the truck.
Even if they blocked it anyway, not much would have changed though.
The truck didn't stop even after breaking through the main gate.
Carrying the inertia from running about 100 meters as is, the truck broke through even into the main building of Doban Distilling.
KABOOOOM!!
A spectacle as if a boulder with wheels was ramming the building.
The thick brick wall crumbled helplessly.
But the wall's sacrifice was not meaningless.
Because starting from that point, rapid deceleration was applied to the truck.
“Shoot!”
And Ha Do-yeol’s organization side finally entered into a response.
Rat-a-tat-tat!!
A hail of bullets poured toward the truck.
Especially the driver's seat became a beehive in an instant.
The shooting stopped only after the windshield was all ground away and the driver's seat became a sea of blood.
Like that, after confirming the truck had stopped.
The gang members cautiously approached the truck.
“What on earth is this……?”
“Did the brakes fail or something?”
This truck was a vehicle called a so-called ‘box truck’ equipped with a box-shaped closed cargo compartment.
But due to the collision and shooting just before, the wall of the cargo compartment was broken.
Therefore, the items loaded inside the cargo compartment were revealed to the outside.
The gang members saw.
The items fully loaded inside the cargo compartment.
Most couldn't grasp the identity of those items at once.
But a few people realized what they were.
“…Dodge.”
“What?”
“Dodge it!!”
However, they were too close to dodge.
What was fully loaded in the cargo compartment were crude improvised explosives.
The power of each one wasn't remarkable, but such things were filled to the brim in a 25-ton truck cargo compartment.
And all of them were connected by a single detonator cord.
Therefore, the power when it exploded wasn't difficult to imagine.
“Starting.”
Click.
Lam Van Hai pressed the detonator switch he held in his hand.
The explosives loaded in the cargo compartment operated simultaneously.
The time it took from the first bomb to the last bomb to explode was merely 1.2 seconds.
Explosive flames burst out destroying the cargo compartment.
BOOOOOOOOM!!
An explosion shaking the earth's axis.
An intense flash visible even from hundreds of meters away burst out.
Gang members around the truck turned into ashes in an instant, and half of the building collapsed.
Naturally, gang members inside the building were also crushed under the debris.
“Aaaaagh!”
“S-Save me……!”
Screams, wails, and shouts bursting out from here and there.
Chaos spread uncontrollably, and Lam Van Hai didn't miss that moment.
“Breach.”
A short radio message from his mouth rode the airwaves.
Mafia members popping out from all over the city center rushed into the Doban Distilling grounds in an instant.
The guns held in their hands spewed fire.
Tu-tu-tu-tu!
A baptism of bullets as if spraying from a sprayer covered Doban Distilling.
Ha Do-yeol’s gang members who were in confusion fell in an instant.
A movement concentrating the offensive as if strangling the neck right after shaking the inside with an explosion.
That move was swift and precise.
They were properly showing how scary murder specialists are when they even form a formation.
But Ha Do-yeol’s side weren't pushovers either.
Although they took tremendous damage from the preemptive surprise attack, they were also talents of organized violence anyway.
Ha Do-yeol’s side's return fire began.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Tu-tu-tu-tu!
Gunshots of different tempos crossed mercilessly.
Casualties began to occur on the mafia side as well due to their quick response.
This side dies, and that side falls.
At that moment when signs of a stalemate were about to loom over the battle line.
The participation of beings overturning the board began.
Dash!
Into the middle of the war situation where bullets were raining, Superhumans and Enhanced Humans jumped in.
Standing at that vanguard was none other than Lam Van Hai.
Surprisingly, what he held was neither a gun nor a knife, but just a long scarf.
That scarf he had been wearing behind his neck since earlier.
Its length was about 2 meters, and the color scheme was black and white.
He swung that scarf toward the bullets pouring toward him.
Generally, this is a suicidal act.
But in a world where mana exists, any absurd act couldn't be hastily judged.
This series of actions taken by Lam Van Hai was also like that.
Whish!
As the scarf was swung once, the bullets flying toward him disappeared.
Lam Van Hai shook the swung scarf with a thwack.
Clatter!
Bullets poured out from inside the scarf.
He had snatched the flying bullets by wrapping them with the scarf.
“What the……!”
Feeling something unusual, one of Ha Do-yeol’s gang members drew a knife and rushed in.
Holding a cold weapon where bullets were raining meant he was also a mana user.
He swung the knife toward Lam Van Hai.
But the movement of the scarf was faster.
The fluttering scarf sprang up like a snake and struck his face.
Crunch!
A short and thick impact sound.
Simultaneously with the impact, his face collapsed inward into the skull.
Depression, rupture, instant death.
It was merely a scarf, but its power was at a nonsensical level.
“Huh?”
“What the……!”
The astonishment of the gang members next to him was brief.
Crack!
The scarf swung by Lam Van Hai wrapped around their necks and snapped them.
In an instant, five people had their necks broken and bones shattered by his scarf.
At that moment, those holding guns realized.
Lam Van Hai, the fact that they had to deal with that person first.
They turned their muzzles and poured bullets.
At that moment.
Flap!
He spread the scarf wide in a square shape.
The flying bullets hit the scarf.
Ting-ting-ting!
And bounced off.
“……?”
“Uh……?”
The fluttering scarf became a hard shield in an instant and bounced off the bullets.
This was the ability possessed by the Superhuman called Lam Van Hai.
Hardening.
The ability to freely adjust the softness and hardness of an object.
Therefore, the scarf held in his hand could freely go back and forth between the softness of fiber and the hardness of metal.
On top of that, Lam Van Hai was a master of ‘Khan Ran,’ a martial art of southern Vietnam using a scarf.
The combination of technique tempered by martial arts and appropriate superpower demonstrated a terrifying synergy.
Enough to turn over twenty people into corpses lightly.
“Give me my money, you bastards!”
He accelerated the slaughter without hesitation.
Appearance of a strongman beyond imagination.
Perplexity began to spread among Ha Do-yeol’s gang members.
“Crazy……!”
“Kill that guy first!!”
Eventually, Ha Do-yeol’s gang members concentrated their offensive toward Lam Van Hai.
It was the best, but not a wise judgment.
Because the volume of the concentrated offensive could block Lam Van Hai, but couldn't suppress him.
Eventually, it became a composition where a large number of troops were tied down by one person, Lam Van Hai.
A situation where a significant number of troops were neutralized.
To break through this composition, an expert of Lam Van Hai’s level had to rush in.
“Move.”
A place about 30 meters away from him.
There, a female gang member spread her palm toward Lam Van Hai.
She was Ha Do-yeol’s trusted subordinate, Lena.
An Enhanced Human who had both arms modified into mechanical prosthetics.
Whir-
Her palm split open, and blue electric light flashed in that gap.
From that palm, a blue laser was fired toward Lam Van Hai.
Zzap!
A high-output laser enough to heat up the surrounding atmosphere instantly.
Lam Van Hai spread his scarf and blocked it.
But the laser burned and pierced even the hardened scarf at once.
At that moment when the burnt scarf fluttered down.
Lam Van Hai was not in that spot either.
That scarf just now was a deception.
Unleashing the spare scarf he had wrapped around his waist, he immediately struck toward Lena.
“Tsk……!”
Clang!
Lena closed the laser emitter and drew the blade built into her forearm.
Superhuman versus Enhanced Human.
The two immediately entered close combat.
While such a blood-splattering fierce battle was taking place.
Dark clouds gathering from somewhere were gradually thickening above their heads.