Counterattack

Chapter 208: Counterattack

In one of Paris’s slums, Xu Yue found the person he wanted to contact and cornered him in an alley.

"Don’t worry, I won’t force you to do anything else. Just tell me everything you know."

The disheveled man was visibly trembling after Xu Yue cornered him.

Or rather, the moment Xu Yue had found him, his only instinct had been to run. Now that he had nowhere left to retreat, he stopped and stared fearfully at Xu Yue, whose appearance had changed.

"Y-you really aren’t one of them?"

"Of course not. Didn’t I show you the token? You even sent messages back home before."

Watching his expression, Xu Yue continued assessing whether the man was genuinely terrified or had already defected to the other side.

Either way, he needed to use this man as an entry point.

"How can I still trust anyone? They’re all dead, all of them! Those who didn’t die probably ended up worse off than dead. They specifically hired the Mermaid mercenary group to target us!"

The comprador’s voice was nearly hysterical, as though some horrific memory had been stirred up.

The Mermaid mercenary group was a French Reincarnator corps, but its great name was known even in China.

Its ranking was not particularly high, sitting below twentieth place in France. France’s population could not compare to China’s. Perhaps France’s top ten corps were, on average, much stronger than China’s at present, but beyond the top ten, their strength dropped sharply. Or rather, the country’s elite was concentrated in those top ten corps.

A corps ranked below twentieth place could only be considered medium-sized. It might not even compare to a corps ranked below fiftieth in China, given the enormous disparity in population base.

Yet this corps was exceptionally famous. Although it was called Mermaid, it was actually filled with perverted, burly men skilled in every kind of torture and interrogation. Their methods of tormenting people were absolutely first-rate.

It was said that no one who fell into their hands could keep their mouth shut. Their methods were exceedingly cruel and bloody.

That ancient family truly lived up to its origins as bankers. Though they engaged in even darker dealings, they never dirtied their own hands.

As long as they had capital and money, they would never lack lackeys.

It also served to kill the chicken to scare the monkey. They had even chosen the most harmless target possible. What a fine scheme. No wonder they had monopolized the France Zone so quickly.

Given Europe’s particular circumstances and limitations, Xu Yue could accept such a monopoly forming within a single country. But if they wanted to extend their tentacles beyond that?

Absolutely not…

"Enough. No need to say any more. I’ll ask the people in charge myself."

The next moment, Xu Yue directly entered Reincarnation Space and entered the France Zone’s Reincarnation Space.

The overall atmosphere was not that different from the Huaxia Zone’s. It was just that, even though most people had disguised their appearances, they were still blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners.

Xu Yue was not planning to do anything. He had only come to gather some intelligence.

As long as one had money, one could definitely buy the information one wanted…

Inside a luxurious hotel in Paris.

Even compared to hotels of later generations, hotels at the beginning of the twentieth century were no less lavish in their splendor.

Yet beneath the dazzling golden decorations, in an underground wine cellar resembling a place for storing liquor, a scene of unimaginable cruelty was unfolding.

An Asian man, his face filled with terror and smeared with blood, had a bloody length of intestine forcibly stuffed into his mouth. And the owner of that intestine was none other than himself!

"Haha! So, what do you think? My potion works pretty well, doesn’t it? Even if you’re dismembered until only your head remains, you can still stay fully conscious. And your sense of touch and pain will remain twice as sensitive."

A bare-chested man covered in stitch marks, whose mouth was split all the way to his cheeks, licked his blood-covered fingers after stuffing in the intestine. His face wore a sickly, excited grin.

"Oh? You want to speak? I’m listening…"

"Haha, I know you’ve already said everything. I know you’ve confessed it all. But I just want to ask, you damned yellow monkey."

After placing his ear beside the other man’s mouth and hearing that nearly imperceptible sound, the stitched-up, sickly man’s face filled with madness.

Then his expression gradually turned savage.

"A bunch of natives dare come to our territory and fight us for food? You even dare compete with Rothschild’s esteemed masters? You want to negotiate? Haha, what the hell are you people? What right do you have to negotiate?"

While he was enjoying himself, a middle-aged gentleman seated at the back of the wine cellar, drinking red wine and completely indifferent to the bloody surroundings and stench, revealed a pale yet handsome face.

"Enough. If he has no more value, finish him quickly. Go out and see whether there are any more of them. The masters are very interested in the Merchant Guild’s later plans and structure…"

At the same time, an Asian man entered through the revolving doors of the Mermaid Hotel’s lobby above.

"Oh, so this is the headquarters of your Mermaid group."

After entering the hotel, Xu Yue looked appreciatively at its luxurious decorations, his expression carrying a trace of amazement.

Xu Yue’s arrival immediately caught the attention of two guards in the lobby.

What should have been a welcoming gesture toward a customer was met instead with savage expressions.

"Hey, you country bumpkin over there. Don’t you know the rules here?"

"Eastern native, get out!"

"Even if you’re Japanese, it won’t help. Get lost before we have to do it ourselves."

Xu Yue, who had been admiring the lobby’s furnishings, looked at the approaching guards and could not help but smile.

"How rude. I’m not Japanese. I’m a very traditional Chinese man."

After hearing Xu Yue’s words, the guards’ expressions turned even more vicious. At first, there had seemed to be room for conversation, but now even that was gone.

One of them swung his baton and struck directly at him.

Though he had kept his strength at the limit of an ordinary person, his body still contained the power unique to a Reincarnator.

If an ordinary person took that blow, even a rubber baton could break bones.

But the next moment, the guard who had attacked was sent flying backward like a cannonball.

After smashing through the fountain statue in the middle of the lobby, he continued unabated and crashed straight into the wall, splattering blood everywhere.

It seemed as though his entire body had been flattened by the tremendous impact.

Xu Yue wiped his hand as if he did not want to touch anything filthy, the gentle smile still on his face.

"How impolite. Is that any way to treat a guest?"

That overwhelming strike filled the other guards’ faces with shock.

They might only be guards, but Mermaid followed the elite-soldier policy of a medium-sized corps. Every one of them was a veteran!

Although they had only used the strength limit of ordinary people when attacking, their inherent power had obviously not disappeared.

Yet even so, one of them had been flattened by a single strike. They truly did not dare act recklessly again.

"Who exactly are you?"

Though all of them wore grave expressions as if facing a formidable enemy, this attitude was far better than how they had treated Xu Yue when he first entered with a smile.

"A guest from China. My Merchant Guild has truly caused everyone quite a bit of trouble recently."

Xu Yue did not seem inclined to hide anything.

"It’s you people? You actually dare come here yourselves?"

A man who looked like a lobby manager walked over from nearby with steady steps.

Everyone in the lobby was incredulous. They all knew that the corps had recently accepted an easy, well-paying job, with a target that was simple to deal with.

But they had never expected the other side to dare come knocking on their door themselves.

"Rothschild hired you to deal with us in order to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, didn’t they?"

Xu Yue smiled at the lobby manager, his expression exceedingly gentle.

"Hmph. Since you know that, don’t hold any fantasies. Whether now or in the future, the masters will never negotiate with you. Give up that thought."

Looking at the guard hanging from the wall, whose body had burst into a smear of blood, the lobby manager’s expression was dark.

"And you won’t have a future either!"

"Very good. Killing the chicken to scare the monkey is indeed a highly suitable tactic for this situation."

Xu Yue smiled as he raised his arm.

"And right now, I have no intention of negotiating with you either…"

"In the name of the Penguin Merchant Guild, I apply for a Bloody Counterattack against the Mermaid mercenary group."

Boom!

Violent lightning appeared in the sky, and the hotel’s entire time and space seemed to freeze completely.

Reincarnation Space strictly regulated the use of its powers in the real world, but as long as one paid, there were still loopholes to exploit.

Likewise, there were methods that bypassed the need to pay.

For example, defensive counterattacks after being attacked first.

Just as when he dealt with that guard earlier, even though he had initially used only attacks at an ordinary person’s level, once an attack was judged to have occurred, he could counterattack without either side losing any points.

However, that only applied to individuals.

The Penguin Merchant Guild’s entire French branch had been wiped out, and as its president, Xu Yue had come alone to the enemy headquarters. This qualified for the Bloody Counterattack combat clause aimed at corps!

This clause was somewhat similar to an individual defensive counterattack, but far more severe. It was established purely for revenge unto death. Once the application was approved, neither side could be spared unless one side was completely annihilated or its members withdrew from the corps. It was a bloody contract that no one dared invoke lightly.

Although the counterattacking side could apply on its own initiative, the more people it registered for battle, the more preparation time the challenged side would receive. They might even have an opportunity to invite reinforcements.

For that reason, Bloody Counterattack was rarely activated. If the other side emptied its coffers to obtain the aid of some super corps, the side that initiated the application could instead be exterminated.

Most importantly, even if they succeeded, there would be no reward beyond revenge. All equipment dropped by members of the hostile corps would become basic white-grade equipment with a hundred percent certainty.

This was a completely thankless mode, created solely for revenge.

In a Reincarnation Space where interests came first, how many people would pay such a price for someone else’s death?

There were some, but they were certainly rare.

Yet now there was one such person, and this time, Xu Yue alone was representing them.

The application was approved instantly…

Exhausted like a dog. There will only be two updates today.

Also, skills for ordinary languages are very cheap, so I won’t specifically mention them.