Ningfeng Harbor, Black Dock District.
This place got its name because unofficial forces operated private docks here to bypass customs. Relying on slums and sewers for guerrilla warfare, with surrounding poor people making a living from smuggling, repeated crackdowns kept springing back like grass in spring wind. For locals like Hibiscus, don't go to Black Dock unless necessary, but when there's business, that's where you should dive in.
Simply put, it gathered all walks of life's marginal people, providing endless reserves for certain social vitality groups, thus giving birth to the Dock Gang.
Suspicious passersby wrapped up from head to toe weren't worth a second glance—everyone was already numb.
Hibiscus caught a whiff of rotting stench upon reaching her destination.
She discovered a new use for the system's photography function: the so-called "omnidirectional lens" recording state was equivalent to 360-degree vision warning. Keeping it on, she indeed infiltrated successfully.
Deep night, dark moon and high wind, drizzle blurred the streetlights, weak illumination occasionally making crackling short-circuit sounds. The girl's high boots stepped through puddles, walking step by step toward the shed houses built from distant fishing boats. Several bruised and swollen people were tied to pillars at the entrance, with frequent beating sounds.
"This'll teach you to owe debts. Still dare or not?"
"The interest is too high, I can't afford it."
"That's easy to handle. We'll sell you to the Storm Gang. Their professional medical equipment will definitely fully exploit all your value." The sinister words scared the victims unconscious.
Hibiscus hid in corner shadows, carefully observing and comparing with the map settings in her mind. They indeed matched.
She had imagined three steps one sentry, five steps one post, everyone armed with guns, but looking now it was just small-time thugs in groups of two or three. No wonder netizens said five days ago she could directly kill her way in. Reality wasn't making movies—where would gang members entrenched in one area with powerful firepower come from? Ningfeng Harbor officials just treated it as a social trash can. The officials were kind-hearted and couldn't bear to see it, so they didn't care.
The Dock Gang had evil in abundance but insufficient strength. Bad and powerful were two different things. With such defenses, they couldn't stop an intruder with ten times ordinary human physical qualities.
Hibiscus held her breath and carefully circled around the entrance, easily reaching the warehouse district.
"Help!"
Suddenly she heard a piercing scream. A shirtless man was dragging a woman by the hair into a warehouse corner. After a bout of rolling and struggling, he came out beaming, standing guard with a rifle in hand.
Found the right place! But the guard stood at just the right spot to avoid, impossible to get past. Should she try breaking through from above the warehouse?
The dilapidated shed and creaking sounds eliminated the second option. Unless she could fly, walking on top would definitely make noise and alert them. The shirtless guard wasn't easy to deal with either—the rifle was a natural alarm. If it accidentally fired, wouldn't that completely expose her? The only good news was no one else was around.
Must quickly knock him out before he could send a signal.
Hibiscus flashed behind the shirtless man, clenched her fist, and struck his head with as little force as possible.
Crack!
He immediately fell, his skull forcibly dented into a pit, red and white fluid flowing from his seven orifices and melting into the rain, spreading a bloody smell.
"...Are you alright?"
The moment these words left her mouth, Hibiscus wanted to slap herself. How did she directly kill someone when she had clearly held back? She fought down nausea and dragged away the corpse, tossing it into the dim shallows where it disappeared.
I heard the Storm Gang likes throwing people into the sea to drown. Now you've experienced it. Continue the operation.
Hibiscus turned and entered the warehouse door. At her feet lay a naked female corpse, lifeless. Seeing this, the girl's red eyes deepened a few shades as she clenched her fists.
The map became ineffective from here, as the setting collection couldn't possibly detail every batch of goods. She could only search based on various messy signs, nearly running into several workers along the way.
"The boss actually dared kidnap the young miss of Changfeng Pharmaceuticals. I'm scared."
"What are you scared of? We're taking a commission from the Storm Gang. If there's retaliation, they should find Black Fiend."
"Why doesn't he act directly?"
"Inconvenient, but who the hell knows the specific complications."
"I heard that little girl is weirdly lucky. She's been kidnapped dozens of times since childhood but always escapes safely every time. Better watch her carefully."
"Don't worry. She's got a bomb strapped to her and placed with grenades. Any movement and she'll blow sky high. Better if she dies—we'll directly frame the Storm Gang and let the Changfeng Financial Group's fury uproot them completely."
Just as the two were chatting excitedly, they heard banging sounds from outside the warehouse door. They looked at each other, then one went forward to check.
The other took out a cigarette and was about to light it when he saw a second reflection in the water at his feet!
"Who—"
He turned 180 degrees for a glimpse of sunglasses, mask, and baseball cap, then lost consciousness. The surprise attacker was Hibiscus. As the saying goes, once unfamiliar, twice familiar. After thoroughly witnessing the Dock Gang's scum nature, the girl didn't plan to show mercy. Speaking broadly, punishing evil and promoting good contributed to Ningfeng Harbor's peace. Speaking personally, drawing her sword to help when seeing injustice was purely as she pleased.
After hiding the corpse, Hibiscus walked in the direction the two had come from and indeed saw row after row of wooden crates. Opening one confirmed it was full of grenades.
As long as she found the right goods, it wasn't a difficult problem. After wrapping them securely in waterproof cloth, she carefully placed them below the water surface.
If things went smoothly, she could come harvest wool regularly in the future, but naturally, the unexpected happened.
The next wooden crate revealed a schoolgirl in uniform, blindfolded and gagged, hands bound behind her back, slender legs tied securely. Apparently for convenient transport, crisscrossing restraints fixed her firmly in the box in a curled position, with thin steel wire threaded through connecting to grenades.
"Complications everywhere, utterly unlucky."
Although Hibiscus complained, she immediately removed the grenades and untied the cloth strips over the girl's eyes and mouth. The schoolgirl was briefly stunned, then smiled and nodded repeatedly.
"Thank you so much, I'm really lucky." She struggled to sit up despite still being bound. "I'm Jin Ruochu. How should I address you... masked hero?"
"You still have leisure for small talk, no sense of crisis at all."
"Although you seem to have come to Black Dock for something more important, judging by deeds not hearts, I'll remember this kindness. As long as we get out safely, one million in cash as thanks." Jin Ruochu spoke with certainty. "Know of the Changfeng Financial Group? That's my family."
One million!
Hibiscus felt that illegal gains had no future—indeed, you financial groups were ruthless at making money. But thinking again, she was after superpowers.
The advice task was in progress; absolutely no giving up halfway. Saving someone as a convenient good deed was fine, but the current weapons weren't enough for business. She needed to take more...
Suddenly the system's photography view captured someone entering the warehouse to search.
The shallow corpse had been exposed!
Hibiscus covered Jin Ruochu's mouth, shouldered her delicate body, and with a light jump perched on the roof beam, as agile as a swallow, amazing the girl whose eyes lit up. She was certain she had witnessed a genuine hero.
Meanwhile, armed gang members poured into the warehouse with the momentum of a carpet search, shouts, urging voices, and lights forming a continuous chain.
One thought lingered in everyone's mind: tonight was destined to be restless.