by <unknown>
However, at this moment, the blond young man seemed to notice something. He suddenly raised his head and looked forward.
He saw three white men approaching them from the dense crowd in front.
Although the three men were all white, they all had black hair and black eyes, and their features were slack with no unique characteristics.
It was as if, as long as they were placed in a crowd, they would disappear completely.
Nonetheless, at this time, their actions attracted the attention of many people because they were going against the flow of people and walking toward the blond youth.
At once, this behavior attracted the attention of the blond young man and his bodyguards.
One of the bodyguards walked to the blond young man's side and notified in a low voice, "Master, we have a problem…"
"I've noticed as well."
The blonde youth, Randy, nodded. Although he had somewhat of a domineering personality, his family education meant that he could distinguish right from wrong. Therefore, he immediately stopped and said to the girl in front of him, "Jenny, come here!"
However, the girl paid him no mind at all. She kept walking forward and quickly passed by the three men who were walking side by side, but nothing happened.
Indeed, they were moving toward him…
"You three, please stop there."
Seeing that the three men were still approaching, the bodyguard in front subconsciously reached into his pocket and said to the three of them, "Sir, please stop…"
However, before he finished speaking, there was a quick blur before his eyes. In the next second, he only saw that one of the men had rushed in front of him at an extreme speed while the flitting shadow of a fist was approaching quickly!
This staggering speed made it difficult for one to react in time even if one was concentrating, but this bodyguard was indeed an elite among the elites. Faced with a sudden attack, he instinctively raised his arms and shielded himself, thus blocking that swift punch!
"Bang!"
Still, in the next second, this bodyguard realized that he had miscalculated… The impact that crashed into his arms was incredible. He had obviously blocked the blow, but the punch went straight through the gap between his arms and viciously landed on his face!
Suddenly, this bodyguard only felt as if he had been hit by a hammer. His head was lifted as his entire body flew backward, thrown into the air by a massive force!
By the time he crashed to the ground, this bodyguard had lost consciousness.
This scene had also attracted the attention of countless people and suddenly, the shoppers in the mall were madly scrambling everywhere.
"D*mn it!"
The other bodyguards could not refrain from uttering a curse. They started to take out their guns, trying to kill the three uninvited guests with firearms.
However, faced with opponents who had pulled out their guns, the three men only kicked off from the ground, leaping across several meters like an arrow leaving the bowstring. Each of them targeted one bodyguard. Just as the bodyguards were raising their pistols, the three men had appeared before them. Two of them stiffened their hands and, with a "whoosh", chopped at the necks of the bodyguards before them. The third one aimed a direct kick at his target's lower abdomen. As he was so fast, even his pants were whipping loudly through the air!
Within a second, three more bodyguards had fallen to the ground without making a sound. At this time, there were only two bodyguards surrounding the blond youth, Randy!
However, these two had already pulled out their pistols. Faced with this emergency, the two bodyguards barely hesitated. They loaded the guns, extended their arms, aimed, and pulled the trigger, all in one swift motion!
"Bang bang bang bang bang!!!"
Deafening gunshots echoed directly through the entire shopping mall. Countless pedestrians had fled the place, screaming frantically, leaving a huge gap between the two parties. Thus, the guns had more space to fire.
Even so, what happened next made the two bodyguards widen their eyes.
After they fired their shots, the three men in white began to dodge the bullets with unbelievable postures. One of them contracted and bent his body as if he was twitching, causing three or four bullets to fly by his side. The other person somersaulted and avoided five or six bullets. The third simply kicked off the wall on the right, then he was racing across the wall and rushing towards the bodyguards!
"D*mn, d*mn, d*mn!"
A bodyguard cursed loudly and pulled the trigger frantically, but this was all in vain. He could only watch helplessly as the three weaved right and left through the hail of bullets, constantly getting closer to him!
"Pfft!"
In the next second, a fist smashed into his stomach. He did not know where it came from. The bodyguard's eyes bulged involuntarily, an inhuman groan rumbled in his throat, and he fell to the ground with blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
The last bodyguard fell to the ground almost at the same time. Despite their professional military training, they could put up no resistance when faced with these three men in black as if they were kindergarten children.
At this point, all bodyguards had been dealt with, but the blond youth just stood there blankly, staring at all this…
When a large team of police officers finally arrived at the scene, the entire shopping center was empty. There were only six badly injured bodyguards and a card left on the scene.
The blond youth was missing…
One of the sheriffs put on rubber gloves and picked up the card. Only then did he see the English letters that were cut out from various magazines and pasted together on the card:
"If you want Randy Murphy to live, please prepare a hundred million in cash and deliver it to us on 1 December. The address is…"
Behind this sentence was a photo of a bridge. Obviously, this was the exchange spot selected by the kidnappers.
Chapter 409: Commencing |
A few hours later, Buckle Murphy, who was in the Quantum Deity Laboratory, received the bad news. His youngest son, Randy, had been kidnapped while shopping with his female partner. The kidnappers had taken down six well-trained bodyguards, then vanished from the shopping mall along with Randy.
After getting the news, Murphy could not sit still anymore. He immediately applied for leave from the Shield Bearers Committee, hurriedly boarded a helicopter, and flew toward Bozeman Airport.
At Bozeman Airport, which was the airport nearest to Yellowstone Park, his private jet was already on standby and ready to take off.
However, at this time in Bozeman Airport, a freight truck, marked with the official logo of Bozeman Airport, was driving onto the airport runway.
"Please show your entry permit and cargo transportation permit."
Outside the iron fence, one of the security guards stopped the truck and spoke to the two people in the cab.
"No problem, sir!"
Sitting in the driver's seat was a middle-aged man with dark sunglasses, a big beard, and rosacea. At this time, he casually took out some papers and handed them to the security guard who was outside the car window. From inside the car, heavy metal folk-rock music blared out.
As the vehicle stopped in front of the guard post, the loud noise coming from the windows of the car also boomed in the ears of these security guards, which annoyed them greatly.
Looking at the boorish, dirty redneck in front of him, a glimmer of disgust flashed in the security guard's eyes. He handed the papers to his colleague while he went around to the back of the truck and knocked on the cargo door.
At once, the cargo door slowly opened, revealing a middle-aged farmer who was drunk and sloppily dressed. Like the middle-aged man in the driver's seat, this farmer also wore a pair of sunglasses of unknown branding.
"What's the truck carrying?"
The security guard's gaze went past the farmer and looked behind him, only to see a round, black ball inside the cargo space.
The ball was about one meter in diameter and it was pitch black all over. Perhaps because of the light, the surface of the black ball also had a matte texture.
Moreover, without any additional support, the black ball stood steadily in the center of the carriage space, which was a rather incredible sight.
"This is a new type of yoga fitness equipment — Gantz."
The farmer chuckled and displayed his big yellow teeth. "Senator Murphy himself purchased it from my factory and I'm delivering it to him."
"So, Senator Murphy practices yoga?"
The security guard nodded sagely. All trucks that were allowed to enter the airport had already been checked once. Naturally, he would rather not check it again, so he turned and walked back to the guard post, asking his colleague, "How about it, is the permit okay?"
However, all he received in response was the solemn gaze of his colleague, who shot him a serious, meaningful glance.
At this, he became vigilant at once. He stopped and slowly reached for his waist.
"Click!"
Even so, just as the two security guards were preparing to take action, the truck flashed with a dazzling light. The two men subconsciously wanted to turn their heads, but it was already too late. After their eyes were exposed to this light, they simply stood there with vacant stares, having lost all of their previous wariness.
"This 'memory eraser' is pretty useful."
The middle-aged man in the driver's seat of the truck slowly put away the silver metal rod in his hand, then directly exited the cab, walked into the guard post, and pressed the button for the boom gate. He waited until the boom gate in front of the truck was raised before returning to the cab and driving into the airport.
The two security guards slowly recovered their senses only after the truck had left. They looked around blankly and then glanced at each other.
"Pike, what happened just now?"
"I don't know, were you saying something?"
"Uh, I've seemed to forget…"
Needless to say, the two security guards looked rather stupefied. At this time, the truck had already entered the airport and stopped by Murphy's Gulfstream private jet.
At this time, the plane's cargo space was opened and a transport truck parked next to it seemed to have just finished loading the cargo.
"This is a parking space for private jets. May I ask who are you?"
Seeing the truck approaching, two staff members scampered forward to greet them, but when they came to the truck, they saw only a burst of white, glaring light.
"Click!"
At once, the two staff members also stood there slackly like the previous security guards as if they had been disconnected.
"Captain Brando, relying too much on this tool will diminish your professional skills sooner or later."
As this voice spoke, the door of the truck's compartment suddenly opened. The farmer who reeked of booze jumped out. He huffed and puffed as he rolled the black ball into the cargo of the private jet.
"You should just worry about yourself."
The middle-aged man looked around alertly but saw that the two staff members were coming to. One of them noticed someone was rolling a weird black ball into the cargo of the plane and immediately wanted to stop it.
"Click!"
Nevertheless, as a dazzling white light struck them, the staff members were once again frozen in place.
"Well, the Gantz sphere has been installed. Remember to pick me up in Chicago, Captain Brando."
The middle-aged farmer chuckled, took out a metal ball the size of a longan fruit, and gently tapped it.
Suddenly, there was an electric flicker and his figure vanished into thin air.
"Click!"
Seeing this, Brando dazzled the two staff members one last time, then re-entered the truck and drove away from Bozeman Airport.
After leaving the airport, the middle-aged man tore off his hair and beard, revealing a well-defined, handsome face.
This man was none other than Clark Brando, captain of the Black Security Service — B.S.S., which was the first of the two rapid reaction forces established under Blacklight Biotechnology.
Besides the Black Security Service, the other rapid reaction force was the Black Knights.
Nonetheless, the combat effectiveness of the Black Knights was too good, so there was a tendency for the B.S.S force to be relegated to the margins of menial work. Just as in this instance, the B.S.S force performed more tasks that required less violence but more flexibility and adaptability.
After half an hour, Murphy's vehicle passed the security check directly and drove into the parking lot at the airport.
"Mr. Murphy, the plane has been inspected. Everything's normal."
The chief pilot immediately came forward and reported, "We've notified the airport command center and may take off at any time within half an hour."
Murphy nodded when he heard these words and being anxious, he said without thinking, "I hope we can take off now, the sooner the better."
"Got it."
The pilot nodded, assisted Murphy up the stairs into the private jet, and then walked toward the cockpit to start the final inspection. As long as the inspection did not turn up any problems, the aircraft could quickly take off and begin flying its course.
However, at this time, a hundred kilometers away from Bozeman Airport, on the top of a towering mountain, a twin spire tower was erected on a truck.
This twin spire tower was about ten meters tall and two meters wide. The color of the tower was a strange dark red, giving off an ominous aura. The reason for this was that shape was completely beyond the scope of human aesthetics.
Next to the spiral tower, there was an identical black ball. It was also one meter in diameter and pure black. It was no different from the black ball in Murphy's private jet.
At this instant, the black ball that had remained silent for a long time emitted a sharp peculiar hiss and a blue glow suddenly appeared across its surface.
The blue light glimmered from top to bottom. As it flashed by, an old man who was half-reclined, with his eyes closed, emerged in the blue light…
What was even stranger was that the old man did not notice anything at all. He just reclined halfway in thin air as if there was an invisible seat under him.
Then, the blue light flashed again and the old man disappeared into the blue light once more.
Evidently, at that moment, due to the signal coverage of the Gantz server, the two black balls had successfully established a connection and teleported the shield bearer, Murphy, who was located in Bozeman Airport a hundred kilometers away, to another black ball. Then, without Murphy realizing anything, they had teleported him back.
All of this was of course not meaningless. During this teleportation, the Gantz sphere had successfully obtained the blueprint of Buckle Murphy's body. This blueprint contained every detail of his body. X-rays, CT, and other machines could never compare to it.
On the other end of things, in Murphy's private jet, two flight attendants witnessed this weird scene, but before they could exclaim in shock, a white light flashed before their eyes…
After a few minutes, when these flight attendants had come to again, they saw that Senator Murphy was still sitting there. No one would remember that, just a moment ago, Senator Murphy had disappeared little by little right before their eyes.
As the plane took off steadily, Murphy's Gulfstream jet quickly rose and flew toward Chicago, 1,500 kilometers away…
Chapter 410: The Final Step |
Reality was sometimes full of drama.
After Senator Murphy's youngest son was kidnapped, many people were prepared for a good showdown. They wanted to find out — considering that someone had dared to kidnap a member of a consortium that practically ruled over the heavens in North America, were these kidnappers too bold or too stupid?
However, this incident ended too quickly, almost catching everyone off guard. It was even rather anticlimactic.
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The kidnappers had released their hostage.
When Murphy had rushed back from Yellowstone Park on a private jet, what he was greeted with was his unharmed young son.
The news report pointed out that the kidnappers let him go because they heard about the power and financial resources of the Murphy Financial Group. They realized that who they had kidnapped was not a fat sitting duck but a ticking time bomb, so they dutifully let him go.
Even so, a large portion of the police force had been mobilized throughout Chicago and these officers had launched a city-wide search, looking for the three suspects.
However, what the police finally found were the bodies of three suspects.
In just half a day, the bodies of the three suspects were found in an abandoned factory in the suburbs but the surprising thing was that everything above the cervical vertebrae of these three, including their entire heads, had vanished without a trace.
The clues led to a dead-end here. No matter how much further they investigated, no other clues could be found.
Late at night, Murphy looked at the file brought by the chief of the police department with a solemn expression.
"This isn't a simple matter." Murphy mused. "Obviously, there are others behind them and to conceal some evidence, they even murdered these people… By the way, have we found out the identities of these three people?"
"I'm afraid not."
The chief of the Chicago Police Department stood at Murphy's desk like a subordinate and said respectfully, "I'm very sorry, Mr. Murphy. After DNA comparison, we can't track down their DNA information at all. The most reasonable inference, for now, is that the three of them are all outsiders who came to North America illegally. Moreover, they were all combatants with superb practical combat experience."
Murphy nodded. They could take down the six bodyguards that he had assigned to his son in a few seconds. Of course, their identities would not be ordinary. However, the more this was the case, the greater the chill in Murphy's heart because all this pointed to the possibility of a conspiracy, one that targeted him.
Could it be Blackwatch Corporation?
