We had an issue with the chapter release — by mistake I uploaded Chapter 341 when the next one should have been Chapter 351. Sorry for the confusion! It's now fixed, and once again, apologies for the mistake.
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"What was that sound?" Outside Kerry's estate, a masked man in a blue uniform stopped in his tracks, turning toward the direction of the exp
"What was that sound?"
Outside Kerry's estate, a masked man in a blue uniform stopped in his tracks, turning toward the direction of the explosion.
"I told you! We're here to kidnap Kerry Eurodyne, not level the damn place! How many times do I have to say it? This was supposed to be low-profile! Who the hell screwed up?!"
The team leader's fury crackled over the comms, but the rest of the blue-uniformed, masked crew had no idea what had gone wrong.
They were a crew of professional kidnappers—hired to abduct Kerry, and if necessary, kill him. According to their intel, his security team had recently been dismissed for incompetence, leaving the villa guarded only by automated turrets. That's why they chose today to make their move.
They'd kept things as stealthy as possible—even the hacker had been cautious, avoiding any deeper intrusion that might trigger an alarm. They only disabled the absolute minimum systems necessary to avoid setting off security.
Even when forced to destroy a turret, they did it swiftly and moved in on the main residence, aiming to nab Kerry before any alarms could be tripped.
And yet—an explosion. A big one. One they didn't cause.
Could it have been one of their own—maybe someone accidentally triggered the failsafe explosives at the extraction point?
They all turned, almost in unison, to stare at the squad's demolition expert, a lanky man wrapped in bomb-resistant gear. The mask made it impossible to see his face, but his voice in the comms sounded panicked.
"It wasn't me! I didn't even set the charges yet—they're still outside the wall! And even if they did go off, the sound came from the wrong direction! That blast came from inside! Someone else breached the property!"
"Someone else?!"
The team leader froze. "Shit—other mercs. I knew this job was too good to be true. Damn payout was a red flag! Move now—while Kerry's still unguarded. Even if those guards were useless, they could still call the cops! We can't let other mercs interfere, and we definitely can't let NCPD show up! Go, go, go!"
They were closest to the house. There was still a chance—if they could grab Kerry now, they might be able to fight their way out with him in tow.
"But Captain, the villa might still have automated defenses and traps! I haven't finished cracking them!"
The hacker was panicking, eyes darting across a compact screen as his fingers flew over a portable keyboard.
The team leader grimaced.
This was exactly why they'd paused at the front door—Kerry's estate could be packed with lethal defenses. The hacker needed to disable them up close, but clearly, they were out of time.
"How long do you need?!"
"His home system's running the latest consumer-grade defense suite—but I've cracked this model before! Three minutes—just give me three minutes, Captain!"
Three minutes.
What usually felt like a blink—time enough for a drink and a casual chat—now felt like a damn eternity. Still, the leader knew they couldn't just charge in blind. He turned to his team and gave the call:
"Three minutes it is. We'll hold them off."
He believed in his crew. They were pros—veterans of countless kidnappings. From corpo middle managers to rich girls with too much screen time—they'd bagged them all. No way some wannabe rival mercs could break through them in just three minutes.
He raised his Ajax rifle, eyes gleaming coldly.
'Worst case? We bring Kerry's corpse back. Shame to kill a rock legend I actually listen to… but a corpse still pays out 500K.'
Using nearby planters and walls, the squad quickly set up makeshift defenses. Every member, save the hacker, took positions behind cover, weapons ready.
That's when they saw it.
A flash.
More precisely—a trail of fire. Something streaking toward them from the estate's front gate.
Everyone who saw it froze.
Eyes wide. Pupils dilating. Disbelief. Shock.
Then their leader screamed:
"RPG!"
From hundreds of meters away, an RPG round soared over the estate wall and slammed into their position.
BOOM!
A fireball erupted—rising like a mushroom cloud. The entire kidnap crew—and their makeshift defenses—were turned to ash.
"Daaaaamn—!"
Back by the gate, Karl's eyes lit up. He spun toward Brown, who was holding the still-smoking RPG launcher.
"Where the hell did you guys get an RPG?! I thought blowing open the gate with C4 was the limit of your firepower! I didn't expect this!"
"Only brought the one," Brown said with a sheepish grin. "Figured we'd make a good impression on the potential boss."
After surviving their last brush with death-by-artillery, Brown's crew had learned an important lesson: Firepower is everything.
Karl's crew learned to never lock car doors. Brown's team? They hit up the black market in Dogtown and walked away with an RPG. It'd been riding shotgun in their truck ever since.
"Still… that blast felt way too powerful."
Brown frowned as he looked at the collapsed corner of Kerry's mansion.
"Guess the vendor sold us a fake. He said the real ones had a 'controlled blast radius'. This one? Yeah… not so much."
So.
First day on the job interview.
And they just blew up part of the client's house.
What now?
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