The assassins Russell had just killed were just ordinary members of the Fraternity.
To put it simply, they were cannon fodder.
Only assassins who had mastered Gun Fu and possessed some special skills could be considered elite assassins of the Fraternity.
For example, Fox, Repairman, Butcher, Gunsmith, Mr. X, and others.
Russell did not dismiss his Venom form.
Just as he was about to head to the second floor, a phone suddenly rang.
"Wait a moment, I need to take a call!"
Russell dismissed a portion of the Venom form from his head, revealing half of his face.
Under his control, the phone in his pocket emerged from his Venom form body and was wrapped by black tendrils, lifted to his ear.
After controlling the black tendrils to press answer, a man's voice, electronically disguised, sounded from the phone.
"Hello, Mr. Traveler, I'm a hacker from the Tides organization. You can call me Jack."
Jack's attitude was very polite.
"I'm a bit busy right now, so I'll keep it short. I need you to help me look up a phone number. I want to know who is behind this number. The reward is fifty thousand US dollars."
Russell said straightforwardly, completely disregarding the fact that Cross was right beside him.
"Alright, what's the number?" Jack asked.
Looking up a number wasn't difficult for the Tides organization.
A reward of fifty thousand US dollars was also quite good relative to the difficulty.
Jack had no reason to refuse.
Russell told Jack the anonymous phone number Diana had received yesterday.
"According to regulations, I need to collect half of the deposit first," Jack said again.
"Okay, send me the account!"
As soon as Russell finished speaking, he received the bank account from Jack.
Without any hesitation, he directly logged into his overseas bank account and transferred fifty thousand US dollars.
"Mr. Traveler, we only collect half of the deposit in advance," Jack reminded him after seeing Russell transfer the entire reward at once.
"I know, I just don't want to make two transfers."
After speaking, Russell directly hung up the phone and had the black tendrils put the phone back "inside" his body.
"Alright, let's go!"
After dealing with this sudden little interlude, Russell returned to his complete Venom form.
The textile mill, second floor.
Sloan's office.
In the office, decorated like a study, all the core members of the Fraternity were gathered.
Sloan, dressed in a sharp suit with jacket, vest, tie, and tie clip all in place, looking no different from a successful entrepreneur, sat behind his desk with a solemn expression, not saying a word.
Standing before him were Fraternity elites like Fox, Gunsmith, and Repairman.
As well as Wesley, the assassin apprentice who hadn't graduated yet.
Fox and the others had similar expressions to Sloan, their faces full of solemnity.
Only Wesley, who hadn't fully grasped the seriousness of the situation, appeared extremely excited.
Scanning Fox and the others, Sloan slowly said, "Cross didn't just betray the Fraternity, he now wants to completely destroy it."
"To achieve this goal, he even went so far as to cooperate with the infamous Traveler Russell."
"The Fraternity has been established for over a thousand years. Today might be the Fraternity's last day."
"Cross was once the best among us, and Traveler Russell is the most famous assassin in recent years, but even if the two of them join forces, they shouldn't think they can easily destroy the Fraternity!"
"Where the Loom of Fate is, there the Fraternity is!"
Saying this, Sloan slammed the table, stood up, and said in an extremely serious tone, "Everyone, we are the assassins of fate, the chosen assassins of God!"
"Today is our best opportunity to prove ourselves! Even if it costs us our lives, we must protect the Loom of Fate that has been passed down through generations!"
"Go! Use the weapons in your hands to tell Cross and Russell! Let them know that the Fraternity will never back down!"
Sloan was giving his final impassioned pre-battle speech.
In fact, even if he didn't say a word now, Fox and the others would fight to the death.
Especially Wesley.
He couldn't wait to kill Cross immediately and avenge his deceased father.
After Fox and the others left the office with surging killing intent, Sloan sat down again and sighed helplessly.
Damn it!
Cross be damned, and Russell be even more damned!
Even now, Sloan couldn't understand what kind of reward Cross had offered to actually convince Russell to go crazy with him.
Two people dared to force their way into the Fraternity headquarters, and they actually succeeded in breaking in!
After cursing Cross and Russell a few times in his mind, Sloan pulled open a drawer and took out the old Mauser pistol kept inside.
Then, he got up and went to a bookshelf, opening the secret door behind it.
They couldn't be stopped!
Just Cross alone had forced them to call Wesley over.
And now, not only was Cross outside, but there was also Russell, who couldn't be killed even with a shot to the temple.
In this situation, Sloan saw no chance of winning.
Don't look at how passionately he was motivating Fox and the others, but he had never thought of using his own life to protect the Loom of Fate.
Using his own life to protect an antique weaving machine that wanted to kill him.
Don't be ridiculous!
The Loom of Fate? Go fool the ghosts!
I am fate!
The day he discovered his name was woven by the Loom of Fate, Sloan's faith completely collapsed, shifting from one extreme to another.
Fox and the others would never have imagined that Sloan, who had just been encouraging them to protect the Loom of Fate with their lives, was now secretly leaving the textile mill through a secret passage.
Not long after Sloan entered the secret passage, intermittent gunshots could be heard from outside.
There was no need to think about it.
This was Fox and the others fighting against Cross and Russell.
After hearing the gunshots, Sloan quickened his pace.
Sloan moved quickly through the dim, damp underground passage.
Before long, he reached the exit of the passage.
Creak!
Sloan pushed open the iron door, which hadn't been opened for who knows how long, and emerged from the passage.
Before he could experience the joy of escaping, a voice came from behind him.
"Mr. Sloan, deserting in battle is not something a good leader should do!"
The person speaking was none other than Russell.
After hanging up Jack's call, he didn't follow Cross to the second floor but left the factory building directly.
Cross, Fox, and the others didn't know that Sloan had a secret escape passage.
But Russell happened to know about this.
Although he didn't know where the exit of Sloan's escape passage was, it didn't matter.
Because he didn't need to know where the exit was at all.
After leaving the factory building, he followed the outer wall to the window of Sloan's office.
He not only witnessed Sloan's impassioned pre-battle speech but also witnessed the entire process of Sloan opening the secret bookshelf door and leaving the study.
The rest was simple.
He broke the window to enter the study, opened the secret door, and quietly followed behind Sloan.
The underground passage was already dark, and he in his Venom form didn't make any sound.
Sloan completely failed to notice that a huge black figure was following him just over ten meters behind him.
Russell could have actually killed Sloan much earlier.
But he didn't do that.
Killing Sloan directly from behind would be letting him off too easily.
So he deliberately waited until Sloan had walked out of the passage before actively reminding him.
Give the enemy despair when they are happiest!
Failure at the last step is what makes the deepest impression!