Although the freed captives managed to flee, Hen Chu could not escape as he desperately tried to fight off the mob surrounding him while they waited for his sister to be brought in.
Minutes later, seeing Hen Li crying as she was violently dragged into the hall made him surge forward to reach her, only to be kicked square in the chest by one of the men.
The deafening clang of iron against iron echoed off the wet concrete walls as Hen Chu blocked a brutal overhead strike. The shockwave rattled up his arms, numbing his hands. Another thug kicked him square in the ribs, sending him skidding across the slick stone floor.
He spat blood, his vision swimming as he scrambled back against a rusted support beam. Gu Chao walked up slowly, the tip of his heavy pipe dragging along the ground with an unbearable, screeching whine.
"Any last words for your precious sister, Hen Chu?" Gu Chao mocked, raising the weapon high above his head.
Hen Li screamed in sheer terror as she was pinned near Gu Chao, watching helplessly as they beat her brother to a pulp.
But before the pipe could descend, a deafening, metallic shudder echoed through the entire subterranean complex.
BOOM.
The heavy, steel-reinforced doors guarding the upper hall imploded inward with a blinding flash of blue energy. Dust, concrete splinters, and shattered iron rained down over the crowd. The sheer force of the shockwave threw Gu Chao's men off their feet, sending them tumbling across the floor like autumn leaves.
A thick silence fell over the Sinks, broken only by the hiss of cooling thermal energy and the terrified whimpers of the refugees.
Through the billow of dust and smoke, four figures stepped calmly through the blasted entrance.
Tom walked in front, unbuttoning his immaculate tactical coat with one hand as if entering a high-end drawing room. Beside him loomed Mike, his towering frame clad in sleek, void-black exoskeleton armor, holding a heavy pulse-suppression cannon resting casually over one broad shoulder.
Following unhurriedly behind them were Zhao Yuan and Cindy. Zhao Yuan stepped through the debris with absolute composure, her expression entirely unbothered by the violence or the foul smell of sewage. Her dark eyes swept over the wet concrete, taking mental inventory of the structural layout as though she were simply inspecting newly acquired real estate.
Beside her, Cindy's bright eyes darted curiously around the chaotic hall, taking in the dirty water, the cowering refugees, and the rusted pipes with sharp, analytical interest. This was the place she would soon be managing, and she was absorbing every detail of its current state. Seeing the sobbing Hen Li on the damp ground, Cindy stepped over a fallen pipe, offered a gentle hand, and calmly pulled the trembling girl to her feet, shielding her behind Zhao Yuan.
Gu Chao scrambled to his feet, his jaw hanging open as he stared at the clean, unmarked armor reflecting the dim lights. "You... the clean bastards from the restaurant..."
"We apologize for the abrupt entry," Tom said smoothly, his voice carrying clearly across the silent hall without a hint of strain. "However, your noise levels were disturbing the peace of our designated jurisdiction."
"Jurisdiction?!" Gu Chao roared, rage overcoming his sudden shock. He pointed his pipe at them, screaming at his stunned crew, "They're only two men! Kill them! Take their gear!"
Ten of Gu Chao's toughest men charged, brandishing nail guns and sharpened scrap metal.
Mike didn't even blink. He simply stepped forward, planting his left foot and sweeping his free arm outward in a single, fluid arc. A shimmering, semi-transparent kinetic barrier erupted from his wrist gauntlet, slamming into the advancing thugs like an invisible freight train.
THWACK.
The men were blasted backward into the stone walls, their weapons shattering into metal splinters upon impact. They slumped to the floor, instantly unconscious, without Mike having fired a single shot from his cannon.
Hen Chu stared in absolute disbelief, his heart hammering against his ribs. The ruthless gang that had terrorized the Sinks for months had been dismantled in under three seconds.
Tom stepped past the groaning bodies, stopping right in front of the trembling Gu Chao. He reached out with terrifying speed, his gloved hand closing around the iron pipe in Gu Chao's grip. With a gentle, effortless twist of his wrist, Tom bent the solid iron rod into a complete pretzel and let it drop onto the floor with a dull thud.
Gu Chao fell to his knees, his face drained of all color, sweat pouring down his forehead as he stared up at Tom's cold, polite smile and the pristine figures standing casually behind him.
Zhao Yuan stepped forward, her light footsteps echoing clearly in the stunned silence of the damp hall. She stopped just beside Tom, looking down at Gu Chao with an impassive, cool gaze that made the warlord's breath catch in his throat.
"You've been managing this place rather inefficiently," Zhao Yuan said, her tone devoid of malice, sounding more like an auditor pointing out a clerical error than a conqueror seizing a territory. "Rule through terror and scarcity only works until someone offers a better alternative. As of today, you will no longer be in charge."
Gu Chao trembled on his knees, his eyes darting from her pristine shoes to Mike's towering armored frame. "You... you can't just decide that!" he stammered, his usual swagger entirely broken.
"But I can," she said simply, before turning her attention to Tom. "Detain him and his remaining men."
"Understood, Boss," Tom replied with a smooth nod as Mike stepped forward to bind Gu Chao's wrists with reinforced zip-cables.
Zhao Yuan then shifted her gaze to Hen Chu, who was still leaning heavily against the rusted support beam, clutching his fractured ribs. Beside him, Hen Li held onto Cindy's arm, her tear-streaked face filled with awe and residual fear.
"You two, follow us," Zhao Yuan said smoothly, turning around to walk away without waiting for a reply.