Are Extraordinary Professionals strong?

They are indeed. A Tier Three Extraordinary can take on and kill multiple A-Class Pure Prosthetic Implant users.

Even Tier Two Knights with A-Class Prosthetic Bodies, when working together, could overcome superior numbers and defeat the A-Class Implanter security team from Liu’s Heavy Industries.

But in this battle, what actually dealt the critical damage were still the A-Class Prosthetic Bodies.

A Tier Two Knight who lost the use of their prosthetic abilities couldn’t face an A-Class Implanter head-on.

Fighting above one’s weight class isn’t that easy.

"He... He’s dead?"

The A-level Researcher who killed the Tier Two Knight froze.

The other Knights were also stunned.

"There’s an Extraordinary Professional in the shadows!"

The lead Knight reacted.

He couldn’t be sure if the Extraordinary Professional who struck from the shadows was a Wizard.

This method of forcing the body to regenerate, causing it to reject its prosthetics, wasn’t unheard of.

Several Extraordinary Professions could do it.

On the contrary, a Wizard’s Abilities were too random; they rarely factored into such battle plans.

Wizards had more, and far stranger, ways to counter Prosthetic Implant users.

The stunned A-level Researcher also snapped out of it at that moment, shouting, "One of our Liu Clan’s Extraordinary Professionals has made a move! Colleagues, don’t be afraid! Take them out!"

Having personally finished off a Knight, the A-level Researcher was suddenly filled with rage, his courage swelling.

Where were the Liu Clan’s most heavily-equipped Prosthetic Implant users?

Was it this group of A-Class security guards who had just been taken out?

Not at all!

While this group of A-Class security guards generally had over sixty percent of their bodies converted to prosthetics, most of them used standard-issue Prosthetic Bodies. These were fifty percent cheaper than the flagship models, and their performance lagged by fifteen percent.

Truly high-performance Prosthetic Bodies all required self-funded installation. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Who in the company had the most money? Who was most willing to spend on their own Prosthetic Body?

The researchers in Prosthetic Engineering, of course!

If not for their obsessive pursuit of the perfect Prosthetic Body, who would walk the path of Prosthetic Engineering? They spent almost a third of every day studying and reading papers.

Therefore, every one of the dozen or so A-level Prosthetic Engineering researchers present had an A-Class Prosthetic Body. They might not have undergone full-body implantation, but their combat power was definitely no weaker than the average fully converted A-Class Implanter.

You get what you pay for.

A Prosthetic Body you designed yourself would naturally be a better fit.

In an instant, a small portion of the A-level Researchers who had been scattering and fleeing rallied.

’Son of a bitch, they want to kill us all? Do they really think the prosthetics I spent tens of millions on are just for show?’

Seeing this, Lin Qi realized his chance had come.

He didn’t need to engage in direct combat. He just had to stay hidden in the shadows and use Rapid Growth to reduce the Knights’ frontline fighting capabilities.

The rest of the fighting could be safely left to this group of high-level corporate drones.

They could design and produce Prosthetic Bodies for the company, and at a critical moment, they could even step up to defend it. As expected of A-level Researchers, they really had class.

Rapid Growth, target locked. Lin Qi unleashed another one.

"Retreat! Take the target and retreat!"

The Knight who was hit turned pale. If this continued, the chances of this going south were too high.

The seven Knights didn’t hesitate. They had already captured their main target this time, Liu Yue. There was no need to suffer more losses for the sake of these corporate drones working for a big company.

Killing Liu’s Heavy Industries’ senior personnel was an additional request from the Si Clan; it wasn’t worth taking unnecessary risks for it.

The Knights immediately began to retreat, their leg prosthetics kicking in as they leaped onto the damaged roof of the building.

The heroic corporate drones didn’t give chase.

Their recent courage was born entirely from a desire to survive.

Now that the enemy had fled, the life-cherishing drones would never put themselves in a dangerous situation again.

Flee!

At the very least, they couldn’t stay in this hotbed of trouble on the top-floor conference hall.

First, leave the company, then make other decisions based on company emails later.

The drones immediately began to evacuate via the building’s emergency stairwell.

Lin Qi did the same, except he was also using his Spiritual Vision to observe the Knights’ movements as he retreated.

Liu Yue had been captured.

’Although he was a target set up by the Liu Clan, he most likely knows that there’s more to Liu Xuan’s and Liu Li’s identities than meets the eye.’

’To some extent, he might know the identity of the Liu Clan’s true heir.’

’What’s more, he personally witnessed the scene on the Red and Green Train.’

’Liu Yue also knows something about my relationship with Liu Xuan.’

’Will Liu Xuan allow this information to be leaked?’

’Once the news gets out, both Liu Xuan and Liu Li will become public targets, and I might get on the Round Table Conference’s radar.’

Whether Liu Xuan was willing to accept this or not, Lin Qi certainly wasn’t.

He kept an eye on the Knights’ movements. If Liu Xuan’s countermeasure didn’t appear before they left the range of his Spiritual Vision, Lin Qi would have to make a move himself.

...

On the roof of the Liu’s Heavy Industry Building, the seven Knights arrived with Liu Yue, waiting for their long-overdue evac vehicle.

"Fuck! I’m a natural now!"

The Knight who had taken the last hit of Lin Qi’s Rapid Growth had an indignant expression. His external Prosthetic Body had completely fallen off, and there were no other prosthetics left inside him.

According to the Round Table Conference’s rules, when Knights received Prosthetic Body implants, the Round Table would reimburse fifty percent of the cost. The rest had to be paid out of pocket.

The leader, a Tier Two Knight, comforted him, "We encountered a force majeure. When we get back, we can submit an application to the Chief Judge to cover your expenses."

"As long as we complete our mission successfully, we won’t be given a hard time when we return. We’ve captured the Liu Clan’s..."

Before he could finish, the lead Knight suddenly noticed Liu Yue’s bleak smile.

It was a smile of release, his eyes faintly revealing a kind of loneliness, and a yearning for survival.

The next second, centered on Liu Yue, an intense heat began to surge from his abdomen.

An S-Class limited-area incendiary explosive device!

Theoretically, the use of S-Class Weapons is forbidden.

But that was only in theory. Besides, Liu Yue was only using an S-Class Weapon to commit suicide; he wasn’t technically using it in combat.

He just wanted a dignified death. Who could blame him for that?

Terrifying heat swept through a ten-meter radius, but all of it was firmly contained within that area.

Not even a speck of Liu Yue’s ash could be found. A very dignified death.

As for the seven Knights, six were in a pathetic state. However, under the protection of A-Class force fields, they had a buffer of time to react, and merely ended up with extensive charring on their bodies.

But there was one other—the one whose Prosthetic Body had been completely stripped away by Lin Qi.

He had no time to react at all and was only a few short meters from the center of the heat.

His fate was the same as Liu Yue’s: reduced to ashes.

A rather dignified death. You could say he benefited from Liu Yue’s final glory.

"The mission’s a failure..."

"Our losses are heavy. After we return to the European Administrative Region, we’ll probably be held accountable by the Chief Judge."

The Knights looked as though they’d lost their own parents.

But what was done was done; there was no fixing it.

Fortunately, there were no more surprises. The evac vehicle arrived, and they successfully withdrew from the Liu’s Heavy Industry Building.