West appeared directly in front of him and drove a fist into his abdomen with enough force to fold the man’s body around it.

The guard’s eyes bulged outward as his feet left the ground. Before he could even scream, a glowing blue footprint behind.

West grabbed the guard’s head and slammed him into the concrete, creating a small crater from the impact.

BOOM!

The second guard who had barely been able to follow West’s movement finally reacted by activating his branch immediately.

Metal plates burst out of his skin and covered his body as his transformation branch was activated.

Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t fast enough.

West’s glowing eyes turned toward him and the transformed awakener suddenly felt every instinct in his body scream danger.

He raised both arms to swing but before he could a glowing footprint appeared beside him.

The awakened barely managed to turn his head before West’s clawed hand slammed into his jaw.

BAM!

The impact launched him through the wall of the nearest warehouse causing concrete to explode.

The man bounced across crates before finally crashing into a storage rack.

West stepped through the hole he had created with his Voidfang Predator transformation slowing the world around him down.

His hearing could pick up distant heartbeats and his sense of smell detected countless scents lingering throughout the facility.

The awakened tried to stand but West stomped onto his leg causing it to bend the wrong way.

KRRRYCCCHHHKKK~

"Kiaarrrhhhh!" A scream erupted from his throat before West grabbed him by the neck.

"Storage access codes."

The man coughed blood as West squeezed slightly.

"Storage access codes."

A few seconds later, he got what he needed and the man joined his friend in unconsciousness.

West dusted off his hands. "That was easy."

Then he turned toward the four giant structures in the compound packed with countless resources.

Upon entering the first warehouse, he nearly made whistled.

Crates, weapons, armor, monster materials, rare minerals, processed ruin resources, medical supplies and stacks upon stacks of valuable goods filled the vicinity.

Even West had to admit Iron Vultures knew how to make money.

He immediately opened his inventory and items started disappearing one after another.

The inventory count climbed rapidly...

20...

21...

22...

23...

24...

53...

67...

Then it stopped after reaching 100.

[ Inventory Capacity Reached ]

West stared at the notification. "Huh."

He had almost forgotten it still had limitations.

The warehouse still had a bunch of items here that he needed to pack.

West immediately opened the system interface and found the Inventory Expansion option.

West winced slightly upon noticing it would cost over six thousand Cuckpoints for another expansion.

However, looking around the warehouse made the decision very easy.

There was far more than six thousand Cuckpoints worth of stuff sitting here.

He confirmed the purchase and a brief flash followed.

[ Inventory Capacity Increased ]

[ New Capacity: 300 Items ]

West grinned. "Now we’re talking."

The looting resumed and entire sections of the warehouse disappeared.

By the time he finished, the first warehouse looked as though a hurricane had passed through it.

Afterwards, he proceeded to move on to the second and then the third before finally heading to the fourth.

West wasn’t interested in everything, he only focused on the good stuff... the expensive stuff.

Nonetheless, the good stuff was still a lot of stuff... things Aria had specifically highlighted in her intelligence reports.

By the time he finished with the first storage facility, Iron Vultures had effectively lost hundreds of millions worth of assets.

The inventory was filled again, leaving only two oversized containers.

West simply picked them up, placing one under each arm before vanishing.

•••

•••

A couple of minutes later, West suddenly materialized in the middle of the Shadow Reapers logistics hall carrying enough resources to make smaller gangs go bankrupt from envy.

Several new recruits that had just arrived with loots, froze.

"Move!"

"Clear space!"

"Inventory team!"

"Get over here!"

Crates started getting unloaded, resources were catalogued as storage spaces filled rapidly.

The operation resembled controlled chaos.

West only stayed long enough to drop off the goods before leaving again.

The process repeated throughout the night as West scopped out one storage facility after another.

Aria’s intelligence network had done its job perfectly.

Every Iron Vultures storage location had been mapped... every route documented... every vulnerable point identified...

West simply exploited all of it... and by the time the night ended, Iron Vultures had effectively been stripped clean.

The financial damage alone would be horrifying.

The resources stolen could sustain Shadow Reapers for years even if they decided not to clear any ruins.

And the funniest part was that Bloodstain still didn’t know it was happening...

---

When West finally returned to headquarters for good, dawn was beginning to break as the eastern horizon glowed orange.

Several Shadow Reapers teams had already returned from their own operations filling the base with a lively atmosphere.

Everyone was talking, laughing, comparing stories and sharing details of their ambushes.

The newer recruits looked especially excited.

Most of them had never participated in a gang operation this large before.

Jax was practically bouncing. "I still can’t believe they fell for it."

"They really emptied their own headquarters."

Hart shook his head. "To be fair, if I suddenly saw ten ruin permits booked at once, I’d panic too."

Aria looked up from a mountain of reports. "You guys have no idea how much stuff West just brought back."

West dropped into a chair. "Enough?"

Aria stared at him. "Enough to make me wonder if robbery is secretly your real branch."

Jax immediately burst out laughing while West smirked.

The operation had exceeded even his expectations.

•••

•••

~ Several Hours Later ~

Bloodstain looked as though he had aged ten years as he stood inside the operations center surrounded by screens and exhausted personnel.

Nobody wanted to be near him... the atmosphere had become suffocating.

Every new report made things worse.

Every time a backup team returned, their report was the same... The original team had already been defeated and all the loot gathered from clearing the ruins was gone.