ACSP: Chapter 203: Arriving in the Magic City!
"What? 300 billion explosive tags?!"
The moment Musashi Ichiro dropped that astronomical figure, the air in the courtyard didn't just grow heavy—it felt as though it froze completely solid.
Dozens of elite lords stood petrified, their eyes widening like copper bells, their faces drained of color. They were no strangers to the item known as an explosive tag; anyone who frequently descended into high-level secret realms would occasionally find them as drops. Individually, a single tag was essentially a paper bomb roughly equivalent to a standard C-rank Fire Release skill—enough to cause a nasty injury or a distraction, but a bit difficult to secure a clean kill with.
However, the laws of warfare dictate that quantitative change inevitably triggers qualitative change.
One explosive tag couldn't kill a high-tier Contractor. But if 300 billion explosive tags were detonated in a single, synchronized chain reaction? Forget a single person—even an entire fortified, tier-one metropolis would vanish into absolute nothingness in a microsecond.
Ryuichi Yuwa and his top commanders had never, in their wildest strategic nightmares, imagined that a rookie like Jiang Chen would be sitting on a hidden stockpile of 300 billion explosive tags. To put that into perspective, even if they forcibly requisitioned every single explosive tag currently held by every contractor, clan, and military warehouse across the entire nation of East Island, the total wouldn't scratch a fraction of that number. To East Island, tags were cheap, expendable tools to be used up during dungeon crawls. No sane person stockpiled them on a planetary scale.
"Damn it... those Great Xia Kingdom Contractors are absolute, unhinged lunatics!" a clan elder stammered, an uncharacteristic hint of raw fear bleeding into his shaky voice. "To systematically hoard that many explosive tags, and for their trading houses to actually put them up for open auction... they are out of their minds!"
The tactical equation was terrifyingly simple. Jiang Chen had already proven he could use the [Heavenly Transfer Technique] to flawlessly drop a localized C3 puppet bomb right onto their heads. If he decided to skip the artistry next time and simply blink all 300 billion explosive tags directly into the imperial courtyard, wouldn't their entire island nation be blasted straight off the tectonic plate and into the deep ocean?
"Since this Jiang Chen represents a terminal threat to our borders, we should trouble President Kato to ignore the preservation protocols," another voice barked from the desperate crowd. "Deploy the Spirit Transformation Technique again, but lock onto Jiang Chen this time! It is mathematically better to eliminate such an existential threat to the empire as quickly as possible..."
Hearing this, the other lords nodded in rapid, frantic agreement. They were well aware that Ryuichi Yuwa had grand designs for the boy—that he desired to capture him alive to construct a flawless, high-potential Six Paths of Pain clone. But the reality was that the kid was simply too dangerous to keep on the board. As long as Jiang Chen drew breath and held that remote detonation trigger, none of them could eat or sleep in peace. Rather than living in a state of permanent, suffocating terror, it was better to execute him directly via soul-shredding and erase the variable forever.
However, Musashi Ichiro simply shook his head, a look of profound helplessness washing over his weathered face.
"It's too late. Even if we completely disregard the chakra toll and ask President Kato to hunt Jiang Chen now... I am afraid it is already logistically impossible."
Yamamoto Kin snorted coldly, the crimson chakra of the Nine-Tails bubbling aggressively around his sunglasses. "Musashi-kun, aren't you being a bit too cowardly? Granted, Jiang Chen is a Super Kage-level Contractor, but the laws of the Spirit Transformation Technique are absolute. If President Kato invades his subconscious realm, there is no physical way a raw rookie can withstand a soul-shredding event, right?"
Musashi Ichiro let out a soft, bitter chuckle.
He turned his gaze toward the golden-haired Jinchuriki and countered: "President Kato already thoroughly searched the entire municipal grid of both Jinghai and Kang City, did he not? And he found absolutely nothing. If my strategic tracking is correct, the moment the puppet bomb was launched, Jiang Chen must have used that very same Heavenly Transfer Technique to displace himself and Li Dala to an entirely new, unmapped coordinate."
Kato Dankichi frowned, his pale, spectral hand resting on his chest as he confirmed the tactical limitation: "Musashi-kun is correct. Although my Spirit Transformation Technique can bypass physical distance to execute a target, the absolute prerequisite of the jutsu is that I must possess a definitive, localized lock on the target's general coordinate or immediate presence. If the target is completely off the grid and I cannot find them mentally, my soul is entirely powerless."
Yamamoto Kin shrugged, not thinking much of the obstacle. "That's a simple fix. Do we not still control the international Dark Web and regional forums? We simply need to post an astronomical, historical bounty online for verified data on Jiang Chen's exact real-time coordinates. The moment a rogue contractor clicks the tip, President Kato launches. Wouldn't that solve the problem cleanly?"
Beside him, his twin brother Yamamoto Gin nodded like a clockwork toy. "My big brother is correct."
Musashi Ichiro shook his head yet again, his tone dripping with exhaustion. "It won't be that simple, boys. Ever since the Dimensional Era arrived and reality re-wrote itself, old-world fiat currencies have become increasingly worthless paper. Do you honestly believe anyone with a brain would dare to permanently offend a Super Kage-level Contractor with infinite, god-like growth potential—and 300 billion bombs in his back pocket—just for some fading, old-world currency that is about to be entirely phased out by the current era?"
The room fell back into a tense, silent gloom, the puzzle of how to locate an instantaneous teleporter weighing heavily on their minds.
...
"Achoo!"
Meanwhile, just outside the massive, towering perimeter walls of the Magic City.
Jiang Chen, who had just smoothly materialized out of thin air via a distortion in space, couldn't help but rub his nose and let out a loud, violent sneeze. He blinked against the coastal breeze, completely unaware of the absolute panic his shopping list had just triggered across the sea.
Li Dala looked at him curiously, a teasing glint in his eyes as he chuckled secretly: "Boss, you sneezing for no reason like that... could it be some young lady from a prestigious clan is thinking about you from afar?"
Jiang Chen rubbed his nose nonchalantly, his expression entirely deadpan: "There are plenty of people thinking about me right now, but given the current state of the world, it might not necessarily be a young lady."
The three of them stood outside the massive municipal perimeter for a short while, observing the structural defenses, before blending seamlessly into the dense, flowing crowd of Contractors and merchants entering the Magic City.
The foundational city defense layout of the Magic City closely mirrored that of Kang City. Massive, heavily reinforced earthen walls standing dozens of meters high formed an unbroken ring around the entire metropolis. However, the defensive ramparts here were visibly thicker and more structurally fortified than those in Kang City, and fully armed tactical patrol teams could be seen pacing the high walls at regular intervals. Clearly, this coastal hub was frequently subjected to aggressive sieges by high-tier exotic beasts. Otherwise, the local authorities wouldn't have arranged the active city defenses so strictly.
Jiang Chen had traveled across the map this time specifically to dismantle the remaining infrastructure of the Zhao family. Therefore, after passing through the automated sensory gates at the checkpoint, he immediately led Ronan and Li Dala directly toward the primary coordinates of the Zhao family estate.
However, while navigating through the bustling commercial sectors, Jiang Chen happened to overhear a critical piece of localized intelligence: within the sheer geographic footprint of the Magic City, the Zhao family actually operated four separate estates.
Those four sprawling Zhao family estates were strategically located across four completely different administrative districts of the Magic City, independently governed by four powerful Zhao family elders. These elders were each fully responsible for the resource allocation, dungeon rights, and personnel within their own specific districts. For years, they had always minded their own business, maintaining a strict balance of power and staying out of each other's way.
Interestingly, the Zhao family didn't actually establish or operate their own industrial manufacturing or standard trading houses. Their primary, astronomical resource income was derived entirely from collecting structural resource rent.
Briefly referred to in the underworld as 'collecting protection fees.'
And their fixed commission percentage was shockingly, ruthlessly high.
Yes—they didn't even need to expend manpower to deliberately hold or fortify the entrances of the local secret realms. The organizations actively clearing and managing those high-yield secret realm entrances were all merely subordinate, second-tier forces under the iron umbrella of the Zhao family. The elders only needed to periodically send their enforcers to those syndicates to collect the mandatory 'protection fees.'
Of course, their extortion grid extended far beyond the dungeons. Every single high-end shop owner, weapon smith, and trading house proprietor throughout the entire city layout also had to pay a hefty, non-negotiable 'rent' to the Zhao family at regular intervals just to keep their doors open!
"Holy crap, these Zhao family bastards really know how to leverage their monopoly. Actually utilizing a passive extortion method like this to systematically rake in global resources without lifting a finger!" Upon hearing the breakdown of the Zhao family's financial machinery, Li Dala couldn't help but marvel in genuine amazement.
Ronan let out a helpless, pragmatic sigh: "Well, why else do the old-world economic texts always say that those who position themselves to collect rent will always be exponentially richer than the entrepreneurs actually starting a business from scratch? They control the territory, so they control the matrix."
Jiang Chen hadn't realized the internal political situation within the Zhao family was quite this fragmented. The four elders had already been comfortably managing their own autonomous fiefdoms for years. Now that the main Zhao family head had been definitively wiped off the board, those four old foxes had likely already staked out their own independent territories to rule as absolute sovereigns.
Getting them to willingly reunite under a single banner or yield to an outsider would not be easy. After all, those who have tasted what it feels like to rule as kings are certainly not going to voluntarily go back to being common subjects.
"Huh? Jiang Chen?! Aren't you supposed to be stationed back in Jinghai City? How on earth did you end up inside the Magic City?"
Just as Jiang Chen was deeply pondering his tactical entry angles, a highly surprised, sharply pitched voice suddenly rang out from directly behind them, instantly interrupting his train of thought.
Jiang Chen stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly. A highly familiar, somewhat anxious face immediately came into his clear line of sight.
It was Zhao Bin—the exact same high-tier Contractor he had crossed paths with last time during the brutal survival phase inside the [Forest of Death]. Back then, this guy had functioned as the primary, loyal sidekick to Zhao Shui.
Li Dala blinked, looking at Jiang Chen in brief surprise before his mouth curled into a grin: "Boss, you actually have local acquaintances here in the Magic City?"
Jiang Chen nodded indifferently, his eyes locking onto the sweating Zhao Bin: "Met once in a high-yield secret realm. We shared some... history."
Upon hearing this confirmation, Li Dala's eyes lit up instantly with a predatory, opportunistic gleam: "That's perfect! We can just happen to aggressively interrogate him about the internal guard shifts and safe houses of the Zhao family. That way, if we encounter the elders' personal enforcers next time, we'll be thoroughly prepared to blow them straight to hell."
Zhao Bin:???
The young Contractor froze mid-step, his jaw dropping slightly as his eyes darted from Jiang Chen's unbothered expression to Li Dala's terrifyingly enthusiastic grin. A sudden, cold sweat broke out across his back as he realized he had just casually walked right into a pack of wolves.
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