Half a second before Hong Ling’s finger pressed the big red dashboard switch, the mood inside the dark storm trench outside System #53 was dead serious.
Shadow-King Mo Ying floated twenty yards above the highway guardrail like a grim reaper of the void. Behind him, his Four Shadow Elders—Elder Blood-Dagger, Elder Ghost-Step, Elder Cold-Fang, and Elder Night-Owl—held their breaths, their Rank 8 Early auras tucked completely inside their black Dark-Abyss Night-Cloaks.
Behind the four elders, ten thousand elite Shadow-Web assassins crouched in tight rows along both sides of the unlit roadbed, holding curved black daggers smeared with star-corroding poison.
“Remember,” Shadow-King Mo Ying whispered through the guild’s spiritual link, his voice dripping with icy pride, “in this eternal darkness, we are invisible gods! Wait for Pei Xuan’s train to pass right beneath my boots, then strike all at once! To make sure nobody misses a vital spot in the dark, everyone activate the Hundred-Fold Owl-Eye Night-Vision Art at maximum power right now!”
“Yes, Shadow-King!” ten thousand assassins whispered back in unison.
Across the dark trench, ten thousand pairs of eyes flashed with a faint green glow inside their black hoods. By circulating their secret Shadow-Web ocular technique, every single assassin—including Shadow-King Mo Ying himself—dilated their pupils to ten times normal size, making their retinas ten thousand times more sensitive to even the tiniest spark of light so they could see in total darkness as clearly as broad daylight!
