After kicking Susan Song out, I proceeded to pack up all our tools and machinery and prepared to move out. Fortunately, thanks to the advance payment from the military, we should technically be able to hire a mover truck.
It was evening when I finally finished packing up the whole place, and I struggled under the boxes of tools and equipment, stacking them against the wall and next to the entrance. Dusting off my hands, I stretched my back and glanced at William, who was equally exhausted.
"Damn it…that landlord and Benjamin Bo really caused us a lot of trouble!" he complained. I nodded in agreement.
"Bloody bastards. What's their fucking problem? Can't they just leave us alone?"
"No. and I have terrible news." William sucked a breath through his teeth. "I tried to look for alternative places this morning and afternoon, but…as you know, I failed."
"Yeah, you told me earlier."
"It gets worst." William glanced at his smartphone. "The reason why I can���t find a new place is because they are all boycotting us. Benjamin Bo has put out a general alert. None of the other places dare to rent their places out to us."
"Isn't this illegal?" I growled. "Hell, we can even bring this to court regarding our forced eviction. If they really try to kick us out of here by the end of the week, we can extend it to next month if we threaten them with legal action."
"Oh, we can, but you know how Benjamin Bo has links to the underworld. He'll send thugs after us while the court procedures are ongoing. I don't know if we can afford the damage on top of the enormous legal fees."
"You can't get your friend to give us a discount again?" I asked dryly. William shook his head.
"I could, but what's the point? The damages will outweigh the discount."
Fair enough. I trusted William with the finances. If he thought it was cheaper to avoid a legal confrontation (and property damages) than it was to move out, then I believed he was right. I sucked at making money.
"I guess we'll worry about that tomorrow," I told my roommate. "Let's go home for now. What do you want for dinner?"
"Ugh, it's pretty late. We'll probably have to order takeout from a fast food restaurant."
"Nothing wrong with fast food."
"You're too easygoing!" William grumbled. "Having fast food all the time is unhealthy! No wonder you always have stomach problems."
"Ugh…" It was my turn to grimace. I couldn't deny that. Sighing, I shook my head and proceeded toward the exit. As I did so, I recalled that I had been using this warehouse as our company's office for over a year now.
And soon we wouldn't be coming back. It felt a little…sad, somehow.
"Hmm…"
Before I could step out of the exit, I froze. William stopped behind me, looking confused when I turned my head from side to side.
"What's the matter?"
"Someone is here."
Having served in the military over ten years ago, I had developed some sort of gut feeling. It wasn't obtained through training or in the field, but somehow I was reminded of the training exercises that my company would undergo during those couple of years.
Not killing intent, exactly – you had probably been reading way too many wuxia manhua or martial arts manga. More like a premonition, as if something was not right, somebody was out of place. A gleam in the bushes, movement.
"Go back in," I instructed William, waving him into the warehouse. As a precaution, I slammed the grilles shut, blocking the exit. The feeling intensified and I hastened toward one of the boxes, opening it and taking out the equipment stored in there. "Help me set this up."
"Huh? What's going on? Who's out there?" William looked confused.
"Someone's out there, and they aren't friendly. I don't have proof, but it's better to be safe than sorry."
William knew better than to question me and he hurried over to help.
We had barely taken out the equipment and plugged it into a power source when a group of people burst through the locked grille that I had slammed down earlier. I caught a glimpse of masked soldiers, dressed completely in black from head to toe and armed with carbines, before they opened fire.
I flicked the switch and the shield generator came on, conjuring a barrier between us and the armed soldiers. The bullets and laser beams lanced into the shimmering shield, disintegrating or dissipating harmlessly.
"Whoa!" William cried out, instinctively ducking down. I didn't pay any attention to him for now, instead focusing on the tools that I laid out inside the luminous dome of energy. Making modifications swiftly, I checked the components and slotted them together.
"Here!" I passed one of them to William, who stared at it blankly.
"A plasma torch?"
"Yeah. You're not planning to sit around and watch them shoot us forever, are you? Of course we're going to fight back. By the way, it's not just a plasma torch. I extended the range."
I hefted up my own modified plasma torch and took aim. Squeezing the trigger, I unleashed a stream of plasma that overwhelmed one of the approaching soldiers, incinerating him. He screamed as he fell, his body reduced to nothing but ashes.
The rest of the soldiers dove for cover while continuing to hammer us with their carbines. William studied the weapon, figured out how to use it, and then fired off a blast of his own. Another soldier went down, his head missing.
"Who are these people? Why are they attacking us?" he asked, taking aim again.
"No idea." I scanned the interior of the warehouse as the masked soldiers spread out in an attempt to flank us. They were firing from different directions, testing to see if my energy shield had any weak spots they could capitalize upon.
Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for us), there weren't any. The energy was distributed uniformly throughout the force field so the barrier was of the same strength everywhere, whether it was top, bottom or the sides.
That was fine. The later the soldiers found out about that, the better for me and William. At least that was what my secretary believed. However…
"Damn it!"
Once the incoming fire had slackened, William had put down his modified plasma torch and was dialing something in his smartphone, to no avail. He glanced up at me, his teeth gritted.
"They're jamming the phone signals. I can't get a call through!"
"They really are thorough, aren't they?" I frowned. "This means the enemy is either from a very powerful and rich organization, or they are sent by someone higher up."
"The military, perhaps?"
"Maybe. Though I haven't heard of military operations carried out in the dark with jamming signals. But I haven't been in the military for over a decade now. Many things might have changed since I left the service."
"Yeah, and the military you served in was from Country S, not Hua Xia."
William acknowledged that I might not be up to date on the current technology or operations of the military.
"But that means…even if I get through, there's no guarantee the authorities might help us. They might even want us dead. But why?"
"I don't know. It's also possible that they aren't from the government or army. They look like mercenaries."
Then again, the military couldn't possibly wear their uniform when attacking civilians. They would give themselves away. However, the military shouldn't even be attacking civilians in the first place. There were a few reasons why I suspected that it wasn't the military, and I voiced one of them out to William.
"Most likely, these are mercenaries hired by a rival organization…because they feel threatened by my invention of the shield generator. I think they're trying to kill us and steal my energy shield generator."
"Rival organization…like Han Industries, maybe?"
"Who knows? I am not going to throw accusations or make assumptions until I get more information or evidence."
I raised my plasma torch and waited for a barrage of bullets and laser beams to flare harmlessly against my energy shield before firing. Another mercenary fell, his body immolated.
"Good thing I designed the shield generator to repel incoming attacks but allow outgoing attacks to pass through."
"I've been meaning to ask you all this while, but how did you program the shield generator to do that?" William glanced at me in amazement.
"Would you understand even if I explain all the science to you?" I asked jokingly. He grimaced.
"No, I guess not." he sighed and fired another blast of plasma, forcing a bunch of masked soldiers to scatter. "So we have to hold out until reinforcements come…if they ever come."
"We had better pray they will," I muttered under my breath. "Otherwise we're screwed once they figure out the weakness of my energy shield."
"Huh? There's a weakness?" William gaped at me. I nodded.
"The energy shield only stops physical projectiles traveling at 15 meters per second and above. Meaning…if the soldiers choose to physically charge in and engage us in pointblank range, they'll be able to pass through the shield without breaking apart."
"Damn it." William gulped. "I hope they don't know that."
"They shouldn't, but…" I glanced around, my glasses scoping out the positions of the soldiers with its exquisite array of sensors. "…they're closing in on us, narrowing the distance physically. They'll find out sooner or later."
Right after I said that, I spotted a soldier rushing toward us, his gun blazing. Cursing under my breath, I blasted him with plasma. The remaining soldiers cowered behind cover, but I swept my plasma gun across the interior, waiting for any more of them to pop their heads out. Perspiration dripped down my palms.
"Also…we don't have unlimited power cells for our plasma torches," I informed William quietly. "At this rate, we'll run out of ammo���soon."