The sudden impact gave the other party no time to react.

  In the blink of an eye, the men were sent flying like bowling pins.

  Since the decision to act had been made, there was no room for mercy.

  This was reality, not a novel. Dong Qi was no villain, so he naturally wouldn't let them escape, only to grow stronger and come back for revenge later.

  To put it bluntly, if you hit someone while driving, a minor scrape is one thing.

  But if the other person is seriously injured, it's almost better to finish the job and spare them further suffering.

  While survival is precious, even if they barely pull through after emergency treatment, their future life will be incredibly difficult.

  You, on the other hand, wouldn't just avoid paying medical bills; you'd also be on the hook for their long-term care and substantial compensation.

  These costs are no small sum. So rather than a prolonged ordeal, it's more decisive to provide a generous death compensation upfront and be done with it.

  This was Dong Qi's line of thinking, and he acted accordingly.

  The men who had just been sent flying were now subjected to repeated crushing by his Bound Artifact. To prevent any unforeseen circumstances, the vehicle rolled over them several more times.

  Looking at the blood-stained ground, perhaps because Dong Qi had remained inside the vehicle and hadn't gotten his hands directly dirty, while he felt some unease internally, he didn't experience the intense reaction many in stories do after their first kill.

  To buy as much time as possible, Dong Qi didn't take the bodies with him but opted to destroy their heads on the spot.

  He then drove the vehicle to the parking lot entrance, near the bundles the men had dropped earlier.

  To Dong Qi, these bundles were like loot drops from defeating monsters in a game, and he was somewhat curious about their contents.

  After confirming there were no other immediate threats, Dong Qi initially planned to just take them and open them elsewhere.

  But after a moment's thought, to avoid any surprises, he decided to get out and open them right there.

  When Dong Qi opened the first bundle and saw what was inside, he knew his decision to act decisively had been correct.

  The bundle was packed full of gold—not gold jewelry like in store displays, but an entire bag of gold bars and ingots.

  Judging by the contents, the other party had likely raided some kind of gold reserve.

  Once he knew it was gold, Dong Qi didn't hesitate. He immediately opened the rear cargo door, intending to simply toss the bundle inside.

  However, when he casually tried to lift it, the bundle didn't budge.

  At first, Dong Qi didn't pay it much mind, but even when he put real effort into a second attempt, he still couldn't lift it.

  It was only then that Dong Qi remembered: gold is incredibly dense. While people often say a kilogram of gold is worth a lot, a kilogram of gold isn't actually very large in volume.

  Under normal conditions, a cubic meter of gold weighs nearly twenty tons. And judging by its size, the large bundle on the ground clearly contained more than a cubic meter of gold.

  Thinking of this, Dong Qi quickly opened the other bundles to inspect their contents.

  Fortunately, apart from the first bundle, which was filled entirely with gold bars and ingots, the others contained gold jewelry.

  While the jewelry looked exquisite, and the bundles were heavy, an ordinary person could still manage to lift them with considerable effort.

  It's worth noting that after three enhancements from his Bound Vehicle, Dong Qi's physical fitness was essentially at the peak of human capability.

  Even so, facing a bundle that likely weighed over twenty tons, Dong Qi was somewhat powerless.

  Luckily, the gold bars and ingots inside weren't a single solid block. After opening the bundle, Dong Qi began tossing them into the rear compartment one by one.

  This is Dong Qi's Lifebound Artifact—the vehicle—which has undergone three comprehensive enhancements. Every component of the vehicle has now reached the pinnacle of the Mortal Artifact level.

  Otherwise, even if this gold were left here for Dong Qi to handle, he wouldn't be able to take it all away at once.

  Vehicles capable of carrying over twenty tons of cargo in one go do exist, but ordinary models like the Iveco are clearly not up to the task.

  Only after Dong Qi drove out of the parking lot did he suddenly realize something, breaking out in a cold sweat instantly.

  He knew those bundles had been brought by the other group. Although he hadn't noticed at first how they had appeared at the parking lot entrance, he later saw clearly that all the bundles had been set down by them.

  Following this line of reasoning, the over twenty tons of gold must have been carried by one of them.

  Analyzing the condition of the group as they approached earlier, none showed obvious signs of fatigue.

  This means that at least one among them is an Awakened. Though it’s unclear what supernatural ability they gained upon awakening, being able to freely move over twenty tons of gold—and seemingly not even at their limit—suggests their strength is considerable.

  The earlier confrontation was only successful because Dong Qi took them by surprise, crashing into them before they could react.

  Otherwise, even if Dong Qi's Lifebound Artifact—the vehicle—has been enhanced three times to the peak of the Mortal Artifact level, it might not withstand a direct attack from over twenty tons of gold being dropped on it.

  Looking at his Lifebound Artifact now loaded with so much gold, Dong Qi didn’t drive around aimlessly. Instead, he headed straight for a shallow decorative pond.

  He carefully cleaned the blood off the tires, chassis, and beneath the doors. While it couldn’t be completely removed, an ordinary person wouldn’t notice anything unusual without a close inspection.

  After returning home, he first unloaded all the gold from the vehicle into the storage room.

  As mentioned earlier, despite there being over twenty tons of gold, most of it is in the form of gold bars and ingots. Even piled together, it doesn’t take up much space—covered with a cloth, it occupies less area than a coffee table.

  As for the gold jewelry in several bags, there’s no need to hide it deliberately. Toss it into a sack and leave it in a corner—most people won’t pay it any special attention even if they see it.

  After finishing these tasks, Dong Qi instinctively checked the status panel in his mind and suddenly noticed a change in the energy value.

  Lifebound Artifact: Light Passenger Vehicle

  Grade: Mortal Artifact

  Body Frame: Advanced Enhancement (100%)

  Power System: Advanced Enhancement (100%) (Hybrid Electric-Petrol)

  Electrical Systems: Advanced Enhancement (100%)

  Other Equipment: Unenhanced (0%)

  Manifestation from the Tide of Thought

  Times Manifested: 1

  Unknown Special Energy Value: 110.1

  (Minimum energy consumption per manifestation: 100 points. No upper limit.)