Chapter 37: Operation Angry Dragon (Part 2)

Nikkei Hotel, Room 108.

Lei Dong gently lifted a corner of the tightly drawn curtains and looked out at the wide avenue. Regiment 03 standard armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, and command vehicles of the Jiben forces rumbled past. Fully armed troops in black combat uniforms, organized into squads and platoons, marched murderously in various directions toward the chaotic downtown area.

"They're moving!" Lei Dong lowered the curtain, turned around, and smiled with satisfaction at his teammates.

Located in the northern suburbs of Kyoto, this hotel was an ordinary budget lodge. After the morning operation concluded, the three teams had taken advantage of the city-wide chaos to slip in here quietly, one after another, checking in as foreign tourists using pre-fabricated forged passports.

The hotel was not particularly luxurious or conspicuous, but its location was strategically positioned at the vital junction connecting the city and the suburbs. It offered a good field of vision and served as the mandatory route for the Northern Defense Force to enter downtown.

The primary reason Lei Dong had launched attacks on three fronts, putting in so much effort against the Dragon Sea Society and the Inakaya Society to cause massive turmoil within Kyoto, was precisely to pin down tens of thousands of Kyoto police officers, attract the defense forces stationed outside the city, and firmly nail them down within the downtown area, thereby winning a broader space for the upcoming truly large-scale operation.

Now, Lei Dong's objectives had almost entirely been achieved!

"Judging by the equipment and designations, this unit is the Second Squadron of the 708th Regiment stationed at the Moshui Reservoir," Lei Dong said, watching the troops driving past with intense concentration while softly explaining to his comrades. "Judging by the scale, there are roughly two platoons moving out right now. In other words, based on intelligence assessments, there are at most a single platoon of fewer than twenty people left at the Moshui Reservoir!"

Lei Dong glanced back once more at the comrades seated around the room, his eyes shining with a frightening brilliance: "Our diversionary tactic was a success!"

The six of them exchanged glances, a stir of excitement rippling through them. The fellow named Dark Cloud curled his lip at Lei Dong: "We're finally going to do something big! I've been dying of boredom. As a special operations elite of the Furious Dragon Brigade, I actually had to deal with a few small-time thugs—it's utterly humiliating!" As he spoke, he shook his head repeatedly at Lei Dong.

"Ain't that the truth!" Unexpectedly, Song Jingang did not bicker with Dark Cloud, chiming in instead. "It was literally using a missile to swat a mosquito, a complete waste of effort, just delaying us for nothing..."

The others let out a series of suppressed chuckles, but their actions of baring their arms and rolling up their sleeves in eager anticipation thoroughly betrayed them—a bunch of warmongering violent maniacs!

Lei Dong rolled his eyes, too lazy to even bother with this bunch.

The defense force, stretching for hundreds of meters, disappeared into the distance. Lei Dong lowered the curtains, his gaze sweeping over his comrades one by one, a hint of a disdainful smile on his face. "Brothers, everything before this was just a mere appetizer. The battle that follows is the main course! Let's teach them a lesson they'll never forget! Today, your commander is going to drown Kyoto!"

"The wrath of the divine dragon shakes the world. Charge!" The six men leaped up, shouting in low voices, their faces radiating an uncontrollable excitement.

Twilight was approaching, and the setting sun had already sunk below Mount Fujimi in Kyoto. The golden evening glow draped a layer of crimson, mystical coloring over the skies of Kyoto. Within the urban area of Kyoto, the sounds of gunfire, explosions, and weeping echoed amidst raging fires, reflecting against the red sky, making the entire city seem plunged into hell.

No one knew that while they were weeping and running, six fully geared, murderous men had quietly vanished from an abandoned alley in the northern suburbs.

"Right here!" Lei Dong halted before a manhole cover in the alley, bent down, and ripped the cover right off the ground with a single pull.

"Down!"

Lei Dong gave a soft command, his left hand grasping the tens of kilograms heavy manhole cover while his right hand leveled an 80-caliber sniper rifle equipped with a silencer, guarding the southern end of the alley. Dark Cloud held a 32 assault rifle to his chest, guarding the other end of the alley.

Lang Tianyu, Bei Shiliang, Song Jingang, and Luo Haoran did not hesitate, jumping into the sewer one after another and descending more than ten meters down the stainless steel wall ladder into the subterranean drainage system.

Lei Dong made a hand gesture. After waiting for Dark Cloud to slip into the sewer, he took a flying leap, jumped down the manhole, planted his legs firmly on the wall ladder, quietly replaced the manhole cover, gave it a gentle downward tug to confirm it had returned completely to its original position, and then slid swiftly down the ladder to the bottom of the well.

Kyoto's sewer system had always been renowned for its grand scale and rigorous planning. The reinforced concrete pipes, exceeding three meters in diameter, were extremely tall. The circular tunnels were coated in various colors, looking bizarre and surreal under the dim lighting, exuding a peculiar, hypnotic allure. What surprised Lei Dong even more was that, although there was a shallow layer of sewage on the ground, the entire interior of the pipeline lacked the expected stench. Only a faint scent of disinfectant drifted gently into his nostrils. Clearly, the sterilization, deodorization, and disinfection functions of Kyoto's underground drainage system had been perfected to the absolute limit.

In fact, the Jiben Empire made full use of the wastewater and sewage resources within its sewer system. Its existing 57 sewage treatment plants utilized the methane gas generated during wastewater treatment for biogas power generation, producing enough electricity to supply 100,000 households, while hydrogen produced from sludge had also begun to be used in fuel cell vehicles heavily promoted by Jiben's automotive enterprises.

One could say that this sewer system had been transformed into a "treasure trove" for resource-scarce Jiben.

The only somewhat headache-inducing aspect was that the scale of this underground drainage system was simply too massive. The drainage system, spanning a total length of over tens of thousands of kilometers, had practically turned the underground of Kyoto into a tunnel labyrinth!

Lei Dong helplessly pulled out his communicator and plugged a tiny USB flash drive into it. Moments later, the 4.5-inch screen of the communicator flickered, and a pattern composed of densely packed fine lines appeared on the display.

"This is the layout map of the Kyoto sewers that Li Yongzheng managed to acquire." Lei Dong's fingers tapped rapidly on the communicator. The image continuously zoomed in, and soon, their current location appeared on the screen, marked by a small red dot slowly blinking.

Lei Dong let out a long breath and flicked his wrist, sending the communicator flying into Bei Shiliang's hands.

Bei Shiliang put away his P9 pistol and, comparing it against the image on the communicator, began to calculate rapidly.

"Here, here, here..."

The squad moved in single file, traversing swiftly through the tunnel. At regular intervals, Bei Shiliang would stop and mark several spots on the tunnel wall.

Meanwhile, the others quickly produced cement loosening agents, drilled small holes into the pipe walls, and—following Bei Shiliang's instructions—stuffed packages of time-delayed explosives into the cavities.

"What a pity," Lei Dong sighed as he laid the explosives. "Such a fine 'treasure trove' is about to turn into a pile of junk right before our eyes..."